First Impression II: At Second Glance

Chapter Nine - Coincidence

Chapter Nine – Coincidence

“Morning, Mom, Dad,” I greeted my parents who were sitting by the counter, sipping coffee and looking far too fresh for the morning. I headed towards the fridge for my milk, yawning a little. I avoid coffee during holidays. It makes me far too high.

“Hana, where’s the paper?” Dad asked Mom, looking around the counter.

Mom frowned, “You haven’t taken it in yet, have you?”

A look of realisation dawned on Dad. “Oh,” he said. “Okay, Lennie, get the paper, won’t you?”

I went out to collect it. Settling down beside my parents, I stole some of their toast and looked at it.

I blinked several times and reread the headlines, scanning the articles to make sure what I hadn’t misinterpreted what they were saying.

The Apollo Times Hacked Email Account of Missing Victoria Lemarchant.

Oh no.

“Move over,” Anna told me as she sat down beside me. Looking over my shoulder at the news article, her eyes widened.

“Oh no.”

Mom looked over at us sharply while Dad turned on the television.

“Breaking news of the Varlowe News Empire Scandal…”

My parents turned to look at us, similar expressions of shock on their faces.

I dropped the paper and reached for the phone, dialling Mrs Maria’s mobile phone number. It had been almost two weeks since she had discovered someone had deleted Victoria’s videos. Mrs Maria had immediately moved back to Port Amsouth with Victoria’s parents, believing that there would be some good news of Victoria soon. Good news. I choked on my breath.

Now… Mrs Maria wasn’t picking up. I furiously dialled her number again while ignoring the pricking in my eyes. Did she know about this yet? Had the reporters informed Victoria’s parents before publishing this? Was Mrs Maria okay? Questions swirled around in my head as I dialled one number after another. The apartment Mrs Maria was staying in Port Amsouth, Carla’s phone number… And somehow, I ended up dialling Victoria’s phone number.

“This is Vicky Lemarchant. I’m busy right now so leave a message after the beeeeeeeeeeeeep!” Beep.

As I heard her voice, the reality of the situation came crashing down on me. Victoria missing, gone, lost, forever. I shuddered. And these, these paparazzi were interfering. We might never find out what happened to her. Dead. The word rang in my head and I sunk onto the floor, in a daze, putting the receiver down.

Anna hugged me tightly as we watched the news unfold on TV.

“Today, The Mail broke the news that the email account of the missing Victoria Lemarchant had been hacked by The Apollo Times, a tabloid owned by media baron, Richard Varlowe,” the news anchor read. “Victoria Lemarchant went missing off a cruise more than a month ago and her disappearance sparked off a massive search…

“The Apollo Times had hired a private investigator to hack into Victoria’s email account and access the contents of her missing phone. He had then deleted some videos, leading the Lemarchant family to think that it was Victoria who deleted the videos herself…

“The ongoing investigations reveal that police officers were aware of The Apollo Times hacking the email account but failed to inform either the Lemarchant family or report the case. This has raised concerns over Varlowe using his clout to manipulate the police and compromise integrity…

My head was spinning, spinning, spinning.

“Mr Julian Williams, a journalist at The Mail, has been investigating the malpractices of The Apollo Times and other newspapers owned by Varlowe News for several years. He has covered several stories of celebrities and politicians having their phones hacked by The Apollo Times but none of them have been given serious notice by either the government or the public…

Oh god. I continued to watch in a kind of horrid fascination where you want to look away but cannot bear to.

The news then switched to the weather report and after a while, Mom and Dad left for work. Anna stayed with me a little longer but then she had to leave for her part-time job as well.

In the end, I couldn’t stand the silence. I had to do something. I opened the fridge when I realised that we were short of milk, bread and a few other necessary food. I grabbed a couple of shopping bags. It was time to go grocery shopping.