Textusa's Phone Hacking Scandal #2

Today we continue with our absolutely fictional phone hacking of fictional phone calls.


Phone call #2:


F: Any news?

G: Still none…

F: Damn! Well, since we last talked, like I said, I got a couple up in Alvor willing to go to the police to say they saw a man, Saturday night, stepping out of a van and carrying a child up a hill. For now at least, we’re keeping the abduction story alive. For the next couple of days or so. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for S hurries up and shows himself!

G: Do we still need him?!? I mean, now that we have the physical sighting of the abductor we were so desperately looking for, couldn't we just get this all over the papers? By tomorrow this time the whole world will be leaving no stone unturned looking for this man! Right? Now S is no longer that fundamental, right? If he now appears, good, he’s confirmation, if he doesn’t, we now have these people that will send everyone searching for…

F: You stupid?! Where in the hell did your friend find you?!?

G: What? What did I say wrong this time?

F: Need I explain???

G: Well… yes…

F: Alright then… tell me, who knows the Alvor couple went to the police?

G: Well, you…

F: Do I, you idiot? Do I? No, I don’t! I don’t, you don’t, nobody does but the police and the couple! I’m not supposed to know, you’re not, nobody else is, except the police and the couple that went to the police! If the story hits the headlines tomorrow where would the cops think the papers got their story from?!? Can you tell me?

G: The couple?

F: So, according to you, the couple goes to the police, and then heads straight for the papers, is that it?

G: I was going to say yes, but the way you’re putting it, I’d better say nothing, right?

F: Damn right you should say nothing! What credibility do you think the cops would give the story then?!? Sure, they would follow it up just to say that they did, and quickly put a check mark on it and dismiss it as just another loony sighting looking for their 15 minutes of glory… by now, I bet they’ve already received dozens of calls from real loonies, people who’ll swear on their mother's grave that they’ve seen your daughter… and we know that besides your wife, very few other people can say that, don’t we?

G: Yes, K’s visits are lasting longer each time. I’m starting to fear she may break up…

F: Yes, we’re all worried about her. Why don’t you tell her to write a diary?

G: How’s that?

F: It’ll keep her mind occupied, won’t it? And you never know, these things tend to sell, and it may cover some of the damages you lot have already caused, let's hope she's better in writing than she's in reading notes…
G: That’s a good idea; I’ll tell her to start one up, you never know, it might be another thing she's good at…

F: Do be careful of what she writes, though! We want no trouble! She can whine and play the martyr all she wants, but there are lines not to be crossed, understood? If they're ever crossed, you have problems, big problems, understood?

G: Yes, loud and clear… So is also clear that we still need S… but at least now with the Alvor people, the PJ has a solid lead to go after, right?

F: Yes… but no… as we expected the PJ aren’t paying too much attention to what these people had to say… It keeps the story alive, but that’s about it.

G: Why?

F: One thing is for the abductor to be going on foot the night he abducted Maddie, that’s when he was able to be seen close up… another is to set him up again going between hideouts two or three night afterwards, and again on foot, and again crossing with strangers so that they could have another close look at him, right? Not exactly the most credible of a very scenarios, is it? The best we came up with was for the man to abandon a van in the middle of the road and then go up some hill holding the girl… that means that the details about him couldn’t be as precise as the ones we’re expecting from S, could they? S is the key to this whole thing, understand?

G: Yes, I was really face to face with S, and they couldn't be more than two feet away from J's daughter, so I can see that in this case there is a much bigger distance between them and the “supposed me”, plus the man is going in the opposite direction as well, while I approached, passed, and and only then went away from the Ss. No, no comparison whatsoever. S is the one that will hopefully get us all out of this mess…

F: That’s why S appearing would be so, so important, but he has to make his appearance damn quick.

G: Why?

F: The longer he takes, the more time the PJ has to start to get curious, and the more time they have, the greater risks we run, and that just can’t happen!

G: No, that would just be disastrous…

F: We can control the press, but only up to a certain point… Now, we’ve only managed a small margin of time. S is essential; he just has to show up!!!

G: What if he just doesn’t? Any man in his place should have come forward by now… You know the man, you think he might be afraid to get himself involved or something of the sort?

F: No, no… he’s a serious man. My guess is that he’s not making the connection. I don’t remember all the people that I crossed with that day, do I, so why should he? For all he knew, you were just a father taking his daughter home for some reason, right? But he’ll come. He’ll come because he has to come, even if I have to go to D. myself and bring him here by one ear…

G: But what if he continues not to show up?

F: I’ve been thinking about that, and it’s not only if he doesn’t come. He’s already taken too long, hasn’t he? We have to keep the story alive no matter what, and the only way I see it is to find ourselves a sacrificial lamb…

G: What?!?

F: Well, it’s the only way to keep this alive, isn’t it? We can’t keep coming up with sightings can we? We have to give the cops something they can work with, something they can sink their teeth in… otherwise they’ll soon be sinking them where we don’t want them to. We can’t allow the PJ to derail a single inch from the abduction! If S shows up soon, real soon, then maybe a scapegoat is not needed… but even so, with all this time already gone, even with S speaking we no longer know how the PJ will react with the information he has to give him. We just have to keep the pressure, and keep the pressure hard, and the only way is to give them a real suspect. One that they’ll have to make it public, that they are forced to announce it to the press. That way, they will be entertained, the press will be entertained, and everyone keeps their noses away from us, until I figure how I to get S to speak…

G: Hey If you’re thinking of me or my wife, let me warn you that…

F: Warn me?!? Warn me of what?!? Are you, by any chance, threatening me?!?

G: Well… no… I…

F: Let’s get something clear right now, shall we?!? You lot were the ones that blundered this whole thing up, right?

G: Yes…

F: So if you were the ones that blew this whole thing up, you are the ones to get it if anyone is going to get it!! It’s you people and nobody else, understand?!?

G: Yes... but…

F: No buts about it! This isn't open for discussion! If you haven't understood the seriousness of the situation let me tell you, so that we understand each other, and you go and tell your friends, that this whole abduction story is not, I repeat, not to protect your arses!! It’s protect mine, and those of my people! You, my friend, count very little here and are to do and act as you’re told and exactly as you’re told with no improvs! You and your friends are the smallest of the smallest fish in this pond, have I made myself clear?

G: Yes…

F: It’s already been arranged that you’re to have a spokesman, so there's no more chances of you blundering this even further! You stay put, and continue doing what you’re told. If we ever decide that you, or your wife, or any of your friends are to take the fall, you just take the fall! You take it, and that’s that, understand?!?

G: Ok, ok, I understood, no need to get so upset…

F: Now, about the scapegoat, if we had decided that it was to be you that we thought should take the fall, we would’ve done that on that night, but we didn’t do that did we?G: No…

F: You want to know why? Not because we like you, because we don't, but because the tabloids would have picked up the scandal with you being doctors and all, and once they’d picked it up God knows where the whole thing would have stopped. If this was in the UK, we could still maybe control it, but here, we wouldn’t know what the pesky Portuguese reporters would start to find out and what would they do with it. The abduction was the only way to divert all the attention in those critical first hours and days, and once it was started it just can’t be dropped, can it!? We don't like you, but it seems that we're stuck with you, but don't push your luck, because if we run out of options, it will be your neck that we're going to go after, so you'd better understand that well!!

G: Ok... ok...

F: So, no, for now, we’re not thinking of anyone from your lot for patsies. Not that many of us wouldn’t like that… but you people are the basis of the whole abduction story, aren't you? You’re basically the abduction, aren’t you?

G: Well.. I…

F: Oh, do shut up. No it won’t be any of you. But are we very, very clear on who is pulling the strings around here, on who calls the shots and on who threatens who?

G: Yes…

F: And since we’re on the subject, let me also clarify that me and my people not only are to be completely not involved in this, as we're to remain that way, got it? To assure us just that that we’re going to launch a massive smearing campaign against you guys, on how you are nothing but irresponsible drunkards who pushed their luck too far, and so forth… and to make things certain, we’re going to throw in suspicions that you and your friend may be paedos. It’s the sort of thing that the tabloids love to sell, and a permanent reminder to you guys not to step out of line… The idea is that if anything goes wrong, whatever goes wrong stops right at you doorstep, and leaves me and my friends out of it, understand? You caused the problem, you handle the consequences! We're just assuring that nothing comes our way... Anyhow, JG has already got a social worker to say that she recognizes your friend from somewhere, but isn’t exactly sure where from, you know, that sort of story... they're making it up right now, and they're the experts…

G: He’ not going to be happy, you know.

F: I couldn’t care less for his happiness… he damn well ruined mine didn’t he?!?
G: Listen, me and my friends just want to get out of this as much as you do…

F: Good, good... We were thinking of M for the patsy.

G: What?!?

F: Who else can we use? Any of the locals, it wouldn’t stick. That wouldn’t buy more than a couple of hours… Same with the ex-pats that don’t know what we were up to, nor were aware of what was set up here. If we were to choose one of them that would make us lose all the support we’re gaining from them… We want someone that will be credible enough to entertain the cops until we find a way for S to speak… Any of the OC would rat on us, so we have to have someone who knows how much is at stake and also has something to lose if he speaks… M is ideal… besides, when S comes and says he’s seen you on the other side of town, they can’t pin anything on the man, can they?

G: Just seems like a huge stab in the back, after all we asked him and his mom to do that night…

F: Well, between you and me… if the cops find any traces of your daughter in his place, our problems are over. He knows he can’t speak, so he’ll just have to take it like a man, won’t he?

G: Have you told him?

F: What? And help him prepare to runa away? When you pick a lobster out of an aquarium to go and tell him that it's his turn?!? His mum is pretty clever and suspicious as hell, you know…

G: How you thinking of doing things?

F: You tell your friend J to go and tell the cops that’s him. He’s been showing himself around quite a lot hasn’t he? All she has to do is say, that’s him, and that's it!

G: Ok, that doesn’t seem a hard thing to do…

F: Ok, do keep an eye on that wife of yours. She can’t break. If she does, we’re all doomed. Meanwhile I’ll figure out a way to get S to talk… even if I have to talk to him myself… wait a minute, that’s it!


G: