The Wife Stalker(37)

“I wouldn’t have missed this,” she said, shaking my hand and opening the door wide. “Please, come in.”

It felt like I had entered a foreign world as I followed her through the house. The arched hallway with wooden ceiling beams and earthy terra-cotta tile was so very different from the formal East Coast aesthetic I was used to. We passed a wide, curving stairway with hand-painted tiles on the stair risers and Ava turned to me. “I thought we’d sit outside by the pool. Unless you’d rather be inside?”

“That sounds lovely,” I said.

As we went by the kitchen, Ava stuck her head in. “Juliet, will you bring us out some cold drinks?” We continued through the sunken living room, whose wall-to-wall glass doors were opened wide to the outdoors.

I gasped as we stepped outside to a private paradise of waterfalls gliding over stonework into a huge swimming pool of the brightest turquoise blue. Luscious tropical plants and trees surrounded the entire patio area, and giant ceramic pots held flowers of purple, blood red, and periwinkle. The effect was enchanting.

“Have a seat.” Ava indicated a lounge chair with a soft orange cushion, and just as we sat, Juliet arrived with a pitcher of lemonade and two crystal glasses. She placed the tray on the round mosaic table between us, poured the drinks, and retreated.

I took a long swallow, but Ava ignored her lemonade. “So . . . tell me more about this new identity Pamela has created for herself.”

“As I told you on the phone, she moved to Westport earlier this year. She bought a big house on the water and a small business that was . . . I guess what could be described as a cross between a meditation and health center. She expanded it and added all kinds of alternative therapies. My husband met her because of a client, but then I stupidly encouraged him to take one of her classes, which was how she got her hooks into him.” I knew she’d gone through something similar, but nonetheless I was embarrassed to talk about it with a stranger. “I wasn’t even out of the house. I don’t know how she did it, but it’s been less than six months, and they’re already married.”

Ava was nodding as I spoke. “She’s a calculating bitch. And she’s dangerous.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I can’t lay all of the blame for my marriage problems at her feet, because I was the one who screwed up first. Matthew was always so busy with work that it was almost as if I were a single mom, and I was very lonely. I had a short fling with a younger man, but it meant nothing.” She took a deep breath and waved her hand dismissively. “As I said, Matthew was so involved at his investment firm, not paying attention to me and traveling all the time. We separated, but I realized after I left that I’d made a huge mistake. I told him I wanted to come back and give our marriage another chance, for the sake of all the years we’d been together and for Mia.” At this she began to weep.

My heart broke for her, and I waited silently as she composed herself and went on. “He had just begun seeing Pamela. Or Piper, as you know her.” Her lip curled into a sneer. “She did everything she could to keep us apart. We weren’t divorced. He was still a married man even though we were separated.”

“How long was it before they were married?”

“Oh, it wasn’t long. She was pushing him to get a quickie divorce. Matthew threatened to expose my affair, to tell Mia. I couldn’t have that, and besides, as the months went on, I knew he was never coming back. She had him in her thrall. He was bewitched.”

I sat up straight. “Yes, that’s exactly the word. She bewitched Leo.”

Ava closed her eyes and nodded. “When he was awarded shared custody, it nearly killed me. I didn’t want my daughter near that woman, but I had no choice. Mia hated going to their house on weekends, but I felt there was nothing I could do. I should have insisted. She would be alive now if I had.” She was crying again, deep choking sobs.

My heart began to beat faster. On the phone, she hadn’t provided much detail about the accident, saying she’d prefer to speak in person. I was about to ask her more, but she went on, seeming to need to get it off her chest.

“Mia would come home from there, and it would take all week just to get her out of her funk. Pamela would be overly affectionate with Matthew in front of her, flaunting their relationship. And she began to exert more control at the house, even forcing Mia to drink her horrible green smoothies, which gave her stomachaches. I told her to pretend to drink them and then flush them down the toilet.”

I sighed sympathetically. “How awful. Your poor daughter.”

“I should have done more to keep her from my child, but I couldn’t prove anything to the courts, and Matthew wouldn’t relent. He kept telling me that I needed to give her a chance, that she cared about Mia. I still can’t believe that I was the one who brought that creature into our lives.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I’d hired her to give Mia sailing lessons. At first Mia didn’t want to learn, but Pamela won her over. Mia loved her when she was her teacher, thought she was the coolest thing. Of course, Mia had no idea, and neither did I, that Pamela was only trying to get close to her dad. Once they were married, she couldn’t have cared less about my daughter.”

“She was a sailing instructor?”

Ava nodded. “Yes, at our country club. Just on the weekends. I think she did it to meet a rich husband. I guess she saw all the money that was being thrown around and decided she wanted to be elevated from the help to the helped. You know, after she married Matthew, he gave her the money to leave the practice where she worked and start her own counseling office. But she had no interest in helping anyone but herself. She’s a master manipulator.”