MAEVE: ‘She’s outside searching …’
OPERATOR: ‘When did she first realize the children weren’t in the house?’
MAEVE: ‘When she came back from the woods …’
OPERATOR: ‘Who was in the house while she was out?’
MAEVE: ‘No one. Oh God! It’s not like it sounds. Please, just get someone here …’
OPERATOR: ‘A police car should be arriving any minute—’
MAEVE: ‘Oh! Yes, yes, I can see it …’
As the call ended, Cristy was staring at the twins’ images on the whiteboard, still listening as her recorded voice took over the narrative.
CRISTY: ‘Here’s an excerpt from one of my own reports filed that day:
‘“… Everyone is being kept well back from the house right now, but we can see a lot of activity going on around it: uniformed police and plain-clothed officersstanding about in groups; some are swarming down the hillside into the woods … A helicopter arrived a few minutes ago, and apparently a canine unit is being deployed. In talking to some of the neighbours, we’ve learned that Nicole was heard screaming around two o’clock this afternoon, but so far, we haven’t found anyone who responded to her distress …”’
CONNOR: ‘Nobody knew then exactly what had caused Nicole to scream – was it the twins’ disappearance, as she claimed at the time, or could she, as was later claimed by the prosecution, have been faking a frenzy to cover up what she’d done to her children?’
CRISTY: ‘Over the next few days, all kinds of rumours started to fly about what kind of mother Nicole was, how concerned some people were over her neglect, even possible abuse, while others wanted to talk about how well she’d seemed to settle into motherhood …
‘There were a lot of conflicting opinions, and looking back, I can see that an element of hysteria was creeping into the situation even before Nicole was charged. I found it profoundly disturbing myself, even more so during Nicole’s trial the following May, but we’ll come on to that in a future episode.
‘Staying with the events of July 2005, I’m still not sure exactly when the mutterings of cult worship started to take hold. I can only tell you that the whispers and gossip seemed, for a while, to take on a life of its own.’
CONNOR: ‘No one was ever able to prove anything – indeed, we can’t be sure at this stage to what extent the police even followed up on it. We’re hoping to talk to someone who was involved in the investigation any day now, but for the time being, we’ll leave you with this …’
CRISTY: ‘The name Claude Major has been mentioned to us a few times recently by people who were close to Nicole back in 2005, including her aunt. Apparently, he was involved with both Nicole and her cousin, Lauren Hawkes, around the time the twins disappeared.
‘We’re still working on a more comprehensive description of him, but his name suggests he’s probably French, and we believe he drove a blue Ford Escort back then. He’s thought to have been connected to Bristol University, most likely as a student, maybe as a member of staff, and we believe he lived in Clifton or Redland. He was understood to be part of a group of friends also living in the area.
‘So, if you are Claude Major, or someone who knew him then or knows him now, we’d love to hear from you.’
CONNOR: ‘Thanks for listening …’
As the sign-off continued, with various contact details and thanks to the sponsors, Connor killed the sound and everyone broke into a round of applause.
‘Long liveHindsightand all who sail in her,’ Iz exclaimed tipsily.
The others raised their glasses, and as Cristy caught David’s eye, she knew he was thinking about her plan to jump ship in the not-too-distant future. It was for another time, definitely not now, when the mere idea of it was making her feel even worse than she had during several sleepless hours last night.
‘Am I allowed to ask this?’ Meena said awkwardly. ‘Would it have been better to wait and hear what Nicole might have to say about this Claude person before putting his name out there?’
Trying not to be irked by the implied criticism, Cristy said, ‘We had the discussion and decided that a) we don’tknow how long it might take for Nicole to give us an answer; b) can she be relied on to tell the truth about him if he has managed to brainwash her …’
‘After all these years?’ Meena broke in incredulously. ‘Really?’
‘And c),’ Cristy persisted, ‘it was a great way to end episode one by getting the audience involved.’
‘And if he turns out not to exist?’ Meena queried.
Taking over, Connor said, ‘Not sure why you’re asking that when Nicole’s aunt obviously didn’t conjure him out of thin air and her friends remember him. As Cristy said, the important thing right now is to build intrigue—’
‘And the murder of eleven-month-old twins at the hand of their own mother doesn’t do that on its own?’
Cristy swallowed more irritation. ‘It’s a compelling story, Meena, but an old one with no new angles – yet. Apart from the confession, of course, but that’s been all over the news lately. Reminding everyone about the cult rumours of 2005 will almost certainly reignite interest in the original case.’
