Louise thought that Nigel wanted to talk to her about Frank’s scheming over gaining planning consent. He might also want to talk about Charlotte the Harlot, but Louise did not want to go there.
“I’m going to the shops in a few minutes,” she said cautiously, her liking for Nigel overcoming her mistrust. “Can we meet at the Roasting Pot?”
The pair enjoyed each other’s company over coffee so much that Louise and Nigel continued to chat while Louise did her shopping. She did not need much and it did not take long. As it was a hot day, she invited Nigel back to the house for a cold drink.
They sat outside, in the back garden, on a bench seat side by side, near Tess’s now empty kennel, which Louise thought she must sell on the Internet. Maybe Kezia could show her how?
Louise was charmed by Nigel. He was sincere, funny and kind. Nigel choked when he thought of Larcombe he choked on the guilt that he subsequently felt.
They chatted for an hour more before Louise said she had better be getting the evening meal ready because that was what she had gone shopping for, some nice steak for dinner. Nigel asked if he could call again for a cup of tea, which delighted Louise as she had not had such a long conversation with a man for a long time.
It was the first of many such occasions, times that they both looked forward to.
Charlotte stayed hidden in the neighbour’s garden. She was absolutely livid that Nigel was continuing his affair with Louise, the affair that she believed had begun at the party. She had been watching the couple for the past thirty minutes, had seen the gentleness of Nigel towards Louise, the attention he gave her when she spoke. She knew now why Nigel had left her bed and did not respond to her advances. The campaign to get even would have to get more serious.
CHAPTER 37.
Louise had always been over-anxious. She knew that, and accepted that anxiety was part of her personality. She tried to turn her fears into positive action so that she became a person who could predict outcomes before they occurred and thereby earned a reputation for being a careful and thoughtful person.
However, the anxiousness eroded her self-confidence. Bannister had seen to it that even had she not been self-conscious and anxious, she could never regain her feeling of self-worth. That had led to constant nagging of Julian and now Frank, who had seemed to understand her needs but now he was gone.
After Frank left, Louise fell apart emotionally. She became depressed and so isolated herself from people and social occasions. Even going to the shops was difficult and a task she left for as long as she could. She simply could not let people see her in the state she was in. Kezia and Youssef between them took over the running of the house. Youssef was a tower of strength. He was mature for his years and took over the role of the man of the house. Coming from what had been a loving family, he was quite comfortable giving Louise a hug a kiss on the cheek, just like a son might do.
Kezia had changed also since her confrontation with Mr Bannister. She became confident and even more capable than before, and seemed to be growing taller and slimmer.
Jayne’s visit had buoyed Louise up temporarily but the basic feeling of unworthiness and anxiety continually overwhelmed her. Louise blamed Bannister and her strict upbringing, which had relied on guilt rather than self-discipline, and took the view that she was a hysterical young woman, a drama queen.
When she had approached her mother while Bannister was grooming her, her mother Hester, she seemed to not understand what she was saying.
“Mum, there’s this teacher. He wants me to do things.”
“Well, he’s a teacher, you should do as he says,” her mother replied.
“No Mum. Things I don’t want to do.”
“Well you’re being selfish and dramatic. All teachers ask you to do things you don’t like doing.”
Louise, having been in a Roman Catholic primary school, did not have the language she needed to explain sexual activity to her mother. She was also aware that what she would have to describe would be seen as exaggeration, a young girl’s fantasy. She tried anyway.
“He shows me things,” said Louise.
“That’s nice, dear,” said her mother. “Now help me hang up the washing.”
Mr Bannister had groomed her over several weeks. That was not the term used when it all happened, but Louise could see clearly now the damage that he had caused. He had obviously picked her out as a victim, someone who would appease rather than confront, and someone who would be too ashamed to make a fuss. He was in fact a sexual bully, in a world that was not yet ready for disclosure of such monsters.
The watching of Bannister parade himself in front of her had changed at one stage to being asked to touch him, and then to stroke him. Then Bannister had left her alone until she was sixteen, the age of consent. On her birthday he called her into his office and said, “You’re old enough now. And you’ll enjoy it.”
At that time, Louise was still totally inexperienced, an easy prey.
“If you don’t, I will let people know that you have been fondling me, leading me on,” he said. “I am sure your mother and father won’t be happy with you.”
His sexual exploitation continued each week until the end of the year. What really upset Louise was that she enjoyed it when her body responded as it was designed to do. Although she hated herself for that and dreaded each approach Bannister made, she could not resist him. He even made her have sex during an inter-school sports tournament while the students were staying in a youth hostel.
With her self-esteem at an all-time low, it had never been high anyway, Louise had gone to the School Counsellor, Andrew Young. She knew immediately that Mr Young would blame her for everything. Where she had expected help and advice, Mr Young told her she must not tell lies. Her attempts to say she was being sexually molested were turned against her. Fortunately, she held back from saying Mr Bannister’s name, and left in tears, feeling that Mr Bannister was right, she would be seen as making up stories to get a teacher into trouble.
When Louise finished the school year she told her parents she would not be going back for her final year. Louise’s mother and father could never understand why she had left school so suddenly, when she had a bright future and a more than even chance of a university scholarship. In January her results arrived; Louise had achieved highly and had qualified for entry into university.
Her grandfather James Moore had been a high school teacher of English. Without asking questions, he quietly encouraged Louise to enroll for a Polytechnic course in nursing, the end point of which had been a rewarding career. But right through that career, Louise had lacked self-esteem and confidence, was anxious to the degree that she had to seek medical help for clinical depression from time to time. She had been placed on Records, an important role that allowed her to work directly with the surgeons and residents, organising patients’ files for consultations and operations, and keeping the files up to date. Whether by design or by accident, this kept her from some of the more stressful parts of a nursing career.
Re-visiting Bannister’s predation in her mind had a strange effect on Louise. For all the years since Bannister, Louise had hidden from the ugly truth, because it always brought guilt and shame. She had allowed the affair to continue, she had hidden the fact from her parents. She suspected Grandad Moore knew but accepted she was not ready to talk about things.
What she called the Black Dog, a term for depression that Winston Churchill had made famous, was always at her heels, a constant reminder of her unworthiness, of her deceit at Confession, of her lies to her parents and her feminine weakness. Now, with Jayne Hyslop, she found the strength to face her past. She had a friend she could talk to, a friend who would offer sensible advice and stand with her until she was over it.
First she would think about her future. She knew that having a plan and some achievable goals was a key factor in overcoming depression. Her first goal had to be to secure herself financially.
She knew that Frank had a secret bank account because h
e had asked her to be a joint account holder to lessen his tax obligations in Switzerland. She had to produce her passport, and have her photo taken on the laptop. She had signed papers that had to be witnessed. Then Frank hid everything away, keeping all of his records secretly in the garage. Louise came to the conclusion that either Frank had taken the papers with him, or they were hidden about the house. Although she hunted high and low, including in the garage, she never found them and came to the conclusion that she would have to threaten Frank with exposure of the accounts unless he agreed to give her access.
The thought of conflict weighed her down even more. She made up her mind to ask Jayne for advice, or perhaps even to accompany her when she talked to Frank. She was miserable because Frank managed to black her access to Alexander each time she made an arrangement to see him or to have her son overnight. That was another fight she was dreading.
CHAPTER 38.
After teaching Youssef and working at the hospital until three o’clock, Louise made her way back to the garage. The side door was not locked and when she went inside she could see why not; Frank had cleared everything out everything that had been left behind. He must have used a truck and some workmen to do the job one day while she had been at work for the shelves and the cupboards and the drawers were entirely bare.
The writing desk had been cleaned out. Nothing was on the top, on the shelves above or in the drawers. A key was in the top drawer which was partly open. As Louise pulled the drawer open, it fell and crashed on the floor. There was nothing it.
As she lifted the drawer to put it back in its slot she found a brown envelope taped to the underside. The envelope contained letters from the bank in Switzerland, with details of the joint bank account. Her name and Frank’s were listed as owners, and the recognition process was detailed, complete with the sixteen digit password that Frank had written in ball point pen.
Because Louise spent half of her professional life on a computer, she had no difficulty finding the website. She used the recognition process, answered the security questions, put in the password, and then she was in. There was over eight million Euros in the account. Louise pushed the currency conversion button to find that equated to over twelve million New Zealand dollars. And she was an equal partner.
Louise made a cup of tea while she considered what to do. Because Frank had never earned money on this scale it had to be dirty, from kickbacks and graft and untaxed payments. It was tainted. Her conscience told her to have nothing to do with it. But half of it was hers. It was a joint account. She did not need a divorce settlement to get her share. She could take it right now..
Louise went back into the bank account. There was a menu for setting up a new account. She filled in all the details, scanned her passport and attached the scan. Then she filled in all the details for a separate account in her name, transferring fifty percent of the available funds to set up the account.
A call button flashed. A bank official was calling her on Skype. She was asked to turn on the camera for recognition purposes. The caller was a woman, wearing a black office suit, and a nice white blouse with a small black bow tie at the neck.
Louise answered all of her questions honestly, including the fact that Frank had left her, and that she was entitled by law to half of the funds and wanted to secure them before he could bleed the account. The bank clerk was sympathetic and said that there was no limit to what she could take from the account as she was a full partner, and her scanned signature matched the passport. Louise said she wanted only what was her due; they had both worked hard for a very long time to accumulate the funds, but she would be happy with a half share.
Twenty four hours later Louise received a message confirming that her account was now active and advising that she should print and save the attachment in a safe place. The money had been transferred to her personal account in Switzerland.
Frank was going to be livid. This was going to hurt him more than the toy softball bat had.
CHAPTER 39.
Charlotte and Nigel were rowing constantly now. Charlotte was still determined to make Louise’s life a living hell by absorbing Nigel and denying Louise but her efforts were not working. Their roles had reversed; Nigel was the one who was too tired, who had unexplained absences, who would not respond to her increasingly agitated emails. Quite plainly, Nigel was getting satisfaction elsewhere.
The equation was easy to follow; Nigel and she were finished. Charlotte could see that clearly now. As always, the reason was Louise because she had slept with Nigel at the party after New Years Day, and he was calling on Louise regularly for afternoon sex. She had seen that with her own eyes as she kept a close eye on the heart breaker’s house. N+L= -C. QED.
Charlotte kept turning her mind back to her losses; Louise had cost her Mr Bannister, now she had taken Nigel. But there was a way to get revenge; she could have an affair with Frank as another way of hurting Louise.
Frank had hired a housekeeper, Trudi Reeves from the party, who was in fact his paid mistress. Trudi was studying a diploma in law at the Polytech. To get a degree she needed to study at a university in Wellington, Christchurch or Dunedin. Charlotte had heard that to earn money to go to the university in Wellington Trudi was saving hard and would sleep with anyone to make money. Charlotte’s informant was Jason, who had told her when she last bought some recreational drugs.
Getting Frank into bed was easy. There was no opposition from Trudi. As long as she was paid to housekeep for Frank she was happy. It also allowed Trudi to earn money on the side at night.
Charlotte found that she and Frank could meet only for a short time during the day, because Frank had his work and Charlotte had her shop to run, plus her stalking. But the nights were different. Sex with Frank was one of the best ways to get payback but only if Louise found out. Charlotte would have to work on that: maybe send some photos in the mail, or post suggestive pictures on Facebook or Messenger? But that might interfere with Frank’s attempt to gain permanent custody of Alexander so perhaps it was not such a good idea.
“Are you going to Court over Alexander’s custody?” she asked him after an afternoon session in a motel room.
“At the moment, I keep Alexander with me but I have to pay Trudi to look after him. Louise has sent a lawyer’s letter offering a half and half split of assets with her getting custody of Alec. I would have four weeks a year which doesn’t suit me, it’s the only time I really have for him.”
“Did you know she slept with Nigel on the night of the party?” asked Charlotte.
“No, I didn’t. I thought she was with Larcombe,” Frank replied.
“She might have had both of them,” said Charlotte, gilding the lily. “She was as high as a kite that night. They are still at it, you know.”
“What? Nigel and Louise? I don’t believe it!” Frank replied.
“Your friend Larcombe goes round there often enough, too.” Charlotte was winding Frank up. “Here, look at my phone.”
Frank looked at the phone.
“There’s Nigel going in,” said Charlotte. “And this is Nigel coming out again. Look at the time; he was there for nearly two hours. The guy’s got stamina!”
Frank flicked the pictures backward and forward. He came to a picture of Larcombe.
“That’s Larcombe,” he said. “When was this?”
“He’s there a lot,” said Charlotte. “I think he sits in his car watching. Or something.”
Charlotte flicked through her photos and found Larcombe sitting in his car. Then there was a picture of him returning to the Mercedes, with a satisfied look on his face.
Frank was appalled.
“Not Louise!” he said. “Can’t be. Stuart hasn’t asked for the bet to be paid.”
“A bet?” asked Charlotte. “Oh, do please tell me about it!”
“I bet Larcombe two thousand dollars that he couldn’t get Louise to have sex with him, without drugs.”
“You what! You’re awful,” said Charlotte. “That is
disgusting!”
But she was laughing as she said it. Knowledge is power, and Charlotte had just added a tasty morsel that would give her an advantage over Louise.
First, Charlotte had to let Louise know that she had stolen Louise’s husband, then if anything nasty happened, she could bring up the bet between the two men. Which woman was the Harlot?
“Let me take a picture of you with no shirt, leaning over as if you are going to devour me.”
“Like this?” Frank leered at Charlotte. He had a towel around his waist; he had just showered, which made the photograph quite suggestive. Charlotte quickly typed on her mobile phone keyboard, sending the photo to Louise’s Messenger account. It would show Charlotte as having sent the picture, which would serve a dual purpose. Tit for Tat, cow.
CHAPTER 40.
When he found out that Louise had transferred half of his secret slush fund into an account in her own name Frank was absolutely livid. Through his rugby training he had learned to suppress his naturally aggressive temperament but on occasions he became physically violent. This was such an occasion. Flying into a rage, he smashed a coffee table, threw a vase against a wall and slammed doors, making Alexander cry in fear.
He realised how clever Louise had been, taking exactly half, and keeping to the same bank but in a separate account. He could hardly take her to Court for what she had done as he had never paid tax on the money. He had to pay the Swiss tax department for interest earned, which he had split between himself and Louise, never dreaming that she would then be able to access the account. How had she managed that?
Still angry, Frank drove furiously to Allnatt Street and argued with Louise. He shouted so loudly and thumped and crashed furniture so violently that Mrs Hohepa across the road called the police.
Two uniformed officers arrived, a man and a woman. The woman took Louise out to the squad car and consoled her. Louise had not been touched but she was thoroughly frightened and inclined to blame herself. She said done nothing to cause Frank’s outburst; it was up to him to disclose what the row was about.
The Stalking of Louise Copperfield Page 16
