She grimaced. ‘You’re right, it sets my teeth on edge every time he does it; it’s as if he’s staking out his ownership of her. Mum must have mentioned something about that to you, surely?’
‘Not in so many words, but I suspect she doesn’t want to criticise Rick, even in private, seeing as he’s the father of her grandchild-to-be.’
‘That’s Mum all over; she never wants to rock the boat. Willow’s the same. They both have a natural tendency to think well of people and give them the benefit of the doubt. As you know by now, I tend to think the worst of people until proved wrong.’
‘There’s an obvious question I could ask after a statement like that, but I shan’t go there.’
‘Which is to your credit,’ Martha said. ‘Also to your credit is that you do seem to make Mum happy. But I’ll warn you now, should that change, you will be my first port of call.’
‘I’d expect nothing less. And I hereby solemnly swear that if I am the cause of a moment’s unhappiness for your mother, you will have every right to take me to task.’
‘Hmmm … You talk a good talk, Ellis, I’ll give you that.’
He couldn’t help but smile. ‘They’re not empty words, Martha. I wouldn’t insult you by saying something I didn’t mean.’
‘Good. Now it’s my turn to ask you a question. What’s going on between Lucas and Willow?’
This was shakier ground for Ellis and he thought hard before answering. ‘Nothing as far as I know,’ he said evenly.
Martha tutted. ‘Oh, come on, Ellis, we both know full well there’ssomethinggoing on between the pair of them. Question is: what?’
‘You’re right,’ he admitted. ‘But I don’t think—’ he broke off, unsure how to phrase what he wanted to say. With Martha he could see that every word counted. ‘I don’t think any lines have been crossed,’ he said finally.
‘Meanwhile, they’re naively kidding themselves it’s all perfectly innocent between them?’ she said, sounding unconvinced.
‘But we’ve all done something similar, haven’t we?’ remarked Ellis. ‘I know I have. What about you?’
‘What? Flirted with somebody when I know perfectly well I shouldn’t?’
He smiled to himself at how literally she took his words. ‘It doesn’t have to be as blatant as flirting,’ he said, ‘often it’s just a feeling one has when around a person. A shifting of equilibrium, you might say.’
‘If I felt that and knew it was inappropriate, I’d be quick to shut that feeling down.’
How very noble, he thought, and how very black and white the world must be to Martha. He could almost envy her that degree of certainty, but experience had taught him that certainty in life was a fool’s game. He for one couldn’t condemn Lucas for feeling attracted to Willow when he himself had had an affair with Naomi all those years ago.
With Haslemere behind them and heading towards Petersfield, Ellis was taken aback by Martha’s next question.
‘Have you ever wondered about the lies Rick told Willow regarding that cat he buried?’ she said.
‘In what way?’
‘That maybe he’s lying to cover up something far worse.’ Martha hesitated. ‘What if Rick killed the cat?’
‘Indirectly he did, by leaving the door open.’
She shook her head. ‘What if he deliberately killed the wretched thing? He could have broken the cat’s neck, and no one would be the wiser.’
‘But why would he do that? For what purpose?’
‘To teach Willow a lesson.’
‘Sorry, you’ve lost me now.’
Repositioning the seat belt that lay across her abdomen, she said, ‘Look, this might sound a bit far-fetched, but hear me out. The day the cat went missing, I’d asked Willow to come and see me. I wanted to talk to her about you and Mum.’
Ellis smiled. ‘To discuss how to get rid of me?’
She had the grace to smile back at him. ‘Not exactly, but the thing is, I distinctly remember Willow saying that Rick hadn’t wanted her to come. He’d wanted her to go to the gym with him.’
