The Silent Appeal
Femi
So much info to remember.
Charlotte
This set of docs feels like the calm before the storm. What did you notice?
Femi
The sabotaged light. If Joel is correct, then who would’ve loosened it and left it suspended above the stage ready to fall down at the slightest jog?
Charlotte
The jog we know came from an unwitting Issy, stumbling up the stairs after seeing Fran and Josh in the lane.
Femi
Joel could be covering up the fact he didn’t notice an accident waiting to happen.
Charlotte
That’s true. But if he’s right, then such an untargeted “attack” feels like a grudge against the entire group or at least this play.
Femi
Whoever it was would need a working knowledge of lighting rigs. Could it be Carol?
Charlotte
Doesn’t feel like Carol’s style. Her daughters are involved in the play and could have been injured. Plus, she’s busy with the Mendham Players.
Femi
Barry is getting more entangled with Lucas, who we haven’t really got to know because he doesn’t text or email much.
Femi
Barry is earning extra money but it’s clearly for much shadier things than door work.
Charlotte
His exchanges with Lucas imply they are involved in something below the radar. Could it be connected to the drugs Dustin tells Carol about?
Femi
Amelia doesn’t answer when Issy asks her how they know Fran. Earlier, Fran asks them not to tell the Fairways how they met, and refers to Lucas’s “trouble” and turbulence in the couple’s life around the time they got married.
Charlotte
Lucas feels responsible for his wife and now his cousin, who may be pregnant and therefore trickier to throw out.
Femi
Lucas is under pressure at work and home.
Charlotte
If he intended going straight, then that plan is derailed.
Femi
Barry too is under pressure to move out of Joyce’s house. That has led him to make poor decisions against his family’s advice.
Charlotte
I focused on Nicky-Rose and her affair with Kevin.
Charlotte
Kevin and SJ are further apart. They don’t sleep in the same bed because Sammy disturbs SJ every night. She’s not attending rehearsals and is busy with her freelance marketing work.
Femi
Kevin is quick to apologize when he forgets to thank her in his post–sleep out email. Is he past the phase of challenging Sarah-Jane and is now trying to keep her happy to stop her noticing the affair?
Charlotte
Nicky-Rose has coolly wormed her way into so many people’s lives. Carol, Kevin, Issy… she’s manipulating Trina, and as far as we can see, had something to do with the disappearance and potential murder of Tiffany Ramirez.
Charlotte
Yet we see another side to her in the emails to Stuart Kinsella. He seems to genuinely care about her and even regret their split? But he doesn’t seem to know about Tiffany.
Femi
Is that what this is? Is this case really about the murder of Tiffany Ramirez?
To: Isabel Beck
From: Nicky-Rose Dearing
Date: April 29, 2025
Subject: Sorry and thanks
Hi Issy,
Really sorry to cancel on you yesterday. Work got in the way. We didn’t even get to chat properly at rehearsal either (it’s getting so near the play), but THANK YOU for my bracelet. It matches a blue top I have, so I’ll wear it with that.
We’re really busy with work right now. Kevin had a new accounting system installed and it’s not syncing, so I have to work late every night.
Perhaps we could meet up before next Monday’s rehearsal?
Although if there’s any hot tea from the sleep out, do spill it…
I’ve heard Amelia will be fit enough for the play, thank God.
Have a good week, and thanks again for the bracelet. Nicky-Rose
To: Nicky-Rose Dearing
From: Isabel Beck
Date: April 29, 2025
Subject: Re: Sorry and thanks
Hiya Nicky-Rose!
Yay!! I’m doing a little happy dance around my chair (because the ophthalmoscope is against the wall so the cleaner can vacuum). I’m so pleased you like your friendship bracelet! Who knows how it ended up in Fran’s bag, but nice of her to drop it round to me when she realized.
I was really hoping we could chat yesterday because I’m bursting with tea! But it might be best I tell you by email as no one is going to overhear me that way, are they?
Don’t tell anyone, but I caught Fran kissing Father Josh in the lane between the church hall and the vicarage. OMG! I’d only popped outside for some fresh air and to see if the ghost of Lockwood Lane was around, so you can imagine how shocked I was when I saw them!
I can’t believe Fran (of all people) is having an affair with a married man (of the cloth) right under our noses!
She still goes to Sunday service at St. Barnabas, too, which I suppose is where the trouble started.
I’ve known her for a long time and she’s always been what my nan used to call “holier than thou.”
OMG it sounds even worse now I’ve typed it out! What should we do? Shall we tell her we know? Love Issy xxxx
To: Isabel Beck
From: Nicky-Rose Dearing
Date: April 29, 2025
Subject: Re: Sorry and thanks
Let’s not say anything. Useful to know, but it’s their business.
It’s just occurred to me why the bracelet ended up in Fran’s bag.
I think you mistook it for mine. I did the same thing myself earlier in the sleep out: went to put a bottle of that free water in my tote and noticed there was a charm in the shape of a cross hanging from the handle that certainly isn’t mine.
I looked again and realized it wasn’t my bag.
Fran and I have almost identical bags, that’s all. Mystery solved.
Thanks for spilling the goss, Issy. I really value our friendship and you can tell me anything. Nicky-Rose
To: Nicky-Rose Dearing
From: Isabel Beck
Date: April 29, 2025
Subject: Re: Sorry and thanks
OMG I feel so silly! You’re right! I saw that charm and assumed it was yours. Oh well, I’ll know another time!
I was so excited to tell you about Fran I forgot to say that friendship bracelets are meant to be worn all the time, not just with a matching outfit.
Like a friend, it’s “on hand” day and night, in the bath or shower, even if you go swimming.
You wear it until the cord frays and breaks.
The one I made with “love issy” on it symbolizes the fact that my friendship lasts until death, and I made myself one that says “love nicky-rose” (there were no capital letters in Denise’s craft box) that I won’t take off until it breaks. Love Issy xxxx
Message exchange between Nicky-Rose and Carol Dearing on April 29, 2025:
11:09 a.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
Have you taken the kitchen bin out?
11:10 a.m. Carol wrote:
No.
11:12 a.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
There’s a bracelet in there. Please fish it out and rinse it under the tap.
11:15 a.m. Carol wrote:
And there was I thinking my parental duties were over once my youngest child hit her late thirties.
11:15 a.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
Thanks, Mum.
11:24 a.m. Carol wrote:
Love Issy?
11:25 a.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
Issy Beck. She made it for me at the sleep out.
11:26 a.m. Carol wrote:
You know she has a habit of attaching herself to people.
11:29 a.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
Well, she attached the bracelet to me, and although it’s not my style, she expects to see it. I’ll wear it at rehearsals.
11:34 a.m. Carol wrote:
You’re a big girl and can take care of yourself, but sometimes people blindside you. Be careful.
11:34 a.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
I know what I’m doing.
Message exchange between Trina Neale and Nicky-Rose Dearing on April 30, 2025:
11:14 p.m. Trina wrote:
I’ll arrive in the UK on June 1.
11:15 p.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
Not convenient. Make it the week after.
11:16 p.m. Trina wrote:
No.
11:16 p.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
11:17 p.m. Trina wrote:
I know things didn’t end well, but believe it or not I AM looking forward to seeing you again. We had some good times, didn’t we?
11:22 p.m. Trina wrote:
That’s why we started Twin Star—because we were kindred spirits.
11:30 p.m. Trina wrote:
I thought we’d always be friends.
11:31 p.m. Trina wrote:
Or at least that we’d never fall out over something as petty as money.
11:34 p.m. Trina wrote:
We were a tight team and worked our butts off, got ourselves out of situations that would have sunk other companies.
11:39 p.m. Trina wrote:
When Ocean Ventures defaulted. When the old office flooded and the insurance wasn’t valid. We got through it all together.
11:40 p.m. Trina wrote:
Looking forward to catching up, for old times’ sake.
11:44 p.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
I don’t want to set eyes on you ever again. I’m only in touch with you now to get what’s owed me so I can start over.
11:46 p.m. Trina wrote:
Then how the fuck will we do the exchange? I’m not leaving the cash somewhere without checking the documents first.
11:47 p.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
I’ve got a friend who knows nothing about us. She’ll do anything I ask her to do.