AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ruth wakes up ribs first. There’s a stabbing pain every time she breathes but apparently nothing is broken. ‘Just bruising,’ the doctor said cheerfully. ‘Take ibuprofen and try to rest.’ Last night, Ruth had been so tired that she had fallen asleep as soon as she lay on her bed. Kate, who had slept in Zoe’s car on the way home from the hospital, woke up as soon as they entered the house and had been full of questions. Why had that man trapped them? Would Dad arrest him? Would he go to prison? Could she miss school tomorrow, she means today?
‘Let’s talk about it tomorrow,’ Ruth had said, sleepwalking up the stairs. ‘You don’t have to go to school.’
It’s nine o’clock so Ruth clicks on her phone and rings the school’s ‘absence hotline’. It’ll be the first day’s absence Kate has had. An unearthly yowl from downstairs reminds Ruth that her other child needs attention. Ruth sneaks a look in Kate’s room as she goes past. Her daughter is sound asleep, cheek pillowed on her favourite toy monkey. Ruth envies her.
Ruth feeds Flint and makes herself tea and toast. She swallows down two painkillers and tries to eat. She feels slightly sick but maybe that’s just tiredness. She feels better after a shower. Kate is still sleeping so Ruth dresses in her loosest clothes, goes back downstairs and checks her phone. Three missed calls from Nelson. Zoe said that he’d been at the hospital last night. Ruth can’t help feeling pleased to hear this but she’s relieved that Zoe saved her from another bedside conversation with him. What is there to say that hasn’t been said before? Perhaps Michelle will keep coming back to Nelson until all three of them are old and grey and past caring. Is it up to Ruth to break the impasse? If only she didn’t feel so tired and achy and generally terrible.
The doorbell makes her jump. Visitors are rare and the postman usually just leaves parcels on her doorstep. She hadn’t heard a car draw up but, looking out of the window, she sees a jeep-like vehicle. Who could it be? Zoe is at work and the weekenders are away again. Ruth thinks of her sleeping daughter. Should she ring Nelson? But then she tells herself not to be ridiculous. It’s broad daylight. Probably just someone to read the meter. Does she even have a meter?
The bubble of glass at the top of the door shows someone’s head. A tall visitor then. Feeling frightened all over again, Ruth opens the door an inch.
‘Hallo, Ruth. Just thought I’d drop by.’
It’s David Brown.
‘Come on, Lucy,’ says Nelson, ‘let’s talk to Leo Ballard.’
Lucy looks quizzical but stands up immediately. Nelson knows that he’s taking a risk. He’s going against their agreed interview strategy which is led by Tanya with Bradley as her deputy. The last thing Nelson wants is to jeopardise their case against Ballard. This is why he asked Lucy to sit in, to show that he’s following procedure. Except that he isn’t. No harm in a few extra questions, he tells himself, as he signs them into the interview suite.
‘Do I need my lawyer?’ That’s the first thing Ballard says. His hair is untidier than ever, but he looks remarkably bright for someone who has spent the night in the cells. Chipper, as Tanya might say.
‘You’re entitled to legal representation, of course,’ says Nelson, ‘but this isn’t a formal interview. Just a few questions.’
‘All right then,’ says Ballard. ‘Always happy to help the police.’
Like hell you are, thinks Nelson.
‘I want to talk to you about Emily Pickering,’ he says. ‘About that weekend at Grime’s Graves in 2002.’
‘Why do you want to talk about Emily?’ Ballard’s composure slips a bit. He runs his hands through the haystack of grey curls. Nelson tries a smile. Lucy sits as still as a statue beside him. Did she learn this discipline when she was a captive? Nelson pushes the thought away.
‘There are a few questions that remain unanswered about the weekend,’ says Nelson. ‘The masked figure that appeared from the woods, for example.’
To his surprise, Ballard laughs. ‘Oh, that was Gaia.’
‘Gaia?’
‘Gaia Webster, Peter’s daughter. She had been one of my students and we remained. . . close.’
‘Close? Were you having an affair?’
‘If you want to reduce it to the carnal level. Yes.’
‘Why did Gaia do it? Why did she turn up that night?’
Ballard sighs, as if Nelson is a student who hasn’t quite grasped the nuances of an intellectual argument. ‘Gaia always resented my students. Emily and co in particular. She thought they were spoilt middle-class kids. Gaia did it the hard way, working class family, comprehensive school. She thought that most Cambridge students had it too easy. I think she just wanted to give everyone a fright.’
‘Why didn’t you tell them that it was Gaia? You could have stopped them being scared.’
‘I didn’t want to give her away. Besides, it’s good for young people to be scared.’ He smiles. A gap-toothed grin that is, in Nelson’s opinion, enough to give anyone nightmares.
‘If we’d interviewed Gaia earlier,’ says Nelson, ‘it might have given us the link to the café. We would have found Emily’s body. Saved her parents a lot of heartache.’ Ballard says nothing but, to be fair, it isn’t a question.
‘Why did Cathbad contact you on Friday?’ says Nelson. ‘What had he seen on the video?’
‘Janus,’ says Ballard. ‘Our old friend, Janus. I’m not saying anything more without my solicitor.’
‘Come in,’ says Ruth. She suddenly wishes that she wasn’t wearing tracksuit trousers and an old ‘Eat the patriarchy’ T-shirt.
