The Back Road

by Abbott, Rachel

  Ellie gave a brief laugh, her fondness for Max showing through despite everything.

  ‘I was so upset. I knew he didn’t want me anymore. He tried, but… Well, things didn’t always work out, and that had never been a problem for Max until the last month or two. So I knew, you see. He didn’t want me. And I knew that Sean did. I’d known for months. He found me lying on the floor - on my beautiful new carpet - and I was crying. Sean had called to see if the fitters had done any damage and if any paintwork needed touching up, but he sat down next to me and pulled me into his arms. I told him everything.’

  Ellie started to cry again. Leo looked at Tom as if begging him to stop, but he knew it was all going to have to come out. He waited in silence, just leaning forward to give Ellie’s arm an encouraging squeeze.

  ‘The landscapers were outside finishing off my yellow rose bed, so he guided me upstairs - away from prying eyes, he said. He sat me on our new king sized bed and put his arm round me. Then I had this mad notion that if I was unfaithful too, it wouldn’t seem so bad when Max came clean. I thought that I wouldn’t have to leave him, because I was as bad. Does that make sense?’ Ellie looked up for the first time. ‘I’d always said that trust had to be the most important thing in my marriage, and if Max ever betrayed it, I would leave him. I didn’t want to become an embittered old hag like my mother. But I couldn’t leave him. I love him. I adore him. So what could I do? This way, I would be able to forgive him.’

  Leo grabbed a tissue from the pocket of her jeans and passed it to Ellie.

  ‘I didn’t have sex with him, though. I couldn’t. But you see, I let him get close - so what does that make me? When I was at school, we’d have called somebody like me a prick tease. But I didn’t mean to. Sean was nice. But then he became a bit weird. I know that it was my fault. But after that day, he wouldn’t leave me alone. Wherever I went, there he was. Whatever I did, he knew about it. It was the most dreadful feeling.’

  ‘Ellie,’ Leo said softly, ‘I know Tom has told me not to interrupt, but there’s something you need to know. Max has never had an affair. Not with Alannah, or with anybody else. I know what the problem was. It was just the money. He told me this morning. He felt he wasn’t the man of the house anymore, and so he did something stupid - something very stupid - but I promise you, it had nothing to do with another woman.’

  Leo gave Tom a defiant look.

  ‘I know you told me to be quiet, but she needed to know that, Tom.’

  He gave her a gentle smile, and a brief nod.

  ‘We understand, Ellie. I can see how it happened, and it sounds as if Sean became obsessed, would that be right? Why was he here, though? The police will be here soon, so if you can it would help if you told me everything now. Then I can help you.’

  And so Ellie began her tale. Of the blackmail, the stalking, the breaking into the house, and how Sean came to be at Haslett’s farm.

  * * *

  Ellie was so grateful to Tom and Leo for coming to her rescue, but she knew that somebody was going to have to tell Max what was happening. He’d been calling her endlessly, and she had finally switched off her phone. Leo had done the same. At least he was at home to keep a careful watch over the twins, although now that the blackmailer had what he wanted, maybe that threat would be over.

  She had been so wrong about Max. In spite of the horrors of this evening, the fact that he wasn’t having an affair had lifted a lead weight from around her heart. It was wrong to feel this way, because whatever Sean had done and no matter how he had frightened her, she was far from blameless, and this was something that she was going to have to face.

  The police had arrived just as she finished explaining everything to Tom, and he had spoken to them. Nevertheless, she was an obvious suspect. They had found Sean’s phone, with the message that she’d sent asking him to meet her here, at the farm, and she was covered in his blood. Tom had pointed out that the floor upstairs had been sawn through, and the hole covered in cardboard and straw so that it was invisible, but they hadn’t found any tools of any description and she had no alibi. She hadn’t seen a soul since she left work. She hadn’t spoken to anybody, and she’d not been home when Max returned with the twins. In fact, she had been sitting outside the police station, but nobody would have seen her there.

  Tom came towards her with the detective, a huge man, whom he’d called ‘Steve’.

  ‘Ellie, I’m sorry but you’re going to have to go down to the station with Detective Inspector Corby here. I don’t want you to worry too much, but they will have to arrest you. It’s procedure, and under the circumstances they don’t have much choice. But whatever you do, don’t panic. Tell them the truth and we’ll get it sorted, okay? I’ll take Leo home, and she can get you some clean clothes. We’ll bring them to you. We’ll speak to Max too. What do you want us to tell him, Ellie?’

  Before Ellie had a chance to answer, one of the other policemen came over and whispered in the inspector’s ear. He nodded a couple of times, and turned to Tom.

  ‘Apparently we have a very positive lead on the driver of the car in the Abbie Campbell accident. Have you got a moment, Tom?’

  The detective inspector put his hand on Tom’s elbow and guided him away from Ellie, but not before she had heard one name.

  Charles Atkinson.

  47

  As Ellie was driven away in the back of a police car, Tom could feel Leo’s rigid body beside him. He knew she was trying to deal with everything that the last few hours had thrown at her, but now she had one more thing to face. She had to talk to Max.

  Tom put his arm firmly round her shoulders. She might try to shrug him off, but she needed to know that he was there and he was going to help.

  ‘Come on, Leo. She’s gone now, but it won’t be for long. On the face of it, the evidence might be stacked against her, but she didn’t do it. So it’s only a matter of time.’

  Surprisingly, Leo didn’t move. She didn’t exactly melt against him, but she didn’t push him away either, so Tom let his arm rest there.

  ‘What about a solicitor, Tom? Doesn’t she need somebody?’ Leo was looking straight ahead, at the departing cars as they bumped over the ruts in the road.

  ‘She said that the family solicitor wouldn’t be up to the job, so I called somebody for her. I briefed him, and he won’t let them keep her in any longer than necessary.’

  As the last lights of the cars disappeared, Tom felt Leo sag against him, and he tightened his grip.

  The crime scene guys were still busy in the barn, but Tom steered Leo towards his Jeep.

  ‘Let’s get you back to Willow Farm. We need to decide what we’re going to say to Max.’

  Leo stayed close by his side, but looked up at him.

  ‘What about Ellie’s car?’ she asked, as if this were the most important thing in the world at the moment. She was in shock, and he knew it.

  ‘The police will want both Ellie’s and Sean’s cars, so we’ll have to leave them I’m afraid. But it’s good, Leo. They’ll want to check if there’s a saw in the boot, or traces of sawdust, and there won’t be either - so it’s good. Don’t worry about it.’

  Leo gave him a guilty glance at the mention of the sawdust, but he just squeezed her shoulder.

  Even though it was a warm summer night, Tom felt her shudder under his arm, and he dropped a light kiss on her head, much as he would have done to Lucy. He dropped his arm from around her shoulders and opened the passenger door, guiding her gently into the Jeep.

  By the time he had walked round the other side and got in, Leo had strapped herself in and was staring straight ahead.

  ‘So what shall we do about Max? It doesn’t seem like our place to tell him about Sean and what happened between him and Ellie. That should come from her, if she decides to tell him. What do you think?’ Tom asked.

  Leo turned towards Tom, and he could see that for once, she genuinely didn’t have an answer.

  ‘I don’t know what to do. I honestly don’t
. And more to the point, I don’t know what Ellie should do. Do you think she should tell him, or should she lie - tell him it was all in Sean’s head?’

  Tom took a deep breath, and blew it out soundlessly.

  ‘I think there are two types of people who don’t tell, and keep - or at least try to keep - the secret for life. There are those who have no sense of guilt whatsoever. They say nothing, then they think, “Phew, I got away with that!” and end up feeling pleased with themselves. Don’t look at me like that, Leo. I know Ellie isn’t that sort.’

  Leo’s expression relaxed, and Tom continued.

  ‘There are others who think the guilt is theirs, and therefore they should be the ones to live with it for the rest of their lives, without damaging the person they love.’

  Leo nodded, but looked sceptical.

  ‘And the other way is to tell everything, right?’ she asked.

  ‘Yes. Some people believe that if you don’t tell everything, you can never share the same intimacy, the same level of trust again. Others believe that by telling everything, you shatter that trust and it can never be rebuilt. Only the people concerned can make that judgement.’

  ‘What would you do, Tom? Do you believe in total honesty, no matter what?’

  Tom reached over and took Leo’s hand in his. This was going to be difficult.

  ‘I think lies are corrosive and if you’re holding something back, you’re holding back part of yourself. But… sometimes people have to keep secrets for other reasons. To protect things from their past, or people they’ve cared about.’

  Leo hadn’t removed her hand, but now she turned to look at him, her face expressionless. She was clearly waiting for him to explain.

  ‘There are things in my past that I can never tell anybody. It’s got nothing to do with infidelity or causing harm to another person. But I can never talk about it. It makes me wonder whether it will always be a barrier to a relationship in the future, but I have to live with it. It was my choice.’

  Tom looked into Leo’s sad and confused eyes, and had to turn away. He gently released his hand, switched on the ignition, and put the car into gear.

  ‘This isn’t about me, though. Perhaps that’s a conversation for another time. This is about Ellie and Max, and we need to work out what we’re going to say.’

  He put his foot lightly on the accelerator and they moved down the rutted track, leaving the now brightly lit barn behind them.

  * * *

  The journey back to Max and Ellie’s home only took a few minutes, and Leo had to force herself to concentrate on the task ahead of her. But it was hard, given what Tom had said. She would have thought that he was an open book, but something in his past was still with him and she couldn’t help but wonder what it was. Tom was right to think that it might be a barrier to a relationship – most women hated secrets; or at least facts that were withheld from them.

  Max, though. She had to focus on Max. What in God’s name could they tell him? But the time for thinking had run out, because as they turned up the drive to Willow Farm, Max flung open the front door and came racing out towards them. Poor Max. He had absolutely no idea what was going on. She could see immediately how agitated he was.

  As she wearily got out of the car, Leo saw Max’s look of astonishment as he saw the blood on her clothes. There wasn’t much, but Ellie had been soaked in it, and some had transferred to her white shirt.

  ‘Ellie? Has something happened to Ellie? Why will nobody talk to me?’ Max was almost crying.

  It was Tom who spoke, his voice calm and reassuring.

  ‘Ellie’s fine, Max. She’s not hurt, and this is not her blood. I promise you, she’s fit and well. Can we talk inside, do you think? Leo needs to get changed and wash some of this blood off her, and then we can explain.’

  Max’s concern appeared to have hardly eased at all, but he stood back and indicated that they should go into the house.

  Leo felt like going straight upstairs and having a long soak in the bath, but she needed to speak to Max first.

  They walked silently down the hallway towards the kitchen, the hub of this house. Dumping her bag on the table, she leaned against the Aga for warmth as her body shuddered with ice cold tremors of shock. Max’s head was pivoting from side to side, looking first at Leo and then at Tom. Leo couldn’t help it. She gave Tom a pleading look, which fortunately he interpreted correctly.

  ‘Ellie found a body, Max. She found the body of Sean Summers. That’s where the blood is from. Ellie tried to see if she could save him and got covered in his blood. Some of that transferred to Leo.’

  Max sat down with a thump.

  ‘Oh God, no. Poor Sean. Where did it happen? Was it a car crash? And where’s Ellie now?’

  ‘She’s at the police station,’ Tom responded. ‘It looks as if there was foul play involved, but as Ellie was the only person there, she has to be questioned.’

  Max looked dumbfounded, and hopelessly confused.

  ‘Foul play? Do they suspect Ellie?’

  Leo realised that, much as Tom was doing a decent job, she should be showing a bit of solidarity here. She walked across and crouched at Max’s feet so her eyes were level with his.

  ‘Sean was found at the old Haslett’s Farm. It seems that somebody asked Ellie to set up a meeting with Sean. She probably thought they were thinking of renovating the farmhouse. When Sean got there, he fell through the floor of the barn onto some old farm equipment. I think the police said it was an ancient sickle bar mower or something, but the hole in the floor was pre-prepared. Ellie was thinking that the meeting all sounded a bit fishy, so went to check if everything was okay. That’s when she found him.’

  Max had gone white. He looked up at Tom, who was still standing with one hand leaning on the back of a dining chair.

  ‘So they suspect Ellie?’ It was more of a statement than a question. ‘Why would Ellie want to kill Sean? Why would anybody? Except me, perhaps. I thought I would quite like to kill him earlier today.’

  Tom pulled out the chair and sat down abruptly. Leaning forward and resting his forearms on his thighs he looked at Max’s pallid face.

  ‘Look, mate, don’t say that to anybody else. Okay? We know it wasn’t Ellie, but there’s nobody else in the frame at the moment, so don’t put yourself there unless you did it. And I don’t believe for a second you did, so don’t say that. Okay?’

  Could Max have found about Ellie and Sean? Leo didn’t think so in the few hours since she’d spoken to him, but Tom wasn’t to know that. She jumped in quickly, before Tom could inadvertently give anything away.

  ‘Was it because of your deal, Max? Is that why you wanted to kill him?’

  Leo looked at Tom as she spoke, hoping that he would interpret her ‘shut up’ signals. He gave an almost imperceptible nod.

  ‘I wanted to pull out. I went to see him this afternoon, and I waited hours but he didn’t come back.’

  Tom was clearly trying to hide his confusion at this turn of events, and Leo thought he deserved some sort of explanation.

  ‘Max had a business deal with Sean. They were going to develop some properties together. Max had invested quite a lot of money. That’s what he’s talking about.’

  A bit of colour was returning to Max’s face now, and Leo decided she should find him some brandy or whisky or something. She stood up from her crouched position, as Max started to talk.

  ‘I’ve been a complete prat, Tom. I wanted to make some money - the whole ‘man the hunter’ thing. You see, all of this,’ he said, indicating the extravagant kitchen, but clearly meaning the whole property, ‘was down to Ellie. And, plonker that I am, I wanted to equal her contribution to our life. I know, I know. Pathetic - but it seemed like such a great idea. Sean had some get rich quick scheme, which involved a site for which planning permission had proved difficult. But he’d been talking to Gary, and it appeared that things had changed, and something might be sorted. I provided the capital. Or rather, Ellie did. I was going
to tell her all about it on Saturday - when everything was finalised and there was no going back.’

  Finally, Max’s overheard conversation in the pub made sense.

  ‘Did you talk to Alannah about this, Max?’

  He looked guilty just at the mention of her name.

  ‘Another stupid mistake. When she asked me to keep her habit a secret, I told her I was already keeping one secret too many from Ellie, and I wasn’t happy about it - but at least we were getting to the point where I would soon be able to tell her the truth.’

  Knowing that Tom would be totally bewildered by this conversation, Leo gave him a slight smile that she hoped he would interpret as ‘I’ll tell you later’.

  Max ran his fingers through his hair so that it stood up on end.

  ‘I decided today that I wanted to pull out of the deal. It wasn’t so much the building part - I thought that would be exciting. But I found out a couple of days ago exactly what had changed in terms of the planning. The laws hadn’t changed at all, but Gary said that with a bit of a sweetener, he could push it all through. Ellie might have accepted my secret ambition to make some money with Sean, but bribes? She would flay me alive if she thought I’d been bribing anybody, and quite rightly so.’

  Leo clinked the glasses as she grabbed three between the fingers of one hand.

  ‘Be careful, Max. Don’t forget Tom’s a policeman,’ she said, not entirely joking.

  ‘Not tonight, I’m not. What happened?’

  ‘I didn’t know about the bribe until I’d already transferred the money. Sean had said that he thought planning regs had softened a bit, but it was only when the funds were in place that he mentioned Gary’s role in all this, and I went ballistic. That’s why I spent most of the afternoon hanging round outside his house. I couldn’t go in - I didn’t know what state Bella was in, and if she was drunk in charge of those kids, I didn’t know whether I would have to report them to social services. That would have been the final straw, wouldn’t it? I was going to go to see Gary too, but not until I’d spoken to Sean. What a sodding mess.’