I hope she finds him somewhere nearby, where she can visit often. The two of them will have talked it through, as much as they are able. Love always finds a language. Elizabeth hasn’t come to ask me for help or advice, and I understand that completely. I know from experience that grief rides alone.
I cannot begin to imagine what Elizabeth is going through. Perhaps she feels that Stephen has already left. Perhaps that is where they are. It’s between the two of them, and all I know is that I will be there for her. That’s all I have to give.
They say that time softens the pain, but that’s a fairy tale. Who would ever love again if anyone actually told the truth? I’m afraid there are some days when I could still rip out my own heart and weep myself hollow for Gerry. Some days? Every day. That’s the journey my best friend has just begun.
So forgive me if, for just a while longer, I choose to imagine that Elizabeth is going to the Palace to see the King.
Ron was expecting the ring on his doorbell. Could have timed it almost to the second.
Elizabeth is away for a couple of days, so Ron knows it must be Joyce. At a loose end, certainly, and, hopefully, with cake. He leaves Ibrahim and Computer Bob to their work, and buzzes her in.
‘It will be Joyce, and she will have cake, Bob,’ says Ibrahim. ‘I am sure of it.’
‘Where is Elizabeth anyway?’ Ron asks them, door held open for Joyce’s arrival.
Ibrahim shrugs. ‘Shooting someone?’
Joyce appears at the top of the stairs, with a Tupperware box. Alan trots behind her, sniffing for adventure.
‘Coconut and raspberry,’ she says, lifting the box in offering. ‘Hello, boys.’
Bob stands as she walks into the flat.
‘Sit down, Bob, don’t mind me,’ says Joyce.
‘Cup of tea?’ Ron asks.
‘Do you have milk?’
‘No,’ admits Ron.
‘Do you have tea?’
Ron thinks. ‘No, out of tea too. I’ve got lager?’
‘I’ll get myself a glass of water,’ says Joyce. She wanders into Ron’s kitchen, then calls over her shoulder, ‘So where are we with Tatiana?’
‘We’ve followed Donna’s advice to the letter,’ says Ibrahim.
‘She didn’t say write a fifteen-verse love poem,’ says Ron.
‘I have added my own touches,’ admits Ibrahim. ‘But the bait is laid, and the trap, we hope, is about to be sprung.’
Joyce walks back in, pulls a dining chair over to Ron’s desk and sits down next to Bob and Ibrahim. ‘Are you enjoying it, Bob?’
Bob thinks for a moment. ‘I suppose I am, yes. I’m only here as tech support, really, Ibrahim does the hard work, the poetry and so on. But occasionally the wi-fi goes off and I can be useful. So I find that fun.’
‘And we talk about the world,’ says Ron.
‘And, yes, we talk about the world,’ agrees Bob.
‘Tell me one thing Bob thinks about the world, Ron?’ asks Joyce. ‘From all your conversations?’
Ron thinks. ‘He likes computers.’
Joyce turns to the screen. Ibrahim has started typing. ‘So where are we?’
‘We’ve agreed to pay them a further £2,800,’ says Ibrahim. ‘But we’ve told Tatiana that our bank won’t allow us to transfer it to her. That they’ve flagged it as a suspicious payment.’
‘They did that with my payment when I bought my sofa,’ says Joyce. ‘They had me jumping through hoops.’
‘So we’ve asked if they know anyone in England who could come and collect the money from us and take it to her.’
‘An accomplice?’ says Joyce.
‘We arrange the meet,’ says Ron. ‘A real person shows up, we hand over the money, and Donna and her pals swoop in and arrest them.’
‘So a friend of Tatiana, rather than Tatiana,’ says Joyce.
‘There is no Tatiana,’ says Ibrahim.
‘Oh, yes,’ says Joyce.
‘I am communicating with this friend of Tatiana,’ says Ibrahim. ‘He is called Jeremmy. With two
Joyce reads what’s on screen as the conversation continues.
JEREMMY:
You have the money?
MERVYN:
Tell me more about Tatiana? How long have you known her? Are her eyes as clear and blue as they seem? Do you simply fall into them?
JEREMMY:
I am free Wednesday.
MERVYN:
None of us are truly free, Jeremmy, all of us have our chains. You have a very unusual name? Is there a story of how it came about?
JEREMMY:
Are you free Wednesday also?
MERVYN:
Will you deliver the money to Tatiana yourself? If so, I envy you. I must wait over a week to see her face, to breathe her in.
JEREMMY:
London is best. London and Wednesday.
MERVYN:
No can do, I’m afraid, Jeremmy. I have limited mobility, and I find London very difficult. Also noisy, don’t you think? How do you bear it, Jeremmy? I suppose you are a younger man, and the excitement of a city drives the pulse? You will have to come here.
No reply is forthcoming for the moment.
‘That will be fun,’ says Joyce. ‘If he comes to Coopers Chase and gets arrested. One for the newsletter.’
‘I would like Mervyn to meet him,’ says Ibrahim. ‘Might provide some closure. How is he?’
‘Haven’t seen him,’ says Joyce.
‘Alan must miss Rosie terribly?’
Alan, hearing both his name and Rosie’s, falls to the floor and exposes his belly. Ron does the honours.
‘What did you make of yesterday?’ Ron asks Joyce.
