Search for a Star (7 page)

As she ate her lunch Ellie kept a close eye on all the people and dogs going in and out. But by the time she'd finished her food there had been no sign of the dogs she'd half hoped to see. She got up with a sigh, and shook the crumbs from her clothes for the sparrows.

Back at work, Ellie changed into her office shoes and stowed her outdoor ones in the cupboard in the lobby. She was straightening up again when an odd sight met her eyes. The reception desk was right ahead of her, and leaning on it, talking to Debbie Wu, was Flynn. Lots of girls in the offices liked to flirt with Flynn. He
was
very good-looking, so it was hardly surprising. It was a bit of a joke with Sophie. Sometimes she teased him about it, and Flynn took it all good-humouredly. But Ellie had never seen him respond to a girl's approach. He'd never shown the slightest interest in anyone except Sophie. He'd always been totally loyal to her, so far as Ellie knew, but there he was, leaning in towards Debbie, and beaming all over his face, as if he thought her the best thing he'd seen for ages. Ellie's heart gave a jump. What was he
doing
? Surely he realized that smiling so much at Debbie would only encourage her? Then her heart gave another flip and sank to her feet. Maybe he
wanted
to encourage her. Maybe his falling out with Sophie was worse than she'd thought.

Ellie really didn't want to walk past them. She felt embarrassed. What could she say? Should she look disapproving? She was sure she'd be unable to show any other expression on her face, but it was really none of her business. Flynn and Sophie had to sort their own lives out between them. It didn't matter how loyal she felt towards Sophie, there was nothing Ellie could do about Flynn's behaviour.

Taking a deep breath, Ellie marched towards the reception desk. She had decided to avert her face, and say nothing at all, but as she drew close, Flynn spoke to her. “Hi, Ellie!”

Ellie mumbled a greeting and strode on to her desk. She sat down and folded her arms. He wasn't even
ashamed
! Presumably he didn't care that she'd seen what he was up to. How
could
he?

To distract herself, Ellie began to read the latest article that Piano had written. But the words danced about on the screen. She was so cross for Sophie that she read the same sentence three times without it making any sense at all. Defeated, she flipped to another screen and glared at some pictures of handbags for a few minutes. When she was feeling a bit calmer she glanced over to the reception desk. Flynn had gone, and Debbie was sitting there as if nothing had happened at all.

Ellie took the packet of organizer paper over to Francesca's desk. Francesca wasn't there. She must be at one of the frequent meetings she had with Angel. Ellie wondered if they were talking about her celebrity list. Probably not. It was getting near publication day, so they were almost certainly going through the pages of the next issue, making sure everything was as perfect as possible, including her scoop of course. It would be fantastic to see that in the magazine. Piano hadn't said anything to Ellie about that, though she must know about it now it had become part of the next issue.

Piano was at her desk. “I've got a job for you if you're at a loose end,” she said.

Ellie started. “Actually I've got lots to do, thanks,” she said.

Piano looked at her sourly. “Yes, well I could see you earlier, trying to pretend you were a proper journalist. A lucky break with Pop Lowther, and a little bit of encouragement from Francesca and you think you've arrived.”

Ellie couldn't help herself. “So aren't scoops part of being a journalist?” she said sweetly.

Piano did her usual eye-rolling thing, as if Ellie was totally clueless.

“If you
have
got anything useful to do, get on with it. And don't forget our coffee,” she added in a huff.

“I
know
,” Ellie called back over her shoulder. She was sure she must sound like a grumpy child, but Piano made her feel like one. And seeing Flynn with Debbie had really unsettled her. Still, it could have been worse. Imagine if he'd been chatting up Piano?

At that thought, in spite of her concern for Sophie, Ellie wanted to giggle. Flynn wouldn't last ten seconds with Piano. She would spend all her time trying to boss him about, and he wouldn't like that one bit!

Determined not to give Piano an opportunity to give her a job to do, Ellie did a search for the blogger who had mentioned the author's dogs. He hadn't kept his blog going for very long, but all the old posts still remained. She started reading them eagerly. There might be something else buried there that would be useful.

There was an email address for him, so Ellie started to write a message. Then she paused. If Charlie Daniels didn't like the media, and it felt very much as if he didn't, surely any approach from a magazine would immediately get deleted? Maybe it would be better to send a message from her hotmail address, so it didn't look as if she was working for
Heart
? If she could get the blogger on her side, and if he was a friend of Charlie Daniels, maybe, just maybe, she could reassure him that an interview with her didn't mean that the writer would lose his privacy. Ellie had the uncomfortable feeling that Francesca might not think it a very ethical approach, but she told herself that she would be totally honest as soon as she had a dialogue going. The blogger didn't really need to know that she and
Heart
were connected, not to begin with anyway. She decided to try cunning, and so she suggested that she had something to tell Charlie Daniels that he might like to hear. She spent ages wording her message, trying to make it sound as tempting as possible. Even if he thought it was spam and simply deleted it, well, at least she would have tried her best.

After hesitating for a moment she took a deep breath and pressed send. She could always try again using the magazine email, though she didn't have much hope that the direct approach would work.

Ellie was sure she'd done all she could for now, and looking at the time on her screen she realized she ought to go and fetch the coffee, otherwise she'd be late taking Ferdinand to meet his friends Snappit and Beastly. All her efforts to remain calm deserted her as she allowed herself to think about it. She'd have to use a huge dose of empathy to put the woman at her ease. If she succeeded, and the woman was connected with Charlie Daniels, and if she
did
get a contact number, Francesca would be totally impressed. As for Piano…well, Ellie would then have
two
scoops instead of just the one. That would teach Piano to be so irritating! Although Ellie had to admit to herself that there were an awful lot of ifs and maybes in this scenario. It was a very long shot indeed.

She tidied her desk, closed the lid of her laptop and went to get the coffee. Francesca and Angel were still in Angel's office, their heads together, as they put the final touches to the next issue of
Heart
. Ellie put their coffees carefully on Angel's desk and took Ferdinand's lead from the coat stand.

“No, Ferdinand—” Angel put out a restraining hand as she caught sight of her dog leaving his basket. Then she noticed Ellie with his lead. “Oh all right. Is it that time already?”

“It's almost three,” said Ellie.

“Yes, yes. Go on then.” Angel waved her away. “Francesca, we need to do something with this page. It's not lively enough.”

Francesca reached for her coffee with a nod of thanks to Ellie. “How about lifting the background colour a bit?” she said.

Angel shook her head impatiently. “That wouldn't be enough. No, we really need to emphasize this section here. Let's try putting the illustration in a box.”

Ellie clipped Ferdinand's lead on and left them to it. She closed the door quietly behind her and then she and Ferdinand hurried away. Ellie felt her excitement mounting at every step they took towards the park. Maybe Snappit and Beastly's walker would ask Ellie to keep an eye on them while she went to the loo, or to get an ice cream. It was a lovely day. In fact, maybe Ellie ought to get herself an ice cream, and encourage the woman to do the same. A couple of minutes alone with that silver book tag would tell her all she needed to know.

All of a sudden she wished she'd got a ball for the dogs to chase. It would be so simple to look at the tag when the dogs came back to have the ball thrown again. But it was too late for that now. And Francesca had only given Ellie the rest of the day to make a breakthrough. She
had
to find out if there was a connection.

Full of excitement and enthusiasm, Ellie and Ferdinand entered the dog enclosure. Ellie looked about for the two little dogs, but they weren't there. She bagged the best bench as soon as an elderly man with a Labrador vacated it, and felt very pleased with herself. She was in the right position, there was room on the bench for Snappit and Beastly's owner, and the ice cream kiosk was nearby. Everything was in place.

But it was hard waiting. Ferdinand was fine. So far as
he
was concerned it was just a normal visit to the park, but for Ellie it was agony. The minutes ticked by painfully slowly, and in the end she had to tell herself to stop looking at her watch. But time did pass, and eventually Ferdinand came and lay at Ellie's feet. He'd never done that before. Usually she had to call him to her, but it seemed he knew very well when his walk should be over, and he wanted to go back to his basket now. Ellie realized that the woman with the dogs probably wasn't coming.

Ellie bent down and stroked Angel's pet. “I'm sorry, Ferdi. Let's go back then.”

It was such a shame. She'd been so hopeful, but it had come to nothing. Maybe the woman would be there with her dogs another day, and she could try talking to her then. Apart from that, Ellie knew that Francesca would expect her to spend no more work time on Charlie Daniels. Ellie didn't want to admit it, but it was time to move on to the next name on her list.

Ellie went back to the office feeling rather miserable. She had been so hopeful that she was going to be able to boast about her triumph to everyone, but it had all come to nothing. She tried to tell herself that it didn't matter, but it mattered to
her
. It had been her own project, and it hadn't worked. Then she remembered the email she had sent to the blogger and quickened her pace. Perhaps all wasn't lost after all? Thinking about the possibility that she might have a helpful message from the blogger kept Ellie going until she got back to the office. She changed her shoes, and took Ferdinand back to Angel's office, where he sank down into his basket with a tired but happy sigh and buried his nose under his tail.

Ellie hung up the lead and made her way back to her desk. Piano looked up as she passed, and caught her eye.

“What a shame there were only two of these,” she said, pushing a card towards her. “And that Angel gave one to me.”

Ellie paused and looked at the card. It was an invitation to a glittering gala charity concert, which no doubt Piano was going to cover for the magazine with Joe Eagle,
Heart
's photographer. She shrugged. Piano was obviously trying to make her envious. Ellie
did
feel envious, but she wasn't about to show it. However, she couldn't think of anything clever to say, so instead of replying, she simply made her way to her desk and sat down.

Francesca was at her desk too, typing something with great concentration. But she paused to speak to Ellie. “Thanks for getting that packet of inserts for my organizer.”

“That's okay,” said Ellie. “You're welcome.”

Ellie opened her laptop with her fingers and toes crossed for a reply from the blogger. She was sure that if he had made contact she'd feel a million times better.
Please let him have replied,
she thought to herself.
I couldn't bear it if he hasn't
. She told herself that he might be at work and not get the message until the evening, but it didn't change how she felt. She was sure that a bit of success would make her feel better.

She checked her inbox with her heart in her mouth. There was a message. THERE WAS A MESSAGE!

Ellie couldn't believe it. Her spirits soared as, with shaking fingers, she clicked to open it. She read it, and then she read it again. Then her heart sank lower than it had all day. She couldn't help it, even if Piano did notice. She buried her head in her hands and let out a long, discouraged sigh.

For few minutes she sat there, feeling terrible. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder, and Francesca's voice, quietly in her ear. “What's the matter, Ellie? Has something happened? Is it something I can help with?”

Francesca's kindness made Ellie feel like crying, so she couldn't reply straight away.

“Have you had bad news from home?”

Poor Francesca sounded very concerned. Ellie tried to reassure her. She looked up and gave a lopsided smile. “No it's not anything about home,” she said.