‘Yes.’ They are walking two metres apart, but Nelson catches the quick, sidelong glance. ‘She’s the best in her field.’
‘Is that why your room is full of pictures of her?’
Joe is silent for a moment and then he says, ‘It was the body.’
‘What?’ says Nelson. Is he going to have to hit Joe after all?
‘The body we found in Tombland,’ says Joe. ‘The medieval woman. Ruth said she had dark hair and blue eyes like my mum. That’s why I wanted to call her Martha. After my mother.’
‘Let me get this straight,’ says Nelson. ‘The body that was excavated in Tombland, that reminded you of your mother, so that’s why you’re obsessed with Ruth?’
‘Sort of,’ says Joe, looking down at his feet. He’s wearing black DMs. ‘Bovver boy shoes,’ Nelson’s mum would call them. ‘But I already admired her.’
Nelson thinks the young man’s feelings go way beyond admiration. ‘Did you send Ruth those emails telling her to beware the Grey Lady?’ he asks, trying to keep his tone neutral.
‘I just wanted her to be careful,’ says Joe. ‘Tombland is a dark place. I knew she was friends with Janet, but I wanted her to stay away.’
‘Yes,’ says Nelson. ‘Janet said she saw you sneaking around her house.’
‘I wasn’t sneaking,’ says Joe. ‘I was keeping watch. Like the Watchers in plague times.’
‘Whatever you call it,’ says Nelson, ‘it has to stop. You can’t keep prowling around, sending sinister messages to your lecturers. You have to change universities.’
‘But I like it at UNN.’
‘I don’t care if you do,’ says Nelson. ‘I’ll be checking up and, if I don’t hear that you’ve switched courses, I might just remember that you hit me over the head with a large torch.’
‘I’d never harm Ruth,’ says Joe. ‘I think she’s wonderful.’
‘We all do, son. We don’t all cover our walls with pictures of her.’
Joe gives him another quizzical look but doesn’t say anything more until they are back at Steward’s House.
‘Well, goodbye and good luck,’ says Nelson. ‘I hope our paths don’t cross again. Can you send Eileen out to me?’
Eileen appears, looking slightly more cheerful than when Nelson last saw her. Their discussion is brief.
‘Eileen,’ says Nelson. ‘Go home to your mum.’
As he walks back to his car Nelson suddenly feels very tired. His head is still pounding, and he feels slightly dizzy. He texts Judy to say that he won’t be going back to the station and he drives straight home. He wants to sleep for about ten hours.
As he turns into the cul-de-sac, he realises that something is different. There’s a new sound in the air, as there was when he first heard the clapping for carers. But this is louder and somehow more heart-warming. Barking. He opens the door and is hit by a solid wedge of fur and muscle.
‘I got him back from Jan’s,’ says Laura, who is sitting on the stairs. ‘I hope you don’t mind.’
‘Of course not.’ Nelson squats next to the dog, patting him and pulling his ears.
‘I’m going to be working from home next week,’ says Laura, ‘so I can take him for walks. He’s so happy to be back.’
Bruno licks Nelson’s face and goes in search of a present. He comes back with Michelle’s bra, which is still hanging over the banister.
‘He misses Mum too,’ says Laura. ‘Here, you stupid dog. Give that back.’
Nelson gets to his feet. ‘I need a shower.’
‘What happened to you last night?’ says Laura.
‘I texted,’ says Nelson. ‘I got caught up in a case. I slept in the station. On one of the sofas in the custody suite.’ Tony had told him that Katie slept there last night. Katie made Tony a thank you card with one of her special pictures of Flint on the front. Nelson forgot to hand it over and it’s still in his pocket.
