Page 29

Over the next twenty-four or so hours Cristy and Connor waited for something, anything to break. It felt almost surreal, as if they’d all entered a peculiar sort of holding state with no idea when they might land, or what would happen when they did. Had Mia been injured during the scene with Sadie? Why wouldn’t she answer that question? Why wouldn’t Mia show herself at the door?

Sadie stayed shut up in the lodge with Anna until Jasper returned on Friday morning, while Mia wouldn’t see anyone unless Sadie was with them. Sadie refused to go near her.

Needing to honour the promise to drop an episode of Hindsight before the weekend, they set up a small studio in David’s portside office and connected with Clove and Jacks who were now back in Bristol. The recordings with Lukas’s old friend, Natalie Irwin, and Lottie’s publisher, Felicity Green, were already edited, so ready to drop into the start of the interview with Lukas and Gabe. This they decided to run in its entirety and end with the cliff-hanger of Cristy being told by Connor that it was all kicking off in Guernsey so she needed to return pdq.

Mia’s lawyers had already slapped down an injunction – no surprise there, although very fast work. Sadie, as it turned out, was supportive of the ban, having now decided that she didn’t want her aunt to be named and shamed, and a whole lot worse, at least not yet.

‘It’s all happening so fast,’ she’d said during her last conversation with Cristy. ‘I know it’s terrible what she did, unforgivable, but maybe Lottie did twist things around to make Mia the guilty party when really, it was all her.’

Unable to argue with that, Cristy had simply listened as Sadie continued. ‘I feel so awful about things now, the way I … I shouldn’t have forced her … I didn’t mean to frighten her … I was just so angry and … Well, I think we need to take a breath before making any more big decisions.’

On Friday evening, after the Gabe and Lukas pod had been uploaded, Cristy, Connor and David took themselves off to Le Nautique, overlooking the port, for dinner.

‘What we’re no closer to knowing for certain,’ Cristy remarked, wondering if she’d ever had such good oysters before, ‘is which one of the sisters was actually responsible for Janina’s death. Mia has only denied that it was her who forced the car off the road, not that it didn’t happen, and obviously Lottie isn’t around to speak for herself.’

‘Does it actually matter which of them was responsible?’ Connor asked. ‘If we can’t air it anyway …’

Cristy grimaced. ‘I’m sure it matters to Sadie, and it will to the police if we ever do get it out there.’ For no particular reason she felt a clench of unease as her mind flashed on the anonymous text she’d received earlier: You’re back, but you keep failing to notice me. I hope you know how hurtful that is.

Connor said, ‘I guess we could have a great debate-pod on our hands at some point in the future. Did Lottie twist the tale to make her sister the villain? Or is Mia putting on a good show of being framed for something she didn’t do? The amateur sleuths and armchair psychs will lap it up.’ He seemed to slump. ‘You know, we have to get the crucial parts of the journal past the lawyers or the final episode is going to be all about Sadie reuniting with her father and uncle – and heart-warming as that is, everyone will want to know what really happened to her mother.’

Cristy checked her phone as a new text arrived. Relieved to see it was Lukas she clicked to open it.

We’re in London staying at the Savoy. No pressure, we just wanted to be nearby – or at least in the same time zone – in case Sadie needs us. You don’t even have to tell her we’re here if you think it won’t be helpful. How is she? Can you tell us what’s been happening since you got to Guernsey? Lukas

Sighing, she looked at the others. ‘How do I answer that?’ she asked, after they’d read the message. ‘Do I tell them to give up all hope of Janina being alive? That one of the sisters – we don’t know which – murdered the big love of Gabe’s life in order to hold onto his daughter? That Sadie has very probably beaten her aunt up and is now seriously conflicted over what she wants to do next? I’m just wondering how to spin this so they don’t come jetting over here with their own lawyers in tow.’

David said, tentatively, ‘Would it be such a bad thing for Sadie to see her father right now? Maybe he’s who she really needs even if she doesn’t quite realize it.’

Cristy glanced at Connor as he said, ‘You two have met the guy, so would you say he’s up to it? I mean, this is pretty traumatic stuff that’s going on here and he’s not … Well, you know what I’m saying.’

Cristy was trying to think it through, to figure out how it might work if Gabe and Lukas did come over, but her instincts didn’t seem to be directing her one way or the other. ‘We need to sleep on it,’ she said in the end, ‘and maybe I’ll talk to Evie in the morning so she can help with the decision. For now I’ll just say that Sadie’s still working through a few things, but it’s good that they’re nearby and I’ll let Sadie know they’re ready to come as soon as the time is right.’

*

As it turned out Cristy didn’t get the chance to speak to Evie the next morning. She, David and Connor were in the kitchen with Cynthia and Lawrence and only partway through breakfast when a message arrived from Sadie.

Mia wants to see you. Please call when you get this.

‘Wow,’ Cristy murmured, showing the text to the others. ‘Can’t say I saw that coming,’ and she quickly connected to Sadie’s number. Finding herself pushed to voicemail, she said, ‘Hey, it’s me, Cristy, calling back. What’s happening over there? Are you OK? Tell Mia we’re happy to see her whenever suits.’

‘At least you’ll find out if she’s been injured,’ Cynthia observed, tapping Laurent’s fingers away from the butter.

‘I don’t know where my knife is,’ he complained.

Handing him one, David said, ‘Where’s Rosie?’

‘Putting her make-up on,’ Anna replied. ‘She’s got a new boyfriend, apparently, and he’s going to be at rehearsals today.’

‘What’s happened to change Mia’s mind about seeing us?’ Connor said to Cristy.

‘Maybe the fact that we know either she or her sister committed a murder?’ she suggested ironically.

‘Sure, but why does she want to talk when she obviously knows her lawyers are shutting us down?’

Cristy shrugged as Laurent said, ‘Who’s been murdered?’

‘No one you know,’ David told him, ‘and it was a long time ago. Now, you need to go and clean your teeth … Are you taking him to sailing club?’ he asked his mother, ‘or am I?’

‘I will,’ Cynthia replied. ‘I have errands to run in town and I can drop Rosie off at the rehearsal rooms on my way through.’ To Cristy and Connor, she said, ‘Will you be staying over the weekend? You’re very welcome, of course, I just need to know how many to shop for.’

‘We’re both booked onto a flight later today,’ Connor replied, ‘but now this has come up …’ He stopped as Cristy’s phone rang, waiting to see if it was Sadie.

‘Matthew, I’ll have to call you back,’ Cristy told her ex as soon as she answered the phone, gesturing helplessly at the others.

‘OK,’ Matthew replied, ‘but make sure you do. I have some important news you’ll want to hear.’

‘I spoke to the children first thing,’ she said. ‘Tell me nothing’s happened since.’

‘Nothing’s happened since,’ he echoed obediently, and satisfied with that she rang off as Sadie’s call came in.

‘Hi, Cristy. Sorry, I was in the shower.’

‘Do you know why Mia’s suddenly willing to see us?’ Cristy asked.

‘She says she wants to tell you her side of the story.’

Cristy’s eyes widened as she looked at Connor. ‘Will her lawyers be there?’ she asked, sensing something off about this, but there again, wasn’t everything off where Mia was concerned?

‘She didn’t mention them,’ Sadie replied.

‘Do you know if she’s listened to the latest podcast yet? The one that dropped last night featuring the interview with Lukas …’

‘Oh yes, she has, and she says you’re using actors to tell the story you want to hear, rather than bothering to find out the truth.’ Then after a pause, ‘They’re not actors, are they?’

‘No, of course not,’ Cristy assured her. ‘You can’t really believe we’d do that to you. In fact your father and uncle are in London ready to fly here the minute you give the word. It’ll mean the world to them if you do.’

Stifling a sob, Sadie said, ‘I want to see them, I really do.’

‘So shall I tell them to get on a plane?’

‘Yes, no. I don’t know. They can’t come here, it’s crazyville … Maybe I should go to them? I’m just not sure about leaving Mia.’

‘Have you actually seen her since you read her the journals?’

‘I went down there earlier, but she wouldn’t let me in. She shouted at me from behind the door, calling me treacherous, spiteful, a liar, a viper in her nest … So I think we can safely say that she’s still mad at me for forcing her to listen to them.’

Looking at the others, Cristy said, ‘Are you going to tell us now what all the noise was about at the end of the recording?’

Sadie’s voice was wretched as she said, ‘It’s hard to explain. Something just came over me … Well, you’ll see for yourself when you get there.’

Cristy looked at David as he said, ‘I can have your father and uncle picked up at the airport and brought here, to Papillon , if you like …’

‘I’ll come and get you,’ Anna offered. ‘And then I can wait with you.’

Sobbing, Sadie said, ‘OK, if you don’t mind. Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m going to see them, that they really exist, that we share actual genes and DNA and blood and everything else. They’re my family, Anna. I mean, my real family. I just … Oh God, I can’t describe how it feels …’

Glad to have the DNA results announced like this – presuming Connor’s attempt to record the call on his phone was working – Cristy said, ‘Before Anna comes will you ask Mia what time she’d like us to be there? Or would you prefer me to call her myself?’

‘It’s OK, I’ll do it and text you the time. Actually, Jasper’s saying he’ll drive me over to Papillion , Anna, so you don’t need to come.’ There was a pause before she said, ‘Cristy, will you tell my dad that I’ve listened to the interview and I … I’m really looking forward to meeting him. And my uncle. Is Evie with them?’

‘Yes, she is,’ Cristy replied gently. ‘This is going to be a very special day for them, but most of all for you, so if you decide you’d rather see them privately, without us there …’

‘No, I want you to be there,’ Sadie told her. ‘I think it matters that you are, and then we’ll always have a record of just how special it was to see one another for the first time since I was two years old.’

CRISTY: ‘Connor and I have just arrived at the Villa des Roches. Sadie sent us a code for the gates, so we’re already through and winding down the hillside towards the main house. The sun is glorious, splashing all over the immaculate gardens, and the views out to sea are spectacular. It’s all so tranquil and perfect, it’s hard to imagine that some very dramatic scenes have recently played out at the heart of it all.’

CONNOR: ‘I guess we’re about to find out if another is waiting for us when we get to the villa. Apparently Mia’s lawyers know she’s meeting with us – we’re not sure if they’ll be there – but we keep asking ourselves, how is she going to convince us that it was Lottie who organized Janina’s death and the journals are all a lie? Presuming that’s what this is going to be about.’

To Cristy he said, ‘I hope we’ll be able to use that at some point.’

‘As do I,’ she replied, ‘and it’s good we have it in case something does shift to clear the way.’

CRISTY: ‘We’re here now, just pulling up outside the villa … No sign of any other vehicles …’

CONNOR: ‘God, this is a stunning place. I know Cristy’s already described it in an earlier episode, and there are photos on the website, but seeing it for real … It’s kind of blowing my mind.’

Ending the recording Cristy looked around the quiet courtyard with its sculpted bushes and neatly raked gravel, not sure what she was expecting to see, only knowing that a sense of unease was starting to come over her. ‘Are you feeling as creeped out as I am, all of a sudden?’ she quietly asked Connor.

He turned off the engine. ‘Let’s just say I’m not exactly inside my comfort zone,’ he replied. ‘Are we early or late?’

She checked the time. ‘A couple of minutes late.’ Neither of them moved, until she said suddenly, ‘Come on, we can do this,’ and pushing open the car door she stepped out into a swift, chill breeze.

‘What if Mia’s got a gun?’ Connor murmured, coming to join her a few steps back from the arched front door.

Cristy frowned. ‘You’re asking me that now?’

‘Thought it was better than when we’re already facing it.’

‘Why would she want to harm us?’

He scoffed incredulously. ‘Maybe because we’re planning to spill her crimes all over the airwaves and destroy her family?’

‘But how would offing us help prevent that?’

‘She’s got to know she’s beyond help so why would she care?’

Glancing at him, she said, ‘Do you want to turn back?’

‘No way. I’m just pointing a few things out. So, you go first.’

Unable not to laugh, she went to the door and as she knocked it creaked slightly open.

‘Fuck,’ Connor murmured.

Slanting him a look, Cristy pushed the door wider and stepped into the entrance hall. ‘Hello!’ she called out. ‘It’s Cristy and Connor!’

Nothing but the arrhythmic ticking of clocks.

She looked around taking in the paintings and pottery, exquisite formal furnishings, the original Arts-and-Crafts staircase and all the closed doors leading to other parts of the house. All that had changed since her last visit was the posting of a sign outside Lottie’s rooms saying, Private, Keep Out .

‘Hello! Mia?’ Cristy shouted. ‘We’re here.’

Still nothing.

Starting to fear what they were about to walk into, she led the way through to the kitchen, all the time praying that her suspicions were wrong. Please don’t let Mia have called them here to find her dead body. Was that her plan, to spare Sadie the horror of it? Would there be a note, blaming them for shattering her world, for trashing her and her sister’s reputations, for the corruption of her niece, for the relentless persecution of lies, all lies, all in the name of entertainment?

‘Mia?’ she called, gingerly opening the kitchen door.

‘Come in.’

The response was so unexpected that Cristy’s heart leapt.

She entered the room and her eyes immediately rounded in horror. ‘Jesus Christ,’ she choked. It wasn’t so much the chaos of upturned furniture and smashed everything, or even the bizarre sight of Mia herself – all pasty-faced and wild hair. It was the noose dangling from a beam right above her head.

‘What the fuck?’ Connor muttered under his breath.

‘Come in,’ Mia said again, and she gestured for them to sit down even though there was nowhere, unless they righted some chairs.

Trying to keep her eyes from the rope, Cristy said, ‘You don’t look well, Mia. Can we call someone?’

Mia stared at her unblinkingly, her eyes burning like two small fires inside her chalky mask. ‘This won’t take long,’ she said, ‘but I’d prefer you not to record, thank you. Your intrusion into my life and family has gone far enough. It’s my intention now to bring it to an end.’ She watched Connor as he stepped in closer to Cristy, presumably readying himself to stop Mia going for her.

Continuing, Mia said, ‘I want you to know that if you make my sister’s journals public I will hang myself and make sure the world is aware that my blood is all over your hands.’

Cristy stared at her in disbelief.

Beside her, Connor said, ‘Don’t you want to refute anything your sister said? This is your chance.’

Mia looked at him. ‘What is the point?’ she asked. ‘Regardless of what I say, everyone will believe her. What reason would she have to write such an account, they’d ask, if she didn’t want to set the record straight? Tell me this,’ she continued, sitting forward slightly, ‘has it occurred to you that she didn’t write it in 2005, that she might actually have written it much later than that, say in 2012, or 2018?’

Knowing from Sadie that the dates had been entered by hand, Cristy said, ‘What we do know is that she stopped seeing Robert in 2005, after you threatened to tell him about Sadie and Janina.’

Mia drew back. ‘Ah yes, you have me there,’ she conceded and glanced away. ‘So maybe she did write them at the time, but that still doesn’t make them true. In fact, just so you know, the real truth is that I had no idea Sadie’s mother had ever made contact until two days ago. Everything in those journals is a lie …’ She broke off suddenly and, apparently reassessing, said, ‘I suppose the part about forcing the car off the road is true, there certainly was one at the bottom of the cliff around that time, and yes, the police did come to find out if we knew who it might belong to. I think Lottie might even have involved herself in the search for a body, but at no point did I even suspect it might have been Sadie’s mother. And I certainly didn’t know that the man who came to speak to her was Sadie’s father.’

Although she sounded convincing, Cristy knew it couldn’t be the truth. Mia had to have known at some stage that Janina had been in touch, why else would she have threatened to expose Lottie to Robert?

‘What would you have done if you had known Sadie’s mother was trying to see her daughter?’ Connor asked.

Mia glanced down at her clutched hands and allowed a few moments to pass. ‘I’m not sure. I was never asked, and now it doesn’t really matter anyway, does it?’

Thinking that it did, that in fact it could go a long way towards telling them what sort of person she was, or had been then, Cristy said, ‘I’m intrigued to know why you think your sister would twist things around to make you the guilty party?’

Mia’s answering laugh was bitter. ‘Because that’s the sort of person she was. She hated me, despised me for being a burden she only ever wanted to shed.’

‘So why didn’t she? Shed you?’

‘You’d have to ask her that.’

‘You know we can’t, so why don’t you tell us?’

With a sigh, Mia said, ‘Lottie wasn’t satisfied with being our parents’ favourite, or with being the beautiful one, or the most popular in any room, she wanted to be the only one. I stood in the way of that, I was always there, the other Winters sister, as if I was diluting her dazzling existence. She especially detested me when it came time to inherit our parents’ fortune. She wanted it all – of course she did. Not that she ever said that, but I knew. She deeply resented the fact that she had to share everything with me, whereas I was always happy to share with her.’

‘And yet,’ Connor said, ‘when she died she left everything to you and cut Sadie out of her will. Why would she have done that?’

Mia’s eyes darkened and Cristy could see that the question had rattled her. ‘How would you know that?’ she asked. ‘Did Sadie tell you?’

‘Yes, she did,’ Cristy replied.

‘Was she upset about it?’

‘I think she was hurt.’

Mia nodded as though understanding that.

‘So why did Lottie name you as her sole beneficiary?’ Connor prompted.

Mia’s head poked forward again as she said, ‘And why do you think it’s any of your business?’

Sensing they weren’t going to get any further with that, at least for now, Cristy said, ‘Do you realize that Sadie’s father will be able to tell us whether or not he met you back in 2005?’

‘He’s not her father,’ Mia spat angrily. ‘You’re tricking Sadie into believing things that simply aren’t true. Her father died when she was a baby, and you should be ashamed of yourselves for bringing these imposters into her life the way you have.’

Quietly, Cristy said, ‘We know that he is her father.’

Mia twitched and huffed and started to scratch her arms. ‘They’re not real,’ she blurted, ‘they can’t be. None of it is. You’re in cahoots with Lottie, aren’t you? I know she’s not dead. I’ve always known. I’m the one who died and she’s taken over my body. That’s what she does … She takes you over and uses you like a puppet. She makes you think and say things that she wants to be true even when they’re lies. I keep trying to fight her, but she’s here, inside me, and she won’t let me go.’

Having no idea how much she believed of what she was saying, Cristy said, ‘We want to help you, Mia, we really do, but you have to realize that what you’re telling us … None of it makes any sense …’

‘And Lottie’s story does?’ she cried angrily. ‘Except she didn’t write it, I did. She found my journals and changed around the names to make it look as though I am the devil incarnate and she was just an innocent bystander in it all.’

‘Except she didn’t paint herself that way,’ Connor pointed out. ‘She’s also blaming herself – for the abduction, the lies, the deception …’

‘But she doesn’t blame herself for what happened to Sadie’s mother, does she? Oh no, she’s laid that monstrous act at my door, but the way I wrote it proves that it was all her.’

‘How does it prove that?’ Cristy asked carefully.

Mia swallowed and let her eyes hunt around the room. ‘It’s not possible to prove it,’ she finally admitted, ‘but it’s what happened.’

‘Do you have your journals from that time?’ Connor asked.

‘No, of course not,’ she snapped. ‘Lottie burned them. She used them first then made a bonfire out of them. She used to do that with my things, it’s why I had to lock her up, to keep her from destroying what was mine. She did the same to Sadie when she was growing up …’ She began jabbing a finger towards them. ‘And here’s something else you’ve never considered,’ she spat, as if addressing imbeciles. ‘It’s been staring you in the face all along, me too, but I saw it because I see. ’ She poked hard at the skin beside her right eye. ‘I seeeee – and you, you , only know what suits you, what’s the easiest to know, and to hell with the truth because it doesn’t have a place in your rotten, interfering, made-up world.’

Having no idea what she was talking about, Cristy was about to ask when Mia rasped, ‘Sadie wrote those journals. That’s what I see. She’s tricked you all along, led you by the nose to do her bidding, feeding you bits of a story that weaves and dodges around the truth, picking it up like stitches and casting it off again. She’s painted herself as the victim of two wicked women who killed her mother so they could keep her like a prisoner, and all we ever did was love her.’

Stunned by the depths of Mia’s craziness, by how desperate she was to cling to invisible lifelines that were only drawing her further into her own fraught delusions, Cristy said, ‘You told us just now that Lottie killed Janina and you wrote the journals.’

‘That’s what Sadie wants you to think, that I ran that car off the road, that I deprived her of her mother, but I’m telling you it was Lottie. It was my sister who wanted me to keep Sadie so she could be free to go off with that man. She thought to make me the guardian of the child she had taken from the beach, who she had falsified passports and birth certificates for, who she lied to all her life and who she had no idea would kill her in the end.’

Cristy blinked, as her head spun. What the hell was she saying now?

‘It was Sadie who changed the pills in Lottie’s bottles,’ Mia ran on savagely. ‘Who replaced them with placebos, sweets, and tiny white mints. It was the medication that kept Lottie alive, that allowed her to live the best life she could without him , until one day, out of the blue, Sadie challenged her over her parentage. She wanted to know the truth, but Lottie wouldn’t tell her. Sadie wouldn’t let it go, so Lottie said if she didn’t shut up she’d change her will and Sadie would get nothing for being such an ungrateful little bitch. The next thing we knew Lottie was dead on the tennis court and before anyone could check the bottles they’d been refilled with the real medication.’

‘Why on earth would Sadie want to do that to her aunt?’ Cristy asked.

Mia gave a nasty laugh. ‘I’ve just told you. Lottie threatened to cut her off, so Sadie made sure she couldn’t. Except it took longer than she expected and in the end she got nothing .’

‘While you,’ Connor said quietly, ‘got everything.’

Mia smiled. ‘Of course. I told Lottie, I said, “Sadie’s grown now, so if you still want to leave us and be sure I never tell what happened to Sadie’s mother, you will make me your sole beneficiary.” So that’s what she did. She made everything over to me in the event of her death and so when Sadie began putting her plan into motion she was already too late.’

All too aware of the inconsistencies and conflicting claims, Cristy said, ‘How do you know that Sadie did it?’

Mia’s face twitched as she took her time to reply. ‘I saw her,’ she said in the end. ‘I watched her doing it … Emptying the bottles into small packages she’d already labelled, then filling them again with the concoction she’d put together.’

‘If you knew it was happening,’ Connor said, ‘why didn’t you stop her?’

Mia seemed puzzled by the question. ‘Why should I?’ she asked. ‘I had no reason to interfere.’

‘Meaning you wanted your sister dead?’ Cristy stated carefully.

Agitated, Mia said, ‘You’re putting words in my mouth. I didn’t say that.’

Cristy shook her head. ‘I can’t think of why else you wouldn’t stop her,’ she said.

Mia blinked and tilted her head. ‘Stop who?’ she demanded. ‘What are you talking about? I don’t know why you’re here. I want you to leave now. Go! Go! ’

Realizing that no matter how long they stayed they were unlikely to get any closer to a believable, never mind provable truth – and even if they could there was still the injunction – Cristy said, ‘Before we leave will you let us take that down?’ She gestured to the noose.

Mia looked up, as if she’d forgotten it was there. ‘No!’ she snapped. ‘It stays right where it is until I’m certain you will not publicize those journals.’

‘Your lawyers are making sure of it,’ Cristy reminded her.

Mia regarded her blankly, as if she had no idea what she was talking about.

‘You instructed your lawyers,’ Cristy said carefully, wondering now if she had. But she must have, the injunction had been issued by the court right here in Guernsey.

‘Yes! I did,’ Mia cried. ‘And I’m going to call them right now to tell them you’re harassing me.’

Cristy looked at Connor. Short of getting into a physical tussle with her over the rope there was no more they could do, so it was time to go. At the door she turned back to find Mia staring absently into the heart of the chaos around her, clearly so deep in thought that she no longer seemed to know they were still there. What was she seeing, Cristy wondered, what kind of madness was tearing through her now?

‘Tell me,’ she said gently, ‘was it you who forced Janina’s car off the road?’

Mia’s eyes narrowed as she glared back at her. ‘I guess you’ll never know the answer to that,’ she said tightly, and turned sharply away to stare out of the window.

*

‘Jesus holy Christ, what the fuck?’ Connor muttered, as they drove away from the villa.

‘You keep saying that,’ Cristy told him.

He glanced over at her. ‘She is completely batshit,’ he stated.

‘But still clever enough to know that we don’t have a definitive answer to anything,’ she said. ‘So I guess it’s down to the lawyers whether or not we get to use anything from the journals in the final podcast now they’re under injunction.’

Connor grimaced. ‘Are we going to tell Sadie what her aunt just accused her of?’ he asked, accelerating out of the gates.

‘I don’t see how we can avoid it.’ She turned to him. ‘How much of it did you believe?’

His breath expelled in a humourless laugh. ‘I don’t even know where to start with that,’ he confessed. ‘Sadie writing the journals? Sadie offing her aunt?’ He shook his head incredulously. ‘What are you thinking?’

Cristy gazed out at the passing landscape, wondering if they were anywhere near the spot where Janina had lost her life. ‘I’ll admit she’s got me as confused as she no doubt intended,’ she replied, ‘which has to make her one of the most deviously manipulative, not to mention cunning and calculating individuals we’ve ever encountered.’ The ghastly image of the noose came back to her. ‘Do you think she really would hang herself if we got clearance to use the journals?’ she asked. ‘Or was it just an act?’

‘She’d never do it,’ Sadie declared when they returned to Papillon and put the question to her. ‘It’s the kind of crazy thing she does to get her way. Suicide threats, locking people up, acting insane … It sounds like she got really extreme today … I’m sorry …’

‘It’s not your fault,’ Anna jumped in. ‘You can’t be responsible for the way she is.’

Smiling her thanks, Sadie said to Cristy, ‘Did she let you record anything?’

Cristy shook her head and decided they could go no further until Sadie knew what she’d been accused of. As the girl’s mouth fell open and tears flooded her eyes, Anna went to put an arm around her.

‘I’m sorry,’ Sadie choked. ‘I – I had no idea … Oh my God! I’ve shown you the journals, you have copies, so you can see it’s not my writing. I can give you samples of Lottie’s that match … But why would she try to make out I interfered with Lottie’s medication? I’d never do anything like that. I loved Lottie. I love them both, but this … It’s a form of coercion, isn’t it? If we keep going she’ll accuse me of a murder I didn’t commit, of forging Lottie’s journals … She’d never be able to prove it, because none of it’s true … Oh my God, this is terrible. First she kills my mother, then her own sister …’

‘So you believe in Lottie’s journals?’ Cristy said gently.

Sadie nodded. ‘Yes, I do. I think everything happened the way Lottie wrote it, maybe until the car was forced off the road. And that, maybe that’s something they did together?’

Cristy nodded, suspecting the same. Seeing the way Sadie was trying so hard not to show how broken and betrayed she felt inside, Cristy’s heart went out to her.

‘What I’m asking myself now,’ Connor said, ‘is why would Lottie write it all down?’

Sadie swallowed hard. ‘It must have been in case it did all come out. If it did, then she’d have a version that she could claim had more credibility because it was written at the time.’

‘But pushing all the blame onto her sister,’ Cynthia said. ‘What a terrible thing to do, if she was involved too.’

‘I’m sure Mia would have done the same if she’d thought of it first,’ Sadie responded bleakly. ‘It’s only now that I’m really seeing just how toxic their relationship was.’

Holding firmly to one of Sadie’s hands, Jasper said, ‘We’re going to have some big decisions to make in the next few weeks, such as do we want to stay on at the lodge after all this?’

Sadie looked lost, haunted, as she rested her head against his and said, ‘Before that we’ll need to do what we can to get the injunction lifted on the journals. I can see,’ she said to Cristy, ‘that it would totally screw up your series if you can’t use the most … damning parts, and after everything you’ve done, all the research and moral support …’ She sighed despairingly. ‘I don’t want to do it to Mia,’ she said, ‘but at the same time we can’t let her hold us to ransom like this. I mean, I don’t think for one minute that she’s serious about using that noose, or about trying to blame me for something she knows I didn’t do … But once I leave, if she feels she doesn’t have anything left to live for … Maybe she will do her worst.’

‘We need to talk it through with the lawyers before we go any further,’ Cristy said. ‘We know we can’t use Lottie’s record of the crucial day as it stands, but maybe there are ways around it?’

Sadie looked confused.

‘Sorry, thinking aloud,’ Cristy told her. ‘But whatever we do, we have to be certain it doesn’t fast track us straight into court.’

‘Definitely not where you want to end up,’ David declared, glancing up from his phone. ‘Right now though Sadie has other things to think about.’ His eyes were on her and his voice softened as he said, ‘They’re just coming in through the gates.’

As colour rushed to Sadie’s cheeks Cristy felt a wrenching of nerves in her own heart. It was hard to imagine how momentous this was for Sadie when she, Cristy, like everyone else in the room, had always known exactly where she was from, and who her family was. Today, the next few minutes, were probably going to change everything for Sadie in ways too big and too subtle even to guess at, and Cristy could only wish she wasn’t feeling so uneasy about it. Why was she so tense, so worried that something would go wrong, that it would all blow up in their faces, when she had no logical reason to feel that way?

Picking up on Sadie’s nerves again, she said, gently, ‘Are you sure you don’t want to do this alone?’

Sadie shook her head unsteadily. ‘No, I want you to be there,’ she insisted. ‘I think it helps that you’ve already met them, and like I said, I’d really love to have a record of it.’

‘In which case,’ Connor said, ‘shall I video it for you?’

Sadie broke into a smile. ‘Yes, please, that would be lovely.’ Then to Jasper, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening.’

He took her in his arms as David said, ‘OK, unless we want to bring them straight into the kitchen, you guys should probably start making your way to the drawing room.’

‘Can I come?’ Anna whispered to Sadie.

‘Of course,’ Sadie replied, squeezing her hand. ‘You all should,’ she told David and Cynthia. ‘Let’s give them the biggest and warmest welcome we can.’

*

The drawing room was large and grand, with high, corniced ceilings, capacious furniture and an entire wall of towering sash windows overlooking an early blossoming copse just beyond Cynthia’s rose garden. As they entered Anna crossed to the ornate limestone fireplace and lit the touch paper beneath a stack of knotted twigs, while Sadie, mindful of her father’s photophobia, went to close the shutters and turn on the lamps.

A moment later she was standing in the midst of them all, hands bunched to her face as she listened to the voices outside, David greeting the guests and bringing them through to where everyone was waiting. Cristy watched the girl closely, never more beautiful, nor vulnerable or hopeful. As their eyes met Cristy felt her tension fleetingly increase, before she relaxed and willed inner strength Sadie’s way.

It was going to be all right, it really was.

David came through the door first and held it wide for Evie to follow, and as Lukas and Gabe came in after them Cristy heard Sadie’s breath catch on a sob.

‘Sasha?’ Gabe said, removing his dark glasses. ‘Sasha, my girl?’

‘Hello, Dad,’ Sadie whispered, her mouth trembling on the words. ‘Thanks – thanks for coming all this way.’

He broke into a smile and Cristy realized this was the first time she’d seen him look happy.

‘I’m glad we did,’ he said. ‘I was very keen to see you,’ and as tears dropped onto his cheeks Sadie ran to him, crying too.

‘It’s all right,’ she soothed, holding him tight. ‘Everything’s going to be all right.’

He nodded, and his voice was muffled as he said, ‘I missed you so much. I was always thinking of you …’

‘Sssh,’ she whispered brokenly, ‘we’ve found one another now and that’s what matters.’

Cristy glanced at Connor as he captured the moments with his phone.

Lukas came forward and cupped Sadie’s face in his hands. ‘I’m Lukas,’ he told her, ‘your uncle. I know you probably don’t remember me …’

‘I remember your hat,’ she told him. ‘You used to wear a hat.’

Laughing in surprise he said, ‘I did. You’re right. I can’t believe … Imagine you remembering that when you were so small …’ His voice faltered, but he pushed on, his accent a little more pronounced as he said, ‘I can’t tell you how happy we are to see you. We always hoped you’d come to find us one day …’

‘I wish you’d come for me,’ she said. ‘If you knew where I was …’

‘We thought you were safe, that you were getting everything you needed, but we wrote, many times … It seems clear now that our letters were intercepted. Oh, what mistakes we made … Can we ever forgive ourselves?’

‘No, please don’t say that. You’re here now and we have so much to catch up on.’ Sadie turned back to her father and Cristy suspected that only Janina had ever looked at him with so much tenderness.

‘We have many stories to share with you,’ Gabe said shakily, ‘memories of when you were born and how precious you were …’

‘I want to hear them all,’ she said, gazing up into his eyes, ‘but we should at least let you sit down first.’

He smiled again and let her lead him to a sofa where she sat between him and Lukas holding their hands. ‘To think,’ she said to Anna, ‘I’ve only ever had women in my life, and now I only have men.’

‘Hey, just a minute,’ Evie cried, from where she’d been left at the door, ‘you have me too and last time I looked …’

Sadie leapt up to embrace her. ‘I’m sorry,’ she gushed, ‘so stupid of me. You’re Evie, obviously, and I couldn’t be happier to meet you.’

‘The feeling’s mutual,’ Evie assured her, patting her back. ‘I’ve heard so much about you over the years, and now here you are, as beautiful as a summer’s day and exactly as I always pictured your mother to be.’

‘She is,’ Gabe assured her. ‘You’re just like her, Sasha,’ and as more tears pooled in his eyes Sadie went back to his side and wept with him.