Page 86 of She Saw What He Did

‘Yes, that’s fine,’ she said finally.

‘Great. I’ll call you before I come.’

‘Okay, bye,’ said Abby.

Before Ellen could speak again, Abby had hung up. Ellen stared at her phone and frowned. Something was wrong. Did it have something to do with Abby’s mother-in-law? Maybe she’d discover more tomorrow. She punched in Peter’s number and waited, fully expecting him not to answer, so she was surprised when he did.

‘Oh,’ she said. ‘I’ve been trying to reach you.’

‘My battery died. I’ve been at the hospital and there’s no signal there anyway.’

‘How is she?’

‘Yes, better. I’ll be home in a few days. There’s not much point staying. They’ll be keeping her in for a while, so I might as well come home. I just need to arrange care for when she does leave. How are things there?’

Ellen didn’t feel she could rabbit on about the investigation, as much as she’d like to, so she simply said,

‘I’m flying to Porthaven tomorrow. They’ve identified the body. It will, no doubt, be on the news tomorrow. I’m going to visit Abby Miller in Fernsea.’

There were a few seconds of silence.

‘Why?’ he said.

‘Why what?’ she asked.

‘Why do you need to go to Porthaven? I thought the Millers had told you everything they knew.’

‘Well, maybe they didn’t,’ she said defensively.

‘Can’t the Porthaven police deal with it?’

‘But it’s my case,’ she protested and wondered why everyone seemed so hostile towards her over this case.

‘You don’t think you’re going a bit over the top?’

‘What?’ she said, surprised.

‘Anyway, whatever,’ he said dismissively. ‘Hopefully you’ll be on the island when I get home.’

‘Of course …’ she began.

‘I’d better go. Take care,’ he said.

She didn’t have time to say goodbye. Again, she thought. Again, we didn’t say, ‘I love you.’

Chapter Fifty-Two

Sparrow stared at the list of instructions he’d written. It’s no good, he thought. It’s not clear at all. What if the Miller woman got confused and did something stupid? It’s not like she’d be able to phone him and check. He could never give her a number to call. He cursed and ripped up the sheet of paper. It was getting late. He needed to get pizzas for the kid and the grandmother. Maybe he’d be able to think better after a break. The cheap hotel he was staying in was noisy. There was constant banging of doors and people shouting. He hoped it would quieten down. He couldn’t think straight. What the fuck was wrong with people? He’d get himself something to eat after he’d fed the kid. That would help. He wasn’t eating properly. Still, not much longer, he told himself. He wasn’t going to stay long at the cottage. He couldn’t stand that kid having a go at him.

*

Daphne had racked her brains trying to think of a way to get her and Sam out of the basement, but she couldn’t come up with a solution that wouldn’t frighten Sam. As it was, Sam was asking more and more when they were going to leave, and Daphne was finding it difficult to give her answers. Jelly babies and pizzas just weren’t cutting it any more. In the end she decided to tell Sam the truth and prayed there wouldn’t be hysterics.

‘The man who comes to bring us pizza isn’t very well,’ she said.

‘What is wrong with him?’ asked Sam.

‘I don’t know, but he really shouldn’t be keeping us here.’

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