me. He stopped taking my calls, sent me an awful message to say that Mimi was pregnant, and now seems to send me random texts all the time about how well things are going, or even what a bitch I’ve been and how miserable I’ve made him. I don’t understand his game at all. If he’d just moved out of her house we could have started some sort of dialogue - with a view to sorting things out and getting back together. But I’m not having emotional conversations with him only for him to go home and cry on her shoulder - or worse, screw her senseless.’
‘Why the hell didn’t you tell me or Max how you were feeling? If Pat knew you would have had him back if he’d moved out of her house, he’d have left like a shot. You know that. Why didn’t you say anything?’
Georgia leaned her elbows on the counter and rested her chin on clenched hands.
‘Because he had to make the decision himself, Ellie. For God’s sake, it shouldn’t have taken much imagination on his part to realise that I wouldn’t be happy with him sharing somebody else’s bed while he was begging me to let him come home. All he had to do was to move into yours, or even into a B&B. But I wasn’t going to tell him that. I may have made him submissive, but I wanted to see if he had a spark of initiative left, and it seems he hasn’t.’
Georgia pressed both hands on the counter, and stood up.
‘I know you’re driving, Ellie, but can you manage a glass of wine? I don’t like drinking alone, and I’ve been doing a bit too much of it lately.’
‘Go on then - but only half a glass. I imagine the police are out in force in the village at the moment.’
Georgia spoke over her shoulder as she opened the cupboard for some glasses.
‘Oh God, yes. That poor girl. Pat was very upset about her. He came here on Sunday after he’d been to see the parents. That must have been awful. I wanted to comfort him, you know, because he genuinely cares about those kids.’ Georgia looked close to tears again, but she brushed the back of her hand irritably across her eyes. ‘But then we had a row and I didn’t have time to ask how they were before frigging Mimi tracked him down and he had to rush home with his tail between his legs, as always. Sod the pair of them. Much more importantly - how’s the girl?’
As Georgia poured wine into both glasses, Ellie brought her friend up to speed with Abbie’s progress. ‘She’s not out of the woods yet, but each time I look at her I wonder what happened and how she got herself into what must have been a terrifying situation.’ Ellie didn’t add that this wasn’t the only terrifying experience this child had lived through.
Georgia was quiet for a moment.
‘I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but Pat was out and about that night,’ Georgia said. ‘I don’t know what he was doing, but he left the rugby club early and came here. I told him to bugger off, and he left. But I know he didn’t go straight home. He says he parked up somewhere and just contemplated life - the pillock - but from what I can gather, he’s got a gap of at least three hours between leaving me and getting home. His car was picked up on CCTV at the garage. He told the police he’d been with me all evening, so they came to question me.’
‘Oh no. What did you tell them?’ she asked.
‘I told them the truth. Perhaps that’s why he’s behaving the way he is, but I’m a lawyer. I can’t lie to the bloody police. I think the only reason he didn’t tell them was because they would think he was a bit wet, sitting in his car in a lay-by because he’d had a row with his wife and didn’t want to go home to his mistress.’ Georgia was unable to hide the sour note of contempt in her voice. ‘Anyway, he’s had to go back to the station and try to account for his time, but he can’t. Of course, they’re looking within a wider timescale now that they know Abbie was abducted. The last time we had any sort of a conversation was when he came round on Monday and asked if