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Chapters (64)
  1. Cover
  2. About the Author
  3. Dedication
  4. Chapter One
  5. Chapter Two
  6. Chapter Three
  7. Chapter Four
  8. Chapter Five
  9. Chapter Six
  10. Chapter Seven
  11. Chapter Eight
  12. Chapter Nine
  13. Chapter Ten
  14. Chapter Eleven
  15. Chapter Twelve
  16. Chapter Thirteen
  17. Chapter Fourteen
  18. Chapter Fifteen
  19. Chapter Sixteen
  20. Chapter Seventeen
  21. Chapter Eighteen
  22. Chapter Nineteen
  23. Chapter Twenty
  24. Chapter Twenty-One
  25. Chapter Twenty-Two
  26. Chapter Twenty-Three
  27. Chapter Twenty-Four
  28. Chapter Twenty-Five
  29. Chapter Twenty-Six
  30. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  31. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  32. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  33. Chapter Thirty
  34. Chapter Thirty-One
  35. Chapter Thirty-Two
  36. Chapter Thirty-Three
  37. Chapter Thirty-Four
  38. Chapter Thirty-Five
  39. Chapter Thirty-Six
  40. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  41. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  42. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  43. Chapter Forty
  44. Chapter Forty-One
  45. Chapter Forty-Two
  46. Chapter Forty-Three
  47. Chapter Forty-Four
  48. Chapter Forty-Five
  49. Chapter Forty-Six
  50. Chapter Forty-Seven
  51. Chapter Forty-Eight
  52. Chapter Forty-Nine
  53. Chapter Fifty
  54. Chapter Fifty-One
  55. Chapter Fifty-Two
  56. Chapter Fifty-Three
  57. Chapter Fifty-Four
  58. Chapter Fifty-Five
  59. Chapter Fifty-Six
  60. Chapter Fifty-Seven
  61. Chapter Fifty-Eight
  62. Chapter Fifty-Nine
  63. Epilogue
  64. Acknowledgements

‘This came in with the weekly mags.’ She waves a crappy magazine, more of a pamphlet really. ‘Luxury’ something. Developer?

So? ‘Is it not just a crappy leaflet? With the ones for giant garden gnomes, and elasticated trousers in fifty shades of beige?’

Harri shakes her head. ‘I assumed so, but I saw that it has a Hudson logo on it, which is a bit weird. No one mentioned anything about a new magazine. Usually a new title is launched with a bit of noise and fuss, we all have to go and drink warm cava and eat Caterpillar cake in the boardroom.’ She flicks through the flimsy pages. ‘Most of this appears to be an ad for something called the Whittaker Complex.’

‘What’s that?’

‘A big housing development. Apartments starting at 4.5 million. Whittaker, presumably as in…’

‘Oh yeah, our Mackenzie! Well, you know. Hardly our Mackenzie, but…’

‘Yeah. It’s odd.’

Chapter Fifty-Two

Lazarus

Harri

Mackenzie had promised—or threatened—two weeks for Harri to make ‘significant changes’. But ten days after her email, she bursts into the office just as Harri is removing her coat, and resting her coffee on her desk. Uninvited, unannounced, almost cheerful.

‘I’m going to advise the board that we close The Know down with immediate effect,’ says Mackenzie. Harri almost respects her for not bothering with a hello, or a how-areyou. ‘Legally, apparently, we’re obliged to give you a month. The law, in this country.’ Mackenzie rolls her eyes, for once, almost friendly, inviting Harri to join her in cocking a snook at the absurdity of a system that forces an employer to prevent their staff from becoming immediately homeless.

At this point, Harri could almost laugh.

‘I see.’

‘There has been a failure to establish consistent audience and advertising targets, various content issues, budget mismanagement, and our server monitoring system has found evidence that the office space was being used out of hours, for unauthorised purposes. I’m sure you know that Panache will be closed in the coming months too, although I’d appreciate your discretion there, as it has yet to be announced.’ It’s such an obvious, wicked trick, such a lazy way of wrongfooting your enemies. How has Harri allowed herself to fall for it? ‘The Know was always a secondary product, to support Panache, so there’s really no point carrying on.’ Mackenzie’s laugh is a staccato burst of sharps and flats, the sound of glass shattering against the wall.