CHAPTER ELEVEN #3
Following the barely visible tilting of the long grass to where the invisible trail disappeared behind a tangle of hawthorn to end on the gravelly shoreline, so bleak and uninviting in spite of the sunny day, Cristy tried to imagine leaving one of her children there, at any age, and shuddered at the horror of it.
How desperate Janina must have been to do such a thing to her two-year-old daughter, presuming she was the one who’d left her, and it was hard now to imagine that she wasn’t.
‘She presumably retreated to the stile to watch until the sisters came to the child’s rescue,’ she said. ‘Lottie wrote about Mia seeing someone … How could Janina be sure the little girl would be found?’
‘I don’t suppose she could,’ he replied, ‘but if she was watching she’d have known if the child was in any danger.’
‘How on earth did she get her down there without being seen?’
‘Well, the house isn’t visible from here, and there’s nowhere else around, so actually there was no one to see her.’
‘So she somehow managed to get her child to stay there alone and wait … It’s beyond heartbreaking to think of how confused and frightened she must have been. Both of them, actually, mother and daughter.’
‘Maybe it’s a measure of how afraid Janina was.’
Nodding agreement, she said, ‘We need to record what we’ve just said.’
Minutes later, with their surmising captured, she kept rolling as they walked on towards a curve in the path.
It was strange how moved she was now feeling about being here, as if time was warping in some undefinable way to make her footsteps connect with those of long ago.
Janina would have walked this path, would have known what was ahead, if not in her life, then at the end of this trail …
If she’d been in her mid-twenties back then, by now she’d be the same age as Cristy, and thinking of the older Janina made Cristy feel somehow closer to her.
Robert stopped alongside some steps carved into the hillside, pointing ahead and speaking quietly, almost as if not wanting to wake ghosts.
ROBERT: ‘There it is. It’s been much improved since the sisters were here, but this is the place they rented for the summer of 2000.’
Remembering that she needed to describe it for listeners, Cristy lifted her collar mic closer to her mouth.
CRISTY: ‘It’s a long, low stone-built house with a steep red-tiled roof, a porched front door looking along the track towards us, and there’s a large wooden terrace facing the sea.
Someone seems to be at home – there’s smoke rising from one of the chimneys – and I can just make out a car through the greenery at the back.
Is there a road? I guess there has to be. ’
ROBERT: ‘It’s a narrow lane that runs kind of parallel with the path we’re on, and eventually takes you down to the Old Quay.’
CRISTY: ‘Which is where we parked? So we could have driven here?’
Robert arched an eyebrow.
Rolling her eyes Cristy went back to her study of the house, trying to imagine the sisters coming and going, Lottie descending the field on her way to rescue Sadie, bringing the child back up again and handing her to Mia …
CRISTY: ‘I wonder if it’s worth asking someone inside if they remember the Winters sisters?’
ROBERT: ‘It’ll be a long shot if it’s still a holiday let.’
CRISTY: ‘But who comes here on holiday at this time of year?’
ROBERT: ‘Maybe the people inside … One of whom is coming to find out why we’re not climbing higher up on the path to continue our walk.’
With the recorder still running, Cristy walked forward to meet the portly man whose bushy moustache and ruddy face marked him out as a drinker, and probably a hunter.
‘Can I help you with something?’ he called out before reaching her.
CRISTY: ‘I was just remarking what a lovely spot this is. Do you mind me asking if you live here?’
PORTLY MAN: ‘We just rent it during the season.’
Ah, a hunter!
CRISTY: ‘Not stags, I hope, or foxes.’
PORTLY MAN: ‘You one of the saboteur lot, are you? If so, we don’t want any trouble. There’s no law-breaking going on around here, and we don’t welcome trespassers.’
CRISTY: ‘Understood, but would you mind telling me how long you’ve been coming here? I’m doing some research into someone who rented the place back at the beginning of the Noughties.’
PORTLY MAN: ‘You’ll need to speak to the landowner’s agent about that. His name’s Frank Fox, has an office in Taunton and another in Bath. You’ll find him online.’
CRISTY: ‘Thank you. You’ve been very helpful.’
The man grunted as he turned to go, raising a hand in a dismissive farewell.
ROBERT: ‘You handled him well.’
CRISTY: ‘I got the information I wanted.’
ROBERT: ‘Which I could have told you, if you’d asked.’
Laughing as she elbowed him, she watched the hunter disappear inside the house and spoke into her mic.
CRISTY: ‘It’s quite possible Janina hid very close to the spot where I’m standing right now to watch the sisters, maybe even her own daughter playing outside the house.
It’s also possible that she went right up to the front door, early one morning, to deliver the envelope that so unnerved the sisters. ’
She took a long, last look around, trying for another sense of Janina’s presence.
It was fanciful, of course, and she really didn’t expect to spot some sort of ghost flitting through the trees, or to hear a whisper drifting down from the moor.
However, she did get the feeling they were in the right place, that it really had all started here.
‘Next stop Frank Fox,’ she said, turning off the recorder. ‘Do you know him?’
‘No, I’ve just heard that he still rides to hounds and to hell with the law. So you should get along well with him.’
*
An hour later Cristy and Connor were driving back up the M5 towards Bristol, having left Robert to return his mother to her residential village, before making his own two-hour journey north.
Frank Fox, who indeed managed Hilltop Lodge – his assistant had soon worked out which property Cristy was calling about – would be getting back to them sometime tomorrow when he returned from an extended Christmas break.
‘I was honestly beginning to think Cristy had abandoned me,’ Connor was telling Jodi on the phone, as if Cristy wasn’t there. ‘She was gone way longer than I expected, and now I’m so deeply in love with Gita Brinkley I think we might have to adopt her.’
As Cristy laughed, Jodi said, ‘Tell me more about Robert. Is he as drop-dead in person as he is online?’
‘You’ve looked him up too?’ Cristy cried. ‘Honestly, you’re as bad as Meena.’
‘No one’s that bad,’ Connor retorted. ‘And let’s put it this way, babe, he’s so good-looking he even makes me swoon.’
‘He’s married,’ Cristy put in quickly, ‘and I am so NOT looking for a man … Jesus, how can you even think it when you know what’s going on in my life?’
‘It could be just what you need.’
‘Maybe if he weren’t married, but he is, and he also lives on the other side of the world. So can we get ourselves a reality check here and talk about serious things such as the real reason you’re calling?’
‘This is it,’ Jodi responded chirpily. ‘To find out how your day went. Oh, and to get an idea of what time you might be back? Would you like to join us for supper and maybe give Aurora a bath?’
Cristy turned to Connor. ‘I think she means it,’ she said quietly.
‘She does,’ he confirmed. ‘It’s a great honour.’
‘Then I can’t possibly turn it down.’
‘Yay!’ Jodi cried. ‘I’ll text Aiden, find out what he’s doing in case he’d like to come. Should I try Matthew?’
‘Maybe not,’ Cristy responded.
‘I get it. You don’t want him thinking we’re encouraging his bid to win you back. Gosh, all these men, Cristy. What is to become of you? Have you heard from David, by any chance?’
‘Not since we broke up, and I don’t expect to. Now, I’ve got a call coming in on my phone that I need to take.’
‘Is it Robert?’
‘Actually, it’s Sadie, so bye, Jodi,’ and leaving Connor to end the call with his wife she clicked on before Sadie could ring off. ‘Hi, how are you?’ she asked.
There was a moment before Sadie appeared fully in focus on the screen. Eva Marie Saint, Cristy immediately thought, and, yes, she could see it.
‘I’m daring to hope you found out something helpful today,’ Sadie said, raising a hand to show crossed fingers.
‘Well, here’s one thing I think you’ll like,’ Cristy smiled. ‘Your mother’s name is Janina.’
Sadie’s eyes glistened as she pressed a hand to her mouth. ‘Janina,’ she whispered. ‘It’s so pretty.’
‘Isn’t it?’ Cristy agreed.
‘Do you know anything else about her?’
‘Some, but it’s probably best that you listen to the interviews, then you’ll hear it for yourself. It won’t be long before we’re back at the office, I can sort it out then.’
Still close to tears, Sadie said, ‘I know it might sound silly, but just knowing her name … I can’t describe how it feels …’ Then, ‘I expect you’d like me to try, for a recording?’
‘When you’re ready.’
Sobbing a laugh, Sadie said, ‘Thank you. This means so much.’
‘There’s still a way to go,’ Cristy reminded her gently, ‘but we’ll get there, I’m sure of it.’
Sadie nodded, showing how keen she was to believe that.
‘Tell me about Mia,’ Cristy said. ‘Is she ready to commit to an interview yet?’
‘She’s still saying she is, she just won’t give me a time, but I’ll keep on it. Anyway, the other reason I’m ringing is that I’ve found more of Lottie’s story, and it’s … pretty explosive.’