‘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?’
‘Everyone seems shocked and surprised about Avril,’ says Judy. ‘Doesn’t mean it’s not suicide though.’
‘Team meeting in half an hour,’ says Nelson. ‘Young Tony’s going to talk us through the cold cases.’
Tanya wonders how long it will be before Tony stops being officially ‘young’.
Tony looks slightly nervous, thinks Tanya, but he speaks well. She notices that he has made notes on his phone and she approves. She’s had enough of Judy’s iconic notebook and Nelson’s aversion to technology.
‘Karen Head was a teacher, divorced with one child. I spoke to two of her colleagues at the school who said that she didn’t seem depressed. They’d been out for a staff party the night before she died. Karen’s ten-year-old daughter was staying with her father. He found Karen’s body when he brought her home. Cause of death recorded as paracetamol overdose.’ Tony scrolls down with a practised thumb, hardly pausing for breath. ‘I spoke to Rosanna Leigh’s mother. Rosanna was a retired midwife. Apparently, she had suffered from depression in the past. She’d come off antidepressants because she was worried about the side effects.’
One of the side effects was suicide, thinks Tanya. But she doesn’t say this aloud.
‘Celia Dunne lived on her own. Sounds as if she was a bit of a recluse. I haven’t been able to talk to anyone who knew her. It was some days before her body was found, hence the uncertainty over cause of death.’
Nobody says anything about this because they can all visualise the scene.
‘Well done, Tony,’ said Nelson. ‘I’d say that Karen Head, at least, fits the pattern.’
‘Maybe Rosanna and Celia as well,’ says Judy. ‘Rosanna took antidepressants. That doesn’t necessarily mean she was suicidal.’
‘Hanging yourself does though,’ says Tanya, realising, too late, that this sounds rather callous.
‘What about Avril Flowers?’ says Nelson. ‘What did you learn about her?’
‘Both her daughter and her cleaner thought that suicide was completely out of character,’ says Judy. ‘Avril sounded active and happy. Very involved in her local community. There were a couple of interesting connections to Samantha Wilson too. Both worked at a library, both were churchgoers.’
‘Neither of those things is exactly suspicious,’ says Nelson. Tanya is tempted to disagree. She thinks churches and libraries are both rather creepy.
‘What about the locked room?’ says Nelson. ‘Any theories about that?’
