Page 151 of The Silent Appeal

We’ve seen evidence of an affair between Nicky-Rose and her brother-in-law, Kevin. Is this NR’s idea of “fun”? Is the newfound happiness Carol talks about the result of Nicky-Rose throwing herself into the play, or her affair with Kevin? She wonders about her love life in Bridgetown, yet NR’s emails to her former boyfriend there, Stuart Kinsella, seem cordial, unlike her correspondence with Trina Neale. Her first email dated June 17, 2024, says:

You have no soul, no light or life in you, and I wish that every imaginable horror and suffering, short of death, finds you and does its worst.

This initially felt like a reference to the financial “crimes” and document forgery that Nicky-Rose accuses Trina of. But the final email and its attachment—a newspaper cutting about a missing dancer whose return to her ship might have been forged—throws a new light on the Twin Star story.

Nicky-Rose appears to be a complicated character. We see her nurture a relationship with Issy, much to Sarah-Jane’s confusion:

Sarah-Jane

I mean why are you with Issy Beck? I told you what she’s like. She’s not your type.

Nicky-Rose

Maybe not when I was fifteen. Now I find the quiet, shy, awkward girls far more interesting. They watch and listen. And they’ll do anything for their friends.

We’ve already established that Nicky-Rose took documents from the company’s offices in Bridgetown and has hidden them in Kevin’s safe. Note Trina’s words in her email of January 4:

Every single document implicates YOU.

I have no suggestions as to how or why the owners of an entertainment company would be involved in the disappearance of a young woman.

Both Issy and Sarah-Jane notice that Nicky-Rose isn’t herself at the sleep out. She seems engrossed in her phone, doesn’t have anything to eat, then leaves after midnight. Carol catches her downstairs, still on her phone. It can be inferred that she’s reading the newspaper clipping Trina sent about the Tiffany Ramirez case moving from a disappearance at sea to a disappearance in Bridgetown.

Isabel Beck

In some ways this is the same Issy we first met in 2018. She’s shy, lonely, and socially awkward, prone to attaching herself to others. She is especially attracted to those she sees as more popular than she is, regardless of whether that friendship is reciprocated. Her childlike focus on herself is offset by her desire to help others, although I wonder how much of that is wrapped up in her longing to be noticed.

Having said that, she appears to have matured. She is now aware of her propensity to become obsessive and tries to recognize and understand that impulse for what it is. In her journal entry for April 26 she writes:

They told me in group that if I can sense I’m going back to my old way of thinking, I should remember how those feelings always pass. That means they aren’t real feelings, because if they were, they’d stay.

At the start of this case, Issy has already been obsessed with Fran and some of that interest in her remains, albeit laced with bitterness at having been rejected. However, over the course of these months, we see her attachment transfer to Nicky-Rose until she claims to feel nothing when she looks at Fran. Another development is the journal Issy uses to record her thoughts—a more acceptable way for her to express herself than the long, unsolicited emails she was wont to send in the past.

One thing that hasn’t changed is that Issy is a keen observer of others. Nicky-Rose made an excellent choice in enlisting her as an extra pair of eyes and ears. The question is, will she be able to keep Issy at bay, given what we know about her inclination to meddle in other people’s lives?

Fran and Father Josh

At one point, Father Josh rejects Fran’s attention. In his email on February 18, he says:

It’s always lovely to speak with you, but as much as I enjoy our chats, as parish priest I need to focus on what’s best for the wider church community.

That email is noticeably shorter than the others he’s exchanged with Fran, and he ends it by saying he looks forward to seeing her onstage during play week later in the year. However, in the second batch of correspondence, we learn through the Walford family—who seem keen to get Nick together with Fran—that Fran deleted her dating profile months ago. At some time between February and April 2025, Fran’s relationship with Father Josh was rekindled. One can’t help wondering what happens next, now Issy has discovered Fran’s secret.

The falling light

Kevin chooses The Hollow partly because a murder takes place onstage. Was what happened to Amelia an attempted murder? Celia tells Kevin the light must have been sabotaged, because Joel would never leave a bolt loose or a chain undone. If so, was Amelia the intended victim? If not, then who, and if so, why?

Charlotte

Wow. Thank you. Here are my thoughts.

[Attachment]

The Fairway Players’ Sleep Out

Additional points and questions noted by Charlotte Holroyd, September 9, 2025

On April 25, Kevin and Nicky-Rose have this odd exchange: