Page 157 of Don't Believe A Word

CONNOR: ‘Got it. Noted – and … moving on. There was something else going down with you during this time, Cris, do you want to tell us about that?’

CRISTY: ‘Yes, I was the victim of a phone stalker and it really wasn’t pleasant. In fact it was downright scary at times … We’re considering giving much more coverage to this truly despicable way of menacing people, even hounding some to their deaths, during a future series. For now I’ll just say that in my case, Jacks, one of our researchers, managed to track the stalker down. It turned out to be someone Jacks himself had long trusted to carry out deeper dives into phone and technology issues for the series.’

CONNOR: ‘Apparently the guy had some sort of unhealthy fixation on Cristy and Jacks was so upset by it all that he offered to withdraw from the series. Fortunately, we’ve managed to talk him out of it. He’s a fantastic and highly valued member of the team, as is Clover, our other researcher, who will also be on board the next timeHindsightsets sail.’

CRISTY: ‘So, how about your news, Con?’

CONNOR: ‘You know, I reckon we should get into mine at the end, because what everyone out there really wants to hear about now is what happened to Sadie Winters after she was charged with murder.’

CRISTY: ‘Sure. Your turn to take it away.’

CONNOR: ‘Actually, you have the first link.’

CRISTY: ‘Ha! So I have. OK, well, almost as soon as Sadie was remanded in custody for murdering her aunt, we wereinundated with requests for as much inside intel as we could share. Most particularly, you wanted to know if we atHindsighthadplayed any part in helping to answer the question of “Did she jump, or was she pushed?”’

CONNOR: ‘An electrifying question if ever there was one, and it got so much debate going on our social media channels that for a while there they looked in danger of going into meltdown. Well, the mystery is now solved and we’ll be bringing you details later in this episode ofHindsight’s role in proving the case against Sadie Winters. It didn’t happen in quite the way you might think, and there are others who deserve far more credit than us, namely Mia Winters, and the god-of-mobile-phones. But we’ll come on to that.

‘For now we’re going to address as many of the other questions you’ve been firing at us as we can. Starting with: “Where was Sadie held in custody?”’

CRISTY: ‘The short answer to that is Guernsey Prison – and this is probably a good time to explain, for those keen to know about the island’s legal system, that it is basically the same as ours in England. There are a few anomalies, and some different terminology, for example criminal cases are generally presided over by a judge of law – aka bailiff – with between seven to twelve jurats, aka the jury. If you’d like to find out more about the Bailiwick’s composition of the court you’ll find several helpful links on our website.’

CONNOR: ‘I’m sure that most of you will know by now that Sadie entered a plea of guilty to manslaughter due to diminished responsibility. Were we surprised by that? No, not at all. We’d already heard that it was going to happen, and whatever you might think when we play you the evidence we submitted later in the episode, you’ll probably agree that there was a plausible case for temporary insanity.’

CRISTY: ‘So she avoided a mandatory life sentence and received fifteen years instead with no recommendations, which means she could be out again in less than ten, maybeeven sooner than that. We were in court to witness the judgment, and we were also able to record a short interview with her father and uncle after she was taken away. Before we share that with you, let’s talk for a minute about Sadie’s demeanour during the passing of her sentence: did she show remorse? Shock? Was she emotional? Did she look at anyone? Did she speak at all?’

CONNOR: ‘The answers are, yes she appeared quite stricken by what she’d done and shocked, kind of bewildered actually, to find herself where she was. She didn’t speak to anyone, and the only person we saw her look at was Cristy.’

CRISTY: ‘It was a surreal moment, almost as if time was shifting somehow leaving just the two of us in a space that … Well, let’s just say it was weird and it still feels weird.’

CONNOR: ‘We need more, like what do you think her look was saying?’

CRISTY: ‘Actually, nothing at first, it was just … empty, and then – I’m still quite blown away by this – she seemed to be feeling kind of sorry for me, as if I was the one to blame for her actions, and she was sad that I was making her pay for them. That’s what she made me think, so you see why I say weird.’

CONNOR: ‘So she didn’t come over as angry, or vengeful, or even a little bit pissed off that you’d caught out her lies?’

CRISTY: ‘Not in that minute, no. It was only later, when her lawyer delivered her note, that we got confirmation that she really was – or is – on some other planet. I’ll read it out for you.

‘“Cristy, I realize now that I should never have trusted you, but we all make mistakes. Being as vulnerable as I was at the time I came to you with an overwhelming need to find my true family, I was perhaps more prone to making them than most. I can see now what easy prey I was for you, and how I continued to be throughout the making of your series.As I begin to serve a sentence for something you know I didn’t do, it will be for you to decide how to live with your conscience. Perhaps you don’t have one, so there will be no inner struggle for you. Can I pre-empt any request you might be considering for an interview with me by saying: without trust there can be no further contact. Sasha.”’

CONNOR: ‘Wow, kind of powerful, definitely delusional – and if she didn’t do it, why plead guilty to manslaughter? I guess she’ll have some sort of an answer for that, and I’m sure what I’ll want to say in response is “See how you like it.”These are the final words she spoke to her aunt before she pushed her to her death.’

CRISTY: ‘We’ll play you an actual recording of it in just a few minutes. We’ll also be hearing from Sadie’s father and uncle about how she is justifying her actions to them.’

CONNOR: ‘But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, we thought it would make sense to play you some selected highlights from all six episodes ofWho’s That Girlto bring ourselves back up to speed. We’re going to start with the pages, written by Lottie, that kicked the whole thing off when Sadie brought them to Cristy. Incidentally, we only saw a few chapters of that story, Cristy. Do you think there was more, or was the scene when Edwin came to the house as far as Lottie got with her memoir?’

CRISTY: ‘If it’s true that Mia had all Lottie’s computers returned to factory settings after her death, then my guess is this: Lottie could have written more, the entire story even, but then she died and Mia took drastic action to make sure nothing ever saw the light of day.’

CONNOR: ‘So Mia knew what Lottie was doing?’

CRISTY: ‘It’s certainly possible. For all we know Mia wrote some of it herself. She definitely gave the impression of that the first time I spoke to her. What I doubt she knew was that Lottie had printed out the early chapters and hidden themin random places, either to edit, or to make sure a copy still existed if Mia ever went nuts and tried to sabotage things.’

CONNOR: ‘Does that lead us to wonder if it was Mia who tampered with Lottie’s meds?’

CRISTY: ‘It’s hard not to wonder that, but we’ll never have an answer to it, so we need to edit that last bit out, and get back on script. Pick up with Sadie reading Lottie’s account of finding a child on the beach and how it led to all that came after.’

As the pre-prepared insert began to play Connor sat back in his chair to listen, while Cristy and David, finally in Marrakech, did the same poolside. They’d arrived four days ago, and had so far only ventured out of their very private and exotically luxurious pavilion-piscine suite for the occasional meal, or an evening stroll. At the moment, in the lazy heat of the mid-afternoon, they were lying out on their loungers, hands loosely linked over the sound equipment Cristy had set up just before Connor had connected for this bonus recording.

The sun was dazzling, and the heady scents of orange blossom, musk and incense infusing the air seemed to add a sense of unreality to the many voices that had gone into making up the series. Robert and Gita Brinkley; ex-DS Catherine Shilling; Edwin Prosser; Natalie Irwin; Lottie’s publisher, Felicity Green; Gabe and Lukas; Mia Winters, even Lottie in her way – and of course Sadie.

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