‘Possibly. I mean, it seems likely, given the timing, but I’ve no idea what it was.’
‘I’m guessing it was the mention of Claude Major,’ Connor stated. ‘Maybe she’s ready to spill the beans on him?’
Honey frowned as she said, ‘I’ve no idea why she’d do that with you, now, and not with me before her parole hearings, but we are where we are. Maybe this is a good time to mention that if she remains determined to go through with this, then you – and I – will need to do everything we can to make sure the authorities know nothing about it. This will mean, of course, no use of anything she tells you, on or off the record.’
‘Goes without saying,’ Connor assured her, ‘but naturally, if she gives us information to act on, we’ll be doing so, obviously without naming our source.’
‘And no direct quotes or allusions that could be linked to her,’ Honey added. She looked up as the old-fashioned wall clock behind her chimed the half hour. ‘I’m afraid I have to go – I’m due in Taunton at ten – but I’ll be in touch as soon as I’ve spoken to Maeve.’
‘When do you think that’ll be?’ Cristy asked as they stood up to leave.
‘I’ll try her tonight when I get home.’
‘One quick last question,’ Connor said, ‘just so we’re prepared: how far away are they?’
‘Not very,’ Honey replied, putting on her coat. ‘I’ll take you there myself when –if– I hear that Nicole still wants to go ahead.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The following Monday, the second episode was finally close to being ready for the next day’s upload, the team having spent the entire weekend prepping it. This time, the focus would be on Nicole’s arrest and the storm of horror and outrage that had followed, through to when she’d been charged with her children’s murder. They’d decided to make no further mention of Claude Major until after they’d spoken to Nicole – should they ever get to speak to her. There was still no word from Honey on that.
‘I’d be more confident of it happening,’ Cristy said, sighing, as the day drew to a close, ‘if Honey was actually on our side, but I get that her priority is to protect her client, not to give us an exclusive.’
Looking up from his computer, Jacks said, ‘Are we definitely not running anything about the cult? Only, I’ve got a perfect slot for one of the anonymous calls, if we want to use it?’
‘Which one did we single out in the end?’ Cristy asked, as Clove swore under her breath at something on her screen. ‘Everything OK?’ Cristy asked, going to fetch them all an end-of-day beer.
‘Elizabeth Patten’s just pushed me to Wednesday,’ Clove explained. ‘I guess it’s no big deal – we were never going to have her input in time for tomorrow anyway.’
‘And that’s presuming she has something to say that canbe included at this stage,’ Cristy pointed out. ‘Remember, we can’t use anything that might suggest we doubt the confession until such time as we get the go-ahead from Nicole, and that obviously won’t be any time soon – in fact, it could be never, if it turns out she actually did kill her children.’
‘OK,’ Jacks said, ‘are you ready to hear from Claude Major himself – keeping in mind that this guy is probably as nutty as all the others. On the other hand, hedoeshave a foreign accent.’
‘Go,’ Cristy said, and after passing around the beers she returned to her chair.
ANONYMOUS CALLER: ‘Hello,Hindsightteam. I’ve heard that you might be looking for me. My name is Claude Mailer, not Major, and I knew Nicole Ivorson back in 2005. We became very good friends a year or so before she murdered her children. Needless to say, I had no idea she was going to do that or why she would. I was as shocked and upset as everyone else. There was much talk following her arrest that she had fallen under the influence of some very bad people. If that is true, I do not count myself amongst them. I am not someone to cause harm to anyone …’
Pausing the playback, Jacks said, ‘This is where he goes off on a little rant about his inherent goodness and belief in karma, then he gives details of how we can contact him. As of ten minutes ago, he’s still not picking up. The number is a French mobile, if I haven’t already told you that.’
‘This doesn’t add or prove anything,’ Connor declared, ‘so I say we save it until we can at least get hold of the bloke.’
‘I agree,’ Cristy said. Her phone rang, and seeing it was Paul Kinsley, she declined and sent a quick text to let him know she’d call in ten minutes. ‘I need to go,’ she announced, starting to pack up. ‘I guess no word yet from Honey?’ she asked Connor.
‘No, but time to start drafting some questions just in case it all goes ahead with Nicole,’ he suggested.
‘I’ll work on it as soon as I get home,’ she promised.
After she’d left, she waited until she’d driven out of the car park before connecting to Kinsley via the handsfree. ‘Did you get my email about Molly Terrance?’ she asked, as soon as the niceties were out of the way.
‘I did.’ His tone was impossible to gauge, although it suggested amusement. ‘I take it, from what you said, that you wouldn’t consider some kind of partnership with her?’
‘I would not,’ she confirmed. ‘Anyway, I thought you wanted Andee Lawrence?’
‘She is indeed the first choice. Vikram’s simply exploring possibilities should Andee not be interested. He has some sort of connection to Terrance’s uncle, I believe – that’s how her name came up. Of course, if you have any suggestions yourself for an alternative—’
Anyone but Terrance,she inwardly seethed. ‘You know I want Connor Church—’
‘But you don’t know if he’ll join you, and besides, we don’t consider him the right fit for the flagship pod we’re hoping that you and Andee will create.’
