Page 276 of The Silent Appeal

From: Dustin Perez

Date: January 14, 2026

Subject: Re: Good intentions

If Fran wins her appeal she won’t be released. Her conviction would likely be commuted to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, so she’ll serve four to eight years before she’s considered for parole. That’s a big difference to twenty years, of course, but in the immediate future, nothing changes.

I doubt very much anyone else will be handed a custodial sentence for their role in Father Josh’s death. His family will never have closure through the legal system, I’m afraid. It makes this appeal something of a hollow one.

Thank you for your kind words! At some point we should tell everyone we’re an item, but I’ll let you decide when. Sarah-Jane and Kevin should be first, so you’ll want to pick the right moment. All my love, Dustin

Message exchange between Sarah-Jane and Kevin MacDonald on January 14, 2026:

9:00 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:

Mum has been cast in California Suite, playing a tetchy divorcée, opposite Dustin.

9:02 a.m. Kevin wrote:

Good for them. When will they tell us they’re together? Not sure I can pretend I don’t know for much longer. Sunday lunch is becoming awkward.

9:09 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:

Choose calmness over chaos. Let the universe pop your cares like balloons on a rose tree. Peace blooms unbound.

9:11 a.m. Kevin wrote:

I deleted that app months ago.

9:12 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:

At least I’ll soon be in rehearsals for the next play, while you babysit. I won’t have time to worry about anything else.

9:15 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:

Except Harley and Samantha and their uncertain futures.

9:16 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:

And the fact that if a devastating catastrophe can befall Fran and Father Josh, then no one is safe from the slavering jaws of fate.

9:22 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:

And Nicky-Rose. Where is she? How is she? I didn’t worry about her before she came back, now she’s gone again I can’t stop.

9:28 a.m. Kevin wrote:

Not your circus. How the Other Half Loves by Alan Ayckbourn, that IS your circus. Worry about that.

9:29 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:

You know, this is one of those rare moments you might be right. I’m drafting my first email to cast and crew now. It all starts here.

Article from the Lockwood Gazette online dated January 29, 2026:

UNDERTAKER JAILED FOR STAGE LIGHT HORROR

Undertaker Mark Digworth, 29, has been jailed for ten years on charges of Actual Bodily Harm, Attempt to Endanger Life, and Aggravated Criminal Damage. Mr. Digworth, from Lower Lockwood, pleaded guilty to deliberately causing serious injury, when he rigged a stage light to fall on an actor whose part he wanted his girlfriend to play. Mr. Digworth had prepared the light to fall and initially intended to jog the rigging when Amelia Stibson, 28, was onstage under it, during rehearsals. But when he saw his victim set her sleeping bag under the light during a charity sleepover, he decided to loosen the pulley ready to dislodge it after lights out. In the event the compromised light fell of its own accord, and landed on the victim’s leg, causing severe injuries.