Page 11 of The Girl in Room 12

I’d planned to wait until the girls were asleep, but I reach into my jeans pocket, pulling out the card. ‘I found this,’ I say, holding it up.

Max looks up for a second then turns back to his computer. ‘What is that?’

‘It’s a key card. For the River Walk Hotel.’

The atmosphere becomes heavy as I wait for Max to reply. Seconds tick by and he stares at me. ‘What? Where was it?’ he asks, turning back. ‘You should hand it in.’

‘It was in your suit pocket.’ I’ve said it now and there’s no going back. ‘Why was it in your pocket? You said you’ve never been there.’

‘Actually,’ he says, ‘now that I think about it – I remember finding it on a seat on the train. A few days ago. I meant to drop it to the hotel but I must have forgotten.’

I know he’s lying – Ifeelit. Without another word, I walk out and head back to the house.

The girls wolf down their pizzas then ask if they can have ice cream. Max still hasn’t emerged from his office, but that’s a blessing.

‘You had ice cream yesterday,’ I remind Poppy.

‘But that wasagesago. And Ivy didn’t.’

‘I had cake,’ Ivy says. ‘At my grandma’s house. Chocolate cake.’

My mind is too full to expend energy debating with Poppy, so I give in.

After dinner, with their stomachs full of ice cream, they beg to go outside to play. ‘Please, Mummy,’ Poppy pleads.

I shouldn’t let them – it’s nearly seven, and the temperature’s dropped another five degrees. But they’re nowhere near ready for bed yet. ‘Maybe just for five minutes.’

‘Come on, Ivy, let’s play football,’ Poppy suggests, grabbing Ivy’s hand.

I begin clearing up the kitchen. I’m tempted to leave the mess to see how Max will react. I’ve been tiptoeing around him for weeks now, and all this time he’s been lying. Hiding things.

Something smashes outside. I run out, shouting Poppy’s name.

‘It was an accident,’ she cries. ‘Ivy did it by mistake.’

I take in the scene: the broken office window, cracks spread across it like a spider’s web. Max yelling so loudly that Ivy covers her ears and runs into the house. Poppy in floods of tears, running after her.

‘Look what she’s done!’ Max shouts. ‘Jesus Christ! I told you this was a bad idea.’

I glare at him. ‘Calm down. It was an accident.’

‘They shouldn’t have been out here this late. I told you.’

‘You need to get control of yourself, Max,’ I hiss. ‘They were just playing. It was an accident.’

He takes a moment before answering, and slowly his face resumes its normal colour. ‘I know. I could just do without this,’ he says, heading back to the office. ‘I’ll apologise later.’ My confronting him about the key card has clearly got to him.

Inside, the girls are holding hands, cowering by the kitchen door. ‘Daddy was horrible to Ivy,’ Poppy says. ‘Now she’s really sad.’

I rush over to them and give Ivy a hug. ‘I’m sorry Max shouted at you. He shouldn’t have. He’s just shocked that theball smashed the window. He was just trying to work.’ I defend him only because it’s the right thing to do for Poppy’s sake.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to,’ Ivy sobs.

‘At least there’s not glass everywhere,’ Poppy says. ‘It could have been much worse.’

‘I know, sweetheart. Come on, girls. Let’s get upstairs and ready for bed – you’ve got school in the morning.’

It’s another half an hour before the girls are tucked up in bed, Ivy on a blow-up mattress on Poppy’s floor.

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