The Back Road (21 page)

‘I’m sure he does, and as long as you’re happy that’s all that counts.’

Leo was watching Fiona’s face carefully. She didn’t seem to be behaving any differently to normal and didn’t give the impression that she was worried about anything, and particularly not Charles.

‘Well, you have to admit that it was good of him to agree to move back up here even though he has a hell of a commute, and he’s away from home every night except Saturday and Sunday, so I have the house - and my bed - to myself.’

Leo took a mouthful of the delicious salad. She needed to keep an impassive face. She swallowed the food and took a sip of water.

‘Does he never come home until Saturday, then? Could he not get back on a Friday night?’ she asked, as if it were of no real interest.

‘When we first moved up here, he used to come home on Friday, but recently he’s said that at the end of a long week it’s good to go back to his own flat to relax, and then make the journey on a Saturday morning. I don’t mind, if that works best for him.’

Leo said nothing. If Charles hadn’t been here on Friday night, what did the police want to talk to him about? Did Fiona know?

‘He’s not gone back this week, though,’ Fiona added, frowning. ‘He said he’d decided to take a week off, although God knows why. He’s hanging around the house looking bored, as if I’m supposed to provide him with some entertainment. For me, it’s life as normal. If that means that I have to go out, he will have to amuse himself. I have a feeling that he thought Saturday night was a bit upsetting all round and that maybe I would be grateful for his support. I have absolutely no idea where he got that notion from.’

‘When you came into the shop yesterday, the natives were all a bit over-excited about the accident,’ Leo said, thinking carefully about her every word. ‘You know what this place is like - without gossip, I think some of the locals would die of boredom.’

‘True - and I’ve been at the sharp end of that gossip more than once, I can tell you. But I’ve heard nothing about the accident. I thought you might know more - with Ellie looking after the girl, Max and Pat knowing her from school and you all having the benefit of the dashing policeman next door. I would have thought if anybody was in the know, it would be you.’

Leo shook her head, more convinced than ever that Fiona knew nothing, but surprised that Charles had made a sudden decision to stay in Cheshire this week. Why would he do that? Leo felt a jolt of concern for Fiona who she realised was watching her, waiting for her response.

‘Ellie says Abbie’s still in a coma, poor kid. Pat seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth, and the dashing policeman as you call him
isn’t
a policeman at the moment, and if he was I doubt he would share anything. I understand they’ve been interviewing everybody who was caught on camera on Friday night, though.’

Fiona glanced up from her food, and looked at Leo through slightly narrowed eyes. She’s assessing what I know, Leo thought. She leaned back in her chair, careful to keep her face blank.

Fiona placed her knife and fork together on the plate.

‘Well, I wish I could help with their investigations, but I can’t. I was home alone - only the television and a Friday night bottle of wine to keep me company, I’m afraid. Friday is the start of the weekend, before you ask, Leo. So wine is permitted.’

Leo resisted the temptation to ask why Tuesday was being excluded from the alcohol rules, but further conversation was interrupted by the ringing of Fiona’s phone.

Glancing at the screen, Fiona said, ‘I’m sorry, but I do need to take this.’ She pressed to accept the call.

‘Hello there,’ she said in a silky voice. ‘I’m so sorry, but it’s not convenient to chat right now. I’m having lunch with a friend.’

There was a pause.

‘No, I can’t I’m afraid - this week isn’t entirely suitable. Charles is staying in Cheshire for the week. Perhaps next week? I’m sorry. I do know that this,’ she glanced across at Leo, ‘isn’t exactly how we had expected things to progress, but it can’t be helped.’ She paused again, and the silky smooth tones hardened slightly. ‘Well, unfortunately there’s nothing I can do about it, so perhaps you can hang on until you hear from me.’ She hung up. ‘Sorry, Leo. Only a friend wanting to get together. It will have to wait.’

Leo didn’t think that fitted with Fiona’s earlier attitude to Charles’ unwelcome stay in Cheshire, but decided to keep quiet. An interesting tone of voice, too.

She steered the conversation towards innocuous topics, and while they waited for the coffee they talked about Ellie and Max’s restoration of Willow Farm, and inevitably chatted about Pat, Georgia and Mimi. It wasn’t until the coffee had been served that they got back to the subject of Fiona.

‘You know, I don’t think you ever said what made you decide to return to Little Melham,’ Leo said. ‘I know you’ve been back for a few years now - but why here when there are so many other places in the country that you could choose to go?’

Fiona absently stirred her coffee while she appeared to be thinking of a suitable response.

‘You and I are quite similar you know, Leo. I know you don’t think so, but we both have things to prove - to ourselves if to nobody else. You probably remember that I came from what was always considered to be the rough end of the village. My father was a layabout, and my mother was a cleaner, for God’s sake. Everybody looked down on us, and so I wanted to come right back here and show them. Prove that I could move up in the world. I didn’t want them remembering me as the girl who had nothing.’

Fiona took a careful sip of her hot coffee, but Leo could see a layer of pain beneath the composure. Fiona was holding her head high, but was gently stroking one arm with her other hand, as if offering herself comfort.

‘It’s a shame you felt like that,’ Leo said. ‘I’m sure that Ellie never thought of you as anything but her friend - and being a cleaner is a good, honest job. Where would we be without them? I don’t think you had anything to prove at all.’

Fiona put her coffee cup back in its saucer with infinite care, avoiding Leo’s eyes.

‘It’s easy for you to say, Leo, but I left Little Melham under a cloud of suspicion with a young heart that was broken in pieces. I wanted to come back in style.’

Leo leaned forward towards Fiona.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t want to upset you.’

‘You haven’t, but you have a way of wheedling things out of people, Leo, and it’s not a very attractive trait.’

A raw nerve had been struck, but Leo had more sense than to try to probe any further. She tried to remember what Ellie had said to her on Saturday night - that there were things about Fiona that she couldn’t divulge. And although Leo remembered that Fiona had left the village, it was only yesterday that it was suggested that this was under something of a cloud. But as a topic, it was clearly closed.

‘What I’d really like,’ Fiona said, ‘is another cup of coffee, and a change of subject.’

Leo turned round to look for the waitress.

‘Huh? I don’t bloody believe it,’ Fiona muttered, as a shadow was cast over their table.

Leo turned back.

‘Hello, ladies. Mind if I join you for coffee?’

‘Yes I do,’ said Fiona. ‘What are you doing here? Are you checking up on me?’

As always, Charles seemed impervious to Fiona’s rudeness, and Leo wasn’t sure what to make of his sudden appearance. He pulled up a chair from one of the other tables and sat down.

‘I happened to be passing, and remembered you saying you were meeting Leo. I thought it would be nice to buy you both a cup of coffee. What have you been chatting about?’

‘Nothing that would interest you,’ Fiona responded. ‘That’s why girls have lunch together, so that we don’t have to discuss the bloody economy.’

‘Ah, all clothes and make-up is it. Well, carry on. Don’t mind me.’

Fiona cast him an irritated glance, and Leo knew that Charles had effectively brought an end to their conversation. But the more she thought about the nuggets of information that Fiona had revealed, the more convinced she was that whatever Charles was up to, he wasn’t the only one with something to hide.

29

Ellie was covering a shift for one of the other nurses that afternoon, and the ICU was busy when she arrived at the hospital. An accident on the motorway had resulted in the admission of a couple of other patients, but none of their injuries were quite so bad as Abbie’s, and Ellie was pleased to be told that she would be nursing the young girl again today. As she walked through the unit she could see Kath Campbell in her usual spot, her chair drawn as close to Abbie as she could get, with one hand gently stroking her daughter’s arm. But today she seemed to have lost all control and tears were flowing freely down her cheeks.

‘Kath?’ Ellie said quietly. She crouched down by the side of Kath’s chair. ‘What is it? I’ve checked with the other nurses, and they say Abbie’s no worse - what’s upsetting you so much?’ She took Kath’s other hand between her two.

‘It’s my fault she’s like this. It’s all my fault,’ Kath sobbed. She was clearly finding it difficult to speak, and Ellie stroked her hand.

‘Of course it’s not. Listen, I’m going to get you a glass of water, then you can tell me all about it. Okay?’

Asking the nurse on the next bed to keep an eye open for Abbie, Ellie made her way towards the nurses’ station. She could understand why Abbie’s mum felt the way she did; she knew that if anything happened to the twins, she would inevitably feel that it was all her fault - whether it was or not.

As she was getting a plastic cup of water from the cooler, one of the student nurses grabbed her.

‘Come with me, Ellie. I’ve got something to show you.’

Ellie looked at her wide grin and couldn’t help reciprocating as she was dragged into the office.

‘Ta da!’ she exclaimed, pointing her hand theatrically to a huge arrangement of flowers on the desk. ‘Look what’s just arrived. Aren’t they gorgeous?’

Every single flower was a rose, in every shade of yellow and apricot imaginable.

Ellie felt the blood draining from her face, but the student nurse was chattering on.

‘The note is so thoughtful - do want me to tell you what it says?’

Totally missing the point that Ellie hadn’t said a word, she began to read.

‘“For Abbie. Wishing her a speedy recovery and offering special and sincere love to those wonderful nurses who care for her.” It doesn’t say who it’s from, but how nice is that?’ she said, turning her beaming face to Ellie. ‘I know we can’t have them on the ward, but you should take them home with you. They’re completely fabulous, aren’t they?’

Ellie forced herself to smile. The student was so enraptured by the truly magnificent flowers that she failed to notice Ellie’s shock.

‘Do you know what?’ Ellie said. ‘I think we should give them to Kath to take home. Take the card off, and say they came for Abbie. Thanks for showing me, but I need to get back.’

She knew that her less than enthusiastic response had been noted, but she didn’t care. She had to pull herself together and get on with her work.
What was he thinking?

By the time she returned to the bedside, Kath was calmer and Ellie handed her the water and sat down in the spare chair, mentally telling herself to focus, focus, focus.

‘Okay, Kath, tell me what’s happened since I was here last. Something’s obviously made you feel worse, so talk to me. Maybe I can help.’

‘I’ve been a fool. I gave in to pressure, even though I wasn’t happy about it. I only let her use Facebook because everybody else was doing it. If I’d said no, she’d have been the only one in her class, and she was enough of a loner as it was - not that it was her fault, poor lamb. And now the police believe that it was Facebook that caused the problem.’

Ellie didn’t interrupt. Kath had to tell this in her own time.

‘She made a new friend on Facebook. Chloe she’s called. It was a few months ago now. Chloe contacted her completely out of the blue - and Abbie was so chuffed. She’d tried asking the girls in her class to be Facebook friends, you see, and a lot of them had just ignored her. Why is it that some teenage girls can be so horrible to each other? She’d only got about half a dozen friends, and then this girl Chloe contacted her. She said her family were hoping to move to Little Melham over the summer, and if they did, she’d be starting school here. Her dad was being relocated, and she was looking forward to getting to know other girls from the school. Abbie checked her out, and she had quite a few friends in Durham where she lived. She and Abbie chatted all the time, and Abbie was so happy that she was going to be the first one in her class to know this girl. She said she’d told Chloe things about herself that she’d never been able to tell any other girls at school, and I was so pleased for her. She talked about Chloe all the time, and we almost felt as if we knew her ourselves.’

Ellie squeezed Kath’s hand reassuringly, wondering what this could possibly have to do with Abbie getting knocked over.

Kath swallowed a sob. ‘The police can’t find Abbie’s phone, but they’ve pieced together what happened via Facebook.’ Kath pulled a sheet of paper from her handbag, and passed it to Ellie. ‘This is the last of the messages between Abbie and Chloe on Friday night. Chloe and her mum were arranging to pick Abbie up from the back of the burger place.’

Ellie quickly scanned the messages, which seemed reassuringly normal.

‘That’s good isn’t it? At least now you know where she went and why. What do Chloe and her mother have to say?’

‘Nothing. They have nothing at all to say. That’s the whole point. There
is
no Chloe. She doesn’t exist.

* * *

Ellie hadn’t been able to get anything coherent out of Kath after that last dreadful sentence, so she had decided to break all the rules and for once make her a cup of tea.

By the time she returned to the bedside, Kath had calmed down and her mood had changed. Her lips were clamped together in a tight line, and her body was taut with tension. Ellie placed the hot tea on the bedside cabinet to cool down a little.

‘I’m sorry,’ Kath said. ‘I shouldn’t be burdening you with all this. It was such a shock, though.’

‘You’re not burdening me at all. But you said Chloe had friends in her home town. Wouldn’t they have known that she didn’t exist?’

‘You’d think so, wouldn’t you? Except the friends don’t exist either,’ Kath answered. The anger simmered right below the surface. ‘It was a charade - don’t you see? The whole thing. Pretending to move to the area, making up friends - all so that Chloe seemed real to Abbie - so that she could get to know everything about her.’ Kath looked at Ellie with eyes round with horror. The next words sound as if they were being wrenched from deep within her. ‘She was abducted, Ellie. My baby girl was abducted.’

Abducted
? How could something like this happen around here?

Ellie felt as if cold water was running down her spine. But if it was too much for Ellie to deal with, how must it be for Kath? No wonder she was angry. Ellie would want to murder anybody that hurt her children with her bare hands.

But she was still puzzled. Chloe didn’t exist, but whoever had abducted Abbie must know the area, because they knew where the burger bar was. Did this mean they were local? Oh God, what if it was somebody that she knew? Ellie shuddered.

Kath was talking as if to herself, not worrying whether anybody was listening or not.

‘It’s unbelievable. That somebody could plan this - somebody would harm a child. Just unbelievable.’

Kath reached out a shaky hand for her tea, and nudged the cup, splashing some of the hot liquid onto Abbie’s arm.

‘Oh God, and now I’m trying to burn the poor child. What a useless mother I am.’

Kath put the cup down and started to mop Abbie’s arm. But Ellie wasn’t paying attention. She was watching Abbie, positive that when the hot tea hit her, her arm moved away just a fraction. Ellie jumped up and moved to Abbie’s feet.

‘Did you see that?’ Ellie asked. Kath’s face was suddenly bright with expectation as she watched Ellie run her usual tests. They weren’t actually due, but if Kath believed that her accident with the hot tea had brought Abbie out of her coma, that was absolutely fine by Ellie.

And there was no doubt about it. The coma was definitely lightening

‘This is great news. She’s starting to respond to pain. We’ve got a long way to go, but it’s the first positive sign we’ve had since Abbie was brought in. I know the doctor has explained to you that coming round from a coma isn’t like it is on the TV. She’s not suddenly going to sit up and start talking - but this is a very good sign. Do you want to go and call Brian and tell him? I’ll sit here with her, don’t worry.’

Kath was clearly torn between staying with Abbie and phoning her husband, but she couldn’t bear the thought of him not knowing.

‘I’ll be two minutes - that’s all. I promise.’

Grabbing her mobile phone from her handbag, she dashed for the door.

Ellie sat down by the bed, and started stroking Abbie’s head - just as she had done the day before. She had checked out some of the words to Abbie’s favourite song as well, and memorised the chorus. She started to sing very softly, close to Abbie’s ear. This was all that mattered now. Abbie recovering.

But even the words of the song couldn’t drive out the knowledge that somebody - somebody not too far away from here - had ruthlessly planned and executed the abduction of a teenage girl.