The Locked Room (Ruth Galloway #14)(21)

‘You don’t always know your neighbours well,’ says Judy. ‘I hardly ever talk to mine, though Cathbad does, of course. I’d be hard put to tell you their names.’

‘My neighbour keeps referring to Petra as my flatmate,’ says Tanya. ‘However many times I say “wife” she still does it. Mind you, “wife” is a terrible word.’

‘It really is,’ says Judy. ‘It’s one reason why Cathbad and I haven’t got married. I was a wife once. Never again.’

‘Do you think Avril Flowers killed herself?’ says Tanya, licking salt off her fingers. Forbidden foods really are delicious.

‘I don’t know,’ says Judy. ‘Suicide does sometimes seem to come out of the blue like that. I’ve been reading up on it. But there are some similarities that bother me. Avril went to church. Like Samantha Wilson. She worked in a library. Like Samantha Wilson.’

‘Lots of old people go to church,’ says Tanya. ‘And to the library.’

‘If there’s a pandemic, churches and libraries will shut,’ says Judy. ‘What will old people do then?’

‘There won’t be a pandemic,’ says Tanya. ‘It’s just the flu. People should take vitamin C tablets and stop complaining.’





Chapter 11


Ruth collects Kate from Sandra, the childminder who has looked after her since she was a baby, and drives home. Kate is chattering about the Year 6 trip (‘We’ve got to choose who we want in our cabin. Four people have chosen me already. I’ll need new leggings’) but Ruth is worrying. The worries keep pace with the car as they cross the Saltmarsh, rather as the clouds chase across the flat marshland, turning the grass indigo blue and purple. Ruth’s meeting on Pandemic Precautions was far from reassuring, partly because the universities have had no guidance from the government. Should they provide lessons online? But how would that work, in practice? Would all the students be confined to their rooms, only communicating electronically? That’s not the university experience that Ruth wants for them. And what about staff, already worried about vulnerable family members and their own health?

‘Look, Mum. There’s that lady,’ says Kate.

Zoe is standing in her garden, leaning on a rake. There’s no barrier between the two front gardens and Ruth’s is full of bindweed and startlingly tall yellow ragwort. The third house in the row is owned by Sammy and Ed, known to Ruth as ‘the weekenders’, who use it as a holiday home, though they’ve been visiting less regularly since their children grew up. They have concreted over the space at the front of their house, which they need because everyone in the family seems to own a monster jeep. The weekenders have also built an extension and landscaped the back garden. Ruth always feels that their cottage now looks embarrassed to be joined to hers. She thinks back to her mother’s photograph. The gardens had been neat and uniform then, behind their box hedge. She really must do some research into the history of the houses.

‘Doing some gardening?’ asks Ruth, as they get out of their car. It’s an inane question really but she’s still a little shy with Zoe. They had bonded over Lean Zone but Ruth hasn’t told Zoe that she won’t be going to any more meetings.

‘I’m just trying to clear some weeds,’ says Zoe. ‘It would be nice to have some old-fashioned cottage plants here.’

Ruth has a vision – she thinks it’s from a long-forgotten Rupert the Bear annual – of hollyhocks and rambling roses. Oh, yes there’s a bear in a pinafore coming out of the door.

‘I’ll help,’ she says. ‘I’m afraid I’ve let my garden get into a state.’

‘Mum never gardens,’ says Kate disloyally.

‘I’m a London girl,’ says Ruth. ‘I don’t really know what to do.’

‘I can help,’ says Zoe. ‘My mum was a keen gardener.’

‘Are your parents still alive?’ asks Ruth, noting the past tense.

‘No,’ says Zoe. For a moment she rakes away at the brambles. ‘They both died some time ago. Within a few weeks of each other. What about you?’

‘My mother died five years ago,’ says Ruth. ‘We didn’t always get on, but I’m surprised how much I miss her now. She was such a constant in my life.’

‘What about your dad?’ says Zoe.

‘He still lives in London,’ says Ruth. ‘He’s married again.’

Kate wanders inside in search of Flint. Zoe asks if Ruth will be going to Lean Zone next week and Ruth manages to say that she didn’t think it was quite her thing.

‘No problem,’ says Zoe. ‘I don’t know why I keep going really.’

Ruth and Zoe chat for a few more minutes and Ruth goes indoors to start supper. When she looks out of the window, distracted by the six thirty Radio 4 comedy, she sees that Zoe has stopped gardening and is staring back at the houses. Her expression is hard to read.



Tanya and Judy get back to the station at three. Nelson asks them if they’ve been eating chips.

‘Can you smell them?’ says Judy.

‘It’s the vinegar,’ says Nelson. ‘I can smell it a mile off. Reminds me of Blackpool.’ He says it longingly. ‘Find out anything interesting?’