Page 25 of Hollywood Games
‘What wedding bookings?’ interjected Barbara, staring daggers at the phone.
‘Oh, there aren’t any,’ replied Zoe. ‘But things were getting critical, so I decided to give him a little nudge.’
Barbara sniffed.
‘So, it’s really happening then?’ Rory asked.
‘Yep! Braveheart 2 is being filmed at the castle. I’ll fill you in when you get back.’
‘Thank you. You’re amazing. I love you.’
‘I love you too. I’ll see you in a bit,’ said Zoe, ending the call. Rory put his phone in his pocket and looked out the windscreen, seeing nothing.
‘Well,’ said Barbara, breaking the silence. ‘Saved by the Americans. Your father will be turning in his grave.’
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13
January passed in a blur as Zoe and Rory worked flat out to liaise with the production company and arrange the work needed on the castle. A team of carpenters, electricians and plumbers were due to arrive for a six-week period, with the other departments arriving in May for two weeks of pre-production. Zoe had a sneaking feeling Brad was adding in more scenes just so he could prolong his stay at the castle. He’d even specified the fixtures he wanted installed in his bathroom and had Crystal employ a valet for his stay. When Zoe informed Rory, he said his grandfather refused to learn how to tie his own shoelaces because it was his valet’s job. She hadn’t told him about theTatlershoot and interview that was scheduled for during the filming, as he had enough on his plate.
However, with the upstairs rooms in the castle ring-fenced as bedrooms, and the downstairs ones as production offices and green rooms, Zoe knew that one job couldn’t be put off any longer. They had to tidy the estate office. As they drove down the hill from the cabin into Kinloch that morning, Zoe could see a muscle twitching in his jaw. She understood his anxiety. It was always far easier to clean someone else’s mess than your own. His office held no power over her. She had no emotional attachment to anything in it. Yet for Rory, it was his life. Every piece of paper and object had his memories and those of his ancestors embedded in it. He had the weight of generations bearing down on him from every shelf.
When they entered the office she looked at Rory, haunted and vulnerable. ‘Okay. Do you trust me?’ she asked. He nodded. ‘Right. So, you are going to have to be ruthless, okay? If anything in here is more than seven years old, and not a contract or deeds, or anything vitally important like your birth certificate, it gets ditched, okay?’
‘Are you sure?’
Zoe walked to one of the shelves and selected a book, theatrically blowing the dust off the top. ‘Have you ever looked at this? Do you know what it is?’ Rory shook his head. She opened it and flicked through. ‘Exciting stuff! These are the accounts from before you were born.’ She walked to the window, opened it and tossed the book out. It landed with a loud slap on the snowy cobbles of the courtyard below.
‘You can’t do that!’
‘Why not?’
‘It’s history?’
‘Then why isn’t it in a museum? And where’s Indiana Jones searching for the lost accounts of 1979? I trained as an accountant. Trust me. You don’t need this in your life. And when you get rid of all this crap, you’re going to feel amazing.’
‘Okay, I’ll go with it. So, what do I need to do?’
Zoe looked up to the highest shelves, with the most dirt and cobwebs. ‘First, I need you to get two face masks from the workshop, and two pairs of rubber gloves. And two sets of overalls if you’ve got them. Oh, and two hats or scarves to cover our hair.’
‘It’s only a bit of dust.’
‘When was this room last painted?’
‘I don’t know, it’s always been like this.’
‘Exactly. So, you can bet your bottom dollar the paint they used contained lead. And look how nicely it’s peeling and turning to dust. I can’t wait to breathe that in. Not to mention the layers of other toxic compounds put down over the last few centuries. Arsenic, mercury, plutonium, you name it, it’s here.’ She pointed to the door. ‘You’ve got five minutes.’ He grinned, saluted and walked out.
Over the past few weeks, Zoe had been idly picking through the detritus, and was confident they could clear at least eighty per cent of what was there, straight out the window and onto a bonfire. When Rory returned and they got suited up, she took photos of them and the room. ‘Before and after,’ she explained. She put her phone away. ‘Okay. This is going to start easy and get harder. We’re going to begin at the top and work down.’ She gestured to the top shelves. ‘Those look like they haven’t been touched since the dark ages. You’re allowed less than five seconds to make sure they aren’t critically important and if they aren’t, they go out the window.’ She walked to the bank of old, diamond-paned windows, opened them, then cleared a chair and carried it to the shelves. ‘Stand on this. Just drop the books to the floor and I’ll chuck them out.’
Rory stood on the chair to reach the top shelf, picking the volume from the far right-hand side. He opened it. ‘Let me guess,’ said Zoe, ‘It’s a date that starts with an eighteen?’ Rory didn’t reply, just dropped the book to the floor, then pulled out the volume next to it, which appeared identical. ‘Hang on!’ she said. ‘Count to the end of the row and see if they are in year order.’ He took out another volume, and nodded. ‘Okay. Throw the whole lot on the floor.’ Rory sighed and started grabbing the big books and dropping them. When he was done, Zoe moved in and lobbed them out the window with a whoop.
‘Why do you get the fun jobs?’
‘Because I don’t know how good your aim is and I don’t want you smashing the windows.’
Rory lifted another volume off the shelf. ‘Stand back.’ Zoe moved out the way and he flicked it like a knife, with speed and precision, out the window, before turning to her and raising an eyebrow.
