Page 31

It was after eight on Tuesday evening by the time they uploaded to the various platforms. For the past two days the entire team, along with two lawyers and four back-up technicians, had been editing, re-editing, recording and re-recording in a way that wouldn’t – or shouldn’t – end them up on the wrong side of the law.

‘And you’re certain it won’t?’ Meena asked, as Iz handed out much-needed drinks while Clover wandered around with sandwiches from a nearby deli.

‘As certain as we can be,’ Cristy replied. ‘All we’ve said is that Janina’s car went off the road while she was in Guernsey. No mention of her being on her way to meet Lottie – or Mia. Nothing about where the accident actually happened, or of the police questioning the sisters after the event.’

‘But you did include a reminder that Lottie met with Janina and Gabe in a café, just prior to the so-called accident. Do you know who took those photos now?’

‘According to Lottie’s journal it was Mia, in an effort to thwart a blackmail attempt.’

Meena wrinkled her nose. ‘OK. Not seeing it, but from what you tell me about Mia she’s … different. So, as things stand we’re left with Lottie writing about being unable to live with herself if she denies Janina access to her daughter. That’s one hell of an early cut-off considering what comes next.’

‘It can’t be helped,’ Cristy responded. ‘Everything else is covered by the injunction.’

‘So are they just going to get away with it?’ Iz asked incredulously.

‘For now, yes,’ Cristy replied, sounding as frustrated as she felt. ‘Although anyone with half a brain can work out that there’s more, and that it very probably involves the sisters.’

‘Or Albescu,’ Jodi pointed out. ‘You’re kind of suggesting he might have caught up with Janina.’

‘It can be seen that way,’ Cristy agreed, always grateful to Connor’s wife for the way she pointed things out for clarity. ‘It was what Sadie wanted. Obviously we weren’t going to lay it at his door when we know it wasn’t him, but we decided we could include what Lottie had written about him.’

‘I take it Mia’s lawyers have had previous scrutiny of the pod,’ Harry said, side-eyeing Jodi’s nappy-changing process on the sofa next to him.

‘We sent it over at five,’ Connor told him, ‘and let them know at the same time that if we didn’t hear back by seven-thirty we’d be running it as is. So, I’m guessing they either had no problem with it, or they didn’t receive any instructions from their client.’

‘Or they’ve opened up a very big hole to bury you in,’ Harry grunted.

‘It’ll be great for the ratings if we are sued,’ Iz pointed out, eagerly. ‘Advertisers will be falling over themselves to get a spot in something sensational.’

Deciding to let her reflect on that in her own time, Cristy said to Meena, ‘David took Sadie, Gabe and Lukas to see Guernsey’s chief police officer earlier today. They thought it would be a good idea to give him a heads-up on what could be coming down the tracks. Apparently they left with the feeling that a prosecution, based on the journals, is unlikely.’

‘But if it’s written there in black and white,’ Jodi protested. ‘Lottie couldn’t have made it clearer …’

‘There’s no way of corroborating her story,’ Connor explained. ‘Even if what she’s said is true, it can’t be proved, especially not with Mia claiming it’s all lies.’

‘And according to our lawyers,’ Cristy continued, ‘if they go after Mia the case will be thrown out long before it gets to court, either due to her mental state, or because there are no witnesses to what happened so it can’t be proved it was her, and of course there’s no body.’

‘Didn’t Mia try at one point to say that it was Sadie who wrote the journals?’ Meena asked curiously.

‘It was Lottie,’ Cristy told her. ‘The handwriting, the syntax, the whole style matches her other works, and as you’ve already pointed out yourself, Mia doesn’t really know what she’s saying half the time.’

‘How’s Sadie feeling about everything?’ Jodi said, handing a lovely fresh baby Aurora to Harry while she packed up the changing mat. ‘It must be really hard for her trying to deal with it all.’

‘When we spoke to her earlier,’ Cristy replied, ‘she said that what really matters to her now is the fact that she’s found her real family and her mother is no longer forgotten, or not mentioned, or even denied, as has been the case for most of her life.’

‘Please don’t shoot me for saying this,’ Meena put in, ‘but lovely as that is, it’s not shaping up to be a particularly sensational end to the series?’

Hating hearing it, Cristy said, ‘We’ve established that Janina and Gabe are Sadie’s parents, that the sisters faked her identity and lied to her all these years, and that they knew Janina was on the island at the time she lost her life. We’ve even made it clear that Mia is not willing to be interviewed, which strongly suggests she knows more than she’s telling.’

‘It’s true, you’ve achieved a lot,’ Meena agreed, ‘but I feel we’re missing the big finale that gets everyone gasping and talking and, let’s face it, gagging for another series of Hindsight .’

Jumping in, Iz said, ‘I’ve already got a whole slew of possible sponsors lined up. That’s how well things have gone so far with this series. If you can properly wow us with the last episode – no pressure – we can probably double, even triple your buy-in rates next time around.’

Cristy looked at Connor, knowing he felt as irritated and frustrated by that as she did.

‘We can’t just ignore the law because it’s not working for us,’ he pointed out tightly. ‘It’s not a drama. It’s true-life, and sometimes life is just … shit.’

Cristy watched Jodi turn to him, the baby in her arms now, a surprised and worried look on her face. ‘Should I be taking that personally?’ she asked carefully.

‘No, of course not,’ he retorted. ‘None of this is about you. It’s about the fact that we’re sitting here feeling that we’ve backed the wrong horse because we can’t get it over the line the way everyone wants us to.’

‘But what were you actually expecting when you decided to take the case on?’ Harry asked. ‘It was always about finding out who the girl really was and what sort of crime had been committed by her aunts, or her parents, or some vile intermediary. You’ve done it, for God’s sake. Her mother was murdered by at least one, if not both of her aunts so the aunts could keep her. You might not be able to put it out there as plain as that, but people aren’t stupid. After tonight’s episode they’ll all be jumping to the same conclusion. I don’t think you’re helping here, Meena.’

Shrugging, Meena said, ‘Just voicing my opinion, that’s all.’

After a brief and awkward silence, Iz said brightly, ‘How about we regroup tomorrow, or the next day, when we’ve had some listener feedback, and then we can decide how best to approach the last pod?’

‘Let’s do that,’ Cristy said, appreciating the suggestion, ‘and by then we might have clearer heads. We’ve been pretty full on these past ten days, especially yesterday and today.’

Iz beamed. ‘Have I ever told you my teapot theory?’ she asked cheerily. ‘I always say, if you’re feeling blocked it’s probably because you’re trying to go too fast so everything’s getting all clogged up. So what you have to do is pull the teapot back, give the leaves a swirl and next thing you know it’s all pouring out perfectly and no more block.’

Cristy looked at Connor, willing him not to say something cruel, but he clearly didn’t quite get the message. ‘I’ve already pointed out that this isn’t a drama,’ he snapped angrily. ‘No one’s blocked , Iz , the law is the law, and no matter how many times you swirl the pot we’re not going to get around it.’

As Iz coloured, Cristy said, ‘But it’s still a good idea to meet after we’ve had time to think things through – and after we’ve interviewed Sadie for the wrap-up. We don’t know what she’s going to say yet. OK, no one’s expecting her to give us the conflagration Meena’s hoping for, but who knows? Maybe she’ll have talked Mia into letting the journals be aired in their entirety. Would that be an explosive enough climax for you, Meena? To leave everyone speculating on which sister was guilty rather than whether they were actually involved in Janina’s death or not?’

‘I think they’re going to do that anyway,’ Clove pointed out.

‘She’s right,’ Connor said. ‘And whatever we can or can’t run, it’s still a truly dark tale of abduction, insane wealth, entitlement, human trafficking, murder … It’s got everything, so let’s stop doing ourselves down here. One way or another we’ll make the last episode a winner, and I’ll lay money now that by this time on Wednesday, or maybe Thursday, we’ll have worked out how.’

*

Early the next morning Cristy was alone in the office, stressing over Aiden’s situation again, or she had been until another text arrived from the stalker, this one so ghastly it was actually making her feel sick.

Oh, Cristy, you’re a dirty, dirty girl. If anyone knew what you got up to when alone in your bed … Shall I send the photos?

Photos! Was there a camera in her bedroom, for God’s sake? Had someone actually managed to break in to set up some sort of surveillance …

Stop! She hadn’t actually done anything to warrant this message. Sure, she’d thought about it, and had even mentioned it to David, but it hadn’t happened, so this person was either playing mind games, or did it mean he had a tap on her phone?

The next step, obviously, was to let Jacks and his shadowy team of geeks see if they could trace the source; and she would, were it not for the fact that she simply couldn’t bear for anyone to see this latest message. At the very least they’d wonder if there was some truth to it, or, worse, much worse , they’d picture her in a state of writhing and moaning masturbation with God only knew what sort of stimulating devices. Who knew how vivid and graphic their imaginations might be? They might also want to call the stalker’s bluff and ask for photos! Obviously he didn’t have any because it hadn’t happened. However, he could easily Photoshop her face onto some hideously pornographic images and even if, in the end, it could be proved it wasn’t her, people, Jacks included, would still feel they’d seen her like that.

So she couldn’t ask Jacks to get involved. What she had to do was change her phone and the number … Except everyone would want to know why she’d taken such a bizarre decision at this stage of a series. It would make no sense to them, any more than it would to Aiden if she asked him to check the flat for some sort of bugging device – or devices, plural.

She looked around the office, wondering if she was being watched even now. It was impossible to tell when she had no idea how covert surveillance was set up, much less carried out. But maybe she was in danger of blowing this out of proportion. Whoever was behind it hadn’t threatened her physically, nor was he suggesting he might. In fact, in the grand scheme of things, these messages weren’t actually that bad; no rape or murder threats, no mention of her children, nor even a suggestion of going public with fake masturbation photos. Nevertheless, she still didn’t want anyone seeing the latest text, so the best thing to do was drop it into the folder with the others, and feel thankful that she had plenty else going on right now to distract her.

*

It was on Thursday afternoon while everyone was at their desks working on ways to create a big finale that Mia rang.

Immediately scrabbling to take the call, Cristy alerted the others and waited for Mia’s image to fill her computer screen.

‘Mia?’ she said, when nothing happened. ‘Are you OK?’ She could hear breathing and the sound of someone moving, but still no one spoke. ‘Mia?’ she called again.

‘She’s coming for me,’ Mia cried, still not in vision. ‘I know she is, but I’m not going to let her in. Tell her, she can’t come in .’

With a quick glance at Connor, Cristy said, ‘Are you talking about Sadie, Mia?’

‘ I’m talking about Lottie. She’s coming for me … You’ve poisoned her against me, told her all your ugly lies … Those people she’s with are imposters . You brought them here, so you have to make them go away.’

Realizing she was talking about Sadie, even if she didn’t recognize it herself, Cristy said, ‘Mia, listen. Sadie just wants to talk to you, to make sure you’re OK after the shock of everything …’

‘Tell her to go away!’ Mia yelled. ‘I don’t want her here. She wants to kill me.’

‘That’s not true,’ Cristy argued gently. ‘She still cares about you …’

‘She wants to punish me for keeping her away from that doctor. I regret it now, but she won’t listen.’

Back to Lottie. ‘It was a long time ago,’ Cristy said. ‘What happened then …’

‘It wasn’t my fault what happened to her mother! I didn’t do it. You have to tell her that.’

‘Please, just let Sadie come and talk to you,’ Cristy said. ‘If you like, David Gaudion can come with her …’

‘No! I don’t want her here. I just want you to know that if anything happens to me it’ll be down to you and everything you’ve done to turn my niece against me. Lottie is very angry about it. Very angry indeed.’

As the line went dead Cristy looked at the others, feeling as mystified and disturbed by the call as she could see they were.

‘She’s clearly completely lost it,’ Clove said quietly.

Cristy nodded. ‘When I spoke to Sadie last night she told me this was happening and it’s upsetting her quite a lot. The ridiculous part of it is that she’s as afraid of her aunt as Mia now seems to be of her, which is why I suggested David should be there when they meet.’

‘Is Sadie up for that?’ Jacks asked.

Cristy nodded. ‘So’s David, it’s just a matter of getting Mia to open the door.’ To Connor she said, ‘Did you manage to record any of that?’

He nodded. ‘Most of it. Do you want to send it to Sadie?’

‘It won’t be anything she hasn’t already heard, but I think we should.’

An hour later, having listened to the playback, Sadie came through on FaceTime looking tense and pale. ‘I don’t know if you want to get my response on record,’ she said, ‘but if you do, I’ve already prepared something that I can read out.’

As Connor hit the right buttons and Clove got ready to make notes, Cristy said, ‘Where are you?’

‘At home. Dad and Jasper are with me. We went down there a few minutes ago to try again, but everything’s bolted from the inside and she didn’t even answer when we called out.’

‘We saw her watching us from an upstairs window,’ Jasper added.

Faintly spooked by that, Cristy said, ‘OK, we’re recording now.’

SADIE: ‘I’ve made four or five attempts to see my aunt since the last episode about my mother coming to Guernsey was dropped, but without any success. I’ve no idea if she’s heard it, but I think she probably has and that’s why she won’t see me. She’s managed to convince herself that I’m blaming her for what happened, but as I keep telling her, I don’t blame her for anything, and all I want now is to move on with my life. Having said that, it’s not my intention simply to abandon her; she isn’t getting any younger and nor is she in great health, so it would be cruel of me to carry on now as if she never mattered at all. She did matter, a great deal, and she still does. You can’t just wipe out all the good someone has done in your life, as if it never happened, especially not when there has been a lot of good. So I want her to understand that we – I’m speaking for my father and uncle now as well – wish her no harm and we never will.’

CRISTY: ‘When you went to see her earlier, did she realize that the man with you was your father?’

SADIE: ‘I’m not sure, but I thought, if she met him and saw for herself just how gentle he is she’d be more likely to let us in.’

CRISTY: ‘Will you try again?’

SADIE: ‘Of course. I have no plans to leave Guernsey yet, and I certainly won’t without seeing her first. Dad, Lukas and Evie are flying back at the weekend and Jasper’s going with them to look at a few job opportunities that Lukas is setting up for him.’

CRISTY: ‘So your long-term goal is to relocate?’

SADIE: ‘I think so. We’ll need a fresh start after all that’s happened, I just want to be sure that Mia is properly cared for before I go and that might take a while. It doesn’t matter though, there’s no rush, and obviously I’ll come back to visit on a regular basis.’

CONNOR: ‘So when do you intend to try seeing her again?’

SADIE: ‘Are you asking because you’d like me to record it?’

CONNOR: ‘I confess it did cross my mind.’

SADIE: ‘I’ll do my best, and if I can’t do it myself I’m sure David will help out. He’s bringing Cynthia over in the morning. It’s possible Mia might be more willing to open up if she’s there too.’

CRISTY: ‘Just to explain, David and Cynthia are good friends and long-time neighbours in Guernsey.’

CONNOR: ‘OK, well, let us know how it goes and if anything happens in the meantime, you know where we are.’

SADIE: ‘Thanks – and thanks too for all the support you’ve given me throughout this. I feel as though you guys are more like friends now than anything else.’

CRISTY: ‘We’re OK with that, and obviously really glad we were able to play a part in helping you to find out who you really are.’

After the call was over and the recording checked, Cristy sat back in her chair and said thoughtfully, ‘That could be a sign-off for the last episode.’

‘Just what I was thinking,’ Connor agreed. To Jacks he said, ‘Bookmark it for a quick find. Any thoughts, Clove?’

Looking up from her notes, she said, ‘Not about Sadie’s input, but I’m worried that airing anything Mia said just now is going to be considered exploitation of someone with profound mental health issues. Something like that could backfire on us horribly.’

‘We’ll take advice before using anything,’ Cristy assured her. ‘If it turns out we can’t run her actual words, we’ll do as we did after Connor and I paid a visit and found her sitting under a noose. We’ll describe it the best we can and try not to sound in any way judgemental or unsympathetic to someone who’s …’

‘Completely fucking nuts?’ Clove suggested.

With a wry smile, Cristy said, ‘Yes, but obviously not in those words.’ She glanced at her phone, tensing as a text arrived, but it was only Aiden letting her know that he’d be staying with her again tonight.

Happy for that, she sent a quick message to Matthew asking if he’d managed to make contact with Pearl or her parents yet.

You mean the other grandparents? he replied.

Deciding not to grace that with a response, she reminded Connor that they had some final promos to record for Iz and followed him through to the studio.

*

‘Wow!’ Connor declared in amazement, when he walked into the office later and Cristy practically leapt out of her skin. ‘Nervy or what?’

‘Sorry,’ she gasped, pressing a hand to her thudding heart, knowing it was an overreaction, but there it was anyway. ‘I didn’t hear you … I thought you’d gone home.’

‘Just about to. What’s going on?’ he asked, clearly noticing the way she’d quickly shut her phone down.

‘Nothing,’ she insisted, aware of Clove and Jacks regarding her as if she’d just grown another head. ‘Or I guess everything,’ she admitted in a rush, ‘from not knowing if my son is going to become a father at sixteen, to worrying about what my ex is planning to do with Boo Boo Bear while he has custody, to missing David, to feeling distinctly edgy about what is happening over there in Guernsey.’

Sinking into his chair, Connor said, ‘I’ve got to admit, the Sadie/Mia thing is getting to me a bit too and I can’t really put my finger on why.’

‘It’s got a strange sort of undertow to it,’ Clove observed. ‘I can’t stop thinking about it.’

‘Nothing to do with the fact that we’re totally focused on shaping a last episode,’ Jacks commented dryly.

‘Do you think we should be over there?’ Connor asked Cristy.

She was distracted by another text arriving and had checked it before she could stop herself. ‘ For God’s sake ,’ she muttered under her breath when she saw it was from him. A gushing thanks for the ‘hot tit-pics’ that she hadn’t even sent. How could she, when she didn’t even have his number?

Connor said, ‘Are you still getting those anonymous texts? Is that what’s going on here?’

Knowing her cheeks were burning, she said, ‘They’re vile. At least some of them are. I know I shouldn’t read them …’

‘Give me the phone,’ he demanded.

‘I actually don’t want you to see them.’

‘Too bad. Hand it over.’

Realizing how ludicrous she’d seem if she outright refused, she opened up the thread and half threw the phone at Connor, already feeling the shame of things she hadn’t actually done.

‘ Shit ,’ he muttered as he read the messages. ‘What a fucking psycho. Jacks, you need to get onto this, find out who it is so we can shut him down.’

‘But I need the phone,’ Cristy protested as Jacks reached for it.

‘Who are you expecting to hear from tonight?’ Connor asked.

‘David. Matthew. Aiden. Possibly Hayley. There’s also a chance Sadie will call.’

‘Then text them one of the burner numbers,’ he told her. ‘You only have to say yours is going through some sort of routine check, and will be back on air … When?’ he asked Jacks.

Jacks shrugged. ‘No knowing how deep we might have to dive, but I’ll get right on it.’

‘I just want you to know,’ Cristy said, looking from Connor to Jacks and back again, ‘that nothing – I mean, absolutely nothing – he’s saying is true. OK?’

‘Got it,’ Jacks assured her.

‘So what’s he saying?’ Clove immediately wanted to know.

‘It’s your typical scumbag fantasy stuff,’ Connor replied dismissively. ‘Nothing to worry about, but I’ve got to admit, I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of it. Let’s run him to ground asap, Jacks, and then do whatever it takes to make him rethink his career choice.’

‘Could be a woman?’ Clove suggested tentatively.

‘Doubtful,’ Connor told her, ‘but you won’t want to see the proof unless dick-pics are your thing.’

With a moue of distaste, Clove said, ‘Could still be a woman, hiding behind someone’s dick.’

‘It’s not that big,’ Connor quipped and even Cristy had to laugh. It turned to a shudder of revulsion as the thought of it made her feel as though she’d been contaminated, violated even, in an actual physical way.

‘We need to keep this in mind for a future series,’ Clove told her gravely. ‘There’s so much of it now and some people, kids, are getting seriously damaged by it.’

Agreeing that it was worth looking into, Cristy glanced over at her phone as another text arrived.

‘Shall I?’ Jacks asked.

She nodded, and as he opened the message she became so tense it actually hurt.

‘It’s Matthew,’ he told her, holding the phone out, ‘wanting to know if you’re free for a bite to eat later.’

Holding up her hands to block it, she said, ‘Text back to say you have the phone, but you’ll pass the message on and you’re sure I’ll be in touch.’

Going to take a spare phone from the store they kept, Connor passed it to Jacks for set-up and said, ‘If you’re worried this creep is actually following you, why don’t you come and stay at ours tonight?’

Cristy gave a laugh, without quite knowing why. ‘Thanks, but Aiden’s going to be with me, and now it looks as though a family dinner is in store. Does that mean you think there is someone following me?’

Jacks was shaking his head while staring at the phone. ‘No way of telling at the moment,’ he said, ‘but whatever he’s got in mind it’ll be me he’s coming home with tonight. Wonder how much he’s gonna like that.’

*

‘You’re kidding me,’ Cristy groaned, looking from Matthew to Aiden and back again. ‘Please tell me that’s not what she said.’

Matthew regarded her helplessly, while Aiden only shrugged as if to say, ‘nothing to do with me,’ when it had everything to do with him. They were in a tapas bar they used to come to regularly as a family, with an assortment of small plates between them and three portions of patatas bravas just for Aiden. Cristy, unable to face food right now, refilled her glass with wine as Matthew said,

‘It’s not that long to wait …’

‘We shouldn’t have to wait at all,’ she snapped. ‘We want to know now if he’s the father, not after the baby’s born. And that ,’ she added forcefully, ‘is still three months away, but OK, if you don’t think that’s long—’

‘I’m just saying,’ Matthew interrupted, ‘that we don’t get to call any shots here. She’s the one carrying the child so if she doesn’t want to subject it to a DNA test before the birth, there’s not much we can do about it.’

‘What do her parents say? Surely they want to know who the father is.’

‘If they do, it’s a conversation they’re having with her, not me.’

‘Have you actually spoken to them?’

Sighing, he said, ‘I’ve had an email saying they’re aware of the situation and, as regrettable as it is, they don’t feel any questions can be answered until Pearl is ready to do so.’

‘Jesus Christ. Who are these people?’ She glared at Aiden. ‘Have you met them?’

He shook his head, picked up another patata but clearly thought better of eating it when he caught his mother’s expression.

‘What about the other boys?’ she asked. ‘Surely they want to know if they’re going to be landed with a child they don’t want.’

‘Course,’ he agreed. ‘But like Dad said, we don’t get much of a say in it.’

Looking at Matthew again, Cristy snapped, ‘This is starting to feel like a game of Russian roulette.’

With no small irony, he said, ‘Except in this instance the last one standing gets a cigar and brandy instead of a bullet.’

As Aiden guffawed she cried, ‘It’s not funny, for God’s sake. In fact it’s so far from funny that I have to wonder at what point you two are going to see the seriousness of it all.’

‘I do,’ Matthew told her, ‘and so does Aiden, but right now we’re as incapable as you are of doing anything about it.’

‘Which you don’t seem to mind, whereas I’m not ready to give up just like that. We – he, our son – must have some rights, for God’s sake.’

‘Then name them. It’s too late for a termination, even if she was willing, and if we start pressuring her for a DNA test it could be seen as intimidation of a pregnant girl and that’s not a route we want to go down.’

‘What about the other boys’ parents? Maybe we should speak to them, see if we can act together in some way?’

‘Intimidation,’ he reminded her.

‘And they haven’t all fessed up yet,’ Aiden added, ‘so you have to back off for now, Mum. I know it’s against your nature …’

‘Oh shut up,’ she snapped at him.

Doing just that, he helped himself to a few more patatas and brazenly checked his phone for messages.

‘We need to meet the girl and her parents,’ Cristy said to Matthew. ‘No more emails. For all you know she’s sending them herself and … Aiden, are you listening?’

‘Sure,’ he answered, ‘it’s just there’s a text here from David saying he can’t get hold of you.’

Remembering she was supposed to have let him know her temporary number, while not wanting Matthew and Aiden to ask why she had one, she said, ‘Tell him I’m out of battery and I’ll call as soon as I get home.’

After sending the message, Aiden looked up as Cristy said, ‘Where do her parents live?’

‘I’m not sure. Siston, I think. Or out that way somewhere. But do you know what, Mum? I seriously think you should chill for a bit. I know you’re in shock and it’s kind of not ideal, but it is what it is …’

Wanting to throttle him, she looked at Matthew as he said, ‘We should still let the girl know we’d like to meet her. With any luck it might frighten her into …’

Cristy waited.

‘Something,’ he said lamely.

‘Like a miscarriage?’ Aiden suggested, with an anxious glance at his mother.

‘Well, I wasn’t exactly thinking that,’ Matthew responded, ‘but …’ Catching Cristy’s eye he quickly recalibrated and said instead, ‘It might persuade her to see how lucky she’d be if you are the father, to have us as grandparents, and your genes …’

Cristy gaped at him in disbelief, until, realizing he’d got himself all mixed up with trying to put a positive spin on things, she started to laugh. ‘I’m not sure you’re for real,’ she told him, as relief and confusion nudged him into laughter too.

‘But you know that came out wrong,’ he said, ‘and that’s what’s so wonderful about us. We always end up on the same page … Son, this isn’t a good time to be answering your phone.’

‘It’s David,’ Aiden told him and looked at Cristy as he clicked on. ‘Sure, I’m good thanks. Yeah, she’s right here, I’ll pass you over.’

Taking the phone and turning away from the others, she said quietly, ‘Hey, is everything OK?’

‘Say hi from me,’ Matthew called out.

‘I’ve just heard from Evie,’ David said gravely. ‘Something’s going on at the villa, so I’m heading over there.’

‘What do you mean? What’s happened?’

‘I don’t have any details yet. I just thought I should let you know. I’ll call again as soon as I have more news.’