‘I just heard her cry out. I need you to text me your Instagram login.’
‘What? Why? I don’t—’
‘I’ll go live on your Instagram. You’ve got three hundred thousand followers. It’ll go viral. They won’t hurt her if they know the world can see.’
‘But I—’
‘Do it, Issy! Do it now!’
‘But—’
Meg was gone. Issy looked at the phone, her mind reeling.
‘Everything okay?’ Kelly looked at her, frowning. ‘You need to take your seat on the stage. You’re on in thirty seconds.’
Issy gave her a nod. Mayor Skelton and Derek Palmer, the State Government Minister for Planning, were already seated on the stage, expressions smug with self-importance.
She searched the faces of the Hartwell locals standing at the back, hoping to see Hugh and Spencer somewhere there to disprove Meg’s story. She saw Warwick and some of the subbies. Chrissy and Robbie, in his wheelchair. Sue, who had closed the Red Lion for the afternoon so she could come along. But there was no sign of Hugh or Spencer.
She looked back at the phone in her shaking hand.
Chapter 59
Meg stared at her phone, willing it to light up with a text from Issy.
Nothing.
She looked out at the building opposite, where Hugh and Spencer were holding Georgie. There was silence now. Was that a good sign or a bad one? Meg didn’t know. She felt sick.
She looked back at the phone.Come on, Issy.
Still nothing. Meg shook her head, disbelieving. She thought she’d seen something in Issy. Something that set her apart from the rest of them. Kindness. Empathy. Had she imagined it? Had she seen what she wanted to see? No. Issy had those qualities, but Meg had seen something else in her too. Fear. Cowardice, even. She’d seen it in Issy’s eyes when she refused to confront her father with Meg. ‘If I do that, I’ll lose everything,’ she’d said. When all was said and done, her inheritance mattered more than the truth.
Just as Meg was giving up hope, her phone lit up.Issy.Meg exhaled.
Username is Dizzy_Issy_Ashworth, password Trixie1234
Tears sprang to Meg’s eyes as she felt a rush of relief—and something else too. Pride, maybe? Issy hadn’t failed her. Or herself.
Meg wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand and flicked over to Instagram. She logged out of her own account and back in as Issy, fat-fingered as she typed with shaking hands.
Wrong username or password.
Shit. She took a breath, steadying herself, tried again.
Yes! She was in.
Heart hammering, she selected ‘live’, then flipped the camera so she could see her own face. She typedLive abduction of Georgie Baxter by Spencer Ashworth and Hugh Thorburnas a title, then started filming.
She was live. ‘My name is Megan Hunter.’ She kept her voice low, a steady murmur. ‘I’m a journalist withThe Times.’ She moved out from under the stairs, still talking to the camera, her breath fast and shallow. ‘I’m at the Highland Dairy factory in Hartwell, ninety minutes south of Sydney. Recently, I’ve discovered corruption at the highest levels of the state government—’ she could hear the tremor in her voice, ‘—involving deals done with Ashworth Property, which is headed up by Spencer Ashworth.’
She drew in a laboured breath, trying to ease the tightness in her chest. ‘But someone has been trying to scare me away from this story. They planted a tracking device in my bag and they’ve been following me. Today I used it to lure them here, to the site of their next corrupt deal. It worked. Spencer Ashworth and Hugh Thorburn followed me here, and now they have my cousin Georgie Baxter trapped in this building.’ She angled the camera to show the door.
‘I’m going to knock on that door and get them to come out.’ She positioned the camera on the ground, leaning it against the leg of a metal bench seat so it had a good view of the door and the space in front of the building, but far enough away that hopefully Hugh and Spencer wouldn’t see it. Over 2800 people were already watching, with more joining every second. Good. She needed viewers. The more the better.
She leaned in close to the screen. ‘Wish me luck.’
Chapter 60
