CHAPTER NINE
By Wednesday morning, thanks to an hour’s meditative yoga, followed by coffee with Jodi and baby Aurora, Cristy was feeling far more relaxed than she had for the past two days.
Her conversation with David at the start of the week had left her angry with herself for caring about him and Juliette, disappointed with herself for being unable to stop thinking about him, and furious with Matthew simply for breathing.
Still, she was nice and chilled now – in both senses of the word – and ready to seize the day.
Connor looked up as she swept into the office, red-cheeked and windswept from her brisk walk to Spike Island. ‘I had an interesting call while you and my wife were downward-dogging at David Lloyd’s,’ he announced drolly.
‘Tell me,’ she encouraged, hanging her coat and going to pour herself a coffee. ‘Clove, did you send the edit of Sadie’s latest interview to her for feedback?’
‘Done,’ Clover confirmed. ‘No word yet, but the boyfriend got in touch this morning to ask why the first episode wasn’t dropped last night.’
‘And you told him?’
‘What you said, that we’re waiting to speak to Mia in case it impacts the story in some way.’
‘Great. And nothing from Mia yet, I take it?’ Without waiting for an answer, Cristy said, ‘Are we being honoured by Iz’s magnificent presence today, does anyone know?’
‘Apparently not,’ Jackson replied. ‘She said she has to be in London. I didn’t ask why, mostly because she’d have told me and life’s too short.’
With a laugh, Cristy said, ‘In which case, as it’s just us, I have a little announcement to make before we go any further. It’s probably best you all know – if you haven’t worked it out already – that David and I are no longer … together.’
‘What?’ Clover exclaimed in confusion. ‘But I thought you guys …’
‘No damage done,’ Cristy hastily assured her, ‘and there’s nothing more to discuss. It was just an FYI.’
‘But aren’t we hoping he’ll give us some insight into the aunts’ financials?’ Jackson asked worriedly.
‘I’m sure he’ll still come through, and I’ll leave it to you to chase him. That way he’ll know you’re taking on that aspect of the case.’
She watched both researchers look to Connor, as if seeking further explanation or guidance. Since this wasn’t news to him, he simply shrugged and said, ‘So, who wants to hear about the call I received earlier? The answer is, you all do, so fasten your seatbelts.’
Smiling, Cristy sank into her chair and automatically opened her inbox, not to see if there was anything from David – there obviously wouldn’t be – just because it was a habit she’d formed at the start of the working day.
Seeing Marley’s name on the list she quickly closed the screen. Her ex-husband’s crazy wife was someone she really didn’t need to deal with today – or any other, come to that.
‘Are you listening?’ Connor demanded testily.
‘All yours,’ she assured him.
‘OK, so when we go to Exmoor tomorrow we’re not only meeting with the old housekeeper, Gita Brinkley. We’re also meeting with her son, Robert, who got in touch this morning.’
Immediately interested, Cristy said, ‘Does he remember the aunts? How old is he?’
Dryly, Connor said, ‘Funnily enough, I didn’t ask his age, but he does remember them – he called them “the sisters” – and he thought it might be useful if he sat in on our chat with his mother.’
Cristy was frowning. ‘Did he sound controlling? As if he might try to edit or manage what she tells us?’
‘Actually, he came across as a pretty regular sort of bloke,’ Connor replied.
‘He’s got a bit of an accent – I’d say Aussie, maybe Kiwi, can’t tell the difference.
Kind of cultured anyway, and definitely friendly.
Apparently his mother loves to go out, so he’s taken the liberty of booking us into the Notley Arms for lunch before, or while we talk. ’
Cristy lit up. ‘I hope you told him that’s fine by us,’ she responded, already picturing the warm and welcoming village pub where they’d always stopped for a meal when filming on Exmoor during their TV days.
‘God, we haven’t been there in too long,’ she sighed, choosing not to recall the times she’d stayed there with Matthew.
Memories of him always complicated the picture, much as the reality of him made her head spin in ways too annoying to analyse.
‘… so I’ve contacted Simon and Caroline,’ Connor was saying, referring to the Notley’s owners, ‘and they’ve said they’ll put the heating on in the garden room just in case we want some privacy to record.’
‘They’re the best,’ she declared. ‘I take it you asked … What was the son’s name again?’
‘Robert.’
‘Robert, if … What’s her name again?’
‘Gita. She’s definitely of Indian origin, as mentioned in Lottie’s writings – and Harry’s already afraid she might be one of Meena’s family …’
Cristy laughed.
‘She’s been in this country for over fifty years and is more English than bacon.’
‘Which is mostly Danish,’ Jacks pointed out.
‘Semantics,’ Connor retorted. ‘Anyway, she told me that her husband, Robert’s father, was from Exmoor, which was how the family came to be living near Minehead at the time the sisters were renting their summer house, as Gita called it.’
‘Hang on, I thought you were speaking to the son,’ Jacks queried.
‘I was, but she kept calling out from the background. She also told me that they, the Brinkleys, lived in London before they moved back to the father’s roots in Somerset, but I didn’t get into where in London, or why they decamped when they did.’
‘Well, the story’s not about them, so why would you?’ Clover pointed out. ‘Did either of them say anything about a child called Sadie who was “living” with the sisters?’
‘They already know it’s what we want to discuss, and Robert says he can probably be of more help to us than his mother, which is why he’s going to join us.’
Cristy’s eyes rounded with intrigue, and grew even wider a second later as Iz waltzed in through the door, looking not unlike Noddy in a bright blue conical hat and crimson fluffy duffle coat. ‘I thought you were in London,’ she commented.
‘Sorry, am I interrupting something?’ Iz asked worriedly and seemed as though she might tiptoe out again.
‘No, not at all,’ Cristy assured her. ‘I just heard that you were …’
‘It got cancelled,’ Iz told her, ‘so I thought I’d drop by to see how you’re getting on here, and to ask if you’d heard the first promos yet? They’re on all the major radio stations, as of this morning. Never let it be said that our guys don’t know how to put a promotional package together.’
‘Which of course, we don’t,’ Connor retorted tightly.
Shooting him a quick warning look, Cristy said, ‘You’re amazing, all of you. I’ve no idea how we’d do this without you …’
‘Oh stop!’ Iz laughed modestly. ‘We’re just doing our bit.
Horses for courses, and all that. Anyway, it means the first episode will have to drop next Tuesday come what may, but we’ve all listened to it and everyone agrees it’s a fantastic opener, especially the way the envelope comes through the door at the end.
Phenomenal cliff-hanger. Any news yet on what was in it? ’
‘Only guesses at this stage,’ Cristy told her, ‘but we think it was photographs …’
To Cristy’s relief, after Iz had refreshed her coffee, she took herself off upstairs to enjoy ‘a little chat’ with Meena.
Returning to her emails, Cristy read and replied to each of them, before finally opening the one from Marley.
Hi Cristy,
How are you?
I expect you’re wondering why you haven’t heard from me before now …
Cristy was immediately struck with guilt. Putting aside what Marley had done to her marriage, her entire life, actually, she was still a young woman who’d just given birth and was, as far as Cristy could make out, friendless. So she should have been in touch by now.
… but I’ve had so much to deal with. Baby Bear is an absolute joy, without a doubt the best thing that’s ever happened to me, although I have to confess I was afraid of him at first. He’s so tiny and wobbly and he really didn’t want me to touch him, or feed him, or so it seemed to me.
I was very hurt by that, until the midwife explained that it often happens with newborns, and it soon turned out that I really needn’t have worried because we both quickly got the hang of things and now we’re inseparable.
I expect you’ve heard about Matthew being arrested.
It was my fault, of course. You’re probably not surprised to hear that given my ability to cause mayhem without really trying.
The problem was, I stopped him from seeing the baby, and nor would I speak to him myself.
I got it into my head that he was going to try to snatch Baby Bear from me.
He didn’t take kindly to that and ended up making an awful spectacle of himself.
Luckily, he’d calmed down by the time Baby Bear and I returned home, and with Daddy around to make sure Matthew behaved I wasn’t anxious any more. It’s so sweet the way Daddy and Matthew have bonded, I suppose them being quite close in age helps, although Daddy is a big charmer, as everyone knows.
I hope you’re happy to hear from me. Your friendship and our chats mean the world to me.
I always feel I can be myself with you in a way I can’t with anyone else.
There aren’t many people who’d be so generous in spirit as you have been considering the way we met.
I sometimes think you mean more to me than Matthew, but please don’t tell him that, and anyway, I don’t know if it’s true.