CRISTY: ‘So when you realized he’d died, what happened then?’
NICOLE: ‘I went back upstairs … No, that was after … I buried him first. That’s right. I couldn’t just leave him there on the kitchen floor. When I was little, Dad used to bury my guinea pigs in the woods, so I decided it was the best place for George.’
CRISTY: ‘Where were the twins when you left the house?’
NICOLE: ‘They were there … Upstairs … I should never have left them on their own – I know that – but I thought they were safe. How was I to know they weren’t? And I was only gone for …’
She broke off, seeming suddenly bewildered, and in the silence that followed Cristy felt the wrenching horror of what she, as a mother, might feel, or do, if she’d ever been unable to find her children. She glanced at Connor, and knew he was thinking of his little daughter and how he or Jodi would cope if anything so terrible ever happened to them.
Cristy spoke quietly and gently as she continued.
CRISTY: ‘How long were you gone?’
NICOLE: ‘I don’t know. I had to find the right place to dig a hole and then fill it up again. I knew I should have left it for Dad, but I was doing it now … It felt like it took forever, but it couldn’t have been long … Then I went back up to the house and I … I didn’t go upstairs straightaway. I can’t remember what I did, but when I went, I remember …’
Her breath caught, and she covered her mouth as she began to heave. Maeve went quickly to her side, held herfirmly, assured her it was all right, that she didn’t need to be afraid any more.
NICOLE: ‘I couldn’t think where I’d put them. I didn’t understand … I started shouting their names like they might answer or come out from where they were hiding. I mean, I knew they couldn’t – they weren’t even walking yet … I panicked and rang Mum, thinking she must have taken them with her.’
MAEVE: ‘I went straight home when she called, terrified out of my mind. I couldn’t imagine what was going on … I didn’t want to …’
NICOLE: ‘I think I went outside to look for them. It’s all jumbled up in my head … They were there, then not … I thought I must have taken them down to the woods with me and forgotten, so I ran back to check …’
MAEVE: ‘As soon as I realized they weren’t in the house, I called the police … We were so scared, terrified … You can probably imagine, but I don’t think it sank in until later – maybe days later – that they really had gone.’
CRISTY: ‘Were you in touch with Claude at that time?’
NICOLE: ‘He was in Switzerland, but yes, I rang him … A few days after it happened, maybe it was the next day, I can’t … It’s all mixed up … now. I wanted him to come and he said he would, but then the police found some blood in one of the cots, and next thing, they were arresting me.’
CRISTY: ‘Do you know how the blood got there?’
NICOLE: ‘Abigail had nosebleeds sometimes … Her nails were too long – she could have scratched herself … I don’t know, but I swear I never hurt them …’
CRISTY: ‘Do you have any idea who might have taken them?’
NICOLE: ‘No. I mean, I thought it might have been Claude at first, but obviously I wasn’t thinking straight. He wasn’t there. He was in Switzerland, but I carried on hoping it was him, because then I’d know they were safe. But he didn’t have them, and no one saw anyone coming or going from the house. How can that be? We live on a main road, and no one sawanything. That’s how they ended up blaming me.’
CONNOR: ‘Did you tell the police about Claude?’
NICOLE: ‘Yes. I told them about everyone who knew us.’
CRISTY: ‘Did you mention that he was probably the father?’
NICOLE: ‘I can’t remember. I mean, it might have been in my statement …’
MAEVE: ‘They made a big thing in court of her not knowing for certain who the father was … They painted her in a very bad light, as if she wasn’t in a bad enough one already.’
CRISTY: ‘So they didn’t test anyone? Take their DNA?’
MAEVE: ‘I don’t know. You’d have to ask the police.’
CRISTY: ‘Do you know if they questioned Claude?’
MAEVE: ‘Yes, I’m sure they did, but he couldn’t help – he had no idea where they were.’
NICOLE: ‘He came to the prison after they took me there, and I got hysterical … I wanted to leave with him, but they wouldn’t let me. The guard made him go, and I was terrified Claude wouldn’t come again, but he did.He said nothing would ever change between us, and it didn’t – it hasn’t.’
CRISTY: ‘You gave me the impression just now that he might know where the twins are. Did I understand that correctly?’
