Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool Read Online Free Page A

looked to Joe and then back to me. ‘She could be in jeopardy of her life.’
    ‘What do you think I should do, Joe?’
    ‘I think you should phone her daughter in California,’ he said.
    ‘So do I,’ my mother added. ‘Someone will have to come over here quick. There might be unexpected things to deal with.’
    ‘She asked me not to tell Paulette,’ I said.
    ‘Now look –’ my mother held herself upright at the table, – ‘I’m going to have to take charge over this lot. You’ve got to phone her daughter. That
family has got to be told.’
    ‘I know. I do know that. I’m just telling you what Gloria said to me.’
    ‘I think that this is a terrible thing and I don’t want Gloria to suffer, but I can’t take the burden of it now, I just want to go to Australia.’ She stood up to leave
the room. ‘Tell your father I’ve gone to bed.’
    ‘Does he know about Manila?’ I asked.
    ‘Don’t talk to me about bloody Manila. It might be that we won’t be going anywhere.’ She pushed open the kitchen door and bumped into Jessie in the hall.
    ‘Eugh! That’s twice tonight.’ I heard Jessie say before the door slammed shut.
    ‘How do you feel?’ Joe handed me a cigarette.
    ‘Shocked,’ I think I said. ‘Shocked.’
    It was after one in the morning by the time my father put his head around the kitchen door.
    ‘Hello there,’ he said, and scratched the back of his head. ‘I didn’t hear you get back. It must be late. Your ma must have gone to bed then, has she?’
    ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘She’s gone to bed.’
    ‘Joe and Jessie must have gone home then, have they?’
    ‘Yes, Dad. They’ve gone home.’
    ‘Oh well,’ he yawned. ‘That’s me for the night then. I’ll just let the dog out for a while.’
    Candy appeared and trailed after him.
    ‘Are you going to Manila?’ I asked as he unbolted the back door.
    ‘I’ll go anywhere, me,’ he said. ‘I don’t mind where I go.’
    Only a few of her things were scattered about the room but it seemed as if she’d always been there. Somehow she didn’t look out of place.
    I stood at the end of her bed watching her breathing. When I was sure she was asleep I switched off the light but left the door open in case she called out in the night. Then I went to the
upstairs flat.
    The room was cold and in darkness.
    I dialled Paulette’s number in California – nobody answered.
    I sat by the window under the light from the lamp in the street, holding the telephone, just letting it ring . . .

TWO
    ‘Let’s go and take a look at where I used to live,’ Gloria said, slamming on the brakes and throwing the car into reverse.
    We shot across to the other side of the road, managing to miss a truck that appeared from around the bend, and then the car stalled on a small ridge at the entrance to the drive. We slid back
down onto the highway.
    I panicked. I wasn’t sure if I should be frightened from the left or from the right because I was in California, in a car going backwards, on the other side of the road, whichever that
was, and the traffic was coming at us from every side. Suddenly we stopped. Then she accelerated. We veered back across the road, bumped up the ridge and ended safely in the driveway of a big
house.
    ‘Gloria. Why did you do that?’
    ‘It’s not my fault, Peter. It’s that stupid gateway. It’s at the top of a mountain!’
    It was wonderful to get out of the car. I thought we were only going on a short trip but it had ended up being a three-hour journey. We’d driven to the shops in Santa Monica to buy
groceries; Gloria had invited her mother and Joy, her sister, over for a meal. We took a detour through Hollywood and Beverly Hills on the way home; partly because Gloria’s driving was so
awful that I couldn’t cope with going back on the freeway, and partly because it just seemed the best thing to do on a really beautiful day.
    For the first few days of my stay in California the weather had been dreary. It was