The Back Road

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.

HOW HAS YOUR DAY BEEN, ELLIE? HOW’S YOUR LITTLE GIRL TONIGHT? LOST ANYTHING HAS SHE? NEXT TIME, MAYBE IT WON’T BE HER TOY DOG THAT I TAKE… BUT DON’T THINK OF TELLING ANYBODY. YOU DON’T KNOW WHO I AM, AND YOU WON’T CATCH ME. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS ONE THING. JUST ONE SMALL TASK. AND THEN IT WILL ALL BE OVER - AS IF IT HAD NEVER HAPPENED. I’LL KEEP YOUR DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS, AND YOUR KIDS WILL BE SAFE.

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.