Harry said, ‘So you have no issues with leading people up the garden path? I mean, given you have no evidence of a cult? Not a criticism,’ he hastily added, when Connor looked about to cut up rough, ‘just a question.’
‘If you can show me an investigation that doesn’t get caught up in false leads at times,’ Cristy responded, not quite through her teeth, ‘then I’ll show you one that isn’t doing a good job.’
‘And we do know,’ Clove added supportively, ‘that even Nicole’s defence team might not have dug in as deeply as they should have before the trial, although Honey Blackwell’s trying to make up for that now.’
‘Well, I for one,’ Iz declared happily, ‘am completely on board for this series, as is everyone on my side of things. In fact, speaking on their behalf, Cristy, Connor and team, we have no problem trusting your judgement on how best tounfold the story.’ She looked puzzled for a moment. ‘Did that make sense?’ she asked Jodi.
‘We got it,’ Jodi told her reassuringly. ‘And I’m with Iz,’ she added, raising her glass. ‘Let the guys who know what they’re doing get on and do it.’
Meena bristled, and Harry’s colour deepened.
Aiden groaned. ‘I’m starving. When are we going to eat?’
Loving her teenage son for his typical, timely interruption, Cristy said, ‘We have a booking at the Ritorno Lounge across the water, but it’s too late to take the ferry, so we either drive or walk.’
As everyone began peeling off into various vehicles or heading down to the harbourside, Cristy hooked an arm through David’s, setting their pace towards Prince Street Bridge.
Glad to be alone with him she said, ‘It’s at times like that I want to throttle Harry and Meena. First, they push us into starting the series early, then they criticize the way we’re handling it.’
Squeezing her arm against him, David said, ‘You wouldn’t respect them if they didn’t express their views, and by the sound of it, they touched a nerve.’
‘Don’t you start,’ she grumbled. ‘OK, the cult thing might not end up going anywhere, but frankly, both Connor and I have a hunch it will, at least on some level, and right now, it’ll be doing its job in sparking interest.’
Accepting that, he said, ‘So, have you rescheduled your call with Kinsley yet?’
She sighed as her heart clenched with unease. ‘Apparently he’s back from the States on Friday, so it’ll probably be sometime next week. I keep thanking God he’s not rushing me on this – I guess if he were, I’d cut and run.’
‘The man’s not where he is today without knowing how to play the long game.’
Knowing that to be true, she dug out her phone as it buzzed. Text from Hayley:
Brilliant start, Mum. Loved hearing thirty-year-old you. So cool. Is there really a sinister cult behind it all? We’re all dying to find out. H xxx
PS Really sad about the twins, maybe focus on them a bit more?
CHAPTER NINETEEN
‘She makes a good point,’ Cristy declared the next morning, as the team gathered with their hangovers, large mugs of coffee and some delicious pastries that Cristy had picked up on the way in. David had left on an early train to London, with a wry reminder that it might be easier on their relationship if she were to move to the capital, given how often he had to be there himself. Something else to throw into the decision making-mix – but right now, she was more focused on Hayley’s critique that they weren’t paying enough attention to the twins.
‘The problem is,’ she continued, ‘with them being so young when they disappeared, there’s not much we can say about them apart from the fact that they were tiny human beings totally dependent on their mother and vulnerable to just about everything the world could throw their way.’
‘Such as being used in some grotesque sort of ritual,’ Clove put in, with a grimace of distaste. ‘Or maybe they were handed over to some psychotic visionary, if that’s who Claude Major is, in order to … what … ? What would he have done with them?’
‘Instead of speculating about that,’ Cristy said, ‘we should focus on trying to get some less salacious detail about them from Maeve or Nicole, even if it’s matching dimples in their cheeks, making one another laugh or cry, some sort of bond between them, the way there often is with twins.’ She turnedto Jacks. ‘We wouldn’t be able to use it now, but if by some miracle we discover they might not have died back in 2005, would you and your UWE guys be able to run some facial enhancement to give us an idea of how they might look today?’
‘No probs,’ he responded, calling up the babies’ images on his screen.
‘Just make sure no one else gets hold of them,’ Connor cautioned. ‘It could backfire on us horribly if it turns out they really are dead.’ To Cristy, he said, ‘No news from Honey Blackwell yet today.’
‘Give her a chance,’ Cristy responded, checking the time. ‘She was due in court first thing, so we’re not likely to hear anything from her until later. I guess it’s also too early for feedback from the supersleuths?’ she asked Clove.
‘A brief initial report,’ Clove said, bringing it to her screen. ‘The usual nutters haven’t wasted any time – obvs already discounted. An anonymous bloke claimed that Claude Major is John Major’s illegitimate son currently transitioning. They obviously put that in for its amusement factor. Apparently, someone saw Lauren Hawkes in Strasbourg last week pushing two babies in a pram. I guess this person hadn’t worked out that the twins would be twenty-one by now, so most likely walking, although it does bring us back to a question we haven’t yet explored: was Lauren involved in the twins’ disappearance?’
‘You mean working together with Nicole and/or Claude Major?’ Cristy said, trying to get a sense of how she felt about that. ‘It’s a definite possibility, although we know Lauren was questioned at the time, and clearly nothing came of it.’
‘Weird that Lauren ran off three years after Nicole was sent down,’ Clove mused. ‘I know her mother said she was depressed, took the whole thing really hard, but she also said Lauren was in touch with Claude Major during that time. What about Nicole? Was she in touch with her too?’
‘Shit!’ Connor muttered under his breath.
