Page 138 of Don't Believe A Word

After a brief and awkward silence, Iz said brightly, ‘How about we regroup tomorrow, or the next day, when we’ve had some listener feedback, andthenwe can decide how best to approach the last pod?’

‘Let’s do that,’ Cristy said, appreciating the suggestion, ‘and by then we might have clearer heads. We’ve been pretty full on these past ten days, especially yesterday and today.’

Iz beamed. ‘Have I ever told you my teapot theory?’ she asked cheerily. ‘I always say, if you’re feeling blocked it’s probably because you’re trying to go too fast so everything’s getting all clogged up. So what you have to do is pull the teapot back, give the leaves a swirl and next thing you know it’s all pouring out perfectly and no more block.’

Cristy looked at Connor, willing him not to say something cruel, but he clearly didn’t quite get the message. ‘I’ve already pointed out that this isn’t a drama,’ he snapped angrily. ‘No one’sblocked,Iz,the law is the law, and no matter how many times you swirl the pot we’re not going to get around it.’

As Iz coloured, Cristy said, ‘But it’s still a good idea to meet after we’ve had time to think things through – and after we’ve interviewed Sadie for the wrap-up. We don’t know what she’s going to say yet. OK, no one’s expecting her to give us the conflagration Meena’s hoping for, but who knows? Maybe she’ll have talked Mia into letting the journals be aired in theirentirety. Would that be an explosive enough climax for you, Meena? To leave everyone speculating on which sister was guilty rather than whether they were actually involved in Janina’s death or not?’

‘I think they’re going to do that anyway,’ Clove pointed out.

‘She’s right,’ Connor said. ‘And whatever we can or can’t run, it’s still a truly dark tale of abduction, insane wealth, entitlement, human trafficking, murder … It’s got everything, so let’s stop doing ourselves down here. One way or another we’ll make the last episode a winner, and I’ll lay money now that by this time on Wednesday, or maybe Thursday, we’ll have worked out how.’

*

Early the next morning Cristy was alone in the office, stressing over Aiden’s situation again, or she had been until another text arrived from the stalker, this one so ghastly it was actually making her feel sick.

Oh, Cristy, you’re a dirty, dirty girl. If anyone knew what you got up to when alone in your bed … Shall I send the photos?

Photos! Was there a camera in her bedroom, for God’s sake? Had someone actually managed to break in to set up some sort of surveillance …

Stop!She hadn’t actually done anything to warrant this message. Sure, she’d thought about it, and had even mentioned it to David, but it hadn’t happened, so thispersonwas either playing mind games, or did it mean he had a tap on her phone?

The next step, obviously, was to let Jacks and his shadowy team of geeks see if they could trace the source; and she would, were it not for the fact that she simply couldn’t bear for anyone to see this latest message. At the very least they’d wonder if there was some truth to it, or, worse,much worse,they’d picture her in a state of writhing and moaning masturbation with God only knew what sort of stimulating devices. Who knew how vivid and graphic their imaginations might be? They might also want to call the stalker’s bluff and ask for photos! Obviously he didn’t have any because ithadn’t happened.However, he could easily Photoshop her face onto some hideously pornographic imagesand even if, in the end, it could be proved it wasn’t her, people, Jacks included, would still feel they’d seen her like that.

So she couldn’t ask Jacks to get involved. What she had to do was change her phone and the number … Except everyone would want to know why she’d taken such a bizarre decision at this stage of a series. It would make no sense to them, any more than it would to Aiden if she asked him to check the flat for some sort of bugging device – or devices, plural.

She looked around the office, wondering if she was being watched even now. It was impossible to tell when she had no idea how covert surveillance was set up, much less carried out. But maybe she was in danger of blowing this out of proportion. Whoever was behind it hadn’t threatened her physically, nor was he suggesting he might. In fact, in the grand scheme of things, these messages weren’t actually that bad; no rape or murder threats, no mention of her children, nor even a suggestion of going public with fake masturbation photos. Nevertheless, she still didn’t want anyone seeing the latest text, so the best thing to do was drop it into the folder with the others, and feel thankful that she had plenty else going on right now to distract her.

*

It was on Thursday afternoon while everyone was at their desks working on ways to create a big finale that Mia rang.

Immediately scrabbling to take the call, Cristy alerted the others and waited for Mia’s image to fill her computer screen.

‘Mia?’ she said, when nothing happened. ‘Are you OK?’ She could hear breathing and the sound of someone moving, but still no one spoke. ‘Mia?’ she called again.

‘She’s coming for me,’ Mia cried, still not in vision. ‘I know she is, but I’m not going to let her in. Tell her, shecan’t come in.’

With a quick glance at Connor, Cristy said, ‘Are you talking about Sadie, Mia?’

‘I’m talking about Lottie.She’s coming for me … You’ve poisoned her against me, told her all your ugly lies … Those people she’s with areimposters. You brought them here, so you have to make them go away.’

Realizing she was talking about Sadie, even if she didn’t recognize it herself, Cristy said, ‘Mia, listen. Sadie just wants to talk to you, to make sure you’re OK after the shock of everything …’

‘Tell her to go away!’ Mia yelled. ‘I don’t want her here. She wants to kill me.’

‘That’s not true,’ Cristy argued gently. ‘She still cares about you …’

‘She wants to punish me for keeping her away from that doctor. I regret it now, but she won’t listen.’

Back to Lottie. ‘It was a long time ago,’ Cristy said. ‘What happened then …’

‘It wasn’t my fault what happened to her mother! I didn’t do it. You have to tell her that.’

‘Please, just let Sadie come and talk to you,’ Cristy said. ‘If you like, David Gaudion can come with her …’

‘No! I don’t want her here. I just want you to know that if anything happens to me it’ll be down to you and everything you’ve done to turn my niece against me. Lottie is very angry about it. Very angry indeed.’

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