A Room Full of Bones (17 page)

Janet is pointing up at one of the windows.

‘Look. There’s Julian again.’

Ruth looks, and sees in the coloured glass a woman in nun’s habit, covered by a rather grand red cloak. But what makes her look twice is the creature at Julian’s feet.

‘It’s a cat!’ she says in delight.

‘Oh yes,’ says Janet. ‘I’d never noticed that before.’

But Ruth feels a new kinship with the fourteenth-century holy woman. Because Julian undoubtedly had a cat. A large ginger cat, just like Flint. Ruth is sure that Julian’s pet must have been important to her, because otherwise why go to the trouble of depicting it in yellow and orange glass? There can’t be very much wrong with anyone who loves their cat that much.

She is about to speak when her phone rings. Janet smiles but Ruth is extremely embarrassed.

It’s Cathbad. This is getting to be a habit.

‘Ruth, can you come? I’ve been arrested.’

‘Do I need my solicitor?’

‘Shut up, Cathbad. This is serious.’

Cathbad arranges his face in a serious expression. Judy glares at him. They are in Interview Room 1, the bigger of the two interview rooms at the station, but suddenly it seems far too small. Judy is acutely aware of Cathbad’s hands, the long fingers tapping gently on the arm of his chair. He has a leather bracelet round his wrist, the kind that surfers wear. No watch. He told her once that he didn’t believe in time.

‘You were at Slaughter Hill last night. I saw you on the CCTV footage.’

Cathbad smiles enigmatically. Judy explodes. ‘Don’t you see how this looks? What the hell were you doing at Slaughter Hill at one in the morning?’

‘Visiting a friend.’

‘Who?’

‘Caroline Smith.’

‘She must be a very good friend,’ says Judy coldly, ‘for you to be calling on her at one in the morning.’

She thinks of the tear-stained woman she saw that morning. She supposes that under normal circumstances Caroline might be considered attractive. Does Cathbad think so?

‘I was at Ruth’s,’ says Cathbad. ‘I left at about midnight. I like walking at night so I thought I’d walk to Caroline’s.’

‘All the way from the Saltmarsh to Slaughter Hill?’

‘I got a lift as far as Snettisham.’

‘Who from?’

‘A friend called Bob Woonunga.’

Another one of those people with ridiculous names, thinks Judy savagely. Why the hell can’t Cathbad have ordinary friends? Why does he have to go prancing around the countryside calling on women in the middle of the night?

‘Let’s get back to Caroline Smith,’ she says. ‘Was she expecting you?’

‘I’d said I might call in.’

‘Why?’ asks Judy. If Cathbad is having an affair with Caroline, she wants him to say it aloud.

Cathbad looks at her, a smile playing around his lips. Judy wants to hit him.

‘There’s nothing between us,’ he says gently. ‘She’s a friend, that’s all. And she’s a member of the Elginists. That’s why I was calling.’

‘You just popped in to discuss Aborigine relics?’

‘That’s it exactly.’

Judy has had enough.

‘You’ll need a better story than that,’ she says, ‘when this comes to court.’

‘When what comes to court?’

‘Danforth Smith died last night. We think it was murder.’

Ruth arrives at the police station, hot and stressed from her long drive, to be met by a grinning Tom Henty. ‘Come to post bail for Cathbad, have you?’

‘I suppose so.’

All Ruth has in her purse is seven pounds fifty and a lottery ticket. Her bank account is not looking too healthy either, what with Kate’s birthday and the cost of childcare. How much is bail, anyway?

Tom laughs even harder. ‘Don’t worry, Ruth. He hasn’t been arrested and there’s no bail been set. He’s just been helping us with our enquiries, that’s all.’ He manages to make the phrase sound even more sinister than usual.

‘Where is he?’

‘Interview Room 1. Detective Sergeant Johnson’s been speaking to him. I think they’re still in there.’

Ruth looks over to where Tom is pointing. The King’s Lynn police station is in an old Victorian house. Interview
Room 1 looks as if it might have been the downstairs cloakroom. A green light shines above the door.

‘Can I go in?’

‘Be my guest.’

Ruth is surprised, but not as surprised as she is when she bursts into the room to find Judy and Cathbad locked in a passionate embrace.

Ruth tries to back out but Judy has seen her. She breaks away, her face scarlet. Cathbad, on the other hand, turns round and says casually, ‘Oh hallo Ruth. Good of you to come but it turns out I’m not under arrest after all.’

‘You do seem to be in protective custody,’ says Ruth drily.

‘Ruth …’ Judy starts to speak but then shrugs and sweeps out of the room. Cathbad is still completely unabashed.

‘Are you going back to the university? Could I have a lift? I’m meant to be working this afternoon.’

In the lobby, Tom Henty tells them to be sure and call again soon. Cathbad laughs and says he’ll be in touch. Ruth can’t get out of the place quickly enough.

‘Is Nelson around?’ she asks as they go out through the double doors.

‘No. I think he’s out. They seem to be working flat out on this drugs case. Anyway, Nelson’s knocking off early today. It’s his birthday.’

Ruth is silent. She has never known Nelson’s birthday and is slightly shaken to find out that it’s so near Kate’s. She remembers Cathbad guessing correctly that Nelson was a Scorpio the first time they met. Kate’s a Scorpio too, hot-headed and passionate according to the books, not that Ruth believes in any of that nonsense.

It is not until they are in the car and driving towards the university that Ruth says, ‘So what’s going on between you and Judy?’

‘Going on?’ Cathbad is looking out of the window, a half smile on his face.

‘For God’s sake, Cathbad,’ explodes Ruth. ‘Just give me a straight answer for once. Are you having an affair with her?’

Cathbad sighs. ‘You remember in April, when Nelson asked Judy to go over to your house and check that Kate was OK? You couldn’t get home because it was snowing and Nelson wasn’t sure about the babysitter?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, I was there too. I got this feeling that I ought to check on Kate and you know I always trust my instincts.’

There is more that Ruth could say on this theme but she keeps quiet.

‘I met Judy on the way there. It was late at night, snowing, very receptive conditions.’

‘Whatever that means.’

‘I’m sure you can guess. It was dark, it was cold, we felt cut off from the rest of the world. We ended up in bed together.’

In my house, thinks Ruth. Probably in my bed. Aloud
she says, ‘But she’s married. She only got married a few months ago.’

‘I know. She loves Darren. She didn’t want to hurt him by calling off the wedding. They’ve known each other since they were children.’

‘But isn’t she hurting him now?’

‘We tried to break it off but the connection was too strong. We started seeing each other again in September.’

Four months after Judy’s May wedding, thinks Ruth. She remembers Judy, radiant in her white dress. The perfect wedding, the couple who had known each other so long, the families already united. But, come to think of it, wasn’t there something odd at the reception? Ruth had come across Judy, all on her own, in a darkened room. Ruth had said that she was sure Judy and Darren would be happy. ‘Are you?’ Judy had answered. ‘I’m not.’ Was Judy already in love with Cathbad? Did she already know that her marriage was doomed?

Ruth is surprised at how shaken she feels. She would never have imagined that Judy and Cathbad could be drawn to each other. Judy is so capable and efficient, her feelings kept well in check. Cathbad … well, Cathbad is a druid, a man of violent passions and opinions. She remembers him being at her house the morning after the snowstorm, but she had been so preoccupied with seeing Kate again that she had failed to notice any erotic undercurrents. She
had
thought that it was odd that Cathbad was there, and Judy had seemed particularly distant and professional. To think that only a few hours earlier …

And that’s another thing. Though she doesn’t like to admit it, even to herself, Ruth’s predominant emotion is one of jealousy. She isn’t attracted to Cathbad. She doesn’t want to go to bed with him but she does want to go to bed with
somebody
. This particular need is not covered by the baby books. Single mothers are meant to be single
mothers
, not really women any more. A single mother with a boyfriend is something else altogether, a case for social services in fact. And Ruth feels rather aggrieved that Judy can forget her marriage vows while Nelson’s are, apparently, indestructible.

There are so many things she wants to say. She wants to know what the hell Judy and Cathbad are going to do. Is Judy going to divorce Darren and marry Cathbad? She can’t imagine Cathbad getting married somehow. But none of that’s her business. She settles for asking about the one issue that
has
become her business. Why was Cathbad ‘helping with enquiries’ today? Why did he think that he might be under arrest?

‘Well,’ says Cathbad, settling himself more comfortably in the passenger seat. ‘You know that Lord Smith is dead.’

‘What?’

‘Oh, you didn’t know. Yes, he died in the night.’

‘But how? I saw him yesterday, when we opened the coffin, and he seemed in perfect health.’

‘They don’t know. I assume there’ll be tests and things.’

‘How are you involved?’

‘The police are investigating. Judy went to check on the CCTV footage and she saw that I’d visited Slaughter Hill Stables last night.’

‘You did?’ This must have been after Cathbad left her house, after the fireworks and the brandy, after Bob offered to drive him as far as Snettisham.

‘I went to see Caroline,’ Cathbad is saying.

‘Who?’

‘Smith’s daughter. She’s a friend of mine.’

‘Why didn’t you say so before?’

‘No one asked. Caroline’s interested in archaeology. She’s even been on a few digs. She’s friends with Trace.’

‘Did Bob go with you?’

‘Bob? No. He dropped me off on the King’s Lynn road. I walked the rest of the way.’

‘But why? Surely it was a bit late for a social call.’

‘I wanted to talk to her about tomorrow’s conference. Are you still coming?’

‘Oh, the Elginist thing? I suppose so. If I can get a babysitter. So, is this Caroline one of the Elginists?’

‘She’s definitely interested. I thought she might like to go to the conference.’

‘But why go so late?’

Cathbad smiles. ‘I was following my instincts.’

They have reached the university. As soon as Ruth parks the car Cathbad jumps out, thanks Ruth, says he’ll see her tomorrow and disappears through the doors of the chemistry block. Ruth realises that she’s not going to get any more answers out of him. But as she gathers up her papers and her bag and heads towards Natural Sciences, her head is swirling with words and images.

Cathbad and Judy in her bed, the snow falling outside.

Lord Smith in the attic rooms at the museum, telling
her about his great-grandfather’s collection.
There’s some wonderful stuff. We’ve got some of it in the museum downstairs: snakeskins, dingo traps, branding irons
 …

Janet Meadows telling her about Bishop Augustine.
Sometimes in the morning he was black and blue after having tussled with the devil all night
.

The statue with its stone foot on a snake.

Nelson’s face when he first saw Kate. Standing in the maternity ward with Michelle beside him.

Fireworks exploding in the night sky.

Cathbad grinning at her across the table.
You should point the bone at him, Bob
.

Bob’s face, so different when he isn’t smiling.
He’s dead now. The ancestors are powerful
.

Ted chomping his pizza.
Maybe the devil was about to have his revenge
.

The skulls, the sightless eyes.

The room full of bones.

Nelson is in a sauna. It’s not his preferred way of spending the time. Michelle loves all the gym stuff – exercise classes, Jacuzzi, aquarobics, the lot – but he finds it all rather embarrassing. He likes a swim (as a teenager he had a holiday job as a lifeguard) but that’s about it. He hates the recycled air, the recycled music, the little bottles of shampoo that smell like a Thai meal, the fluffy towels, the frothy coffee. He hates the women in their designer sportswear; they make him feel both lustful and disapproving, an uneasy combination. Why haven’t they got jobs to go to, for God’s sake? And the water’s too hot too. At the Derby Baths you used to be blue when you got out of the water, despite being indoors. That was proper swimming in a proper Olympic-sized pool with diving boards that seemed to reach up to the sky. It was salt water, he remembers, made your eyes sting and your skin turn crusty. He’d once challenged a fellow lifeguard to a race over fifty lengths. When they’d got out, their legs had buckled. Like he said, proper swimming.

But today’s visit is business not pleasure. Nelson has a
meeting with Jimmy Olson, his informant. Nelson suspects Jimmy of choosing increasingly bizarre meeting places. Last time it was a cinema, the time before in a seedy arcade. It’s like going on a series of terrible dates. At least today’s venue, in a health club attached to a hotel in Cromer, is relatively upmarket. How had Jimmy, for whom the words low life might have been invented, come up with a place like this?

‘Mate of mine’s a member,’ he says, in answer to Nelson’s question.

Does Olson have mates? Nelson looks at the skinny figure opposite, physique miserably exposed in a pair of skimpy Speedos, and concedes that it must be possible, though it seems unlikely. Olson looks back at him out of eyes so pale blue that they look almost white. He sniffs noisily. Nelson hopes that he doesn’t catch Olson’s cold, these places must be a breeding ground for germs.

‘Have you got anything for me?’ he asks.

‘I told you,’ says Jimmy. ‘There hasn’t been a dicky bird on the ground.’