Page 50 of The Library on Plum Island
“Do you know the exact time Doctor Thornton called you?” Alex asked.
“I can look on my phone,” Meg told him and went silent for a few seconds. “The call came in ten minutes ago.” She took a breath. “Mr. Blackwell, can you at least confirm that you and Doctor Thornton are getting married in Boston tomorrow?”
Alex looked to Harriet, now a celebrity agent, for guidance on how to answer that. Harriet looked up from her phone, holding out her hand for Alex to pass his over, and he did.
“Hello, Meg,” Harriet’s voice was cool with a lash of acid. “You’re speaking to Harriet Joyce, I’m Mr. Blackwell’s PR manager, and he won’t be answering any questions. Please check at the Blackwell Corporation’s press office should you want to make an appointment for an interview.”
“Yes, but I have him on the line now. I just want to know if it’s true that he’s getting married in a rush without a prenup or care of losing his house or fancy super yacht?” Meg didn’t take a breath as she got everything she wanted to know out.
“No comment,” Harriet told her. “Oh, and Meg, if a word of this gets printed in your rag, you won’t like the fallout. Reporters have been hounding Mr. Blackwell since he did that television show on which the host hinted at a secret love interest. And will go to any length to get the scoop like fake a phone call from a clinic where Doctor Thornton works.”
“Fake phone call?” Meg sounded skeptical. “You would say that, though, wouldn’t you, to cover the truth that Alex Blackwell has finally found a woman that he can’t have, so now he’s marrying her in the guise of being her hero to get what he wants.” Her voice became scathing. “If you don’t answer the questions I’ve asked,thatis what will be printed in next week’s edition of the magazine.”
“Trust me, sweety,” Harriet said in a voice that dripped with confidence. “You print that, and the rag you work for will be history before the story hits the headlines, and as for you…” She paused for dramatic effect. “You’ll never work as a reporter or in any form of the media again.”
“Typical rich people,” Meg sneered. “You shut everyone up just because you don’t want the world to read the truth.”
“No, Meg,” Harriet corrected her. “We shut up people like you that want to print lies and twist it so people believe it.”
“You can’t threaten me like this,” Meg hissed. “My boss will see to that.”
Harriet’s phone beeped, and she glanced at him. “Oh, sweety, I think you’d better take that call that is about to come your way because I’ve just got confirmation from your boss that he’ll tend to the situation.”
“What?” Meg spluttered. “You called my boss? What are you? Twelve that you had to run to my boss to tattle on me?”
“No,” Harriet denied. “I merely made sure that Mr. Blackwell’s attorney called your boss to let him know one of his reporters is harassing Mr. Blackwell with an unsolicited phone call and threatening to print a bunch of lies from a false tipoff.”
“I didn’t get a false tipoff. I called the clinic, and they confirmed that Doctor Thornton worked there and had just left moments before I called her back,” Meg stuck her ground.
“The only problem with your story is that Doctor Thornton wasn’t at the clinic at the time of the telephone call, which can be verified by about twenty people at a store where she was at the time of the call,” Harriet told Meg. “Doctor Thornton had, in fact, left the clinic half an hour before the alleged call from her to you from the clinic.”
“What?” Meg breathed, her confusion evident in her voice.
“If you were agoodinvestigative reporter, which I believe is what you’re aspiring to be from your bios, you’d have dug deeper,“ Harriet pointed out. “Especially before calling and harassing Mr. Blackwell. Good day, Meg and please don’t call this number again.”
With that, Harriet hung up and handed Alex his phone back. “Let’s hope she doesn’t print her rubbish, as that magazine is apparently all about sensation rather than the truth.”
“Thank you, Harry, you handled that like the pro you are.” Alex’s voice resonated with gratitude.
“I hate it when reporters do that,” Harriet fumed. “How many people’s lives have they ruined by twisting the truth?”
“I can’t believe Daniella would do this,” Alex said in disbelief.
Harriet’s phone bleeped once again and she shook her head before looking at Alex, frowning. “Daniella didn’t do this.” Her eyes scanned the message on her phone. “According to Harley, Daniella went to the clinic but they were surprised to see her and hadn’t called her.”
“There was no emergency?” Alex’s eyes widened while worry and fear sliced through him.
“No.” Harriet shook her head. “As she left the clinic, she called Harley to let him know what had happened and Daniella was scared that Doctor Jackson was already in Plum Island and had started playing his games.”
“So what you said to Meg about Daniella was the truth?” Alex looked at her, amazed.
“Most of it,” Harriet confirmed. “Except for the part about the store. Daniella went straight home, terrified about Doctor Jackson being somewhere on the island.”
“Now I’m afraid he’s on the island,” Alex admitted. “But Meg said that Daniella had called her, indicating it was a woman.”
“Doctor Creepo could’ve hired someone to call,” Dawn pointed out and frowned in confusion. “I just don’t understand how whoever called Meg would’ve known about your wedding plans. What’s even more worrying is whoever called somehow knew what we’d been talking about a few minutes before calling to tip off Meg.”
“Dawn’s right,” Alex said, going cold. “How did they know?” His eyes widened as he remembered the break-in at his house and yacht a few weeks ago before he was kidnapped.
