Abby was trying to keep her patience. ‘Look, I don’t know what to do for the best. I’ve never been in this...situation before.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘What?’
‘Situation.’
‘You know.’
‘I want you to say it.’
‘Seriously?’ asked Abby, exasperated.
‘Yes. Go on, say it.’
‘Oh, for God’s sake. Where my sister has killed my mother!’
Ellie took a sharp intake of breath. ‘Well, thanks very much. You...you’re so heartless. Always were. Got no feeling.’
‘Maybe I had it squeezed out of me as a child by a mother who didn’t care.’
Abby suddenly took a left turn, heading south towards the French coast. Somehow she felt better about changing the road she was on every now and then. She looked up in her mirrors, just to check she was alone, but instead of the reassurance of an empty road, her heart began to race.
‘Shit!’ she said, swiftly followed by an urgent, ‘Don’t look behind.’
Ellie, who had half turned her head, stopped in alarm. ‘What is it?’
‘Police. Behind us.’
‘Oh my God! Are they here for us?’
‘I don’t know.Shit.’ They were nearing a roundabout where there were three other exits – a two in three chance of losing them. Abby slowed and did a perfect manoeuvre at the first exit, heading for a small town. Then she surreptitiously checked her mirrors again.
‘Have they gone?’ asked Ellie nervously.
‘No.’
‘But they’re French police, right? Not Italian?’
‘Jesus, Ellie, you think they’ll forget about us? You think they don’t havetranslators?’
‘All right, no need to be so bloody superior.’
They were nearing the town now and Abby did her best to keep calm.Just a little further. Don’t look suspicious.She continued until she came to the town centre, and then casually turned down a side street.
‘I don’t believe it,’ she said.
Ellie glanced in her side mirror, started at what she saw. ‘They’re still following us, Abby. What do we do?’
‘It’s OK. Keep calm.’ She could feel the sweat pooling on her back. Her palms were slippery on the steering wheel as she turned again.Please don’t let them follow, she prayed, and as her eyes flicked to the mirror she almost cried with relief when she saw them drive on.
‘Have they gone?’ asked Ellie.
Abby pulled over. She lifted herself from her seat and peered out the back of the car, just to be sure. ‘Thank God.’ She turned back around and saw Ellie was slumped in her seat, her forehead resting against the dashboard, her hands protectively over her head. After a moment, Abby saw her sister’s shoulders heaving. Then the sounds came and Ellie was openly weeping – deep, inconsolable sobs that caught in her throat.
Abby tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder. ‘It’s OK. They’ve gone now.’
But Ellie kept on crying. Abby tightened her grip, turned it into an awkward one-armed hug. To her surprise, Ellie lifted her face from the dashboard, her eyes red and streaming with tears, and in them Abby caught a raw, unrestrained grief. Ellie put her arms around Abby’s neck, clung to her.
