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As they drove away from the cul-de-sac with James Prosser waving them off from the garden gate, Cristy said, ‘It would have been inappropriate to ask what sort of pay-off was involved, wouldn’t it?’

Checking the road was clear to pull out, Connor said, ‘Probably, but I wouldn’t mind knowing. Do you reckon it was in the millions?’

‘I’d have thought so.’

‘But he’s not exactly living the high life now, is he?’

‘I’d say he’s comfortable enough. I mean, not everyone can afford a house like that, and maybe the bulk of what’s left is squirrelled away for James and the grandkids. Anyway, he’s given us a fascinating insight into Lottie’s character which, interestingly, paints her in no more flattering a light than she painted him. Although he wasn’t quite as spiteful in his descriptions as she was.’

‘Do you believe what he told us?’

‘I’m sure he wouldn’t have outed himself as a bigamist if it weren’t true.’

Nodding agreement, Connor said, ‘I’m not sure we need to make a big deal of that. In fact, I think we should try to edit around it the best we can. It doesn’t serve the series and would only diminish him in his grandchildren’s eyes. That’s not what we’re about.’

‘Exactly what I was thinking.’

‘I can’t help wondering,’ he continued after a moment, ‘if Mia ever discovered the role Lottie played in the marriage. That it was actually a sham.’

As she considered it Cristy’s frown deepened. ‘Are you sensing a theme here?’ she said. ‘Lottie buys her sister a husband, then a child … Apparently to get some freedom for herself, and yet she never seems to have left.’

‘Something for Corny when we go over there?’ he suggested.

Remembering that she hadn’t had a chance to tell him about Mia’s turn last night she filled him in and took out her phone. ‘I promised to call Sadie when we left Edwin’s. Keep your fingers crossed that Corny hasn’t decided to stay on with Mia.’

‘I’m really sorry,’ Sadie groaned when Cristy asked. ‘She’s kind of planted herself, so I’m not sure coming now is going to be the best use of your time.’

Biting down on her frustration, and disappointment, Cristy said, ‘So how is Mia?’

‘She’s up and about, ticking us off for making a fuss over nothing. “I’m not ready to join Lottie yet,” she keeps saying, “so don’t even think it.” Fortunately, she seems to have forgotten about banning me from Lottie’s rooms because it’s where I am now and she sent Corny in with some tea ten minutes ago. In case you’re wondering, I haven’t come across anything else of interest today. Was Edwin Prosser able to shed any light on the letter I sent you?’

‘He was. We’ll put the details in an email when we get back, but as we suspected he doesn’t know anything about Janina and Lukas.’

Sounding fed up, Sadie said, ‘No surprise there, I guess. Did he tell you anything interesting at all?’

‘A few things, but most significantly, he confirmed that the scene in the hall at the Exmoor house happened more or less as Lottie described it. So, at least some of her writings are based in reality. It remains to be seen whether anything else is.’

‘Well, it’s much harder for photographs to lie, and today I’ve set myself the happy task of ploughing through boxes and boxes of them that predate the digital age. Most seem to be of people I have no way of identifying – a lot of children in refugee camps, or makeshift schools and in clothes that have clearly come from donations. There are various dignitaries in all sorts of uniforms and traditional dress … Plenty of cocktail parties in glorious sunsets, swimming off yachts, flying about in small planes … Lottie definitely didn’t slum it while she was out there doing her good deeds.’

‘Have you come across anyone who might have been significant in some way?’

‘Not really, but I’m not very far in yet. Are you thinking about someone she might have been romantically involved with?’

‘Amongst other things. Do you actually know of anyone she was involved with in that sense?’

‘She never talked about anyone specifically, but I don’t have a problem believing she had an active sex life when she travelled. She never brought anyone home for us to meet though.’

‘What about Mia? Did she have any relationships after Edwin?’

‘Not that I know of. It was like neither of them ever wanted to expose me to men, so Lottie played away, so to speak, and Mia, well, she didn’t play at all.’

Speaking up, Connor said, ‘Didn’t they have a lot of friends on the island? People they socialized with?’

‘Yes, quite a lot, actually, but no significant others, so to speak. Or, if there were, they were both very discreet. Am I allowed to ask now if anyone’s been in touch since Tuesday’s drop claiming to know Janina or Lukas?’

‘It’s still only Thursday,’ Cristy reminded her gently, ‘and listeners are contacting us all the time. Obviously, if anything comes up that we think is worth pursuing we’ll let you know right away.’

‘OK, thanks. And sorry again about the Corny thing.’

After assuring her it wasn’t a problem, Cristy rang off and waited until Connor had parked the car in front of the office before saying, ‘I keep coming back to the same thing with Lottie … She clearly had some sort of agenda going when she paid Edwin to “marry” Mia, and when she “found Sadie” … So why, when they took Sadie to Guernsey and Mia had a child to care for, didn’t she leave?’

‘Because she became attached to Sadie too?’ Connor ventured, without much conviction.

Certain it wasn’t that, Cristy got out of the car saying, ‘We need to find George Symmonds-Browne. I’m sure he’s key to it all.’

‘And wouldn’t it be great if someone in that high-pedigree, inbred family of his answered emails,’ Connor stated, leading the way inside. ‘Even Iz’s contacts don’t seem to be breaking down those hallowed doors.’

Cristy was right behind and almost collided with him as he came to a sudden stop.

Stepping around him to see what was wrong she cried, ‘What the hell?’

‘We found it like this when we got back from lunch,’ Clover declared from the floor, where it appeared the entire contents of Lottie’s boxes had been upended and unceremoniously dumped. ‘We’re trying to sort through it now and put it all back. The trouble is, we haven’t got a clue if anything’s missing, or which box any of it came from.’

‘Did anyone in the building see someone coming in or out?’ Connor asked, as he and Cristy trod carefully over the strewn contents to their desks.

‘Not that we know of,’ Jacks replied, ‘although there are a couple of dirty great footprints on some of the paperwork … We’ve put them to one side in case we need to show the police. Not that they’ll be interested in helping us. With the doors always being open, we can’t even claim it was a break-in.’

Looking at Connor, Cristy said, ‘Who the hell would do this? And what were they looking for?’

‘Have any of the computers been touched?’ he asked, checking his screen.

‘Cristy’s was unplugged,’ Jacks replied, ‘as if someone was about to make off with it, but I’m guessing they were interrupted, or changed their mind, because it’s still there. And up and running. I’ve checked the latest activity and it’s all ours, so no interference, or copying, or bugs as far as I can tell, but I’ll definitely give it another going over.’

Cristy turned to the whiteboard to see if a message had been left there, but it was exactly as they’d left it earlier. ‘This is bizarre,’ she said, dropping into her chair. ‘Who even knew the boxes were here apart from us and Sadie?’

‘Gita and Robert Brinkley?’ Clover reminded her.

Cristy almost laughed. ‘Well it obviously wasn’t Gita in her wheelchair, and Robert’s currently in Geneva so I think we can safely rule them out.’

‘In my opinion,’ Jacks said, ‘this with the boxes, is the kind of vandalism morons go in for, for fun, or to let you know they’ve come calling. A kind of intimidation tactic.’

Frowning, Cristy cast her mind back over their most recent podcast. ‘We haven’t mentioned anything yet about Matis Albescu or Eastern European gangs,’ she said, ‘but we did ask George Symmonds-Browne to be in touch.’

‘And this is how he does it?’ Clove cried incredulously.

‘If it was him,’ Connor put in.

‘Do you have any other suggestions?’ Cristy asked.

No one did.

‘OK, let’s work this back,’ Connor said, settling into it. ‘The last known sighting of Symmonds-Browne seems to have been in France circa 2016. Sure he could be anywhere by now, even in clink, but everyone knows that the Riviera is run by mobs, so it could be he was there …’

‘I’ll get onto a journalist contact of mine on the Nice-Matin ,’ Cristy said. ‘She might be able to give us something with Vence being in her neck of the woods.’

‘We should also try Interpol,’ Connor suggested, ‘to find out what they might have on him, presuming they’re prepared to share it.’

Cristy grimaced. ‘The only person I know who has a good contact there is Matthew. Unless one of you can suggest someone?’ She looked at them all hopefully, and sank. ‘No, I thought not, but if you do think of someone please let me know before I get myself indebted to him.’

*

‘Hi, Mum, are you OK?’ Hayley cried over WhatsApp video. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Making chicken soup with dumplings for Aiden, if he shows up,’ Cristy replied, propping her phone against the toaster and reaching for her wine. She still had a mountain of research to get through for the series, but rather than stay at the office she’d decided to do it at home given that Aiden was supposed to be staying with her tonight.

‘He’s got a new girlfriend,’ Hayley said. ‘Did he tell you about her?’

‘No. Anyone we know?’

‘Her name’s Pearl and she’s cool. That’s all he’s told me. Unless it’s changed since Tuesday, you know what he’s like. Anyway, I wanted to check you’re OK since the last time we spoke.’

‘Remind me when that was and why I wouldn’t be OK?’

With a laugh, Hayley flicked back her hair as she said, ‘Guess what, I can’t remember, but I know I’ve told you about maybe breaking up with Hugo …’

‘Yes, and I think it’s a shame when you seem so well suited. Have you done it now?’

‘Actually, not quite. I mean, Stefan’s really cool and everything, but he’s not … I guess he’s not Hugo and … Well, I’m just not sure what to do. I’m really attracted to Stef, you know, in a physical way, but what if we sleep together and it turns out I’d rather be with Hugo?’

Not much liking the sound of that, Cristy said, ‘Is this you asking if you should cheat on Hugo to find out which one you feel you want to be with?’

‘No, that’s not what I’m saying. Not at all, but … Well, should I? Actually, you’re totally the wrong person to ask after what you went through with Dad, so forget the cheating bit. Just please tell me you’re free this weekend so I can come and talk it through with you. I really need to clear my head, and I thought it would be great if we could hang out, just the two of us. I mean, if you’re going to be around, obvs.’

Thinking of her aborted trip to Guernsey, Cristy tried to sound upbeat as she said, ‘As a matter of fact I am. When are you thinking of coming?’

‘Tomorrow night? I’ve looked into flights and one gets in about six, so would you be able to pick me up?’

What a treat, a drive to the airport during the Friday rush hour. ‘Of course,’ she said. ‘It’ll be lovely to see you.’

‘We’ve got so much to catch up on,’ Hayley ran on excitedly. ‘It’s ages since I last saw you and I really miss you. If the weather’s bad we can stay in our jammies all day and say to hell with the rest of the world. I’ll bring chocolate.’

Laughing, Cristy blew her a kiss, and clicked off just as Aiden clattered in through the front door.

‘Hey, Mum!’ he shouted from the hall. ‘Something smells good. Piers and Richie are with me. Hope there’s enough for us all.’

Having expected him to turn up with at least one other monster appetite in tow, Cristy said, ‘There’s plenty and if you want to take some out to the homeless after, I’ve got flasks.’

‘We’re your men,’ Aiden declared, coming into the kitchen and making straight for the fridge.

‘Hi, Piers, Richie,’ she said, as they traipsed in after him, just as tall, spottier in Richie’s case, lots of facial hair in Piers’s, all three of them more manly in their growing bodies than they were in their minds.

‘Hey, Cristy,’ they responded, in unison. ‘We’re starving,’ Piers informed her.

‘Hope it’s OK to have a shower?’ Richie said. ‘The hot water’s down at home so Aiden said I could jump in here.’

‘That was kind of him. Off you go and don’t leave wet towels all over the floor.’

‘Just listened to the latest pod today,’ Aiden told her, tossing a protein bar to Piers and tearing one open for himself.

‘They are supposed to be my snacks,’ Cristy informed him.

‘I’ll get some more,’ he promised. ‘Anyway, pod seems to be going well. Have you managed to find out where Sadie’s mother is yet? We all reckon she’s dead and the brother sold the child.’

Cristy frowned. ‘The brother? Why him?’

He shrugged. ‘He had access to her, didn’t he? She’d have trusted him, and it kind of makes sense that someone close delivered her to the creepy aunts. She’d have kicked off otherwise. Any idea where he is now?’

‘Not yet, no.’

‘I reckon she was trafficked, same as her mother,’ Piers put in.

Lowering the heat under the soup, Cristy said, ‘Would someone like to set the table?’

‘On it,’ Aiden responded, showering her with chocolate and peanut crumbs. ‘Sorry. Didn’t mean to share. Is Dad coming for supper?’

‘No, why would he be?’

‘Just asking, you’ve got so much there. Have you emailed Marley back yet?’

Stung by the reminder, Cristy said, ‘I’ll definitely do it this weekend. Hayley’s coming so we can work on it together.’

‘Cool. She’s great at stuff like that. I’m in Yeovil on Saturday, don’t forget. Back on Sunday.’

‘What’s in Yeovil?’

‘Duh! Playing rugger for the school. We’ve got a party after, so staying over. OK, table’s ready, feel free to bring it on any time you like.’

‘You can serve yourselves,’ she told him sharply. ‘I’ve got work to do, so I’ll take it into the bedroom.’

‘Awesome. Love you.’

‘Thanks for the soup, Cristy,’ Piers added, as she packed up her things. ‘Love you too.’

Laughing, Cristy carried her laptop, wine and phone into the bedroom where she’d dumped a couple of Lottie’s boxes on her way in, and closed the door. The last thing she wanted was to be distracted by the boys’ inane chat, or their awful music, or some kind of farting contest, which they always seemed to find so hilarious. It was why she’d set up a small desk in here right after moving in. She loved her son, adored him, but there were limits to her tolerance of teenage-boy wit and wisdom.

Opening up her laptop she took another sip of wine and sat down to read the message she’d started to Robert.

Sorry for late reply, thanks so much for inviting me to the dinner on Saturday night. I wish I was in a position to accept as I’d love to hear your speech, but I’m afraid it won’t be possible.

That was as far as she’d got and she still wasn’t sure whether to come right out and admit she couldn’t go because he was married. Or maybe she should explain that her ex-husband was also invited and she had a morbid dread of gossips … Did she really need to give a reason at all? After all, the late notice presumably meant his first choice had let him down, and she did have a life, even if it didn’t always feel like it.

Sighing, she picked up her wine again. It would be so much easier if she were going to Guernsey tomorrow, a bona fide excuse that would require no further explanation and that might, just might, lead to her seeing David.

In the end she wrote, I truly am sorry to be missing out, but perhaps we could meet for a drink one evening next week so you can tell me all about what I missed. Cristy.

She pressed send, listened for the whoosh and went to sit on the bed as if to distance herself from the fact that she’d just asked a married man on a date.

She thought of David again. She’d far rather be seeing him this weekend, no offence to Robert, or disloyalty meant to her daughter. However, continuing to have feelings for David when Juliette was still in the picture was something she really had to get over.

So put him out of your mind and get on with sending an email to Camille Jardine on the Nice-Matin . It might not lead them to where Symmonds-Browne was today, but at least it could give them a start.

*

The following evening Cristy was almost at the airport to collect Hayley when David rang.

‘Hi, I hope this isn’t a bad time,’ he said .

‘No, it’s fine,’ she replied, trying not to be thrown. ‘I’m driving and it’s … good to hear you.’

‘OK. I’m a bit late to this,’ he said, ‘but I’ve only just heard you’re not going to be here this weekend. Something about Corny staying with Mia?’

‘That’s right. We’d hoped to interview her without Mia knowing until after, but that’s obviously not going to be possible while she’s at the villa . ’ It really never had been a good enough reason to go all that way when they had no idea what Corny could tell them, she just hoped David hadn’t seen through it.

‘Well, I’m sorry you’ve had to cancel,’ he said, ‘because I’m really keen to see you. So I was wondering, if you’re not doing anything else this weekend, how about I fly over there?’

She was so startled that she actually hit the brakes. ‘That,’ she said, quickly speeding up and waving an apology to the driver behind, ‘would have been lovely’ – way beyond lovely – ‘but as we speak I’m on my way to collect Hayley. She’s having boyfriend issues, so she’s decided to come home for a couple of days.’

‘Girl chat?’

‘I’m afraid so. Oh God, I’m really sorry. If I’d known you wanted to …’

‘It’s OK, I have kids,’ he reminded her. ‘I get that you need to be there for them, even when you might prefer to be doing other things. I’m not saying you’d prefer to be seeing me …’

‘I would actually, but her plane will already have landed.’

‘Then say hi to her from me, and if there’s anything I can do for you here … I’m not suggesting I interview anyone, but if there’s any more background stuff … Have you asked Sadie about Lottie’s will yet?’

‘Actually, I missed an opportunity today … You heard about Mia being taken to hospital last night?’

‘I did, and she’s fine now, I think?’

‘Apparently. Anyway, I’d rather talk to Sadie about the will face-to-face, or at least when she’s at the lodge out of Mia’s earshot.’

‘Probably wise.’

‘That sounds like you know what was in it.’ When he didn’t respond right away, she said, ‘Sorry, you don’t have to answer that, but if you’re serious about more background stuff, we’d love to know something about the time Lottie and Mia moved to Guernsey.’

‘You mean like where they lived when they first arrived?’

‘I think they rented somewhere until the villa was ready, but was there anyone on the island they already knew? Someone who might have helped them get set up?’

‘I wasn’t here myself back then, as you know, but a lot of my family were, so I’ll start with them and report back.’

‘Fantastic, thanks.’ Deciding to push on, Cristy braced herself and said, ‘I was also wondering if there was any …?’ How should she put this? ‘Any confusion around the cause of Lottie’s death?’

It took him a moment to catch on to why she might be asking. ‘She had a heart attack, on the tennis court,’ David reminded her. ‘Are you saying …? What exactly are you saying?’

‘We’re just wondering if it really was that, or if there was some … Well, from what we hear it was very sudden, and I get the impression she was in good health during the days and weeks leading up to it … Maybe she had a heart condition we don’t know about?’ Starting to feel foolish, she said, ‘Actually, please forget I asked …’

‘No, no. It’s fine. I think I understand where you’re coming from, so leave it with me. And when you have Sadie’s answer about the will I’ll be happy to talk through what you make of it.’

‘OK. Thanks.’

‘I’ll let you go now. Have a good time with Hayley and we’ll speak soon.’

*

‘Mum? Are you listening?’ Hayley demanded, glancing up from her phone to check she had Cristy’s attention.

‘Absolutely,’ Cristy smiled, still focused on her laptop screen.

Moments passed until she registered the silence and looked up to find Hayley watching her through narrowed eyes.

‘So what did I just say?’ Hayley challenged.

Cristy thought fast. ‘That you’re about to make a cup of tea?’ she suggested hopefully.

Rolling her eyes, Hayley unwound her long legs and stalked over to the kettle. ‘You are so bad, do you know that?’ she declared. ‘Anyone would think my love life meant nothing to you.’

‘It means everything, but you’ve got to admit, my darling, we’ve been going round and round in circles ever since we got up this morning, and it’s now …’ she checked, ‘almost four o’clock.’

Unembarrassed, Hayley said, ‘I just need to talk things through, and sometimes saying things out loud makes them clearer. And did you just kind of call me boring?’

Cristy feigned shock. ‘The thought never entered my head, but I would say that if you’re having doubts about Hugo then maybe he isn’t the one for you.’

‘So I should end it?’

‘Your decision, not mine. Remind me when we’ve agreed to FaceTime with Marley?’

‘Seven our time. You’re not backing out, are you?’

‘If only. No, I just need to send some emails first …’

‘You never stop working. I bet you can’t even remember the name of the other guy I’ve been talking about.’

‘Stefan and he’s messaged you at least fifty times today …’

‘Exactly, and Hugo’s only been in touch once.’

‘Clever Hugo, I say.’

‘Why?’

Stifling a scream, Cristy said, ‘Let me finish this and then I think we should go for a walk.’

‘Great idea, if it weren’t chucking it down out there, but it’s OK, I get the hint. Do we have any cake to go with the tea?’

‘There should be some hot-cross buns in the top cupboard.’

‘It’s not even February yet – well, just! Do you want one?’

‘Sure. Toasted, if you don’t mind,’ and going back to the message from Camille Jardine at Nice-Matin Cristy forwarded it to Connor and read through it again.

Great to hear from you, Cristy. Hope you’re doing well. I was really sorry to hear about you and Matthew, you guys were always so great together, definitely his loss. Hope you’ve met someone more worthy of you by now.

Regarding Symmonds-Browne. Sorry, no idea where he is these days, didn’t even know he was working out of the Riviera, tbh. Hadn’t seen the photo from UK database before you sent it. If he is/was in this area he’ll have been mixing with some seriously hardcore types back in 2016 (see list below for names that might interest you – advise you to stay clear of them all). Definitely something unusual about S-B because it seems every time he’s taken in for questioning he’s just let go again. So, is he an informer? Or does he have something on someone that buys him a get-out-of-jail card?

Cristy scanned the list of names. They didn’t mean anything to her, she couldn’t even pronounce half of them, but she did recognize the countries of origin that Camille had assigned to each one. Three were Serbs, two Albanian … and now she was seeing one that she had come across before. How the heck had she missed it first time around?

Matis Albescu – Romanian.

There were plenty of men with the same name in the same line of business, so clearly it couldn’t be the same Albescu as the one who’d been killed in a police raid back in 2002. Nevertheless, it was quite the coincidence. Worth exploring further?

Anyway, Camille was right about one thing, no one on this list was likely to be the kind of character she, Cristy, would want to run up against. She couldn’t even see herself trying, at least not at this stage, which didn’t mean they wouldn’t send someone to make contact with her if Symmonds-Browne got another mention on Hindsight .

Putting her laptop aside she heard her stomach rumble as Hayley set down two mugs of their favourite raspberry infusion and a plate of toasted buns.

For the next hour, having apparently exhausted even herself with the dilemma over Hugo and Stefan, Hayley helped go through some of the letters from Lottie’s box. They were all from children Lottie had sponsored over the years, some unbearably sweet and simplistic, others difficult to decipher, while some – most in fact – were begging her to visit them, or to let them come and live with her.

Interestingly, they all addressed her as Dear Carlotta , or Dear Carla.

Yawning and stretching as she set aside a postcard, Cristy jumped as Hayley suddenly cried, ‘Oh my God! Is that the time already? I need to go.’

‘What?’ Cristy asked, confused.

‘I told Dad I’d be there by six. Can you give me a lift?’

Cristy blinked as Hayley flew off the sofa and disappeared into the hall. ‘Can I borrow your silver dress?’ she shouted from the bedroom. ‘The one with the drop back? And the shoes?’

‘Where are you going?’ Cristy shouted back.

‘Dad’s invited me to this amazing dinner tonight at Merchant’s House.’

As the words reached her Cristy stared disbelievingly at the door. Hayley was going to the MSF event? Hayley, who’d come to spend the weekend with her, was right now, this minute, ransacking her wardrobe to go and be her father’s plus-one at a gala dinner where Robert was the speaker, while she, Cristy, having turned Robert down and put David off from coming, was apparently being left at home to FaceTime Marley on her own.