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But David is off. He seems to think that tomorrow’s news will be dominated by the possible closure of a small department in a little-known university. Ruth rather thinks that there will be more coverage of the arrests in the Emily Pickering case. Will Nelson do a press conference? That might be the only time she sees him, these days. On TV flanked by a glamorous Super Jo and a smug Tanya.
‘I’ve got to go,’ she says, heading towards her staircase.
‘I meant what I said yesterday,’ David shouts after her.
Nelson decides to visit Cathbad on his way to work. It’s a way of avoiding Jo’s inevitable press conference. But, also, he wants to check that the crazy druid is recovering. Cathbad claims to have saved Nelson’s life once, by dint of voyaging through the dream world in a stone boat. Climbing a few stairs at the Queen Elizabeth hospital is the least Nelson can do.
He parks in the multistorey and checks his phone before getting out of the car. Three messages from Jo. Nothing from Ruth. Then a news item catches his eye. Or rather three words do. Dr Ruth Galloway.
‘If the department closes,’ says senior lecturer David Brown, ‘this country will lose one of its foremost academics. Dr Ruth Galloway is planning to take up a post at Uppsala University in Sweden. That would be a great loss to British archaeology. And to Norfolk.’
Bugger Norfolk. What about him, Nelson? Is Ruth really planning to relocate without telling him? Is this why she’s been keeping him at arm’s length? And what about Katie? Ruth is going to takehisdaughter out of the country. To bloodySwedenof all places. Nelson punches the steering wheel so hard that the alarm goes off.
He’s still fuming when he reaches Edith Cavell ward. Cathbad, who has a rather rakish bandage round his head, is lying back on his pillows, reading what looks like an antique tome. The title is something about ancient runes. Cathbad puts the book down when Nelson approaches.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘Shouldn’t I be asking you that?’
‘I’m not blind yet, Nelson. There’s a cloud of negative energy around you.’
‘Bollocks,’ says Nelson. But his heart’s not in it. He sits on the visitors’ chair and tries to control his breathing.
‘You’ve heard we made an arrest,’ he says.
‘Yes,’ says Cathbad. ‘Judy told me. Poor Amber. She was always in Emily’s shadow.’
Nelson does not think Amber deserves any sympathy. She put Emily in the shadow of death and did not even seem very contrite about it.
‘I kept thinking about Emily,’ says Cathbad. ‘I didn’t want to die with her murder unsolved. Something about her going to Ely didn’t seem right to me. Emily had been at school there and didn’t like the place. When Judy said that Tony was at home looking through the CCTV footage, I thought I’d go round to have a look. When I saw the video, I knew it wasn’t Emily. She had a certain way of walking, favouring one foot, very slightly. Amber had a very bouncy, athletic stride. I knew that it was her. My first thought was that I had to tell Leo.’
‘Pity your first thought wasn’t to tell your partner. Or the police,’ says Nelson. ‘Can you remember anything else?’
‘It’s still behind the veil,’ says Cathbad. ‘Like being in the dream world. Remember?’
‘How can I remember something that has only ever existed in your overheated imagination?’
‘The first thing I remember is waking up in the hospital,’ says Cathbad. ‘But I heard voices. Ruth. Hecate. Judy. Lucy Downey. I always thought Lucy would come back, you know. I always thought she’d have a part to play before the end.’
The end of what? thinks Nelson. He thinks of Clough, hard-headed Clough, consulting Madame Rita. Of Cathbad, lost in the dream world. Who knows any more what’s real and what isn’t?
‘So, what’s happened to upset you today?’ Cathbad asks Nelson. The unexpected tenderness in his voice, or perhaps the childish word ‘upset’, almost brings treacherous tears to Nelson eyes. He clears his throat and says, in his gruffest voice, ‘Ruth’s going to live in Sweden.’
‘Is she?’ says Cathbad. ‘Who told you that?’
‘I read it. Or I saw it on some online news thing.’
‘And you believed it? Have you asked Ruth?’
‘No.’
Cathbad struggles to sit up. ‘Ask her, Nelson. Or rather, tell her. Have you ever told Ruth what you think about her? What she means to you?’
‘I must have.’
‘That means you haven’t. Ruth’s life is changing. She’s having to make decisions. How can she make them if you don’t tell her what you feel?’
‘She knows.’
