The Locked Room (Ruth Galloway #14)(81)

It’s quite a shock to see the paramedics wearing masks. For the last few hours, Ruth has managed to forget the pandemic altogether. They want Nelson to go in the ambulance with them, but he refuses. ‘The hospital’s full of Covid patients. They don’t need more work.’ In the end, he agrees to go with Zoe and promises to drive her home afterwards. Zoe’s car is presumably parked around here somewhere. One of the uniformed police officers takes Nelson’s Mercedes. Hugh is in the back of the police van. Despite his threat, Nelson doesn’t seem to have charged Joe McMahon with anything and Ruth hears Janet offering him and Eileen a bed for the night. Ruth and Tanya walk back to the cathedral close.

‘How did you know about Hugh?’ Ruth asks Tanya.

‘Judy sent me a photo of him. I don’t know how she got it. It was a bit blurred, but I recognised the white hair.’ Tanya is silent for a few minutes as she starts the car and performs a sharp three-point turn to exit through the gateway. Then she says, ‘Ruth . . . Judy said Cathbad was dying.’

‘What?’ Ruth realises with horror that she has forgotten Cathbad too in the excitement of rescuing Zoe. ‘Why didn’t you say?’ she whispers.

‘I suppose I put it to the back of my mind,’ says Tanya, sounding rather defensive. ‘I had a job to do, remember.’

‘I’ll text Judy,’ says Ruth, although she’d rather throw her phone out of the window. Tanya had recovered it from Hugh Baxter and Ruth has already texted Kate to say she’s on her way.

But, when she activates the screen, there’s already a message there.

Good news! Cathbad has come round. Docs say a miracle.

Ruth relays this, tears running down her face. Tanya, too, is wiping her eyes as they take the road for King’s Lynn.



It’s ten thirty by the time they reach the police station. Kate is asleep on a sofa in the custody suite, Tony is watching Brooklyn 99 on his phone.

‘She’s only just gone to sleep,’ he tells Ruth. ‘She’s seriously good at battleships.’

‘Thank you so much for looking after her,’ says Ruth. She’ll have to buy Tony a present tomorrow. She wakes Kate who opens her eyes and says, ‘I’m leading thirty games to twenty-five.’

Ruth hugs her. ‘Have you thanked Tony for looking after you?’

‘He didn’t mind,’ says Kate. ‘He loves playing battleships.’

But she does thank Tony who says it was a pleasure. Ruth knows that he and Tanya are keen to get on with their work. Hugh Baxter is being booked in at the front desk but Ruth doesn’t know if they’ll question him now or tomorrow morning. She and Kate exit through the back door and are soon on their way home. Kate is suddenly wide awake and Ruth winds down the windows to keep them both that way. She puts on her favourite Bruce Springsteen CD and they race through the dark Norfolk roads telling each other that they were born to run.



Flint is waiting by the front door, looking outraged. Ruth feeds him and tells Kate to get into bed. When she goes up to kiss her goodnight, Kate is already asleep, clutching a cuddly chimpanzee, an old birthday present from Nelson. Somehow, the sight of it makes Ruth want to cry again. She has told Kate the good news about Cathbad, but her daughter was not surprised. ‘It’s all the praying I’ve been doing,’ she said. Ruth now mutters one of Cathbad’s own mantras, ‘Goddess bless, Goddess keep.’ Then she goes downstairs to wait for Nelson.

Ruth is dreaming about underground prisons when headlights illuminate the room. She hears voices and then Nelson is at the door. For a moment, they stare at each other and then Nelson wraps his arms round Ruth, as solid and comforting as ever.

‘Zoe’s next door,’ he says, into her hair. ‘I think she’d like a chat if you’re not too tired. I’ll be here with Katie.’

‘Will you be here when I get back?’ asks Ruth.

‘Of course I will.’

It’s midnight now but suddenly Ruth isn’t tired at all. On impulse, she takes a bottle of wine with her and knocks on the stable door. Zoe answers immediately, Derek in her arms.

‘Thank you for looking after him,’ she says.

‘That’s OK.’ Ruth pats the cat’s silky head. He shuts his eyes, enduring her.

‘Nelson says you know,’ says Zoe, ‘about us being sisters. Half sisters.’

‘I guessed some of it,’ says Ruth. ‘I saw the photograph of my mum next to your wedding picture.’ She supposes that she should say ‘our mum’, but that seems a step too far.

‘Let’s have a drink,’ says Zoe. She leads the way into the unfamiliar, familiar sitting room. Slightly too late, Ruth remembers social distancing and sits on the chaise longue, which is as uncomfortable as she imagined, rather than joining Zoe on the sofa. Zoe pours them both a glass of red.

‘I always knew I was adopted,’ says Zoe. ‘Mum and Dad must have told me when I was very young. We celebrated my adoption day as well as my birthday. But I didn’t have any urge to look for my birth parents while they were alive. Then I got divorced and Mum and Dad died within months of each other. Then there was the court case. Do you know about that?’

‘Yes,’ says Ruth. ‘It must have been awful.’

‘It was a nightmare,’ says Zoe. ‘I knew I was innocent but, at times, I even thought I must be guilty because everyone else seemed so certain. That feeling didn’t go away even when they found the real culprit. I changed my name and I thought: maybe it’s time to find out who I really am.’