Page 77 of New Beginnings At Pencarrow Bay
‘Bit young for me… although…’ she teased. Then she laid her head in the crook of Ted’s neck and closed her eyes.
36
Two weeks later
Felix sat in Peggy and Ted’s kitchen one July evening. Ted had opened a bottle of rosé and Peggy had laid out crisps and homemade hummus– with tahini and lots of lemon, garlic and parsley– some large queen olives and a bowl of local radishes with salt. They were sheltering from an impressive summer storm, which was lashing the glass doors and shaking the villa– exposed on the headland as it was– like an invading force.
‘She’s still not herself,’ Felix said. They were talking about Lindy, of course. ‘But the therapist seems to think she’s got a good chance of recovering– around twenty per cent never do, apparently. She said she thinks Lindy was more vulnerable to the psychosis because of the trauma of Gordon’s death. They were together nearly fifty years.’
‘How long will she stay at the clinic?’ Ted asked nervously. None of them had seen Lindy since the night of the drive-in movie, two weeks ago now. And she knew Ted was dreading their next meeting.
Felix shrugged. ‘Not sure… She’s been asking to see you both. To apologize,’ he said, clearly uncomfortable relaying this piece of information.
Ted’s eyes widened, but before he had a chance to speak,Felix went on, ‘Don’t worry, the therapist says it’s not a good idea. For obvious reasons.’
‘What is her actual diagnosis?’ Peggy asked.
Felix twitched, lowering his face. ‘Delusional psychosis. Erotomania,’ he mumbled. ‘Mainly affects women. It’s like they falsely believe that someone– often a famous person, apparently– is in love with them.’
Now it was Ted’s turn to look away. No one spoke.
Felix said, ‘I dealt with it all wrong, it seems. I kept challenging her, denying her belief. That was why she got so angry with me.’ He sighed. ‘And I wasn’t sure, of course…’
‘What about the bruise on her wrist?’ Peggy asked.
‘Got her arm trapped by the glass shower door– it’s really heavy.’
Ted glanced over at Peggy, his eyes full of contrition. ‘God, I can’t bear to think what an idiot I’ve been about the whole thing.’
‘Me too, Ted,’ Felix agreed. ‘I mean, my mother-in-law is such a dynamic person, so switched on. I just didn’t understand when she became so hostile towards me.’ He raised his eyebrows. ‘I didn’t know until you told me that she was accusing me of things like stopping her driving and trying to bully her into a power-of-attorney.’
There was a long silence.
‘Has she said anything about the emails?’ Peggy asked.
‘Not to me,’ Felix said, brushing his light brown hair off his forehead. It was hot in the kitchen, despite the storm, but the poor man was probably sweating more from embarrassment than actual warmth, Peggy decided. ‘This is why I wanted to see you tonight. I thought I’d get Cian at the deli to take a peek at Lindy’s laptop… just to see ifhe could find anything. I did ask Kim first, and she agreed, although I felt pretty shitty doing so.’ He glanced at Peggy. ‘But I know how badly it’s been affecting you.’
Peggy smiled her thanks and waited, heart fluttering in anticipation. It had been a strange period since the night of the drive-in. She had felt so enervated, lethargic.
‘He found a couple of invoices from a Drew Gordon for quite substantial amounts. Not the name Liam traced, but the invoices were both for “Computer services for Mrs L. McDonald”. The dates were around the time of the first email to Sienna.’
Intrigued but confused, Peggy asked, ‘So is Drew Gordon an alias?’
‘We assume so.’ He paused. ‘Kim’s dad’s full name was Andrew Gordon McDonald… so I imagine Lindy told the hacker to use Drew Gordon when invoicing her. But Cian got a bounce-back message when he tried to contact the email address the invoices were sent from.’
Peggy let out a long breath. ‘You don’t think they were legitimate invoices? For some real computer services?’
Felix shook his head. ‘The first invoice was for three and a half thousand pounds, the second for two. You could buy a couple of spanking new state-of-the-art MacBook Pros for that, if Lindy was genuinely having problems with her laptop… which she seldom uses, by the way.’
Ted whistled. ‘Wow.’
‘Plus why, if it was a bona-fide set up, didn’t this Gordon fellow have a website or an email that works, any presence online? There are lots of Drew Gordons out there– basketball players and the like– but no sign of our friend or his so-called “computer services”.’
Peggy, absorbing what he was saying, nodded slowly. This seemed like all the proof she was going to get, in the absence of a full confession from Lindy. It made her sad. A woman so obsessed with Ted, that she would go to such lengths… It beggared belief.
‘And she instigated the coffee-stall trolling too, I suppose,’ Ted said, ‘so she could be seen to save me and my business, perhaps.’
Felix’s fair skin flushed. ‘This is all so bloody embarrassing,’ he mumbled.
