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Judy, obviously alerted by Nelson, is back in half an hour. Ruth is pleased to see her, partly because she has been wondering whether she should prepare a meal and worrying that it won’t be up to Cathbad’s culinary standards. Judy has, very sensibly, brought pizzas with her. Ruth and Kate eat with the family. Cathbad seems his old self but, once or twice, Ruth catches Judy looking at him anxiously. At least it’s Saturday tomorrow which means that Ruth won’t have to feel guilty about Kate going to the house after school or think of alternative arrangements.
‘See you on Monday,’ says Cathbad, when Ruth and Kate get up to leave.
‘Are you sure you’ll be all right?’ says Ruth.
‘Of course,’ says Cathbad. ‘I can feel my inner strength returning.’
‘All the same,’ says Judy, ‘it might be worth visiting Dr Patel.’
‘I don’t want to bother Rita,’ says Cathbad. ‘I’ll do some healing yoga tomorrow.’
It’s still light when Ruth reaches home. The sky over the sea is azure blue with a paler line on the horizon. But it’s dark enough to activate the security light which casts an unearthly glow over the long grass of the marshes and the hollyhocks in Ruth’s garden. The cottage has looked very different since Zoe, Ruth’s half-sister, moved next door. Not only is the garden full of flowers, their colours changing subtly with the seasons, but there are window boxes and urns overflowing with begonias and impatiens. Ruth approaches the front door, feeling soothed. How can Nelson say that her house is godforsaken? Ruth doesn’t believe in God but, if she did, it would be a deity of the marshes, an elemental creature of sea and sky.
Zoe’s light is on, which always makes Ruth feel comforted. She doesn’t talk to Zoe every day but she knows she’s there and she appreciates this fairly new presence in her life. Zoe’s Maine Coon cat, Derek, watches from her window. The house on the other side has a paved forecourt instead of a front garden and this is now occupied by a huge jeep. The weekenders must be in residence. Presumably they’ve been unable to have their usual exotic summer holiday because of Covid and have decided to grace Norfolk with their presence. Nevertheless, it’s surprisingly cosy to have all three houses occupied.
Flint, Ruth’s cat, is sitting on the sofa. He meows loudly but doesn’t get up because he is punishing them for being late home. Kate goes to pat him but Ruth stays at the door, looking out over the darkening marshland.
How can she bear to leave it?
Chapter 5
Saturday 12 June
Ruth has applied for an emergency coroner’s licence to excavate the bones and this comes through on Saturday morning. The coroner has ruled that the bones are ‘forensic’ which means they might form part of a court case. Ruth contacts Ted Cross from the field archaeology team and heads in to King’s Lynn. She also leaves a message for Nelson.
Kate will be on her own in the cottage all morning. Ruth is not too worried. Zoe says she’ll pop in at lunchtime and the weekenders are already crashing about with kayaks and surfboards when Ruth leaves at nine a.m. Kate is quite content to be left with Flint, her phone and, ostensibly, her homework, but she does want to go to the cinema with Isla in the afternoon. Ruth promises that she will take her and prays that she’ll be home in time.
Ruth is not surprised to find Nelson waiting for her at the Red Lady Tea Rooms. Ted is there too and the two men are talking intently. Approaching, Ruth hears the words ‘given him enough chances’ and ‘sudden death’. Whatcanthey be talking about? Then she catches ‘Southgate’ and realises that it’s the European Football Cup, which has just started. Does Irish Ted support England? she wonders. Ruth is allergic to football. Another consideration about moving in with Nelson, who even has a tattoo as a testament to his love for his favourite team, Blackpool.
Nelson looks at his watch. Another irritating habit. Ruth isn’t late, in fact she is ten minutes early.
‘Hallo, Nelson, hallo, Ted.’ Ruth has parked at the station and is carrying her excavation kit: trowel, brush, measuring tape, line level, storage bags, charts (so-called skeleton sheets), pen and pencils. She remembers the first time she met Nelson, crossing the marshes to investigate buried bones, and how embarrassed she’d been by this motley collection of tools. Now she’s rather proud of them. Ted, obviously expecting heavier work, is carrying a pickaxe and a hammer.
There’s police tape over the front door and a uniformed officer standing guard. Nelson tells him that he can ‘bugger off for a coffee’ and leads the way into the house.
The shop feels claustrophobic, smelling of plaster and something even less pleasant. In the basement, the walls are still bare brick and the void exposed by the builder looks dark and ominous. Ruth peers through the gap. The skeleton is lying between the new wall and the old one, as if someone created the space for just this purpose. Ted strides over and swings his axe meditatively. He looks like Thorin fromThe Hobbit.
‘Better get this knocked down, Ruth.’
‘Yes,’ says Ruth, ‘but carefully. The bones are right behind the wall. ’
In a few minutes the wall has been destroyed and brick dust fills the air. Ruth is glad that she’s wearing her mask. She shines her torch onto the bones, which are lying in the newly exposed space by the chimney breast.
‘They’re articulated,’ she says. ‘Someone placed the body here with some care. I think the cadaver might have been wrapped up– there seem to be traces of fabric– which explains why the bones have remained in such good condition. They wouldn’t have been able to move as they decomposed.’
‘Do you think the body putrefied here?’ says Ted.
‘I don’t think so,’ says Ruth. ‘A brick wall wouldn’t mask the smell, for one thing, and the leakage would be quite voluminous.’
‘The soup,’ agrees Ted.
Nelson makes an inarticulate noise in the background.
‘You hear about bodies being mummified sometimes,’ he says.
‘That only happens naturally in very dry conditions,’ says Ruth. ‘Deserts, say. Or when the gastrointestinal tract is removed. Putrefaction is driven by bacterial enzymes. It looks to me as if this body has skeletonised elsewhere, then been moved to this cavity.’
‘Was it buried before then?’
