The Back Road

43

It was mid-afternoon by the time Ellie finished her shift, and it had been a hard few hours. After the panic of the intruder on the ward, everybody had finally calmed down but she couldn’t help remembering Abbie’s rigid body as she’d touched her. She was showing good signs of recovery, but Kath was tormented by the fact that Abbie had said the word ‘mother’ and Ellie could think of no way of reassuring her.

She had admitted to both Sam and Security that her pass was missing, and had been since her shift had started. Sam had been so good about it, saying it could happen to anybody. Security were less tolerant. And rightly so.

Ellie drove home as if she were driving on auto-pilot, and she noticed nothing of the journey - stopping automatically when she had to, but otherwise oblivious to her surroundings. She was surprised but strangely relieved to see there were no cars on the drive as she pulled in. She was determined to go to the police, whatever the consequences, and it would be far easier to do if she didn’t have to tell Max about it first. She had no idea where he’d gone, but she could hazard a guess. He’d be with her, but for now she didn’t want to think about it. And Leo could be anywhere. What a dreadful time for her to have come!

Ellie opened the front door and headed straight for the stairs. She wasn’t hungry and all she wanted was a bath and a bit of thinking time. She needed to prepare her story for the police. She tramped wearily up the stairs, feeling more like sixty-four than thirty-four. Throwing her bag onto a chair, she kicked off her shoes and lay back on the bed. She just needed a few minutes, then she would get ready and go and give her confession. She rested her head on the soft pillows, and her exhausted mind shut itself off, as if somebody had pulled down a blackout blind. She fell into a dreamless sleep.

She was shocked to find that it was after five when she finally woke up. Max would be picking the children up at six, although she knew he would stay and chat with the other parents for a while - but he would be home by six thirty at the latest. She needed to be out of here by then. She raced into the bathroom and had to forego the bath she had been anticipating, ducking under the shower for about two minutes instead. At least it woke her up.

She’d thought of wearing her best clothes in order to look smart for her visit to the police, but realised this was a ridiculous idea. With what she had to tell them, she didn’t suppose how she was dressed would make the least difference. She grabbed a clean pair of dark blue jeans and a royal blue and white striped top and got ready quickly. She pulled a brush through her hair and contemplated putting some makeup on to hide her pallor. In the end, though, she thought that her tired face might indicate how much her conscience had been pricking her.

It was still only quarter to six, so she had time to get a quick drink of juice - although a large gin would have gone down a treat right now. As she walked into the kitchen, she saw a note propped up on the worktop.

ELLIE it said on the front. It was from Max, probably explaining or making up some excuse for where he’d gone that afternoon. But she wasn’t prepared at all for what the note said.

Ellie, sweetheart - we need to talk. I’m sorry not to be there now, but there is something that I have to sort out before I can talk to you. When I get back, I’ll put the children to bed and ask Leo to make herself scarce. I don’t know what time I’ll be home, but I need to track Sean down and sort things out with him before I can talk to you. See you later. Love Max.

She gave a brief cry of anguish and crumpled the letter in her hand, letting it fall to the floor. Wrapping her arms tightly round her body as if to hold in the pain, she could barely breathe.

Why had he gone to see him?

There could only be one reason. Sean must have decided that he wasn’t waiting any longer, and he must have called Max. Ellie had known that going to the police was dangerous and there was a chance that Max might find out, but she had hoped they would handle the situation with discretion. But now she didn’t have to rely on the police’s tact. By the time she got home tonight, Max was going to know everything. And he was obviously planning to bring his big announcement forward by a couple of days.

Looking down at her hands, Ellie realised that she was shaking. Grabbing a glass from the draining board, she filled it with cold water and gulped it down. Georgia had been right yesterday. It was as if Abbie Campbell’s accident had acted like a catalyst, and the still waters around them were erupting in seething turbulence, with a geyser about to shoot through the apparent calm surface of all of their lives.

* * *

Knowing that she was being a coward, Ellie had driven very slowly to the police headquarters, and it was quarter to seven by the time she arrived. Max would be home by now and wondering where she was. The truth was that in spite of arriving at her destination half an hour ago, she was still sitting outside, trying to pluck up the courage to go in.

She wasn’t sure what she was going to say. She’d had it all so well planned, but it sounded hollow even to her own ears. One option was not to mention anybody but herself. She could say she had been going to pick her husband up from the rugby club, but had remembered before she got there that he was getting a lift. But that was pretty pathetic. Or she could tell them that there was a man who had been bothering her. She had gone out to meet him to tell him to get lost.

At midnight. Down a dark lane. A likely story.

Or the truth. That she had started a relationship with a man other than her husband, and he had wanted to meet her. The fact that she was going to see him to tell him to get out of her life would be irrelevant to the police. And they would be justifiably furious with her for not coming forward sooner. Particularly as she now remembered that she had passed the other car. Not that she could identify it, but she was sure that it was a dark colour.

She was just opening the car door when her phone rang. Max. She cut him off. But it unnerved her again, and she gave herself a minute or two to calm down. The phone rang again.

She was about to cut it off when she saw that it said ‘blocked’. That couldn’t be Max. He wouldn’t have a clue how to block his number - but then, he’d never needed to before. Perhaps it was something else he had learned.

‘Hello,’ she said tentatively.

‘Helllloooo Elllieee.’ The voice sounded deep and slow, like a recording played at the wrong speed. It was impossible to tell whether it was a man or a woman - because it sounded like neither. It didn’t sound human. Ellie felt a shiver run up her back.

‘It’s paaaayback time.’ There was a brief and eerie laugh from the other end of the phone.

Ellie closed her eyes and bit her top lip. Should she hang up?

But she couldn’t. She needed to know what this person wanted from her.

The deep, slow, echoing voice continued.

‘I’ve saved this task for you, Ellie, because it’s something that you - and only you - can do for me.”

“Why should I do anything for you?’

‘Don’t interrupt.’ A momentary lapse in the smooth tones betrayed a quick anger, and Ellie recognised instantly that this person wasn’t entirely balanced.

‘You will do as I say, won’t you Ellie? Imagine how you’ll feel if your husband finds out what you’ve been doing, and your perfect little family is broken into pieces? If you want your secrets to be safe, you only have to do one very simple thing. If not, you’ll have to face the consequences.’

The voice hardened. ‘Or perhaps next time, it won’t just be your security pass or a scruffy soft dog that goes missing.’

Ellie felt a wave of hot fury.

‘Don’t you come near my children. Don’t you dare. I’ll hunt you down and kill you if you so much as touch a hair on their heads.’

There was a sly laugh from the other end of the phone. Even through the distortion, it tugged at Ellie’s memory but she couldn’t place it. Who was it? Somebody who’d had a reason to take her security pass. Somebody who had wanted to hurt Abbie Campbell. But why? And if they could hurt Abbie, what might they do to Ruby and Jake?

Whoever it was, they seemed to be able to come and go in Willow Farm without detection, because she was sure that her pass had been taken last night, while they were sleeping. The thought made her shudder with horror at what else could have happened.

She didn’t know what this person wanted from her, but if it was within her power, she would do whatever they asked to take the threat away from the children. That wasn’t enough, though. If it was the last thing she did, she would track this bastard down and remove any lingering threat from her family.

The caller had assumed that Ellie’s silence implied complicity, and the distorted voice continued with no further sense of familiarity or clues to gender.

‘Just do what I ask. It’s sooooo simple. You can protect your precious marriage and your children. After all, we don’t want any more tragedies in the village, do we?’

Ellie didn’t respond.

‘Why are you so quiet, Ellie? It’s not a big decision. I’m going to tell you what I need you to do, and don’t even think of taking a chance that I don’t mean what I say.’

Ellie listened. And finally she understood why she had been targeted. Why she was the one that had to be blackmailed.