CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Cristy was driving as Connor read aloud the email she’d typed into her laptop.
‘Dear Marley, My apologies for not getting back to you sooner, and huge congratulations on the safe arrival of the baby.’
He turned to her, confused. ‘Is that it?’ he asked incredulously. ‘After the two-page cry-from-the-heart she wrote you, this is all you’re sending back?’
Wincing, Cristy said, ‘I haven’t finished it yet.’
He remained incredulous. ‘Remind me how long it’s been since she emailed you?’
‘Will you just stop! I was hoping for some support over this. I mean, what am I supposed to say when I kind of wish the child had never been born, and I wouldn’t mind never seeing her again in my life? Please don’t quote me on any of that.’
‘Well, at least it would be honest – and even go a bit further towards filling up a page.’
She rolled her eyes and indicated to join the A38 heading out of Bristol. ‘Matthew would never forgive me if I was that cruel,’ she pointed out. ‘Not that I care what he thinks, but then I’d have to deal with him as well as her and I’m already struggling with that, thank you very much.’
‘Have you seen him since he turned up for the drop-party?’
‘You mean since he gatecrashed the party. No, thank God. He’s gone suspiciously quiet on me, and how wonderful if it would stay that way, but I’m not fooled.
He’ll be planning some sort of ambush, I’m sure of it, or something will happen that he’ll need to share with me, or get me to sort out …
Honestly, it’s like having another child and I’m not even married to him any more. ’
‘So feeling needed isn’t really working for you?’
She laughed, and came to a stop at a red light. ‘He has to deal with the situation in LA: whether he’s going to stay married to Marley, be a father to Baby Bear, work out some kind of long-distance relationship if she decides to stay put over there …’
‘Do you think she will?’
‘God knows. And frankly, I don’t care. He chose the path he’s on, and contrary to what both he and Marley seem to think it has nothing to do with me. I can’t even get my head around why they want me as part of their world. I’m the ex-wife, for God’s sake …’
‘You’re also you, so I get why they want you in their lives. I wouldn’t want to let you go either if I was Matthew …’
‘But he did …’
‘And he’s regretting it. And Marley can see how wonderful it would be if you two were friends. And she’s right, because we all love having you as a friend …’
‘Stop winding me up. I need some help deciding how to answer Marley’s email and you are proving about as useful as …’ She struggled. ‘I’ll come up with something and it won’t be good.’
Grinning, he closed her laptop and hit the car’s display screen to take a call from Clover and Jacks. ‘Hey, guys!’ he cried. ‘How’s your day at the beach going?’
‘Just got here,’ Clover replied. ‘Pissing down with rain and blowing a hooley so good job we brought the sunscreen. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that Sadie and Jasper are running late, ferry was delayed, but they should arrive in the next half an hour. Robert’s here, and his mother, obvs, given we’re in her residential village, and what a doll she is.
If my flat was bigger I’d try to take her home with me.
‘So, is there anything in particular you’d like us to try to get from this?’ Clover continued. ‘I know we’ve been over everything already and we’re just here to eavesdrop, so to speak, but Jacks had a thought in the night—’
‘… that we ought to capture some video of the reunion,’ Jacks interrupted. ‘Provided everyone’s happy to go along with it, natch.’
‘Great idea,’ Cristy told him. ‘It could be quite an emotional moment for the old lady seeing Sadie all grown up and still bearing a sweet resemblance to the child she once was. Have you checked it with her and Robert?’
‘Yeah, they’re cool with it. He wants me to tell you he’s just nipping out to buy popcorn and Kleenex.’
Laughing, Cristy said, ‘Please thank him again for doing this and make sure he knows he can call any time if he’s worried about anything.’
‘Will do.’
‘See,’ Connor said, as they rang off, ‘you’re even a good friend to people you don’t really know. Although I’ve got to admire how neatly you worked that in. Tell him to call any time …’
‘You’re starting to get on my nerves,’ Cristy interrupted, and pressed her foot down to speed away from the lights. ‘Where are we heading, again?’
‘Chew Magna, and as we’ve already missed the turn to go up over Dundry, take the next to go through Winford. We could, of course, have gone via Hartcliffe …’
‘What did I just say about getting on my nerves? I take it you’ve got Catherine Shilling’s actual address with you?’
He went silent. ‘Maybe we need to call Clover back.’
Cristy glanced at him.
‘Joke!’ he cried. ‘Of course I’ve got it, and if you don’t slow down right now we’re going to end up at the airport.’
Hitting the brakes she indicated to make a sharp left turn onto Barrow Lane, narrowly missing a van waiting to exit onto the main road.
‘No offence,’ Connor said, as she straightened the car, ‘but would you like me to take over the driving?’
‘I’m fine,’ she assured him, ‘just a little …’ She could have said distracted, but if she did he’d be sure to ask what was on her mind and she wasn’t keen to tell him.
Keen or not, it came out anyway. ‘I had a text from David last night,’ she said, keeping her eyes straight ahead.
Connor turned to look at her. ‘And?’
She shrugged. ‘No big deal. He was just adding his apology to Anna’s for what happened with Sadie.’
‘OK. That’s good.’
‘I guess he was just being a concerned father, taking responsibility for the actions of his daughter. Parents do that. You’ll find out soon enough.’
He returned to his scrutiny of the road ahead. ‘Did he say anything else?’ he asked after a while.
‘No, that was it.’
‘So you told him it was all forgiven and forgotten and you didn’t blame him for anything so there was no need for him …’
‘I didn’t reply.’
He looked at her again. ‘So he’s someone else who’s getting your silent treatment? Marley, Matthew, David … I’m sensing a theme here.’
‘Well, what was I supposed to say?’ Cristy cried irritably.
The truth was she really hadn’t known what to write back that felt right, and she hadn’t wanted it to seem as though she was using Anna’s mistake as a way for them to stay in touch.
‘I will reply,’ she said, meaning it, ‘but FYI I’m still feeling a bit raw over the way things ended between us, so cut me a break, OK? ’
His hands went up. ‘No more from me about your love life, but just saying, wouldn’t a fling with Robert Brinkley be …’
‘For God’s sake!’ she cried, banging the steering wheel. ‘Apart from anything else he’s married! And you can’t seriously think I’d do to another woman what was done to me.’
‘No, no, engaged mouth before brain. Sorry. Change of subject coming … Actually, saved by the bell!’ And clicking on quickly he said, ‘Hey, Jacks. Great timing!’
‘Cool,’ Jacks responded. ‘Also great news. Just heard from my new best friend at Butlin’s HR, she’s only come through with a surname for Lukas.
It’s Andris. I’ll put it in an email, but spelled the way it sounds.
She can’t give me any more than that, such as an address for where Lukas was before Butlin’s, or after – not sure if that’s data protection or she just doesn’t know.
But she did give me the name of an assistant manager who was Lukas’s boss for the time he was working at the Minehead camp.
Hilary Stokes. Could be male or female. No contact details, but I’ll get onto it as soon as we’re back at the office. ’
‘Genius,’ Connor declared. ‘And whatever charm you used to get your Butlin’s babe talking, send some this way to help me with Cristy, because I’m really getting on her nerves.’
*
Half an hour later they were all set up in the cosy living room of ex-Detective Sergeant Catherine Shilling’s quirky house in Chew Magna, an eclectic sort of village at the heart of the Chew Valley, with pubs and cafés, lots of narrow streets and a reputation for being a great place to live.
Their knees were pressed up against a bamboo coffee table where a small pile of old files was sitting beside a tray of hot tea and scrumptious-looking biscuits.
Catherine Shilling herself, who had to be in her early sixties, was her own kind of ex-detective, with a mauve spiky hair-do, nose and eyebrow piercings and a fluorescent pink crushed velvet kaftan that, either by design or chance, matched the cushions behind her.
Wondering if she did some sort of readings these days, given all the crystals and candles dotted about the place, Cristy said, ‘What you’ve just outlined for us is extremely interesting and is going to be a valuable addition to our series. So thanks for agreeing to record before we go any further.’
‘No problem,’ Catherine smiled, her pearly teeth making her as pleasing to look at as her slight lisp was entrancing to listen to.
‘I did some digging around after Clover got in touch, more to refresh my memory than to find answers to your questions – although they’re one and the same, I suppose.
I just want to be clear from the start that anything I say for your podcast can’t be categorized as an official statement from Avon and Somerset Police.
I mean, they know I’m talking to you and that I’m giving you sight of these files.
They just want it understood that I am fifteen years retired from the force and while I was involved in certain investigations concerning the presence of Eastern European gangs in our area back in 1998 through 2001, the overall operation was being conducted by the Met Police.
The Serious Organized Crime Agency as it’s known today. ’
Nodding her understanding, Cristy noted this down and, receiving a thumbs up from Connor, asked Catherine to identify herself for the recording and to add what she’d just told them about the SOCA.