Page 21 of Don't Believe A Word

‘I thought we were hoping for leads from the public, by posting the pods weekly?’ Sadie interjected.

‘Without them we might never actually have a story,’ he pointed out.

Aware of that, Cristy frowned as she said, ‘We’ve just got to be careful we don’t start irritating the listeners. Pods leap back andforth all the time, I know. But with this one there’s far more potential for getting things wrong either through misunderstanding, or just not knowing enough to make sense of where we’re at in the story.’ To Sadie, she said, ‘Let’s go ahead with the interview now and discuss this further when we’re done. Are you ready?’

‘As I’ll ever be,’ Sadie replied.

Cristy waited for Connor to register the timecode and began.

CRISTY: ‘Sadie, since you found this extract have you had any thoughts on what might have been in the envelope?’

SADIE: ‘Well, I think for me, the most obvious answer is some kind of blackmail threat, although Lottie herself kind of dismisses that … Not altogether, it’s true, but it wouldn’t be normal for her, a natural storyteller, to presage the truth in such a clumsy way.’

CRISTY: ‘For the benefit of our listeners, here’s a reminder of Lottie’s words:“Thinking immediately of blackmail, ransoms, all kinds of craziness …”But we can’t rule out blackmail?’

SADIE: ‘No, we can’t, and as I said, it is the most obvious answer.’

CONNOR: ‘Mia asked if there was a note, but it doesn’t seem that there was.’

SADIE: ‘That’s true. I was thinking, maybe it was a photograph of some kind. There wouldn’t have to be any words, the image could speak for itself.’

CRISTY: ‘You mean, for example, it could show Lottie taking the child from the beach?’

SADIE: ‘Something like that.’

CONNOR: ‘The fact the envelope arrived after Sadie had been with them for a while could suggest that someone had been waiting for the right time … Lottie says in the story that she felt as though someone might be watching.’

Cristy signalled for Connor to stop the recording while at her end Sadie waited, clearly not entirely sure what was expected of her now.

Eventually, Cristy said, ‘I can’t see how we can continue with this, Sadie, until you’ve spoken to your aunt. Even if she won’t tell you what was in the envelope, presuming she remembers – and I understand she might say she doesn’t when she does – it’s crazy to go ahead without at least trying to get her involved.’

Sadie’s eyes showed her unease. ‘If you’re saying you want to interview her, I really don’t think she’ll go for it.’

‘She already knows you’re looking into your past …’

‘Well, we haven’t actually discussed it.’

‘But she has to have guessed it’s why I was at the villa on New Year’s Day.’

‘Yes, I suppose so, but she hasn’t mentioned it since.’

‘OK,’ Connor said firmly, ‘let’s go back to what we do know. Tell us what she said when you first asked her why you couldn’t find any trace of her brother, your supposed father? When was that, exactly?’

‘A few years ago,’ Sadie replied, ‘and it was actually Lottie I asked.’

‘And she said?’

‘Before she got angry and all self-righteous on me, like I told you before, she kind of pulled a Mia on me, saying it was all a long time ago, and everything had probably been lost along the way.’

Cristy said, ‘Which tells you precisely nothing, apart from the fact that she was lying, or at least avoiding the truth. Sorry if that’s brutal, Sadie, but no one talks about their dead brother that way.’

‘I agree,’ Sadie responded, ‘I just didn’t know how to force anything out of her, any more than I know how to get it out of Mia now.’

Connor said, ‘I don’t suppose any memories have resurfaced for you of those early days on Exmoor?’

Sadie tilted her head as she said, ‘I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and there was someone: a man, tall, dark-haired, he wore sunglasses, and a hat. I think I remember liking it when he picked me up.’

‘Do you have any sense of where you might have been when you were with him?’ Cristy asked.