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Ruth misses the turning to the cul-de-sac and has to do what feels like a thirty-three-point turn. Why is she feeling so nervous? They’ll just deliver the card and drive away. Nelson might even have gone back to the station. But his car is in the drive, next to a Toyota Yaris Ruth recognises as belonging to Laura. Presumably Laura and Rebecca have come back to the house after lunch in the restaurant. This complicates things but both daughters know about Ruth’s relationship with their father and Kate adores her sisters. Ruth parks two doors down and smiles at Kate.
‘Got the card?’
‘Look!’ Kate points.
The front door opens, and a German shepherd appears, grinning with what looks like inane happiness. A small boy is holding his lead. ‘Steady, Georgie,’ comes Nelson’s voice. Then a woman says something and Nelson laughs. Both sounds put Ruth on alert. Even so, she isn’t prepared for the lurch in her heart when the door opens wider to show Nelson and Michelle, Nelson’s hand resting protectively on his wife’s arm.
Chapter 26
Monday 21 June
Nelson drives into work on Monday feeling twitchy. It had been strange sharing the house with Michelle again. Strange because it felt so natural. When they got back to the house after that excruciating lunch, Nelson and Michelle had both fallen asleep in their chairs. They were woken by George and Bruno clamouring for a walk. ‘You looked like Darby and Joan sitting there,’ said Rebecca. Nelson doesn’t know who these people are but he had got the message. They looked like a long-married couple. Which they are, of course.
The whole family set out for walk in the Sandringham woods. Bruno, who has become quite grown-up with Nelson, reverted to puppyhood and spent his time running around in circles, retrieving sticks and laying them at Michelle’s feet. She seemed delighted with these attentions although she wouldn’t touch the sticks because they were covered in slobber.
Returning to the house, Nelson had had the strangest feeling that he was being watched. Specifically, that he was being watched by Ruth. But, although he scanned up and down the road, something he’d been too preoccupied to do when they set out, he couldn’t see her battered Renault anywhere. After Laura and Rebecca had gone home, he and Michelle had settled into a replica of a thousand other domestic evenings. Michelle had given George his bath and put him to bed. Afterwards Nelson and Michelle watched a crime drama on TV (like no police investigation Nelson has ever seen) with the dog snoozing beside them. Then Michelle had retired to bed in the spare room and Nelson was left sleepless in the master bedroom. He had managed to text Ruth when George was in the bath but, though the message was read, received no answer. He tried again, ‘See you tomorrow?’ but still the two blue ticks and nothing else.
When Michelle had returned from being locked down in Blackpool to say that she wanted a separation, Nelson had been, in turn, shocked, saddened, admiring and relieved. He knew that something had to change. He’d spent most of lockdown with Ruth and Katie and could finally see a future for them as a family. But there was sadness too. When Michelle said that she wanted to return to Blackpool with Georgie, Nelson had seen one door opening and another slamming shut. He wanted to be with Ruth, but he also wanted to watch his son growing up. Katie had been brought up by a single parent– very well, he has to admit– and now the pattern was going to be repeated. But Nelson had agreed to a separation. What else could he do? And now, over a year later, he is living on his own and Ruth seems no closer to making a commitment to him. Then, suddenly, his wife is back and his house feels like a home again. Sitting in front of the TV last night, Nelson had been surprised how content he had felt. He’s nearly fifty-four now. Maybe he’s too old to begin again?
When Nelson finally asked about her plans, Michelle said that she wanted to stay for a week. ‘It won’t hurt George to miss school at his age. And I’ve missed Norfolk.’
‘I never thought I’d hear you say that,’ said Nelson.
‘I’m the one who’s always liked it here, remember?’ said Michelle. ‘You were the one pining for Bloomfield Road.’
Edging through the one-way system around the city walls, Nelson wonders if he’d miss King’s Lynn. On balance, he thinks not. But he would miss Ruth and Katie. Unless he can persuade them to accompany him back up north. There are too many variables, he thinks.
But there are not enough variables at work. Cathbad is still missing. They put out a Twitter alert on Saturday and received the usual unhinged responses. The next step is the local news. Nelson will need to consult Jo about that. He knows that his boss will remind him that they are no nearer to finding out who killed Emily Pickering. Suspicion still centres on Peter Webster but there’s no evidence that he knew Emily well or even saw her outside the café. Emily’s parents don’t remember ever hearing his name. They still point the finger at Leo Ballard but, although Nelson is pretty sure that Emily had an unhealthily close relationship with her tutor, there’s nothing that ties him to her murder. One moment Emily was happily wandering around Ely, walking through the cathedral grounds and looking in the bookshop, the next she is dead. They don’t even know how she died, only that her bones turned up nineteen years later hidden behind a brick wall. That wall was built around Christmas 2002. Where was Emily before then? Alive or buried in a Neolithic flint mine?
Nelson holds a briefing meeting in his office. Tony is, once again, contained within the laptop. Bradley has done well with Ballard’s car and with tracing his former students. Nelson has been impressed with his work on the case. Bradley could even be the new Cloughie if only he’d lighten up a bit. Lucy has been methodical with the house-to-house but there are no real leads.
Tanya reports on her meeting with Gaia Webster. ‘She admitted that she’d had an affair with Ballard. She said that Emily had a crush on him too. Gaia was very dismissive about Emily and her friends.’
‘What did the sister say?’ Nelson asks Tony. ‘What was her name? Freya? Why did she say that it was her in the picture?’
‘She claimed to be genuinely confused,’ says Tony, from the screen, ‘but I don’t buy that. The two sisters don’t even seem very alike.’
‘They’re hiding something,’ says Nelson. ‘Could it be about their dad?’
‘Maybe,’ says Tanya. ‘Gaia seemed very defensive when I asked about him.’
‘Freya too,’ says Tony. ‘She says that she met Leo Ballard with her parents at Gaia’s graduation. But there could well have been some other contact. She said that her mum didn’t like him.’
‘I think we should try to talk to Mrs Webster,’ says Nelson. ‘We might get something. People with dementia often have lucid moments.’
‘It won’t stand up in court,’ says Tanya.
‘We have to try,’ says Nelson. ‘We need answers for Emily’s parents’ sake. Tanya, can you go to see Mrs Webster? Do you know if the nursing home is local?’
‘Freya said it was near Downham Market,’ volunteers Tony.
‘That’s only ten minutes away,’ says Nelson.
‘Twenty,’ says Tanya.
‘See if you can get an appointment,’ says Nelson. ‘We have to find out what happened to Emily between getting off the train at Ely and being found dead in King’s Lynn.’
‘What about the chalk dust on the bones?’ asks Tony. ‘Does that give us a link with Grime’s Graves?’
