pasta water on himself; for such an athletic and co-ordinated guy he could be incredibly clumsy, Ellie thought affectionately.
The music continued to sooth her, as track after track of all her ‘soppy’ music was played. She wished she could talk to him. Really talk to him. But she was too afraid.
The spell was broken as Max brought out two bowls heaped high with spaghetti and sauce, and they settled down to eat. The atmosphere between them had relaxed considerably since this morning, but both knew there were things left unsaid. Neither wanted to break the fragile peace, and they talked quietly about everything but the big issues.
Just as they finished their pasta, the music changed once again - this time to Aerosmith. Max stood up.
‘Come here, beautiful,’ he said. ‘Remember this?’
Ellie knew what he was going to do - something they used to do regularly, but didn’t seem to have done for such a long time.
He held out his hand and guided her away from the table. Then he wrapped one arm around her waist, and with the other he grabbed her hand and pulled it close to his chest. He rested his cheek against her head, and her lips lay gently against his collarbone. Slowly they started to dance. Ellie finally felt herself begin to relax.
“Don’t want to close my eyes
I don’t want to fall asleep
Cause I’d miss you babe
And I don’t want to miss a thing”
Max gently sang the chorus softly in her ear, and she felt as if he believed every word of it. She couldn’t keep this up any longer. They had to share the truth, and they had to do it now.
‘Max,’ she whispered.
‘Bugger,’ Max said, as the phone began to ring in the kitchen. ‘Somebody’s got impeccable timing! I’m sorry, sweetheart.’ Max let go of her, and gently brushed the outer edge of her left breast with the fingers of his right hand, leaning in to kiss the corner of her mouth.
‘Wait right there. I’m not finished with you by a long way.’
Ellie plonked herself disconsolately back at the table as Max made his way into the kitchen, switching the iPod off as he went.
Silence returned to the garden, but it was an uncomfortable silence and Ellie felt a strange sensation - as if dark eyes were piercing the back of her neck. She shivered, and turned quickly to scan the bushes.
What was that? She could just make out a small bright light somewhere near the fishpond. As Max answered the phone and said ‘hello’, the light went out.
And then she knew. The light was from the screen of a mobile phone. Somebody was in her garden. The nerve endings all over her body pinged with the rush of adrenaline.
She heard Max repeating ‘hello, hello,’ several times, but Ellie knew the phone would be dead.
Then she heard it. A whispering voice began to sing the opening lines of the same song.
“I could stay awake just to hear you breathing
Watch you smile while you are sleeping
While you’re far away and dreaming”
A shadowy figure stepped forward as the quiet singing continued, and Ellie was about to scream when she heard Max replace the phone, muttering under his breath.
‘Nobody there, Ellie. Bloody typical.’
The shadow melted into the darkness.
Max came back through the open doorway, and held his hand out.
‘Now where were we sweetheart?’
But Ellie had started to gather the plates together noisily.
‘Let’s go back inside, Max. It’s getting a bit chilly out here.’
She wanted to kiss away the hurt that she saw on Max’s face, but she knew she mustn’t touch him. She couldn’t risk the shadow drawing closer.
34
Day Six: Wednesday
Another night without sleep. Why did life always seem so much worse at five o’clock in the morning? Was it because everybody else was happily snoring in their comfortable beds, while you alone were awake and living through your own personal hell?
The radio played quietly in the corner. But that was no help. Moody and sombre night-time music was introduced by voices speaking at a low pitch, smooth and silky, as if to coax you back to sleep. But the interruption by regular local news bulletins jerked you back from the brink.
All they wanted to talk about was Abbie Campbell. They spoke of the ‘delight’ of the family that she was showing signs of recovery, and how friends and the local community had rallied round.
And they were saying she’d been abducted - but that wasn’t true. It was supposed to have been a surprise. They’d become such