Page 60 of The Locked Room

‘Which student?’ asks Ruth. Though she thinks she can guess.

‘The bearded one. Joe Whatshisname. The one you were asking about.’

‘What was he doing?’

‘Standing right here. Looking up at the houses. I waved but I don’t think he saw me.’

Who knows what he thought if he saw a woman waving from one of the sightless windows, thinks Ruth.Beware the Grey Lady.

The car smells strongly of lilac on the way home. Kate seems energised by the outing, singing along to the radio and telling Ruth a long story about a boy in her class who makes rude noises during Zooms. Then she picks up Ruth’s phone.

‘Mum. You’ve got loads of messages from Dad.’

‘Have I?’ says Ruth. Now that she has Kate with her all the time, she keeps her phone on silent. She left it in the car when they were with Janet.

‘Oh God,’ she says. ‘Is it about Cathbad?’

‘I don’t think so,’ says Kate. ‘“Where are you?”’ she reads. ‘“For F’s sake, pick up the phone.” Then there are lots of question marks and exclamation points.’ Clearly the grammar lessons are paying off.

‘Text him,’ says Ruth. ‘Say we went into Norwich and we’re on our way back.’

Kate texts at lightning speed. Will skeletons of twenty-first century humans show enlarged thumbs?

‘Shall I add a kiss?’ she says.

‘No,’ says Ruth.

She can see Nelson from a long way off, a dark shape standing by her fence. Typical of him just to stand there like a thundercloud. Maybe she should get him a spare key, but would this make their arrangement, whatever it is, too official? Besides, Nelson has moved back home now. He’s made his choice. Which means he can keep his disapproval to himself.

‘Where have you been?’ he says, as soon as Ruth gets out of the car.

‘We went to the cathedral,’ says Kate. ‘We saw a secret door.’

‘Sounds well worth breaking lockdown for,’ says Nelson.

‘Are you coming in?’ says Ruth, opening the front door. ‘Or are you going to stand there pontificating all night?’

Nelson glowers at her for a few minutes and then steps over the threshold, ducking as always at the low doorway.

‘I’ve got something to tell you,’ he says quietly, as Kate runs upstairs in search of Flint.

‘OK,’ says Ruth. ‘Do you want a cup of tea?’

‘You sound like my mum,’ says Nelson. ‘When in doubt, make tea.’

‘Gee, thanks,’ says Ruth.

Nelson, as always, looks too big for the kitchen. He folds himself into one of the chairs and says, ‘How much do you know about your neighbour? The new woman?’

‘Zoe? Not much. She’s a nurse, divorced. She’s got a lovely cat called Derek.’

‘Is that the creature I saw at the window? It looked too big to be a cat.’

‘It’s a Maine Coon.’

‘If you say so. Well, for a start she isn’t called Zoe.’

For a moment, Ruth thinks he means the cat. She puts a mug of tea in front of Nelson.