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It’s late by the time that Nelson leaves the station. But the case is closed and the charges have been made. Emily is at rest and her parents have some answers. ‘Thank you, DCI Nelson and DI Clough,’ says Gordon, when he showed them to the door. ‘I knew it was a good sign when the big guns got involved.’ The big guns. Nelson could see that Clough loved this description.
But Clough can still surprise him. Before driving back to Cambridge, he admitted to Nelson that he’d consulted a medium about Cathbad.
‘Madame Rita. You remember her from when Michael went missing?’
‘I remember lots of odd things about that case, Cloughie.’ Including his sergeant babbling on about red hearts and white ladies.
‘She said that Cathbad was no longer walking on the surface of the earth. And he wasn’t, was he? He was underground.’
‘These people always say things that can be interpreted a million different ways. You twisted it to make sense because you wanted to believe it.’
Clough hadn’t answered but he didn’t look convinced. Nelson hopes that Cloughie isn’t about to start wearing a cloak. For himself, he feels quietly pleased that justice has been done. One thing in his life, at least, is settled.
Nelson sits in his car for a few moments wondering what to do next. It’s second nature to drive home but what will be waiting for him there? More shepherd’s pie and faux marital bliss? Nelson thinks of Ruth’s cottage. He’s always disliked the remote location but now it seems to him to be a haven, a place of open views and peaceful air. He says ‘Ruth’ into his phone. There’s no answer.
Nelson types, ‘R u there?’ But the message remains unopened. Nelson sighs and starts for home.
Ruth sees the message. What’s the point? she thinks. Nelson would probably come over, full of concern and paternal anguish, berating her for putting Kate at risk. They’d argue and, later, they’d have fantastic sex. But, the next day, Nelson would go back to Michelle. She thinks of David saying, ‘That marriage will last for ever.’ Of course, in the light of David’s surprising declaration, his opinion might not be unbiased. But Ruth is sure that’s what everyone says. Her friends, her colleagues, her family. ‘He’s never going to leave his wife. Poor old Ruth, when’s she going to wise up?’
Maybe now’s the time to wise up, in all senses. She could take the dean’s job and devote herself to an academic career. Or she could go to Uppsala, with or without David. Sweden. The word conjures up clean lines, raw fish, tight four-part harmonies. Is Ruth ready for such a tidy country? She could go back to London, as her dad suggested, and maybe get a job at her alma mater. She could be near Arthur and Gloria and, despite Jack’s comments about drug dealers, there would be good schools for Kate. But Kate loves her current school and her friends. And Ruth loves Norfolk.
At six, Zoe comes home from work and appears at the door with a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates. For almost the first time in her adult life, Ruth doesn’t feel like either of those things.
‘How are you feeling?’ asks Zoe. ‘How are the bruises?’
‘A bit sore,’ says Ruth. ‘But I’m OK. Judy came round earlier. They’ve caught the person who killed Emily, the student that went missing all those years ago.’
‘Has Nelson been round?’ asks Zoe.
‘No,’ says Ruth. She tells Zoe about Lucy Downey. ‘She was the girl that came here looking for me.’ But even this news doesn’t make much of an impact. Zoe tells her to rest and goes back to her side of the wall. Kate rifles through the chocolates and says they all have funny flavours. Ruth suppresses the ignoble thought that they were an unwanted gift from one of Zoe’s patients.
Ruth and Kate watch another Harry Potter film, eat supper in front of the TV and are both in bed by nine. Flint comes upstairs with Ruth and settles on her duvet, starting one of his all-over washing routines that shakes the whole bed. Ruth can hear Kate chatting in her room, presumably FaceTiming with Isla, but she has left her own phone downstairs. She looks out of the window. It’s not yet dark on this day after midsummer but there are flickering lights on the horizon. Are they the lantern men, malevolent sprites luring unwitting travellers to their deaths?
‘Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life,’ says Ruth aloud.
But the words do not have the motivational glow usually associated with this statement.
Chapter 38
Wednesday 23 June
Kate is adamant that she wants to go to school the next day, so Ruth drops her off on the way to UNN. She thinks that Kate is looking forward to regaling Isla and Megan with her adventures. For Ruth’s part, she plans to avoid her colleagues as much as possible.
But her luck is out. The first person she sees, as she walks across the car park, is David Brown. He’s supervising the erection of a structure which, to Ruth’s still slightly bleary eyes, looks very much like a scaffold.
‘It’s a stage,’ he says. ‘For the rally tomorrow. You haven’t forgotten, have you?’
‘Of course not,’ says Ruth. She had but, then, she’s had quite a lot on her mind.
‘I’ve even got a megaphone,’ he says, brandishing it.
‘Jolly good,’ says Ruth. His voice, even without amplification, is making her head hurt. As long as he doesn’t mention the L word.
‘There’s been quite a lot of media interest,’ he says. ‘I gave a quote toLynn Newsthis morning. I’m hoping that Tony will put in an appearance.’
For a moment, Ruth thinks he means Tony Blair. Isn’t he off earning millions as an after-dinner speaker somewhere? Then she realises that he means Tony Robinson, the ex-Time Teampresenter.
‘Do you think he readsLynn News?’ she asks.
