Unfaithful (28 page)

“The psychopathic personality seems to be a magnet to women,” Ronson writes. “Many of them are very attractive. They can be extremely charming, very persuasive in courtship and incredibly gallant.”

A shiver ran through Brianna as Rebecca's words ran through her mind again. Ronson's book seemed to be describing Mark exactly. She distractedly took a sip of her now cold coffee and continued reading.

“There is also a mystery to these personalities,” Brianna read, “essentially, something is missing. They may appear to be withholding something from you, and charisma flourishes in absence. They may well be successful too.

One study found a large proportion of psychopaths, in fact four or five times greater, among CEOs, directors and supervisors than among the general population.

Recklessness, ruthlessness, persuasion and charisma go down well in business, and even if they aren't doing well they'll talk a good game. They talk big and seem full of confidence. They have grandiose ambitions and they draw you in.”

Brianna jumped at a knock on her office door.

“I'm heading home now, if there's nothing else, Dr. Moynihan?” Eileena, her receptionist, stuck her head around the door.

“Yes, that's fine, Eileena, see you in the morning.” Brianna took a deep breath and continued reading.

“Beware,” Ronson warned, “psychopaths are whirlwinds of malevolence. He's the lion and you're the impala running innocently through the field. A psychopath will use a partner to gratify his needs. He could be marrying for the short-term, whirlwind thrill of it, or to acquire social respectability. He may be in search of a trophy wife or he may be marrying for money. However, love and responsibility won't figure into his equation.”

Brianna flicked quickly through the rest of the book and got up to make a fresh, hot coffee. She closed her office blinds against the dark night sky. It was a horribly wet and windy night, with the rain pounding incessantly against the windows, as it had been all day.

She was fascinated by the psychopathic personality. She had done her final dissertation on psychopathic killers and was thrilled at the opportunity to be able to explore that side of psychology again. She went back to her desk and typed “psychopathic killers” into the search engine.

A list of names and cases popped up on her computer. The first case that she opened was that of Sarah Cleary, a young mother of two children, who was found dead by her father, Paul, in her County Clare home in February 2000.

Sarah's husband, Niall, had been conducting an affair, and a 2003 trial would find that he killed his wife while on an errand from work, before returning to his desk. He is now serving a life sentence.

The next case Brianna opened was that of Jason White, a charming Australian pilot. He was cleared of murder in 2010, but found guilty of the manslaughter of his estranged and wealthy wife, Jane. White bludgeoned Jane to death and buried her in a box when it appeared that the divorce settlement would not be in his favour. Family and friends of the victim spoke afterwards of his manipulative and calculating personality.

Earlier this year, police discovered the murdered body of Red Cross worker, Angela Hoyt, in her home just outside London. Police launched a huge manhunt for her partner, Martin Collett, who was originally known to Hoyt's family as a highly intelligent, devoted and engaging man, who had become increasingly vicious and manipulative. Collett committed suicide on a railway line.

Brianna rubbed her aching temples. She could feel the beginning of a headache. Her eyes were sore from staring at the computer screen all day and she was drained from another emotional day. She tried not to get emotionally involved with her patients, but it was difficult sometimes, especially in cases like Rebecca's.

She seemed like such a genuine, kind, caring woman and to be treated so badly by someone who was supposed to love her seemed unfair and very wrong. Brianna's mother had tried to instill in her that if she was a good person then good things would come to her, but Brianna knew that that wasn't the case a lot of the time.

She sighed and pulled some paracetamol from her desk drawer, swallowing the tablets quickly in an effort to extinguish the building pain behind her eyes before her headache really took hold. She longed to be back in her cosy little flat, without having to go to all the trouble of actually getting there. If she left her office now, it would be at least an hour before she was home, what with the rush hour traffic that she could hear noisily outside her office window.

Chapter 34

Rebecca sat up suddenly in bed. Her heart was racing and her entire body was covered in sweat. She switched on the bedside lamp which immediately flooded the room in light. Her eyes searched the room frantically, looking for any sign of disturbance, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Everything was just as she'd left it earlier.

She took a few deep breaths, trying to steady her rattled nerves. She'd had that dream again, where she was surrounded by a blinding light and then there was a loud thunder bolt and lightning flash.

It had been a recurring dream of hers over the past few months. She always felt completely disconcerted after the dream. She couldn't really describe it as a nightmare because it was over so quickly and nothing had happened other than the blinding lightning and thunder bolt. She leaned over to her bedside locker and removed a thick book from her ever-increasing “to be read” pile.

She'd stopped off at her local book shop on her way home from the doctor's. Reading had always been her favourite pastime. It brought her so much comfort and peace. It was so wonderful to be able to escape to an entirely different life and place and time within the pages of her favourite books.

Mrs. Collins, the lady who owned Bessie's Books, was an avid reader herself and she and Rebecca would often spend many happy hours having sometimes quite animated discussions about their latest reads. She had inherited Bessie's Books from her mother when she'd passed away, and now she ran it more as a hobby than a profit making business. She had lost her husband a few years previously and their children were grown up with lives of their own to lead.

She devoted most of her time to Bessie's Books. It was like stepping into another world when you opened the door. It was set just off the main street and had a huge bay window at the front. The heady aroma of cakes and coffee greeted you as soon as you stepped inside the door. The walls were lined from floor to ceiling with books of every description.

Mrs. Collins sold a mixture of new and second hand books and was happy to order any book that her customers requested. She had become quite an expert on the computer over the years, and could find her way around the internet faster than Rebecca ever could. She was forever recommending websites to Rebecca and discussing her latest internet find with her new friend. She and Rebecca had often talked about starting a book club, something which Rebecca was starting to find more and more appealing.

It was early days yet, but she and Mrs. Collins had already had some flyers made up and had handed them out at the local community centre and passed them on to any customers of Bessie's Books. When the weather was favourable, she would put out tables and chairs for her customers to sit outside and read, while enjoying the sunshine and a complementary coffee and cake. She spent hours baking cakes and biscuits for her customers most evenings and was never too busy to stop for a chat.

She really was one of the kindest and most accepting people that Rebecca had ever met and had been a true source of strength and friendship to her over the gruelling last few weeks.

Rebecca scanned the index of the book on dreams that Mrs. Collins had recommended to her until she found the section on light. She opened it carefully and began to read. The book explained that lightning in a dream denotes unexpected changes which are about to take place or are already taking place.

These changes may come about through some type of realisation or revelation. Often such a revelation has the effect of knocking down the structures we have built in as safeguards in our lives. Alternatively, the book explained, we need to make changes in the way that we think, while leaving our everyday structures in place. Lightning can also indicate strong passion, such as love, which may strike suddenly but be devastating in its effect. Rebecca read all of this and felt as if she was reading her own life story.

She hadn't believed in reading much into dreams until Mrs. Collins had convinced her of the very real power of dreams. She'd given Rebecca her favourite dream book and all she'd asked in return was that Rebecca keep the book by her bed for a month and as soon as she woke from a dream that she would immediately look up the meaning in the book.

This was Rebecca's first time reading the book and she was already fascinated.

When we dream of lightning, we are marking a discharge of tension in some way, Rebecca continued reading. There may be a situation in our everyday lives which actually has to be blasted in order for something to happen which will change the circumstances. This may seem like a destructive act on our part, but it is nevertheless necessary.

If we take all the known facts into account our intuition will make us aware of the correct action. Spiritually, lightning denotes some form of spiritual enlightenment. This may be the sudden realisation of a personal truth, or of a more universal awareness; literally, something which had not “struck us” before. In dreams a lightning flash can also represent the Holy Spirit.

Rebecca lay back against the pillows, amazed by all that she had just read. Mrs. Collins was right after all. She'd insisted that the power of the subconscious mind often reveals itself to us in our dreams, our unconscious state.

Rebecca had been plagued by that same blinding flash of light for months and it had really started to worry her. She had to open her eyes just for the room to be dark again. The blinding light only appeared when she was asleep.

She was relieved in a way at what her dreams had revealed. She could easily apply to herself most of what she'd just read. She'd begun to worry that she was getting some sort of a brain tumour with the lightning flashes, but the dream book had put her mind at ease a little.

She thought back on the meeting she'd had that afternoon with Dr. Moynihan. She was so relieved at being able to reveal her thoughts and feelings to another person who was in no way connected to her and that this stranger believed her story. She'd been afraid that Dr. Moynihan wouldn't believe her.

She expected the doctor to tell her it was all in her head, that people broke up all the time and that she was simply over-reacting to the situation, but Dr. Moynihan had listened carefully to her and had agreed with her that she'd been through a terrible time. It was such a relief to have that validation from a professional medical person.

Chapter 35

“May I speak with Mr. Mark McNamara please?” a very educated voice greeted Rebecca, when she answered her mobile phone.

“This isn't Mark's number,” she snapped down the phone.

“This is one of the numbers on his business card,” the posh voice continued, beginning to sound slightly confused.

“Oh, yes,” Rebecca replied, “that is correct.”

He must have forgotten to change the number, she thought to herself absent-mindedly.

“Is this M & R Photography?” he insisted.

“Yes, yes it is,” Rebecca said, “how can I help?”

She decided to change her tone with the caller. After all, it didn't hurt to be polite and it was hardly his fault that the number wasn't changed on the business card. She knew it was in her best interest too, to pass any potential new business on to Mark.

Their business had seen a marked decline already in the few short weeks since the exhibition. She hadn't entirely thought through the financial impact of her actions in humiliating Mark that night. Oh well, she thought to herself, it was worth it.

“How can I help?” Rebecca asked, sounding much more professional suddenly.

The caller cleared his throat dramatically.

“Well, my name is Charles Middleton-Sinclair and I was given a catalogue of your studio's photographic work by one of my colleagues who attended the exhibition a few weeks ago.”

“Oh, yes?” Rebecca said, cringing slightly at the memory of that memorable evening.

“I am the artistic director for the Renaissance Hotel group and I was quite struck by your collection of photographs.

I would be very interested in setting up a meeting to discuss buying some of your original pieces to display in our hotels worldwide.”

Rebecca almost dropped the receiver in shock as the magnitude of Mr. Middleton-Sinclair's words hit her.

The Renaissance Hotel group was renowned worldwide as a very exclusive group of hotels. Their range consisted of five star hotels and they even boasted one of the first six star hotels in the world!

Rebecca's mind began to run overtime as she calculated how much money M & R Photography could make by entering into a deal with such a company, not to mention the worldwide recognition and reputation that their photographs would gain!