AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘No, please. I have a daughter. It would destroy her. It would ruin her life. And Max is in hospital fighting for his life.’ The exaggeration flies from my mouth. I’m protecting Max for Poppy’s sake. ‘Please just let me deal with him. I’ll get to the truth.’
‘He’s in hospital?’
‘He was leaving work and someone attacked him. The police don’t know yet if it was deliberate or a random robbery. They stole his phone and wallet. Please, just give me time. That’s all I’m asking. I can’t let my daughter’s life be destroyed without more proof.’
Taylor stares at me. Seconds tick by and then eventually his face softens and he stares at his trainers. ‘I have a little sister. She’s fifteen now, but I looked after her a lot when I was younger.’ He sighs. ‘You need to get away from him. For your daughter’s sake. And Alice’s. Don’t let her death be in vain.’
‘Max might not even survive!’ I’m compelled to say this, even though the doctors are sure he will pull through. ‘And maybe he had that key, but that doesn’t mean he killed Alice!’
But I’m not sure I believe my own words.
Taylor shakes his head and looks at me sadly. He turns and walks away. And as I watch him, I realise I’ve never known fear like this before.
Leda’s sitting on the sofa scrolling through her phone when I get back. In the faint light from the lamp on the side table, I can tell something’s wrong.
‘Is everything okay? Did Poppy wake up again? She’s been doing that a lot lately. I should have warned you she isn’t sleeping well.’
Leda looks up, forces a smile. ‘No, she’s been fine. I haven’t heard her at all.’ She glances at her phone. ‘I did go to check on her, though,’ she adds.
I sit beside her. ‘Are you okay?’
Her mouth twists. ‘It’s just this guy I’ve been kind of seeing. He…Oh, it doesn’t matter. I’m fine.’ She slips her phone in her pocket. ‘You’re home early. I thought you’d be longer.’
‘Don’t worry, I’ll pay you for the whole evening.’
Her face reddens. ‘No, no, it’s not that. How’s Max doing? Mum told me all about it. It’s horrible. Why is everything going all weird? First that poor woman at the hotel, and now Max. I can’t wait to see the back of this year.’
Normally I would warn Leda not to wish time away and tell her that it’s too precious. But instead I can only think about Alice and Max. ‘Do you ever go to the Boathouse by the river?’
‘Yeah, sometimes. Why?’
‘Have you been in the last few months?’
She screws up her face. ‘I don’t know. Yeah, I think so. My friend Sasha’s birthday. Before we went clubbing. In September.’
‘Have you ever seen Max in there?’
‘No, why?’
I walk over to the bookcase, and reach for the pot I keep the babysitting money in. I pull out fifty pounds. When I place the pot back I glance at the array of books filling the shelves – a mix of both mine and Max’s, entwined like our lives.
This can’t be happening.
‘Don’t worry,’ I tell Leda. ‘It’s nothing important. Here you go.’
She takes the notes and places them in her pocket. ‘Thanks. Let me know if you need me again. I’m happy to help with Poppy when Max comes out of hospital. I need to save up as much as I can before uni starts. Course fees are crazy, and there’s living expenses too.’
I see her out, then watch from the window to make sure she makes it across the road safely. Despite it being only a few metres away, normally Max would walk her home. A thought flashes into my head, and I wonder if it was just Alice he was with, or whether there were others.
Poppy wakes me in the night, tugging at my duvet.
‘Mummy, I can’t sleep. I want Daddy.’ She clutches Whiskers, her cuddly cat, to her chest.
Clambering out of bed, I take her hand. ‘Daddy is being looked after. The doctors and nurses are taking good care of him, I promise. He has a whole team of people.’
‘But he might die.’
Taylor Stone’s words run through my head.You need to get away from him. For your daughter’s sake.
