The Back Road

15

Leo and Penny had followed Ellie into the kitchen to find her standing by the open window to the garden, with her arms tightly folded.

‘Come on, Ellie. I know you think it was a pointed remark, but you’re being over-sensitive. She probably thought she was being friendly by praising your cooking.’

‘Like hell she did. Did you see her face? I suppose she also intended it to be a compliment when she said that I always look nice in this dress, even though she’s only seen me in it twice. Max doesn’t get it that there is one extra word in that sentence that changes its meaning. He thinks I’m paranoid about Mimi. If only he knew.’

Leo had the sense to realise that arguing wasn’t going to achieve anything.

‘Leave it, Ellie. Go and enjoy your friends. Penny and I have got this.’

Ellie’s arms dropped to her side and the stiffness melted as if all the energy had been sapped from her body.

‘Thanks, you two. But I think I’ll take a few minutes on my own, if that’s okay. I’m going to go upstairs, but I don’t want to go through the dining room. I’ll go round by the garden and let myself in through the side door.’

Without turning round she headed out, melting into the dark shadows of the night.

Leo turned to Penny with a smile. She knew Penny would wonder what had just happened, but would be too polite to ask.

‘Sorry about that - it’s nothing to worry about. Let’s get these plates sorted.’

Leo had met Gary and Penny years ago when they lived next door to Ellie and Max, and she’d always felt theirs was an unbalanced relationship, but until tonight there was nothing she could put her finger on. She decided to try to draw Penny out of herself a little and move away from the tricky subject of Ellie’s incongruous behaviour by asking about another of their guests.

‘Did I hear Sean say that he has a daughter? Where’s his wife tonight?’

Penny turned round and leaned on the Aga rail.

‘Ah, well. There’s a bit of history there. Sean was known for years as the village stud. Everybody’s idea of the perfect bit of rough - always smiling, twinkly eyes, but hard calloused hands and muscles to die for. He was single and he loved it. Then Bella arrived out of nowhere about five years ago. She was so glamorous, all the men were agog. She’s got a daughter - about fourteen or fifteen, I think - and Sean fell for Bella. Hook, line and sinker.’

Leo waited. Penny went quiet.

‘And…?’

‘I hate gossips, Leo. There but for the grace of God, I always think when I hear bad things about people. At least if I tell you, it will be fact and not the embroidered version you’ll probably hear in the village.’

Penny paused. She picked up a tea towel, as if to dry hands that weren’t even wet.

‘They had a child - a boy. Bella started to drink after he was born. Now, it seems, she’s become an alcoholic. Nobody knows much about her before she came here, but maybe she was already ill and disguised it well. Or maybe it was kicked off by postnatal depression. Whatever it was, everybody slags her off because of the way she is now. It’s true that she does look terrible. A bit like a blown up version of what she was, if that makes sense. Everything that was once big and seductive, like her lips, hair and figure, are now twice the size. She apparently lies on the sofa all day watching the television, from what Gary says. He knows Sean quite well. And then she gets smashed and Sean puts her to bed. He’s great with the kids, though.’

Oh goodness, poor Sean, thought Leo. It wasn’t appropriate to ask more, and the two women were silent for a moment.

‘Awful news about the accident, wasn’t it,’ Penny said, changing the subject. ‘My girls knew about it. One of their friends has a sister in Abbie’s class, and she says they all went out for an end of term celebration last night to the burger place in town. Abbie was with them - but nobody knows what happened after that. The worst of it is that she was knocked down on the back road. Other than people from the village, nobody else uses it. It might well be somebody we know. Imagine how awful that would be.’

‘It must be difficult having daughters of your own when you hear stories like that. A fourteen year old being out that late and in the middle of nowhere. I don’t know how you sleep!’

‘Hah - that’s easy an easy one to answer. Badly! I have a prescription for sleeping tablets, but I don’t always take them. It depends whether Gary’s home or not.’

The conversation was interrupted by a worried looking Max.

‘Have you seen Ellie, Leo?’ he asked. ‘I wanted to check that she’s okay.’

Seeing Penny’s confused expression, Max gave a weak explanation.

‘Sorry, Penny. Mimi said something that I think Ellie may have taken to heart, and Pat’s given her hell for it. She’s stormed off somewhere saying that he’s never on her side. Now it seems everybody’s disappeared, so I think I’ll go and look for Ellie.’

For some reason, Leo had the feeling that this wouldn’t be a great idea.

‘She said she needed a couple of minutes, Max. She’s probably feeling stressed about that poor kid she’s been looking after at the hospital, and the talk about the accident tonight just reminded her. I think that if any of us tries to speak to her, she might crumble. I’m sure she’ll be back in a few minutes to finish off the dessert, when she’s got herself together.’

* * *

Ellie knew she was behaving badly. But she felt wretched. The phone calls, the rose, the constant, nagging doubts about Max. How she was going to survive the rest of the evening she didn’t know. She felt as if a scream were building up inside her chest, just waiting to be released.

She walked around the back of the house, away from the kitchen, away from people. She was glad of the dark now. All she could hear were her own footsteps on the gravel path and the occasional rustle of leaves as a light breeze brushed them. After all she’d learned tonight, she needed time to think.

She had known about Abbie’s accident of course, but she hadn’t been given any of the specifics and she’d had no idea where the accident had happened.

The back road. What if…

No. She mustn’t think like that. She had to be wrong.

Tom said the police were going to want to know who was out and where they were going. How was she going to keep this to herself? She hadn’t been through the village or on any of the main roads, so her car was unlikely to have been picked up on camera. She had kept to the lanes all the way. But it wasn’t only her car that she had to worry about. What about his?

She should have refused to meet him last night, but somehow he had known that Leo was there - of course he had. He was always there, watching. So the children were no excuse for her to stay home. Besides, she had sincerely hoped it would be a chance to put an end to it all. It hadn’t worked. Each day it seemed as if he wanted more from her.

If his car had been spotted, he would have to say where he’d been – and possibly who with. She had no idea of how far she might have to go to prevent Max from discovering the truth. How would she ever be able to explain it to him?

She should go to the police and admit that she was out. She knew that. But she hadn’t seen anything, and the impact on her family if the reason were made public would be catastrophic. If it hadn’t been for the accident, none of this would have had to come out. She knew what she should do, but…

She turned towards the far side of the house, past the gravel parking area that they had created but never used. Without lights from inside the house, the night was black and it settled around her like a dense fog.

But Ellie’s mind was elsewhere. There was one thing that nobody had mentioned tonight. She had been the one looking after Abbie today, so she’d seen the terrible state of her feet and her legs. What had happened? She couldn’t say anything, of course, but it was so strange. How had she got that way?

Ellie was abruptly jolted out of her reverie.

What was that?

She’d heard the soft crunch of gravel as if somebody had taken a step, and stopped. She stood still for a second and glanced over the shoulder, her gaze trying to bore a hole through the inky night.

Oh no. Not tonight. Please.

She turned back, and started to move more quickly. The sound of her footsteps drowned out any other noise, but just as she made it to the side door, she was sure she heard somebody whisper her name.

Ellie.

* * *

Fiona had made her way into the room that Ellie now called the library. It was quite a small room in relation to the others in the house, but it was cosy with an open fireplace and book-lined walls. Two wingback chairs were placed on either side of the fire, and there was a deep and comfortable looking window seat. She could imagine Ellie spending hours in here when she wasn’t run ragged by the twins.

She left the door slightly ajar, knowing perfectly well that she would be followed. She walked over to the farthest bookshelf from the door and pretended to browse the books. She didn’t have long to wait. The door opened slowly, and was quietly closed before either of them spoke.

‘I thought I might find you here. An interesting evening, wouldn’t you say?’

Fiona smiled. ‘A few tricky moments, I agree. I can’t help wondering what the sexy new neighbour made of it all. I quite like the look of him.’ She knew she was provoking him, but then that was the idea.

‘He’s not your type, Fiona. Far too straight. You need somebody who’s a bit wild, don’t you think?’

‘Like you, you mean? Maybe. Maybe not.’

He laughed and stroked her arm.

‘You look amazing tonight, but then you know that, don’t you?’

Fiona randomly pulled a book from the shelves so that she could at least appear to be reading it if somebody came in. She gave her admirer a coquettish smile.

‘You said that last night, too.’

The man gripped her arm, and gave her a serious look.

‘Speaking of last night, does Charles know that I was round?’

‘Of course not. Why on earth would I tell Charles?’

‘Well, I do have a perfectly valid reason to call, don’t I?’ he replied.

‘Not if you stay drinking with me until after midnight you don’t. I think that’s stretching it a bit. Why do you ask, anyway?’

He turned away from her and walked towards the window.

‘I’m going to have to say I was home by eleven. You do realise that, don’t you? I don’t think I passed any cameras, but if I admit to being out, I’ll have to say where I was. So can we keep it to ourselves, do you think?’

‘How will you get away with that? Surely you were missed?’

‘Trust me, it’s not an issue.’

Fiona shrugged. It was best if Charles didn’t know. She could do without an inquisition.

‘Well, Charles goes back to London on Monday morning, so perhaps I could give you a call sometime. When I feel like some company.’

He swivelled on his heel towards her.

‘How long are you going to keep me hanging on, Fiona? We’re not kids, are we? What’s the game?’

Fiona put the book back on the shelf and walked towards the door.

‘The game is called seduction, darling. And you’re not there yet.’

She opened the door, and left the room without a backward glance.

* * *

Max had taken Leo’s advice to leave Ellie in peace, and he had escaped to the garden. His eyes had become accustomed to the low lighting and he saw Fiona come around from the front of the house, her dress briefly illuminated by the lights on the drive. Still without shoes, she looked almost ethereal as she was backlit by the garden lamps.

Max noticed the blond hair and slight form of his friend as he appeared from the darker depths of the garden, cagily pushing his mobile back in his pocket. Pat made his way over to Max and spoke in a quiet voice.

‘Listen, Max. Do me a favour, will you? Lay off the talk about last night? You’re right, I did disappear. But I don’t want anybody to know - least of all Mimi. I’ve already tried to cover it. Let’s leave it at that, shall we?’

Max looked at Pat and frowned.

‘It’s nothing to do with me, but you need to be a bit more guarded with all that phone activity you know. You’re about as subtle as a flying brick.’

Pat had the grace to look a bit embarrassed.

‘I’d better go and talk to Mimi, I guess. Make amends. You and I can have a chat later - I’d love to know what you make of this Abbie business. It stinks, doesn’t it? Trouble is, I’m not quite sure what of.’

‘Me neither. Has anybody spoken to the parents, do you know?’

‘I’ve got to go and see them tomorrow - boss’s orders. We all know that he’s useless on these occasions. Mimi’s going to be pissed about that too. She had this idea of us going out for lunch, or something. I’d better go and break the news and do something to appease her or I’m dead. I’ll speak to you later.’

With shoulders hunched in a pose of true dejection, Pat wandered off in the direction of the fishpond where Max could just make out Mimi’s back. Not for the first time, he questioned what the hell his friend was doing. It was obvious to everybody that he wasn’t happy, but Ellie had been right to stop him talking about Pat’s route home from the rugby club. She either knew, or guessed, that Pat hadn’t gone straight home, which probably meant that Georgia had to figure in this somewhere. What was his friend doing? Max almost felt sorry for Mimi.

His thoughts were interrupted as he saw Sean and Gary step out from the glass doors to the atrium dining room, talking quietly to each other. He saw Gary clap Sean on his shoulder and heard him laugh, and then he disappeared back into the house.

Knowing that Sean couldn’t see him easily, he gave a low whistle to attract his attention and Sean made his way across the grass. To Max, Sean had always had the natural swagger of a confident man. Ellie had once said that he strutted like an Italian, and Max knew just what she meant - loose limbed and in no doubt of his charms. Some of his usual self-assurance seemed to be missing tonight, though.

‘I’m glad you called round, Sean. It was good to have you here. We should have invited you, but we weren’t sure how you would cope with an evening with Charles, and with the Pat and Mimi thing it was already going to be awkward enough. I’m not sure how you’d have felt if we’d asked Bella, either.’

Sean’s voice was low.

‘I wouldn’t have expected an invite, Max. I’m the builder. And Bella wouldn’t have come anyway. You know that.’

There was a moment’s silence while Max contemplated the difficulties of living with somebody like Bella.

‘How are the plans going?’ Max asked, wanting to get round to the real reason for talking to Sean. ‘I’d love to get all of this sorted and under way before the end of the summer holiday. It’s much easier while I’m off school. You know how it is when I’m at work - not much time to do my own thing.’

Sean put his hands in the pockets of his jeans and looked thoughtful for a moment.

‘So we’ve got six weeks to get it all done and dusted, yes? Not that it should take anything like that much time once the money’s in place. As soon as it’s in the bank, we can move towards completion on the first phase of the deal.’

‘I’m off until early September, so I can be wherever you want me to be, whenever you want. I’ll need a bit of warning so I can work out an excuse for going out, though.’ Max gave a low groan. ‘Shit. I’d forgotten. Ellie’s booked a holiday for us. I’ve had nothing to do with it, but she announced it yesterday.’

Sean looked up sharply.

‘Really? Where are you going? How long are you going to be away?’

‘Hey - it’s okay, you know. Nothing to panic about. We can work around it. We’re not going for three weeks, and then there’s a week after we get back.’

‘What brought that on?’ Sean asked.

‘She thinks the kids need to see the sea, and she wanted us to have some time alone. I think we need it too. It’ll be good. She’s even searched out some local babysitting service for holidaymakers, checked and triple checked through some nursing network, so that we can have a couple of romantic meals out. Just what we need. I hate keeping secrets from her.’

‘I suppose. I thought, with the house and everything, she might prefer to stay around all summer. Obviously not.’

Max frowned, but at that moment Leo appeared in the doorway and started to make her way across to them. He needed to change the subject, because Leo never missed a thing.