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‘Is itThe Godfather?’ says Ruth. ‘That’s the one with Marlon Brando, isn’t it?’
‘Don’t let Cloughie hear you say that. He loves those films. There are three of them. Brando’s only in the first one. Cloughie can quote whole chunks of it.’
‘I can imagine,’ says Ruth. ‘What was the offer?’
‘Sandy Macleod from Blackpool. Remember him? He said they’re looking for a retired murder detective to head up the cold-case team.’
Ruth shivers. She remembers, all right. For a second, the evening birds are drowned by the noise of a funfair. Lights flash and the screams from the roller coaster turn into something sharper and more sinister. She shakes her head and the soundscape recedes.
‘Are you all right?’ says Nelson. ‘You’ve gone white. Mind you, the thought of Sandy would do that to anyone.’
‘I’m fine,’ says Ruth, although her voice sounds strange in her own ears, as if it’s coming from a long way away. ‘Well, were you tempted by Sandy’s offer? I thought you never wanted to retire.’
‘I don’t,’ says Nelson. ‘But I’m going to have to one day. It would be good to have something to do. I’m not going to spend all day playing golf like Sandy.’
‘And do you see yourself going back to Blackpool?’
Nelson pauses before replying. In fact, it seems that the whole world is silent. Even the birds have stopped singing. Ruth thinks of Kate upstairs in her room. When Ruth was young, she played Radio One loudly until her parents told her to turn it down. But Kate has her headphones on which means that Ruth can’t enter her musical world, even unwillingly. The thought makes her sad.
‘Maybe,’ says Nelson at last. ‘But I’d want you and Katie to come with me.’
Before Ruth can answer– to say what? That she never wants to leave Norfolk? That she had a tempting offer of her own today?– Zoe appears on the other side of the fence. Bruno barks, just once, like a butler announcing a guest. Nelson makes an impatient noise, but Ruth is glad of the interruption.
‘Hi, Ruth. Hi, Nelson. Ruth, I just wanted to tell you, the girl came back today.’
‘What girl?’
‘The girl who came looking for you the other day. Young woman, I should say.’
‘You didn’t tell me this, Ruth,’ says Nelson.
‘Why should I?’
‘Someone treks all the way out to this godforsaken place to see you. Twice. It’s got to be important. She’s hardly selling Avon.’
That ages you, thinks Ruth. She doesn’t think anyone has sold Avon toiletries door-to-door for years. She can’t imagine Michelle buying any of the products. Maybe Nelson’s mum was a fan.
‘She seemed nice,’ says Zoe. ‘Young. Maybe early twenties. Again, I asked if I could take a message but she said no.’
‘Description?’ barks Nelson. He sounds like he’s taking a witness statement. Ruth would tell him to mind his own business, but Zoe says, amiably enough, ‘Tall, slim, long dark hair in a ponytail. What my mother would have called “well-spoken”.’
‘She doesn’t sound too sinister, does she, Nelson?’ says Ruth.
But she wonders why the innocuous description makes her feel very slightly scared.
Chapter 16
Thursday 17 June
The university still seems determined to look its best. A light breeze ruffles the ornamental lake as Ruth drives past on her way to the Natural Sciences building. The trees look bright green against the pale blue sky and there is still some blossom blowing over the grass. Ruth has the last of her PhD vivas today. The students always get very stressed about vivas, and it is nerve-wracking having to defend your work to a panel of experts, but, for Ruth, it’s almost always a celebratory occasion. She loves hearing students talk so passionately and knowledgably about their research and it’s great to tell them afterwards that they’ve passed. ‘Congratulations, Dr Whatever.’ In all her years of teaching, Ruth has only failed one PhD student.
This is what she’ll miss, she thinks, as she strides along the corridor to her office. She’ll miss teaching students, watching them grow in confidence, make connections, organise data, read the landscape. If she becomes dean, she’ll lose this day-to-day contact. It’ll be all administration, fundraising and meetings. All the same, she wonders why she didn’t tell Nelson that she too had received a job offer. After Zoe had retreated into her own house, Ruth called Kate down and the three of them ate the rather boring hotpot and watchedThe Last Kingdom(Ruth’s temporary obsession). Then Kate had gone to bed and, much later, Ruth and Nelson followed and had very unboring sex. It’s all very complicated. And very simple.
In her office, Ruth has a cup of strong coffee. If she leaves UNN, she’s definitely taking her espresso machine with her. She’s scrolling through her emails while she waits for the other panel members to arrive, David Brown and the external examiner, Jeanne Hanisko. Jeanne teaches at Cambridge and Ruth is hoping to get a moment to talk to her about Leo Ballard.
‘We’ve got more than two thousand signatures on the petition,’ says David, coming in with a self-important flurry of papers and laptop. ‘And nearly five thousand followers on Twitter.’
Before Ruth can answer (she imagines Twitter followers as a long line of desperate people, like an airport queue), Prisha puts her head round the door to say that Professor Hanisko is downstairs. She also offers to make David a drink, which Ruth thinks is taking hospitality too far. Ruth turns back to her laptop to avoid watching David fold himself into his chair as if he’s a giant having tea with a hobbit.
