Ruth has lost count of the number of students delivered to her by Tony Robinson andTime Team.
‘It was a great programme,’ she says. ‘Though things happen a bit more slowly on real digs.’
‘That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,’ says Eileen. ‘People are saying that there’s going to be a dig in Tombland, and I wondered if I could be part of it.’
Ruth sighs. ‘I’m not planning a dig,’ she says. ‘Tombland’s a popular tourist destination. I’d never get funding.’
‘Aren’t you looking for a plague pit?’ says Eileen, sounding disappointed.
‘There’s no evidence for a plague pit,’ says Ruth, thinking of her conversation with Janet. ‘The skeleton I excavated on Monday was probably originally buried at St George’s.’
‘I’ve been thinking about that,’ says Eileen. ‘If the skeleton was buried away from the other graves, do you think it was someone who committed suicide?’
Ruth looks at Eileen’s open, youthful face. What gave her that idea? she wonders. It’s actually not a bad theory. Suicides used to be buried on so-called unhallowed ground, outside the church walls. She’s not sure of the theological reason. To prevent them posthumously infecting other, less desperate, souls?
‘It’s an interesting thought,’ she says. ‘We’ll do some more research into our skeleton when I have the carbon-14 and isotope results back. Isotope analysis will tell us where she grew up. I think it’s a woman, by the way.’
‘A woman?’ says Eileen.
‘Yes, from the pelvic bones I think the skeleton is female. Also, from the shape of the skull. I’ve sent off for DNA testing but I’m not hopeful given the age of the bones. I’ll send you the isotope results though, if you’re interested.’
Eileen looks pleased by this and Ruth manages to bring the conversation to an end. She’s almost late for her meeting. At the door she thinks to ask Eileen the name of her bearded classmate.
‘Oh, that’s Joe McMahon,’ says Eileen. ‘He was the one who told me about the plague pits.’
Ruth does not know why this information makes her feel uneasy.
Judy and Tanya drive straight to a chip shop. Tanya will do an extra circuit of the gym tonight to compensate. Eating the comforting carbs in the fug of the car, Tanya says, ‘Tina Prentice seemed more of a friend to Avril than her next-door neighbour was.’
‘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.
