Page 55 of Don't Believe A Word

Understanding completely, Cristy said, ‘I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to meet you, in person, or on Zoom. I’ll drop him an email as soon as we’re done here.’ She cast a quick glance around the room in case anyone had anything to add before she let Sadie go. It seemed no one did, so she told Sadie to call her any time, day or night, and promised to be in touch as soon as they had something to report from their end. ‘And please send my love to the rest of the family,’ she said to Anna.

‘Will do. I know they’ll want me to send theirs, so big kiss and come see us soon.’

As Connor ended the connection Cristy suddenly felt unaccountably drained and maybe not as on top of this series as she needed to be. Or perhaps she was just tired after struggling to sleep for the past few nights; even when she had slept her dreams were so tangled and strange, almost frightening at times, that she ended up feeling more exhausted than refreshed when she woke in the mornings. She blamed Matthew – mainly because she blamed him for everything – but there was no denying that she was becoming increasingly unsettled by the scenario of two rich women ‘finding’ a child on a beach. It was a peculiar and incredible story that seemed to be immersing itself deeper and deeper into the kind of sinister portent that the early hours of the morning made a whole lot worse. She kept asking herself, if they’d known at the beginning what they knew now, would they still have got into it?

The answer was yes, of course they would, especially when there was still nothing to say that they were entering into the kind of territory it was best not to tread.

‘Question!’ Iz piped up from her small desk in the corner.

Cristy looked in her direction while the others studiously failed to respond. ‘Shoot,’ Cristy invited.

‘Why do we actuallycareabout Sadie?’ Iz asked boldly.

As everyone stiffened and Connor actually groaned, Cristy tried to gather her thoughts.

‘I’m not saying I don’t,’ Iz hastily jumped in, apparently sensing she’d hit a wrong note, ‘I’m just passing on something that came up at a meeting this morning.’

‘What meeting?’ Connor asked darkly.

‘With my colleagues at SLD and the reps for your sponsors. One of them, from Open Destiny, pointed out that Sadie has had an extremely privileged life. So why does she even want to know about a mother who abandoned her when she still has an aunt who …’ Her words dried up as her eyes grew wary. ‘And so why would we care?’ she finished feebly.

‘They’re not unreasonable questions,’ Cristy put in, before anyone could cut Iz down to an even smaller size than she clearly already felt. ‘And if someone from Open Destiny is asking it then we have to accept that a lot of listeners will too. Wealthy girl bleating about identity, getting a podcast made about her, involving the world in her search … Whoisgoing to care?’

‘Anyone,’ Clover put in hotly, ‘with an ounce of empathy in their soul will want to know why a small child was given up in the way Sadie was. Not to mention what happened to the mother, uncleandfather, after the aunts made off with her. It’s not about who Sadie is now, or what she has, it’s about her sense of identity and self, her confusion over nationality and even her culture … Most people will understand that even if they’re not facing the issues themselves. As an adoptee I’ve been through a lot of it. I was out there, not knowing who I was once. So, does that answer your question, Iz?’

Iz was already nodding. ‘I said more or less the same thing,’ she insisted, ‘I just thought I ought to flag it up in case … Well, I suppose in case any of you thought our Open Destiny guy might have a point.’

‘What I want to know,’ Connor said, ‘is why you were even discussing it with them when the first episode doesn’t go live until six this evening. Are you giving them previews, or something?A chance to have a say? Because it was our understanding that they’d have no editorial control.’

‘Oh, it’s not control,’ Iz quickly assured him. ‘It’s simply protocol, a courtesy to loop them in ahead of transmission. Do you call it that for a podcast?’

‘Did they have any other comments, or useful insights we should know about?’ Cristy asked, cutting Connor off.

‘No, that was it, really. I mean, in a negative sense, if we can call it negative, which I don’t think it was, really. More … constructive. Otherwise, they were all intrigued to know more – remember episode one finishes with the mysterious envelope arriving, and I promise I haven’t given anything away.’

Clearly still far from happy, Connor said, ‘You can only keep your desk here if we can trust you, Iz. I get that you’re not actually on our side, you’re working for them, but we’re going to end up in a serious falling-out if you don’t keep us informed about your meetings.’

‘And from now on I will,’ she promised, looking more like an overanxious child than a highly successful PR exec with each word she uttered. Maybe this was her superpower, Cristy reflected: always appear vulnerable and make the other person feel they’re in the right even if they weren’t. It could be a winning technique.

‘OK, I think we’ve gone far enough with that,’ she said, stepping in. ‘Everyone will start arriving soon to celebrate the first drop, so let’s do a quick talk through the recent chapter. Has it thrown anything up for anyone, I mean apart from the obvious?’

After hitting a few keys to change his screen, Jacks said, ‘Edwin Prosser. I’ve managed to get an email address for him now. No idea if it’s still current, but I haven’t had a bounce back yet, and it’s Hotmail UK, so he could still be in the country.’ He glanced up, saw he still had his audience and moved on. ‘As you know, I’ve made contact with Butlin’s head office about Lukas and a very helpful-sounding person in HR said she’d get back to me, hopefully sometime this week. It could be no more than a polite brush-off, but she didn’t mention data protection, at least not yet, so if I don’t hear anything I’ll definitely try again.’

With a nod of approval, Cristy said, ‘Clove, where are you at with your enquiries?’

‘OK, so I recorded a video chat with Frank Fox yesterday, the bloke who works for the landowner whose ownership of half of Somerset includes the hilltop house rented by the sisters. Mr Fox is not your archetypal land agent, as you’ll see when you watch: all mullet and machismo with a healthy love of himself, kind of sets the picture. Unsurprisingly, he was still a schoolboy in 2000, but before our hook-up he’d very obligingly checked with his predecessor who apparently remembers the sisters, but only because they came for such a short time before taking off again at short notice with the whole summer paid for. He knew nothing about a child, or where the sisters went after they left the house, and a delve into the files didn’t turn up anything useful. So, not much more to be achieved there.

‘On a more positive note, I’m on the verge of making contact with a retired Avon and Somerset detective who was with the force working out of Taunton back in the late Nineties, early 2000s. I’m told she was involved in undercover ops in west Somerset, gang related, so yes, it was happening at the time Janina and Lukas were around. I’ve also dug out a few local press articles that are relevant. Currently, I’m ploughing my way through an organized crime report from the Council of Europe dated 2001. It’s possible there was some sort of covert activity going on in the area that not even the locals knew anything about.’

‘Great,’ Cristy responded approvingly. ‘Everything’s worth exploring even if we end up down a blind alley. You never know which one will break us into a new light. Now, I’d better send an email to Robert Brinkley about Sadie, while the rest of you get ready for the drinks. Who’s coming, by the way?’

‘All the usual suspects,’ Connor answered, ‘Meena, Harry, Jodi – this will be Aurora’s first grown-up drinks gig.’

As everyone oooh-ed their appreciation Cristy noticed Iz’s hesitant smile and said, ‘Iz, I take it you’re staying to mark the occasion of the first episode dropping with us?’

Starting with surprise, Iz said, eagerly, ‘If I’m invited. I’d love to be here. Who’s Aurora, if you don’t mind me asking?’

‘Connor’s six-week-old daughter,’ Cristy replied.

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