CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE #3
‘Someone has to be in touch with us soon,’ Cristy remarked to David over a FaceTime call on Thursday evening. A whole week since Mia’s death that felt more like a year – and strangely like it had all been a bad dream.
‘There’s been a lot more police activity in the villa today,’ he said, ‘and around the cliffs below.’
Picturing it, wondering what they were hoping to find, she said, ‘They’re surely interviewing Sadie by now. Have you heard anything about that?’
‘No, but I do know that Victor Dubois has already told the police he had an appointment set up with Mia for Friday of this week – tomorrow in fact – to discuss a codicil to her will. So it’s possible she did mean to cut Sadie off if she refused to stay.’
‘I’m pretty sure that was behind it all,’ Cristy said.
‘Go on,’ he prompted.
‘We’ve wondered if Sadie was playing us right from the start – she lied about the pages, remember – but I think she really was just foolish where they were concerned.
No, I’m certain everything changed for her when she read the journals to Mia and let rip with her fury.
At some point then, or shortly after, she began to realize how useful the journals could be if she took out an injunction that she could hold over Mia.
The journals – or the incriminating parts of them – would never be made public as long as Mia never changed her will.
And it would probably have worked if Mia hadn’t gone ahead and threatened to cut her off again, as she did that night.
Whether Sadie decided in that moment to put an end to the threats once and for all, or whether she went to the villa already knowing, even fearing what she was going to do …
I guess only she knows. But whichever way you look at it, I’m sure, in the end, it was every bit as much about the money as it was about revenge. ’
David audibly sucked in air as he considered her thoughts. Finally, he said, ‘I can see it, I only wish I couldn’t. Are you going to share this with the police?’
‘If I’m asked to, but I’m not sure they need anything from me now. The pocket-dial speaks for itself.’
‘That’s true. I don’t suppose Gabe or Lukas have been in touch since they sent the video?’
‘No, but I wouldn’t expect them to be.’
‘And the video’s lost all its power now anyway. Or it will once it’s known Sadie’s under investigation for murder.’
Glancing up as Aiden came into the flat, Cristy said, ‘My son has just turned up looking very wet and hungry so I’d better feed him. Are you still coming tomorrow?’
‘Of course. I should be in Bristol by six at the latest.’
‘Great. Jodi and Connor have invited us for a bite to eat, so maybe take a taxi straight there.’
*
By the time David arrived the following evening, there was still no word out of Guernsey, not from the police, nor Sadie and her family, nor any of David’s contacts.
‘You’d have thought someone would want to speak to us by now,’ Connor remarked, putting a drink in David’s hand as Cristy gave a pained look and pointed at the phone while mouthing, Matthew.
‘We’ve been discussing doing another pod,’ Connor continued, gesturing for David to sit down, ‘but we can’t use the phone call at this stage.
Probably at any stage if it ends up being needed in court – and it obviously will be given everything’s going to swing on it.
Jody’s upstairs with the baby, down any minute. ’
‘Sounds like Dad’s got himself in another fuck-up,’ Aiden commented, glancing up from his homework to give David a wave of welcome. ‘Good to see you.’
‘You too,’ David responded.
Connor said, ‘Doesn’t feel right, leaving everything hanging like this, but unless there’s an arrest, better still a charge, we’ve got nowhere to go, nothing new to say. Series over. I don’t suppose Anna’s spoken to Sadie, by any chance?’
David shook his head. ‘She stopped taking Anna’s calls on Wednesday, and since Anna heard Mia’s message – I hope you don’t mind me sharing, I think we can trust her – she’s given up trying.
I left another message with my contact at police HQ on the way here, but he either doesn’t know what’s going on, or he’s not in a position to tell me anything yet. ’
‘You know what we keep wondering,’ Aiden piped up, ‘is whether or not Gabe and Lukas still believe Sadie’s story. You know, that Mia jumped.’
‘It’s a good question,’ David remarked. ‘I guess they do if they haven’t heard the phone call yet. If they have … Well, it’ll be very hard for them to take, that’s for sure.’ He looked at Cristy as she ended her call and closed her eyes in despair. ‘What is it?’ he asked carefully.
‘You’re never going to believe this,’ she groaned.
‘Matthew can’t take the baby out of LA. Something to do with when he was arrested after the birth …
There has to be some sort of hearing before it can happen, and Marley has to be there, but she’s already in Santa Fe and is saying she can’t leave.
So, wait for this, he wants me to fly over there so I can bring the baby out. ’
David’s eyes widened.
‘Don’t worry, I told him I have no intention of being arrested for attempted kidnap, or anything like it, and there’s no guarantee that won’t happen, especially if he, Matthew, is with me.
He’s suggesting we take different flights, but I’ve told him that he has to take a reality check and sort this out for himself, because I am going to Amanjena next week. ’
‘Where?’ Aiden asked, all ears.
‘Morocco,’ David answered, still looking at Cristy. ‘That soon, huh?’
She shrugged. ‘Why not? If the police want to question me I’ll be just as contactable over there. Presuming we want to be, and maybe we don’t?’
‘Hang on,’ Aiden interrupted, ‘does this leave me going to LA to bail out Dad? I wouldn’t mind, I mean LA’s great, but I’m kind of busy right now with mocks and everything.’
‘Dad’s a grown-up,’ Cristy reminded him, ‘or he sometimes pretends to be, and so, as I said just now, he has to sort this out for himself.’
‘Cool. So who’s going to take care of me if you’re off to Morocco?’
Cristy regarded him askance. ‘You’re sixteen years old and you can cook.’
‘You’re also very welcome to stay here,’ Jodi told him, coming into the room. ‘So what have I missed?’
‘Dad’s up shit creek again,’ Aiden told her, ‘and Mum and David are planning some sort of romantic … Ah, here’s Dad now. Just knew he’d call me as soon as Mum knocked him back.’ He clicked to answer the phone. ‘Hey, my man, how’s it hanging with the Bear?’
As the others laughed, Cristy rolled her eyes and said to Connor, ‘Are you OK with me going away next week, presuming we can get into the Aman resort?’ she added to David.
‘We’ll try,’ he told her.
‘That’s fine,’ Connor replied, ‘you just leave all the police enquiries to me, not to mention working the press with Iz … She’ll probably want to hold my hand through every interview.’
Cristy grimaced. ‘You’re right, I shouldn’t just take off—’
‘He’s winding you up,’ Jodi broke in. ‘And anyway, isn’t it about time Clove and Jacks got some public recognition for all they do? So why not rope them in for some of the media gigs?’
‘We’re seeing Iz tomorrow,’ Cristy said, ‘so we can discuss it with her then. In principle I think it’s a great idea, although I think Clove might be more up for it than Jacks.’
‘Out of interest,’ Jodi said, curling into an armchair with a soda, ‘how much is Sadie likely to inherit if things happen to go her way?’
‘They can’t go her way,’ Connor objected. ‘It’s just not possible now – unless some clever bastard lawyer is managing to pull something out of the hat even as we speak and that’s why nothing seems to be happening.’
‘We can’t rule it out,’ David responded. ‘In fact, it’s highly likely.’ To Jodi, he said, ‘I don’t have any details, but it could be somewhere in the region of forty, even fifty million.’
‘Wow,’ Aiden gasped, as Jodi choked on her drink.
Cristy said, ‘Well, even if there is some clever bastard lawyer on the case who manages to get her out of a murder charge, at least the “Did she jump, or was she pushed?” isn’t going away any time soon.
She’ll always have to live with that. Not that I’m vengeful, you understand, in fact I can’t make up my mind from one minute to the next how I feel about it all. ’
She was about to go and sit with David when a text arrived on her phone. Presuming it was from Matthew now that he’d apparently finished talking to Aiden she clicked on, wishing she could just ignore him, while not quite having the heart to.
She saw right away that it was from a No Caller ID and as she read the message she started to turn cold.
It couldn’t be. This was a new phone, almost no one had the number yet, and hadn’t they traced and stopped the stalker?
It seemed not, because here he was saying, Hi Cristy, did you miss me?
It’s lovely to see you again. Are you having a nice evening at Connor’s?
‘What is it?’ David asked, clearly sensing something was wrong.
She looked up, and seeing his concern quickly smiled. Now wasn’t the time to get into this. She’d forward it to Jacks in the morning. ‘Nothing,’ she said. ‘Just more unfinished business. The story of my life these days,’ she added with a pointed look at Aiden. He wasn’t listening.
Putting her phone aside she arched an eyebrow as she said to David, ‘Much more important right now, is there availability at the Amanjena?’
‘Looks like the earliest is for a fortnight from next Thursday,’ Aiden informed them.
They turned to look at him.
‘I’ve got it here,’ he explained, gesturing to his laptop. ‘This gaff is the business, Mum. Totally out there. They’ve only got suites – pavilions – with their own private pools – and, listen to this, one of them has two bedrooms with—’
‘And guess what,’ Cristy broke in quickly, knowing exactly where this was going, ‘you, my darling, won’t be in one of them.’
‘I’m not sure we will be either,’ David said, reading the message that had just come into his phone. He looked up. ‘It’s from my contact at police HQ. Apparently Sadie’s just been charged, so my guess is you guys will be busy doing other things next week.’