The Strangling on the Stage by Simon Brett

seriously. At least appeared to take me seriously.’
    â€˜You mentioned Ritchie. So he came on to you, did he?’
    â€˜Well …’
    â€˜He came on to me the minute I was introduced to him,’ said Jude.
    â€˜Yes, he does that to everyone.’ Hester Winstone coloured. ‘He’s a very attractive man.’
    â€˜He certainly thinks he is.’
    â€˜But he really is,’ Hester insisted, and Jude was forced to admit it was true. Though Ritchie Good’s chat-up line had been crass beyond words, Jude had still felt a tug of attraction towards him.
    She banished such thoughts from her mind and said, ‘One thing I don’t quite get is that today was the first rehearsal for
The Devil’s Disciple
…?’
    â€˜Yes.’
    â€˜â€¦ and it’s only in the last few weeks that both Ritchie and Neville have come on to you …?’
    â€˜Well, as I say, with Neville it wasn’t so much “coming on”.’
    â€˜All right. But how did you come to be involved in SADOS before this production started rehearsing?’
    â€˜Ah well, it was the end of the panto …’
    â€˜Oh?’
    â€˜SADOS always do their pantomime at the end of January. And it was round then that Mike went off to New Zealand … and I was kind of at a loose end, so I got in touch with SADOS to see if there was anything I could do to help out, and they needed some people for front of house during the panto, so that’s how I became involved.’
    â€˜And were Ritchie and Neville both in the show?’
    â€˜Not acting, no. Ritchie just came to see one performance and then he kind of chatted me up in the Cricketers afterwards.’
    â€˜And did you mind him chatting you up?’
    â€˜No, I was flattered … just having someone taking some notice of me.’
    Jude recognized this as another comment on the state of Hester’s marriage, but didn’t pursue it. Instead she asked, ‘And what about Neville?’
    â€˜He wasn’t acting in the panto, but he’d written the lyrics for the songs, so he was around quite a lot during the run.’
    â€˜And you kind of “got together”?’
    Hester Winstone blushed furiously. ‘One evening after the show we’d had a few in the Cricketers, and my car was being serviced, so Neville offered to give me a lift home, and I invited him in for a drink and … I don’t think anything would have happened if we hadn’t been drinking.’
    â€˜And did it happen again?’
    â€˜No, just the once. And then suddenly Neville seemed to lose interest. Didn’t reply to my texts or calls.’
    â€˜And you were hurt because you loved him?’
    â€˜I don’t know about love. Maybe I convinced myself at the time that was the reason. I don’t know. I just felt dreadful. I can’t think why I let it happen.’
    â€˜You were lonely.’
    â€˜Yes, maybe, but that’s no excuse, is it? And in my head I’ve gone through so many scenarios about how I would tell Mike, but that was assuming that Neville still wanted me and … I don’t know. I’m just so confused.’
    â€˜From what you say, it sounds as if you’ve never been unfaithful before.’
    â€˜Good Lord, no.’ Hester sounded appalled by the very idea. ‘And I wouldn’t have done, I mean, not unless I thought I actually was, at least at that moment, in love with Neville. And now I feel just so confused. And Mike’s back next week, and I’ll have to tell him.’
    â€˜Why?’
    â€˜Well, I can’t not, can I?’
    â€˜Of course you can,’ Jude asserted. ‘In my view far too many people rush to tell their partners about their infidelity. In very few cases does it do any good, and in many it destroys a perfectly salvageable relationship.’
    â€˜Do you really believe that?’ And there was a spark of hope in Hester