Search for a Star

by Cindy Jefferies

  Ellie didn’t want to confide in Francesca. She was afraid she’d laugh at her theory…and maybe even forbid her to pick up either of the little dogs again and risk angering their owner. But most owners loved talking about their dogs, and having them admired… There was the woman’s rather odd attitude, the silver book tag and the name…maybe it was too much to hope that the dogs actually belonged to the elusive Charlie Daniels, but Angel had seemed to think Ellie was the sort of person others might confide in. If the woman was a friend of his, Ellie might be able to talk her way into meeting him. It might, if she was very lucky, all come right.

  It was impossible for Ellie to sit calmly at her desk. Instead, she decided to go for an early lunch, and to the stationer’s for Francesca at the same time. Often, she ate lunch with Sophie and sometimes Flynn as well, but she felt too awkward to do that today. Besides, it would probably be better to leave them to work out their differences. Having her hanging around was unlikely to help, so with some relief at having made that decision, Ellie took her bag and left the office.

  She went to the stationer’s first. Francesca kept a combined notebook and diary personal organizer, which you could add pages to. Ellie thought it was a rather old-fashioned way to keep up to date. She used the diary on her phone, but Francesca liked to write her appointments down, and Ellie had to admit the green, leather-covered organizer did look pretty cool. Francesca wanted a packet of refills for her to-do list, and it took a matter of minutes for Ellie to buy the size she wanted.

  Once that was done, Ellie felt at a bit of a loose end. She didn’t need any shopping herself, and she found herself being drawn in the direction of the park, even though she didn’t have Ferdinand with her. She had a sandwich in her bag, and a bottle of water…she might as well eat it there as anywhere else.

  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.

  Francesca frowned. “Well you can’t sit here, moping into your computer,” she said not unkindly. “Let’s go into the boardroom. No one will disturb us there, and you can tell me all about it. All right?”

  Ellie nodded. She got to her feet and stumbled towards the exit. She could hear Francesca explaining to Piano that she, Ellie, wasn’t well. She felt a fraud, but grateful to Francesca. In the lobby, Francesca paused to fill a cup with water from the cooler. Then she led the way to the boardroom.

  “Now. What’s so terrible about my office that it almost reduces you to tears? Has Piano been more sharp than usual? I think you deal with her very well as a rule.”

  “It’s not just Piano getting to me,” said Ellie, blowing her nose and then accepting the water. “It’s failing with Charlie Daniels too.” I’m sad about Sophie and Flynn as well, she realized, everything has added together to make me feel miserable, but I can’t say that.

  Ellie explained about finding the blog, and connecting the dogs’ names with the ones in the park. “I was so sure I was going to get an address, or at least a phone number,” she said. “It was really exciting! But then they didn’t come today, and when I got back to find that my email to the blogger had bounced back, labelled ‘undeliverable’…” She sighed.“I just got upset. Sorry.”

  “Well, never mind,” said Francesca. “These things happen. The chances are it’s not a live email address if the blog was four years old. Actually,” she looked thoughtfully at Ellie, “I think you did remarkably well, considering how little you had to go on. Rather than be sad about it, you should congratulate yourself.”

  “Really?”

  “Of course! A lot of detective work comes to nothing, but when something does come right you know it’s a
ll been worth it. You might not have got hold of your man, but you’ve shown me what you can do. I’m genuinely impressed.”

  “Well…” Ellie downed the rest of her water and sniffed. “I did enjoy doing it. I’m sorry I got upset. That was stupid.”

  “Don’t worry about it. People who care a lot about what they’re doing can get upset when it doesn’t work out.”

  Ellie swallowed the lump that had been in her throat. “It’s not very professional though.”

  Francesca smiled. “Maybe not, but that will come. You’re young enough to learn in time to hide your feelings a bit more when you need to. But you shouldn’t ever be ashamed of having strong feelings. Feelings are honest, and real.”

  Ellie took a deep breath and gave Francesca a proper smile. “Thanks, Francesca. I know you’re really busy, and…”

  “Nonsense. It’s part of my job, to look after my staff. Look.” She paused. “Why don’t you go and splash some cool water on your face, repair your make-up and then come back into the office…unless you’d rather I sent you home?”

  “No, it’s fine,” said Ellie quickly.

  A few minutes later, Ellie was at her desk again, trying to look as if nothing had happened.

  “Would you like a cup of tea?” asked Francesca. “I’m sure Piano will go and make you one.”

  “Yes please,” said Ellie.

  “How do you like it?” asked Piano, immediately pushing back her chair and getting up.