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‘I’m glad we’re not losing you to Blackpool,’ she says to Nelson.
‘Are you?’ Nelson can’t hide his surprise.
‘Of course. Who would I spar with if you left?’
‘You’d find someone,’ says Nelson.
‘This is a lovely spot,’ says Jo, putting on her designer sunglasses as she scans the beach, white sand and sparkling sea. ‘Will you be sorry to leave, Ruth?’
‘Well, we won’t be far away in Old Hunstanton,’ says Ruth. ‘And it’s much more convenient for Kate and school.’
‘You’re a real Norfolk person now, Nelson,’ says Jo.
‘Jesus wept,’ says Nelson.
Amber Westbourne has been charged with Emily’s murder and a trial date has been set for early 2022. Leo Ballard has been charged with conspiracy to murder, obstructing a police investigation and preventing the lawful burial of a body. His wife is divorcing him and both the Madingley house and the holiday cottage are up for sale. Super Jo might not have to spar with Nelson for long. He’s been offered a job heading up a cold-case team in Norfolk. He hopes that, if he does leave the Serious Crimes Unit, Judy will become the new DCI.
A group called the Dancing Druids are playing a strange mix of Celtic rock and heavy metal. Tanya and Petra are dancing. Ruth watches Tony Zhang approach Lucy Downey who laughs but takes his hand and joins the impromptu quadrille. Bradley and Sienna are already there. Maddie is dancing with her boyfriend, Finn, his long black hair flying.
‘What a racket,’ says Clough, who is elegant in a sand-coloured suit. Amélie is holding his hand. She is wearing a pink fairy dress with wings. Miranda chose the bridesmaids’ outfits. Clough’s son, Spencer, now six, is running in the waves with the other children.
‘Want to paddle, Amélie?’ asks Clough’s wife Cassandra. Amélie shakes her head but, when Kate comes over, she takes her hand and joins the other children. Cassandra follows, a dryad turned naiad in her long flowery dress.
‘She’s a little star, your Katie,’ says Clough to Ruth.
‘Kate,’ murmurs Ruth. Some battles are still worth fighting.
But Kateisa star, glowing brightly today in her pink dress, a more age-appropriate version of fairy-chic. Isla and Megan are here too, and Ruth loves to see the three of them together, a perfect triangle. A strong shape. A female friendship made to last, like hers with Alison and Fatima.
‘Want to dance, Dave?’ says Jo. ‘I like a good boogie.’
Clough protests but they all know it’s in vain. Soon Super Jo and Clough join the figures cavorting in the liminal zone, between land and sea, the thin strand between life and death.
Later, after food and speeches and cake, the fire is burning low. The druid band is still playing and Cathbad and Judy sway together under the moon. Father Hennessy is discussing classical poetry with Shona. Zoe is sharing a bottle of wine with Tanya and Petra. The children, ranging from Amélie to Maddie, are telling stories in an enthralled circle on the beach. The tide is out now, the sea a whispering presence in the darkness. Ruth thinks of all the other times she has heard its voice: gathering samphire with Peter, rescuing Lucy during the storm, celebrating Imbolc with Cathbad, running away from a man with death in his heart, taking long lockdown walks with Kate. She hears Erik too, no longer a malevolent presence, more a comforting echo of her past, ‘the landscape itself is important. . . a crossing place over sacred ground.’
She thinks of the church grim and the wheel of fortune. ‘Who controls the wheel of fate? One minute we are raised up, the next we are in the depths. The wheel is come full circle, I am here.’ This last, Shona informs her, was a quote fromKing Lear, declaimed by the evil Edmund as he dies. But now, these words too seem to have a gentler meaning. ‘I am here,’ she repeats. Nelson looks quizzically at her but doesn’t ask what she means.
Ruth and Nelson sit on a patch of seagrass with a sleepy George beside them. Michelle has joined the party and Ruth can see her talking animatedly to Jo. She’d give a lot to know what they are discussing.
‘It’s been a grand day,’ says Nelson.
‘It really has,’ says Ruth.
‘Fancy doing it one day?’ says Nelson. ‘The wedding thing?’
‘Marriage is an outdated patriarchal concept,’ says Ruth.
‘Is that a yes then?’
‘Maybe,’ says Ruth.
