Darren Cooke had tried everything he could think of to find his ex-wife. Stacy wasn’t going to get away with refusing to take him back. He’d taught her a lesson or two when they were together and she’d learnt to do what he wanted.
Unlike the woman he’d left her for. She had run away one day while he was at work. But she wasn’t worth fetching back. She was far less capable in the house than Stacy had been, not even a good cook. He’d been wrong to break up his marriage, but he was going to put it all together again.
He’d be sweetness and light at first, because women were suckers for that approach, but if he had to teach Stacy a few new lessons to bring her into line later on, he would. Apart from anything else, he’d got drunk one night and boasted to his friends that he’d get her back, that he wasn’t going to let her make a fool of him.
He shouldn’t have boasted, because it made it even more important to prove he could get control of her again.
He found out quite easily where her parents had moved to, but he knew better than to approach them directly. It was partly their fault his marriage had broken up. They’d never made him feel like part of the family, had always undermined him.
None of their neighbours had seen Stacy visiting them, either, he found from seemingly casual chats. And though he kept watch on the Walshes’ house a couple of weekends, he saw no sign of her or of them going to visit her.
Then he was shocked rigid to be sacked from his job. Because of poor attendance and lack of productivity, they said. Well, to hell with them. He’d soon find another job. He always did. But that was the final straw. It was her fault, making him careless because he was worrying. Things would fall into place again once he got her back.
He had to think his plans through more carefully before he did anything else from now on. He was pretty sure Stacy wouldn’t have moved too far away. He’d bet anything you liked that she’d still be within driving distance of her parents.
He was pretty sure she would have gone back to working on that rubbishy art of hers, too. She was obsessed by it. As if anyone could make a living from welding bits of scrap metal together! So he started searching online for articles on art or events where she might be selling things.
It was by sheer chance that he found the article about the Arts and Crafts Village that was opening up in Wiltshire. That was close enough to her parents’ new home to be worth a try.
He doubted she’d win one of the tenancies, but she might very likely apply. She was always far too optimistic about her skills. He’d hack into the computer of the people offering the tenancies and see if she’d applied. Most people were very lax about computer security.
Only he didn’t manage to break through their security system. Someone who really knew what they were doing had set up a well-defended website, he had to grant them that.
OK then. He might have to go down there and see what was going on. He could pretend to be searching for her, think up some sob story about a lost love.
Or just go and visit this art village place a couple of times and say he was thinking of applying. He’d see who turned up there. Even if she didn’t win a tenancy there, he’d bet she’d visit it. She was always wanting to go to art galleries and boring places like that.
Since he’d lost his job he had plenty of free time so he’d go this very weekend. No, during the week would be better. Then he got another temporary job as a barista. Never thought he’d be doing that again, having to smile at idiots spending a fortune on fancy coffees. Still, it paid the rent, and he could take leftover food home. There was no rush to go looking for Stacy tomorrow, after all.
When he was offered the barista job permanently, he postponed his little jaunt once again. Money was always useful and he didn’t want to break into what he’d got from selling the house. He and Stacy would need it as the deposit on their new house.
He’d go down to Wiltshire in a week or two. Once she’d found a place to live, she would stay there, he was sure. She was a real homemaker and she did it well, he had to grant her that. She’d put her heart into that little house they’d bought. He’d thought that foolish but then her improvements brought them a higher price.
So he’d find her, one way or the other.