‘So you should be back in the office around three, given you’re an hour ahead over there.’
‘More like six. I flew from Heathrow, remember. Will you still be there?’
‘’Fraid not, but there’ve been some developments this end that you’ll want to know about, so I’ll ask Clove and Jacks to hang around. Or we can go through it together on Saturday morning.’
‘Let’s do that,’ she said, sinking down on the bed and unwrapping one of the gift chocolates. ‘But give me a heads up on the developments.’
‘OK, the trip to Wales was kind of productive – Maggi confirmed she thinks Nicole killed the twins but couldn’t say how or why, and nothing on where the bodies could be found. Annoyingly, she has not said this on tape. Bauer didn’t seem to know anything about her suspicions; he’s firmly of the opinion that the twins were taken. Are Johan and Maggi working together on conflicting stories, to throw us off the scent? I’ve no idea, but something else that’s happened, apart from that: the supersleuths have sent through a couple of witnesses from back in the day who got in touch after hearing the pod. Interesting stuff, but I should probably go now. It’s almost midnight here, so even later with you, and I think I can hear you snoring.’
Laughing, she said, ‘OK, I’ll let you go, just tell me: do these witnesses actually change anything?’
‘Not sure yet. Let’s discuss when we meet.’
It wasn’t until she was finally getting into bed that she realized she hadn’t asked about Jodi’s pregnancy scan – although she wasn’t supposed to know, of course, so it didn’t matter. She hadn’t told him about David’s call either – except why would she do that when there was nothing to be said about it? Plenty of imaginary conclusions to draw, of course, and the one that kept coming back to her was perhaps the most likely and the most awful:
I’m sorry Cristy, I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I don’t think things are working out between us. It’s not your fault. It’s just that I’m not feeling it any more. I’m sorry – really, I am – but we both know that when love dies, there really isn’t any bringing it back. I think it’s best if we call it a day so we can both get on with our lives.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
‘OK, so our first witness’s name is Georgina Gould,’ Clove announced on Saturday morning, as soon as everyone was settled with coffee and open computers. ‘I’ve already spoken to her, on the record, so I’ll play you what she had to say, coming in on the most relevant part.’
GEORGINA: ‘… I remember seeing it, clear as day, even after all these years: a white car pulling away from the garage that belongs to number 42.’
CLOVE: ‘And this was on the day the twins disappeared?’
GEORGINA: ‘That’s right. Before all the police turned up and the helicopters and everything. I was walking past with my toddler in his buggy – he’s twenty-three now, so all grown up … Anyway, I remember it because I had to stop and wait for the car to come out.’
CLOVE: ‘Did you see who was driving it?’
GEORGINA: ‘No. I mean, it was a bloke, I’m sure of that, and there was someone in the passenger seat, but I’m afraid I didn’t take a lot of notice.’
CLOVE: ‘Did they seem to be in a hurry?’
GEORGINA: ‘Not especially, until they were out on the street, then they took off quite fast.’
CLOVE: ‘Did you notice what kind of car it was, apart from being white?’
GEORGINA: ‘Sorry, cars have never been my strong point. All I can tell you is it wasn’t a van.’
CLOVE: ‘Do you remember what time it was?’
GEORGINA: ‘I do. It was just before one o’clock. I know because I was on my way to meet my aunt off the bus that stops – or used to stop – outside number 42. We’re going back some years, of course, so I’ve no idea if it’s still there – we moved away more than a decade ago. Anyway, I remember the bus turned up on time that day, my aunt got off and that was that – until we heard all the commotion later in the day.’
CLOVE: ‘Did the police speak to you at all?’
GEORGINA: ‘Yeah, they came door to door. I think it was the next day, pretty soon after anyway, so I gave them a statement, saying what I’d seen. I never heard anything back, so I decided they couldn’t have thought it was important.’
Hitting stop, Clove said, ‘I’ve been in touch with Honey. She confirmed that the statement is in the disclosure pack, so Georgina Gould is on the level, in that she did give a statement saying she saw a white car leaving the garage around one o’clock that day. What doesn’t seem to have happened is any sort of search for the car. Unless there was one and lack of further witnesses and number plate details, plus all the distractions of the time, made them give up on it.’
Cristy considered this. ‘OK, let’s keep this in mind and maybe circle back to it later. You mentioned two witnesses had come forward.’
Responding, Clove said ‘The other is a voice note fromsomeone called Kevin Holmes. Apparently, he used to live on the estate that more or less backs on to the other side of the woods, so about a mile from number 42, as the crow flies. He was twelve at the time it all happened, which puts him early thirties now. He says he was in the woods climbing trees with a couple of mates that day … Here, have a listen.’
KEVIN: ‘… Then we saw her, large as life with all that red hair and shorty shorts – we were boys; of course we noticed something like that … Anyway, it looked as though she was burying something … She had a shovel, and she was definitely digging … There was something next to her. We couldn’t see what it was, but yeah, about the right size for a dead cat. Or a baby, I suppose, but hers would have been bigger by then, wouldn’t they? And I wouldn’t have said there were two of them. Whatever it was just wasn’t big enough.
‘I’m afraid we didn’t own up to seeing anything when the police came round asking. We were knocking off school that day and knew we’d be in big trouble if anyone found out. I mean, we talked about saying something, amongst ourselves, but then we heard they’d dug up the whole woods and nothing had been found, so what was there to say? We figured she’d either decided not to bury whatever it was or she’d come back for it before the police got there …
‘OK, I get that one of us should have come forward a long time ago, but it’s not like we were actual witnesses to anything, just three kids who didn’t want to get caught bunking off school.’
