The Locked Room (Ruth Galloway #14)(14)

Ruth tries to pay for the coffees but Zoe won’t let her. The café owner seems relieved to see them go.



It’s dark by the time Ruth and Kate get home but, as Ruth approaches the cottages, the security light comes on and she sees a familiar battered Mercedes outside her gate. How long has Nelson had that car? Ever since she’s known him, which is over twelve years now.

‘Dad!’ shouts Kate in delight.

‘So it is,’ says Ruth. Her own emotions are rather more complicated. She hasn’t seen much of Nelson since he was injured last year. In the emotional aftermath of that day, both had revealed rather too much of their true feelings for each other. Now Ruth thinks that Nelson is worried that she expects him to leave Michelle for her. But she doesn’t; she never expects that to happen. Besides, Nelson’s mother visited him for Christmas and was sure to have been preaching the virtues of Christian marriage.

Kate rushes over to the car and is soon dragging Nelson towards the house. Ruth follows more slowly. From the window she can see Flint regarding Nelson with disapproval.

‘I saw the woman next door,’ says Nelson. ‘She said you’d be home soon. I didn’t know you had a new neighbour.’

‘She only moved in on Sunday. Why didn’t you ring to say you were coming?’

‘I tried to,’ says Nelson, ‘but your phone was switched off. At the university they said you’d left early.’

Guiltily, Ruth realises that she switched her phone off during Jacquie’s homily. And she did not leave work early. She arrived at eight and left at four. She wonders who said she did? Her PA, Prisha, is far too discreet.

‘I was at a Lean Zone meeting,’ she says. Why be embarrassed about it, she tells herself.

‘A what?’

‘A meeting about losing weight.’

Nelson looks positively appalled. ‘Why would you want to lose weight?’

Ruth has no answer to this. She lets Nelson into the house and makes tea while Kate describes the Year 6 trip in exhaustive detail.

‘Where is this activity centre?’ asks Nelson. ‘Have the school done health and safety checks?’

‘I’m sure they have,’ says Ruth. It’s a good thing that Nelson is so annoying sometimes. It stops her fantasising about them living together.

‘What about coronavirus?’ Nelson asks Kate. ‘Have the school been telling you about hand sanitiser?’

‘I never thought I’d hear you talking about hand sanitiser,’ says Ruth.

‘Yes,’ says Kate. ‘They tell us to sing “God Save the Queen” while we’re washing our hands.’

‘What if you’re a republican?’ asks Ruth.

‘I don’t suppose many eleven-year-olds are republicans,’ says Nelson.

‘That’s what’s wrong with this country,’ says Ruth, only half joking.

Kate decides that Nelson needs to see every piece of artwork she has produced in school this term and goes to collect them. Ruth takes advantage of her absence to ask Nelson why he has been ringing her at work. And why he’s driven all the way out to the Saltmarsh to see her.

‘I wanted to know about the body in Tombland,’ says Nelson. ‘Dead bodies are my business, after all.’

‘This one has been dead a long time. I think it’s medieval. I’ve sent samples for carbon-14 testing.’

‘Was it a plague victim?’

‘That’s what everyone asks. It’s possible but it may just be a body that was buried at St George’s. The graveyard probably stretched all the way to the roundabout.’

‘How was your weekend in London?’

‘OK,’ says Ruth. ‘I went to a school reunion. I saw my ex-boyfriend. He’s completely bald.’

Nelson laughs but Ruth notices that, unconsciously, he raises a hand to his hair which, while greying, is still thick. Kate reappears and Nelson settles down to admire paintings, pottery owls and pieces of slightly grubby cross-stitch.

‘Do you want to stay for supper?’ asks Ruth. ‘It’s just pasta. Or something.’

‘Thanks, but I’d better get back for Bruno. The dog-walker brings him home at six. Michelle’s away.’

In that case, thinks Ruth, there’s nothing to stop Nelson coming back later. He could even bring Bruno with him (sorry, Flint). She wonders if Nelson is thinking the same thing. But neither of them says anything and, after admiring Kate’s art extravagantly, Nelson gets up to leave.



Cathbad has also cooked pasta although, in his case, it comes adorned with courgette spirals and broccoli florets. The children eat quickly, they are used to their father’s culinary prowess, but Judy savours each mouthful. She finds cooking very tedious and she knows that preparing meals every day would soon drive her to distraction. But Cathbad actually seems to enjoy it. Thing is leaning against Judy’s legs, looking up at her lovingly, although he’s not much of a broccoli fan. It’s dark outside but there are signs that spring is returning; a bunch of daffodils on the table, a school newsletter trumpeting about Easter bonnet competitions.

When Michael and Miranda have drifted away, Cathbad pours Judy a glass of wine and asks about her day.

‘It was OK. I had to tell the boss that I thought his potential murder was probably still a suicide. And Ruth excavated a skeleton in Tombland.’