Page 49 of New Beginnings At Pencarrow Bay
Peggy frowned. ‘You know how to do that?’
Liam looked a little self-conscious suddenly. ‘Umm, I haven’t told you the real reason why Hahn Becker let me go…’
‘Go on,’ she said, waiting while her son fiddled with apiece of paper, folding it over and over, finally pressing it between the slats of the table, head bent.
He let out a resigned sigh. ‘It was stupid, obviously. But I hacked into the CEO’s private email account, on a dare.’
Peggy sat up, eyes widening in dismay. ‘You didwhat?’
He held up his hands defensively. ‘I know, I know. But he was a real bastard, Mum. Never gave anyone credit for their work, drove us like dogs. And Inga, the woman I worked with, was convinced Sancho was up to something… She thought he planned to leave the company, set up on his own. Thought he was creaming off the big clients before he went, so it wouldn’t look suspicious.’
‘Christ, Liam, what were you thinking?’
‘Inga was so insistent. She was my immediate boss and she sort of dared me, said it was just “taking a peek”. I didn’t want to do it, but I didn’t feel I had a choice.’ He shrugged. ‘This is why I sympathize so much with Felix. He’s had the same sort of shit happen to him.’
‘Except his was stealing money,’ Peggy pointed out.
Liam’s eyes flared. ‘He didn’t steal anything, Mum.’
‘Okay, okay. So what happened? Was Sancho up to something?’
‘I didn’t find anything incriminating. He was scoring with one of the male freelance copywriters, but that was hardly a secret.’
‘They found you out, though? How?’
‘Routine security check. I didn’t cover my tracks well enough.’
Peggy didn’t know what to say. That her son had been so stupid as to risk such a highly paid, prestigious job– risk his reputation– was mind-boggling.
‘And Inga?’
‘Oh, she denied all knowledge.’
Peggy winced. ‘Does this mean you won’t be able to find another job in the industry? Presumably they’re not going to give you a reference now.’
‘Yeah. Thanks for pointing that out, Mum.’
‘I didn’t mean …’
After another tense silence, Liam went on, ‘Anyway, if you want me to check into your email troll, I can give it a go.’
22
‘I hope he finds something,’ Ted said, the following morning, when Peggy told him about Lindy’s email and Liam’s internet search attempts. He was wolfing down his usual porridge and blueberries, perched on the edge of the kitchen chair, obviously keen to get off to the van.
‘It’s such a creepy thought,’ she said softly. ‘It must be someone in the village, someone Iactually know, doing this to me. My job tutoring Ada hasn’t been anywhere online.’
Ted didn’t comment as he shovelled more oats into his mouth.
‘This is such a beautiful place,’ she mused. ‘Yet it’s harbouring someone manipulative and spiteful. It makes me think I don’t want to be here any more.’
Ted’s gaze shot up, his spoon clanked against the side of the bowl. ‘You don’t mean that, Pegs.’
Your beloved Pencarrow Bay, she thought sadly, knowing that she, too, had come to love the village. ‘Well…’ she said.
‘Hey,’ he said, putting down his spoon. ‘It’s onlyone person. We’ll find out who it is, and things will go back to normal.’
Normal?she thought, gulping some coffee– she wasn’t hungry and hadn’t made porridge for herself. ‘The emails will leave a mark, won’t they? If people find out, they’re bound to wonder. We would. And no one wants to be friends with a bully. Especially a bully ofsick kids.’
