the day as she realised that if the village gossips were to be believed, several of the people closest to Ellie could be implicated in Friday’s accident. And she had yet to find out where Ellie had been on the night in question.
25
Since arriving home from work, Ellie hadn’t stopped. She’d started by mopping the kitchen floor - which didn’t sound like a big deal, but it was an enormous kitchen cum family room, and of course she’d had to put all the twins’ toys away first. Max had taken them off to the river to feed the ducks, so she had put her heart and soul into the cleaning. Manual labour was supposed to block out all worries. It wasn’t working.
She was so grateful that nobody had witnessed her embarrassing moment in the car park. Fortunately, she’d had a large bottle of mineral water in the boot, so after a quick drink she had managed to flush most of the evidence from the tarmac down a convenient grid. But she hadn’t risked so much as a cup of tea since then.
The house was quiet. It had an empty and abandoned feel to it. Ellie realised that it always felt like this to her when Max and the children weren’t there. But now it had special significance. Now she was frightened. Was he here? Was he waiting for the right moment to creep up behind her and wrap his arms around her waist? She’d had to keep busy. Either that, or lock herself in the bathroom until somebody came home.
She was walking dejectedly downstairs with her arms full of the second load of washing when the shrill peal of the doorbell pierced the silence, making her jump out of her skin. Half of the dirty clothes fell to the floor, and she hastily picked them up and dumped them on the hall chair. She stood still, wondering whether she could deal with whoever was on the other side of that door. She didn’t want visitors, so perhaps if she kept quiet they would go away.
They didn’t. Ellie had no choice but to answer the persistent ringing.
She didn’t recognise the two people standing there, both smartly dressed in suits. They weren’t smiling though, so she could tell this was no social call.
‘Mrs Saunders? Detective Sergeant Crosby, madam. And this is Detective Constable Lacey. May we come in?’
Ellie was rooted to the spot. This was it, then. Her car must have been seen. Or his car, and he had given them her name. Oh Christ. What was she going to do? Thank God Max was out. She mentally shook herself, and held the door wide, indicating that they should come in. She took them into the library where at least they could close the door and not be heard by Max if he returned.
‘How can I help you?’ she asked, hoping that her nervousness would not be misconstrued.
‘Actually, Mrs Saunders, it’s your husband we want to talk to. Is he in, please?’
‘Max? You want to talk to Max? Why?’
‘I’m sorry, Mrs Saunders - that’s something between us and your husband. Is he in?’
Ellie knew that her face must have looked a picture of fear and dismay - not the face of an innocent person wanting to help the police with their enquiries.
‘I’m sorry, but my husband’s out. He’s taken the children to the river. They wanted to feed the ducks, and we had some old bread…’
Ellie was rambling. She had to shut up.
‘Do you mind if we wait, Mrs Saunders? We do need to speak to him, and it is quite urgent.’
Pulling herself together, Ellie indicated the chairs and both the detectives sat down.
‘Would you like a cup of tea or coffee, or anything?’ she asked, hoping this was the right thing to do.
‘Tea would be good, thanks. We both take it white, no sugar.’
Ellie made a quick escape to the kitchen. She filled the kettle with water and switched it on, getting mugs out of the cupboard on autopilot. But before she had finished, the back door crashed open - the only way that Jake knew how to enter a room - and the twins came trudging in wearing muddy wellingtons. She barely registered that she was now going to have to mop the floor again, and she didn’t even ask Max why he’d let them come in without taking their wellies off first.
‘The police are here, Max. They want to speak to you.’
Max looked vaguely puzzled, but to her relief