Page 49 of Under A Sicilian Sky
Dougie burst out laughing. ‘Your faces! You wee dafties!’ He guffawed and pointed at the stunned pair, who eventually joined him in his mirth, although on Ruby’s part her laughter was fuelled by relief.
When they had all calmed down, Dougie asked, ‘So why were Mitch and me having imaginary fisticuffs then?’
‘I was telling her there’s an opening event for the village hall a week on Saturday, the thirteenth. A kind of music festival and I said that I’d speak to you about figuring out a way for her to attend it, if we can?’
Dougie rubbed his clean-shaven chin. ‘Oh aye, I love a good festival. Let’s gie it laldy, eh? What’s the worst that can happen?’
Ruby wasn’t at all sure what ‘gie it laldy’ meant and she could think of many things that could go wrong but didn’t answer for fear of making him change his mind. A flutter of excitement tickled at her insides and she managed to refrain from jumping up and down clapping her hands… but only just. She hadn’t been to a music festival in years. In fact, she realised, the last one had been the Leeds festival in the year of her eighteenth birthday. She had drunk way too much and as a result had thrown up outside the tent she was sharing with Kitty. Kitty, in her drunken state, had, of course, found the whole thing hilarious and they had fallen out for around an hour; that was until Fall Out Boy played ‘I Don’t Care’ and they had bounced around in the mosh pit like a pair of escaped lunatics, hugging each other and belting out the lyrics.
‘Oh, I forgot to mention, your wee assistant, Shelby, signed for the hire car,’ Dougie told Ruby. ‘It’s parked around the back by the garage. I’m sure she’ll pop out and pick you up whatever you need. She seems like a lovely lass.’ He smiled as he spoke. It appeared her charms hadn’t been lost on him. ‘Aye, reminds me of my niece. So bubbly, you know?’
Ruby smiled and nodded. ‘Oh yes, she’s a lovely girl.’ But still couldn’t help wondering why she was here.
20
Ruby was sitting in the conservatory readingWuthering Heightswhen her phone rang. Valerie’s name flashed on the screen and she grabbed it eagerly, hoping that there was good news.
‘Ruby, sweetheart, it’s Val.’
‘Hi Val, how are you?’ she asked with a small smile.
‘I’m good, I’m good. You?’
Ruby inhaled and peered out of the window to the pines swaying in the breeze. ‘I’m… okay, I suppose. Do you have news?’
Valerie sighed deeply. ‘We got close. So close. But the…’ More sighing. ‘I don’t know… servers weren’t serving, or the PQ address was scrambled on the internets, or some such fakakta I don’t understand. But to cut a long story short, the sneaky little rat has evaded us again. We froze your online accounts, but somehow people are still sharing the crap out of the original damn posts. Go figure. I’ve hadhatemail, I mean actual, honest to goodness letters in envelopes, addressed to you at the office. It’s crazy. If I were you, I’d stay away from any kind of newspaper or magazine. You’ll only end up sad. Oh, a bit of good news though, the stalker guy, Hamilton Harlow?’
Hamilton Horse’s Arse, Ruby thought to herself with a small smile.
‘Yeah, he’s been caught. And get this, his name isn’t ClarkorHamilton, it’s Bryan. Bryan Moore. He’s been arrested and it turns out he was trying to track you down again and he’s still got files on you, but they’ve all been confiscated. He was caught when he blogged about being bitten by a dog or something and that the owner, Ruby Locke, never took responsibility. Idiot. Anyway, the powers that be tracked him down from a photograph he posted of himself outside a motel with a bandaged leg, and he’s in custody. And Veronica Lucas is putting together a piece for her newspaper about you and your charity work and how you’ve been suffering on account of being hacked and wrongfully accused, but whether people will believe her or not is another thing.’
Ruby sat, head in hands, listening to Valerie’s anti-pep talk and her heart sank so low she feared she may step on it when she moved. ‘Val, I don’t understand why this isn’t dealt with by now. What kind of lawyers are working on it? What kind of experts? My life and my career are in free fall. I’m literally a falling star in a sky full of targeted missiles. Each one that hits takes me down further and I don’t think I’m going to come back from this. Ever.’
‘To be honest, the lawyers are older than dinosaurs. I’m looking into getting the help of some who are experts in cybercrime.’
Ruby sighed deeply and clenched her teeth, doing her best not to shout. ‘But, Val, you should have done that weeks ago. You said you had.’
Her agent fell silent for a few moments and Ruby worried she had overstepped the mark until eventually Valerie spoke. ‘I know. I’m so sorry. I understand if you fire me. I was totally out of my depth with this. I’ve never dealt with the like and I hadno cluehow to make things right.’ She sniffed and it was clear she was upset. ‘I thought I could just work it out without throwing money at it. I was wrong. But I want you to know I’m on the right track now. I am. Wewillget to the bottom of it all. I promise you that, Ruby. Even if you fire me as your agent, which you have every right to do.’
Ruby’s jaw ached from clenching so hard and when she looked down, she realised her fist was balled, her nails digging into her palm. Tears blurred her eyes. ‘So, does this mean you’ve actually done nothing up to now? Nothing of any consequence?’
Valerie sniffed again. ‘I’m so sorry. I really am. I honestly thought this would blow over.’
‘Butyousaid to me right at the start that it wouldn’t!Youwere the one who sent me away because of all the shit being said about me and the threats being made.You!’
‘I know.’ Valerie’s voice wavered. ‘I know I did. But I was trying to get you to take a break for a while so itwouldblow over, and I had to make it seem more serious than I believed it to be or you wouldn’t go. I was shocked when it didn’t just fizzle out.’
Ruby heaved a deep, frustrated sigh. ‘And why on earth is Shelby here? You’ve sent that poor girl all this way for no reason. The money you paid for her plane tickets could have gone towards sorting this mess out.’
‘I… I wanted you to have a familiar face with you. Someone who could help you if anything happened. I just figured having her there would be a comfort to you.’
Ruby huffed. ‘But we’ve hardly even spoken before this, Val. She’s a lovely girl but you’ve sent her on a wild goose chase with no goose to actually chase. It makes no sense at all.’
Valerie sighed deeply again. ‘You’re going to fire me, aren’t you?’
Ruby took a deep breath. ‘Honestly, I don’t know what I’m going to do at this point. My career is in tatters and you said you were sorting it all out. I trusted you, Val. I believed you. But you lied to me. How do I get past that?’
‘I… I don’t know. I’m so sorry. I dropped the ball. I made a huge mistake, but I was out of my depth. Maybe I’m getting too old to do this job. I don’t know enough about social media.’ There was such despondency in her voice.
