In the background, Mack was grumbling about obsolete drivers for the microphone, and should she risk installing updated ones? Perhaps if she made a pop-up box that said it was an automatic update, Sacker wouldn’t get suspicious. Then the blonde said something, flipped her hair, and flounced across the bedroom. Sacker went after her.
“How long will installing an updated driver take?” I asked Mack.
“A minute or so.”
“Do it.”
The passage to the fire exit was clear, and by the time I got back to the platform, Sacker was still pacing the townhouse bedroom, the blonde trailing behind him like a forlorn puppy.
“The Ferris wheel’s turning again,” Mack said.
“Send Bradley back to the car when he gets down. We’ll want to make a swift departure.”
“Sure, I’ll do that. And we should have sound…now.”
A pause, and then the blonde’s voice reached my ears. Ouch. If it got much higher in pitch, the neighbourhood dogs would come running.
“It’s probably a stunt,” she said. “For YouTube or something. Come back to bed, baby.”
“We don’t know that for sure.”
Sacker scrubbed a hand through his hair, leaving it skew-whiff. Getting a little stressed? Well, so was I, because if they treated this as a joke, then the Monteiths wouldn’t get their money. What was wrong with Sacker? Was he really blind enough to his daughters’ personalities that he thought they’d be capable of playing such a sick prank? Granted, the “abduction” wasn’t entirely above board, but it was far from a social media scam. I’d met the girls less than an hour ago and I already knew they had neither the audacity nor the need to trick their father like that.
“They’re attention-seeking. Remember last month when Artemis interrupted dinner with some question about school?”
“That was kind of a big deal, Chantelle. She was thinking of changing her major from politics to videography.”
“There you go—videography.” Chantelle waved a hand towards the laptop. “See? It’s just another project for her.”
“Neither of the girls was holding that camera.”
“So? It was probably that hanger-on Artemis hired. What a waste of money! He got the lighting totally wrong. Everyone knows you should use a ring light for close-ups.”
Ugh. The woman was just awful.
“You’re right! What’s his name?” Sacker snatched up his phone and began scrolling. “Brent? Trent?”
“Brett?”
Sacker found the number, dialled, and switched the phone onto speaker while it rang. Meanwhile, Chantelle had a brainwave. Must have fried every tiny fucking cell in her skull in the process, but she picked up her own phone and checked Instagram.
“He’s with them today.” She waved her mobile triumphantly. “Told you.”
Brett answered. “Hello?”
“It’s David Sacker… Artemis and Isolde’s father. Are they with you?”
“They were, but I can’t find them. Like, they disappeared right in the middle of SciPark, and now their phones are turned off. Why? Did they call you?”
“What do you mean, they disappeared?”
“I went to take a leak, and they were sitting in the shade checking Insta, and when I came back, they weren’t there anymore. So I figured they’d gone to the car to get a charger or something, but that was nearly an hour ago, and the charger’s still in the car and no one remembers seeing them. Man, this whole place is in chaos—a bunch of monkeys got out. A couple of the rides broke down too. Maybe the girls got caught up in the crowds? Want me to get Artemis to call you when I find them?”
“I already got a call,” Sacker said. His voice had dropped to a strangled whisper, a far cry from the “I’m right, you’re wrong” tone he customarily used.
“That’s great—what did they say?”
A commotion at the other end of the platform caught my eye. Jeffrey Monteith was on the phone, and he didn’t seem happy. Dan was there in a second, first listening and then gesturing. A pep talk by the look of things.
David Sacker didn’t have that support. He’d deflated onto a tackily ornate chair in front of the dressing table while Chantelle pouted behind him, and he was most definitely out of his element. This was one situation he couldn’t order and argue his way out of.
“The call wasn’t from the girls,” he told Brett. “They appear to have been abducted.”
“What?” A long pause. “If that’s a joke, it’s not funny.”
“You think I’d joke about something like that?” Sacker snapped.
“N-n-no, sir. They’ve been kidnapped?” That was a nice note of fear in Brett’s voice. “Have you called the cops? I should tell park security. There’re cameras and—”
“No! The person who called said…they said not to contact the police.”
“So what the hell do we do?”
“They want a ransom.”
“You’re gonna pay it?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t—”
“Out now!” Dan directed.
Fuck. “What’s happening?”
“The maintenance crew’s coming in. Jeffrey tried to stop them, but the park director overruled him.”
Okay, we’d planned for this. While the crew came in through the main entrance, we’d retreat to the vestibule by the emergency exit, then leave in small groups. Except…
“Slight hitch,” Mack said.
Don’t tell me problems, tell me solutions. “What hitch?”
“I left the camera pointing at the fire door turned on so I could monitor any movements, and a group of park rangers is standing right next to it, chatting.”
And then from Bradley, “Hey, it’s me. What’d I miss?”
CHAPTER 11
FORGET MY EARLIER comment. The waiting wasn’t the worst part of a job. No, the point when everything went wrong at the same time, that was the worst part.
“Sorry, sorry, he just helped himself to an earpiece,” Mack said.
“Bradley, go back to the car. We’re dealing with a situation.”
“What situation? Can I help? I’m excellent at helping.”
“Sure, you can help. Just go ask the staff hanging out behind the sphere if they’d mind fucking off because we’re all about to get caught.”
And then it got even worse. We were moving along the passage now, feeling our way
