Page 101 of Don't Believe A Word

Knowing she was far too eager to believe that, Cristy countered it with a reminder of Juliette emerging from the gazebo on New Year’s Eve, and how closely they’d danced together after. ‘I think she still has very strong feelings for you,’ she said, ‘and whether you return them or not, you disappeared with her on New Year’s Day, and no one saw you for the next couple of hours.’

He frowned, as though trying to recall it, until his expression cleared and he said, ‘Laurent was sick. Actually he was hungover, but that’s another story … He wanted us both to sit with him, to feel sorry for him, I guess, so we did.’

‘But I saw you take wine with you …’

‘I came back for it because Juliette thought the smell might help Laurent to throw up. It worked, and after we’d cleaned him up all three of us fell asleep on the bed. That’s why I was gone for so long.’

Although it was believable, and David certainly seemed sincere, she had to point out how cold he’d been with her after, right up until she’d left.

‘Because that’s how you were being with me,’ he told her. ‘I knew you were worried about Matthew and I could see you wanted to get away … I didn’t blame you, I understood, but at the same time I was angry, jealous, I guess … And you were behaving as though I was holding you back, or standing in the way … Obviously, I should have done the grown-up thing and tried to get you to talk, but in my stubbornness, arrogance if you like, I decided that if you couldn’t come out and say what was on your mind then I wasn’t going to ask.’

Having to accept that she probably had gone into some sort of passive-aggressive routine, Cristy started to speak, but he said, ‘There’s more. It’s my guess, well, it was my mother’s actually and I saw right away that she was probably right … She thinks that because of your experience with Matthew, what you went through after the break-up, it’s made it difficult for you to trust someone again. She also said that if I want you in my life, I need to be mindful of your past and make sure I don’t give you cause to doubt me or my feelings. And that was exactly what I’d done over New Year, whether I realized it or not.’

Having to swallow a lump in her throat, Cristy said, ‘I’ve always loved your mother, since the day we first met.’

He smiled. ‘You probably know the feeling’s mutual.’ Then after a pause, ‘So this is me apologizing for not being sensitive to your feelings, and for not coming here sooner to try to make things right between us.’

The gulf was definitely closing, almost faster than she could keep up with. ‘I realize I didn’t make it easy for you,’ she said, ‘I know I can be very defensive. I’m so afraid, probably too afraid, of being hurt like that again … It’s almost like I keep expecting it, and because we still don’t know one another that well, I guess it’s inevitable that we – thatI–will get some things wrong. I just wish I’d faced down my demons …’ She stopped as he got up from the sofa and held out a hand.

She allowed him to pull her up into his arms, and said dryly, ‘I guess that’s the gulf dealt with then.’

He laughed and brought the length of her body against his. ‘I was just thinking,’ he murmured against her lips, ‘maybe that’s enough talking for tonight?’

Mmm, she thought as their embrace deepened, he was right, it probably was.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CRISTY: ‘Hi, it’s Cristy, it’s Tuesday morning and I am on my way to Florida.

‘Yes, I really am on a non-stop flight to Miami. All will be revealed in a later episode, but for now I’m sorry to tell you that we’re unable to bring you a podcast at our usual time this evening. Never fear, there will be an episode coming your way at the end of the week that will contain surprises all of its own. Nothing to do with Florida.’ (And everything to do with Robert Brinkley, she didn’t add.)

‘It’s funny how life throws things at you, swerves you off in directions you’d never have dreamt were coming only days, maybe hours before. That is certainly happening with this series. So, I hope you’ll be patient and bear with us. Connor will be your host on Friday and I hope to be sharing the reasons for my unexpected trip Stateside by next Tuesday.’

After connecting to the plane’s WiFi and uploading the recording to the team, Cristy stretched out her long legs and sighed luxuriously as she settled deeper into the business-class seat. She truly hadnotseen this coming, had only learned yesterday that instead of flying to Guernsey that day, she’d be heading for the US in the morning to meet none other than George Symmonds-Browne, or so she’d been told. Or, as he was known these days, Gabriel Bailey.

Apparently, he was not in witness protection, or under any other kind of state protection. In fact, according to Evie Baker, who Cristy had been in regular email contact with since Sunday,he was living a quiet life in a safe and comfortable community on Florida’s Gulf coast. He’d changed his name, said Evie, partly out of respect for his family, but also to avoid some old business associates. He was willing to talk toHindsight,but only in person – in other words not over Zoom, and nor was he coming to the UK.

Whether or not Evie Baker was the same Evie Natalie Irwin had talked about in her interview had not yet been established. However, she’d been the subject of much debate since Jacks had found the first email from her at eight-thirty on Sunday morning and alerted the whole team to its existence.

A video conference was almost immediately under way.

True, there had to be a million or more Evies out there. This particular message, spotted and forwarded by an insomniac supersleuth, had once again claimed that George Symmonds-Browne was in Naples.

In the end, it was Matthew who’d redirected their assumptions from southern Italy when he’d turned up at the flat around ten o’clock not only with croissants and pastries, but with information from his late-responding Interpol contact.Last known location of Symmonds-Browne: Naples, Florida. No longer person of interest to international law enforcement agencies.Nothing about protection, or turning state’s witness, or even that Symmonds-Browne might be living under another name. However, it had been enough to convince Cristy and team that a trip to Florida was worth committing to.

‘But not alone,’ Connor had declared firmly. ‘We’ve got no idea what you might be walking into and I, for one, am uncomfortable with the fact that neither this woman, nor Symmonds-Browne – Bailey, whatever we’re supposed to call him – will connect online.’

They’d all been at Cristy’s flat by then with Matthew, showing no inclination to leave, taking charge of food deliveries, while David sat watching and listening in what appeared to be growing fascination with the delegation and decision-making process.

Finally, when it became clear that Connor needed to take on the Guernsey trip – they still wanted to interview Corny the ex-housekeeper, and possibly record Robert’s meeting with Sadie – it was decided that Clove and Jacks should fly to Vilnius to talk tothe journalist who was helping to locate Lukas and Janina’s older sister while Cristy went to Florida. When David volunteered himself as Cristy’s ‘bag-carrier’ she turned to him in amazement.

She was thrilled, of course, but really? Did he mean it? The nonchalance of his shrug told her that he did.

‘Why wouldn’t I want to go to the sunshine state in February?’ he’d asked, not adding,with you,but she’d known from the way he was looking at her that it was what he was thinking.

‘Darn! Beat me to it,’ Matthew declared, clearly nowhere near as thrilled as he’d tried to sound, and looking, for one truly alarming moment, as though he might offer to go too.

Shuddering at the memory of that now, and just how horrendous it would be if the three of them actually were on this plane, Cristy turned to David and smiled to find him watching her.

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