Page 53 of Don't Believe A Word

‘Are you OK?’ Lottie asked, as silence descended.

Mia nodded. ‘I think so. Clever of you to threaten him with the police.’

‘He might have seen through it, but at least he’s gone.’

‘Where’s Sadie?’

‘In front of the TV. Gita’s in the kitchen.’

Mia turned round. ‘Did she hear anything?’

‘I think she’s just arrived, but I can’t be certain.’

‘She’ll wonder who he is.’

‘We can tell her. She doesn’t need the details of why he took off in a fury, but there’s no harm in saying he’s your husband. Oh my goodness,’ she murmured, spotting the sitting room door handle juddering up and down and realizing Sadie was trying to get out. ‘It’s OK, sweetheart,’ she called. ‘We’re right here, the nasty man has gone now.’

As Sadie stumbled into the hall, eyes full of frightened tears, she spotted Gita coming out of the kitchen and ran to her.

Mia and Lottie looked on, both wishing she’d chosen one of them to go to, but never mind. What mattered was that Edwin had gone, Sadie was being comforted and they had just dug themselves even deeper into a situation they had no understanding of at all.

‘We have to talk,’ Lottie whispered, as Gita carried Sadie into the kitchen. She was chewing a nail, was about to draw blood. ‘I’ve had an idea that I think will work.’

‘What is it?’ Mia asked. ‘Does it involve Sadie?’

‘Of course. Everything involves her now. Unless you want to sit around here waiting for her mother, or whoever the hell sent those photos, to get started on their despicable plans to bleed us dry.’

‘OK, let me have a word with Gita first, make sure she didn’t misunderstand anything – I mean, if she did overhear what was said.’

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Cristy was watching Sadie’s face on the computer screen in front of her.

Everyone else in the office was quiet. They were allowing Sadie some time following the reading aloud of her aunt’s latest chapter describing the scene with Edwin Prosser. Even though four days had passed since she’d found it, it was clearly still affecting her deeply. Cristy understood why; knowing her mother’s and uncle’s names had brought a whole new depth to her longing for more knowledge of them – and the scene she’d just created with Lottie’s words, seemed to be proof that her aunts had stolen her.

What Cristy herself was starting to have even more doubts about, was the finding of Sadie on the beach. Could it really have happened the way Lottie described? Having visited the coast path it seemed both possible and yet not, which was why she hadn’t so far taxed Sadie with her concerns.

‘Are you OK?’ she asked Sadie softly.

The girl’s head came up as she took a breath. She was slightly dishevelled and flushed, but her eyes were dry and her voice steady as she said, ‘Yes, I’m fine, it’s just …’ She stopped and started again. ‘After listening to your interviews with the Brinkleys at the weekend, and putting them together with this …’ She held up the pages she’d just read from.

When she didn’t continue, Cristy said, ‘Would you like us to stop recording?’

Sadie shook her head. ‘No, it’s OK. Just a blip. I’ve got myself together now.’

Cristy wasn’t certain she had, but knew it would be easy tostop at any point, and edit out anything Sadie wasn’t comfortable with if necessary. So, noting the time-code, she began again.

CRISTY: ‘It’s clear that this extract, or chapter, has stirred up a lot of emotion for you. Do you mind telling us what about it is resonating so deeply?’

Sadie gave a small, mirthless laugh and tucked her hair behind her ears.

SADIE: ‘I guess it’s a few things … I mean, you can tell from what Lottie’s written that she … that both my aunts were … Actually, it’s Edwin’s words that keep coming back to me. He accused them of living in a different world, playing by different rules … That’s how they were, so now I’m asking myself, was keeping me some kind of a game to them?’

She stared down at the pages again as if they might somehow reveal more from between the lines if she only looked hard enough.

SADIE: ‘Lottie implies that they had different reasons for wanting to hold onto me, but there’s no detail of what the reasons might have been.’

CRISTY: ‘She writes about you with a lot of affection.’