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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

‘ T he police were here this morning.’

Leigh had debated all day whether to tell Will that DS Beth Harper had visited. Some part of her had decided not to, but then she’d realised the police might mention it, and then he’d know she’d kept it back from him.

Will’s head lifted, and he turned from the fridge where he’d been getting a beer. Leigh saw his body tense.

‘What did they want?’ he asked bluntly.

Leigh raked her fingers nervously through her hair. ‘Someone smashed that lad’s trail bike.’

Will laughed. ‘Is that right? If I knew who it was, I’d buy him a pint.’

Leigh felt as if someone had removed a huge boulder from her shoulders. The tension she’d felt all day now flowed from her body like a cool stream, washing away all her worries. It hadn’t been Will. Of course it hadn’t. It had been disloyal of her to consider it might have been.

‘They asked where you were. It happened Monday night.’ Leigh knew she had said the wrong thing from the change in Will’s expression.

His eyes darkened. ‘What did you tell them?’

‘I said we watched television all evening.’ Leigh was now regretting ever telling him the police had visited. It was always hard to know how he would react. ‘I think they may question you. You did say you would take the law into your own hands if they didn’t do something. That’s why they wanted to speak to you,’ said Leigh.

Will slammed the bottle of beer down onto the kitchen table. ‘You should have phoned me at work, you daft cow.’

‘I did think about it.’

‘Think about it? Are you stupid?’ Next time, call me. I don’t want them turning up at the garage unannounced.’

‘Yes,’ she said, her voice trembling.

‘I’ll go and see them tomorrow at the station.’

‘You didn’t do anything to that boy’s bike, did you, Will?’

‘Don’t be stupid,’ he snapped.

Leigh nodded. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t know why I asked.’

‘I need to put some washing on. I spilt oil over my work clothes this afternoon.’

Leigh waited while he fetched his overalls. ‘I’ll do them,’ she said when he returned with a bundle under his arms.

‘I don’t want them ruined,’ he said, walking past her to the utility room.

Leigh bit back her tears. If he saw her crying, he’d get even angrier. She drew in a slow, steady breath and swallowed down her tears. If only she didn’t aggravate Will so much. She had tried to be a good wife but was somehow useless. Every woman she knew had got pregnant at the drop of a hat. Why not her? Will was adamant that he wouldn’t have any tests.

‘There’s nothing wrong with me,’ he’d said hotly. ‘All the men in my family have fathered kids.’

Every month, Leigh prayed that her period wouldn’t start, but it arrived like clockwork. The cramps were so bad some months that Will said she kept him awake at night with her fidgeting. Now, whenever it was that time of the month, he would go to the spare room.

If only she could have told Beth Harper that this week had been that time of the month and that she and Will had been in separate bedrooms. The truth was she had no idea if Will had gone out that evening as she’d gone to bed early and taken some painkillers.