thought better of it. He blew out a big puff of air through pursed lips, then turned away.
‘Right, you two horrors. Swimming stuff and towels - last one ready and standing by the front door gets no ice-cream.’
They set off at a run, Leo knowing full well that Max would fake some fall on the stairs or do some idiotic somersault as if he had tripped - just to make sure he was the last one to the door. And the twins knew it too, but it didn’t make it any less fun.
As the kitchen door closed behind them, Leo risked a word.
‘Coffee?’ she asked gingerly.
Ellie didn’t respond for a second, as if she hadn’t heard the question. She was staring at the opposite wall, but Leo thought she detected a hint of a nod, so got up from the table. She had now mastered the finer points of this machine, and thought a cappuccino might revive Ellie’s flagging spirits. She didn’t attempt to break the silence until they heard lots of banging and crashing followed by three voices shouting ‘bye’ from the hall and the door slamming closed.
Leo put the coffee down in front of Ellie.
‘Talk,’ she said, taking a seat opposite her sister.
Ellie was staring into space, and for a moment she focused on Leo as if she didn’t know what her sister was talking about.
‘Less of the puzzled look. Talk to me, Ellie. What the bloody hell’s got into you? You’re behaving like a witch, and Max actually looks frightened.’
‘As well he might,’ Ellie responded, picking up her coffee and hissing as the hot drink scalded her mouth.
Leo said nothing, as usual trying the silence trick first. She was fairly sure that Ellie would step right into the trap.
‘He was with her - the night of the party. Max was with Alannah. She was driving.’
Ah, thought Leo. So that’s what this was about.
‘Isn’t she the one they were talking about at dinner the other night? The girls’ PE teacher? He works with her. He sees her every day. So what if she was driving the car? And anyway, how do you know?’
‘I know, because I’m not thick - although it appears that everybody thinks I am. Max couldn’t drive that night, he was totally pissed. He said they’d drawn straws and that ‘a mate’ was driving him home. He never said that the ‘mate’ in question was Alannah.’
Leo frowned.
‘Did he need to? Did it matter whether Alannah was driving, as opposed to some other person he works with?’
Ellie looked up from where she was stirring her coffee.
‘Of course it matters. If there was nothing to it, he would have told me she was the one giving him a lift home. But he didn’t. He let me believe it was one of the guys from school. Then Alannah’s car was picked up on CCTV in the village, and Max had to corroborate her story - that they’d never been near the back road. That’s why the police came round.’
‘Did he actually lie to you about Alannah being the driver?’ Leo asked, not unreasonably in her opinion.
‘He evaded the truth, which is as bad. You have no idea how hard it was to get him to admit to me - finally - that it was her car.’
‘What made you suspect it in the first place?’
‘I thought about it on Saturday night at the dinner. Pat mentioned that Alannah was driving that night. And then you told me the villagers were gossiping about a PE teacher being invited into the police station - presumably because their car was seen in the village. It was enough to make me ask the question - but it was like getting blood out of a stone! You can be one hundred per cent sure Max had no intention of telling me. I had to force it out of him last night after you’d gone to bed.’
Ellie slammed her teaspoon down on the table.
‘And if it hadn’t been for the accident, I probably would never have found out. That’s what he was banking on. You can bet your life on that.’
Leo calmly stirred the frothy milk into her coffee and spoke in a measured tone.
‘Well I’m not surprised that he didn’t want to tell you if this is your reaction. What are you so agitated about? From what I gathered of Max the next day, he could have been brought back by Angelina Jolie in the nude and it wouldn’t have had any impact on