The Back Road (29 page)

‘I’m from the south coast.’

‘Ooh, nice. I’ve been to Brighton, and Poole. There are some lovely spots down there.’

‘Yeah, well - it all depends on where you live and how much money you’ve got, I suppose.’

Leo looked keenly at Mimi, who was absent-mindedly chewing her thumb nail.

‘Are you okay? You seem a bit edgy today.’

Mimi pulled the nail away from her mouth and sat up straighter.

‘Blame it on the hormones. I’m okay. I’m fine. I don’t want to be rude, Leo, but is this a social call or did you have something on your mind? Only I need to go out again soon.’

Leo felt a twinge of guilt, although she wasn’t sure why. She had come here with the best of intentions.

‘There was no agenda at all, I promise you. Ellie asked me to bring your cardigan back. She’s been trying to reach Pat, but he hasn’t been answering his phone. And I just thought I’d see how you’re doing, and repeat my offer of the free life coaching session, if you’re interested. With the baby coming and everything it would be a great time to think about how you’d like your life to pan out.’

Leo knew immediately it was the wrong thing to say. Mimi’s eyes glinted like ice, but at that moment her mobile buzzed and she looked away, too soon to know whether it was the glint of tears or anger.

Mimi pressed a button on her phone, and her brow wrinkled in annoyance at whatever was on the screen.

‘If you need to answer that, it’s okay with me,’ Leo said.

‘I don’t.’

Leo wanted to try to recover the situation. In one of the few normal conversations she’d had with Ellie in the last couple of days, her sister had told her that Pat was spending a lot of time with Georgia - trying to make things right. Maybe Mimi knew, and that would account for her stress, particularly now that she was pregnant.

‘It’s funny, but I once thought the whole idea of life coaching was ridiculous. Like you, I worked in a bar. More of a nightclub I suppose, and it was in central London. The hours were long, the pay crap. You know how it is. But I was a stroppy cow, and got very lippy with the customers. One night, I chose the wrong guy - the brother of the boss. He somehow got the idea that I’d like his grubby hands sliding over my backside, and I informed him otherwise.’ Leo laughed at the memory. Mimi’s face was expressionless. ‘My boss was a woman, and a bit more sympathetic than a man might have been - but she told me I had “issues” that had to be sorted if I wanted to keep my job. There was apparently a better way of defusing difficult situations than a mouthful of verbal abuse. I was forced to go to a couple of counselling sessions which I thought were a joke, because all we did was examine the things that had made me the person that I am. But then I went to see a life coach and it changed everything. It doesn’t stop me being who I am, warts and all, but it helps me to deal with it and make my little foibles work
for
me rather than against me.’

Leo could see that her speech had fallen on deaf ears. Mimi had folded her arms, and her hands were clenched. Her mobile buzzed again, and she whisked it off the table, transfixed by the screen.

Mimi stood up abruptly, her phone clutched tightly in her hand.

‘Will you excuse me, Leo? I need the toilet.’

Without another glance at Leo, Mimi made her way out of the room and Leo heard her clattering up the wooden staircase.

This had not turned out the way she’d hoped at all.

She picked up the mugs from the table and stepped over the shopping bags to reach the sink. Her thoughts were miles away, wondering how difficult life might be for Mimi at the moment. Lost in thought, she turned to make her way back to the table.

‘Bugger,’ she muttered, as she kicked one of the shopping bags and the contents fell out all over the slate tile effect lino. She bent down and started to pick up onions and potatoes from where they had rolled across the floor. As she started to stuff the groceries back in the bag, she noticed something unexpected at the bottom. But before she had time to give it any thought, she heard clattering coming down the stairs again and hastily started to stuff everything back into the bag.

She looked up as Mimi walked in the room. The two women regarded each other without a word.

Leo broke the silence.

‘I think I’d better go.’

Nothing else was said. But then, nothing else was needed.

* * *

Leo had been right about one thing on Tuesday evening. There was a hell of a lot of tension in the Saunders household at the moment. Tom had felt it like a waft of cold air the minute Leo had opened the door. Leo had been pleasant enough, but there was nothing relaxed in her manner. Even when she was stroppy and sarcastic, she had an easy grace about her. But her movements had been jumpier, her voice less modulated.

And Ellie was worse. She hadn’t even wanted to talk about their intruder, which was strange as Leo said that Ellie was the one who was most concerned about it. She was hiding something, but Tom couldn’t think of any reason why she would.

Well, whatever was going on, all he could do was help when he was asked. Which reminded him - that’s exactly what Leo had done the previous evening. She was desperate to finally know the truth about her father’s disappearance, and Tom had a few routes to intelligence, although it was strictly forbidden to use police computers to track information for personal purposes. But he had done similar research before and had a good idea where to start. Local knowledge.

Sitting at his desk in the study, he grabbed the phone. Steve had called the day before and fortunately he had stored the number. There was one thing that his old sergeant might be able to help him with. The phone was answered almost immediately, but it was a noisy line and not very clear.

‘Steve? Tom Douglas. Sorry to bother you - do you have a minute to chat, or are you in the middle of something?’

‘Morning, Tom. Good to hear from you. I’m in the car on hands free, and about ten minutes out from my destination. So shoot. I should warn you to keep it clean, because I’ve got my sergeant with me, and he’s of a delicate disposition.’

Tom laughed as he imagined the accompanying wink from Steve. He heard an echo of his laughter from the noisy car. The sergeant, no doubt.

‘I wanted to ask if you have any old timers around the office who might be able to provide a bit of local information from about fifteen to twenty years ago. About a resident of Little Melham at that time, by the name of Harris. Edward Harris. Lived at Willow Farm.’

‘We’ve got a couple of guys who are coming up to twenty-five years, so they might be able to help. What do you want to know?’

‘His daughters have become friends of mine.’ Tom was interrupted by laughter and a few remarks about the fact that he had used the plural term. He let them finish before continuing.

‘His daughters, one of whom is happily married to my next door neighbour - just so that we’re clear - don’t know what happened to him. He disappeared, possibly in the summer of 1995, and they don’t know where he went or if he’s still alive. I know you can’t help with that bit, but any background, gossip, local knowledge might help.’

‘Okay - Edward Harris, you said? I’ll ask my sergeant here to get hold of anybody who we think might be able to help, and see if there’s anything we can find out for you. Do you know any more about him?’

‘Only that he was a bigamist, but was apparently never done for it. One wife died, and the remaining one had him declared dead in 2002 allegedly, although his daughter can’t find any trace of a death certificate in the relevant period.’

‘Quite a little mystery, then. Perhaps the surviving wife topped him and buried him in the garden.’ Steve laughed.

‘Don’t think that hadn’t occurred to me,’ Tom said, not entirely joking. From what Leo had said about her stepmother it didn’t actually sound like an implausible scenario.

‘Okay - we’re on it. Somebody will get back to you as soon as. If there’s anybody on duty now who might be able to help, I’ll get them to give you a call. Otherwise it might be tomorrow. Let me know how it goes.’

‘Thanks Steve. How are things going with the Abbie Campbell case?’ Tom asked.

‘Crap. We keep hitting brick walls. Have you heard any gossip since we last spoke?’

‘Nothing useful, I’m afraid. The villagers are breathless with excitement about the fact that you’ve been interviewing teachers and the like, but apart from that nobody seems to have a clue. I’ll keep my ear to the ground.’

‘Okay - that would be great. Speak soon.’

They said their goodbyes, and Tom continued to sit at his desk, turning a pen over idly in his fingers as he thought about Leo and whether helping her would be a good idea or bad. He had a feeling that, when the time came, he might have to implore Leo not to shoot the messenger.

* * *

By the time Tom had made and eaten a bacon sandwich for his lunch and returned to his desk to start his online research, Steve and his sergeant had obviously done their stuff because the phone rang and Tom heard a voice he didn’t recognise.

‘Good morning, sir. My name’s Ernie Collier. Detective Inspector Corby asked me to call you with regard to Ted Harris - is that right?’

This policeman didn’t need to call him sir, but Tom knew that he would be uncomfortable with anything else if he was one of the old guard, so he let it pass. More interestingly, he called Edward Harris “Ted”, which indicated that he knew who he was.

‘If Ted is Edward Harris, formerly of Willow Farm, Little Melham, then anything you can tell me about him would be useful. I’m trying to track him down for his daughters.’

‘Not sure you’ll be wanting to do that, sir, if I may say so as shouldn’t,’ Ernie said. That was a phrase Tom hadn’t heard in a while.

He sighed. This wasn’t going to have a happy ending, but then given what he already knew about the man, it had always been unlikely.

‘Why do you say that, Ernie?’ he asked.

‘I was a beat bobby in Little Melham for five years. I got to know the locals pretty well, and I knew about his other daughter coming to live there. She’d been there a couple of years by the time I arrived, but it was still news as far as the villagers were concerned. There wasn’t much went on, so a good story could last a fair few years. They all knew the girl had a different mother and that Ted had a long term relationship somewhere else.’

Tom decided not to mention the word bigamy, as this had never been pursued at the time.

‘The girls know all about that of course, but I’m wondering why you think it would be a bad idea to find out what happened to him, or to discover if he’s alive.’

‘He had a bit of a reputation - not something his daughters would be proud of. Liked to put it about a bit – you know – spread his favours, as it were. Not just in the village, but round the area in general. There were lots of angry men, and a few were baying for his blood from time to time. But as I understand it, he’d disappear for a while until things calmed down, then turn up again.’

‘So do you think that one of these women’s husbands might have got to him in the end, then?’ Tom asked.

‘Not husbands, sir. Fathers. He liked ’em young, did Ted. Legal - but barely.’

Christ, Tom thought. How the hell was he going to tell Leo any of this? Easy answer - he wasn’t. This was rumour and conjecture. He would tell her the truth about her father as and when he found it.

‘Was there anything solid, Ernie? Anything that might indicate what happened to him and why finally he went and didn’t come back?’

‘I’ve been pondering that one since DI Corby called, but nothing’s coming to me. I’ll think on - and if it does, I’ll let you know. I don’t know that any of this is fact - it’s just village chitchat. Nobody reported him to us, so as far as we know officially, he didn’t commit any crime. But on balance, I would say a smooth talking slime ball, if you get my drift.’

Tom did. He thanked Ernie and hung up, wishing he’d never asked. It seemed to him that this opened up a plethora of possible outcomes to Leo’s search for her dad - and none of them sounded promising.

36

After the events of the morning Ellie had to get out of the house, and so she had grabbed four bags-for-life from the cupboard and set off for the supermarket. Shopping for food and the thought of what she might invent for dinner once this phase of endless shifts was over had cheered her up a little, and by the time she got home she was sorry to see that the house appeared deserted.

As she drew her car to a stop by the front door, she looked at her watch. Max must have taken the kids somewhere again. She had expected to see at least his car, and probably Leo’s too. So where was everybody?

Walking round to the kitchen door with the first of the shopping bags, she was surprised to find it very slightly ajar. She must have been wrong. Somebody must be home.

But the kitchen was deserted, and the house seemed silent.

She quietly lowered the bags onto the floor and stood still to listen. Nothing. Max must have gone out and left the bloody door open again - how many times did she have to remind him?

But what if he hadn’t? What if it was
him
- sneaking into her house while they were all out?
Again
.

Ellie didn’t know what to do. Should she face him and have it out with him now? What would he do to her? If they were alone in the house, she knew what he would want - far more than she was prepared to give. She never thought she would be scared of him, but after their conversation this morning she was no longer certain.

Perhaps she should go back and sit in the car until somebody came home.

No. That wouldn’t do. She
had
to know. She didn’t want to see him, or for him to know that she was here. But she needed to be sure. If anybody knew how to get into their house undetected, it was him.

Kicking off her shoes she silently made her way from the kitchen through the atrium to the hallway. She stood there quietly for a moment, but there wasn’t a sound.

There was nobody there. She hadn’t realised that she was holding her breath, but with a huge sigh of relief she turned to go back to the kitchen.

Clunk
. Behind her, but above. Something dropped or closed. And she definitely wasn’t imagining it.

There was somebody in her house
.

She shouldn’t be terrified, but she was. Why was he doing this to her? She really didn’t want to be on her own with him in an empty house.

Clunk
. There it was again. Before she could force herself to move, she heard the unmistakable sound of the creaking step at the top of the staircase, and she knew that he was about to appear. She couldn’t make it back to the kitchen without being seen.

She had no choice - she would have to hide in the sitting room.

She silently eased open the door and crept inside, pushing the door as far as she dared so that it was almost closed, but not so far that it made a sound. Flattening herself against the wall, she held her breath for a long moment.

Oh God - please don’t let him find me in here
.

He was at the bottom of the stairs. She could hear him breathing, and she heard a soft laugh. One that she recognised only too well. He knew she was here. How, she didn’t know.

The sitting room door slowly began to open inwards, and Ellie groped behind her for a weapon - her hands making contact with a pewter candlestick.

In the glass cover of a painting hanging above the fireplace she could see the silhouette of a man, backlit from the window in the hallway. She could make out no features, but those wide shoulders were a giveaway.

Then she heard the laugh again. He had found her.

Whipping the door open, she swung her body round to face him, her fear replaced by fury. She advanced towards him, and he backed away into the hall, holding his hands high in mock surrender.

‘You
bastard
. What the
hell
are you doing in my house? You’ve gone too far this time - this is too much. I
knew
it was you all along - sneaking in and creeping through my things. You
shit
. What do you think Max would say if he found you here?’ she screamed at him.

He smiled, and moved towards her, grabbing her arms and pushing her back inside the sitting room. He easily gripped both of her wrists in one of his large, strong hands and held them above her head, running his other hand down her body from her neck to her hip.

She was about to scream when she heard the last voice she was expecting, coming from the landing above.

‘Ellie? What the hell are you shouting at Sean for?’

Max.

Oh Christ - what had she done? What had she said?

For a moment, Ellie was incapable of responding. Had she given herself away? Sean just smiled and let go of her wrists, guiding her out into the hallway.

She looked up to where Max was leaning over the banister, looking both mystified and annoyed. She was speechless. But Sean was still smirking.

‘It’s okay Max. I think I frightened the life out of Miss Scarlet here. At least she didn’t hit me with the candlestick that she’s brandishing. She must have thought I was a burglar.’

Max didn’t look entirely convinced.

‘A
burglar
. For God’s sake, Ellie. I asked Sean to come round and look at changing the locks. I thought that would make you happy. While he was here, he was just helping me to carry that new toy box upstairs.’

Ellie couldn’t stop herself from shooting a glance of fury over her shoulder. I bet he thought
that
was a joke. As if Sean changing the locks would solve the problems. He’d just have spares cut, and they would be back to square one.

Pulling herself together quickly, Ellie managed to muster up a weak smile from somewhere.

‘There are no cars here, though - I thought nobody was home.’

‘We left the cars round the side - because that’s where you keep telling me to park. Leo’s gone out, and the twins have been given the special honour of thirty minutes watching the “ginormous” television in the media room to keep them out of the way. I’ll be down in a second. Maybe you could offer Sean a drink or something by way of apology for nearly ripping his head off.’

Max disappeared from view, and Ellie closed her eyes and felt herself crumple with the relief, almost forgetting that she wasn’t alone.

‘I won’t stay for a drink, Ellie. Don’t look so worried.’ The smile slipped from Sean’s face. ‘The truth is, I can’t stand to see you two together. Not like last night. I didn’t like that.’

He reached out and grabbed her wrist, gripping it tightly. ‘I mean it Ellie. I didn’t like it.’ He let go of her, and she rubbed her arm fiercely with the other hand as if to erase all trace of him from her skin. ‘I’ll be off - but you know where I am - always.’

He turned towards the door, then stopped. ‘And by the way, while Max wasn’t paying attention I used the opportunity to move a few things around. I like the thought of something I bought you being in your bathroom, watching you undress, take a bath, take a shower. That’s why I bought it. Don’t move it again, Ellie.’

* * *

I can hear things now. And I can feel things. I feel sore. My feet hurt - was that from kicking the door? No - that was THEN. That was a long time ago. I’m getting confused
.

I was going to see Chloe. That’s right! I’d forgotten. She was coming with her mum to get me.

But that’s not what happened.

It didn’t matter that Chloe wasn’t in the car - I understood that there had been a change of plan. I didn’t think that anything was wrong - I was so excited. I thought it was strange that I had to wear a blindfold, but it was supposed to be part of the surprise. I don’t think so now. I think it was so that I wouldn’t know where I was. I’d never be able to find my way back.

We went in the house, and we waited for Chloe. I kept asking - ‘Where’s Chloe? When’s she coming?’

‘Soon - but it’s nice for us to get to know each other while we wait, isn’t it?’

Well, I suppose so - but I really wanted to see Chloe.

I don’t know when I realised that Chloe wasn’t coming, but I was worried. It wasn’t right. It felt totally weird. So I asked if I could go home. I asked for the address so I could call my mum and dad to come and get me.

That was a bad move. My phone was whipped out of my hand and flung against the wall on the other side of the room. It’s broken now.

‘You’re not going anywhere until I say so.’ First there was anger, but then a shaky hand reached out to stroke my hair. That was worse.

‘Don’t touch me,’ I squealed.

‘Don’t be silly, baby. It’s okay if I touch you. I was meant to touch you. See, like this. It doesn’t hurt, does it? Let me kiss you.’

Those lips came down and touched my cheek. They felt dry and cracked as they scraped my face and planted kiss after kiss on me. I felt sick. An arm went round me to pull me into a hug. There was a wet patch on the T-shirt and the smell of fresh sweat. It was horrible, but I couldn’t move. I was too scared.

‘I want to tell you a story, Abbie. It will be our secret.’

So I listened. And then I understood. In the end, it wasn’t the words. It was the voice that I remembered.

I panicked, and started to scream. I knew I was in trouble. But I stopped when I saw what looked like a belt from a dressing gown. I knew what was going to happen as it was dangled in front of my eyes.

‘Why are you behaving like this, Abbie – as if you hate me? I thought we could be friends. I would have let you go, once you’d promised to keep our secret.’

‘We can be friends,’ I cried.

There was a laugh. A nasty laugh – another reminder.

‘You’re lying to me – don’t you think I know when you’re lying?’

I begged and begged not to be tied up. I promised not to move. I kicked off my shoes to show that I couldn’t go anywhere. I couldn’t escape.

But it was the parcel tape I was most scared of. That’s how people die. I was too scared to speak. I just kept thinking that I know how to be quiet. Shh. Be still. Be quiet. Not a sound. I remember, see! I know how to be quiet.

I don’t know what happened then. There was a beep from a phone. Not my phone. But for the first time the intense, wild stare of those eyes was off me. I would only get one chance, because now I knew. I knew too much, and I couldn’t be allowed to go free.

I was close to the back door. I prayed that it would be unlocked. I picked up the glass of Coke that I’d been given when I got there – when we were being friendly. I hadn’t drunk any - I was waiting for Chloe. I threw myself out of the chair and grabbed for the door handle, turning round to hurl the contents of the glass at the horrified face behind me. Enough to make it impossible to see for a second. It worked. I was out of the door and running.

* * *

Ellie had been glad to get away from the house after the scene earlier with Sean. She’d managed to make it through lunch, but shuddered as she thought about how close she’d been to inadvertently revealing everything to Max. He, of course, had made light of it and laughed about Miss Scarlet in the library with the candlestick, but she had found it hard to join in. And she knew he was still puzzled by her reaction. Worse still, she didn’t know what Sean was going to do next, but she knew that it wasn’t finished. Not by a long way.

This week was supposed to have been an easy week for Ellie, with three short shifts and the rest of the time free to spend with Max and the twins. But it had turned into something of a marathon, working every day. In many ways, it was probably for the best. She couldn’t resent little Abbie, and it got her out of the house. Max had tried so hard last night, and she had come close to telling him everything. But then she’d seen Sean emerge from the depths of the garden and terror had overtaken her. And now she was wondering about Max. If he really
was
seeing Alannah and planning something with her, why would he have behaved like that last night? None of it made any sense at all.

She gave a sigh of frustration as she shouldered her way through the doors into the ICU. She had no time to think about it now. Grateful that her request to continue to care for Abbie had been heeded, she would focus on the girl and put her needs first. Glancing towards the bed, she wasn’t surprised to see that Kath was there as always. But she also noticed one piece of equipment missing from the side of Abbie’s bed, and that could only be a good thing. The nurse she was replacing saw her arrive and made her way across to the nurses’ station.

‘Great news, Ellie. Abbie’s off the ventilator and she’s much more responsive. She hasn’t opened her eyes yet, but her reaction to pain is good, and she’s breathing by herself now. Kath and Brian haven’t left her side - it’s always one or the other. But I’m quite worried about Kath. She doesn’t eat when she’s here, and she’s constantly talking about how they’ve let Abbie down. We had a couple of emergencies this morning, so I’ve not had much time to talk to her, but see what you can do will you? She shouldn’t be getting herself into such a state.’

When Ellie arrived at the bedside, the first thing she noticed was that Kath’s hand was shaking as she played with a handkerchief on her lap. Not so much from nerves, Ellie thought, but more from exhaustion. Ellie squeezed Kath’s shoulder and smiled at her by way of greeting.

‘I’m pleased to see the ventilator’s gone. You must be delighted. But you know, you might want to get a bit more sleep and make sure you eat,’ Ellie suggested quietly. ‘When Abbie comes round, she’s going to want you to be strong and able to look after her. All the signs are good now, so do take care of yourself too.’

‘I don’t suppose that Abbie will ever want to speak to me again, when she wakes up,’ Kath said.

‘Kath, you have to know that’s complete nonsense,’ Ellie said. ‘Of
course
she’ll want to speak to you. You’re her mum, so what makes you think that?’

‘I let her down, didn’t I? I promised we’d always keep her safe, and we didn’t. After what happened to Jessica, we swore to Abbie that we wouldn’t let anything happen to her. And look at her now. She doesn’t deserve this, you know.’