'Right,' Nina nodded. 'Doom, you say. So, why would that be of interest to Robby?'
Nancy sighed again. 'I just don’t know whether I should be telling you. You should ask him yourself.'
'Just tell me and then I'll decide,' Nina reasoned.
Nancy nodded. 'Well, okay. So, she preys on people who are either down on their luck or have had something terrible happen to them. She thrives on trauma, as it were. And not long after the accident with our Robby… Well, you know what happened there – she pursued him. And when it didn’t really go anywhere, she sent him thousands of messages and emails, and it all gotreallynasty.'
'What? Oh my gosh, are you kidding me?'
'I wish, but no, I’m not,' Nancy answered. 'And then it got worse because it all came to a head, but then she took off as fast as she’d arrived. It was weird. Eventually, a few years later, somebody contacted Robby because she had done it to a few other people but it was a lot more serious. I’m not sure how they knew that Robby had been involved with her. There were solicitors involved and, I don’t know, loads of things. It was in the papers. She’d scammed people out of stuff.'
'I can’t believe it! What happened?' Nina asked.
‘Long story short, it went to court, and she was not allowed to go near anyone involved, including our Robby, for five years. That would've been up ages ago, but she’s obviously decided to come back to Lovely Bay for some reason. I'm not sure how she knew about you, though, but she’s obviously put two and two together. She schemes you see.'
'She said something about Facebook…’
‘But you don't post on Facebook, do you?'
'Not really,' Nina said. 'But I do have a few things on there about me and Robby; maybe it showed up on his profile somehow, and she got hold of it. Sophie’s always on there and tagging me in stuff. I think Soph puts what she’s got for dinner on there. Maybe somehow through that…’
'I do know you just need to keepwellclear. Hopefully, she’ll get fed up. I can’t believe she’s back here.'
'I don’t know what to say,’ Nina said.
'I know,' Nancy replied. 'It’s awful.’
‘I can’t believe Robby hasn’t told me about it.'
'I can. I don’t think any of us wanted to talk about it once she’d gone. Especially when we found out what she’d done to other people. And there was somebody else in Lovely as well, but he’s moved away now.'
'Right,' Nina said, feeling a bit put out. 'Robby hasn’t told me any of this.'
Nancy shook her head. 'I honestly don’t think that anyone has thought about it for ages. It was a long time ago now, and we all tried to put it behind us.'
'Right, yeah, I suppose. I thought he would’ve told me, though. It sounds very serious.'
'You’ll have to ask him that.’
'Yes, I will.'
Nancy nodded. ‘You’ll need to let him know that she’s back around. I’m surprised Birdie hasn’t said anything. Has she mentioned it to you since?’
‘No. Though, she’s been all over the show and not well too, so yeah…’
‘Hmm.’
‘God, it sounds terrible. You look worried about it.'
Nancy nodded. 'Yes, it’s not nice. Look, the best thing you can do is google it and have a read of the stuff that was in the paper. There are loads of things on the internet about it, even though it was in the early days of stuff being online. She didn’t just do it around here, either. She did it to a few different people around the country but mostly along the south coast. I can’t remember where she originally came from. Robby got off lightly, so there isthat, I guess. He was included in the court case as a number, as it were.’
Nina nodded. 'Right, oh God, I’ll google it later when I get home.'
'Yes,' Nancy agreed. ‘Then decide what to do.’
After finishing their chowder, Nina and Nancy lingered over their drinks, the atmosphere dampened by the turn in conversation. The Lindsay thing zoomed around Nina’s brain and she couldn’t let it go. ‘So, what do you reckon I should do then?’ Nina asked, swirling the ice in her gin and tonic, her brows knitted in concern.
Nancy sighed, tapping her fingers on the table. ‘Well, first things first, have a google. Then you should definitely talk to our Robby. He's the one who's been through it. He'll know best how to handle it, I guess. I feel bad that I’ve told you.’
