The Butterfly Enigma by Lorraine Campbell

Author:Lorraine Campbell [Campbell, Lorraine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Fiction, Thriller, Romance
ISBN: 9780994338747
Publisher: McIntosh Publishing
Published: 2015-11-12T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

The Mildura Lawn Tennis Club was down by the river, a five minute walk from the hotel. It was a popular place at weekends and nearly all the courts were in use.

They played three sets. The first few games it was obvious Nordstrom was holding himself back, letting her win points. Lena, who had a strong competitive streak when it came to sport, had no compunction in taking full advantage of the situation. When Nordstrom found himself down five-two in the first set, his game suddenly changed. He had left it too late, though, and Lena sliced and volleyed her way to a first set win of six-four.

‘That’s more like it,’ she remarked as they changed ends. ‘When I beat you, I want it to be fair and square.’

‘Oh?’ Nordstrom looked amused. ‘Let’s go to it then.’

From then on it became a grudge match. Nordstrom started to put full power into his serve, going after every point. Lena played harder than she had ever done in her life, determined to keep up, chasing down every ball, even the seemingly hopeless ones. The result was Nordstrom hardly seemed stretched at all, while she was red-faced and puffing.

One particular rally lasted quite some time. Lena thought she had the point won with a smash to the baseline. Nordstrom managed to get to it, hitting a high lob. Lena raced across court, so determined to get to the ball that she finally threw her racket at it in desperation. Then she slipped on the grass and ended up flat on her face.

‘Nice effort,’ Nordstrom called out. ‘Are you okay?’

Merde! She sat up and looked around for her racket. ‘Never better,’ she sang out.

At the end of the next rally, she flew across the court, dribbled a mean little drop volley just over the net. Nordstrom sprinted to get it before the second bounce, missed, and ended up crashing headlong into the net.

‘Oop-la!’ Lena stood with one hand on hip, the other twirling her racket, trying not to laugh. ‘Are you all right?’

Nordstrom was rubbing his elbow. ‘Perfectly fine, thank you,’ he said through clenched teeth.

They toiled in the hot sun for over two hours, Nordstrom finally winning four-six, seven-five, eight-six. They shook hands at the net like a couple of professionals.

‘Good game,’ Nordstrom said.

‘Thanks, judge,’ Lena replied with a cheeky grin.

They walked back to the club house, dripping with perspiration. After quenching their thirst with glasses of water, they adjourned to the terrace, Nordstrom with an ice-cold fruit juice and Lena with a tall glass of Marchants creamy soda. They sat for a while in silence, sipping their drinks and gazing out over the river Murray.

A cool breeze had sprung up, riffling the leaves of the huge gums down by the river. A white paddle steamer came into view, sounding its horn as it slowly made its way downstream.

‘So you’re not entirely ruling it out then?’ Nordstrom said.

Lena turned to him with a puzzled expression. ‘Pardon?’

‘Playing in the women’s final at Wimbledon.’

‘Oh?’

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