Read Online Cut to the Bone by Alex Caan - Free Book Online

Dan.
    Kate wanted to keep this, have a hold over Dan in case she needed it going forward. She thought about the recording of the 999 call when Millie had fallen. Dan had just shown himself to be deceitful. His words meant nothing and, right now, he was fast becoming her prime suspect.

Chapter Nineteen
    Kate got up, stretched her legs, walked to the window of Dan’s apartment. Her head was mulling over his denial of something they had proof of. She tried to sift through the things he had said, picking out anything that might show further fabrication.
    The view looked across towards the City. The aircraft warning light on top of One Canada Square, the building commonly referred to as Canary Wharf, was dim in the sunshine. Its towers faint, surrounded by a light mist.
    ‘Her parents said she doesn’t have many friends,’ said Kate.
    ‘She has two million,’ said Dan. ‘Her parents are just deadbeats, need to get out of Rubes’ space. They stifle her, and they don’t know jack about Rubes.’
    ‘What don’t they know? Enlighten us.’
    Dan shrugged.
    ‘Who would you say are Ruby’s closest friends?’ said Zain.
    Dan opened his mouth, closed it without speaking. Close friends, he should rattle off some names. His silence corroborated what the Days had said. Ruby was a loner. Lonely in the glare of two million people watching her.
    ‘Ruby’s parents didn’t have any numbers, said they used Facebook mainly to contact her circle. Can you help us out?’ said Kate.
    You better help us, before I make you face up to your lies , she was thinking.
    ‘I got numbers somewhere.’ He gave Zain a side look as he went through his phone. ‘You got an email address? I’ll send you a list.’
    ‘Does she have anyone she is particularly close to?’ said Kate.
    ‘There’s some of us, YouTubers, we get together now and again. Go to VideoCon and stuff like that. There are so many awards now, people trying to tap into what we do. They don’t get it, a lot of them, and they hate that. We did it without them, you see, just us and cameras in our rooms. No budget, no advertising, we just clicked. It’s perfect democracy; the people choose what they want to watch. And they want to bottle us.’
    ‘Who are they ?’
    ‘All of them. Companies, film studios, brands. Anyone out there trying to make money. They want us fronting it.’
    ‘Had Ruby been approached by anyone, to front anything?’
    ‘Yeah, tons. She gets free stuff every day, almost. People send her stuff, ask her to use it in her videos. It’s like advertising, but without advertising. People watch her, and they watch what she uses. Last year, she used this eye shadow, right, and it sold out in a month all over. A month. Beyoncé has that sort of power, and here’s little Rubes doing the same. The Americans love her, they love her accent.’
    Dan looked at Kate; she didn’t react. She’d heard it enough times.
    ‘So she was sent random things? She didn’t have a contract with anyone?’
    Dan looked furtive, started stroking his arms, drawing his hands into his stomach. Classic concealment, comfort grooming: Kate had hit on something.
    ‘No,’ he said.
    Your body is saying something else to me, she thought. What exactly was he hiding?

Chapter Twenty
    They were getting ready to leave. Dan Grant had been exhausted; he didn’t have anything useful left to say.
    ‘What do you do, then? On YouTube? What’s your talent?’ said Zain. He rolled the word talent in his mouth, heavily mocking.
    ‘I have a gamer channel. I play games.’
    ‘What do you mean?’ said Zain.
    ‘I play games. All the latest games that come out, I play them. And I film it, and I do commentary, and I give tips to people. So when people struggle, they come to my videos, and they get through levels.’
    ‘A tutorial?’ said Kate.
    ‘Sort of. I film myself playing the game, and I talk over it. I literally review every second of it.’
    Kate didn’t grasp it; she would have to watch a