‘And don’t go gadding off into Norwich again,’ says Nelson.
Ruth swallows her annoyance at Nelson’s dictatorial tone. And the word ‘gadding’. It occurs to her that she should tell him about the sighting of Joe McMahon.
This time Nelson seems about to spontaneously combust.
‘She saw McMahon? Two days ago? After I’d visited his room at halls? Why didn’t you tell me this before?’
‘I forgot.’
‘You forgot. . .’ Nelson breathes deeply on the other end of the line. ‘I’ll give Janet a ring. Tell her to keep a watch for him. He might be dangerous.’
‘I don’t think he is,’ says Ruth.
‘His room had an altar to you, for God’s sake.’
‘An altar. You’re still such a Catholic.’
Nelson ignores this. ‘Well, let me know if anything–anything– happens. Promise?’
‘OK,’ says Ruth, crossing her fingers just to be on the safe side.
Nelson puts down the phone feeling deeply frustrated. For all sorts of reasons, this is an emotion that he often associates with Ruth. Now he finds that she’s living next door to a woman once accused of murder. What’s more, that woman seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Nelson decides to go in search of Dawn, aka Zoe. He’ll make a visit to Westway surgery. But first he wants to speak to Janet Meadows.
She takes a long time to answer her phone. ‘I keep putting it down,’ she says, ‘and forgetting where I left it. You know the feeling.’
‘I can’t say I do,’ says Nelson. ‘I’m ringing about a man called Joe McMahon. I understand you saw him recently.’
‘Joe? Oh, Ruth’s student. Yes, I saw him a few days ago. He was walking around Tombland Alley looking up at the houses.’
‘Tombland Alley? Is that near the cathedral?’
‘You must know Tombland Alley,’ says Janet. ‘It’s by Augustine Steward’s House. That’s where I’m staying at the moment. I’m a kind of caretaker.’
Nelson doesn’t think he would entrust a house to a woman who forgets where her phone is. He says, aware that he’s sounding stiff and formal, ‘I have reason to believe that Joe McMahon is dangerous. If you see him again, please contact the police immediately.’
‘I’m sure he’s not dangerous,’ says Janet. ‘I’ve spoken to him before and he seems perfectly nice. A bit of a lost soul, if anything.’
Nelson doesn’t believe in lost souls, although his mother is always praying for them.
‘I’ll give you my direct number,’ he says. ‘And let me know if you see or hear anything suspicious.’
‘Oh, I’m always hearing suspicious things,’ says Janet. ‘This is a haunted house, you know. Last night I heard the most tremendous bangings and crashings but I just turned over and went back to sleep.’
Jesus wept. ‘Next time anything goes bump in the night,’ says Nelson, ‘let me know.’ And he rings off before Janet can tell him any more ghost stories.
Nelson googles the address of the surgery. Normally he’d ask Leah but she’s absent again. He hopes that she isn’t sick too. He should ring Judy but he doesn’t want to hassle her. He’ll call after he’s back from Wells.
‘I’m off out,’ he says to Tanya, who is on duty today. She’s on the phone and just waves her hand in acknowledgement. Nelson drives fast on the blessedly empty roads. He wonders if Zoe turned up for work yesterday and if her current employers know about her history. She must have filled in a DBS disclosure, he supposes, although those forms do rather depend on the applicant telling the truth. He thinks of the Soham murders where the school caretaker lied on his form and subsequently killed two little girls. Nelson grinds his teeth at the memory.
The first thing he sees as he steps through the automatic doors is a masked woman coming towards him holding out a small black object. For one crazy second he thinks it’s a gun. Someone fired at him from close range last year and it’s not something you forget.
‘Just taking your temperature,’ says the assailant.
The machine bleeps and the result must be satisfactory because Nelson is ushered in. The waiting room, like the police station, has been rearranged to allow social distancing. There’s just one occupant, an elderly man in a mask. Nelson wonders what illness he has that has forced him to leave the safety of his home.
Nelson introduces himself to the receptionist. Normally he would ask to speak in private but the airy room seems the more Covid-safe option. He hopes that the elderly man is deaf.
‘I’m looking for a Zoe Hilton.’
