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‘Over forty thousand people signed the petition to save the archaeology department at Sheffield,’ says Ruth. ‘And they still got closed down.’
She remembers how shocked she had been by the decision. Sheffield’s archaeology department was world famous but the university had closed it all the same, despite opposition from the Council for British Archaeology and a sternly worded letter from Ruth herself.
‘We need to call an emergency general meeting,’ says David. ‘We can’t let this happen behind closed doors.’
‘Yes,’ says Ruth, catching fire from his enthusiasm. ‘Let’s call a meeting. Get the UCU involved. We won’t go down without a fight.’ She’s even prepared to have her photo on the front page of theEastern Daily Press.
‘Contact any influential people you know,’ says David. ‘I’ve been in touch with ex-colleagues at Uppsala. Do you know anyone high profile at Cambridge? You taught there, didn’t you? And what about that TV series you did?Women Who Kill.’
Strange that she was thinking about this programme, and about Frank, only yesterday. Frank Barker had been the show’s presenter and, for a while, Ruth’s boyfriend. Ruth and Frank even lived together, briefly, but their relationship never really emerged from the brooding shadow of Nelson. Frank asked Ruth to marry him and, when she said no, returned to America. Ruth would really rather not ring him for a quote. She manages to get rid of David by pretending that she’s interviewing a potential PhD student but, almost as soon as the door slams behind him, it’s opened again and a whimsical voice says, ‘Knock knock.’
‘Shona,’ says Ruth. ‘Come in.’
Shona teaches in the English department and she and Ruth have been friends for almost twenty years. They’ve been through a lot together, including a rather traumatic holiday in Italy six years ago. Their relationship has even survived Shona moving in with Ruth’s ex-boss Phil. Shona is always talking about disappearing on a sabbatical with Phil and their son, Louis, but she still seems to be at the university, floating around organising ceilidhs and all-night poetry readings. Now she envelops Ruth in a hug. ‘I’m so, so sorry. We were away at the weekend or I would have come round. Phil and I are heartbroken for you.’
‘Thank you,’ says Ruth. ‘But it’s not over yet. We’re organising an emergency meeting.’
‘I’ll be there,’ says Shona, her tone still implying that her role will be that of chief mourner.
‘David’s started a Twitter account,’ says Ruth. ‘SaveUNNArch is trending.’ If she says this often enough, she might start understanding it.
‘David’s a dynamo, isn’t he?’ says Shona. ‘Phil says he wishes he’d been in the department when he was in charge.’
Ruth remembers that Shona has always been rather a fan of David. Still, she doesn’t like the implication that he’s the driving force behind the department. And Phil’s remark is just plain irritating. ‘David’s certainly putting a lot of energy into the campaign,’ she says.
‘Oh, Ruth,’ says Shona, with a little laugh. ‘He’s doing that for you.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘David’s always been sweet on you. Phil and I were just talking about it the other day.’
‘We need to tread very carefully on this case,’ Nelson tells Tanya. ‘Emily’s parents have already been through hell. We don’t want to stir things up with Ballard either. Especially since he’s shown that he’s not averse to going to court.’
‘There was no evidence against Ballard last time, was there?’ says Tanya, sitting on the edge of her chair and taking notes.
‘He had an alibi for the day Emily disappeared,’ says Nelson, ‘but it seems a bit of a shoddy investigation to me. No real forensics of any kind. It was never treated as a murder enquiry, just a missing person. Of course, we didn’t know about the link to the café then. The previous owner must be one of the main suspects this time round. But Ballard is still important. See if you can strike up a rapport when you interview him today.’
‘I’ll try,’ says Tanya, sounding doubtful. ‘I’m not sure I’ll have much in common with a Cambridge academic.’
‘I’m going to see if Ruth can give us any inside information,’ says Nelson. ‘She taught at St Jude’s. She must know Ballard. I’ll ask her about this Grime’s Graves place too.’
‘Does Ruth know about Emily?’ says Tanya. ‘That the remains are hers, I mean?’
‘No,’ says Nelson. ‘I was waiting until we heard about the dental records.’ He’d wanted to drive over to Ruth’s place yesterday, but she’d said that she was spending the day with Zoe. In Lincoln, of all places. He doesn’t like the way this case is edging nearer and nearer to Ruth. Nelson and Bruno had spent the day brooding.
‘Maybe Ruth’s been to a May Ball with him,’ says Tanya brightly.
‘I don’t think May Balls are quite Ruth’s thing,’ says Nelson. He has no idea what they entail but the words conjure up images of posh people in bow ties, punts on the river, arrests for drunk and disorderly behaviour.
‘Well, we certainly didn’t have them at Loughborough,’ says Tanya.
Nelson calls just when Ruth is thinking about lunch.
‘Hi, Nelson.’
‘Ruth.’ Nelson rarely has time for the niceties. ‘We’ve got a positive identification on the bones found in the café.’
‘Oh. That’s quick.’ The police investigation, grisly though it is, feels like a welcome relief after a day of talking about closures, demonstrations and emergency meetings. Ruth is conscious of sitting up straighter.
