Hidden Heart (Love Is The Law 1) by Isabella Brooke Read Free Book Online Page B

*
     
    Emily had stood in the centre of
her flat, clutching the now-silent phone, while her bath-foam flecked skin
dried and her brain caught up with what her mouth had said.
    Oh shit.
    This has to work, now.
    She groaned and flung the phone
to the desk, where it slid right off the edge and dropped to the floor, the
case pinging free from the battery. Yup. Seemed appropriate.
    Once she was dressed and had a
fresh coffee in her hands, she sat down on her sagging sofa and clipped her
phone back together. She sent a quick text to Kayleigh. God, she missed having
her friend around. They'd shared a flat until when Kayleigh's job had taken her
to Belgium. It was great to have the space to herself but Kayleigh had also
talked her out of lots of mistakes.
    It was telling that the debacle
with the last story had happened after Kayleigh left the country.
    I'm having one last go at
social commentary, her message read. I've got to make this work.
    There was no reply and Emily
drank her coffee while surfing a few websites and sending some exploratory
emails. She hit up old contacts and found a few messages returned instantly, undeliverable. Perhaps she ought to do some footwork, get back out to the pubs and clubs, find
some new leads.
    What would 90,000 prisoners in
the UK do on release?
    She hopped from website to website,
looking at arguments of every political hue. Was it really all a capitalist
conceit, designed to keep an underclass so that the whole edifice of
consumerism could be built from the bottom to the top? It was an interesting
idea, and she was soon drawn into the debate. I wonder what Turner thinks of
this? She jotted a few things on her notebook. I must ask him.
    Her phone zinged with Kayleigh's
reply, jolting her back to the real world. One word. WHY?
    Emily thumbed through the apps on
her phone, while trying to conjure up a reply in her head. None came. Because.
Why not. I must. I feel. There is.
    In the end, she didn't reply at
all. Instead she scrolled through the list of contacts and lighted up on the
editor of a national weekly that dealt with gritty, hard hitting issues. He was
the one for this. She considered sending an email, but she'd worked with him
before, and a phone call was often a quicker way of getting a response for a
known writer like she was. She ignored Kayleigh's text, and instead rang the
editor's desk.
    But it was an unfamiliar female
voice that answered.
    "Oh, hi. I was after
Julian…" Emily stammered.
    "Ahh, sorry. He's on leave
right now. I'm the office manager. Can I ask who's calling? I might be able to
pass you on to the sub-editor."
    Emily's toes clamped tightly in a
curl. She knew the sub from college, and they'd never got on. He was a
supercilious little prick who had not forgotten how she'd turned him down for a
date. "Ahh, no, you're all right. Thanks."
    "It's okay, do you want to-"
    Emily never heard what the woman
was offering because she terminated the call and tossed the phone onto a
cushion. Whereupon it slid, once more, to the floor and disgorged its contents.
    I really ought to get a cover
for that thing.
    Or stop throwing it around.
One or the other.
    What now? Julian, her best hope
for this article, was away. Write it on spec? Dangerous. Could be a big waste
of time.
    Her future fogged over, uncertain
once more. She pushed the sense of foreboding away, and sat up straight, drinking
the last of her tepid coffee before turning back to her online research.
     
    * * * *
     
    The quayside area was different
at night. Emily stepped off the Metrolink tram and walked briskly, streetwise
enough to know she had to walk with the confidence that she didn't always feel.
Over the past two days since her decision to keep trying with investigative
journalism, she had done a lot of work and research but she was still no nearer
a commission. She'd tried ringing Turner but he hadn't returned her calls until
that afternoon, apologetic and claiming to have been away somewhere.
    She'd suggested the