The Unmaking of Ellie Rook Episode 49

Mum smiles weakly, showing off the gap between her front teeth that always seemed a bit sassy. Now she just looks sad. “I tried to bring him round. I thought if I could just get him on his feet, I could get him into the caravan, patch him up, but then I heard the sirens.

“I had just enough time to tidy him up a bit and take his wallet.”

When I narrow my eyes at her, she goes all defensive.

“I had to! He wouldn’t want the rozzers poking their noses in, and I couldn’t risk the authorities getting in touch with your father.

“I had to protect him from Lawler. It was the cops first, and then the air ambulance landed on the hill.

“Poor Shelby was mumbling, so he was kind of conscious, but he wasn’t making any sense.

“I had to leave him... It was awful, but I couldn’t let myself be found. I hid in the bushes behind the caravan.”

“Oh my God.” I bury my head in my hands.

The enormity of what we’ve done is beginning to sink in.

We’re digging a hole that’s getting deeper by the minute, and we need to keep up this charade for life.

FOR LIFE.

Deception

I look up suddenly. Shelby had been in on the deception from the beginning, of course.

However, I never guessed that the two of them had been keeping a secret all of their own.

Only when Piotr told me about my father’s suspicions did I begin to go through the options.

“So how long has this little love affair been going on, under our noses? You’ve kept it quiet, haven’t you?

“I only put two and two together when Shelby upped sticks. Wagons roll, but his hasn’t moved for years.”

“I’ve known Shelby for ever. Distant cousins and all that,” she says. “Not related, not really. I love him to bits.

“I’ve always loved him. Him moving up here was a way for us to be together.

“Not the best way, but... Well, you know the score.” Her gaze flits between River and me, and we nod in unison.

We know the score.

“I’ve been sleeping up here in a bender,” she says.

“That was part of the plan, so he would know where to find me.

“I’ve been saving money for years – stashed it in a soup container in the freezer, so Dad didn’t know.

“I should have taken it with me but I wasn’t sure my plan would work.

“What if he came after me and found the money?

“He’d know I was leaving and he wouldn’t let that happen.”

Her voice breaks. “You know that, Ellie. “We’ve always known he’d kill me rather than let me leave.”

For a moment I can’t speak.

The truth has been let loose, this shameful knowledge known only to us, deep down.

Never voiced, never shared.

My tongue won’t form any words, even though the spell of silence has been broken.

I recover enough to say, “So Shel brought you the money – your rainy-day dosh. “I thought it was River’s drug money.” River raises his eyebrows in such a comical way that I almost laugh.

Yes, it’s ludicrous that I suspected my brother of dealing drugs, but what was I supposed to think?

Irritation

Mum shakes her head, as if it’s all too much to take in.

“And then it all felt very real. I’d done it. I’d got out of that place.”

I look at her with a sudden flare of irritation. “You know the dust is never going to settle, right?”

I try and catch her gaze but she won’t let me in.

“You hear about people faking their deaths all the time,” she continues.

“I knew it was the only way I would ever get away from your father.

“He told me he’d hunt me down and kill me if I left. And that was without knowing about Shelby.”

I sit back and take a good look at her: the deep frown line; the lank hair.

Wildwood leaves clinging to her coat. She smells different and dirty.

Maybe I did lose her to the waterfall and she’s come back as something else.

Not my mother, but someone new.

I have no idea what we’re going to do next, but somehow I have to come up with an addendum to Plan A.

“Right. You can’t stay here. If the cops get fresh info about Shelby, this will turn into a crime scene.

“They’ll be right back – and so will Dad, if he gets an inkling of what’s going on.”

“He won’t. He thinks I’m dead.”

I’m no longer convinced of anything. Fear cramps my stomach like hunger.

“Get your things together and we’ll... we’ll sort something out.”

“Where are we going to take her?” River asks. “Remember, Dad could be tracking your car at this very minute.”

“He can try.” I shoot him a sly grin.

Disable

“I made Piotr promise to disable the software. Dad won’t be tracking anything any more.”

“Good job.” River holds up his fist and I bump it with mine.

I take a deep, shuddery breath. “I hate to say it, but our jackets are on a very shaky peg.

“Aiding and abetting a fake death, plus wasting police time, and not to mention getting on the wrong side of Dad.” “Plan A was a rubbish plan.”

Mum wipes her eyes and I reach for her hands again.

“I’ve thought of something...” I say. “It just might work, if we can hold our nerve.”

Shelby’s voice comes to me from a great distance: Hold the line. It gives me strength.

He told me he’d hunt me down and kill me if I left. And that was without knowing about Shelby

More tomorrow.

Copyright Sandra Ireland 2019, extracted from The Unmaking of Ellie Rook, published by Polygon, an imprint of Birlinn Ltd, at £8.99.