The Back Road (25 page)

‘Go on, Leo. I’d enjoy your company, and you’d be out of the way so Max and Ellie could have some space. If you hide somewhere in the house, Ellie will feel obliged to ask you to join them. Call them and say you’re eating with me.’

Leo clearly didn’t need asking twice, and she pulled out her phone.

‘Shit - the battery’s flat. Can I borrow yours to send Ellie and Max a message, please?’

Tom slid his phone across the worktop, and Leo picked it up and sent a quick text message to both of them. She knew her sister would still be at work, and Max would undoubtedly have his phone switched off, as he nearly always did. But they would find it eventually.

‘Let me get you a drink, as you’re staying. What would you like?’

‘Well - my tipple of choice is vodka, ice cold. But if you’ve not got that, wine is fine.’

‘Vodka coming up. It’s in the freezer, so I guess that will be cold enough for you.’

Tom grabbed a couple of glasses and poured Leo her vodka shot and a glass of red for himself. He laughed as she downed it in one, but rejected a second, pointing at the red wine instead.

‘I only ever have one shot. And only occasionally. It would be a very bad habit to get into, much as I love it. Anyway, I want to savour this food of yours, so one shot, one glass of red, and that will do thanks.’

Putting her dead phone back in her bag, Leo turned to Tom.

‘Why are all men such bastards, Tom?’ she asked.

‘Well, that’s charming,’ he said, laughing. ‘I invite you to dinner, lend you my phone, and you tell me all men are bastards. Nice.’

Leo laughed.

‘Okay, not quite all then. But so many of them are, aren’t they? I’ve been talking to somebody today, who shall remain nameless, but her husband is a brute. The things that poor woman has gone through, and the fact that she consistently lies to cover up for him is so sad.’ Leo rested her chin on her clasped hands, elbows on the worktop.

‘That’ll be Penny then, at a guess,’ Tom said, pulling his mouth into a grimace of distaste. Not for Penny, of course.

‘What makes you think that?’ Leo asked.

‘Oh come on, Leo. I saw the way he treated her. Gary’s one of those guys who states his opinion as if it’s a fact, and one that we should all agree with. Especially Penny.’

Leo looked at Tom with raised eyebrows, her head on one side.

‘Well, well. That’s very astute for a man, if you don’t mind me saying so.’

‘Does your insolence know no bounds, woman? I’m going to feed you, don’t forget - so how about deciding that I don’t fit into your stereotypical man mould and show me some respect?’ Tom gave her a stern look, and Leo grinned at him.

‘Okay - maybe not
all
men are toe rags. I’ll allow you to be an exception. Mind you, I allowed Max to be an exception, and now I’m not quite so sure,’ she said. Tom noticed the frown was back, and decided to be serious for a moment.

‘What’s up, Leo? What are you so worried about?’

Leo took a gulp of her wine.

‘I’m worried about Ellie. There’s stuff going on with Max at the moment that I don’t think I should tell you about, mainly because I think - or sincerely hope - that Ellie is talking rubbish. But she’s got a few things on her mind, and I thought I could help her with one of them, but it seems not.’

Tom said nothing and just moved around the kitchen getting some spicy nuts out to nibble with their drinks.

‘I told you something about my father the other day, but there’s a bit more to it. When I was about fourteen, he disappeared as he always did - but this time he didn’t come back. Ellie was distraught, although I’ve always struggled to understand why. But then Ellie always did see the best in everybody.’

Leo grabbed a handful of nuts and munched them for a moment.

‘The thing is, we’ve no idea what happened to him. Ellie’s mother said she’d had him declared dead seven years after he left, but we’ve never seen a death certificate. Unfortunately, Ellie isn’t convinced. She was always the sort of girl who believed in fairies, and she has it in her head that our father will, as if by magic, reappear now his hideous wife is dead.’

Tom looked at Leo’s serious face.

‘I take it you don’t believe in fairies, or in reincarnated fathers either?’ he asked gently.

‘Do you know, Tom, I don’t actually care if he’s alive or dead. He didn’t really give a damn about either of us, but there’s no telling Ellie that. I’ve tried to check it out, but I haven’t got enough information. To do a search, it seems I need at least an approximate date and place of death, and I have neither. I’ve got the date our stepmother provided, but that’s yielded nothing. One of the reasons Ellie’s moved back to Willow Farm is in case he miraculously decides to seek her out. I think Max has been supportive, but against his better judgement, and if I could only prove one way or the other what happened to him, it might help Ellie.’

Tom sat quietly and thought about Leo’s problem.

‘Would you like me to see if I can help? I can’t use any official channels, of course, but I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve after years of tracking people down.’

‘That would be brilliant, Tom. Thank you.’

Leo seemed to sag with relief, as if one burden had been lightened. Tom couldn’t help feeling good about that. She shared the limited facts she had with him, and promised to email her thin file of information over as soon as she got back tonight.

‘There’s another strange thing. We were all out on Sunday, although not for very long, but Ellie’s convinced somebody had been in the house. We told her she was imagining things, but I’m not so sure.’

Leo explained about her laptop and the files.

‘Did you call the police?’ Tom asked,

‘No. There were no signs of a break-in and nothing was missing. Maybe I should have spoken up at the time, but Ellie was blaming Max for leaving the back door open, he was swearing he didn’t, and I just thought my evidence was too flimsy and I would be stirring things up unnecessarily if I voiced any doubts. What should we do, do you think?’

‘If Max really is adamant that he didn’t leave the door open, as a minimum I think you should have the locks changed and you should report it.’

‘Not much chance of that, I’m afraid. Max thought Ellie was dreaming. With hindsight, I should have backed her up.’

‘If you want, you can call the police now,’ Tom said, ‘and I’ll come over too to make sure they take you seriously. But as it was a couple of days ago, it makes it a bit more difficult. Get Max to change the locks, and if it’s making Ellie nervous, get some CCTV set up.’

Leo pulled a face.

‘At the moment, everything seems to be making Ellie nervous. Let’s hope that Max’s romantic dinner calms her down a bit. He’s been trying really hard to please her, but it doesn’t seem to be working. Ever since I arrived, things seem to have been going crazy round here. I had to fend off one of the village gossips earlier who wanted to talk about Abbie Campbell. I couldn’t believe it when I heard that she had been abducted. That poor child.’

Mindful of Steve’s request to pick up any chit-chat, Tom was keen to know what was being said, but wasn’t quite sure how to get the most out of Leo. At the first sign of interrogation, she would back off. He was sure of that. He had to help her to volunteer the information.

‘In a small, quiet village where everybody seems to know everybody else, it must come as a shock when something like this happens,’ he said without looking at Leo, concentrating on topping up her wine glass.

‘They’ve had Charles down at the station. Did you know about that?’

‘I’m not a policeman anymore, Leo,’ he answered, avoiding a direct answer.

‘Did you know that Charles has decided to stay in Cheshire this week? From what I can gather, that’s very out of character at short notice.’

Tom gave a noncommittal grunt, which appeared to satisfy Leo as she carried on talking with barely a break.

‘They said that Pat was questioned too. Well, I presume it was Pat because they said a deputy head. He’s not the only deputy, I don’t suppose, but he was apparently out and about for some of the night. The weird thing about it is that nobody has been able to speak to Pat since Sunday. Max has tried to call him and failed - and according to Ellie, those two rarely pass a day without speaking. She says they’re like a couple of old women. But he hasn’t called Max either.’

‘Perhaps it’s because of the new love in his life. Maybe she’s taking up his every waking moment.’

Leo pulled a face. ‘I don’t get that relationship either. You should have met his wife, Tom. I think you’d have liked her. I do feel sorry for Mimi though. Everybody seems to blame her for it all. Anyway, there are more important things to think about. You’re supposed to be the man in the know, so what have your police friends told you about progress on the Abbie investigation? Are they any closer to finding the abductor or the driver - or do they think they’re one and the same?’

Tom moved over to the hob. He took the lid off the curry and gave it a stir. It didn’t need it, but he didn’t want Leo to see his face. Steve had told him about some of the people they’d interviewed, but it wasn’t something he could discuss.

‘Enquiries are on going. I’m sure they’ll catch whoever it was, but these things take time. They need to build a case.’

He didn’t tell her that, according to Steve, they had no suspects at all - for either the abduction or the accident.

33

As Ellie opened the front door, she sniffed lightly. She recognised that smell. Max had been cooking, and she knew it was spaghetti bolognese. He called it his speciality, but the truth was that it was the only thing he knew how to cook. She had really hoped to grab a cheese sandwich and disappear to bed, but she couldn’t tell Max that. She didn’t even know if they would be speaking, but at least Leo would be there to keep things on an even keel.

Dumping her bag in the hall, she made her way through to the kitchen, and paused on the threshold. The kitchen lights were dimmed, with only the light over the Aga shining brightly, and out through the glass doors to the terrace she could see a beautifully laid table, with candles burning in glass hurricane lamps. A brightly coloured jug stuffed full of flowers from the garden took pride of place in the centre.

Max was standing just inside the door, hovering anxiously. Given the mood she’d been in when she’d left, she knew that he wasn’t sure how she was going to respond to his efforts.

‘Where’s Leo?’ was about all she could muster.

‘Leo’s gone out - round to Tom’s. The twins are in bed and asleep - so it’s just you and me. Here, have a glass of wine and come and sit down.’

Max hastily grabbed a bottle of red wine from the worktop and poured two glasses. He picked up the iPod remote and Ellie was amazed to hear the soft tones of Snow Patrol coming through the speakers.

‘“Chasing Cars”? Are you okay, Max? You hate this sort of music,’ Ellie said, accepting the glass of wine that Max was holding out.

‘Tonight’s not about me. It’s about you. So it’s cheesy music all the way, I’m afraid. Come on, let’s go and sit outside for a moment while the water boils for the pasta. I’m sorry it’s nothing more exciting, but you know my limitations.’

Only a couple of short months ago, Ellie would have been overwhelmed by Max’s show of consideration for her, but she was struggling to decide if he was motivated by a guilty conscience or if this was a genuine act of love.

As soon as she stepped outside, Ellie could see how much effort he’d made and she felt a hot rush of tears at the back of her eyes. But she needed a bit of space before she could put on the performance that would be expected of her.

‘This looks incredible Max. Really it does. Do you think, though, that you could put the pasta on hold for ten minutes? I’d love to have a shower before we sit down, and pop in to give the kids a kiss. Is that okay?’

She saw a brief flash of disappointment in Max’s eyes. He clearly believed he had thought of everything, and she vowed to make it up to him when she came down. She was going to push everything else to the back of her mind, and focus on her husband. Maybe she could still save them from catastrophe.

She leaned over to brush her lips gently against his cheek, and made her way towards the stairs, picking up her bag from where she’d left it. As she walked upstairs, she sensed rather than heard her phone vibrating, and fished around amongst the debris of her handbag until she found it. She had two text messages. One from a number she didn’t recognise, and one from a blocked number. When had the pleasure of receiving a message turned into alarm?

Throwing her bag on the bed, she sat down and stared at her phone. A wave of panic swept through her. Opening the one with the unknown number first, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was from Leo, confirming that she would be staying at Tom’s for dinner. Feeling a bit more relaxed, she hoped the second message was going to be just as harmless.

It wasn’t.

Ellie stared at the phone as if mesmerised by the words. The glow of the screen danced before her eyes. It had to be
him
. What was he playing at, blocking his number and sending her threatening texts? She knew he was trying to frighten her, but why? Was it because she wouldn’t agree to see him, or to leave Max for him? Was he just trying to break down all of her flimsy defences? Of all the nasty, mean things to do. She would never have expected him to stoop so low as to use tactics like this. And why bring her father into it? The older people in the village were bound to remember Leo’s background - where she came from and the welcome she’d had when she had arrived. He must have heard the gossip. It
must
be him.

Ellie punched the button to delete the message, and switched her phone off. The backs of her eyes were hot and stinging, but she fought back the tears. She couldn’t cry - Max would know. And she had to appear normal for him.

Determinedly stripping off her clothes, she flung them on a chair and went into the bathroom. At least her body could be clean even though her mind was clogged with the remnants of bad memories and foolish mistakes.

* * *

She knew she had been a long time in the shower, but the bolognese would keep, and at least she looked as if she had made an effort. She was surprised to catch Max slightly unaware, and as she saw him sitting dejectedly at the kitchen table, staring into space and idly tapping his fingers on the table, she wanted nothing more than to go to him and cradle his head against her. The room was quiet. He had no doubt turned off his least favourite music as soon as she went upstairs.

The second he saw her, though, he leapt up eagerly from the chair and moved towards her. Taking gentle hold of her face between his hands, he kissed her lightly on the lips.

‘Feel better, sweetheart?’ he said with an understanding smile. ‘Come on - let’s carry on where we left off.’

He steered Ellie towards the table outside, picked up her glass from where she’d abandoned it and handed it to her.

‘The shower was a good idea. You look more relaxed, and it’s dark now - so even more romantic. You take it easy, and I’ll sort out the pasta.’

With a final stroke of her still-wet hair, Max returned to the kitchen, flicking the iPod back on as he went. This time it was Keane singing “Bedshaped”. He had certainly pulled out all the stops.

Ellie tried to focus on the relaxing notes of the music, and not on everything else that was happening. She forced thoughts of Abbie from her mind too, and turned her head to look back into the house, where she could see Max jumping around waving his hand in the air. He’d probably spilled some of the boiling pasta water on himself; for such an athletic and co-ordinated guy he could be incredibly clumsy, Ellie thought affectionately.

The music continued to sooth her, as track after track of all her ‘soppy’ music was played. She wished she could talk to him.
Really
talk to him. But she was too afraid.

The spell was broken as Max brought out two bowls heaped high with spaghetti and sauce, and they settled down to eat. The atmosphere between them had relaxed considerably since this morning, but both knew there were things left unsaid. Neither wanted to break the fragile peace, and they talked quietly about everything but the big issues.

Just as they finished their pasta, the music changed once again - this time to Aerosmith. Max stood up.

‘Come here, beautiful,’ he said. ‘Remember this?’

Ellie knew what he was going to do - something they used to do regularly, but didn’t seem to have done for such a long time.

He held out his hand and guided her away from the table. Then he wrapped one arm around her waist, and with the other he grabbed her hand and pulled it close to his chest. He rested his cheek against her head, and her lips lay gently against his collarbone. Slowly they started to dance. Ellie finally felt herself begin to relax.

“Don’t want to close my eyes

I don’t want to fall asleep

Cause I’d miss you babe

And I don’t want to miss a thing”

Max gently sang the chorus softly in her ear, and she felt as if he believed every word of it. She couldn’t keep this up any longer. They had to share the truth, and they had to do it now.

‘Max,’ she whispered.

‘Bugger,’ Max said, as the phone began to ring in the kitchen. ‘Somebody’s got impeccable timing! I’m sorry, sweetheart.’ Max let go of her, and gently brushed the outer edge of her left breast with the fingers of his right hand, leaning in to kiss the corner of her mouth.

‘Wait right there. I’m not finished with you by a long way.’

Ellie plonked herself disconsolately back at the table as Max made his way into the kitchen, switching the iPod off as he went.

Silence returned to the garden, but it was an uncomfortable silence and Ellie felt a strange sensation - as if dark eyes were piercing the back of her neck. She shivered, and turned quickly to scan the bushes.

What was that?
She could just make out a small bright light somewhere near the fishpond. As Max answered the phone and said ‘hello’, the light went out.

And then she knew. The light was from the screen of a mobile phone. Somebody was in her garden. The nerve endings all over her body pinged with the rush of adrenaline.

She heard Max repeating ‘hello, hello,’ several times, but Ellie knew the phone would be dead.

Then she heard it. A whispering voice began to sing the opening lines of the same song.

“I could stay awake just to hear you breathing

Watch you smile while you are sleeping

While you’re far away and dreaming”

A shadowy figure stepped forward as the quiet singing continued, and Ellie was about to scream when she heard Max replace the phone, muttering under his breath.

‘Nobody there, Ellie. Bloody typical.’

The shadow melted into the darkness.

Max came back through the open doorway, and held his hand out.

‘Now where were we sweetheart?’

But Ellie had started to gather the plates together noisily.

‘Let’s go back inside, Max. It’s getting a bit chilly out here.’

She wanted to kiss away the hurt that she saw on Max’s face, but she knew she mustn’t touch him. She couldn’t risk the shadow drawing closer.