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CRISTY: ‘OK, Sadie, can you talk us through what you have there?’

SADIE: ‘Of course. I’ll be glad to.’

In spite of the bravado in her voice, Sadie hesitated, and took a deep, slightly shaky breath. Jasper was at the small dining table next to her, his treacle-coloured hair slick to his head, his handsome but unshaven face showing his concern. They were at his parents’ weekend retreat near Bradford-on-Avon, a converted stable block with far-reaching views of the countryside and so much olde-worlde charm it was like being in a cosy antique shop.

Cristy watched them quietly, sensing their connection, understanding Sadie’s uncertainty as well as her gratitude for his support. This wasn’t going to be easy for her, Cristy knew she’d be having difficulties too in her shoes, but Sadie had insisted on going through with the recording.

Eventually, she laid her hands on the box file in front of her and began to describe it.

SADIE: ‘There’s a label on the front that says: “Sadie’s Things”. The writing is quite faded, as though it was written a long time ago, and the label itself is peeling at the corners.

‘It smells a little old and musty, but the contents are mostly intact. There’s a toy rabbit; a star-shaped hair slide; a Barbie doll wearing a pink gingham dress; a tiny pair of ballet shoes, and six photographs.’

CRISTY: ‘Do you recognize any of these items?’

SADIE: ‘I can’t say I do, but as you can see each of the photographs features a little girl who I’m guessing could be me, aged one or maybe slightly older. Not much more than a baby, anyway.’

CRISTY: ‘Are they the photos that were around your house when you were growing up? The ones you were told were of you and your parents?’

SADIE: ‘No, they’re not. These are quite different.’

CRISTY: ‘Tell us about who’s in them.’

SADIE: ‘There’s a woman who’s probably early- to mid-twenties … She has shoulder-length, thick blonde hair and she looks, well, kind of like me. I mean, me now, not in the photos. Would you agree?’

CRISTY: ‘Yes, I would.’

Sadie’s relief and gratitude showed in a smile.

SADIE: ‘I have to tell you, it makes me feel quite … I don’t know, strange, when I look at her, like I’m being transported out of myself, or something. I mean, if she is my mother … and it’s hard to think she isn’t given how alike we are … I can’t stop wondering why we’re not together when here, the way she’s holding me …’

Cristy paused as Sadie dabbed away a tear, understanding perfectly why she was finding this so upsetting. The photographs quite clearly showed a young mother who adored her child.

CRISTY: ‘Can you tell us a bit more about what we’re seeing in the photos?’

SADIE: (picking them up one by one) ‘In this one she – the woman – is wearing jeans and a white T-shirt that has some writing on the front, but it’s not possible to make out what it says. She’s lying on the grass side by side with the child. They’re holding hands and seem to be staring up at the sky … There’s a shadow over them, from whoever took the photo. It looks like a man.’

She moved on to the next.

SADIE: ‘In this one she’s sitting up on her knees and the child is tucked in against her, their faces one above the other, and they’re laughing quite hard, clearly having so much fun.

‘In the third one … they’re pulling silly faces, tongues out, eyes pulled down … The next two are of the child fast asleep on somebody’s lap – you can only see the arms holding her, nothing to say who it is, but they’re masculine …

‘The last one is the child again, riding the shoulders of a young man who’s holding her legs and laughing up at her. He’s wearing a hat that partially obscures his face, but he has a lot of dark hair, and he’s laughing.’

Cristy watched as Sadie continued to gaze at the photos, taking them in and presumably remembering how she’d had a memory of a man in a hat.

CRISTY: ‘So you think these two people are your parents?’

Sadie nodded, before remembering she needed to speak.

SADIE: ‘Yes, that is what I think.’

CRISTY: ‘And since finding these photos … Have they jogged any memories for you?’

SADIE: ‘Well, as I said before, I have an image of a man in a hat, and of him – I think it was the same man – riding a bicycle with me on the crossbar, and I’m sure I remember being on some sort of carousel.’

CRISTY: ‘Do you recall anything particular about the woman?’

SADIE: ‘I didn’t at first, but then I … I think I remember playing with her hair and getting it all tangled up in a brush.’

CRISTY: ‘Do you have any thoughts on where you might have been at the time any of these photos were taken?’

SADIE: ‘I’m afraid not. Something I remember though, oddly, is a clothes horse full of fresh laundry, and a garden with toys … Swings, a trampoline, that sort of thing. There was a big house nearby, or maybe it just seemed big to me …’

CRISTY: ‘There’s something else in the box you’ve brought today. Something of huge significance. Do you mind telling us about it?’

Sadie reached for a single, folded sheet of paper, straightened it, and cleared her throat a couple of times.

SADIE: ‘I’m sorry, it’s still making me quite emotional …’

CRISTY: ‘It’s OK. Just take your time.’

Sadie glanced at Jasper and closed her eyes as he leaned in to kiss her forehead. Seeming to take strength from it, Sadie straightened as she began to speak.

SADIE: ‘I believe this is the note that was found in my pocket after my aunt brought me in from the beach. It says, “Her name is Sasha, she will be two years old on May 14th. I know you are good people. Please take care of her until I can come back for her.”’

Cristy allowed a few moments to pass, giving Sadie time to decide when she was ready to continue.

SADIE: ‘It’s really strange to think I could be looking at my mother’s handwriting. It makes her seem … real, in a way she didn’t before. I keep wondering what was going through her mind when she wrote it. What, or who, could have made her give me up?’

Sadie put the note down, and sounded almost impatient as she said, ‘Wallowing in questions I can’t possibly answer isn’t going to get us anywhere.’

Her tone, her frustration, belied the lost and bewildered look in her eyes.

Feeling for her, Cristy continued gently.

CRISTY: ‘Do you think she and your aunts ever met?’

SADIE: ‘Obviously, it’s possible.’

Sadie’s eyes dropped to Cristy’s recorder and stayed there.

‘Would you like me to stop?’ Cristy offered.

She shook her head and looked up again.

SADIE: ‘You’re going to ask me if I’ve shown any of this to Mia.’

CRISTY: ‘Have you?’

SADIE: ‘No.’

When Sadie didn’t elaborate Cristy glanced at Jasper who raised a hand in a small gesture, seeming to advise giving her more time.

SADIE: ‘I’m going to show it to her, obviously. I have to now I’ve told you about it. I guess I’m just really nervous about what she’s going to say. How she’s going to explain it.’

JASPER: ‘What we really want to know is when the aunts received all these things – we know the note was in two-year-old Sadie’s coat pocket, but when did the photos and everything else turn up? And why did they keep it and never show it to Sades?’

SADIE: ‘I think – but I have no way of knowing of course – that these photos might have been in the envelope that was posted through the front door that morning.’

CRISTY: ‘If you’re right, we know, at least according to Lottie’s writings, there was no note with them, so what kind of message do you think they were supposed to send?’

SADIE: ‘Maybe they were to let my aunts know that I came from a loving home … But how loving could it have been for them to have just left me on a beach?’

JASPER: ‘We’ve wondered if sending the photographs was meant to keep Sadie’s parents alive for her. Special moments captured on film for her to treasure until they came back.’

SADIE: ‘But they never did come back.’

JASPER: ‘At least not that we know of.’

CRISTY: ‘Do you have any idea yet when the toys might have turned up?’

SADIE: ‘No, but there’s nothing to say they actually came from my parents. For all I know they’re small things that Lottie or Mia might have bought for me and put into the box when I outgrew them.’

CRISTY: ‘But the fact they’re with the photographs …’

SADIE: ‘Leads us to believe they’re part of what’s long been held back from me. It’s true.’

CRISTY: ‘OK. Let’s talk for a moment about the photos you remember being displayed around the house. The ones you were told were of you and your parents. Who do you now think they might have been of?’

SADIE: ‘It’s a good question. I wondered at first if it was one of my aunts as a child with their parents, but there are albums of photos from that time in our library and they’re obviously from a different era. Anyway, they’re clearly not the same people.’

JASPER: ‘It’s possible to buy historical family shots like that. Film and TV companies use them all the time.’

CRISTY: ‘Couldn’t the same be said of the photos we’re looking at now?’

SADIE: ‘Of course, but you’ve admitted yourself how much I’m like the woman, and I definitely remember a man in a hat.’

CRISTY: ‘Where did you actually find these photos? I know they were in this box …’

SADIE: ‘… which was under the daybed in Lottie’s sitting room, inside a suitcase full of old postcards and letters from the children Lottie used to sponsor in various parts of the world.’

Seeming to lose interest in that, Sadie picked up the handwritten note again and stared at it for some time before continuing.

SADIE: ‘Why didn’t anyone come back for me?’

JASPER: ‘Maybe they did, but your aunts had already taken you to Guernsey by then.’

SADIE: ‘It surely wouldn’t have been that hard to track them down, if someone really wanted to.’

Though they were still recording, Cristy’s next comment wasn’t really meant for the pod. ‘Until you speak to your aunt we’re not likely to have any answers to these questions …’

Sadie’s eyes widened suddenly as she fixed them on Cristy. ‘I almost forgot. I’ve now shown Mia the pages of Lottie’s story, the ones we’ve already recorded.’

Cristy blinked in surprise. ‘And what did she say?’ she asked carefully.

Sadie’s smile was small and even slightly resentful. ‘The first thing she asked was if you had seen them, can you believe that? And when I told her you had, she said … Wait for this … She wants to talk to you.’

Thrown again, Cristy said, ‘I’ll be glad to talk to her, obviously, but didn’t she comment on the pages themselves, or try to explain anything?’

‘Not at all. It was … Like as if I’d made them up or something.’ She looked to Jasper for his opinion.

‘You probably already know this,’ he said to Cristy, ‘but you can never be sure what Mia’s thinking. It’s possible she didn’t even really take in what she read.’

‘I think she did,’ Sadie insisted, ‘or she wouldn’t have asked to speak to Cristy.’

‘So, does she want me to call her?’ Cristy asked.

‘She didn’t say how she wanted to communicate, and for all we know she’ll have changed her mind, or forgotten about it the next time we bring it up.’ She frowned slightly as she thought. ‘Do you think it would be a good idea for us to record the last bit of this conversation, from me telling you that she wants to talk to you? I’m just thinking it might be harder for her to back out of it if she hears it go out on a podcast.’

‘We’re still recording,’ Cristy told her, ‘but let’s see if she’ll do it without the … persuasion. When are you going back to Guernsey?’

‘Tomorrow.’

‘Then we’ll speak over the next couple of days, and you can let me know how things develop once you’ve spoken to her again. Meantime, would you mind if I take some shots of the box and its contents for the website?’

Sadie opened her hands in a gesture to ‘go ahead’. ‘I suppose there’s an outside chance someone might recognize them,’ she ventured.

Already capturing the images, Cristy said, ‘I’m sure someone will. Our problem will be sorting out who is, and isn’t, genuine before we start following up on anything.’

*

‘Crikey, it must have been a shattering moment for Sadie when she found the actual note,’ Connor commented when Cristy rang from the car to report back on the interview.

‘I think it was,’ she agreed, trying to decide which route back to take, M4 or cross-country? ‘She didn’t say too much about it, but to be honest, I don’t think she’s even close to processing it all yet. She might think she is, but there’s a lot to get her head around. And those photographs! Even I still feel thrown by them, and how closely she resembles her mother – they’re so alike they could almost be the same person. The ones of her father, presuming it was him, weren’t so easy to make out, but what struck me most about all of them was how young the couple looked, and how together and normal they seemed as a family.’

‘Any idea where the shots were taken?’

‘It wasn’t possible to tell – on a grassy knoll somewhere, on a sunny day. I’ll give them to Jacks to see if he can get any more detail out of them. Anyway, the interesting – and good – news is that Mia has said she wants to talk to me. We just have to hope she doesn’t back out before we can make it happen.’

‘OK, that is interesting. Do we know what brought her to that decision?’

‘She knows we’ve seen the pages Sadie found, so I’m presuming she wants to … explain them? Ask us to forget all about them? Anyone’s guess until I speak to her.’

‘So does this mean you’ll be going to Guernsey?’

Speaking across the lurch in her heart, Cristy said, ‘If I do go I think you should come too. Can you get away …?’

‘No problem!’ Jodi shouted out. ‘My mum is itching to come and stay, so don’t worry about me and the baby.’

‘You’re assuming I can bear to be parted from you,’ Connor retorted.

‘You managed last night,’ Jodi reminded him.

‘Speaking of which,’ Cristy said, ‘thanks for coming to the gig. Aiden really appreciated it, and you saved me from being landed with Matthew on my own.’ Though her ex-husband had insisted on walking her home last night. She hadn’t let him in, or accepted more than a hug goodbye, despite his best efforts.

‘It was a cool band,’ Connor declared, ‘if you’re into house, and I kind of enjoyed catching up with your ex. If nothing else, he’s always good company.’

‘And there is nothing else,’ Jodi hastily added. ‘Anyway, are you OK, babe? You haven’t seemed yourself lately, and something obviously didn’t go to plan after Con and I left Guernsey at Christmas …’

‘Stop prying,’ Connor scolded.

‘I’m just saying, if you want to chat, or come over and hang out with us, you know we’re always here for you.’

Cristy smiled past the tightness in her throat. ‘Thanks, guys. It means a lot you saying that, but you’ve got enough going on, getting used to being parents …’

‘In the bag,’ Connor insisted. ‘We’re naturals, and we love your company even more than Matthew’s. A lot more than Matthew’s, I should say. Is Aiden still with you at the flat?’

‘He’s not supposed to be, but I won’t know for certain until I get home.’ If he was there it might make it difficult for her to ring David, if she decided to, and she really wasn’t sure she would when he still hadn’t contacted her. ‘Actually, there’s another call coming in,’ she said, realizing she ought to get off the line while tying herself in knots, ‘but I’ll send Sadie’s interview as soon as I’ve uploaded it to my laptop.’

As she ended the call and indicated to leave the Pennsylvania Roundabout to take the A420 back to Bristol, she decided that rather than obsess over her ridiculous personal life she’d catch up on the latest edition of The News Agents . It was one of her favourite podcasts and could generally be relied on to provide suitable distraction as well as an interesting take on the world of politics.

She’d got no further than Lewis Goodall’s intro to an interview with a recently disgraced cabinet minister when her phone actually did ring. With an unsteadying surge of nerves she saw it was David, and had already clicked on before realizing that now, while driving country roads in the dark, might not be the best time to talk to him.

‘Hi,’ he said. ‘Can you hear me?’

‘Yes, sorry. I’m in the car. The reception might not be great … How are you?’

‘I’m good. How about you?’

‘Yeah, fine. I’ve just been with Sadie actually, at her boyfriend’s parents’ place.’

‘Anna said you were seeing her today. She also told me about the note, the one that matches the story written in the first pages, about the child’s name being Sasha and that she’s two years old. Have you seen it?’

‘I have.’

‘So is it genuine?’

‘On the balance of probabilities I’d say it is.’

‘OK. So how has Sadie taken it?’

‘It’s unsettled her, as you might expect. I think she’s still in some kind of shock over it.’

‘Has she shown it to Mia?’

‘Not yet, but she assures me she will. Actually, I can understand her reluctance. Wanting to find out the truth is one thing, dealing with it when it comes can be another altogether.’ Realizing she could be talking about herself and their relationship, she quickly added, ‘The problem at this stage is that no one is sure Mia can be trusted to give honest, or even helpful answers. There’s a chance she might speak to me, apparently.’

‘That’s good.’ After a beat he added, ‘Isn’t it?’

‘It could be, depending on what she has to say and if she actually goes through with it. Meantime, we’re heading to Exmoor at the end of the week to talk to the sisters’ old housekeeper, and, after that, we could be back in Guernsey.’ Her hands tightened on the wheel as she waited for his response. When it didn’t come she realized they’d lost the connection.

‘… still there?’ he asked, coming back on the line. ‘Can you hear me?’

‘I can now,’ and deciding not to mention Guernsey again, she said, ‘So how are things with you? It seems an age since we last spoke.’

‘That’s because it is. I’ve been trying to give you some space after the onslaught of Gaudions over Christmas. I just hadn’t realized you’d need this much.’

She gave a laugh of surprise, and relief; his words were so welcome that she almost asked him to repeat them. ‘Sorry,’ she said, ‘I’ve been pretty tied up with the pod since I got back, and Matthew still seems to think it’s my place to sort out his mess. Anyway, it doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking about you because I have, a lot.’

‘Good to know.’

Suddenly afraid he might burst her bubble, without having any reason to think he would, she quickly said, ‘How’s everyone there? I had an email from Rosie all about the boyfriend, and from your mum saying she was thrilled to hear Aiden had tried out her spag bol recipe with great success.’

When he didn’t respond she realized the line had failed again, and, clocking where she was on her journey, she thought about pulling into the picnic area at the top of Tog Hill with its panoramic views of the lights of Bristol. However, as there was nothing to say the reception would be any better there, and it was a well-known dogging spot after dark, she kept going.

‘Are you still there?’ he suddenly asked.

‘Yes, I am. Sorry, this isn’t great, is it? How much did you hear, or was I just rattling away to myself?’

Laughing he said, ‘The last I got was something about spag bol.’

‘OK, moving on from that …’ It was on the tip of her tongue to ask if Juliette was still in Guernsey, but she forced herself not to, worried about how it might come out. ‘Tell you what,’ she said, ‘why don’t I call when I get home, or this is going to keep happening.’

‘Great idea, because we definitely need to talk. I’m out for dinner later, so maybe tomorrow?’

‘Sure. Tomorrow’s fine. Where are you going for dinner?’

‘Actually, it’s a place I haven’t tried before, in the Second Arrondissement.’

Realizing this meant he was in Paris the bubble burst so fast she almost hit the brakes. ‘OK, well, hope it’s good,’ she said airily, and unable to think of anything else, she ended the call, hoping he might think the line had dropped again, while not really caring what he thought.

*

By the following morning Cristy had decided that there was little point in calling David. She didn’t want an argument, or to come across as petty or jealous, or, God forbid, clingy. He had every right to be in Paris, presumably with Juliette. In fact, for all she knew they slept together regularly while still pursuing other relationships and, if that was the case, it wasn’t for her. Best to let it go now before she got in any deeper.

He rang as she was passing the M Shed Museum on Prince’s Wharf, while walking into work. It was a bitterly cold morning, with icy patches glittering on the water and bright sunlight dazzling the puddled walkways.

‘Too early?’ he asked when she answered.

‘No, it’s fine,’ she replied, slipping the phone inside her hat. ‘How are you? Good dinner last night?’

‘Not bad. We’d probably go again.’

Tensing at the ‘we’ she decided to come right to the point and said, abruptly, ‘Are you and Juliette …? Are you sleeping with her?’ Not exactly how she’d meant it to come out, but it was there now and he wasn’t bloody well saying anything.

‘OK, not answering is answer enough,’ she said, ready to ring off.

‘Hang on, hang on,’ he cut in angrily. ‘Before you start making assumptions, or rushing to judgements, tell me this, have you slept with Matthew since you … since he left you?’

Taking that as an admission on his part, and since she was in no position to deny anything after the night Aiden had cooked for her and Matthew – unless she wanted to get into an explanation of how nothing had actually happened, and she didn’t – she said, tartly, ‘You’re just digging yourself in deeper with that question, but it’s OK. I’m not your keeper. You are free to do whatever you please with whoever you please. I just wish you’d been a bit more honest about it and not made me drag it out of you …’

‘For God’s sake, Cristy! I don’t know what’s got into you. I thought everything was good between us …’

‘As did I until you …’

‘… then Matthew gets himself into trouble, and suddenly you change. It became all about him …’

‘That’s not true!’

‘It is. You barely spoke to me after his arrest … OK, I understand you were worried, but …’

‘Please stop! You’re using this as an excuse to blame me …’

‘I’m not blaming you for anything. I’m just telling you how I saw things, and it wasn’t great. You wouldn’t even let me come into the airport with you when you left …’

‘You said you had a meeting …’

‘I told myself you just needed time to work things out and I should give you space …’

‘I never said that and the way I saw things was you coming out of the gazebo at midnight on New Year’s Eve, followed by Juliette. You disappearing with her and a bottle of wine on New Year’s Day. And now you’re in Paris, presumably with her?’

‘Yes, as it happens, I am staying with her. Or I was, I’m at the airport now on my way home, but as for what you saw …’

‘It’s OK, you don’t need to explain yourself to me. She’s the mother of your son, extremely beautiful and you clearly have a great rapport …’

‘It’s true, we do, and you can’t tell me you don’t have feelings for Matthew …’

‘What I feel for Matthew isn’t the same.’

‘And yet I noticed you didn’t answer when I asked if you’d slept with him.’

Still unwilling to explain, she said, ‘It’s clear to me that what we had, what we’ve shared over the past weeks … It was wonderful, I won’t deny that. I loved being with you and I adore your family, but maybe our lives … I just don’t see how we can go forward together with you there, and me here, and certainly not when you’re still sleeping with your ex.’

When he fell silent again her heart twisted with the longing to hear him argue, to persuade her she was wrong, and say they could work things out.

‘I don’t want there to be any hard feelings between us,’ she said, turning towards the studios and needing to end the call before she went in. ‘So can we say goodbye in a friendly way and just think about all the good things we brought to one another?’

‘If that’s what you want,’ he said tightly, ‘then that’s how it’ll be. You know where I am if you need anything,’ and a moment later he’d gone.

Feeling almost as if she’d been struck, she decided she was too wound up to go into the office right away, so clicking off her phone she started to walk on past Quinns’ and Aardman towards the Cumberland Road. She didn’t get far before she ran into Iz who she was supposed to be meeting … right now.

‘Hi, good morning,’ Iz sang out in an annoyingly, overfriendly way. She was dressed as though she’d just come from the ski slopes, even her sunglasses were goggles. ‘You seem to have missed your turn,’ she chuckled, tugging off her beanie complete with ear flaps, headlamp and WiFi.

‘Sorry, miles away,’ Cristy tried to smile. ‘How are you?’

‘Excited to get the promos in the can,’ Iz beamed, tucking the beanie under one arm so she could rub her gloved hands together. ‘Have you and Connor had time to look at the scripts yet?’ she asked, trying and failing to link Cristy’s arm as they started back down the cobbled lane.

‘Only briefly,’ Cristy admitted, and stood aside for Iz to go ahead into the building. ‘We’re not actors, you do understand that, don’t you?’ she added, as they entered the production office to find they were the first to arrive.

Iz laughed. ‘You’re just being modest,’ she said teasingly. ‘You’ll pull these little scenarios off brilliantly, I know you will, and the sponsors will be so happy you’ll probably secure yourselves more backing for years to come.’

Having no choice but to look thrilled by the prospect, Cristy unzipped her coat and went to put on some coffee. ‘Connor should be here any minute,’ she said, willing it to be right now, this second, so he could take over dealing with Iz.

‘I was thinking,’ Iz said pensively. ‘Would it be possible for me to have a little desk in here? Somewhere in the corner, you know, so I won’t get in the way.’

Cristy kept her back turned and filled the machine with fresh beans.

‘I’d just love to watch you guys working, pulling it all together. Not that I’d be here all the time, of course, just now and again, and it might be helpful for you to have me at hand.’ She laughed. ‘I’m not sure how, right now, but you never know.’

Knowing she wasn’t in the right head space to deal with this, Cristy was still struggling for a response when Connor came in. Never having felt so glad to see him, she said, ‘Good morning. Iz’s here already, and she’s just had an … amazing idea.’

‘Oh?’ Connor asked, looking from one to the other and, being a bloke, clearly not sensing trouble yet. ‘So let’s have it, Iz. We’re all up for good ideas.’

As Iz repeated her suggestion, Cristy almost wanted to laugh as he failed to hide his horror. ‘Well, we don’t normally …’ he began, glancing at Cristy in panic. ‘I mean, some things have to be confidential … Not that we need to hide anything from you …’

‘Of course you don’t, and I’ve already assured Cristy I won’t get in the way. I’m just delighted to be overseeing this project and I want to do my best for you – and the sponsors, of course.’

Having to give her credit for not actually mentioning the considerable investment she’d brought to the table that, like it or not, actually gave her some clout, Cristy said, ‘Well, I’m sure we can work something out. Now, how do you like your coffee?’

‘Black, two sugars, please. Shall we take it to the studio? We’re booked in from nine so we ought not to waste any more time. I’m sure the techies will be waiting.’

Knowing that time was money to Iz, while to the techies it was a made-to-measure concept, Cristy said, ‘Why don’t you go on ahead while Connor and I download our scripts? We’ll be right behind you.’

Iz beamed in the way only she could, and taking her coffee she got as far as the door before turning back. ‘I probably ought to bring this up sooner, rather than later,’ she said, ‘but we – that’s the Sponsorship Liaison Group and I – think you should delay uploading – or is it downloading – the first episode for another week.’

Having already decided they should, Cristy waited for her to explain her thinking.

‘We want these promos to gain as much traction as possible before Hindsight ’s initial airing,’ Iz explained. ‘As we haven’t been able to record them until today, it’s not leaving us much time to let your millions of followers know that you’re about to hit them with a brand-new series.’

‘But even if they miss the opening episode,’ Connor pointed out, ‘it’ll always be there for them to download. It’s kind of the point of a podcast.’

Iz coloured slightly, as if she’d actually forgotten that. ‘Of course,’ she mumbled. ‘I … I’m just … sharing our thoughts, and we feel that building momentum through a series of promotions on all platforms during the week before the first episode drops will get us – you – off to a flying start.’

Before Connor could argue further, Cristy said, ‘Thank you for considering the dynamics of how to reach our listeners, Iz, and you’re not wrong, we could probably benefit from delaying by a week.’

Iz grinned happily, and saluted them with her coffee before taking off for their designated studio.

Connor was regarding Cristy in confusion.

‘We’re not really ready yet,’ she told him, ‘so this suits us perfectly.’

‘But we have the first episode in the can,’ he reminded her. ‘And a lot of press releases have already gone out, not to mention our own, unsponsored, promos.’

‘I know, but we can use the delay to our advantage, let people think that something … relevant and even shocking has cropped up to push back the start date. Meantime, an interview with Mia Winters could change things quite considerably …’

‘If it happens.’

‘We’ll exert some pressure if need be. In the meantime, letting Iz and her sponsors call the shots over this could be the start of choosing our battles. They only need to be fought if there’s an issue of real importance at stake. And whether we start the uploads this week or next doesn’t make much difference, especially when we’re not at all sure yet how this series is going to shape up.’

‘It has the potential of being a great story …’

‘Potential, yes, but the deeper into it we go – and we’re still in shallow waters right now – the more I’m feeling that something’s not quite right with it. I mean, there’s obviously a lot wrong if we look at it from the perspective of a two-year-old child being spirited away by a couple of middle-aged women, but getting to the bottom of it all and thinking of how long that could take … Frankly, I’m already feeling nervous about turning up enough material to meet our weekly commitments. If we don’t there’s no knowing what the sponsors might do.’ She thrust a coffee into his hand. ‘So now, on that happy note, let’s get these promos in the can, then we can get back to what we do best.’