CHAPTER THIRTEEN #3
‘Great to see you too,’ Aiden had grinned in his impossibly winning way, and of course she was pleased to see him.
‘We were just passing,’ Matthew explained, lying badly.
‘Have some champagne,’ Meena insisted, filling two glasses and handing them over, while Harry shook Matthew warmly by the hand and Iz just had to tell him what a big fan she was, and how honoured she felt to meet him.
Of course he’d settled in as comfortably as if he came to the drop of every episode – even though he’d never actually been to one before – and of course everyone had been their usual friendly selves, even baby Aurora who’d gazed at him adoringly for a full five minutes.
Quite what this had done to him, given his own recently born child was nearly six thousand miles away with a totally mazed mother, Cristy had no idea. However, she did know that her failure to reply to Marley’s email was starting to weigh on her.
‘She’d like to hear from you,’ Matthew had said quietly, before he and Aiden had left, ‘but you shouldn’t feel as though you have to have a relationship with her.
I mean, obviously great if you did, it would make life a lot easier for us all considering how besotted she seems with you, but I understand you have your own life to lead.
’ It wasn’t a long pause before he added, ‘Aiden tells me you’re not seeing the Guernsey guy any more. ’
‘His name’s David,’ she’d snapped, ‘and if you think that changes anything between us – you and me – then you need to book in for a head-check.’
Quite why the conversation had rattled her so much, she couldn’t say now, although obviously she hadn’t enjoyed being reminded by him that her first relationship since their break-up had fallen apart so fast.
And then there was Anna’s call during her walk home.
‘Haven’t listened to the pod yet,’ Anna had confessed, ‘just wanted to let you know that Sadie’s biggest fear at the moment is that she’s going find out she’s the child of a gangster or a rapist and that’s why Janina gave her up.
Maybe Janina reached a point where she couldn’t bear to have the awful reminder around her any more. ’
Understanding Sadie’s concerns, for how could she not when that very scenario, and worse, had occurred to her, Cristy said, ‘Please don’t tell me she wants to pull out …’
‘No, no, that’s not why I’m calling. It’s simply to let you know what’s in her mind because she couldn’t bring herself to say it during the interview earlier. If it turns out she’s right, she’ll deal with it, she’s just glad she’s not going through it alone.’
‘Having you is clearly meaning a great deal to her, especially with her aunt being so difficult, but it’s not easy to support someone through trauma …’
‘I can handle it. And anyway, she’s not only talking about me, she means you and everyone else on your team, and even your listeners – provided they don’t turn on her, I suppose, but I can’t see why they would.
She says she’d probably feel like she was disappearing down a rabbit hole otherwise, and I think even Jasper’s a bit overwhelmed by it all. ’
Wondering now if they were already down the rabbit hole anyway – it was certainly where she felt she was heading in a personal sense – Cristy slumped down on the sofa and checked her phone.
Within an hour of the pod being dropped the feedback had begun, plenty echoing the question Iz had posed earlier: why should they care about a rich kid who hadn’t known a day’s hardship in her life?
Others were demanding to know where the crime was, or accusing Hindsight of failing to live up to all the publicity.
And of course there were those who’d engaged fully with the story and were already hoping Cristy and the team could help Sadie find the answers she deserved.
As usual Clove and Jacks were going through everything carefully in case someone with vital, or even useful, information was in touch.
It wasn’t always easy to tell as some trolls and many nutters were extremely clever, and nothing had come through yet to warrant any further action.
Still very early days. Many weeks, or even months, could go by before the podcast found its way to the right person.
Would that be Janina? Or Lukas? It was hard to imagine, almost impossible in fact after all these years, but with no reason to rule it out Cristy wasn’t going to.
Starting as her phone vibrated, she looked down half-expecting it to be Matthew, but it was a text from Robert Brinkley.
Great first episode. Hope you’re happy with it.
(Am I right in thinking the Brinkley interview runs next week?) Only just picked up your email, and no problem about speaking to Sadie.
Do you want to record it? Or will it be a private chat?
Happy either way. Please feel free to pass on my details. Best, Robert.
Wondering if it would be a good idea to record him and Sadie when they met, Cristy got up to put on the kettle. Another glass of wine might be more welcome, but she’d had enough earlier, any more would end up making her maudlin – as if she wasn’t already.
Replying to Marley was going to do nothing to cheer her up, but unfortunately it had to be done, so she might as well get on with it.
She’d got no further than Dear Marley, I’m sorry not to have been in touch sooner, when her laptop’s FaceTime app burbled into life. Seeing who it was she immediately clicked on. ‘Mia,’ she said, as the connection focused, ‘this is a surprise. How are you?’
Mia’s face was slightly averted, as though she didn’t really want to engage, but she surely wouldn’t be calling if she didn’t have something to say.
And on a video link too. ‘I’m very well, thank you,’ she said, her voice a little clipped, though not entirely unfriendly.
‘I thought it was about time we spoke before things start to get out of hand.’
Wishing she was recording this, Cristy said, ‘Out of hand in what way?’
‘This … nonsense Sadie is feeding you. It really can’t go on.’
‘Why do you say it’s nonsense?’
‘Because it is. If you’d known my sister, if you knew Sadie …
’ She sighed irritably, seemed to reset and said, ‘My niece has had issues for most of her life … Of course we’ve always got her the best help, done everything to make her feel as special as she is.
I thought we were getting somewhere, but now, with all of this …
It must be some sort of delayed shock following Lottie’s death.
They were very close and Sadie misses her terribly … We both do …’
When she didn’t continue, Cristy said carefully, ‘I take it you’ve listened to the first episode?’
‘Yes, of course. Very well done, and a gripping tale, if any of it were true.’
‘So there was no child on a beach? No hooded person running away? No mysterious envelope coming through the door?’
Mia’s mouth tightened.
‘I believe you’ve seen what Lottie wrote …’
‘How do you know it was Lottie? And did it not occur to you that Sadie herself might have put the photographs into a box to present them as something … they aren’t?’
‘So you’re saying that the young couple featured in them, with Sadie, are not related to her?’
‘As I told Sadie when she showed them to me, they were very nice people who babysat her from time to time, during our first year here, in Guernsey. They left even before we moved into this house and we never kept in touch.’
Cristy didn’t want to call her a liar, so instead she said, ‘OK, I could perhaps be persuaded of that if the young woman didn’t look so much like Sadie, and if I hadn’t interviewed Gita Brinkley and her son, Robert.
I showed him the photos and he remembers seeing the couple, in Minehead, at the time Sadie came to live with you on Exmoor. He’s even named them.’
Mia’s face seemed to twitch; her hands bunched tightly together.
‘I’ve no idea what Gita Brinkley and her son have told you,’ she retorted sharply, ‘but all you’re doing, all of you, is feeding into Sadie’s fantasy of having a mother, or father, who could be out there somewhere wanting to know her.
I can assure you that she does not need to know them, and nor should she be encouraged in this quest for information that will only end up causing her a lot more harm than good. ’
Taking it carefully, Cristy said, ‘That sounds as though you’re admitting your brother was not her father …’
‘We told her that because it was easier and it would have stayed that way if she hadn’t suddenly decided to question it.
Since finding out she’s not related to us by blood she’s cast us variously as villains, fairy godmothers, crazy people, glamorous benefactors, whatever comes into her head on any given day.
I ask you, please don’t let her draw you any further into her illusory world.
As I’ve already said, it won’t end well, especially not for her. ’
‘But you’re clearly hiding information about her parents that she surely has a right to know.’
‘That is your understanding of things, no one else’s. I have spent many years protecting my niece, and believe you me, I won’t stop now.’
‘But what does she need protecting from?’
‘If you value your reputation, Ms Ward, and I’m sure you do, then ask yourself this: how is it possible that these extracts, supposedly written by Lottie and randomly hidden amongst Lottie’s papers – how is Sadie managing to find them in the correct order? Isn’t that what’s happening?’
Cristy felt a beat of unease. It was true, they were coming up in a kind of linear way, although she had no idea if any further extracts were missing from what they had so far.
‘Sadie is writing them herself,’ Mia repeated, tartly. ‘Now, I’ll leave you to the rest of your evening and I hope all this digging about in a fabricated past will soon be at an end.’