Suddenly my voice doesn’t seem to be working properly. I feel as though a wad of cotton’s been stuffed into my throat. I glance up at a nearby camera and, to my horror, see it zooming toward me.
“OK, Rebecca,” says Zelda, hurrying over again, “one more golden rule — don’t look at the camera, all right? Just behave naturally!”
“Fine,” I say huskily.
Behave naturally. Easy-peasy.
“Thirty seconds till the news bulletin,” she says, looking at her watch. “Everything OK, Luke?”
“Fine,” says Luke calmly. He’s sitting on his sofa as though he’s been there all his life. Typical.
I shift on my seat, tug nervously at my skirt, and smooth my jacket down. They always say that television puts ten pounds on you, which means my legs will look really fat. Maybe I should cross them the other way. Or not cross them at all? But then maybe they’ll look even fatter.
“Hello!” comes a high-pitched voice from across the set before I can make up my mind. My head jerks up, and I feel an excited twinge in my stomach. It’s Emma March in the flesh! She’s wearing a pink suit and hurrying toward the sofa, closely followed by Rory, who looks even more square-jawed than usual. God, it’s weird seeing celebrities up close. They don’t look quite real, somehow.
“Hello!” Emma says cheerfully, and sits down on the sofa. “So you’re the finance people, are you? Gosh, I’m dying for a wee.” She frowns into the lights. “How long is this slot, Zelda?”
“Hi there!” says Rory, and shakes my hand. “Roberta.”
“It’s Rebecca!” says Emma, and rolls her eyes at me sympathetically. “Honestly, he’s hopeless.” She wriggles on the sofa. “Gosh, I really need to go.”
“Too late now,” says Rory.
“But isn’t it really unhealthy not to go when you need to?” Emma wrinkles her brow anxiously. “Didn’t we have a phone-in on it once? That weird girl phoned up who only went once a day. And Dr. James said. . what did he say?”
“Search me,” says Rory cheerfully. “These phone-ins always go over my head. Now I’m warning you, Rebecca,” he adds, turning to me, “I can never follow any of this finance stuff. Far too brainy for me.” He gives me a wide grin and I smile weakly back.
“Ten seconds,” calls Zelda from the side of the set, and my stomach gives a tweak of fear. Over the loudspeakers I can hear the Morning Coffee theme music, signaling the end of a commercial break.
“Who starts?” says Emma, squinting at the TelePrompTer. “Oh, me.”
So this is it. I feel almost light-headed with fear. I don’t know where I’m supposed to be looking; I don’t know when I’m supposed to speak. My legs are trembling and my hands are clenched tightly in my lap. The lights are dazzling my eyes; a camera’s zooming in on my left, but I’ve got to try to ignore it.
“Welcome back!” says Emma suddenly to the camera. “Now, which would you rather have? A carriage clock or £20,000?”
What? I think in shock. But that’s my line. That’s what I was going to say.
“The answer’s obvious, isn’t it?” continues Emma blithely. “We’d all prefer the £20,000.”
“Absolutely!” interjects Rory with a cheerful smile.
“But when some Flagstaff Life investors received a letter inviting them to move their savings recently,” says Emma, suddenly putting on a sober face, “they didn’t realize that if they did so, they would lose out on a £20,000 windfall. Rebecca Bloomwood is the journalist who uncovered this story — Rebecca, do you think this kind of deception is commonplace?”
And suddenly everyone’s looking at me, waiting for me to reply. The camera’s trained on my face; the studio’s silent.
Two point five million people, all watching at home.
I can’t breathe.
“Do you think investors need to be cautious?” prompts Emma.
“Yes,” I manage in a strange, woolly voice. “Yes, I think they should.”
“Luke Brandon, you represent Flagstaff Life,” says Emma, turning away. “Do you think—”
Shit, I think miserably. That was pathetic. Pathetic! What’s happened to my voice, for God’s sake? What’s happened to all my prepared answers?
And now I’m not even listening to Luke’s reply. Come on, Rebecca. Concentrate.
“What you must remember,” Luke’s saying smoothly, “is that nobody’s entitled to a windfall. This isn’t a case of deception!” He smiles at Emma. “This is simply a case of a few investors being a little too greedy for their own good. They believe they’ve missed out — so they’re deliberately stirring up bad publicity for the company. Meanwhile, there are thousands of people who have benefited from Flagstaff Life.”