Page 50 of New Beginnings At Pencarrow Bay
‘Come on, sweetheart. You’re exaggerating. This will all be resolved soon, I’m sure of it. If necessary, you can prove you didn’t bully anyone.’
She gazed at Ted, wanting him to be right, but not convinced. ‘I’m talking gossip here. Gossip has scant regard for the truth. And I can hardly go around with a piece of paper pinned to my chest, saying the hospital really loved me, just in case there’s someone out there who doesn’t believe me.’ She felt wound up enough to explode. ‘It’s all right for you,’ she cried. ‘You’ve got your gorgeous coffee van, your sport, your massive circle of friends…’
Ted, looking concerned, got up and came over to where she was leaning against the kitchen island. ‘Hey, come here.’ He wrapped her in his arms and she clung to him. ‘You know it’s not like that. You love the bay. And even if you didn’t teach, there are loads of other things you can do… Look at Lindy. She’s been retired for years and she never stops.’
Peggy wanted to scream. ‘That’s beside the point. It’s not just about work ordoingstuff, it’s about friendships and being accepted… being part of the wonderful Pencarrow community. That’s the whole point of living here.’ Tears filled her eyes.Why does he always have to bring up Lindy as the perfect woman?Especially now, when Peggy was beginning to question Lindy’s truth.
Ted looked bewildered as Peggy took a long breath. ‘Sorry. Listen, go, you’ll be late.’
He searched her face for a long moment. ‘Come down later for a coffee?’ he said, dropping a quick kiss on her cheek. She could see he was worried about her, but shedidn’t have the energy to reassure him, so she just smiled briefly and waved him away.
‘Right,’ said Liam, when he emerged from his bedroom a couple of hours later, carrying his open laptop. ‘Progress of a sort.’
Peggy, who was trying to concentrate on the novel she was reading on the terrace, was dismayed to see her son’s gaunt face, the black circles under his eyes. ‘God, sweetheart, you look knackered. I’ll get you a coffee.’
He fell into a chair, laying his laptop on the table. ‘Been up since five. This person is a really slippery bastard.’
When she returned, impatient to know what he’d found out, Liam was concentrating on the screen, typing at high speed. But he stopped and turned towards her. ‘So I think I found him. He’s using all the usual sneaky tricks: VPNs and Tor, routing through multiple servers…’
‘Just tell me who it is,’ she pleaded.
‘Well, all I have is a name: Ori Tafa. If thatishis real name and not an alias.’ He gave a dry laugh. ‘Or an anagram… Seems he’s located in Albania.’
‘Sienna mentioned Albania too. Never heard of him, obviously. So what does it mean?’
‘Well, no idea yet. All I have is some of the companies that pinged up linked in some way with that name… Maybe he’s done business with them. Or just hacked them. It’s hard to say how the connections relate to him.’ He swivelled the laptop so Peggy could see. ‘It looks like he might be tenuously connected to these three companies, from what I can make out. Do they mean anything to you?’
Sitting down next to him, she read, ‘Tang Solutions. Aztec Corp. Redmayne Capital Group.’ She shook her head.
Liam sighed. ‘Presumably this Mr Tafa is being paid by someone else.’
Peggy shuddered. The thought was not a pleasant one.
He yawned. ‘Might get some kip and do more later.’ He gave her a tired smile. ‘It’s a start, Mum. We have a name, at least.’
‘You’ve been brilliant, sweetheart. Thanks so much. It’s definitely a start.’ She cocked her head at him. ‘Where did you learn to do this, by the way?’
Liam grinned and sucked his teeth. ‘Misspent youth. For most people that means sex or snooker. For me it was the dark web. Fascinating.’
‘I had no idea.’
‘I never really told you what I was up to at uni, though, did I? We saw so little of each other.’ He gave a wistful sigh. ‘Liverpool held too many delights.’
She thought back. Neither of her sons had spent much time at home after they started university. ‘I often wondered what you were getting up to,’ she said now, ‘but it was a difficult time, with me and your father splitting up. And you both so angry with me.’
Her son frowned. ‘I wasn’t really angry, Mum… Well, I suppose I was, a little. More shocked I think.’ He reached over and gave her shoulder a squeeze. ‘I’m sorry if me and Dan were bratty back then. I see now that Dad wasn’t the easiest person to live with. Am I right?’ He was eyeing her intently as he waited for her to answer.
She let out a slow breath. Her immediate instinct was tocontinue with the lie that she and Max had just ‘run out of steam’, which she’d peddled to the twins at the time. But she was too raw and vulnerable right now, her defences not as robust as usual. ‘It wasn’t easy,’ she heard herself admitting.
‘In what way?’ Liam asked.
‘Oh, listen, sweetheart, I don’t want to drag all this up again.’
‘No, but tell me, Mum,’ he insisted.
And, after a long moment, Peggy finally offered her son the truth– although edited by time to a more palatable version for a child to hear about his father. She told him Max had occasionally ‘strayed’, wincing at the euphemism– it wasn’t ‘occasional’ either. She told him about the carousing, but left out the endless times Max had passed out on the sofa at four in the morning, the nights he didn’t come home at all, Peggy left wondering when she should call the police and find out if her husband had fallen under a bus. She explained the lack of help she’d had with the boys until Max decided it would be amusing to lead them astray. She carefully left out the extent of her pain and resentment– Liam didn’t need to know that.
‘Wow,’ he said, when she’d ground to a halt. He blew out his cheeks. ‘Sounds grim, Mum. I’m sorry you had to deal with all that.’ He was silent for a minute. ‘Although what you say doesn’t surprise me that much. Dad’s a pleasure-monger– whether it’s good food, drink, beautiful women. I love him, but I can’t spend too much time with him. It’s his way or the highway– as Dan is finding out to his cost now.’
