‘Friday afternoon, with Aiden and Hayley, if she gets here in time. Her boyfriend, Hugo is coming on the same flight as Matthew on Saturday. What about you guys?’
‘Friday, same as you,’ Connor told her. ‘Harry and Meena have booked for Saturday.’
‘We’re doing the Saturday flight too,’ Clove told her. ‘I just hope the weather isn’t bad and we end up being cancelled. I’ll be proper gutted to miss the big event.’
Noticing Iz watching them awkwardly, Cristy said, ‘Please tell me someone remembered to invite you?’
Iz smiled in a way that said no one had.
‘For God’s sake, we can’t leave you out,’ Cristy cried. ‘Get yourself on a flight to Guernsey this weekend – just make sure you’re there by Saturday night, and if you have a problem finding somewhere to stay, let me know.’
Beaming all over her face, Iz said, ‘That’s amazing. Thanks so much. I’ll definitely be there, and I can get some really great publicity if you want it?Hello,OK …’
‘No!’ Cristy broke in sharply. ‘Just you, and a plus one if you like – definitely no press.’
‘Got it,’ Iz assured her. ‘Um, what should I wear? I mean, is it formal … ?’
‘Black tie,’ Jodi told her, ‘so ballgown, cocktail dress, sparkles – you get the picture. Now, I’m off. See you all later.’
After she’d gone, Cristy took Aurora back from Connor and went to snuggle with her on the sofa while he and the others listened to the playback of Megan’s and Becky’s interviews, making notes for an edit.
When they’d finished, Clove looked up innocently and said, ‘So don’t we get to hear what Mervyn Wilson told you?’
As Cristy’s eyes narrowed, Connor said, ‘You seriously want to take a roll in all that crap again?’
Laughing, Clove said, ‘He’s the worst, isn’t he? ButI’ve been thinking about it, and you know whatcouldbe interesting is not so much what he said as when he first started saying it. In other words, did his fantasies come out of nowhere except his own sad head? Or did he actually seesomethingthat he’s expanded on over the years?’
‘That’s exactly what you’re going to find out when you contact the local authority,’ Cristy told her. ‘Were there ever any other complaints from the neighbours, as he claims?’
‘His property is actually the only other one that overlooks the woods,’ Jacks came in. ‘I mean, a lot could have changed in the last twenty years, but going by today and the fact that the stretch that covers number 42 and its immediate neighbours hasn’t been developed, it’s possible no one else did see what was going on. I mean,ifsomething was.’
‘If it was, others would have known about it,’ Cristy assured him. ‘You can’t have something like that happening in the middle of a community, remote as that wood might seem, without word getting out or people sneaking in to find out more.’
‘We need a timeline on the rumours of a cult,’ Clove declared, ‘because I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he’s the source that kicked it off in the press. Did you ever run the story, Cristy?’
‘Not personally, although I knew it was being talked about before the tabloids picked up on it, so it was definitely out there pretty early on. And you’ve just heard Becky talking about the bloke Nicole was involved with – he sounds kind of mesmerizing to me, although she didn’t mention anything about woodland orgies or sacrifices, and I’m sure she’d have known if they’d been happening. Give her a call to check, Clove. Or you could drop in and chat with her again when you’re over there on Thursday?’
Clove blinked. ‘I’m there on Thursday?’
‘We need you and Jacks to go and stake out the churchyard on Randall Lane. Apparently, Maeve visits every Thursday.Con and I would go ourselves, but I don’t want to miss the meeting with Julian Hargreaves.’
‘And if she does show?’ Jacks asked. ‘Do we approach or follow?’
‘I’d say keep well back, watch what she does, and if it feels right to approach, give her my card. With any luck, she’ll remember that unlike some, I didn’t trash her and her daughter after the trial. Now, let’s take Becky’s advice and get to work on finding cousin Lauren. She could be the one to open up avenues to this “Clifton set”, who I have no recollection of ever being mentioned either at the time of the arrest or during the trial.’
CHAPTER TEN
On Thursday afternoon, after being kept waiting an hour past the scheduled time, Cristy and Connor were finally shown into Julian Hargreaves’s office. It was a large, musty space on the first floor of a nineteenth-century merchant’s house, as cluttered with law books, case files and old steel filing cabinets as it was devoid of visitor comfort. Two hardback chairs had been placed in front of the old-fashioned oak desk, where the lawyer himself remained intent on whatever he was reading. He was a harried, impatient looking man in his mid-to-late sixties, with a shock of white hair, a florid nose and a jutting lower jaw.
‘Hi, I’m Honey Blackwell.’ A much younger, far friendlier-looking associate smiled as she gestured for them to sit. She had to be around thirty, was smartly dressed and wore her extra weight well. She was quite probably, Cristy thought, related to Jeffrey Backwell, the other half of Hargreaves Blackwell, given their shared ethnicity and same workplace. ‘I hope you were offered refreshments while you were waiting?’ Honey asked.
‘Thanks, we were,’ Cristy told her, and after Honey seated herself at the edge of Hargreaves’s desk, taking a kind of umpire position, Cristy turned back to the man himself.
Finally deigning to look up, he said gruffly, ‘Cristy Ward. You reported on the Ivorson case back in the day.’
‘I did,’ she confirmed, and deliberately held out a hand toshake. ‘It’s good to meet you, Mr Hargreaves. Thank you for sparing us the time.’
Taking the hand, he half rose from his chair and fixed a stare on Connor, who also reached out to do the polite thing.
