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Tanya can just imagine this. She’d like to tell Gordon Pickering that she agrees with his assessment, but instead she says, ‘What about Emily’s relationship with her fellow students? We’ve heard she might have been romantically involved with Thomas Westbourne.’
‘She liked him,’ says Naomi. ‘But I don’t think they were boyfriend and girlfriend. The four of them did everything together, as far as I could see. Tom, Amber, Emad and Emily.’
‘Amber married Tom,’ says Gordon. ‘Did you know that?’
‘I didn’t,’ says Tanya. She looks down at her phone. Another cryptic message from the boss.Ask about the sister.
She waits until Naomi has finished telling her about the time Emily scored the winning goal in a needle match against Suffolk.
‘What about Emily’s sister, Sophie?’ she says. ‘Did they get on well?’
‘Very well,’ says Gordon. At the same time, Naomi says, ‘Well, they argued like all sisters.’
Tanya waits.
‘Sophie’s two years younger than Emily,’ says Naomi. ‘I think she felt in her shadow for a long time. It’s different now, of course.’
‘Sophie’s a registrar at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary,’ says her father.
‘Where did she go to university?’
‘Leeds,’ says Gordon. ‘It’s excellent for medicine.’
And a long way from you, thinks Tanya. As is Edinburgh.
‘Did she visit Emily at St Jude’s?’ asks Tanya. ‘Did she meet Leo Ballard?’
‘She visited once,’ says Naomi, looking rather wary. ‘Emily took her to a party. I don’t think Ballard was there.’
Neither of them ever uses his Christian name.
‘Sophie’s married now,’ says Naomi. ‘Her husband Stephen’s a doctor too. They’ve got a baby girl.’
‘What’s her name?’ says Tanya. She doesn’t think she spotted any baby pictures in the crowded room.
‘Emily,’ says Naomi.
Ruth arrives back at the university to the news that the vice-chancellor is looking for her.
‘I said you were at a meeting,’ says Prisha.
‘Thank you,’ says Ruth. ‘I’m not going to ring Colin. He can come and find me if he wants to talk.’
‘You’ve got white stuff on your trousers,’ says Prisha, as Ruth turns to go.
‘Have I?’ Ruth tries to twist round. ‘It’s chalk dust. How annoying. I thought I’d got it all off.’
‘I’ve got a clothes brush somewhere.’ Prisha opens a drawer.
‘You’re amazing,’ says Ruth. ‘Thank you.’
In her office, she brushes her trousers, rather ineffectually. She should really take them off but there’s no lock on the door and she doesn’t want the vice-chancellor to come in and find her half naked. Somehow that wouldn’t say ‘serious irreplaceable professional’.
She has only just started reading and deleting emails, when there’s a perfunctory knock on the door.
‘G’day.’
Oh God, it’s Colin Bland being all Australian.
