Page 72 of Don't Believe A Word

‘What does Sadie know about Symmonds-Browne and Albescu?’ Meena asked. ‘Have you told her anything yet?’

‘Only that Symmonds-Browne lived at the farm while her mother was there,’ Cristy answered. ‘She leapt to the obvious conclusion that he might be her father, but now accepts how unlikely that actually is.’

‘Because she knows her mother was probably trafficked into the country and forced into prostitution?’

Cristy nodded. ‘Understandably it’s made her feel very protective towards Janina who’d have been more or less the same age as Sadie is now when she came here.’

Iz said, ‘If you can tell me what you know about Symmonds-Browne I’ll see if SLD can help you get to him. We have a huge network of contacts, and a couple of our members are titled.’

Appreciative of the suggestion, Cristy quickly sent her an email with Symmonds-Browne’s known details and said, ‘Jacks! Are you still with us? What’s happening on your screen that’s so fascinating?’

Jacks looked up, shook his head and sat back in his chair. ‘Just checking initial feedback,’ he said, ‘but nothing doing so far. I mean, good reviews, in the main, but no one offering leads to the mispers.’

‘Mispers?’ Iz queried.

‘It’s what the police call missing persons,’ Clove explained.

Colouring, Iz said, ‘Of course. Silly me. Anyone ready for a top-up?’

Harry got to his feet, saying, ‘Time for me to go. I have a hot date tonight with your ex, Cristy. I told him to join us here for the party, but he thinks he’s not welcome.’

‘He isn’t,’ she assured him.

Laughing, Meena said, ‘If those two are gallivanting about the town, maybe the rest of us can treat ourselves to a meal somewhere very expensive?’

‘Count us in, wherever it is,’ Jodi piped up. ‘Little French? Though we might struggle to get in.’

‘Leave it to me,’ Iz instructed, and taking out her phone she made a few quick calls and said, ‘OK, we can’t get in.’ As everyone laughed she said, ‘But there’s bound to be somewhere that’ll take us at short notice on a Tuesday evening. It’s your city, any more suggestions?’

In the end they opted for a Deliveroo from one of the best Indian restaurants outside of Mumbai according to Meena, and had it brought to Jodi and Connor’s Southville town house so Aurora could be got ready for bed.

They were in the process of sorting out their chosen dishes when Jacks suddenly cried, ‘Result! Or it looks like one anyway. I’ll have to check it out, but it’s from someone called James Prosser claiming to be the son of Edwin. He’s just listened to the pod and found our email asking his dad to be in touch with us.’

‘And?’ Connor prompted when Jacks stopped. ‘Please don’t tell me the old guy’s snuffed it.’

‘No, he’s not saying that … What he’s actually saying is that his father wants nothing to do with us so can we please not mention his name again in relation to our podcast about the Winters sisters.’

Cristy and Connor exchanged glances. ‘I’m guessing he doesn’t go into why,’ Cristy ventured.

‘He doesn’t,’ Jacks confirmed.

Taking a quick decision, Cristy said, ‘Send him the story extract where his father appears at the Exmoor house. Tell him it’s due to be aired next week and this is us giving him the right to respond. Maybe that will change Prosser senior’s mind about speaking to us.’

‘On it,’ Jacks said, ‘but actually, Prosser junior is saying he’ll consider talking to us in his father’s place. Anyway, I’ll suggest a Zoom, shall I? We don’t want to be travelling all the way to the Outer Hebrides or furthest Scilly to find out he’s not really going to tell us much anyway.’

‘Good idea,’ Cristy said, and checked her phone as it rang. Her eyebrows rose and, putting the call on speaker, she said, ‘Sadie! Good to hear you. How was the drive back to Guernsey?’

‘Pretty straightforward,’ Sadie replied. ‘We got in a couple of hours ago. I thought I should tell you that Mia’s heard the latest pod and she’s saying that the Brinkleys are liars, and that I’m an interfering little fool for being so easily taken in by charlatans.’

‘OK,’ Cristy responded, drawing out the word. ‘And what did you say to that?’

‘I reminded her thatshe’dtoldyoushe was protecting me from the past, so if the Brinkleys weren’t part of it, maybe she’d like to tell me who was.’

‘But you do believe Gita worked for them …’

‘Of course, and that Robert met my mother. But there’s no point arguing with my aunt when she’s decided to go off on a rant about people trying to get money out of her and she’s convinced that’s what all this is about. Anyway, she said she was going to call you, I just wondered if she had.’

‘Not yet,’ Cristy replied, ‘but I hope she does.’