Faith - Lesley Pearse [170]
Stuart’s chuckle brought him out of his reverie. ‘It was that good, was it?’ he said. ‘You went off down the time tunnel then.’
Ted smiled sheepishly. ‘You can have no idea how it was for me,’ he said. ‘All those years I’d thought the love was just on my side. But it wasn’t, she felt the same way.’
‘It must have been tough for you. I mean, having a disabled wife,’ Stuart said.
Ted looked hard at the younger man at first, thinking that remark was veiled sarcasm, but he saw only sympathy and understanding.
‘Sometimes I felt as if I was being crucified,’ Ted said glumly. ‘I had turned myself inside out to make things right for Peggie – the bungalow was beautiful, the garden had been landscaped – but although she’d been home from the hospital for getting on for three years, she was making no attempt to help herself. She had in truth become a monster, Stuart, nothing pleased her, she acted like she hated me.
‘Then suddenly I get a glimpse of heaven, but a glimpse is all I am ever going to have. I couldn’t be with Jackie for more than a couple of hours here and there, I had to go home and take care of Peggie. Can you imagine washing a woman, helping her to the toilet, cooking her meals and cleaning the house when all the time she is sullen and bitter? She acted like the accident was my fault, nothing I could do or say would please her. And she’s still that way. I can understand why people kill, I’ll admit now there have been times when I have been sorely tempted.’
Tears began to flow down Ted’s face, and Stuart leaned forward and squeezed the man’s arm in sympathy. ‘I might not have been through that myself, man,’ he said softly. ‘But I can imagine.’
Ted mopped his face with a handkerchief and tried to pull himself together. ‘When Barney was killed I thought our love affair would die too. Jackie took it so hard, and I couldn’t be there all the time to comfort her.’
‘Did she ever say anything about the accident to you?’ Stuart asked.
‘Only that the other car came round the bend in the middle of the road straight towards her and she heard Barney scream. She said the next thing she remembered was a fireman talking to her, explaining how he had to cut away part of the car to get her out. Miraculously she wasn’t that badly hurt. I saw her car later that day and it was so badly crushed you wouldn’t have thought anyone could have survived the crash, but all she had was a broken arm, and some very nasty cuts and bruises.’
‘Did she recognize the driver of the other car?’
‘She said she didn’t.’
‘Did you believe her?’
Ted hesitated. ‘No, to be honest I didn’t. I don’t know why, after all it was in summer when there are lots of strangers around. I just got the idea in the back of my mind that she was hiding something, but I couldn’t keep probing, she was too upset about the wee boy.’
‘Were the police thorough in their investigation?’
Ted nodded. ‘They called everywhere, a virtual house-to-house search. Every garage owner was questioned, they called in at every pub and hotel. But if the other car wasn’t too badly damaged it could have got half-way to the Forth Bridge before the ambulance even arrived; another couple of hours and it could well have been in England.’
‘Is it at all possible that the driver could have been Charles Howell?’ Stuart knew he shouldn’t ask such direct questions but he had to.
Ted looked horrified. ‘No, it can’t have been. Whatever makes you think such a thing?’
‘Just something someone said,’ Stuart replied.
‘Well, they had no business to be saying such things,’ Ted said indignantly. ‘Besides, he was down in London at the time.’
‘How do you know that? Stuart asked.
‘Because Jackie told me. Belle went in to visit her in the hospital the evening it happened. She said Charles couldn’t come with her because he was in London. He flew back the following day, stayed a few days until Jackie was discharged from