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B2The Last Letter · Chapter 2 · Part 1About 2 min

The Drive

Listen first. Answer six questions. Then explore the transcript.

01 · Before you listen

A few words to know

Explore the vocabulary
external drive
a small device used to store computer files
anonymous
without a known name
corroboration
independent evidence that supports a claim
allegation
a claim that has not been proved
deadline
the time by which work must be finished
grant
money given for a particular purpose

02 · Listen to the story

Follow the clues.

03 · Check your understanding

What did you discover?

Choose one answer for each question. Submit all six to see your score and unlock the transcript.

1. Which item allows Emma to revisit the evidence she collected fifteen years earlier?

2. Which year do the files on Emma’s drive date from?

3. Why does the repetition of the rumour fail to make it reliable evidence?

4. Which organisation is mentioned in the note about financial concerns?

5. Which unverified explanation for Claire’s disappearance had influenced Emma’s earlier reporting?

6. According to the account, what subject does an old note tell Emma to investigate?

04 · Read & review

The transcript

Submit all six answers to unlock the transcript. You can then listen and read together.

Emma placed the old external drive on her kitchen table. A faded label read Glenarraidh, 2011. The letter she had received lay beside it. Its instruction still troubled her: You were looking in the wrong place. She connected the drive to her laptop and waited for the files to appear.

There were interview recordings, photographs and early drafts of her articles about Claire Morrison's disappearance. Some documents were carefully named; others were difficult to identify. Emma noticed that the same rumour appeared in several files, but she could not find a reliable source for it. Repeating a claim did not make it true.

One note caught her attention: Foundation — financial concerns. Source requests anonymity. It referred to an email sent the morning after Claire's disappearance was reported. Emma found a saved copy. The writer suggested that Claire had been under pressure at home and might have left Glenarraidh voluntarily. The email contained no evidence.

Emma remembered the pressure of her newspaper deadline. She had used the anonymous suggestion in an article, even though she had not confirmed it. She now understood how unfair that had been to Claire's family.

Another note said: Check with trust. Ask about grants. She had never done it. Sarah, her editor, sent a message warning her not to publish anything about the new letter yet. Emma did not intend to. She opened an old version of the Glenarraidh Education Trust's website and began searching for the scholarships it had promised in 2011.