After dutifully accepting the formal greeting, Hargreaves sat back down, saying, ‘I’m not sure how much I can help you. You must have all the background you need on the—’
‘From a press perspective,’ Cristy interrupted, ‘and of course, we hope to have the trial transcript soon. What we’d like to discuss with you today is Nicole’s recent release.’
Before Hargreaves could respond, Connor said, ‘Would you be OK with us recording this?’
‘No,’ Hargreaves replied bluntly.
That was it. No qualifier, no attempt to soften the refusal and certainly no smile.
Cristy glanced fleetingly at Honey Blackwell, who at least had the decency to look embarrassed.
Hargreaves said, ‘I will confirm that Nicole has now accepted responsibility for her actions and has been granted parole, but if you’re going to ask me to reveal her whereabouts, I’m afraid you’re wasting your time.’
‘Actually, I was going to ask if the twins’ bodies have been found,’ Cristy informed him. ‘Or if there have been any leads as to their whereabouts.’
He eyed her warily. ‘Not as far as anyone in this office is aware,’ he retorted.
Connor said, ‘We understand you can’t give us any information on where Nicole is, but would you be willing to pass on a message from us?’
As Cristy pulled a small white envelope from her bag, a note already prepared, Hargreaves stalled her with a raised hand.
‘It won’t do you any good,’ he said. ‘One of her parole conditions is to stay away from the media – social andmainstream. Of course, there’s nothing we can do about the former, although she’s been strongly advised for her own sake not to engage, but you …mavericksfrom the old school trotting out your modern-day podcasts and—’
Deciding she’d had enough of this windbag’s insufferable condescension, Cristy cut in smoothly, ‘That was offensive, Mr Hargreaves, and if it’s how you feel, I have to wonder why you agreed to see us.’
Hargreaves stared at her hard, clearly not used to being challenged in his own office – or by a woman. He allowed several chilling moments to pass before apparently realizing she was just as good at playing the silence game as he was. He backed down first.
‘I apologize,’ he said, his manner slightly less hostile now. ‘I should probably tell you that you’re only here because Honey is a fan.’
Cristy glanced at the associate, who rolled her eyes. Apparently, she had a little more sway around here than Cristy had given her credit for – good to know – and so was almost certainly related to the firm’s other senior partner.
Hargreaves was saying, ‘… after the way Nicole was treated by the press, both before and after the trial – you were there, so you know, although Honey has assured me you weren’t as bad as some – you can’t be surprised to hear that she actually doesn’t want anything to do with any of you now. Besides, as I’ve already pointed out, it would break the terms of her parole, and she naturally has no desire to find herself back in prison.’
Unable to argue with that, Cristy said, ‘Would you be willing to tell us why she’s confessed now when she could have done so at any time over the past twenty years? Her previous parole hearing, for example.’
Once again, Hargreaves stared at her, tapping the desk with a forefinger as he seemed to calculate how much or how little he was willing to share. ‘She was found guilty attrial, so I’m not sure why you’re seeking to cast doubt on her confession.’
‘Do you believe she did it?’ Connor jumped in.
Deflecting, Hargreaves said, ‘As her lawyer, it was my duty to provide as full and robust a defence as we could, so that is what we did.’
Cristy was starting to remember him in court, seated behind the barristers he’d appointed, occasionally talking to them, mostly scribbling on a notepad and seeming, at least to an observer’s eye, to have virtually no connection with the girl in the dock at all.
He wasn’t doing much to change that opinion now.
‘Can we ask how Nicole came to be your client?’ Cristy ventured.
Hargreaves’s thready eyebrows arched. ‘I was on duty at the time of her arrest.’
Of course, he would have been part of his firm’s rotating team of on-call lawyers back then, obliged to advise and represent anyone who didn’t already have someone to reach out to. She wondered if he thought he’d lucked out with the Ivorson case – quite probably, considering how heavily companies like his depended on legal aid for income.
Connor said, ‘Just to be sure we’ve got things straight: Nicole thought she could get away with a plea of not-guilty if she – or her lawyers – could convince the jury that someone had stolen the twins? That was the thrust of her defence, wasn’t it?’
Hargreaves eyed him coldly. ‘Where exactly are you going with that, Mr …’
‘Church, but you can call me Connor. I’m just trying to get a handle on why there was never a search for a potential abductor. Or maybe there was?’
‘All I can tell you,’ Hargreaves said tersely, ‘is that neither we, at this firm, nor the police, had anything to go on; no evidence of abduction. We would have carried out a search if we had.’
