by Anna Jacobs
How could they understand why she’d got into this mess, when she didn’t understand it herself? The only good thing to come from it was the baby.
She realised Janice was waiting for her so forced herself to concentrate. The doctor walked with her to her room, pointing out a couple of common areas for people staying here on the way.
Her room was quite large with both a sleeping and sitting area, not at all cell-like, thank goodness. The cramped hospital room had made Peggy feel worse, not better. This one looked out onto a huge garden full of beautiful flowers and plants, which was another good thing. You didn’t get lush flowerbeds like these on the edge of a canal. Too many salty sea breezes.
‘Just a minute.’ Janice went outside again and knocked on the next door. ‘She’s here.’
She came back with another young woman. ‘Peggy, Tessa.’ The two of them eyed one another speculatively and nodded a hello.
Her ‘buddy’ looked to be in blooming health with rather a mischievous smile, but she was rather thin. Peggy caught sight of herself in a mirror and added mentally, not as thin as she was herself, though.
‘You two have more in common than most of the people here,’ the doctor said, ‘but I’ll leave your new buddy to tell you about that, Peggy.’
Tessa’s expression changed to what looked like anger and her voice grew sharper. ‘I’ll certainly do that, Janice.’
Dr Meyman walked to the door. ‘I’ll leave you to get settled in, then. Remember, Peggy, there is someone available twenty-four seven should you need help or support. You have the list of numbers to call. If you’re feeling depressed or worried, please reach out to us. It’s what we’re here for.’
When the doctor had left, Peggy looked at her new buddy, not sure what to say.
‘The staff here are all right, especially Janice,’ Tessa said quietly. ‘You can trust them with anything, I promise. Let’s go and sit in the garden and then I’ll tell you about this weird coincidence.’
She led the way right to the far end of the rear gardens to a seat in front of a graceful summer house of white painted wood. It was surrounded by low, flowering bushes and almost invited you inside to tell secrets.
‘Do sit down, Peggy. They have CCTV cameras scanning the grounds near the house, and we’re not sure whether they pick up sounds as well. We’ve checked this place and we’re pretty sure it’s not bugged, so we do our chatting here or else when we go outside the grounds for walks.’
‘Who’s “we”?’
‘There are three of us here at the moment who get on rather well. I’ll tell you more in a minute. First, I want to know if it’s true that Mike Cruikshank got you in this state?’
‘Pregnant, you mean?’
Tessa’s mouth dropped open in shock. ‘No, I didn’t mean that. I didn’t even know about that aspect. Janice didn’t say a word. No, Mike’s the one who got me to stop eating – then after a few months he chucked me out of his flat. And I gather he did the same to you. Am I right?’
‘Yes. I was utterly stupid about him.’
Tessa took a deep breath. ‘I must be even more stupid, then, because I walked out and left him, then got depressed and tried to kill myself. Thank goodness a friend stopped me.’
Peggy gave her a hug, not something she normally did to strangers, but her companion was looking so sad. ‘Mike isn’t worth it.’
‘Oh, I agree and I’m well over him now, but I’m still angry at myself for being taken in by him and I still have trouble eating enough to stay healthy. He makes it his mission in life to turn normal women into scrawny anorexics and the authorities don’t seem to have found any way of prosecuting him for it.’
‘I didn’t realise he made a habit of it. I thought it was just – you know, me.’
‘No. He’s got an absolute fixation about it. I found a diary once in which he wrote down all the details and congratulated himself on his success rate. He’s never stayed with anyone longer than a year.’ She frowned at Peggy. ‘But he hated babies and was usually careful not to get anyone pregnant. What on earth happened?’
‘I think he was too eager that night it happened. You know how he enjoys sex. And he thought I was on the pill, only I’d gone off it without telling him because I wanted so desperately to have a baby.’ She patted her stomach. ‘This has to be his child because I’ve only been with him during the past few months.’
Tessa let out a long, low whistle. ‘Wow! I’d like to have been a fly on the wall when you told him.’
‘I didn’t tell him because he’d chucked me out by the time I realised I was expecting and anyway I knew his views on babies. I was planning to have the child then bring it up on my own. Unfortunately, he found out somehow and now he’s pestering me to talk and I know he’ll want to get rid of it. I told him I’m not going to do that, not for anything. I’ve been longing to have a child for over a year now, even before I met him. Don’t you just love babies and little children?’
‘Not as much as you do, clearly. I had a friend who got all mumsy like that a couple of years ago, so I know it happens to some women. She’s living in Tasmania now, loves being a mother. Good for you, standing up to Mike about it. That man is too fond of manipulating women.’
‘Tell me about it. Look, could you just give me a summary of what’s going on here because I’m exhausted. It’s been a long day.’
‘OK. But promise you won’t tell anyone about it if you’d rather not join in.’
‘Join in what?’
‘The Revenge Club. I suspect Janice knows – she seems to know everything, but we haven’t talked about it to her and she’s never brought it up.’
‘Go on.’
‘Most people who end up here did this anorexia thing to themselves, but some of us were nagged into it by people like Mike, who think women ought to be scraggy stick insects.’ She indicated her body with a scowl and blinked her eyes furiously.
So Peggy gave her another hug. ‘Go on. Who else is in your club?’
‘There’s a former fashion model who’s furious about her agent. He kept nagging her not to eat so much and to lose “just a bit more” if she wanted the top jobs. Jordan collapsed one day and was quite ill. Her mother nursed her back to health and sent her here to finish off the process of rehabilitation under professional guidance. She’s wondering whether she could sue her agent.’
Peggy let out a long, low whistle.
‘And Loreen was quite fat back in the day. Her aunt mocked her and bet she couldn’t lose weight if she tried. But when she did lose some weight, the aunt kept saying she didn’t look good yet, needed to lose more. Loreen got so mad at her, so eager to show her she could get slim that she went overboard on the dieting till she couldn’t stop.’
‘Poor thing. I’m glad to be well away from Mike now, that’s for sure, because he kept telling me I was fat.’
‘Don’t bank on it. He’ll come after you like he did me. He won’t want you to have this baby.’
‘You weren’t pregnant so why did he come after you?’
‘It’s all right for him to end a relationship, as he did with you, but not right for one of his victims to end it, as I did.’
‘What happened to make you leave him?’
‘I simply came to my senses one day and left. Just like that.’ She clicked her fingers. ‘He played a few nasty tricks on me afterwards then the trouble suddenly stopped. A friend told me he’d found another victim and it turns out it was you. But he still caught up with me one day, a month after he got together with you, and mocked me in front of a group of friends for not being able to hold his interest.’
‘What? The cheek of it!’
‘Yeah. I was still a bit fragile healthwise after I left him and it took months before I was in a fit state to come down here. I still don’t really enjoy food, but if I stop eating he’ll have won.’
‘I don’t fancy food much, either, but the thought of the baby needing me to eat more so that it can grow properly keeps me forcing it down.
’
‘You keep doing that. So anyway, that’s the Revenge Club. We’re going to get our own back on those who pushed us into anorexia.’
Peggy looked at her in alarm. ‘What do you mean by that? I’m not doing anything illegal.’
‘Neither am I. We’re not going to break the law, but we are going to make them look stupid in public so that maybe they’ll think twice about doing it to someone else.’
‘Will that happen, do you think? I’d love to see it, mind.’
‘We have to make it happen. Mike would hate to be made a fool of, don’t you think?’
Peggy leant back in her seat, smiling at the thought. ‘Yes, he would.’
‘And if it doesn’t make any difference to them, at least we’ll have done our best and that’ll feel more satisfying than just being a victim.’
‘Well, I wouldn’t mind upsetting him. He actually came after me in the hospital, sneaked in and tried to force me to leave with him. I don’t see what we can actually do.’
Tessa smiled. ‘I have an idea for how to get at Mike, and the others are going to help me. Lean closer. I hardly dare say it aloud at this stage.’
She began to whisper, gesticulating wildly with her hands. And Peggy had to chuckle at what she and her friends here had thought up.
Five minutes later a bell rang in the main building and two smiling young women wandered back across the lawn to the small sitting room for patients, where they drank their special shakes meekly.
After that, Peggy went to bed. She didn’t expect to sleep but it had been a tiring day and she still wasn’t as full of energy as she had been a year ago, thanks to Mike.
She chuckled again as she grew drowsy at the thought of what Tessa was planning. Oh yes, she definitely wanted to join in that.
Janice had watched them when she popped into the residents’ common room for a few minutes, as she did regularly, but didn’t try to find out what they were plotting. She didn’t think it likely that they’d carry anything through, or at least not in the near future, especially as no one seemed to have managed to catch out Mike Cruikshank before. But it was good to see smiles on their faces.
And if they did serve up some mischief eventually, well, he deserved it, didn’t he?
She could always step in and put a stop to it if it went too far.
Laughter, she sometimes thought, was a very good cure-all. Or in this case, mockery.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Charles North managed to get on an early morning flight from Sydney and arrived in Western Australia mid-morning, adding an extra three hours to his day because of the time differences between the two coasts of Australia.
At the airport he quickly claimed his hire car and set the satnav to take him south to the small holiday flat in Mandurah, which he’d booked yesterday for a week. He carried in his luggage, grimacing at how utilitarian and cramped the flat was, but at least it was conveniently situated. He then strolled out to find the shop of the real estate agent who was annoying his friend Hal.
He and Hal had been good friends for a while. They’d just clicked somehow. Like Hal, Charles had had enough of the way he was earning his living. Running the sort of business which meant being on call night or day, ready to go anywhere in the world could pall. He’d sold his company a while ago, still doing the occasional contract jobs for the new owner, but only ones that sounded interesting.
He envied Hal meeting a woman to love. He’d never heard quite that tone in his friend’s voice before, and good luck to him. The only woman Charles had ever contemplated spending his life with hadn’t wanted to settle down and had gone off to work in America. She’d probably be the CEO of a big business by now. He could have found her if he’d wanted to but that fire had died down.
He envied Hal his inheritance of a house in a beautiful setting, which was why he’d thought to take up the invitation to visit him. He hadn’t expected Hal to need his help. So he was staying in the nasty little flat and no one would connect the two of them.
Maybe he’d have a look round Mandurah on his own behalf while he was here, if it had made such a good impression on Hal. And maybe not. Charles couldn’t seem to settle anywhere since his semi-retirement. Maybe he’d left it too late to try to settle down in a forever home.
Ah, there it was! He stopped in front of the shop window full of photos of houses for sale, ignoring the holidaymakers coming and going around him, then taking his time to pretend to study the houses advertised. He even took out a notebook and scribbled in it to make it look like a genuine interest.
In the process he watched through his special dark sunglasses, seeing what was going on inside the shop without the people there being able to see what his eyes were really focused on.
Almost immediately he saw a showily dressed woman who matched the description of the annoying estate agent. She was sitting in a glass-walled miniature office to one side but seemed to be spending more time staring into space than working on the papers scattered across her desk. The woman’s name was listed on several of the canal properties in the window.
It was clear even to a stranger watching her from outside the shop that her work wasn’t making her happy at the moment. Her office was one of those boxes with clear glass ‘walls’ and he could see her chewing the end of her pencil and frowning. At one point she picked up a telephone and stared down at it, then shook her head and put it back in its cradle again.
Here we go! he thought and pushed open the door of the agency.
The receptionist smiled at him brightly. ‘Good morning, sir. How may we help you?’
He answered more loudly than was necessary. ‘I’m looking to buy a house on the Waterfront Canals.’
He saw the woman in the office jerk to attention and get up from her desk.
‘Ms Vincenzo will be happy to help you, sir.’
Aha! He’d guessed correctly who the woman was. He turned as she came up to him.
‘I specialise in canal homes, Mr … ?’
He didn’t give his real surname. ‘Smith. Charles P Smith.’ He stretched out his hand to shake hers and held on to it for too long, giving her what he hoped was an admiring glance, though he didn’t really admire such fussily dressed females or wish to gaze at her abundant breasts.
Her smile faded a little and she pulled her hand away. ‘I have several canal homes I can show you, Mr Smith.’
‘Oh, good. I’ve seen and admired such homes over east and I’m about to move across to the west so I thought I’d see if I could find one here to buy.’
‘What exactly are you looking for in a house?’
‘Not a small place. Something a bit special. I’ll know it when I see it. How about we drive past the outsides of your houses and I’ll tell you whether any of them appeal to me. No use going inside if I don’t like the looks of the place it’s situated, is there?’
‘And your price range would be … ?’
He shrugged. ‘Whatever it takes if I find a house I like the looks of. It’ll be a cash offer.’
‘Would your wife not wish to see these houses with you?’
He tried to look sad and in need of comfort. ‘Sadly, my Mary died two years ago.’ He could see her start to relax a little. Then an older man came into the agency and Ms Vincenzo stiffened again.
The receptionist stood up. ‘Good afternoon, Mr Moretti. Can I get you anything?’
‘No, no. Just carry on with your work.’
However, she opened the door of another office at the rear for him before she sat down again. This one had proper, opaque walls. The man went inside it with an air of ownership, stopping for a moment in the doorway to look across at Ms Vincenzo as if impatient to talk to her.
‘Who is he?’ Charles asked.
‘One of the owners of this agency.’
‘He looks as if he wants to speak to you.’
She shrugged. ‘Well, I’d never abandon a customer and I’m sure Mr Moretti’s business won’t be urgent. Shall we go, Mr Smith? We ca
n use my car, if you like.’
‘Good idea.’
Charles followed her out, showed interest in one or two of the houses she took him past and asked their prices. ‘I’ll go away and study the areas around each of the homes you’ve shown me, then get back to you if I’m still interested.’
‘May I have a contact number in case something else crops up?’
He gave her the number of a phone which had no greetings message or answer service. ‘How about we look inside a couple of the houses later this afternoon? I’ll phone you and let you know which.’
She sighed as if unsure he’d get back to her but didn’t press the point. A cloud of worry seemed to settle around her as soon as he started to turn away and she hesitated, then got back into her car and drove off instead of returning to her office.
Charles strolled back to the flat, took off his jacket, shirt and tie, then put on a tee shirt and a shabby sun hat. He strolled back past the agency, moving slowly and wearily like an older person, fairly sure he looked different enough that the smiling receptionist would not recognise him.
He was in luck. A car stopped outside the entrance as he drew near it and the old guy the receptionist had fussed over came outside.
As the chauffeur drove away, the passenger slumped down, looking out. In fact, his expression was rather angry. Charles strolled on thoughtfully, buying a sandwich on the way back.
He ate the sandwich quickly, then set out again to drive to the street where Hal thought the old guy might live. He chuckled as he saw the car parked on the drive outside a house, which would be roughly opposite where Hal lived, according to the street map.
He stopped further along for a few moments and watched a shabby car stop and a guy who looked like a tradesman go into the house. Charles was fairly certain he’d recognised the type of person, a strong man, one who hired out as a bodyguard or to bully people.
‘“Curiouser and curiouser,” cried Alice,’ he muttered. It was one of his favourite quotations.