Chloe Hadjimatheou

So here goes...

Listening back now, I can actually hear that I suspected I was about to uncover something big.

It turns out I had no idea what was coming.

Inside that cafe, I sat across from this very ordinary-looking, middle-aged blonde lady.

But it quickly became clear that what she wanted to share with me was really quite extraordinary.

I watched her reach into her bag and pull out a clear plastic folder.

As she slid it towards me, I could see that inside was a letter, written by Raina Wynne.

I sat there reading it with my mouth hanging open.

There was one thing I knew for sure.

It definitely wasn't over.

This is a story about one of the biggest celebrity deceptions in modern times.

About a couple who persuaded the world they were victims when they were nothing of the sort.

And, like the emperor's new clothes, looking back now, the signs were always there.

Because this is a love story, not the one Rainer sells about love conquering illness and destitution, but about the lengths people will go to to cover up for one another.

A story about an industry willing to look the other way, and crucially, about how desperate we all are to buy into hope.

I'm Chloe Hedger-Mathieu, and from Tortoise Investigates and The Observer, this is The Walkers.

Episode 1, The Missing Money.

This story starts months before the motorway service station in a small windswept town in North Wales.

The place where Rain or Wind would be made and broken.

It's about as far as you get from the bright lights of multi-million pound book deals and Hollywood film adaptations.