Page 39 of New Beginnings At Pencarrow Bay

Peggy dropped into the post office after she and Quentin had said goodbye. Talking openly with her friend had accentuated too many questions, too many uncomfortable thoughts, and she was shaken.

There was no queue, Gary greeting her with his usual gusto.

‘I’d like to remove my ad, please, Gary,’ she told him. Maybe if she did that, she reasoned, the emails would stop– although she had no evidence that the advertisement had been the catalyst for the trolling.

The personal notices were locked in a glass display case on the wall outside. Gary was very particular about what he would allow. ‘I don’t want just any folk promoting themselves or their wares if they aren’t kosher, if you know what I mean,’ he’d told her, when she’d first brought her card in.

‘Okey-dokes,’ he said now. ‘I’ll get that sorted, Peggy, take it down this afternoon.’ He gave her a questioning look. ‘You’ve found a job, then? Because someone was in enquiring about tutors earlier and I pointed them to your card.’

‘Really? Who was it?’ Her worry was such right now that even a probably quite innocent enquiry about her teaching skills felt sinister.

‘Didn’t say his name,’ Gary replied, ‘but he’s been in before– maybe he has a holiday place here.’

‘Oh, okay,’ she said. ‘Anyway, thanks, Gary,’ she added, before he had a chance to probe further.

Exiting the shop, she wondered, Does Gary know something? She wasn’t comfortable any more, she found, even with idle chatter. Because how could she tell if the person asking, ‘How’s it going?’ wasn’t the same person who was trying to ruin her life?

On the way up the hill, her mobile buzzed in her pocket. It was not a number she recognized, but she swiped the screen to answer, anyway. The male voice sounded self-assured, with a slight Essex tinge to his accent. ‘Hello? Is that Peggy Gilbert?’

Suddenly anxious that the call might relate to the emails, Peggy took a steadying breath as she told the caller, warily, that it was.

‘I got your number from the post office,’ he told her. ‘You’re an English teacher, right?’

‘I am, yes.’

‘Good news. My name is Barry Conway. Our fifteen-year-old is doing his mocks in the autumn, and he’s way behind in English– can hardly spell, poor boy.

Bit like his dad, I’m afraid.’ Barry gave a low chuckle.

‘We’ll be down here for the summer as usual– July onwards– and I thought some tutoring might come in handy. ’

This is a man used to getting what he wants , Peggy thought.

He sounded confident that she wouldn’t turn him down.

For a moment, she hesitated, yearning to help his son, knowing she could.

But she also knew what would happen if she took the job.

Within a short space of time there would be another email.

And another person connected to the village would have been fed the lie.

‘Right,’ Peggy replied abstractedly. ‘The thing is, I’m not planning on working this summer. I’m sorry to disappoint you. I’ve just taken down the ad in the post office.’

‘That’s a shame,’ said Barry. ‘Are you sure? I pay well and it would only be a few hours a week. He’s a great lad, Ben. Just not so hot at the schoolwork side of things.’

Again, Peggy hesitated. ‘I’m sorry,’ she repeated, firmly. ‘I’ve got some personal stuff I’m dealing with.’

Barry was silent for a moment. ‘I hear you. Sorry about that. But if you change your mind… I’ll ping you my contacts and you can get in touch.’

She thanked him and said goodbye, her heart heavy as she continued up the hill.

No one was in the hatch when she arrived at Henri– it was late and there were no customers. Looking around for her partner, she saw him at the corner table, sitting with Lindy. His hand rested intimately on her arm, and they were deep in intense conversation.

She havered, wondering if she should interrupt, when Lindy spotted her, her gaze distinctly troubled, and she felt she should go over. As she approached, Ted quickly withdrew his hand from Lindy’s arm.

‘Peggy…’ Lindy greeted her distractedly.

Peggy glanced at Ted as he said hello. He seemed uneasy.

‘Everything all right?’ she asked, not feeling quite welcome, although Ted pulled out a chair.

Neither reacted, initially, beyond a vague nod.

Ted finally managed a smile. ‘What have you been up to?’ His question was like his smile: unfocused.

‘I was just offered a job,’ Peggy said, addressing Ted, wanting to sit down with him and have a proper chat, alone . ‘I turned it down. Don’t want anyone else targeted with the email.’

‘Who was it?’ he asked.

‘Barry Conway.’ She turned to Lindy. ‘You probably know him? He wanted me to tutor Ben.’

Lindy seemed to pull herself back from somewhere far away. ‘I adore that boy. He’s a first-class sailor and so charming, like his father.’ She gave a fond smile. ‘He may not be academic, but I’m sure he’ll go far.’

Peggy didn’t know what to add, twitching at the slightly hyper, edgy atmosphere around the table. She felt uncomfortable, like an intruder. ‘I should get on,’ she said.

Ted gave Lindy a querying glance. After a slight hesitation, she nodded. ‘Sit, Pegs,’ he said. ‘Something’s happened.’

She did as he asked, looking from one to the other, wanting to be anywhere else.

‘Felix has been violent.’

As he spoke, Lindy gingerly inched up the long sleeve of her pale pink T-shirt, exposing a nasty bruise– tinged purple and red– circling her left wrist like a band.

Peggy gasped. ‘Whoa, Lindy, that looks painful. What happened?’

Tears misting her blue eyes, Lindy took a moment to reply.

‘Last night. It was about the power-of-attorney. I told Felix again that I wasn’t going to give it to him.

That there was nothing whatever wrong with my mental health.

But he wasn’t listening.’ She swallowed hard, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

‘Anyway, he came up really close, trying to intimidate me– like he did that other time. But yesterday he actually grabbed me by the arm– I’ve always been scared this might happen.

And as he yanked me closer he twisted my arm hard up my back…

like some ghastly thug. It was terrifying. ’

Peggy glanced at Ted, but he was staring fixedly at the bruise.

‘God, that’s dreadful. I’m so sorry, Lindy.

This is really serious. You have to do something.

It’s assault. It’s criminal .’ Peggy’s voice was taut with confusion as a shard of doubt crept into her mind– despite Liam’s passionate advocacy of Felix.

Have I got this all wrong? Because that was a very real injury to Lindy’s arm.

But Lindy drew herself up, her face taking on stiff determination. ‘You mean call the police?’

She sounded almost contemptuous, but Peggy could hear the wobble in her voice and reached out to lay her hand on Lindy’s. ‘If he’s starting to get physical…’

‘This is a private family matter,’ Lindy said, her tone curt, snatching her hand away from Peggy’s. ‘Felix carted off in front of the whole village? Kim’s husband, Ada’s father?’ She shook her head vehemently. ‘I will deal with it myself.’

Lindy’s stubbornness and her rejection of any meaningful help dismayed Peggy. And she found she was a little taken aback– hurt, even– that Lindy seemed not to want to accept comfort from her.

Ted said, ‘I’ve tried, Pegs. She won’t listen.’

No one spoke.

Her voice gentle, Peggy had one last go. ‘We can help you, if you’d only let us.’ Because, whatever the truth of it, the woman obviously needed help.

Lindy turned her eyes in Peggy’s direction. Her expression had become almost glassy. It seemed to take a moment for her to refocus. ‘What?’ she asked, her tone vague. Peggy watched as Lindy switched her gaze to Ted.

Peggy frowned at him. He didn’t meet her eye.

She had no idea what to do, what to say as they sat there, an awkward silence descending.

Lindy’s stare remained resting fixedly on Ted, as if Peggy wasn’t even there– although there was a blankness to it now.

Meanwhile Ted was still not communicating with Peggy.

Peggy felt as if she’d been holding her breath for the last few minutes and sucked in a large quantity of air, which seemed to break the spell. ‘I should go,’ she said, scraping back her chair and rising quickly to her feet.

Lindy looked up at her briefly but didn’t appear to see her, her gaze still clouded.

‘See you later,’ Peggy said to Ted. He nodded, his expression still lost in concern.

As Peggy walked away, she realized she was feeling distinctly uneasy.

There was something not at all right, something unsettling in the exchange just now.

Lindy seemed … She couldn’t put her finger on it.

Odd, certainly. It was the first time Peggy had noticed Lindy being so unfocused… not quite there.

When Ted came home later, Peggy was waiting for him.

Liam had been out when she got in earlier, an old-fashioned note on the kitchen island, pinned down by the salt-grinder, saying he hoped it was all right but he wouldn’t be home for supper– he didn’t say where he was going.

But at least she didn’t have to worry about potential tension between the two men, after all the other tensions of the day.

Peggy made them both a cup of tea and they sat down at the table. She relayed what Quentin had said about Emerald and the house– because it seemed like a less contentious topic than Lindy, whose strange behaviour was still bothering her.

‘I can see that might make her extremely pissed off,’ Ted commented, without much interest. ‘But with her family, surely, not with you.’

Peggy nodded. She had to agree.

‘You saw Lindy. It’s desperate, isn’t it?’ he said, clearly keen to get back to the subject that haunted them these days.

‘Umm, it really is… She was very strange this afternoon, didn’t you think?’

‘Well, yeah, of course she was. If you ’d just been beaten up– by a member of your own family, no less– you’d hardly be yourself,’ he said, looking at her in surprise.

Peggy frowned. ‘True. But don’t you think…

I mean, the way she relies on you over everyone else?

’ Almost worships you , she wanted to add, and didn’t.

She wasn’t sure how to explain her feelings about what she’d witnessed earlier.

Now she worried she might have imagined it, her mind so shaken up with things at the moment. Perhaps she wasn’t thinking straight.

He lifted tired eyes to her face. ‘I know, but I keep telling you, she won’t involve anyone but me.’ His gaze dropped to his hands, wrapped around his mug.

‘She really didn’t seem at all herself, though,’ Peggy insisted, evenly. ‘Sort of not quite there… I worry about what’s going on with her, that’s all.’

His head shot up. ‘ What’s going on ?’ He was all but shouting. ‘Bloody hell, Peggy! Lindy is being physically assaulted by her fucking son-in-law, after weeks and weeks of bullying and manipulation. That’s what’s going on. It’s despicable.’

Peggy, reeling from the onslaught– Ted seldom swore, unlike her son, whose speech was peppered by profanities– took a moment to reply. ‘The bruise looked horrible, I agree.’

But Ted’s blood was up. ‘Are we going to stand by and watch, wait till Felix does something even worse? Is that the plan?’ he asked, as if Peggy had just suggested they should countenance such an extreme outcome.

He got up, letting out an angry sigh, and stamped off, yanking open the door to the terrace and stepping outside as if he badly needed air.

Taking a deep breath, Peggy followed him. It was as if he’d been hypnotized by Lindy, his whole being taken over by her. She’d never seen him like this before. Standing close beside him, she linked her hand around his arm. ‘Listen, maybe we could have a word with Kim.’

Ted turned a worried face to hers. ‘Not sure that’s a good idea.

Kim’s not well.’ But his tone was softer and he moved closer.

He seemed to be talking to himself as he said, ‘It’s very stressful, you know, being the person Lindy turns to.

Because she seems too frightened, too upset all the time, to listen to helpful advice. ’

Peggy didn’t reply, she didn’t have any answers. But one thing was for certain: Lindy’s situation was pulling her and Ted apart.