minutes instead. At least it woke her up.
She’d thought of wearing her best clothes in order to look smart for her visit to the police, but realised this was a ridiculous idea. With what she had to tell them, she didn’t suppose how she was dressed would make the least difference. She grabbed a clean pair of dark blue jeans and a royal blue and white striped top and got ready quickly. She pulled a brush through her hair and contemplated putting some makeup on to hide her pallor. In the end, though, she thought that her tired face might indicate how much her conscience had been pricking her.
It was still only quarter to six, so she had time to get a quick drink of juice - although a large gin would have gone down a treat right now. As she walked into the kitchen, she saw a note propped up on the worktop.
ELLIE it said on the front. It was from Max, probably explaining or making up some excuse for where he’d gone that afternoon. But she wasn’t prepared at all for what the note said.
Ellie, sweetheart - we need to talk. I’m sorry not to be there now, but there is something that I have to sort out before I can talk to you. When I get back, I’ll put the children to bed and ask Leo to make herself scarce. I don’t know what time I’ll be home, but I need to track Sean down and sort things out with him before I can talk to you. See you later. Love Max.
She gave a brief cry of anguish and crumpled the letter in her hand, letting it fall to the floor. Wrapping her arms tightly round her body as if to hold in the pain, she could barely breathe.
Why had he gone to see him?
There could only be one reason. Sean must have decided that he wasn’t waiting any longer, and he must have called Max. Ellie had known that going to the police was dangerous and there was a chance that Max might find out, but she had hoped they would handle the situation with discretion. But now she didn’t have to rely on the police’s tact. By the time she got home tonight, Max was going to know everything. And he was obviously planning to bring his big announcement forward by a couple of days.
Looking down at her hands, Ellie realised that she was shaking. Grabbing a glass from the draining board, she filled it with cold water and gulped it down. Georgia had been right yesterday. It was as if Abbie Campbell’s accident had acted like a catalyst, and the still waters around them were erupting in seething turbulence, with a geyser about to shoot through the apparent calm surface of all of their lives.
* * *
Knowing that she was being a coward, Ellie had driven very slowly to the police headquarters, and it was quarter to seven by the time she arrived. Max would be home by now and wondering where she was. The truth was that in spite of arriving at her destination half an hour ago, she was still sitting outside, trying to pluck up the courage to go in.
She wasn’t sure what she was going to say. She’d had it all so well planned, but it sounded hollow even to her own ears. One option was not to mention anybody but herself. She could say she had been going to pick her husband up from the rugby club, but had remembered before she got there that he was getting a lift. But that was pretty pathetic. Or she could tell them that there was a man who had been bothering her. She had gone out to meet him to tell him to get lost.
At midnight. Down a dark lane. A likely story.
Or the truth. That she had started a relationship with a man other than her husband, and he had wanted to meet her. The fact that she was going to see him to tell him to get out of her life would be irrelevant to the police. And they would be justifiably furious with her for not coming forward sooner. Particularly as she now remembered that she had passed the other car. Not that she could identify it, but she was sure that it was a dark colour.
She was just opening the car door when her phone rang. Max. She cut him off. But it unnerved her again, and