Faith - Lesley Pearse [75]
‘You say she nearly lost her mind. They made quite a bit about that too in the trial. How long was she like that for?’
‘A good six months before Frank and I brought her down here to stay with us. She stayed with us for four or five months and she was very poorly. But eventually she was well enough for me to fix her up with a job in a hotel in Italy owned by friends of ours.
‘When she returned at the end of that summer, she was much quieter and more thoughtful. She never did get back that bouncy, I-know-it-all side we had all come to know so well. She was gentler and far more caring. Jackie once said that she’d give anything to see her being a real bitch again, because that way she’d feel she was genuinely getting over Barney’s death.’
‘Really!’ Stuart exclaimed. He knew Lena had always been very observant, and not one to be easily fooled.
‘Yes. So if you thought Laura might have developed a violent streak, or the desire for revenge, she certainly didn’t. She threw herself into getting that shop in Edinburgh. Do you know about that?’
‘Not until just recently. I know very little about how Laura lived after we split up. Although I was working for Jackie for the first few years, she rarely spoke about her to me, you know how loyal she was! I was working in Germany in ’81 when Barney died, and it was Roger who rang me about it. After that my contact with Jackie was erratic. I would phone her, or send postcards, usually from airports because I was moving around quite a bit. Every now and then a letter from her would eventually reach me, but she never said much about what she or anyone else was doing, they were just her usual brand of funny letters, a joy to receive, but with very little information in them. But they fizzled out altogether by ’91 and as I was in South America with new friends myself, I didn’t think anything of it.’
‘She was very busy with Brodie Farm then,’ Lena said. ‘I didn’t hear from her that much either, but she was very proud of how well Laura was doing in the shop. She said it was always really busy and Laura was in her element because she loved clothes and knew what was good. She worked at it tirelessly by all accounts. I saw Laura sometimes as she had a contact down here for ballgowns she used to hire out, and she’d come and stay with me.’
‘So how was she?’ Stuart asked, knowing Lena wouldn’t be easily fooled.
‘Well, to the rest of the world she might have looked like she was over it, but I saw the deep sadness in her. Of course any woman who’d lost a child would be the same.’
‘And Jackie? It must have changed her too?’
‘Oh yes.’ Lena sighed deeply. ‘She needed some kind of anaesthetic to dull the pain. Mostly she used work, often putting in a sixteen-hour day on the house and garden. But there was drink too, and occasionally men. There was someone special, mind you! I think the problem there was that he was married. Now and then she would phone me late at night when she’d been drinking and she’d cry and say she felt hopeless. But the next day she’d be fine again and she’d apologize for worrying me. I couldn’t help but worry, I just wished she’d tell me the whole story so I understood. But she would laugh it off and make out everything was fine. I used to tell myself that she had Belle nearby, and Laura in Edinburgh, but I wish now that Frank and I had gone up there more often.’
Lena sat back in her chair, and Stuart could see she was growing tired. He had so much more he wanted to ask her, but not today.
‘I ought to go now,’ he said, getting up. ‘It’s been great to find you haven’t changed, and if it’s okay, I’ll come again.’
‘Please do, Stuart.’ She smiled up