‘But he was by the police,’ Connor added. ‘Obviously, they had the twins’ DNA, but no match was ever found to identify a father …’
‘Nicole always said she didn’t know,’ Cristy told them.
Meena frowned in confusion.
‘She was a promiscuous girl,’ Cristy explained.
‘But she must have known who she slept with,’ Meena protested.
Cristy suddenly found herself half-overcome by a flush of heat starting to build inside her. ‘All I can tell you,’ she said, looking around for something to fan herself with, ‘is that she was assessed for post-partum depression before the trial … It wasn’t as big a thing back then as it is now, I mean obviously it was, it just wasn’t recognized in the same way. Anyway, the defence psychiatrist claimed she had it and what do you know, the prosecution leans in heavily on all the stereotypes of mental instabilities and irrational behaviours that can come with it. It was pretty misogynistic actually, not to mention insulting and insensitive.’
‘Was it generally believed that she really did have it?’ Clove wanted to know.
Flapping a useless Post-It back and forth, Cristy said, ‘Much depended on who you spoke to, and what their pre-conceived opinions of the condition were. I don’t suppose much has changed there, actually, although on the whole I think people are more sympathetic even if they don’t really understand it. Anyway, moving on,’ she said to Jacks, ‘have you found addresses for any of Maeve’s family yet?’
‘Doing my best,’ he assured her, ‘but there’s a lot to go through, and trying to pick out their names … Her sister’s married, apparently, so no longer a Reynolds – Maeve’s maiden name – and for the moment, nothing on the brother.’
‘That makes me suspicious right off the bat,’ Meena declared.
Cristy didn’t disagree, although she didn’t recollectanything in particular about Nicole’s uncle coming up at the time. ‘Remember,’ she said, ‘everyone, even Maeve herself, was under suspicion for a while. It was held by some – I never found an actual source for it – that both she and Ronnie could have been part of the same cult or sect that wanted the babies for sacrifice.’
Wrinkling her nose, Clove said, ‘Are we talking actual sacrifice here, as in killing them? Or as in like, you know, giving them up for … like adoption or something?’
‘I guess it could mean anything,’ Cristy replied. ‘But once again, no actual evidence of them being involved in a cult.’
‘Although it’s kind of speaking to me,’ Clove confessed, ‘but maybe I’ve read too much of that stuff.’
‘Going back to the blood in the house,’ Harry said. ‘The fact that some belonged to one of the twins is what led to Nicole being charged?’
‘And tried and found guilty,’ Jacks pointed out, once again reading from his screen. ‘I mean, there were other factors, but that was the main one. During the trial, her defence barrister made a big deal out of how regularly small children fall over and graze or cut themselves, so no house in the land with kids living there could be free of blood traces …’
‘So it really was only traces?’ Meena interrupted.
‘That’s what it says in this report,’ Jacks replied. ‘It’s from theWestern Daily Press, dated halfway through the trial. Same date, different paper, says there was a “bloody scene” in the children’s bedroom. This line was taken by the nation’s sweetheart –not –Molly Terrance, never known to let facts get in the way of a good story. There’s also a report of hers claiming that Nicole was soaked in blood when she ran screaming out of the house to raise the alarm, but no mention of a source. And here we have a statement from Julian Hargreaves’s office calling the exaggerations and misinformation in certain sectors of the press “shameful”.’
‘That still doesn’t tell us how much blood there actually was,’ Harry pointed out.
‘How did the prosecution describe it at trial?’ Meena asked.
Taking the question, Clove said, ‘We don’t have a transcript of the trial yet. I’ve put in a request, but given how they work, I’m not expecting to hear back this side of next Christmas.’
‘We’ll hope to get more out of Julian Hargreaves when we see him,’ Cristy said. ‘Now, as I think it’s a given that we’re moving forward with this, here are our next moves—’
‘Hang on, don’t we want to run it past Iz first?’ Meena asked.
Cristy stared at her, while Connor glared. Isabel “Iz” Penny – and the Sponsorship Liaison Group who employed her – were their main source of funding, and Iz had been known to kick back on some of their ideas in the past. Connor, in particular, was deeply resistant to the money men having any say at all regarding editorial input or final content. Although Cristy was of a similar mind she was perhaps less hostile, but bringing this up now was, for her, an untimely reminder of how much bigger and better financed the series could be if they turned it into a flagship for Paul Kinsley’s and Vikram Rathour’s RK Media.
Pushing the thought aside, she said, ‘I don’t think anyone here expects Iz, or any of her team, to push back on the story, but I’ll call her this evening to talk it through with her. So, our next steps … Jacks and Clove, I know you’re still info gathering from the archives. Anything back from Matthew yet about my own reports?’ she asked Connor.
‘Yep, he’s on it, says we should have something soon.’
Cristy shot a quick glance at Meena, who was undoubtedly expecting, or hoping, Matthew would come back with a reminder of how the case had affected his now ex-wife backin the day. When Meena said nothing, Cristy continued. ‘We’re going to need a list of all the main players: lawyers, police officers, witnesses – I’m talking forensics, psychiatrics, anyone else who was put on the stand – also, try to find out if Nicole made any particular friends in prison. If they’re out now and willing to engage, they might have some insight on who visited her, who she talked about, if she ever mentioned the twins.’
‘Where did she serve her time?’ Harry asked.
‘She was at Bronzefield for most of it,’ Clove informed him, ‘but ended up at Eastwood Park until she was paroled.’
‘So not too far away,’ Connor commented, bringing the prison up on a map. ‘Could that mean she’s staying nearby? Isn’t that how it works where parolees are concerned?’
