‘He’s about as tall as me, early seventies with a reddish nose. You can’t miss him.’
Ethan bites his bottom lip and takes a moment before replying. ‘I’ve met Ray.’ He lets out a long breath. ‘I had an argument with him over his parking when I was doing up the apartment and another one when we moved in.’
That makes it look more like we’re guilty. Why didn’t Ethan tell me about this argument when he was blaming me for sending those letters? I’m the person with a history of sending horrible letters. That’s why he suspected me. At least I now know who my husband was shouting at. Ray. I recognise the name Ray. He must have lived here when I stayed with Aunt Dorette.
Quinn continues. ‘Whoever sent the letters didn’t come to our doors. Our post boxes are at the end of our drives, like yours, and we all have long drives and large hedges. Ray’s camera doesn’t reach his post box. One of the other neighbours has a doorbell camera but they haven’t come outside saying that they have a note.’
The man with the red, bulbous nose is walking towards us. I do recognise him from years ago. He frowns and stares at me. ‘Well, now you’ve come across shouting your mouth off, are you going to own up and tell us why you sent these?’ Ray holds the note up and shakes it at Ethan.
Ethan steps away from me and starts stomping towards Ray. I don’t want another scene. ‘Ethan, please. Let’s just go back in. We can talk about this properly when everyone has calmed down.’
He glances back. ‘No, I am not hiding away just because a bunch of small-minded country bumpkins think we’ve sent some stupid childish notes and, let’s not forget, they’ve upset Morgan.’
Ethan’s words make me cringe. He’s now insulted everyone here with that outburst. There’s no stopping him now that he’s started. I don’t have the energy to chase after him, and maybe he’s right. Ethan’s a fair person. He’ll say what he has to say and I trust him not to start a fight, or do I? Ray has just pushed him and they’re shouting. Ethan follows him around the other side of our tall hedge until they’ve both vanished from my line of sight. Then I hear a scream and shouts of ‘Call an ambulance’.
My husband comes into view, his hands at the side of his head, and he’s wearing a look I’ve never seen on his face before. Pure fear.
Ten
Gemma
I run to the end of our drive with Quinn while pushing Cora’s pushchair. Ray is on the ground. A trail of blood seeps into the white snow surrounding the man’s head.
Everyone stares at me. There have to be eight people gathered around, all of them gaping at Ethan or running to assist Ray, but Ray isn’t responding. Tessa frowns at me before darting over and falling to the ground beside Ray. She checks his pulse and turns him over into the recovery position. Someone else is on their phone, and Quinn takes off her lovely white coat to place over Ray, keeping him warm.
‘I, err, I didn’t do anything…’ Ethan places a hand over his mouth. He’s shaking.
I don’t know what to think. Ethan never loses his temper, not like this. He can get vocal but he’s never hurt anyone.
He steps backwards until he’s beside me. ‘He fell, Gemma. I swear he fell but I touched him, only lightly. My hands were on him but he slipped. I was trying to stop him from falling but I couldn’t reach.’
Everyone thinks Ethan attacked Ray. I leave him with Cora. ‘My husband didn’t do this. It was an accident.’ They have to see that my lovely Ethan would never assault a man, regardless of how upset he was.
Tessa glances up at me while stroking Ray’s hand. ‘I saw what happened. Your thug of a husband lost it and pushed Ray over. Ray’s seventy, no match for him. Your husband is a bully, plain and simple. Go back to where you came from. You don’t belong here.’
A woman with rust-coloured hair pipes up. ‘Police and ambulance are on their way.’
I step closer to Tessa who is still on the road with Ray, but she turns and frowns at me. ‘Just go away. You lot have done enough damage. Save anything you have to say for the police.’ It looks like she’s completely turned on us too. I can’t wait to bin those flowers.
Tears well as the enormity of the situation hits me. The police are going to be involved and Ethan has a record. It was a long time ago, back when he was nineteen. I can’t help wondering if it will matter when the police arrive. Quinn nods to the woman with the rusty-coloured hair then the woman turns around and grabs a vacuum off the pavement before heading into Quinn’s house.
Sirens blare in the distance. I want to ask if Ray is dead but I’m not ready for the answer. Nausea swirls in my stomach. As I turn to Ethan, Morgan bursts through the front door and furrows her brows. ‘What’s going on?’ She runs over to us.
‘I need you to take Cora and wait in the apartment.’ I want to protect her from this, from these awful people who have already acted as judge, jury and executioner. They hate us and for some reason they don’t believe Ethan when he says that it was an accident.
‘No, I want to know what’s going on.’
‘Someone’s had a fall, that’s all. Please take Cora.’ It’s too late now. The ambulance has arrived and a police car is close behind.
Two paramedics hurry out and move Tessa away from Ray before they take over. We wait, not knowing what to do.
Ethan grips my hand. ‘I didn’t do anything. I reached out to help him and he fell. I was trying to stop him from falling.’ He frowns.
I’m hoping that the neighbours will back us up with the truth, but I can tell that they won’t from the side-eyed looks we’re getting. They’re going to blame Ethan. As they said, they want us to go back to where we came from.
A tall police officer strides over and he stops in front of Ethan. ‘Can I take your name, please?’
‘Ethan Houghton,’ he says in a broken voice. ‘It was an accident. He was shouting at me. It was about some letters, like poison pen letters. He upset my daughter, blamed us so I just wanted to put him right. He pushed me and, yes I raised my hands, but I didn’t even touch him.’
