‘Ours is not to make things up or disregard the truth if it doesn’t fit the preferred narrative, and why the hell you think we’d work with you after what you ran this morning …’
‘Clicks and shares.’ Terrance’s tone was condescending to the extreme.
‘For God’s sake, do you even care about your own credibility?’ Cristy cried. ‘If you moved forward withHindsightnow, after the way you trashed us …’
‘People have short memories. All they want to know about are the gory details, and if getting to those details means taking a bullhorn to the whisper of a sinister cult – as you have already – they’ll leap on board, no matter who’s running the show. Hell, half of them – no, most – don’t even know our names.’
‘This conversation’s over,’ Cristy told her abruptly. ‘We’re really not interested in collaborating with anyone – I could say least of all you, but that would be rude …’
‘It would, but I deserve it given what I said about you in my piece. Please just give it some thought. I know you wouldn’t want to let anyone down.’
Cristy hesitated, sensing a kind of undertone to those last words.
Terrance’s eyebrows rose. ‘Our mutual friend, Vikram Rathour, asked me to send his best when I spoke to you. He’s very keen on the idea of us working together.’
And a beat later, she’d gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY
There was a moment of bemused silence as Cristy inwardly raged at Terrance and struggled for a way to handle this.
Connor said, ‘I’m guessing she wasn’t talking about the cricketer, Vikram Rathour?’
Cristy briefly shook her head.
Clearly confused, and concerned, he said, ‘I didn’t know you knew the other one.’
‘Who is he?’ Clove and Jacks asked in unison.
‘He’s an American – well Indian by birth actually,’ Connor told them when Cristy didn’t answer. ‘He’s head of one of the world’s biggest media companies.’ He was still looking at Cristy, clearly waiting for her to explain. ‘What’s going on?’ he said warily. ‘Why did she bring him up at the end like that?’
Needing more time to think before addressing this, Cristy said, ‘You know what a name-dropper she is …’
‘But she said he was a mutual friend.’
Realizing she was on the brink of being too defensive Cristy measured her tone as she said, ‘We met once, by chance. I doubt he even remembers my name. So God knows why she mentioned him … I guess to let us know that she has friends in high places. Well, big deal – let her go have coffee with them. We don’t need her on this, and we certainly don’twanther, so let’s look at what we actually learned from her today, which is that she hasn’t ruled out the possibility of a cult either.’
‘I was thinking exactly that,’ Clove told her.
Connor was still staring at Cristy.
Throwing out her hands, Cristy cried, ‘Christ, Con, you know how devious she is. Lobbing grenades is what she does – yet another reason why she’s coming nowhere near us. She’ll end up finding a way to expose the story, whatever it turns out to be, and take all the credit while leaving us high and dry.’
‘That’s definitely her MO,’ Jacks asserted.
‘Con, please stop looking at me like that,’ Cristy implored. ‘Or are you thinking we should accept the offer and bring her in? Is that—?’
‘No, of course not,’ he replied. ‘I’m just …’ He shrugged, seeming unsure of what he was thinking.
After a beat, Clove said, ‘Well, I guess we should brace for more bad press now we’ve knocked her back. She’s not going to like it, but do you know what I say? Fuck her. We’re already moving ahead with this, and for us, it’s not about clicks and shares, FFS! It’s about those two little babies, their mother and thetruth,no matter how alien a concept that might be to the Terrier, or howyesterdayit is in her sorry little world.’
Finally turning back to his computer, Connor said, ‘You’re right, Clove. For us, it’s about integrity and honesty, and as long as we know we can count on one another for that, we’re not going to go far wrong.’
‘Ouch,’ David muttered, when Cristy repeated the remark to him later during a video call. ‘Did he say anything after that?’
Sighing, she said, ‘No. The subject was dropped, and we got on with the day more or less as if nothing had happened. But he’s not stupid – he sensed something was going on, andI’m sure he saw Paul Kinsley’s name on my phone the other day.’
David’s concern showed. ‘But would he have any reason to connect Kinsley to Rathour?’ he asked. ‘This is a new venture for them, still very much under wraps, today’s call notwithstanding, so why would Connor think you’re holding something back from him?’
