Jodi was silent, and picking up on her confusion, Cristy felt tears sting her eyes.
‘I should go now,’ she said. ‘Thanks for caring, but really, everything’s OK. Tell Con I’ll meet him at ten in the morning to drive over to Wales.’
She rang off, feeling wretched for cutting Jodi short, formissing David so much, for feeling so helpless and pathetic … She sat staring at her phone, wondering if she should ring Jodi back or send a message asking her to come after all.
Maybe she should call David.
No, she couldn’t do that. She truly didn’t want to speak to anyone tonight – apart from him, of course, but only if things were OK between them, and they clearly weren’t or he’d have rung her.
As for leaning on Jodi, she had absolutely no right to do that when Kinsley’s offer was still on the table.
She started as a WhatsApp message arrived, and seeing it was from Honey, she clicked on.
I’m with Nicole. She wants to speak to you. Are you able to take the call now?
After immediately messaging back to say yes, Cristy poured herself a drink and set her phone to record, just in case.
By the time Nicole connected, sounding tired and anguished, Connor hadn’t joined the group chat, so guessing he’d turned his phone off for the night, Cristy went ahead on her own.
NICOLE: ‘Hi, Cristy, I just heard the latest podcast. It was horrible, being reminded of the trial.’
CRISTY: ‘I’m sorry, I thought you realized we were going to—’
NICOLE: ‘It’s OK. I’m just saying, it brought it all back and made me feel … No one’s ever going to believe I didn’t do it, are they?’
Cristy waited, sensing – hoping – there was more to come, because it was difficult to give reassurance when Nicole was probably right.
NICOLE: ‘You didn’t mention Claude tonight.’
CRISTY: ‘He wasn’t a part of the trial.’
NICOLE: ‘No, that’s right. He wasn’t. Honey says you know where he is?’
CRISTY: ‘I think we do. Yes.’
NICOLE: ‘If you see him … Will you ask him … Tell him I need to see him.’
CRISTY: ‘Of course.’
NICOLE: ‘Thanks.’
Cristy started to speak again, but the line had already gone dead.
She half-expected Honey to ring back, but she didn’t, so Cristy replayed the call and ended up deciding not to send it to Connor tonight. If he happened to pick up, he’d only want to discuss it, and really, there was nothing to be said that couldn’t wait until morning. Besides, Cristy didn’t feel in a good enough place to deal with much else today.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
‘So what I want to know,’ Connor stated as they drove across the Severn Bridge the next morning, ‘is how, in less than a month, you get from an amazing birthday party, Cartier earrings and a seriously convincing together-forever vibe, to splitting up. Explain it to me like I was five.’
Gazing down at the river’s wide, sludgy banks, and hearing the echo of David’sI’ll be in touchringing in her ears, Cristy said, ‘What can I tell you? I’ve clearly royally screwed up somehow … I mean, I know how, although the details are …’ She took a breath, suppressing an upsurge of emotion that could as easily burst into tears as anger. ‘Actually, any chance we could change the subject?’ she asked. ‘There’s a lot I need to sort out in my head, and I appreciate your concern, I really do, but right now we should be focusing on where we’re going and why.’
He glanced at her, as if to make certain she truly did want to move on. ‘OK,’ he said slowly, ‘but you know if you want to talk—’
‘Thanks, but honestly, getting into it now won’t help. So, tell me what you think of Nicole’s call last night. Most particularly of her needing to see Meier.’
Speeding up to overtake a slow-moving tour bus, Connor said, ‘I’m going to guess we’re on the same page with it – in that it’s not feeling like something we should be facilitating, at least until we know more about him and whether or not he’s exerting some kind of control over her.’
Glad to have her own instincts confirmed, she said, ‘I don’t expect you’ve seen Honey’s WhatsApp since we set out, but here’s what she’s saying, I’ll read it out:Until we know what sort of role he’s really playing in her life, never mind inside her head, we need to protect her. Are you going to enter the lion’s den today or just stake the place out?’
