The Back Road

by Abbott, Rachel

  ‘You keep saying ‘he’ - and I know that makes sense. But surely she wouldn’t have got in the car with a man, would she?’ Ellie asked.

  ‘Well, she was expecting Chloe’s mum. If a man had turned up and said “Are you Abbie? I’m Chloe’s dad - her mum was in the bath and we didn’t want you to have to hang around” would she have believed him? I suspect she would, you know.’

  ‘So this is cyber-stalking, is it?’ Max asked.

  ‘Strictly speaking cyber stalkers only stalk you online, and not in the flesh. Digitally enhanced stalking is a different issue. That’s when people use online information or a mobile phone or whatever to stalk you for real.’

  ‘Mobile phones?’ Ellie said. ‘What on earth can they do with a mobile phone?’

  Tom laughed.

  ‘Ellie - you have no idea. There are apps you can buy online to put on somebody’s phone that let you track all sorts of activity. Don’t get me onto that or I could be here all day.’

  ‘I’m not sure I want to know,’ Max said

  ‘Actually, Max, all this talk of people knowing where you are and what you’re doing reminds me. I was talking to Ellie earlier about this visitor you appear to have had on Sunday. What’s your take on it?’ Tom asked.

  Ellie looked nervously at Max. His response to Tom’s question was to look at Ellie and give her a smile, which to her mind had a hint of irritating condescension.

  ‘I think that Ellie perhaps thought somebody had been in, but maybe the kids had messed things up a bit. I’m positive I locked the door, and there were no signs of a break-in, so I don’t see how. Sorry, Ellie. I don’t want to doubt you, but…’

  Ellie was quick to agree with Max. She was positive she knew who it was, and she wanted this conversation to stop before Max worked it out.

  ‘It’s nothing, Tom. Like Max says, I probably imagined it.’

  ‘What about keys. Could anybody have had keys to the house?’

  Although she was sure it was irrelevant, Ellie suddenly realised that there was one thing that might put everybody off the trail.

  ‘Sean brought round the spare set of keys that he had - do you remember Max? I asked you about them on Sunday morning, and you said you didn’t know what you’d done with them. Maybe somebody took them?’

  Max turned to face Ellie with a look of total incredulity.

  ‘Who, for God’s sake? Those people are all our friends. Who on earth was going to take a set of keys so that they could come in and root around in your knicker drawer? Come on, Ellie. That’s a bit far fetched, don’t you think?’

  Ellie knew that Max was right - but it was the best story that she could come up with.

  * * *

  As soon as she possibly could without appearing rude, Ellie escaped to the bedroom leaving Max to show their guest out. She had intentionally left her phone switched off since the previous night, and although she was anxious about what she would find when she turned it on, she couldn’t put it off forever. And anyway, there was something that she was going to have to say. Once more she went into the bathroom. Ridiculous as it was, there was little choice if she wanted to avoid being interrupted. Leaning her back against the closed door, she switched the phone on.

  As expected, the minute it sprang to life the phone beeped to signal that there were messages and missed calls. Five text messages last night, and two missed calls, plus more this morning. All from the same person. What did he think he was doing?

  The messages were all along the same lines.

  WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT, ELLIE? WHY WERE YOU BEHAVING LIKE THAT WITH MAX? I DIDN’T LIKE IT. REMEMBER THAT I’M WATCHING YOU. YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO SEE ME, BUT I’M ALWAYS HERE. ALWAYS WATCHING.

  She knew he was telling the truth. She permanently felt as if hot eyes were boring into the back of her neck, and was constantly looking over her shoulder.

  There were other messages, demanding that she call him. She truly didn’t know what to do. Dropping her hands to her sides, she leant her head against the soft comfort of her dressing gown, hanging on the back of the door. Thinking there was nothing that she would like better than to wrap herself in its warmth and curl up on the bed, she thought about her options.

  ‘Sod it,’ she muttered, bringing the phone back to her ear and pressing the screen once. He answered immediately, as she’d known he would.

  ‘About time,’ he said. His voice sounded harsh, and Ellie felt a hard knot of fear. She had always thought that she could control the situation, but suddenly she wasn’t so sure.

  ‘What’s going on, Ellie? I thought we were just waiting for the right time for you to tell Max that you’re leaving him - and then you behave like that. Dancing with him, holding your body against him. What am I supposed to think?’

  She took a deep breath, and tried to speak with a calm she wasn’t feeling.

  ‘I have never said that I’m leaving Max. Not once, and you know that. If he leaves me, that’s his choice. But I’m not going to leave him - for you, or anybody else. I don’t know what I have to do to convince you, but I want you to leave me alone.’

  She heard a deep sigh of frustration from the other end of the phone.

  ‘I know you’re trying. I know you think you can make your marriage work. But you know that it’s me you want. You proved it.’

  ‘I proved nothing! I was stupid, hurt, angry - all of those things.’ Ellie realised that she was shouting, and dropped her voice lower. ‘How many times do I have to tell you?’

  ‘Listen,’ he said. ‘I realised yesterday what the problem is. You don’t know how to tell him, do you? Well, don’t worry about it. I’ll tell him. I’m not scared of Max. I’ll tell him that you and I belong together, and then it will be easy for you.’

  Not Max. Please don’t tell Max.

  But she couldn’t say the words. That would only inflame him more. She had to keep him calm until she could work out what to do.

  ‘I don’t want it to be easy. If Max ever needs to know about this, I’ll be the one to tell him. But there’s something else. You’ve been in my house, haven’t you? When we were out on Sunday, you came in the house didn’t you? You went into my bedroom and my bathroom. Why? Why? I don’t understand why you would do such a thing.’

  ‘Is that what you think of me? Is it? Seriously?’ There was a pause, and Ellie didn’t fill it. ‘What you and I have is special, darling. I would never do anything that would damage your trust in me. I promise you, I haven’t been in your house. If you remember, on Sunday I was close to you. Very close. I couldn’t have been in your house. The other day you were accusing me of knocking over a child and leaving her to die, and now you’re accusing me of breaking and entering. I know your trust in men has been shaken, but for God’s sake, Ellie!’

  ‘I don’t know what to think about anything any more, but please, I beg you, don’t say anything to Max, don’t go to the police about Friday night. I know you want to see me. I will see you, but can you just give me some time. Please?’

  She knew she was stalling. She had no desire to see him at all, but maybe if he thought she was coming round to his way of thinking, she would have a chance to calm things down.

  ‘A couple of days, then. I can’t promise longer than that. But remember that I’m always here. Always watching. Always keeping you safe. Just remember. And my patience is running out.’

  With that, he hung up.

  35

  The weather had turned cloudy, and there was more of a cool breeze today, but Leo welcomed it as she made her way into the village. She didn’t like hot, sticky weather. She hoped she had made the right decision leaving Ellie with Tom earlier, but she had needed to get away. She hadn’t bothered mentioning the fact that one of the files opened on her computer was the information about their father. It felt like it would be adding fuel to the fire and it wasn’t that important. Tom’s arrival hadn’t been brilliant timing, but now she was grateful to have a few hours alone.

  The funny thing about Tom was
that his outward persona didn’t quite fit with the idea of him being a detective in the serious crime division. He was so relaxed and easy - not her idea of how a high-ranking policeman would be at all. But then last night she’d asked him in one of their rare serious moments how he dealt with some of the lowlife that he must come across regularly, and she saw something. Nothing happened that she could put her finger on - he didn’t tighten his lips or narrow his eyes. But his face changed in the subtlest of ways - it was as if his cheekbones had become more prominent, and his eyes turned cold. It was enough for her to know for sure that she would never want to be questioned by this man for a crime - whether she was guilty or innocent. It also made him more intriguing.

  As a result of her self-enforced eviction Leo wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself, until she remembered that the wine bar opened early to serve breakfast. Maybe she could set up her office there for an hour or so. She had calls to make and meetings to set up for next week. A few of her clients were going on family holidays this week, and she had a dreadful suspicion that on their return they might be in need of urgent appointments. Unhappy relationships and holidays were not often a good match.

  Ordering an almond croissant and the ubiquitous cappuccino, she settled down in the corner away from other customers so that she wouldn’t disturb them by speaking on the telephone. Not that it seemed to bother anybody else, as at least fifty per cent of people were doing something with their mobiles; texting, checking emails or tweeting no doubt.

  This week hadn’t turned out in any way as Leo might have expected. Ellie was working too many hours and they’d had precious little time together, but when they were together, Ellie was prickly and distracted. Even without this morning’s scene, it had been an uncomfortable few days. And then there was the accident. Just the thought that the driver could be someone from the village had been enough to upset everyone, but now that they knew that Abbie had been abducted, there was a whole new layer of suspicion added. It felt somehow like the hours before an electric storm; the air around them was heavy and crackling with tension.

  Leo was worried about the fact that in her conversations with Tom she had failed to mention what she’d discovered about Gary - that he had been out late on Friday and then lied about it. But she couldn’t say anything until she had spoken to Ellie about where she’d been that night, and God knows how she could raise that subject again. She didn’t believe that there could be any link, but what if there was? If she mentioned Gary, would it make everything collapse around her family like a house of cards? And she had the feeling that Penny had said something that should have meant more than it did. But she couldn’t catch the thought. It was like trying to remember a word or a name - it was literally there, in her head for a fleeting second, and then disappeared before it solidified.

  She rested her chin on cupped hands. This was getting her nowhere. She was starting to miss the solitary silence of her own home. She loved her apartment, but it had taken so much hard work to be able to afford to live there. Even with an established practice as a life coach she’d had to spend a couple of years working in a bar at night to cover the mortgage. Situated in a renovated old warehouse, it was wonderfully spacious with high ceilings and bare brickwork. She had lived there for months with nothing much more than a mattress on the floor and a hanging rail for her clothes. But it had been worth it.

  Much as she wanted to go home, though, she was starting to feel a compulsion to stay until those around her were at peace again. Whether she would be able to help with the process or not, she didn’t think she could just walk away.

  The scene with Ellie this morning had left her feeling drained and empty. Since when had her sister become a glass half-empty person? That had always been Leo’s role.

  She reached into her bag and pulled out her notebook and pen. Maybe some cathartic writing would help her to make sense of it.

  A Single Step : the blog of Leo Harris

  Listening to a different tune

  Many years ago I saw a short film sequence of a little girl. She was wearing a pretty dress as she skipped down a narrow cobbled lane. The people around smiled fondly as she passed. The grainy, black and white image did nothing to detract from the happy scene, and the light summery music gave a feeling of well-being. The audience’s attention was focused entirely on the child.

  Then the identical film was shown again, but this time with sinister music playing. There was a gasp from the audience. For the first time, every person in the room noticed an unsmiling man standing at the mouth of a dark alley, smoking a cigarette and watching the girl.

  In spite of already knowing the ending, there was a sigh of relief when the child was reunited with her mother.

  Same film. Different music.

  For some people, life is like that. They filter out the positive and focus on the negative. They make assumptions about what somebody else is thinking, and believe only in the worst possible outcome.

  They are listening to a sinister tune.

  Is this you? If so, change the music, and focus on the positive. Listen to a happy tune, and see if the man skulking in the doorway disappears from view.

  “Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.” William James

  Leo put her pen down. She would re-read it before she typed it into her blog, but she was pleased with what she’d written. Perhaps she would show it to Ellie. Then again, perhaps not.

  Realising that she had already eaten two almond croissants and would feel forced to eat a third if she continued to sit here, Leo packed up her temporary office and reluctantly made her way out of the wine bar.

  Thoughts of her years of working long nights serving drinks to largely ungrateful customers had brought one person to mind. Mimi. Somebody needed to drop off her cardigan, and Pat had been conspicuous by his absence this week, so it provided Leo with the perfect excuse to call round. The fact was that she felt a bit sorry for Mimi. It didn’t seem quite right that everybody was oh-so sympathetic to Patrick, and treated her like a pariah. Pat was the one who was married and who had cheated on his wife. He was responsible for his own marriage, and Mimi shouldn’t be shouldering all the burden of guilt. Perhaps if she took her some flowers to congratulate her on the pregnancy, she could offer the girl a sympathetic ear. She had precious little hope that Mimi would be interested in a life-coaching session, but at least the cardigan provided a reasonable excuse for her visit.

  Clutching her newly acquired bunch of summer flowers, Leo made her way through the labyrinth of short streets that made up the recently developed estate on the far side of the village. She realised that she didn’t know Mimi and Pat’s address, but Pat had mentioned a cut through path from the village that came out opposite their house, and she knew that it was the farthest street from the main road. It was obvious that the planners had tried to make the roads interesting, because instead of straight lines that were easy to navigate, the roads twisted and turned. Leo was glad she wasn’t driving. She would never have found it.

  She was unsure of the reception she would get. There was no doubt that Mimi was a difficult character, and she clung to Pat like chewing gum on the sole of a shoe. Unfortunately it felt as if Pat was constantly trying to scrape her off - which couldn’t in all fairness do much for the girl’s self-esteem. Her comment on Saturday night about everybody treating her as if she were a mistake was spot on.

  When Leo finally found what she assumed was Mimi’s street, she could see that the brand new houses were compact - probably starter homes, and possibly only had one double bedroom and a bathroom upstairs. They were arranged into small terraces of six properties, with a side access at the end of each block to a rear passageway.

  Each house had an identical white front door - a popular design that Leo had never understood, almost as if a very narrow front door had been built into a larger frame. As she stared at the doors wondering where to begin she noticed some movement in the parki
ng bay across the road. It was Mimi, unloading her shopping. Leo’s timing had been perfect. She walked across the road.

  ‘Mimi - hi,’ Leo shouted. ‘Here, let me help you with those bags. They look heavy. Grab these - they’re for you,’ she added, handing Mimi the flowers and picking up the largest of the carrier bags.

  ‘I was just coming round to see you - to see how you are and how you’re getting on, and I’ve brought your cardigan back.’

  Mimi looked surprised by Leo’s appearance and for some strange reason, slightly nervous. Leo knew she could appear cold and aloof, but she hoped she hadn’t frightened the woman.

  ‘I hope you don’t mind me popping round on the off chance. I know what it’s like to be relatively new to an area, and I wondered if you fancied a bit of company for half an hour.’

  Mimi pulled the flowers towards her face and sniffed. She shot Leo a wary glance.

  ‘These are very nice. Thank you.’

  ‘My pleasure. Which way with the bags?’

  Mimi indicated the second house from the left, then walked ahead of Leo to unlock the front door, which led straight into a small sitting room, with an open tread wooden staircase going up one side. A large beige Dralon sofa was squeezed hard into one corner and up against the back wall, and a wildly patterned carpet in shades of orange and brown covered the floor. A television sat on a table covered with a cream coloured cloth in another corner, and under the stairs was an old style computer desk, with separate monitor and keyboard areas and space to hold the processor. A laptop was trying its best to find a comfortable spot there.

  The house had a musty smell, as if no windows were ever opened. There was a vague hint of tinned tomato soup or baked beans, overlaid with stale air.

  It appeared that the central area of the room had to be kept fairly clear, as this was the route through to the kitchen at the back of the house, and Leo dodged round a wooden rocking chair to follow Mimi. She couldn’t help noticing that there were no pictures on the walls but ceramic figurines adorned every possible surface.