The Back Road

by Abbott, Rachel

  ‘Come with me, Ellie. I’ve got something to show you.’

  Ellie looked at her wide grin and couldn’t help reciprocating as she was dragged into the office.

  ‘Ta da!’ she exclaimed, pointing her hand theatrically to a huge arrangement of flowers on the desk. ‘Look what’s just arrived. Aren’t they gorgeous?’

  Every single flower was a rose, in every shade of yellow and apricot imaginable.

  Ellie felt the blood draining from her face, but the student nurse was chattering on.

  ‘The note is so thoughtful - do want me to tell you what it says?’

  Totally missing the point that Ellie hadn’t said a word, she began to read.

  ‘“For Abbie. Wishing her a speedy recovery and offering special and sincere love to those wonderful nurses who care for her.” It doesn’t say who it’s from, but how nice is that?’ she said, turning her beaming face to Ellie. ‘I know we can’t have them on the ward, but you should take them home with you. They’re completely fabulous, aren’t they?’

  Ellie forced herself to smile. The student was so enraptured by the truly magnificent flowers that she failed to notice Ellie’s shock.

  ‘Do you know what?’ Ellie said. ‘I think we should give them to Kath to take home. Take the card off, and say they came for Abbie. Thanks for showing me, but I need to get back.’

  She knew that her less than enthusiastic response had been noted, but she didn’t care. She had to pull herself together and get on with her work. What was he thinking?

  By the time she returned to the bedside, Kath was calmer and Ellie handed her the water and sat down in the spare chair, mentally telling herself to focus, focus, focus.

  ‘Okay, Kath, tell me what’s happened since I was here last. Something’s obviously made you feel worse, so talk to me. Maybe I can help.’

  ‘I’ve been a fool. I gave in to pressure, even though I wasn’t happy about it. I only let her use Facebook because everybody else was doing it. If I’d said no, she’d have been the only one in her class, and she was enough of a loner as it was - not that it was her fault, poor lamb. And now the police believe that it was Facebook that caused the problem.’

  Ellie didn’t interrupt. Kath had to tell this in her own time.

  ‘She made a new friend on Facebook. Chloe she’s called. It was a few months ago now. Chloe contacted her completely out of the blue - and Abbie was so chuffed. She’d tried asking the girls in her class to be Facebook friends, you see, and a lot of them had just ignored her. Why is it that some teenage girls can be so horrible to each other? She’d only got about half a dozen friends, and then this girl Chloe contacted her. She said her family were hoping to move to Little Melham over the summer, and if they did, she’d be starting school here. Her dad was being relocated, and she was looking forward to getting to know other girls from the school. Abbie checked her out, and she had quite a few friends in Durham where she lived. She and Abbie chatted all the time, and Abbie was so happy that she was going to be the first one in her class to know this girl. She said she’d told Chloe things about herself that she’d never been able to tell any other girls at school, and I was so pleased for her. She talked about Chloe all the time, and we almost felt as if we knew her ourselves.’

  Ellie squeezed Kath’s hand reassuringly, wondering what this could possibly have to do with Abbie getting knocked over.

  Kath swallowed a sob. ‘The police can’t find Abbie’s phone, but they’ve pieced together what happened via Facebook.’ Kath pulled a sheet of paper from her handbag, and passed it to Ellie. ‘This is the last of the messages between Abbie and Chloe on Friday night. Chloe and her mum were arranging to pick Abbie up from the back of the burger place.’

  Ellie quickly scanned the messages, which seemed reassuringly normal.

  ‘That’s good isn’t it? At least now you know where she went and why. What do Chloe and her mother have to say?’

  ‘Nothing. They have nothing at all to say. That’s the whole point. There is no Chloe. She doesn’t exist.

  * * *

  Ellie hadn’t been able to get anything coherent out of Kath after that last dreadful sentence, so she had decided to break all the rules and for once make her a cup of tea.

  By the time she returned to the bedside, Kath had calmed down and her mood had changed. Her lips were clamped together in a tight line, and her body was taut with tension. Ellie placed the hot tea on the bedside cabinet to cool down a little.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Kath said. ‘I shouldn’t be burdening you with all this. It was such a shock, though.’

  ‘You’re not burdening me at all. But you said Chloe had friends in her home town. Wouldn’t they have known that she didn’t exist?’

  ‘You’d think so, wouldn’t you? Except the friends don’t exist either,’ Kath answered. The anger simmered right below the surface. ‘It was a charade - don’t you see? The whole thing. Pretending to move to the area, making up friends - all so that Chloe seemed real to Abbie - so that she could get to know everything about her.’ Kath looked at Ellie with eyes round with horror. The next words sound as if they were being wrenched from deep within her. ‘She was abducted, Ellie. My baby girl was abducted.’

  Abducted? How could something like this happen around here?

  Ellie felt as if cold water was running down her spine. But if it was too much for Ellie to deal with, how must it be for Kath? No wonder she was angry. Ellie would want to murder anybody that hurt her children with her bare hands.

  But she was still puzzled. Chloe didn’t exist, but whoever had abducted Abbie must know the area, because they knew where the burger bar was. Did this mean they were local? Oh God, what if it was somebody that she knew? Ellie shuddered.

  Kath was talking as if to herself, not worrying whether anybody was listening or not.

  ‘It’s unbelievable. That somebody could plan this - somebody would harm a child. Just unbelievable.’

  Kath reached out a shaky hand for her tea, and nudged the cup, splashing some of the hot liquid onto Abbie’s arm.

  ‘Oh God, and now I’m trying to burn the poor child. What a useless mother I am.’

  Kath put the cup down and started to mop Abbie’s arm. But Ellie wasn’t paying attention. She was watching Abbie, positive that when the hot tea hit her, her arm moved away just a fraction. Ellie jumped up and moved to Abbie’s feet.

  ‘Did you see that?’ Ellie asked. Kath’s face was suddenly bright with expectation as she watched Ellie run her usual tests. They weren’t actually due, but if Kath believed that her accident with the hot tea had brought Abbie out of her coma, that was absolutely fine by Ellie.

  And there was no doubt about it. The coma was definitely lightening

  ‘This is great news. She’s starting to respond to pain. We’ve got a long way to go, but it’s the first positive sign we’ve had since Abbie was brought in. I know the doctor has explained to you that coming round from a coma isn’t like it is on the TV. She’s not suddenly going to sit up and start talking - but this is a very good sign. Do you want to go and call Brian and tell him? I’ll sit here with her, don’t worry.’

  Kath was clearly torn between staying with Abbie and phoning her husband, but she couldn’t bear the thought of him not knowing.

  ‘I’ll be two minutes - that’s all. I promise.’

  Grabbing her mobile phone from her handbag, she dashed for the door.

  Ellie sat down by the bed, and started stroking Abbie’s head - just as she had done the day before. She had checked out some of the words to Abbie’s favourite song as well, and memorised the chorus. She started to sing very softly, close to Abbie’s ear. This was all that mattered now. Abbie recovering.

  But even the words of the song couldn’t drive out the knowledge that somebody - somebody not too far away from here - had ruthlessly planned and executed the abduction of a teenage girl.

  30

  The route to Penny and Gary’s house was imprinted on Leo’s brain, as they live
d right next door to Ellie and Max’s previous home. She remembered that they had two young girls and as it was the school holidays, there was every chance they would be at home. She hoped she would get a chance to chat to Penny alone, though. With any luck on this bright, sunny day the girls would have found something better to do with themselves than sit around watching TV, chatting on their computers, or playing online games, although any recent experience Leo had had with kids of this age didn’t give her much hope.

  Leo had decided to call on Penny to see if she’d had any more thoughts about the life coaching session, because in her view if anybody needed it, Penny did. As she approached the house, she looked at it with interest. The garden was beyond immaculate, far too much order and uniformity for her taste. Somebody had gone berserk with the bedding plants, and the garden was full of colour; but each plant was equidistant from the next and in a regular pattern - one red, one blue, one white. She wasn’t sure if it was patriotism or a desire for high impact that had dictated the colour scheme, but either way it was a bit extreme. The front lawn was a neat square with crisply trimmed edges, and at each corner stood an identical pyramid shaped shrub. Leo thought they were probably conifers, but since the only plant she could identify with any reliability was a rose, this was just her best guess.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement at one of the windows. But when she turned her head to look properly, she couldn’t see anybody. She had always thought it strange that a man who had aspirations to be an architect had chosen to live in a house like this. There was nothing wrong with it, but it was a flat fronted nineteen seventies detached house with nothing to differentiate it from its neighbours - apart from the fact that most of them, including Ellie and Max’s old house, were semi-detached. The curtains at the windows looked unnecessarily fussy to Leo, and she could see that they were tied back with care so that the windows upstairs and down looked identical. She could just make out some flouncy pelmet on the inside as she walked up the drive. There were no more signs of life, though.

  Leo rang the bell and waited. Nothing. Not a sound from inside the house. But there was somebody there, she was sure of it. She rang again, but still nothing. How weird. Maybe Penny hadn’t seen her approaching the house, and had gone out into the back garden. Leo decided to walk round the side of the house and see if Penny was there. Lifting the latch on the gate to the back garden, Leo called out softly not wanting to startle Penny if she hadn’t heard the doorbell.

  ‘Penny, it’s Leo. Are you there?’

  She made her way through the gate from the drive to the rear of the house. But the back garden was empty. This area was neatly and precisely arranged too, but fortunately not with symmetrical rows of annuals. Here there were beds of perfectly pruned roses interspersed with lavender. In one corner stood a small stone statue of a lady, emptying water onto some white pebbles. The perfect water feature, Leo thought with a smile. Against the fence was a large wooden slatted kennel, with its own two patches of neat and tidy grass, edged with a low hedge. Even the dog, it would appear, needed pristine surroundings.

  Leo didn’t want to appear nosey by peering through the window, but as she approached the sliding patio doors which led through to the lounge, she was shocked to see Penny crouching behind a sofa, trying to hide from whoever had arrived at the front door. How awful. Penny clearly didn’t want visitors, and Leo had no desire to force herself on anybody. She needed to get away before Penny saw her.

  The decision was taken out of her hands as Penny and Gary’s elderly and partially deaf Jack Russell became aware of her presence and trotted across the lawn starting to yap - a shrill, piercing noise which had driven Max to issue threats to strangle the dog on more than one occasion. Leo bent down, facing away from the window.

  ‘Hello, Smudge. How’re you doing, old man?’ She knew Penny would have heard, but by focusing on Smudge Leo was giving her time to get up from behind the sofa and they could at least pretend that this was all perfectly normal.

  The patio door slid open, and Leo could hear Penny’s timid voice but couldn’t see her.

  ‘Leo - what a surprise. Give me a moment and I’ll be with you.’

  Leo waited patiently outside, scratching Smudge on his fat tummy as he lay on the floor with all four legs in the air.

  ‘Not too old for a tickle then, are you Smudge,’ she said with a smile. She heard Penny’s feet thudding up the stairs through the open doorway, and wondered what was going on. Sadly she wasn’t surprised when Penny reappeared wearing a cardigan that she hadn’t had on before, and sporting a pair of large sunglasses. But not quite large enough.

  ‘Sorry to keep you, Leo. I thought as it’s such a nice day we could sit outside. Would you like some coffee or tea?’

  Leo didn’t want either, but she needed to help Penny get past this difficult moment.

  ‘I’d love a cup of tea, Penny. Thanks. I’ll come and talk to you while you make it, shall I?’

  ‘No need,’ Penny answered in a breezy voice.

  ‘It’s no problem - Smudge has had my undivided attention for five minutes, so I’ll come in with you.’

  Penny had managed to avoid looking directly at Leo, keeping her head down to look at Smudge, and now in the kitchen she had her back turned as she prepared the tea. But the sunglasses had stayed on, even in the dark kitchen. Leo felt anger well up inside her, but knew that it wouldn’t be appropriate to voice her feelings.

  ‘Are the girls not at home today?’

  Penny gave a jerky shake of the head.

  ‘Gary took them to his mother’s and he’s left them there for a week. We were all supposed to be going on holiday, but Gary was concerned about a big project that’s coming up. Even though he’s off work on annual leave, he wants to be available. He says it’s not something that will wait.’

  Leo’s face remained blank. Gary had never struck her as so diligent in his job that he would cancel a holiday, but it probably wasn’t a good idea to say so. She wondered whether he had made that decision before or after his wife had taken to wearing sunglasses in the house. What a bastard. She had to put Penny at ease, though.

  ‘The gardens are looking impeccable. Who’s the gardener then? You?’ Leo asked.

  Although she laughed, Penny’s voice was shaky.

  ‘Me? No, I’m afraid not. Gary likes it to be perfect, and I don’t get my lines right. The house is my domain. I seem to do better at keeping the curtains straight than I do the lawn edging. And I like making curtains and cushions - especially if they’re a bit complicated and I have to think about it.’

  Leo looked through the wide opening from the kitchen to the dining end of the long through lounge, and could see exactly what Penny meant. Every peach and cream curtain and cushion had some sort of frill attached.

  ‘Well. I’m glad I managed to catch you on your own. You mentioned on Saturday that you might be interested in finding out a bit more about life coaching, so if you’ve got time for a chat now I can tell you all about it and you can decide if you’d like a session.’

  The tin of tea bags clattered onto the worktop and Penny cast a nervous glance at Leo.

  ‘I’m sorry, Leo, but that won’t be necessary. I think it was the wine talking on Saturday. Gary was ever so cross. He said I’d given everybody the impression that there must be something wrong with my life - and of course there isn’t.’

  Leo wasn’t at all surprised by this. ‘Where is Gary today? If he was here, I’d be happy to tell you both about it and put his mind at rest. It’s not about anything being wrong - it’s about what you could do to make life even better.’

  ‘He’s gone to take the Porsche back. I think it was supposed to go back yesterday - the three days were up. But he couldn’t bear to part with it. He’s very fond of nice things, is Gary.’

  Penny splashed the milk into the saucer of her cup as she poured it.

  ‘Oh dear. I didn’t mean that to sound judgemental. He works so hard, he deserves the best of everyth
ing.’

  Penny attempted an apologetic laugh as she cleaned up the spilt milk, but Leo could hear the quiver in her voice. The two women picked up their cups of tea and made their way out onto the terrace to sit at a small wooden table. It was a real sun trap, and perspiration gathered quickly on Penny’s top lip and forehead.

  ‘You know,’ Leo continued, ‘I get it that Gary doesn’t want you to talk to me, but it doesn’t need to be a proper session. We can just chat. And it’s not about finding fault with relationships. It’s about identifying where you want your life to go, and making sure that you’re both heading in the same direction. It’s really not about tearing things down. It’s more about building them up.’

  Penny hadn’t lifted her head, and Leo wasn’t surprised to see a tear trickling down her face. Reaching into her handbag, she grabbed a clean tissue from the pack she always kept handy, and passed one across the table.

  ‘There you go, use that. And Penny,’ she said very gently, ‘you can take your glasses off. I know you’ve got a black eye - I can see the bruising below. It’s okay.’

  Penny started to weep in earnest, knowing that her secret was out. But still she tried to deny what Leo knew was the truth.

  ‘I fell. It was a silly accident, and I caught my eye.’

  Leo had been through this with other women so many times, and it never failed to infuriate her that somehow the victims were always the ones who felt impelled to lie. She would love to be able to give Penny a hug now, but she didn’t know how. Her own upbringing had seen to that.

  These situations usually followed the same pattern though. The hardest thing of all was admitting that something was actually wrong; that you were allowing yourself - because that’s how it felt - to be mistreated. Once the floodgates were opened and the irrational sense of guilt and shame removed, she knew that Penny wouldn’t be able to stop and she hoped that Gary didn’t get home too soon.

  The first thing that Leo had to do was to help Penny to admit the truth. It was a bit like lancing a boil - make the first incision and watch all the nasty stuff come oozing out.