by Ruby Loren
Jameson reported that he didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary whilst doing the job. He also confirmed that the family were still at the property when he left that evening having seen Mr Abraham and spoken with Matthew Abraham.
A spokesman from the police has released the following statement:
We are treating this disappearance as suspicious. The evidence we have suggests that the family did not leave voluntarily, but we can also report that there were no signs of violence. We are doing everything we can to locate the Abraham family and are asking for any witnesses, or for anyone with any information, to come forward.
My eyes moved downwards to rest on the photos of the individual family members. It was strange looking back at an article published when the case was still fresh… when they’d still had strong hopes that the Abraham family would be found. Seven years later, I was sure those hopes were long gone.
I hesitated, looking at Matthew Abraham’s young face with his dark eyes and lack of smile - probably a photo taken from a university identity picture - and I lamented the life he had missed.
Someone needed to find out what had happened to him and his family. No one should have to stay missing forever.
I received a call from Jordan the next day. He said he had some urgent news. First, he asked me if I’d been watching my website view counter recently. I’d reported that I had noticed a huge number of visits, but I’d just put it down to bots in different countries visiting en masse - as they sometimes did.
He’d explained that it hadn’t been bots. It had been my comics going viral. He wasn’t sure where it had started, but the publisher’s campaign had taken off and the links to my lil’ ol’ webcomic had been shared and clicked all across the internet.
It was then that I’d remembered my Etsy page - the one where I sold originals, and at Tiff’s behest, prints of my most popular comics, too. I’d hurried across and had been both amazed and horrified to find that all of the originals had sold out, as had the prints listing which Tiff had (unwisely it now seemed) set to 100 in stock, claiming it was for convenience and wouldn’t sell out.
I’d mentioned to Jordan that I was going to need a PA, or something, to help me with all of this. He’d said that it could of course be arranged for a fee. With that number of sales in the bank, I didn’t think I needed to worry much about the cost of hiring someone to pack it all.
The advance I’d been offered for the printed book the publishing company were promoting hadn’t been huge. Jordan had explained that the contract they were offering was highly experimental, as it allowed me to keep the rights to my online comics and all of the merchandise already associated with them. That was why the actual advance had been low… but the company had put my comic book on preorder to see what would happen.
That turned out to be the real reason why Jordan had called. He said something important had happened and he needed me to come up to London to the publishing house right away. Fearing it was something bad - like they’d miscalculated costs, or I’d somehow breached my contract without knowing - I’d hopped on the train right away.
The publishing company’s offices were in a pleasant part of London. I walked past a busy pub and a green park before I walked down the narrow cobbled street that led to their door. It was only when I was right outside that I hesitated.
What was so important that I’d been called up to their offices? Even when I’d signed the contract, I hadn’t been summoned here. It had all been done through Jordan, who’d handled it like a dream. Now, at last, I was here and wondering what I was facing.
The door opened and Jordan smiled at me. “Come on up. We’re meeting with the head of the company right now.”
I felt my mouth dry up as Jordan led the way up the stairs and then through the modern offices. I glanced down at the astroturf we were walking across and privately thought that trendy offices were weird. I very much hoped that the office refurb at Avery wouldn’t include anything like astroturf.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Madigan,” the woman inside the office said after Jordan had knocked and we’d been okayed to enter.
I stuck out my hand and made sure I gave hers a good shake, while I took her in the same way she was getting a measure of me.
“I’m Leona Dresden, director of Rock and Roll Publishing.”
We sat down and I was finally able to process the woman in front of me. She was younger than I’d anticipated the director of a publishing company to be, but then, it made some sense when I considered the unorthodox pathway they’d permitted me to take with my comics. She was pretty, too, I noticed, looking at her perfectly toned blonde hair and button nose. In spite of possessing a nose that many would call cute, her eyes were chips of ice, and I had no doubt that getting on her bad side would be a very foolish idea.
I really hoped I hadn’t done something to get on her bad side.
“I’m sure you’re wondering what this meeting is all about,” Leona began, and I nodded. “I’m sorry to keep it under wraps but we had some figures to double check before we called you in. You know we put the book up for preorder online?” I nodded again, still unable to shake visions of all of this crumbling. Inside my head, I tried to pinch myself. Since when had all of this mattered so much to me? Comics had always been a hobby, and nothing more, but all of a sudden, I realised I didn’t want to lose this. What had started out as little scribbles to while away an evening alone had turned into something that people liked. I was creating something that improved people’s days, and I quite liked that.
“The preorder has absolutely taken off,” Jordan jumped in and received a death-glare from Leona for jumping the gun.
“It’s outsold all of our previously published books. We had a projected print run but we’ve had to multiply that by… well, close to a hundred. We’re not actually sure our printing house can cope and it might delay the delivery of orders.” Leona hesitated. “That’s the bad news. The good news is, your advance has already been paid off and your part of the money from these sales will be going into your bank account just as soon as it goes through our channels.
“Isn’t that brilliant, Madi? Everyone is going crazy for your comics. As soon as the book is out, we’ve got you booked for the biggest chat shows. We’ve even had offers from shows in the US! You’ve singlehandedly made Rock and Roll Publishing into a very big player, and I know everyone here wants to thank you for it,” Jordan told me.
“Wow!” I said when they both looked expectantly at me.
“It does take some getting used to,” Leona said with a small smile. “That was what we brought you up here for. I’m sorry you had to make the journey, but I wanted to be able to tell you in person. I’m sure others in the office will want to thank you, too.”
“Thank you,” I said, still torn between awe and horror at how my tiny little comic was now something chat shows wanted me to talk about?! I know I’d agreed to let myself be the face of the comic, but I had kind of assumed that it would be more local newspapers than national broadcasts.
“Actually, Madigan, while you’re here, it would be great if you could look over a couple of things,” Leona continued, her voice more businesslike. “As you know, we signed one book on a trial basis and I think it is already clear that it is a huge success. Therefore, I would like to check that you still approve the commissioning of two further books, and I would also, if you’re willing, like to extend the contract to include ten volumes.”
My eyebrows shot up. Ten volumes?! That was a heck of a lot of drawing - especially when you factored in the online comic. Another thing about it concerned me, too. The comics I wrote were about the animals I observed whilst doing my job. As predicted, Donald Trunk had indeed put in an appearance in my most recent online comics. If I had to fill ten whole books full of comics… I would have to make up a lot of material. I was worried that my comics would lose their spirit.
“Don’t worry, the production schedule will remain the same, you’ll just
be drawing the comics for years to come. So, don’t go quitting the day job on us, will you?” Jordan said with a grin, having accurately read my facial expressions.
“I’d never. Not even if I was a billionaire,” I told him, sincerely.
He looked pensive for a moment. “Well, you never know what’s going to happen.”
“There’s also the merchandise,” Leona reminded him.
“Ah, yes… I’d better bring you through to show you that,” Jordan said, leaving me mystified.
“Thank you so much for coming in for this meeting.” Leona stood up and extended her hand again and I shook it, still feeling as though I’d both been trampled on by a herd of elephants and floated up and away on a cloud of balloons.
“Thank you, too,” I turned to say right before I walked out of the office door. That was how I caught the look that passed between Jordan and Leona. The one I clearly wasn’t supposed to see.
I turned away immediately and hoped they hadn’t noticed. All the way through the merchandise discussion (which I agreed to on the condition that I got to keep the prototype ‘Lucky the cat’ toy the publishing house had been given) I kept my happy expression in place. It was only when I finally said goodbye to Jordan that I let my smile slip.
Leona and Jordan had looked worried. Why would they be worried if my comic was doing as well for the publishing company as they said it was?
I tried to shake my doubts as I walked back down the cobbled street. Perhaps it had been something entirely unrelated to my books. Leona was young, attractive, and had a whole lot of power at her fingertips. I could definitely see Jordan liking someone like that. Perhaps they’d had a fling and it hadn’t worked out. That would explain the look between them. It could just be something personal.
I was still telling myself that when I turned the corner and bumped into someone. Being small, I came off worse, losing my balance and stumbling backwards. I was about to hit the stones hard when the man I’d bumped into grabbed my arm and pulled me back upright.
I focused my gaze on the person I was about to thank for saving me. The words died on my lips.
8
Measuring up
“I’d ask what you’re doing here but that’s not going to get me an answer, is it?” I said to Lowell.
He bent down to pick up the papers he’d dropped when he’d been forced to catch me. “You don’t want to know. We shouldn’t even be talking.”
“That’s not good enough for me any more. I know the security team at the zoo aren’t just security. Clearly, you’re here in this street in London for a particular reason, too. Honestly, right now I feel as though you all think I’m a seriously big-time criminal who needs round the clock surveillance.”
Lowell’s dark eyes warmed for a moment. “That’s not it, Madi. You know how it is. The less you know, the more likely you are to stay safe. I do still care about you. I care a lot.”
I looked up at him and willed myself not to feel the same way. I definitely didn’t feel anything like the way I had when we’d first got to know each other and then when we’d been together. All of that was long faded, but I couldn’t admit that I didn’t care about the man standing in front of me.
I took a deep breath. “I know what you’ve said, but this has gone on for too long, and it’s been taken too far. I want to know the truth.” Lowell shook his head but I hadn’t finished. “And if you don’t tell me, I’m just going to have to find out for myself.”
“That is a very bad idea. You don’t understand.” Tendons in his neck stood out like wires and I knew he was really stressed about something.
“What I understand is that you seem to be following me everywhere. Either you’re my personal guard now, or you’ve gone rogue and have developed a nasty stalking habit. I’d love to be able to check which it is, but conveniently, you can’t tell me and theoretically no one else will either. But we shall see about that.”
Lowell took my arm and moved so that we were closer to the wall a little way on from the corner of the street. I wondered what he thought was going to happen in the middle of a fairly busy part of central London.
“They already know you know something is going on. What have you been saying? They think I told you things!”
“I’m doing what I can to find someone who will talk to me.”
“That’s bad, Madi. Even if they do tell you something, that’s not the result you want. The service has a secret motto: ‘Once you’re in, you’re in forever’. If anyone tells you the truth it means you’re in more trouble than you could ever imagine.” He hesitated. “I never wanted any of this… and look at me now. Don’t make the same mistake.”
“At least tell me one thing, Lowell. What does any of this have to do with a family who went missing seven years ago?”
His dark eyes looked at me, unreadable, but he didn’t speak.
After waiting for a couple of moments more I nodded. I wasn’t going to get any answers here. “Goodbye Lowell.” I knew in my heart I was saying it as a final farewell to any final caring feelings I still had.
Even if my ex-boyfriend was right about all of the things he claimed about the people he worked for, that didn’t change my need to know the truth. When I considered it, I would probably have been able to let it slide if everything didn’t seem to somehow be centred on me. Who in their right mind would be able to ignore that?
“It’s crazy that they haven’t told me anything. I have more than enough to be suspicious about, and what makes them think I won’t shoot my mouth off about what I do know? If there really is something going on that they want kept secret, surely they’d be worried about that?” I was trying to reassure myself that I had some bargaining chips, but in the back of my mind a little voice whispered that it was a bad idea to try to play with what I had. For a man like Lowell to be scared, it was clear that one wrong move could end in something nasty.
I wondered how many of the bodies I’d seen recently had been victims of exactly this kind of circumstance.
When I walked back to the train station, I realised that my buzz of both excitement and nerves at the prospect of my successful comic had died down to a pit of dread deep in my stomach. Lowell had even managed to take that moment of happiness from me.
Katya had been avoiding me ever since I’d collared her and played my little game of bluff. But even in a zoo as spacious as Mellon, you couldn’t hide forever.
February was marching onto its final days, and I’d done all of the fixing up that I thought needed doing. The zoo now had a full team of zookeepers. We’d had several meetings to discuss the features of the enclosures and what the Zoo was setting out to achieve with its animal welfare developments. I’d been pleased by the response of the staff, who were a young bunch and all very open to the idea that the days of static zoo animals should be well and truly over. Our goal was to conserve. That didn’t mean wrapping animals up in bubble wrap and treating them like breakable figurines, it meant giving them as close an experience to what they’d have in the wild as possible. That meant foraging activities for some, and for others, a mock hunt with dinner as the motivation. I knew from experience that all of the zoo animals would be happier, healthier, and prone to more natural behaviours, such as breeding. And I also knew that the visitors would enjoy the zoo much more themselves.
With all of the briefing and fixing over, this morning saw me walking around the zoo with my folder of review sheets ready to begin my final report. When I saw Katya standing watch outside of the barn conversion/ghost tour, I knew that it was too good an opportunity to miss.
Having clocked her out of the corner of my eye, I took a circuitous route around the zoo until I was back on the other side of the barn. I figured that she wouldn’t be able to avoid me the way she’d so clearly been doing.
“Good morning,” I said, making her jump. I was halfway through congratulating myself that I’d managed to sneak up on someone who was probably basically James Bond, but way more badass, when it occurred to m
e that someone like that could have just as easily drawn and fired when surprised.
“Morning,” Katya replied, a lot more stiffly.
I waited.
“I can’t tell you anything,” she hissed out of the corner of her mouth.
I sighed but nodded. “That’s all anyone ever says. But you can surely see it from my side? If you were in the middle of some big secret thing that was going on, you’d want to know what it was, wouldn’t you?”
After a second, Katya nodded.
“I know that doesn’t change what you can and can’t tell me,” I said, saving her the trouble, “but, maybe there is something you can help me to do before the zoo opens.” It was a Sunday and only the bare minimum of people were at the zoo today and I knew it. Even the security team had a reduced presence. I wanted to take advantage of that.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but no one’s really investigated the barn right behind us since this place was made ready for opening. I don’t even think that a proper measured plan has been made of the place - something which I’m sure Amanda would be grateful to have.” I tilted my head at Katya. “Ever wondered what might have been left in the walls?”
The agent looked at me for a long moment before something flashed through her eyes. I thought it might have been pity mixed with curiosity. Whilst I wasn’t a big fan of anyone pitying me - unless it meant they gave me free cake, or something - at least it looked like I might have a partner for a covert operation I’d been planning for a while.
“Have you got a tape measure?” Katya asked, and I knew I’d already won.
“Two,” I said, pulling them out of my review folder. The look on Katya’s face would have been amusing had I not known she was involved with something big, secret, and dangerous.