Francesca scanned it swiftly, scrolling down to read the press release. Then she turned to Ellie with an approving smile. “Well! You are turning out to be an asset. You must have made quite an impression on Pop and Lolly Lowther when you interviewed them. Have you replied yet?”
Ellie shook her head. “Not yet. I didn’t want to risk messing it up by doing something stupid.”
“Well good for you.” Francesca looked very pleased. “Do reply, and thank Satin for letting you know. The sooner you reply, the better, then she’ll know you’ve got the information okay.” She looked back at the screen again. “The date is perfect for us. If they keep to that, we can definitely do a piece on this in the next issue of Heart, before it’s released to anyone else. Once you’ve replied, why don’t you write an account of how and why you were given the information, and show it to me. It would be great to have the story of how we came to get such a lovely scoop. Once that’s done we can take it in and show Angel. What do you want, Piano?” she added as Piano joined them at Ellie’s desk.
Piano was leaning against the window, looking down at Ellie with a suspicious expression on her face. Ellie wondered how much she’d overheard, but Piano wasn’t about to let on.
“I wondered if Ellie had forgotten about Ferdinand,” she said, looking down her nose. “Only it’s getting rather late.”
Ellie was sure that it was an excuse for Piano to come over to try and find out what Francesca and Ellie were looking so pleased about. Piano wouldn’t usually remind Ellie of anything. She’d much rather look on, amused, while Ellie got told off. But she was right, it was past walk time for poor Ferdinand.
Ellie groaned inwardly, but to Piano she showed a smiling face. “I was just going to take him out!”
Ferdinand was Angel’s little dog, and whenever Ellie was at the office it was her job to take him out for two or three walks each day. Unusually, Angel had taken him herself that morning, but now it was well after lunch, and if Ellie didn’t hurry, Angel would be asking where she was; and if she did that it could lead to several other jobs, some of which Ellie would probably rather not do. Piano had actually done Ellie a real favour, because with all the excitement of the scoop from Satin, Ellie had forgotten all about the poor dog.
“Send your reply first,” said Francesca. “It’ll only take a moment.”
“Okay,” said Ellie. Francesca got up and gave Piano a quizzical look.
“Was there anything else you wanted to say?” she asked.
Ellie paid no attention to Piano’s reply. She hurried to write an email back to Satin, making sure to thank her and asking her to pass on her grateful thanks to Pop. Then she pressed send.
Trying not to look as if she were hurrying, Ellie went and knocked on Angel’s door. The Editor answered and Ellie went in. Angel looked at her with raised eyebrows as she took Ferdinand’s lead from where it was hanging on the coat stand, and clipped it on to his collar.
“It’s your job to clear up any puddles poor Ferdinand might make because you haven’t taken him out in time,” she said.
Ellie resisted the urge to wrinkle her nose in distaste. “Yes, Angel,” she said, wondering if Piano had ever been given that job, and feeling determined that it would never happen to her. “Come on then, Ferdinand,” she said, and the little dog jumped out of his basket and ran to the door, tugging Ellie after him.
Ferdinand didn’t really like going in the lift, so Ellie picked him up and carried him while they were going down. “Where shall we go then?” she asked him as they went out onto the street. “How about the park?”
The park was actually the only place to take a dog, unless he was going for grooming, at Pamper Your Pets. It wasn’t far, and soon they reached the specially enclosed area that was set aside for dogs. It was a warm day, so Ellie sat on a bench, thinking about the celebrities on her list, while Ferdinand sniffed about and said hello to the other dogs being walked in the park. Ellie could remember from earlier visits a large poodle that he liked to play with, and two very friendly little scruffy terriers, a bit like him, that he enjoyed rough and tumble games with as well. Today the poodle wasn’t there, but the terriers arrived at the same time as Ellie and Ferdinand. Their middle-aged owner joined her on the bench.
“Is that Ferdinand?” she asked, pointing to where he was playing with her two dogs.
“Yes,” said Ellie. “I’m exercising him for my boss.”
“I thought it must be him,” said the woman. “My two enjoy playing with him so much. He’s more their size than most of the dogs that come here. And he’s so good natured.”
“Yes, he is,” said Ellie with a smile. It was rather nice to have another dog walker to talk to.
“I think I remember seeing you a while ago,” said the woman. “But it’s usually a girl with long blonde hair who brings him.”
“That’s Piano.” Ellie explained about school, and how she dog walked during the holidays for the editor at Heart magazine.
“Ah. That explains it,” said the woman. “Is Ferdinand the only dog you walk?”
“Yes,” said Ellie. “And most of the time at work I’m fetching coffee, although I have done a couple of interviews.”
The woman looked surprised. “That must be exciting,” she said. Then she blew out a puff of air. “Phew! It’s warm today,” she said, changing the subject and fanning her face with her hand.
“Yes, it is,” agreed Ellie. “But the dogs don’t seem to mind.”
The woman smiled. “No, they don’t, do they.”
Ferdinand and her two dogs were having great fun chasing each other.
For a while longer Ellie and the woman sat quietly on the bench, enjoying the sun. Then the woman looked at her. “Well, sorry to spoil your Ferdinand’s fun, but I must go.” She stood up and called to her dogs. “Come on, Beastly. Snappit, come here. Time to go home.”
Ellie wanted to giggle at their names. They were gentle little animals, and neither name seemed to suit the dogs, but maybe that was the point. Some people did like silly names for their pets. But the woman obviously needed to get home, and Ferdinand was leaping about, encouraging her dogs to misbehave. To be helpful, Ellie lunged at Ferdinand, and caught one of the woman’s dogs too. She put Ferdinand’s lead on, and stood on it so he couldn’t run away. Then she held the woman’s little dog while the other waited meekly to have his lead put on, now the game had ended. The little silver tag on the collar of the dog she was holding caught Ellie’s eye. It was most unusual, being in the shape of an open book instead of a round disc or tube with an address in.
“What a lovely tag!” said Ellie. She caught hold of it and looked at the name on it: Snappit. “You’re not at all snappy, are you?” she laughed, stroking the friendly little dog. Ellie turned the tag over. If found please return to…
“Thank you so much!” To Ellie’s surprise the woman practically snatched Snappit out of Ellie’s arms and hurriedly put on his lead. “I’m so sorry,” she apologized. “But I’ve just remembered something. I’m very late. I simply must go. So sorry!”
Without another word she got up and left the dog enclosure. Ellie watched as she rushed out of the park without a backward glance.
“Well, Ferdi,” she said, feeling a bit put out. “I hope she makes it to whatever she’s late for. You were naughty, leading those dogs astray. Come on. It’s time we went back now too.”
By the time Ellie and Ferdinand got back to the office it was quite late. There wasn’t really time for her to write about her scoop, so Francesca suggested she leave it until the morning. “Now you’ve thanked Satin, it’ll keep for a day,” she said. “And anyway, Angel has gone out, so you can’t go and tell her about it now. Why don’t you take the post down to Sophie to be franked? Then it will be time to go home. It’ll be better to write your piece in the morning when you’re fresh.”
“Good idea,” said Ellie at once.
“One piece of advice,” added Francesca as Ellie picked up her bag. “Don’t tell a
soul about your email from Satin. Not even your best friend. The more people who know, the more leaky the scoop will become. It’s amazing how these things get out. Once we’ve gone to press and the magazine is out it’ll be fine, but until then it has to stay in our office.”
“Okay,” said Ellie. It was a shame she wouldn’t be able to tell Hannah or Sophie, but she could see what Francesca meant. Secrets passed around like Chinese Whispers very soon stopped being secrets and became inaccurate as well. That sort of thing happened at school all the time, but Ellie was determined that her secret should remain one, until it was time to let it out. She collected up all the post from the Editorial Department and headed down to give it to Sophie.
“Has Flynn stopped going on about Mark Kettle?” she said as she handed the post to her friend.
Sophie frowned. “Well I haven’t seen him since lunch,” she said. “He’s gone quiet for the moment. I’m sure he still has plans though, probably to be my marketing manager, as soon as I can afford to leave work here and concentrate on being a pot-making genius.”
“Oh don’t be cross with him.” Ellie hated to see her friends squabble.
“I just wish he’d let me do my things my way,” Sophie sighed, then her face cleared and she smiled. “Anyway, how did you enjoy your first day back?”
“It’s been good,” said Ellie, regretting even more that she couldn’t share her most exciting news. “But I’m no further forward with Charlie Daniels, in spite of following your advice. I’m beginning to think he’s a real recluse. No one seems to have met him, or know anything about him. I’m not going to give up yet though. I hate to be beaten.”
“Well you’ve got nothing to lose,” said Sophie.
Ellie laughed. “I know. And Francesca must think I’ve got a little bit of a chance, otherwise she wouldn’t have suggested it.” Ellie turned to go. “See you tomorrow.”
While she was waiting for the bus a text came in from Hannah. Can I come round tonight? I’ve got cans of beans swimming before my eyes!
Ellie laughed. Hannah’s job at her aunt’s shop seemed to be getting to her already.
Sure!
Ellie clutched her phone in one hand and her bag in the other as she climbed on the bus, reminding herself to steer clear of any mention of Pop and Lolly Lowther.
Great! I badly need fun. See you at 7?
Ellie sent her one word back.
Yep.
She had the perfect activity for a jaded Hannah; dreaming up more celebrities for her list!
In Ellie’s room that evening the two girls did enjoy discussing people for Heart to feature.
“The in-house list had some people on it I didn’t know,” said Ellie. “There’s a singer on the internet, but I couldn’t very well listen to his songs in the office. Let’s see what he sounds like. Heart must think he’s going to be the next big thing.”
Once they’d done that and been duly impressed by him they tried to think of more big names that everyone would want to read about.
“That rugby player…Nick Houseman,” said Hannah. “He’s gorgeous!”
“Yes,” agreed Ellie. “And talking about gorgeous, I wanted to add Al from Zone One, but Francesca wouldn’t let me.”
Hannah laughed. “You’ve already written about his band, and they’ve done a shoot for Heart. Besides, you can’t interview just one member of a band!”
“I don’t see why not,” said Ellie wistfully, thinking how wonderful it would be to get Al all to herself. “But Francesca more or less said the same thing.”
“She’s right,” said Hannah firmly. “You can’t interview people just because you fancy them. It’s not professional.”
Reluctantly, Ellie tried to come up with a different name. “Kurt Draagan,” she said.
“Now he is a good idea,” said Hannah, who was sprawled on Ellie’s bed. “He was brilliant in The Vampire Sleeps.” She closed her eyes and smiled. “He has that smouldering look…fantastic!”
“Now who’s being unprofessional?” said Ellie.
Hannah opened her eyes and grinned at Ellie. “I don’t have to be professional,” she said. “It’s not my list, and I won’t be doing any of the interviews.”
“I don’t know how many I’ll manage to fit in over this holiday,” said Ellie thoughtfully. “By the time I’ve got some of these people to agree to an interview I expect we’ll be back at school. But if it’s a yes from Kurt Draagan, I’ll make sure they arrange it so I can be there, even if they have to wait until Christmas!”
“What about one of the weather girls on TV?” suggested Hannah. “Neesha Abbots for instance. She was on that Reality TV show, Mix Up. Remember? They don’t all have to be totally fanciable boys.”
“No,” said Ellie with a laugh. “They don’t, do they? And a few more girls would be good. Who else is there?”
“Mellita,” said Hannah straight away. “She’s so cool. I love her latest album.”
They soon had a good long list of people, and Ellie was sure Francesca would be pleased with the extras they’d come up with. “I’ll owe you if any of yours get chosen,” she said. “But for the moment I’m concentrating on Charlie Daniels, and he’s proving tricky.”
She explained the problem to Hannah. “Well maybe he just doesn’t have any publicity shots,” said Hannah. “There wasn’t a picture of him on the cover of the books, was there?”
“You’re right,” said Ellie. “Perhaps he just hates having his picture taken.” She took the first book in the trilogy down from her shelf and studied it. “This is the film version though,” she mused. “It must have come out with a different cover on originally.”
Hannah looked at her. “What are you getting at?”
“Well.” Ellie scratched her head. “Isn’t it hardback books that usually have the author’s photograph on? Maybe when the books first came out there was a picture.”
“But who would have the hardbacks?” said Hannah. “I can’t think of anyone.”
“I can,” said Ellie.
“Who?”
“Not a who, a what. The library!”
Hannah grinned at Ellie. “Good thinking.”
“I’ll go tomorrow,” said Ellie. “There must be a library not too far from work. I can look online to see where the nearest one is. If I could just find a photograph of Charlie Daniels it would make him more real somehow. That’s great, Hannah. Thanks for your help.”
“You thought of it,” said Hannah with a laugh.
“But I never would have done if we hadn’t been discussing him together,” said Ellie. She put the book on the bed. “There’s a fab competition on the publisher’s website,” she said. “Check it out.”
“Okay,” said Hannah, swinging her legs off Ellie’s bed and standing up. “I must go now. I need my beauty sleep. I’ve been stacking shelves for Aunt Bella all day, and my arms are aching. You get to chill out in a library, while I get to build up my biceps.”
“But just think how toned you’ll look on the beach,” said Ellie with a giggle.
“And maybe Kurt Draagan will turn up,” added Hannah. “If so, I’ll put in a word for you.”
“Thanks!”
Ellie saw Hannah out and then went back to her room. She tossed her notebook onto her desk. Then she picked it up again. Did her dad have any comments that might help? She paused at the first page, as she always did. You can do this! was inspiring, but she wanted more. Her father had been a great journalist. He must have known all the tricks of the trade.
Ellie yawned as she turned over the pages. It was too late to be thinking of this now. She ought to go to sleep and start again in the morning, when she was fresh and clear-headed. Then she came to a page that made her stop. Don’t overlook anything. She read it again. Her dad had often been abroad in violent situations, reporting for his newspaper. Overlooking things then probably could be very dangerous. But Mum had said how careful he always was. Sometimes though, however careful you were bad things could happen, and event
ually, her father had lost his life. At least Ellie didn’t have to worry about danger in her job. All the same, the advice was sound. A good journalist would certainly try not to ignore anything, in case it was important.
Well…she stifled another yawn. She would make notes on this page, to keep herself on track. She wrote the next day’s date on the page and marked it. Tomorrow she would attempt to build up a profile on Charlie Daniels, and she would try especially hard not to miss anything, in case it might prove useful. She snuggled down under her duvet and, just before she closed her eyes, she saw her father’s black notebook waiting on her desk. She smiled sleepily. Thanks, Hannah, and thanks, Dad.
First thing in the morning, before breakfast, Ellie looked online to see where the nearest library was to the Heart offices. If she got off the bus a couple of stops earlier than usual she could easily visit one, so she emailed Francesca’s office address while she ate her breakfast. Francesca always started work early.
Okay if I visit library on the way to work today? Might have a lead.
It wasn’t long before she got an answer.
Fine. See you a bit later.
The librarian was very helpful. “We do have a couple of the hardbacks,” she said when Ellie asked. “I’ll just see if any of them are in.”
Ellie waited anxiously while the librarian looked on her computer. “We should have one on the shelf. I’m afraid it’s volume two, so if you haven’t read the first one you might not want it.”
“That’s all right,” said Ellie. “I don’t actually want to read it.”
The librarian gave her a startled look. “Really? Well, it should be over here.” She led the way to the shelf and picked it out immediately. “This series is so popular,” she said. “Since the film came out we can’t keep up with the demand.”
Ellie wasn’t listening. She looked on the back, but there was no author picture. She looked inside too, but to her disappointment she drew a blank there as well. There were some notes about the author, but they were almost as brief as the ones in the paperback version she had: The Fanghurst Trilogy attracted unprecedented excitement when it was first offered for publication, and has already been sold to over a dozen countries. Charlie Daniels lives in London, and is now working on a prequel, Fanghurst Born.
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