Page 37 of The Plot Twist

Allie clicked her fingers and pointed at her laptop. ‘I am. And you’re using me. Get used to it. I’m emailing this over to you now so stop whinging.’

ChapterTen

Allie considered letting the call go to voicemail. She wasn’t in the habit of picking up to strangers and this number had called twice already that morning, not leaving a message either time. She was on her way to meet Martha for lunch, who had demanded an increase in their scheduled meet-ups, which Allie was convinced was Martha’s way of keeping an eye on her and making sure she wasn’t doing anything stupid. Which for Martha would cover pretty much most of Allie’s daily existence. And so, lacking anything better to do on the bus journey, she finally picked up her phone.

‘Hello?’

There was a long pause on the end of the line. ‘Hello?’ Allie tried again.

‘Allie, it’s Verity,’ came the whispered response.

‘Verity!’ Allie almost dropped her phone in excitement. She had been impatiently waiting for Verity to reply to her messages and now felt irritated with herself that she hadn’t picked up her phone earlier when this number had rung.

‘Shh!’ Verity hissed.

Allie looked over her shoulder. She didn’t know about Verity’s location but the 306 bus was empty, so she wasn’t going to be disturbing anyone with her phone call.

‘Verity, I’ve been trying to get in touch with you!’ she exclaimed.

‘I know, but shh. Here’s the thing. I’m not supposed to speak to you.’

Allie felt puzzled. ‘You’re not?’

‘No. Jake made it abundantly clear that I was not to contact any of my authors, that it would be a violation of my NDA and that he wouldn’t hesitate to seek legal redress if I did.’

‘Wait! Hang on, he made you sign an NDA?’

‘Yes, just before I left the building.’

‘Verity… Sorry,’ Allie apologised for using her name when she heard the intake of breath from the other end of the phone. Of course Verity couldn’t see her but she cupped her hand around her phone, attempting privacy of some sort. ‘Erm, I’m pretty sure he’s not allowed to make you sign one of those. And that if he did it’s not actually enforceable.’

‘I don’t know,’ Verity sounded miserable, ‘he was pretty persuasive.’

‘He’s such a shit,’ Allie said definitively.

‘Agreed. But he did. And I did sign it and now I really really shouldn’t be talking to you. Allie, you have to stop contacting me!’ Verity pleaded.

‘Wait, what? No!’ Allie protested. ‘I’m not going to stop contacting you. I don’t care what that awful Jake Matthews says. I need you! I can’t publish a book without you!’

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. Allie was about to ask if Verity was still there and then remembered that she shouldn’t be using her name.

‘How’s the book coming along?’ Verity eventually asked.

‘Erm, it’s coming…’

There was a long sigh. ‘I see.’

‘Look, I really do need to talk to you about my book. Can we meet?’

‘No!’ Verity exploded. ‘Allie, I can’t! Imagine if someone sees us?’

Allie took a deep breath, it was obvious that Verity was not thinking straight. It was hardly likely that Jake was having her followed, although probably only because Brinkman’s didn’t have the necessary budget to facilitate twenty-four-hour surveillance of one of their former staff members. Briefly Allie wondered under what budget line such an outlay would be placed. But she did understand Verity’s nervousness about being spotted in public together.

‘What about if you came to mine?’

‘I don’t know, Allie,’ moaned Verity.

‘Ver… Sorry! Look, he’s not having you followed, is he?’ There was a long pause. ‘Have you noticed anyone suspicious? Cars parked outside your flat? People in trench coats? Binoculars?’ Allie stifled a giggle.

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