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‘It did but I think he’s relieved it isn’t worse. He’d convinced himself that he had a brain tumour.’
‘He was going on to me about wanting a woodland burial or some such lunacy. Was that why?’
‘Yes,’ says Judy. ‘He wrote all the instructions down. I found them when I was going through his things. I found his will too. He’s leaving you his cloak.’
‘Jesus wept.’
‘I found some writing too. About his childhood.’
‘Memoirs of a mad druid? A sure-fire bestseller.’
‘I don’t think they’re for publication. Just his thoughts and memories. All about his mother and grandmother. It made me realise how little I really know about him.’
‘Well, you’ve got plenty of time to find out now.’
Judy smiles. ‘I have.’
Nelson clears his throat. Time to get back to business.
‘Cathbad still can’t remember what happened when he visited young Tony?’
‘No,’ says Judy. ‘He says he’s trying but he can only remember arriving at the flat and, some time after, finding himself underground.’
‘We think Ballard took Cathbad to Grime’s Graves and persuaded him to go into the mine somehow,’ says Nelson.
‘He wouldn’t have needed much persuading,’ says Judy. ‘Ballard just needed a good story about a horned god or a fertility goddess.’
‘Ruth would have been the same,’ says Nelson. ‘Bloody archaeologists. Did you hear that young Lucy saved them? Do you know who she is?’
‘What do you mean?’ says Judy.
‘She’s Lucy Downey.’
He doesn’t need to say more. Judy was involved in that case too. She was with Lucy’s parents when they saw their daughter for the first time in ten years. A few days earlier, she’d had to tell another set of parents that their child was dead.
‘Lucy Downey? I can’t believe it!’
‘All grown up and a policewoman,’ says Nelson, nodding towards the incident room where Lucy is diligently writing notes.
‘Police officer,’ corrects Judy automatically.
‘Makes you think, doesn’t it?’ says Nelson.
‘Cathbad would say it was all part of the great web.’
‘He certainly would. But he’s not here. There’s no need for you to start saying stuff like that too.’
‘Sorry,’ says Judy. ‘What about this case then? Are we any nearer to finding out what happened to Emily?’
‘It’s very frustrating,’ says Nelson. ‘We’ve got Ballard in custody, but we still can’t get him for Emily’s murder.’
‘Are you sure that he killed her then?’
‘I’m not sure of anything but what other explanation is there? Ballard is clearly a desperate man. He kidnapped three people to stop them from speaking out but, the problem is, we don’t know what he thought they were going to say.’
‘What did he say in the arrest interview?’
‘Mostly no comment. But just now he told me that Gaia Webster was the figure who came out of the woods and scared them all, back in 2002.’
