I would give him an alibi. I said no, but I had no time to explain because sodding Mimi called him again. So he left, snarling that she would give him an alibi no doubt. The weird thing was, Pat told me he was sure he’d seen Charles Atkinson’s car drive past in the early hours of Saturday morning when he was sulking in some lay-by or other. There aren’t that many Aston Martins around. But he wasn’t sure enough to accuse him of anything. And now he says that Charles actually mentioned on Saturday night that he only got back from London that day, so I guess he was wrong, unless Fiona drives his car.’
‘I don’t think she’d dare,’ Ellie said, swirling her wine around but avoiding drinking any. ‘The police came to our house too. Max got a lift home with Alannah, but her car was picked up somewhere, and Max had to give her an alibi.’
Georgia giggled. The wine was doing its work.
‘Was he sober enough to give anybody an alibi? Don’t forget, I picked the pair of them up after last year’s party, and Max was singing rugby songs - he said he sort of had to, because they were in a rugby club. He was in very high spirits, but I doubt he remembered a thing the next day.’
‘Well, maybe he was sober when he was with Alannah - I don’t know.’ Ellie couldn’t see anything to smile about.
‘Ellie?’ Georgia said, giving her friend a puzzled look. ‘What’s up?’
She had to tell somebody - she really did. At least Georgia would understand, given that she had been in the same situation. Recognising that she was applying dual standards here - it was okay to talk to her friend about Max’s guilt but not her own - she couldn’t keep this bottled up for another moment.
‘I think there’s something going on between Max and Alannah. I think he’s going to leave me.’
Georgia let out a hoot of laughter.
‘Ellie, don’t be so bloody ridiculous. Of course Max isn’t going to leave you. Nor is he going to even consider having an affair. What in God’s name has given you that ludicrous idea?’ She laughed again.
‘I don’t know why you’re laughing. I would never have said Pat would have done it to you - never in a million years.’ She saw the look of sorrow flit across Georgia’s face. ‘Sorry, Georgia, I didn’t mean to hurt you, but it’s true.’
Georgia leaned forward.
‘Listen, Ellie, you’re wrong. Wrong with a capital W. Pat and Max are chalk and cheese. Max is strong. Even if he was tempted, he would resist - and I don’t honestly think that he would even be tempted. If there’s something between them, I would bet my life on the fact that it’s got nothing at all to do with sex. Ask him, Ellie. Just bloody ask him.’
‘And if he says he’s in love with her? Isn’t it better to pretend I don’t know until it all blows over?’
‘He is not in love with her. He is absolutely not. You know, I think this accident this week has made people start to see things that don’t exist. Everybody’s looking at everybody else and wondering what they were doing at the time of the accident, and now they know the girl was abducted first, everybody is suspicious and wondering whether it’s somebody they know. So much has come to light because of it. You found out that Max was in the car with Alannah. Would you have known otherwise? Pat’s going to have to explain what he was doing out in the car for all that time - not only to the police, but to Mimi too no doubt. I’m one hundred per cent certain that Pat couldn’t knock a child over and leave her to die on the side of the road. But will Mimi know that? Will she start suspecting him? And these are only the people that we know. All these thoughts and questions will be going on now in homes all over the village. One accident, but so many potential revelations; and the realisation that those we trust may not be worthy of it.’
38
In spite of the temptation, Ellie was glad that she’d only drunk half her glass of wine. She didn’t know whether the police would be stopping cars to ask if they knew anything about the previous Friday - she had no idea if they did that sort of thing. But