Page 59 of Don't Believe A Word

‘Has she given you a sense of what she can tell you?’ Connor asked.

Clover’s eyebrows waggled as if she had great news to impart. ‘I haven’t actually spoken to her yet,’ she admitted, making them laugh and groan. ‘But I’m told she’s happy to talk. I’ll set something up as soon as I’ve nailed down Sadie and Robert.’

Turning to Cristy, Connor said dryly, ‘I thought you’d want to see Robert again.’

Cristy’s eyes narrowed at the tease. ‘I think I’ll just ignore that,’ she told him, ‘and, Clove, I’ve changed my mind about the detective. I think she’s someone Connor and I should talk to just in case she has a lovely little bombshell to throw into the mix.’

‘No probs,’ Clove agreed, writing Catherine Shilling’s details on the whiteboard.

‘OK, Jacks, an update on where you are with your enquiries?’

With a grimace, he said, ‘Afraid still no word from Edwin Prosser. I’ll send a follow-up right after this, and obvs I’ll continue pursuing other possible avenues of contact. Same goes with my HR person at Butlin’s, but definitely not giving up on her yet. Also, still reading the organized crime report that Clove has dumped on me. Depending on where Janina and Lukas were from, it’s quite possible they weren’t in this country legally back in 2000 so that’s going to make them even harder to trace, especially if there was gang involvement.’

‘But Lukas had a job,’ Cristy pointed out. ‘I can’t see a company like Butlin’s hiring an illegal …’

‘Maybe not knowingly. But who knows what might have happened at the local level, or what sort of papers he might have had when he came, false or otherwise. Same goes for Janina. If they were trafficked, sorry to say this, their names might not even be Janina and Lukas.’

‘Oh God,’ Cristy groaned, ‘please don’t tell me that.’

‘I’m just flagging it up, but definitely working with what we have for now. It’s always possible, once we’ve dropped the next episode, someone will get in touch with more info.’

‘Why? What’s in the next episode?’ Meena asked from the door.

Turning to her, Cristy said, ‘Robert and Gita Brinkley’s interviews where Sadie’s mother and uncle are named. It could trigger something for someone. It’s also when we’ll put the imagesof Janina and Lukas with Sadie on the website. Anyway, to what do we owe this pleasure?’

‘Actually, I was just passing and thought I’d drop in. No Iz this morning?’

‘The question no one was asking,’ Connor informed her.

Meena chuckled. ‘As if words might rub the lamp and whoosh, there she is?’

‘Something like that.’

‘Well, you seemed happy enough to drink her champagne last night, and you might like to know that when I spoke to her half an hour ago she was buzzing with the stats she has so far. I believe some platforms are still reporting, and obviously we’re expecting the numbers to go up, maybe exponentially, over the coming days, weeks, as the downloads increase. But, suffice it to say, you’re off to a blinding start, both domestically and internationally.’

‘Yay!’ Clover cheered, as they gave themselves a round of applause.

‘So you have to give Iz credit for getting you the right publicity,’ Meena continued. ‘Aren’t you doing more interviews for her today?’

‘Connor is,’ Cristy replied, checking her watch. ‘In fact, you probably ought to be going, Con, you don’t want to be late.’

As he shot her a look, Jacks said, ‘What’s happening?’

‘It turns out,’ Connor replied tersely, ‘that Iz, last night, managed to sweet-talk Jodi into a family photoshoot, thereby exploiting my six-week-old daughter for our sponsors’ gain.’

‘ForHindsight’sgain,’ Meena corrected.

‘Whatever, it just better not end up inHELLO!magazine, is all I can say. And how did she manage to get a photographer so fast, that’s what I’d like to know.’

‘More proof of her superpowers?’ Cristy suggested. ‘And try to smile. You look so much more like Clark Kent when you do.’

Slanting her another mean look, he began to gather up his things.

‘What’s the social media feedback so far?’ Meena asked Jacks.

‘Mostly positive,’ he assured her. ‘Some seriously disgusting suggestions of what could have been in the envelope, starting with an ear, or a finger, and going on to bodily waste, that sortof thing. A lot seemed to favour a blackmail note – proves how much attention they were paying – and a good number guessed photographs.’

‘And what did they think they might be of?’ Meena said.