Chapter Forty-Four
Over the next seven days, with the main news constantly hijacked by high drama in the US, Cristy found herself torn between sadness for the twins that they were once again much lower on a scale of importance than they deserved, and relief for Meier that he wasn’t, yet, as big a hate figure as he might have been if the full focus of attention were on him.
This wasn’t to say the case was gaining no interest. Since last week’s drop, they’d had a small avalanche of feedback, and thanks to Matthew and his star reporter, Judith Evans, The News Agenda was delivering regular updates on all its bulletins – all available to Hindsight for future use.
Unsurprisingly, the Terrier was bombarding Cristy with demands for her exclusive of the investigation; however, Cristy had little trouble batting her off with the reminder that the series wasn’t yet over.
It was on Tuesday morning, a whole week after Meier’s self-surrender, when they were told Nicole had refused their visitor request.
‘I’m sorry,’ Honey said, when Cristy called her.
‘We had to advise her to turn you down. She’s already paying the price of talking to you – I blame myself, of course; I shouldn’t have let it happen, and it’s small comfort that we all went into it with the best intentions.
Anyway, we can’t allow her any more involvement with the press at this stage.
In fact, until we know what decisions have been made about her conviction and her future custody, we’d be grateful if you didn’t even try to contact her.
We’re pushing for her initial conviction to be deemed unsafe. ’
Understanding, although undeniably frustrated, Cristy said, ‘How is she?’
‘I haven’t seen her in person, but speaking to her on the phone … she sounds … not always as if she’s listening … Her mother says she’s not speaking to her much either.’
‘So Maeve’s in touch with her?’
‘Regularly, but if you’re about to ask if Maeve will talk to you, I’m afraid we’ve advised her against it too.
Everything’s just too delicate at the moment.
However, I will tell you this: I believe Maeve when she says she didn’t know what had happened to the twins until you yourselves revealed it last week. ’
Cristy knew that, as Maeve’s lawyer, Honey had to say that, as did Maeve in order to avoid prosecution herself. ‘And Nicole’s phone? Did you ask her about it?’
‘She found it where Nicole told her to look – under a floorboard in the basement of the house. It was, as you suspected, a pay-as-you-go.’
‘So the place clearly didn’t undergo much of search?’
‘Apparently not, but remember they weren’t looking for a phone because she’d told the police she didn’t have one.
They have it now, although whether anything is still stored on it after so long, we’ve yet to find out.
As for the service provider … Nicole can’t remember who it was; she chopped and changed quite a lot apparently, and I don’t think you can get that kind of detail from the phone itself, at least not one from that era. ’
‘And even if you could,’ Cristy added, ‘the chances of any records still existing have to be close to zero.’
‘I think the point is,’ Honey responded, ‘that she’s confirmed Meier’s account of the calls that morning, and as neither of them are trying to hide anything any more, the phone and its activity isn’t rating very highly on a list of priorities.’
‘No, of course not. Do you know if Nicole and Meier are in touch with one another?’
‘I don’t, but I doubt it. There aren’t really any avenues open to them for contact with the way things stand.’
Wondering how they both felt about that, Cristy thanked Honey and rang off.
She was keen to get on with the finishing touches to tonight’s episode now; however, she made the grand mistake of quickly checking her messages and immediately wished she hadn’t. Why had she agreed to see David at the weekend when she needed to stay focused on what was happening here?
His message said:
I’ll fly over on Saturday. Shall I come straight to your place?
Since the only sensible answer to that was yes, she tapped it in and told herself she’d be ready to see him by then and hopefully in the right frame of mind to deal with whatever he had to tell her. As if she was ever going to be ready for him to finish it between them once and for all.
Connor said, ‘OK, shall we record this next piece about Meier?’
Calling up the email they’d received from Meier’s lawyer the day before, Cristy nodded and waited for the thumbs up to begin.
CRISTY: ‘So we now know what offences Jean-Claude Meier has been charged with, and I guess you could say they’ve thrown the book at him.
Did he deserve it? Yeah, I guess so, but, as we know, nothing’s ever as straightforward as we’d like it to be – or entirely rational when it comes to decisions made under duress. ’
CONNOR: ‘Are we talking about you now or Claude Meier?’
CRISTY: ‘You’re funny. So, here goes: Two counts of Assisting an Offender, which apparently includes helping Nicole to cover up the twins’ deaths, and their removal from 42 Randall Lane, which carries a maximum sentence of up to ten years.’
CONNOR: ‘Next: Perverting the Course of Justice, which can result in a life sentence all on its own.’
CRISTY: ‘Failure to Disclose Information – this covers his refusal to name those who helped him. For that, he could face up to five years.’
CONNOR: ‘There’s also Preventing the Lawful Burial of a Body – not codified in legislation, but could carry a custodial sentence of up to five years ’
CRISTY: ‘His lawyer was at pains to stress that, for the moment, everything is based on Nicole’s murder conviction; if that ends up being overturned or downgraded to involuntary manslaughter, a lot could change.
Her legal team is currently trying to establish a case for the latter, and considering how little evidence was presented at the original trial to secure a guilty verdict, they are quietly confident of achieving a better result this time. ’
CONNOR: ‘If they can, it’s possible Nicole will be released straightaway, considering how long she’s already served, but as we know, the wheels of justice turn slowly, so we’ll just have to wait to see what happens there.’
CRISTY: ‘Meanwhile, in spite of all the charges he’s facing, Jean-Claude Meier has been released on police bail.
Apparently, he’s had to surrender his passport, and he’s due to be fitted with a security tag sometime in the next few weeks.
We can confirm that he’s returned to his home in the Welsh mountains, where he’ll be staying until he’s summoned to court. ’
CONNOR: ‘Or until the press who’ve found him have managed to drive him out.’
Cristy said, ‘Is this a good place to play in some further description of Bryn Helyg and what it’s all about?’
‘Possibly.’ Connor made a note. ‘Let’s take a decision when we’re done with this.’
CRISTY: ‘You’ll have seen news coverage of Noah and Abigail’s bodies being exhumed from a grave near Meier’s home. All we can add to that, at this time, is that forensic tests are still underway to establish that it really is them.’
CONNOR: ‘Unfortunately for us, both Meier and Nicole have been advised against engaging any further with the podcast. However, this is not an end to the series. We’ll continue monitoring the case and will bring you updates as and when we receive them, along with any interviews we are given permission to use. ’
CRISTY: ‘Just a quick response to the rumours that have been flying: yes, we do have a recording of Meier’s full confession, but for obvious reasons, it’s in the hands of the lawyers.
So, we’re sorry, it’s not likely we’ll be able to share it with you any time soon.
In fact, with everything likely to be in a state of flux for at least the next couple of months, we’re going to take a pause after this episode and come back to you – as Connor said – with occasional updates when they happen, until such time as we can bring the series to an end. ’
Stopping the recording, Connor sat back in his chair with a groan of frustration. ‘They’ll be getting everything from the news long before we receive the go-ahead to use Meier’s confession,’ he pointed out.
‘But ours will be the in-depth story,’ Jacks reminded him, ‘and something like this never passes its sell-by.’
‘Let’s be thankful for that,’ Clove said wryly, ‘or all of us sitting here would be out of a job.’
Cristy smiled at the truth of that, and since it reminded her of Kinsley’s offer, she thought fleetingly of the counteroffer she was considering putting his way.
It could wait until it was fully formulated in her mind, and that wouldn’t happen until she’d had a few key conversations with the people who mattered.
Connor was saying, ‘… so it’s not likely we’ll ever be able to use her voice note.’
‘Who are we talking about?’ Cristy asked.
‘Lauren,’ Clove told her, ‘and the message she left at the weekend.’
‘I’ll lay money her lawyer knows nothing about it,’ Connor put in. ‘He’d never have sanctioned it if he did.’
‘Play it again,’ Cristy said. ‘Not that I think it’s usable, unless we want to turn the police on her, and what would be the point of that? I’d just like to hear it one more time before we erase it.’
Calling it up, Clove hit play, and Cristy closed her eyes to listen.
LAUREN: ‘Hi, it’s Lauren Beagle here. I just wanted to say that I’m glad he kept his word and is now finally doing this for Nicole.
He should have done it a long time ago, of course, but I’m as much to blame for not speaking out myself, so it’s hardly my place to find fault with him.
All I’ll say in my defence is that by the time I knew what had happened to the twins, I was greatly attached to his grandmother, Marie, and didn’t want to do anything to hurt her.
She was an old lady with not much longer left to live, and would revealing the truth actually have got Nicole out of prison? I guess we’ll never know now.