Nothing. What was she expecting? Nobody would hide here.
She sat down hard on one of the wingback chairs, and leant forward resting her forearms on her thighs, clutching the phone in her damp, trembling hands. Max would come looking for her soon, and she had to calm down. For now, the children were safe. There were three adults here, and she would find some excuse for checking all the rooms before they went to bed. But now, she needed time to think. Sean and his games suddenly seemed trivial. All she could think of was how to keep her children safe.
39
How Ellie had made it through supper, which was actually a very passable frittata and salad, she didn’t know. Both Leo and Max had noticed how quiet she was, but she had managed to fob them off by saying she was upset about Abbie and worried about Georgia. At least everything seemed to be okay with Leo again. Never one to bear grudges, she had behaved as if nothing had happened that morning.
Ellie’s head was all over the place. Max’s phone call and the money transfer were bad enough, but the text had terrified her.
She had been certain that Sean was the one letting himself into the house. Max had asked him to change the locks at the weekend, and she had thought it was a joke. Now she knew it was essential. Much as she didn’t like Sean having access to a set of keys, he was the lesser of two evils. She couldn’t think of a single good reason to ask Max to find somebody else.
But if she admitted to Max that she was being blackmailed, she would have to tell him everything else too, although if she genuinely believed the children were in danger there was no other option. Maybe she should wait. The blackmailer had said that she only had to do one thing, and her children would be safe. Maybe the sensible thing would be to find out what she was going to be asked to do.
Her mind was spinning out of control. Max and Alannah, the weird texts, Abbie, Sean.
And she felt totally helpless.
For now she had settled on telling Leo and Max that, whether they thought she was paranoid or not, they mustn’t let the twins out of their sight for a second in the house. They were not to be left alone in the kitchen, their bedrooms or even watching a DVD. They must have recognised that she was seriously stressed, because they didn’t argue. They knew of her suspicions that somebody had been in the house on Sunday, but neither Max nor Leo seemed to suspect that today there had been another visitor.
As she lay in bed waiting for Max to come from the bathroom, she couldn’t help thinking about his behaviour. He had been chirpy all evening, but she wasn’t fooled. It was all bravado. Could he really behave like that when he was about to leave her? But there was no getting around the missing money and everything she had overheard. She didn’t care about the money; only what it represented.
The bathroom door opened, and Max walked naked towards the bed. Ellie couldn’t help wondering if this was the last time she would see him like this. Perhaps if they made love, it would change things. She wasn’t going to let him go without a fight, even if her weapon was silence.
He slid under the sheets, and lifted his arm so that she could snuggle down against him. Lying on her side, she moved her right hand so that it was gently stroking the fine dark hairs on his smooth, flat stomach. Max kissed the top of her head. Gradually, Ellie started to increase the range of her stroking, and she made her way downwards very slowly, knowing that this usually drove Max crazy. She kissed him on his chest, and started to give him tiny painless bites as her hand moved lower, and the hairs became coarser and thicker.
Gently, Max covered her hand with his own. Thinking he was probably imploring her to speed up, she gave a low chuckle. But she was wrong. He lifted her hand and moved it back to his chest.
‘Sorry, Ellie. I think you’re backing a bit of a loser there tonight. Nothing personal, sweetheart - it’s just been one of those days. What do you say that we carry on where we left off tomorrow night?’