DAY FOUR
Wednesday July 24th, 2024
A delaide James : Okay, so I must admit, you told us quite the tale yesterday, Ms. Taylor-Braddon. And I do believe that that audio played of the emergency call has been doctored—I researched your friend Ashley Kincade last night, and didn’t he do a course in media studies? I am sure he has the skills for editing audio, if you do not. Because I emphatically do not believe that you actually tried to help Mia Wilson.
Or if you did, it was to cover up your own actions. Make people believe you were helping when you weren’t.
Summer Taylor-Braddon : You’re speaking quite fast now, Adelaide, like you’re... unsettled. Or unsure. Was yesterday the first time you heard that call?
Adelaide James : It was. But, as I said, I do not believe that what was played was the original recording. And now it’s time to actually give readers the truth. Because isn’t that what this whole project is about? The truth.
Summer Taylor-Braddon : It is, yes.
Adelaide James : Well, I’m not going to beat about the bush here. I’ve got my final guest waiting outside. I’ll just invite her in now.
[ Sounds of the door opening and closing, amid a third person entering the room ]
Adelaide James : Let’s welcome Mary Smallridge. Say hello to her, Ms. Taylor-Braddon.
Summer Taylor-Braddon : Hello, Mary.
Adelaide James : It’s been quite a while since the two of you met, has it not? Well, I’ll get straight to the point. Mary was best friends with Ms. Taylor-Braddon’s sister when the two were at Okehampton College. It’s got to be about twenty years since the two of you left, right?
Mary Smallridge : Yes.
Adelaide James : I must admit, Mary, I was very intrigued when you got in touch with me. You gave a wonderful interview back then, but I was never entirely sure what I wanted to do with it. I wrote up articles, but my blog just didn’t seem like the right platform for that. What you told me felt too big.
But when Ms. Taylor-Braddon invited me onto this project, well, I couldn’t believe it. All my dreams just came true—just like that! So, Mary, if you’d like to tell the tape recorder what you told me before, that would be wonderful.
Mary Smallridge : I’d rather not speak in front of Summer.
Adelaide James : Would you leave, Ms. Taylor-Braddon?
Summer Taylor-Braddon : No, I will not. And this is my project, and you cannot force me out of this. Mary, go ahead though. I’m certainly intrigued about what you could possibly say.
Mary Smallridge : It’s about your sister. Matilda. We were friends.
Summer Taylor-Braddon : I know that.
Mary Smallridge : We were sixteen, I think. When... when it happened.
Adelaide James : When what happened, Ms. Smallridge?
Mary Smallridge : When Matilda told me that Summer was the most important person in her life. And that she’d do anything to protect her.
[ She gulps ] We were... we were a little drunk at the time. In my bedroom. “This Love” by Maroon 5 was playing really loudly. My parents were out. Me and Matilda, we were lying on my bed, and we’d been talking a lot and she just blurted all this out—how she’d do anything to protect her sister.
And I said to her, I asked her, “Like what?”
And Matilda just said, “Like murder. I’ll kill anyone who ruins my sister’s life.”
Adelaide James : Thank you, Ms. Smallridge. That’s all we need to know. Would you like to leave the studio now?
Mary Smallridge : Yes, I would.
[ Sounds of Mary Smallridge leaving ]
Adelaide James : So, Ms. Taylor-Braddon, let’s talk about this. You and your sister, and your sister’s apparent ease of planning murder.
Summer Taylor-Braddon : That wasn’t what Mary just said.
Adelaide James : You personally described the woman that you saw stab Mia Wilson as blonde. Yet in all the photos, the woman who was detained and convicted was brunette. But your sister is blond, is she not?
Summer Taylor-Braddon : If you’re suggesting that Mattie had anything to do with Mia’s death, you’re completely wrong. That is just ludicrous.
Adelaide James : Only I have been trying to find your sister, and Matilda Taylor is proving a little allusive to find. Which is strange, given that she’s normally very much in the public eye. What with her job and all that. All those tasteless photographs.
Yet, she hasn’t updated her social media since the day before Mia Wilson was killed, has she? And she hasn’t taken on any new modeling jobs—in fact, her agency told me she’s left. No one seems to be able to contact her, so where is she, Ms. Taylor-Braddon?
Summer Taylor-Braddon : If you’re suggesting that my sister did this—just... wow.
Adelaide James : I’m suggesting more than that. I’m suggesting that you were also involved. What was it that you yourself report the murderer as saying? Were the words, “I told you I’d sort it?”
Summer Taylor-Braddon : My sister did not kill Mia. We know who did. The woman is in prison.
Adelaide James : Well, if Matilda Taylor has nothing to do with this, why has she pretty much disappeared? She’s untraceable right now. One might say she’s missing —now, isn’t that a familiar storyline?
Only you don’t seem overly concerned—or indeed, concerned at all—this time? You’re quite calm, which leads me to think that you’re in on it.
Summer Taylor-Braddon : You are grasping at straws here, Adelaide. That’s all you’ve got. And you’re wrong.
Adelaide James : Then tell me where your sister is.
Summer Taylor-Braddon : She’s traveling. And for her own safety, I am not going to disclose any more details. I know what you’re like. I know what you’re capable of. And I also know what readers are capable of—not just yours, but mine too.
The police concluded that the woman who murdered Mia was one of my fans. She thought she was helping me.
Adelaide James : Or it was your sister—your sister who was helping you. Helping you get your life back. Only it still hasn’t gone to plan, has it? You haven’t got your husband back.
Summer Taylor-Braddon : You can spout whatever lies you want, Adelaide. But I have told the truth. I have only ever told the truth. And when people listen to this project, they’ll know. They’ll know what I have been through. And they’ll also see how toxic you are.
Adelaide James : I think people will make up their own mind about you, Ms. Taylor-Braddon—master liar and manipulator and murderer. Because you may have asked your sister to kill your rival, but the blood? Well, that’s on your hands.
Summer Taylor-Braddon : We’re never going to agree. But thank you for doing this project with me, Adelaide. It’s been insightful. And thank you for showing your true colors. I think we’ll stop here.
##
D ante Fiore : Okay, so this is our final few minutes recording this project. In this studio, I am joined by the two main people themselves: Summer Taylor-Braddon and Ruari Braddon. Now, I understand that this is the first time you two have been together, in the same room, since the tragic events?
Summer Taylor-Braddon : Yes. That’s correct.
Ruari Braddon : When we were recording here yesterday, we sort of ended up avoiding each other. Even though we were alternating sessions. I think you were in the café, waiting there, so you wouldn’t see me?
Summer Taylor-Braddon : Yeah, I was. I just... That waiting room outside this studio, it’s pretty small. I know that if I sat there with you, Ruari, I’d feel forced to make small talk. And that didn’t feel right. It’s... It hurts being this close to you. And knowing... knowing everything that’s happened.
Ruari Braddon : I still don’t really know how this has all happened. How... [ He chokes up ] It’s been six months since Mia was killed. Murdered. On our own doorstep. Because of all of this mess.
Summer Taylor-Braddon : I do feel horribly guilty that it was one of my fans who killed her. That that woman said she was doing it for me. I never wanted that. Ever.
Ruari Braddon : I know.
Dante Fiore : So, my question now is, what’s next, for the both of you?
Summer Taylor-Braddon : Mum, Matilda, and I are getting new identities. Mum’s going to start dialysis very soon. She’s getting a kidney transplant. Anonymous doner. I would’ve—but I wasn’t a match. Neither was Mattie.
We’re moving. Quite far away. And I guess it will be good to have a fresh start. It’s the only way, I think, we can move on. Away from everything.
This project, this is the last you’ll ever hear of Summer Taylor-Braddon. She will no longer exist, as soon as this tape stops recording.
Ruari Braddon : I don’t think I’m ever going to move on. [ He clears his throat ] I listened to the recordings, you know. This project. And it’s... it’s so difficult for me, because I still haven’t got my memories back, but I’m looking at you now, Summer, and I feel this sense of... familiarity. Of knowing you.
And I’m so grateful that you’ve asked me to review all the tapes, to check that I’m happy with those being released. It makes sense that I’m asexual—that’s the only thing that has made sense to me, in this project. And I’m fine with that being out there, because we need more people talking about it, don’t we?
Asexuality is real. It is a thing. It’s not made up. Men, women, and nonbinary individuals can be—and are—asexual.
But I can’t remember you, Summer. I can’t remember any of the things you spoke about. Our time together. All I remember is Mia. And Mia’s gone. And our baby. It was another girl, the third one.
But they’re up there. Mia and the baby. They’re looking over me, and I’m going to continue on. I have no choice. I’ve got Alex and JoJo to think about. I lost the love of my life—twice—but they’re still babies themselves, and they’ve lost their mother.
They’re not going to lose me.
It hurts, of course it does, seeing them. Being with them every day. It can’t not. JoJo’s really starting to look like her mum. But I... I have to be there for them.
And we’re going to move back to Australia. They need family around. I need family around. The Wilsons... and everyone there who helped me, who looked after me. They’re the only family I remember. And it doesn’t matter that I’m not related to them by blood, because it’s what’s in here—in my heart—that really matters.
It’ll be better for the kids, to go back.
Those two—they’re my forever, now.