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SEVEN
The noise in the pub crushes my head. I stare at Taylor, willing him to disappear, for this all to be something my stressed brain has conjured. ‘No,’ I say. ‘No. That’s not true.’ I grab my coat and rush from the pub, ignoring all the stares and comments as I barge past people.
Outside, I try to steady my breathing, and wait for the cold air to get to my skin. I’m still coated in a layer of sweat. Alice was lying. Or whoever that man in there is, he’s the one lying. Max would never want me dead. If he wanted to leave me, then he’d just do it. It would be amicable. We would co-parent and make the best of the situation.
Max loves Poppy, doesn’t he? She means everything to him?These words storm through my head. Max’s father left them when he was seven – not much older than Poppy – and he’s vowed he would never leave any child of his without a full-time dad.
I feel a heavy hand on my shoulder. ‘I’m sorry,’ Taylor says. ‘I had to tell you. I don’t think you’re safe, Hannah. And neither was Alice. You need to get away from him. Now.’
‘Leave me alone!’ I turn and walk towards the high street. Taylor already knows where I live so it’s not as though I need to hide in which direction I’m heading.
A middle-aged couple stops and the man comes towards me. ‘Are you okay? Do you need help?’
I tell him I’m fine and scurry away, shame and shock hanging over me.
‘Hannah! Please wait!’ Taylor pleads.
I spin around. ‘What? Haven’t you said enough?’
‘I need to know what you were doing at the hotel that day. Why did you go there?’
‘It’s called rubbernecking. I was curious. It’s awful, but there you have it.’ I resume walking, fully aware that he’s right behind me.
‘I don’t believe you. You know something, don’t you?’
‘Stay away from me!’ My shout is drowned out by the rumbling of a bus. It stops at the bus stop I’m passing, the doors hissing open. I’m tempted to jump on it, wherever it might be going. To get far away from here.
‘I need to know what happened to my friend,’ Taylor says, throwing up his hands. ‘I’m going to the police.’
I stop, and the bus drives on. ‘No. Please don’t.’
‘I would have already but then I saw you at the hotel. Why were you there? You know what happened to Alice!’
I grab Taylor’s arm. ‘I had nothing to do with it. I didn’t know Max was having an affair until you just told me.’
‘I don’t know what to think. But it doesn’t look good, does it? If Max was planning to harm you, then there’s every chance he was capable of killing Alice. And I think there’s a reason you went to the hotel the day after Alice was killed. You weren’t just being nosy. You’ve got better things to do. A business to run. But you went out of your way to go down there. Why is that?’
A group of teenagers walks past, barely acknowledging us. Still, Taylor lowers his voice. ‘Unless…Jesus. Did you know about the affair? Did you go there that night to confront them?’ His eyes widen and he takes a step back.
‘No! I’d never seen Alice in my life. Not before her photo was all over social media.’
‘Why should I believe that?’
‘What about you?’ I counter. ‘Maybe you haven’t been to the police yet because it’s you!’
‘Nice try, but I was in Italy for work when Alice was killed. I only flew back that night. Landed at eleven fifty. I’m sure it would only take the police two seconds to verify that with the airline. And I haven’t been to the police yet because my head’s been a mess. I can’t think clearly.’
I study his face, and I’m forced to make a judgement call. Whether or not I tell him the truth, he already knows Max and Alice were together. All he’d have to do is go to the police. ‘I…I didn’t know anything about any affair,’ I insist. ‘But…the night it was on the news, I found a key card for the hotel in Max’s pocket.’
Taylor recoils again. ‘What?’
‘I confronted him and he said he found it on a train.’
‘And you believe him?’
‘No. I don’t know. It’s not as simple as that. He’s the father of my child.’
Taylor shakes his head. ‘I need to go to the police. For your sake as well as Alice’s. This just proves he’s linked to Alice’s murder!’
