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‘I do,’ says Nelson, pouring beer. Has he gone back, not just to his younger years, but to the 1950s?
‘I like beer,’ says George.
‘Beer’s for grown-ups,’ says Michelle.
‘Adrian lets me have beer,’ says George.
Nelson’s detective senses are on alert. Who is this Adrian who is giving his son prohibited substances? Is it possible to have him arrested immediately?
‘Let’s sit in the garden,’ says Michelle, slightly too smoothly. ‘You and Bruno can play in the sprinkler, George.’
‘Bruno gets overexcited near water,’ says Nelson. But he follows his wife and son into the sunshine.
The shock makes Ruth lose her footing. She panics and lets go of the ladder, falling several feet onto the hard earth.
‘What’s happening?’ comes Kate’s voice. ‘Why’s it gone dark?’
‘Don’t worry,’ says Ruth. ‘Just keep hold of the ladder and come down. I’ll try to find the torches.’
Ruth gets to her knees and then her feet. Her ribs hurt but that’s not important. All that matters is getting out of this hell hole. It’s pitch black but she feels as if she’s in an open space, just like the one at the bottom of the previous shaft. She feels along the ground, brushing against dagger-sharp flints and soft chalk. But she knows in her heart that the torches were just an invention. Leo has trapped them in the darkness.
‘Mum?’ Kate is beside her. Ruth hugs her close.
‘It’s all right, Kate,’ says Ruth. Though, of course, it isn’t.
‘He tricked us,’ says Kate. ‘That man.’
‘Yes, he did,’ says Ruth. She thinks they are about ten feet down. Looking up, she can see a faint line of light outlining the place where the trapdoor must have been slammed behind them.
‘I’m going to see if I can push the door open from this side,’ says Ruth, with more confidence than she feels.
‘Did you find the torches?’ says Kate.
‘I don’t think they’re here,’ says Ruth. ‘And it’s not so dark.’ It’s true that, in the few minutes that she’s been underground, she’s starting to make out shapes, glimmers of white stone. She thinks of Jamie saying that the miners might have used chalk as a light in the darkness. Well, it’s not much but it might have to do.
‘Have you got your phone?’ says Kate.
Oh, thank you, Kate. Her phone. Her miraculous mobile phone. She prays to the earth goddess that she didn’t leave it in the car. She remembers now that Kate left hers recharging but, when Ruth feels in her pocket, there’s the comforting rubber case. She prays again that the screen hasn’t been broken by the fall. But, when Ruth presses the side button, a welcome green light glimmers. She can call for help. Nelson will rescue them; he’ll arrest Leo and they’ll be safe again. It’s only then that she realises that she doesn’t have a signal.
‘Is it working?’ says Kate.
‘Yes,’ says Ruth. ‘But no signal. Yet,’ she adds optimistically. But at least they have light. She clicks on the torch app. They are in a circular space, roughly hewn from the rock. Ruth sweeps the light along the floor and sees a pile of tiny bones, probably the remains of a rabbit that fell into the shaft. She raises the phone slightly and sees that, all around them, there are dark openings in the chalk.
‘What are they?’ says Kate, moving closer to Ruth.
‘Galleries,’ says Ruth. ‘Tunnels the miners used to quarry flint.’ The nearer one is propped up by what looks like an antler. There are no metal grilles here.
‘I don’t want to go in there,’ says Kate.
‘Don’t worry,’ says Ruth. ‘We won’t.’
She gives Kate the torch to hold and climbs the ladder again. Her entire body hurts but she manages to swing herself upwards. When she reaches the trapdoor, she pushes with all her might. It gives way slightly, just enough to let Ruth see that it’s bolted in two places. She bangs her fist against the metal. ‘Help! Let us out!’ Her voice echoes impotently.
‘Let me try,’ says Kate.
‘Bring the phone,’ says Ruth. ‘See if you can get a signal at the top of the ladder.’
This leaves Ruth in the darkness as Kate climbs. She sees the blue tartan skirt ascending, the white lines suddenly seeming almost luminous. Kate climbs quickly. She’s good at gym and, besides, she’s forty years younger than Ruth, who had been what the hospitals call ‘an elderly primagravida’. Kate manages to get her hand in the gap between the door and the opening but she’s unable to reach the bolt.
