The Back Road (31 page)

Ellie was staggered. This was completely the opposite of everything that Georgia had ever said.

‘Why didn’t you tell him, Georgia? Why didn’t you just talk to him?’

A tear escaped from the corner of Georgia’s eye, and she brushed it away angrily.

‘I was in line for being made a partner. I wanted to achieve that first. I would have felt then that I’d made it, and so afterwards the rest wouldn’t matter. But it’s a sadder story than that. I’ve been very honest with myself recently, and I know that I simply had to win. It’s as if we were in court, and I was the prosecution while Pat was the defence. It’s always been like that. I think I’ve squashed him over the years. I’ve made him bow to my will over everything, and now I struggle to respect him. I know it’s my fault, but since this business with Mimi I’m split between loving him for being the kind, sensitive and - to me at least - sexy man that he is, and despising him for being such a bloody wimp. But in answer to your original question, yes. I would have taken him back. It would have been very hard, and I would probably have made him suffer for it - unfairly, I’m sure - but I would have tried.’

A great wave of sadness washed over Ellie. A year ago, the four of them were the happiest two couples you could ever wish to meet. Or at least, that’s how they had seemed. But things are rarely as they appear, and hidden beneath the surface, out of sight, something had been eating slowly away at the fabric of this marriage.

‘And what about now, Georgia? I know he keeps coming to see you, and Max was pretty sure that he kept going out between courses on Saturday to phone you or text you. Are you going to have him back?’

Georgia gave a mirthless laugh.

‘Hah! Hardly likely now that madam is pregnant. I did think there was a chance, but he didn’t seem to realise that it required some effort from
him
. He somehow believed that it would be okay for him to carry on living with Mimi until I was ready to welcome him back with open arms. But that wasn’t the point. He had to decide to leave her
first
, to show that he didn’t want to be with her
regardless
of whether I had him back. He had to stop hedging his bets. But that was a step too far for Patrick. In the last week or so, though, he’s started behaving in a really bizarre way. For the first few weeks, he was always calling, popping round, sending me messages. But then he went all weird on me. He stopped taking my calls, sent me an awful message to say that Mimi was pregnant, and now seems to send me random texts all the time about how well things are going, or even what a bitch I’ve been and how miserable I’ve made him. I don’t understand his game at all. If he’d just moved out of her house we could have started some sort of dialogue - with a view to sorting things out and getting back together. But I’m not having emotional conversations with him only for him to go home and cry on her shoulder - or worse, screw her senseless.’

‘Why the hell didn’t you tell me or Max how you were feeling? If Pat knew you would have had him back if he’d moved out of her house, he’d have left like a shot. You know that. Why didn’t you
say
anything?’

Georgia leaned her elbows on the counter and rested her chin on clenched hands.

‘Because he had to make the decision himself, Ellie. For God’s sake, it shouldn’t have taken much imagination on his part to realise that I wouldn’t be happy with him sharing somebody else’s bed while he was begging me to let him come home. All he had to do was to move into yours, or even into a B&B. But I wasn’t going to tell him that. I may have made him submissive, but I wanted to see if he had a spark of initiative left, and it seems he hasn’t.’

Georgia pressed both hands on the counter, and stood up.

‘I know you’re driving, Ellie, but can you manage a glass of wine? I don’t like drinking alone, and I’ve been doing a bit too much of it lately.’

‘Go on then - but only half a glass. I imagine the police are out in force in the village at the moment.’

Georgia spoke over her shoulder as she opened the cupboard for some glasses.

‘Oh God, yes. That poor girl. Pat was very upset about her. He came here on Sunday after he’d been to see the parents. That must have been awful. I wanted to comfort him, you know, because he genuinely cares about those kids.’ Georgia looked close to tears again, but she brushed the back of her hand irritably across her eyes. ‘But then we had a row and I didn’t have time to ask how they were before frigging Mimi tracked him down and he had to rush home with his tail between his legs, as always. Sod the pair of them. Much more importantly - how’s the girl?’

As Georgia poured wine into both glasses, Ellie brought her friend up to speed with Abbie’s progress. ‘She’s not out of the woods yet, but each time I look at her I wonder what happened and how she got herself into what must have been a terrifying situation.’ Ellie didn’t add that this wasn’t the only terrifying experience this child had lived through.

Georgia was quiet for a moment.

‘I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but Pat was out and about that night,’ Georgia said. ‘I don’t know what he was doing, but he left the rugby club early and came here. I told him to bugger off, and he left. But I know he didn’t go straight home. He says he parked up somewhere and just contemplated life - the pillock - but from what I can gather, he’s got a gap of at least three hours between leaving me and getting home. His car was picked up on CCTV at the garage. He told the police he’d been with me all evening, so they came to question me.’

‘Oh no. What did you tell them?’ she asked.

‘I told them the truth. Perhaps that’s why he’s behaving the way he is, but I’m a lawyer. I can’t lie to the bloody
police
. I think the only reason he didn’t tell them was because they would think he was a bit wet, sitting in his car in a lay-by because he’d had a row with his wife and didn’t want to go home to his mistress.’ Georgia was unable to hide the sour note of contempt in her voice. ‘Anyway, he’s had to go back to the station and try to account for his time, but he can’t. Of course, they’re looking within a wider timescale now that they know Abbie was abducted. The last time we had any sort of a conversation was when he came round on Monday and asked if I would give him an alibi. I said no, but I had no time to explain because sodding Mimi called him again. So he left, snarling that she would give him an alibi no doubt. The weird thing was, Pat told me he was sure he’d seen Charles Atkinson’s car drive past in the early hours of Saturday morning when he was sulking in some lay-by or other. There aren’t that many Aston Martins around. But he wasn’t sure enough to accuse him of anything. And now he says that Charles actually mentioned on Saturday night that he only got back from London that day, so I guess he was wrong, unless Fiona drives his car.’

‘I don’t think she’d dare,’ Ellie said, swirling her wine around but avoiding drinking any. ‘The police came to our house too. Max got a lift home with Alannah, but her car was picked up somewhere, and Max had to give her an alibi.’

Georgia giggled. The wine was doing its work.

‘Was he sober enough to give
anybody
an alibi? Don’t forget, I picked the pair of them up after last year’s party, and Max was singing rugby songs - he said he sort of had to, because they were in a rugby club. He was in very high spirits, but I doubt he remembered a thing the next day.’

‘Well, maybe he was sober when he was with Alannah - I don’t know.’ Ellie couldn’t see anything to smile about.

‘Ellie?’ Georgia said, giving her friend a puzzled look. ‘What’s up?’

She had to tell somebody - she really did. At least Georgia would understand, given that she had been in the same situation. Recognising that she was applying dual standards here - it was okay to talk to her friend about Max’s guilt but not her own - she couldn’t keep this bottled up for another moment.

‘I think there’s something going on between Max and Alannah. I think he’s going to leave me.’

Georgia let out a hoot of laughter.

‘Ellie, don’t be so bloody ridiculous. Of
course
Max isn’t going to leave you. Nor is he going to even consider having an affair. What in God’s name has given you that ludicrous idea?’ She laughed again.

‘I don’t know why you’re laughing. I would never have said Pat would have done it to you - never in a million years.’ She saw the look of sorrow flit across Georgia’s face. ‘Sorry, Georgia, I didn’t mean to hurt you, but it’s true.’

Georgia leaned forward.

‘Listen, Ellie, you’re wrong. Wrong with a capital W. Pat and Max are chalk and cheese. Max is strong. Even if he was tempted, he would resist - and I don’t honestly think that he would even be tempted. If there’s something between them, I would bet my life on the fact that it’s got nothing at all to do with sex. Ask him, Ellie. Just bloody
ask
him.’

‘And if he says he’s in love with her? Isn’t it better to pretend I don’t know until it all blows over?’

‘He is
not
in love with her. He is absolutely
not
. You know, I think this accident this week has made people start to see things that don’t exist. Everybody’s looking at everybody else and wondering what
they
were doing at the time of the accident, and now they know the girl was abducted first, everybody is suspicious and wondering whether it’s somebody they know. So much has come to light because of it. You found out that Max was in the car with Alannah. Would you have known otherwise? Pat’s going to have to explain what he was doing out in the car for all that time - not only to the police, but to Mimi too no doubt. I’m one hundred per cent certain that Pat couldn’t knock a child over and leave her to die on the side of the road. But will Mimi know that? Will she start suspecting him? And these are only the people that we know. All these thoughts and questions will be going on now in homes all over the village. One accident, but so many potential revelations; and the realisation that those we trust may not be worthy of it.’

38

In spite of the temptation, Ellie was glad that she’d only drunk half her glass of wine. She didn’t know whether the police would be stopping cars to ask if they knew anything about the previous Friday - she had no idea if they did that sort of thing. But it wasn’t worth the risk.

She had tried ringing Pat on her way home. Somebody had to talk some sense into him, even though there was a baby on the way. He needed to start treating Georgia fairly at least. But each time she called, the call was cut off. It didn’t even go to voicemail. It was as if he was intentionally cancelling the call when he saw her name.

A distracted Ellie pulled into the drive and was surprised to see the lights still on in the twins’ bedroom - well, technically Ruby’s bedroom. When they had moved here they had given the twins a room each, but they hadn’t liked that idea at all and had insisted on being in the same room. Jake didn’t appear to have a problem with the pink girly wallpaper, so they had decided to let them get on with it. But they should have been asleep by now. She hoped neither of them was ill.

She pulled the car over to one side of the drive, grabbed her bag, and raced through the front door, shouting for Max. He appeared at the top of the stairs, looking slightly harassed, but still smiling. It couldn’t be a catastrophe then.

‘What’s up? Why aren’t the twins asleep?’ Ellie asked, half running towards the stairs.

‘Calm down, Ellie. It’s something and nothing. Everybody’s alive and well, and Leo’s even cooking the dinner,’ Max said, with a mock grimace.

‘Oh Christ. That should be interesting,’ Ellie answered. ‘So what’s going on?’

‘It’s Ruby. She’s lost Muffin, and she says she can’t go to sleep without him. I’ve tried her with Madge and Holly Dolly, but she wants Muffin. We’ve turned this house upside down, but that scruffy little dog cannot be found. I even checked to see if you’d chucked him in the washing machine in disgust, but no. So he’s around somewhere, and just as dirty and smelly as ever.’

‘Did you take him out with you today? Has she dropped him somewhere?’ Ellie asked, knowing that Ruby was going to be difficult, and they would have to find this floppy animal.

‘No. We never take him out.’

Max was right. Ruby wouldn’t let him out of the house. Each morning she put Muffin to ‘sleep’ in her own bed, so that he would be waiting for her at bedtime.

‘Jake, before you ask, is adamant that he hasn’t hidden Muffin, and I believe him,’ Max said

Jake was far too sensitive to be able to sit through the wailing and bawling that was going on.

‘Do you want to see if you can help, Ellie? I’ll go and bail Leo out. I’d rather cook than try to deal with Ruby when she’s like this, so that gives you an idea of how bad it is!’

Dumping her bag on the hall chair, Ellie made for the stairs passing Max half way up. He leaned towards her and gave her a quick hug.

‘Good to have you home, sweetheart. We all missed you today.’

Ellie paused, but said nothing and carried on towards Ruby’s room.

* * *

‘Hey, sweet pea, Daddy says we can’t find Muffin,’ Ellie said quietly, sitting down on the edge of Ruby’s bed and stroking her daughter’s damp curls off her forehead. Her little face was red with tears, and she was huddled in a tight ball with one fist pressed into her mouth.

‘Where’s he gone, Mummy?’ Ruby cried. ‘I left him in bed this morning, so that he could get some sleep. He needs to be awake at night so he can watch over us. I always let him sleep in the daytime.’

Ellie could remember when they had devised this story for Ruby. She was about three, and was going through a phase of believing there was a dragon living in the wardrobe. So they had made Muffin into a guard dog. Ever since then, she hadn’t been able to sleep without him. Ellie knew that Max would have hunted everywhere for him, and it made no sense that he was missing. But she was going to have to calm her daughter down somehow. She looked around the room, and stood up.

‘I tell you what, Rubes, why don’t we put Spiffy in charge tonight? He’s a tiger, and tigers are much, much more scary than dogs.’

‘Spiffy’s not scary - he’s a gentle tiger.’

‘Well, we might know that, but nobody else would. Shall I put him at the end of the bed, or standing over near the door?’

On her daughter’s precise instructions, she placed Spiffy in the exact spot where he could best keep guard, and Ellie was pleased to see that Ruby’s body had uncurled a bit. ‘Budge over, baby. I’m going to have a little lie down with you. I’ll watch Spiffy, and check if he’s doing a good job.’

Ellie lay down with her lips next to her daughter’s head and cuddled her close. She gave her a kiss and stroked her hair. She could feel that Ruby’s warm body - tired from all the trauma - was gradually relaxing. She lay there until Ruby’s breathing became regular, then slowly uncurled herself from the bed. After the horrors of everything that had been revealed about Abbie Campbell in the last couple of days, she thanked God that Ruby was safe. She kissed her soft cheek, bent over Jake to stroke his hair, and made her way quietly out of the door.

As she passed the top of the stairs on the way to their bedroom, she heard Max talking in the hall. He wasn’t exactly whispering, but he was keeping his voice low.

‘I agree. We do need a deadline, and I’m doing my best. Everything’s pretty much sorted from this end. I told you that I’d transferred the money, so it should be in the bank now. Everything’s in place.’

There was a pause.

‘Okay, let’s make the deadline Saturday. We can’t back out then, so that’s when I’ll tell Ellie - when there’s no going back.’

Another pause.

‘Okay. We’ll talk tomorrow when she’s at work. It’s best not to use the house phone again. I’ll ring you from my mobile, or you call me. I’ll try to remember to keep it switched on. I’ve got to go - speak tomorrow. Bye.’

Max replaced the receiver quietly, and sauntered back down the hall towards the kitchen, whistling as if he hadn’t a care in the world. But Ellie knew better. When Max whistled like this, with his tongue behind his top teeth instead of through pursed lips, it was always a sign of stress.

Saturday, Ellie thought. No matter what Georgia had said, Saturday was going to be the day - the day when all would be revealed. And today was Wednesday. Just two more days of pretending they were a happy couple. She wanted to fly downstairs and ask him – beg him to stay. Her chest felt tight with despair, but she knew she had to stick to her plan if she was to keep him.

And what was this about money? She had given him total control of their finances and she never checked because there was so much it was accumulating more than they were spending.

She crept downstairs, but could hear that Max had put his favourite Elbow CD on and wouldn’t be able to hear her. She made her way into the study. The computer was switched on, so all she had to do was log into their various accounts. The hunt didn’t take long. There it was. Max had transferred three hundred thousand pounds out of their account, and paid it to a company called Cheshire Fields Developments. Holding her breath, she did a quick search on the name, but it came up with nothing - at least, nothing useful. She didn’t have time to do more now, or Max would come looking for her.

She quickly closed the window on the bank file and her Google search, and made her way softly back upstairs. It was only when she had reached the top, away from the chance of being discovered, that the enormity of it all hit her. Three hundred thousand pounds – paid to a development company of some description. What was Max doing?

From nowhere, a dreadful though leapt into her head. Max had bought another house. One for him and Alannah.

In a daze, she walked into their bathroom and shut the door. Sitting on the side of the bath, she dropped her chin and started to cry quietly. There was no rage or anger in her, just a deep, deep hurt. How had it happened? The pain was so fierce that she slowly slid from the side of the bath to the floor, pulling her knees as close to her chest as she could. She grabbed a towel to stem her tears.

From beyond the bathroom door, she heard a sound in their bedroom.

‘Ellie?’ It was Leo. ‘Are you coming down for something to eat? You’ll be amazed at my culinary skills - I can promise you that.’

Ellie tried to control her voice.

‘Ten minutes,’ she called.

‘Are you okay?’

‘Fine,’ she responded, praying that her voice didn’t shake. One thing about Leo, though - if Ellie wanted to pretend she was okay, Leo would respect her privacy. Perhaps this was the one good side of a sister who struggled with emotional attachments.

Ellie switched the shower on and stripped off her clothes. Maybe she should vamp herself up a bit? Go to some effort to look good for him? Don’t be ridiculous, she thought. It’s a bit late for that. She had tonight and then two whole days. A bit of lipstick wasn’t going to make any difference now. She had to be who she was.

And so it was ten minutes later that she made her way downstairs in her stripy pyjama bottoms and a dark red vest top. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she heard the message signal on her phone coming from the handbag that she had dumped as she ran up to deal with the children. She’d forgotten that she’d switched it back on to call Pat. Thank God Max hadn’t heard it first, because he wouldn’t hesitate to read her texts on the basis that hers were always more interesting than his. She could hear Leo laughing at Max in the kitchen, and wanted nothing more than to be there with them, happy and giggling at Max’s silliness. She grabbed her phone.

Convinced that it was
him
she hardly glanced at the screen. Only as she pressed to accept the message did she register that the number was blocked. And she knew what that meant.

A cold fear gripped her. This couldn’t be happening. Somebody had been in the house again, and Ruby hadn’t lost Muffin. He had been taken. She’d never doubted that it was Sean, blocking his number and toying with her - making everything so unbalanced that she would simply give in. But it didn’t quite add up. However much Sean might want her, she was certain he would never hurt a child. Despite his recent behaviour, he was a gentle giant of a man; she’d seen him with his stepdaughter and his little boy. He would never threaten her children, would he?

As if it never happened
- the text said. That couldn’t be Sean either. That wasn’t what he wanted.

The hairs on Ellie’s arms were standing on end. She was still staring at the screen when she noticed something else - the time the text was sent. She remembered checking her watch as she got home with the shopping. This text was sent while Sean was in the house - with her and Max.

I’ve got it all wrong - it can’t be Sean. It’s someone else - somebody I don’t know
.

Ellie sat down abruptly on the stairs as her legs gave way beneath her.
It wasn’t Sean
. The thought and all its implications were spinning round and round in her head.

It meant only one thing. She was being blackmailed - and it was
real
. Not some game dreamt up by a thwarted lover. And it was dangerous. This person had been in their
house
- not just once, but at least twice. And Ellie had no idea
how
they had got in. So they could do it again, whenever they liked.

Perhaps they were here now!
It was a big house - they could be hiding anywhere.

Ellie jumped up from the bottom step. Her head spun from side to side, and back up to the dark void at the stop of the stairs, not knowing what she was expecting to see. She walked quietly towards the closed door of the library and slowly turned the handle, pushing the door quickly so that it slammed against the bookshelves behind. She saw a white face, eyes black with fear, staring back at her.

It took no more than a second for her to realise that the unrecognisable features were her own, reflected back from the mirror over the fireplace. Her face was drained of all colour, and her pupils dilated in wide eyes. She glanced around the room.

Nothing. What was she expecting? Nobody would hide here.

She sat down hard on one of the wingback chairs, and leant forward resting her forearms on her thighs, clutching the phone in her damp, trembling hands. Max would come looking for her soon, and she had to calm down. For now, the children were safe. There were three adults here, and she would find some excuse for checking all the rooms before they went to bed. But now, she needed time to think. Sean and his games suddenly seemed trivial. All she could think of was how to keep her children safe.