“How on earth did you think this would do?” Francesca was looking more annoyed than Ellie had ever seen her before. “I thought you said you’d read our magazine?”

“Of course I have!”

“Well, if you had you’d know that our readers love Pop ’n’ Lolly Lowther. The last thing they want to read is subtle comments that hint at how big-headed Pop is without actually saying it.”

“What? I didn’t write anything like that!”

Francesca threw a couple of pieces of paper onto her desk. One slid onto the floor and Ellie bent to pick it up. It was a printout of her article, with comments all over it in red pen. “I think you’ll find you did,” she said coldly. “Trying to live up to your father’s reputation by being clever isn’t going to take you far. I wanted a simple article about how thrilled you were to meet the Lowthers and instead, amongst the good stuff, you’ve given me your opinion on why they are splitting up, and all of it, so far as I can see, is totally fabricated.” She glared at Ellie. “As if I didn’t have enough to do without nurse-maiding a child who thinks she’s an investigative reporter!”

Ellie scanned the page hastily. She was almost in tears. “But this isn’t what I wrote! I loved Pop, and Lolly. I did ask why Lolly wanted to become a student, but—”

Francesca wasn’t interested in Ellie’s protests. “Unfortunately, as we have enough of a crisis on our hands with losing Joe’s shoot, we’re going to have to use this in some way. If Piano wasn’t still working on the pet article I’d hand it straight to her and send you home, but I can’t do that. I don’t want Carlotta to handle it either. In spite of what she thinks, editing isn’t her strong point.”

Francesca was looking through Ellie as she reckoned up her options. Then she focused on her again. “The stupid thing is that the actual writing shows a lot of promise.” The way Francesca spoke it didn’t exactly sound like a compliment, more a comment made in total frustration, but Ellie felt a small leap of comfort at her words.

Francesca pushed the other sheet of paper in Ellie’s direction. “So anyway. I’ve marked up the article. Go and start putting things right. As soon as Piano has finished she can take over and make sure it’s fit to be seen.”

A commotion at the front desk made them both turn round. A man with a trolley was backing in through the door. Carlotta was remonstrating with him, but he waved a bit of paper at her.

“You wanted this water!” he shouted before swerving to get past her. “It’s your usual order.”

“No, we didn’t,” yelled Piano, joining in. “We cancelled because you never deliver on time.”

“Oh for goodness’ sake,” muttered Francesca. “Do I have to do everything myself?” She left Ellie and strode angrily towards the man with the trolley.

Ellie was aware of the commotion, but she didn’t turn to look – she was desperate to see what had gone wrong with her article. How on earth could Francesca have misread it so badly? The answer jumped out at her as soon as she began to read the printout more carefully.

“Someone has altered it!”

The first sentence was in her own words, but as Ellie scanned down the page she could see that a few references to the Lowthers had been changed, so the tone of the article was subtly different from the way she had written it. It was amazing what damage a few changed words could do. Pop was cold and distant to her sister, which wasn’t true at all. In the article, Ellie had referred with amusement to arguments the twins had told her they’d had while at school, but someone had taken out the added information that, although Pop laughingly admitted she could be argumentative, both girls had told Ellie that they never fell out for long. The bit Ellie had put in about them obviously being very fond of each other, and being totally on each other’s wavelength, had vanished.

When it came to Lolly, Ellie almost burst into tears. She had been such a warm, lovely person, and to Ellie it had seemed obvious that she had a real vocation for medicine, but now the article suggested that she was going to university almost to spite her twin sister. Ellie felt like sobbing. She put her head in her hands and stared at the red pen marks scribbled over the words some unknown person had inserted instead of hers. Then she looked up through her fingers at the continuing argument at the door. Francesca was dealing with the situation in her usual efficient way, and Carlotta was taking a call.

It seemed wrong that office life was carrying on while she was so devastated, but she had to pull herself together. The article could be salvaged, and she would be sure to print it out so it couldn’t get sabotaged again – and it would be plain to Francesca that Ellie could deliver the sort of writing that was wanted. She’d be out of here at the end of the week and whoever had been horrible enough to alter her article wasn’t worth worrying about. Even so, she couldn’t help wondering who it had been.

Ellie decided that she wouldn’t be surprised if it was Piano’s idea of a joke. She pretended she was so superior, but Ellie was sure she’d been just as jealous as Carlotta about the interview with the Lowthers. Then another thought struck Ellie. Francesca had said she’d get Piano to tidy the article up once Ellie had done her best with it. Maybe Piano hadn’t meant the alterations as a joke at all. Maybe she’d done it so she could write it instead of Ellie! If there was one thing Ellie knew about journalism it was that the more high-profile articles you got published, the better your chances of making a name for yourself. Maybe Piano had decided it would be a waste for a mere student to get her name on the piece, and that she could make better use of the prestige.

That thought made Ellie get on with restoring her article as quickly as she could. She was determined to make it perfect, so that Piano wouldn’t have the slightest excuse to take it over. She didn’t go down to have a cup of tea with Sophie that afternoon. She didn’t have time. She needed to stay where she was and get it sorted. As soon as she had finished, she read the piece over one last time and then printed it out. She took it over to Francesca, who was back at her desk again.

Ellie waited anxiously while Francesca quickly read what she had written. “Much better,” said Francesca, looking pleased. “When you’re not sniping, you can write really well.” Ellie was tempted to protest her innocence again, but decided against it. The most important thing was that the Deputy Editor liked her work. Hopefully Angel would too, and the article would appear. It was far more exciting thinking of that, rather than brooding on someone’s spitefulness.

Her mum was still out when Ellie got in after work. She made herself a drink and took it up to her bedroom. Hannah was online, so she settled down for a good long chat.

Hi! Good day?

Brilliant! replied Hannah. More chicks hatched. They’re so sweet. How was your day?

Interesting! wrote Ellie. Someone ruined my article.

No way!!!! Tell all.

Ellie’s fingers flew over her keyboard. She told Hannah what had happened, who she suspected, and how hard she had worked to get it right again.

Good for you, Hannah wrote approvingly. Anything else exciting?

Just some water that turned up after it had been cancelled.

Ha! Your office sounds a shambles! wrote Hannah. They need you in charge.

Ellie paused before she replied. She wanted to defend the magazine. The Editorial Department wasn’t a shambles. Angel and Francesca set very high standards and they achieved them too. Piano and Carlotta could be spiteful, but that didn’t seem to affect their work. The water company messing up was just a nuisance. That sort of thing could happen to anyone. Then she remembered Angel’s and Francesca’s reactions to Sapphire missing the important fashion shoot. That wasn’t just a nuisance. It was a really big deal. They had obviously been shocked as well as angry.

Not a shambles, she wrote, just bad luck, but it’s stressful enough meeting tight deadlines without stuff going wrong.

Hannah had to go for her dinner, so they signed off and Ellie put her computer to sleep. She sat with her chin in her hands, staring at the blank screen. It probably was mostly just bad luck, but it wouldn’t hurt to keep her eyes and ears open. After all, her article had been altered deliberately, and she had no proof against Piano. What if, instead of just playing a nasty trick on Ellie, someone was intent on harming the magazine? She’d thought the article had been a personal attack. What if it wasn’t, what if it was part of something bigger…like the cancellation of the shoot? Together, those two things had caused a lot more work and had threatened the look of the next issue. Ellie would feel terrible if she didn’t act on her instinct. Because that’s what it was, instinct; and Ellie Ixos was sure as anything that a good journalist should always be prepared to trust her instinct.