A shock of light makes her open her eyes. What’s happening? She feels dazed and disorientated. She thinks she was dreaming about the Grey Lady again. Has she come to escort her into the other realm?
But then she realises that the door is open. He’s standing framed in the aperture. His face is still in darkness and something about it makes her more scared than ever. She knows she should rush forward, to try to reach the light, but she’s too weak and shocked to move.
He puts a plate on the floor. Why hasn’t he put it through the grille like he usually does?
‘It’s nearly time,’ he says.
‘Time for what?’ She doesn’t even know if she said it aloud.
‘You know what to do,’ he says. But does she? She doesn’t know anything any more. She shuts her eyes again.
When she opens them, he’s left the room. But he’s left something else too. Something that glows like a secret jewel. A phone. She waits but, as usual, she can’t hear any retreating footsteps. She steps forward, knowing that she’s shaking. Is it locked? Password protected? No, the screen comes to life. She types two words but her hands are so cold that the phone falls to the ground.
‘I’ll have that.’ He’s back in the room, picking up the phone and putting it in his pocket. ‘You didn’t touch it, did you?’
‘No,’ she says. ‘Please. Let me go.’
‘There’s no one who’ll miss you,’ he says. ‘Just take the pills like a good girl.’
Should she? In their red and white packet, the painkillers look more enticing than the dry biscuits.
‘I’ll be back later,’ he says. ‘And we’ll make an end to this.’
Nelson has had another frustrating day. They have been unable to trace Eileen Gribbon or Joe McMahon. There was no answer from Janet Meadows and no news from Judy. Nelson leaves at five thirty, leaving Tanya and Tony behind in the office. It’s as if he’s working part-time. At this rate, he’ll be making Jo’s dreams come true and retiring before the end of the year.
Nelson drives through the empty streets thinking about the missing students and the Grey Lady. He’d googled the legend after talking to Ruth. It was a particularly nasty story, he thought, even for Norfolk. The girl trapped in her house and then possibly eating her parents. It’s no wonder the poor soul walks the streets at night. What would Cathbad say about it? Clear as day, in the quiet of the car, he hears the druid’s voice, ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’ Cathbad sometimes calls him Horatio, after the original Nelson. He likes to have his own names for everyone. Ruth is Ruthie and Katie is Hecate. What does he call Judy? Nelson will probably never know.
‘Hang on in there, Cathbad,’ he says aloud. ‘I don’t want to have to come and rescue you again.’
He’s several miles outside Lynn before he realises that he’s driving to Ruth’s. The journey has become second nature to him. It’s almost an effort to remember the route to his own home, the place he has lived for over twenty years. The sea is sparkling in the distance. Why shouldn’t he drive to see Ruth and Katie? It’s not exactly in the Covid rules but last week he was practically living there. Why not see Ruth while he can? On the phone last night Michelle said she might be home soon. ‘George misses you,’ she’d said. Nelson drives even faster, trying to escape guilt.
He’s practically at the Saltmarsh turning when there’s a call on his phone, which is in hands-free mode. He half hopes, half dreads that it’ll be from Judy. But instead, there’s a voice message from Leah.
‘Help,’ is all she says.
Ruth rings Janet back. ‘This is Janet Meadows. Leave a message and I’ll get back to you. Peace and love.’ The cheerful, self-mocking tones almost make Ruth think that the original message must be a joke. But something about the capital letters make it seem real. HELP ME. Ruth thinks of Janet alone in Steward’s House. ‘She kept going on about living in a haunted house,’ said Nelson. ‘Practically said she was kept awake by ghoulies and ghosties.’ But what if it wasn’t the undead who kept Janet awake but actual human intruders, people who could do her harm? Crime doesn’t stop because there’s a pandemic, Nelson said once, it just goes underground. ‘It’s Ruth,’ she says. ‘I’m a bit worried. Please call me back.’
Kate is watching Friends. Ross is dressed as an armadillo. ‘There were these people called the Maccabees . . .’ Ruth remembers Janet telling her about the Grey Lady, in the cheerful fluorescent light of the cafeteria. ‘The house was boarded up. That’s what they did in those days. Sealed the house with the occupants still inside. They’d draw a cross on the door and sometimes the words “Lord have mercy” and they’d leave the household to die. I suppose it was a way of containing the outbreak. When they opened the house again, they found the bodies of a man, a woman and a young girl.’ Things are not always what they seem.
Ruth phones Nelson. She can hardly believe it when she doesn’t hear his voice on the end of the line. Nelson always answers his phone. But maybe he’s driving and has forgotten to put it on hands-free. Maybe he’s home with Laura and has switched his phone off, the way she does when she has Kate by her side. What should she do? After pacing the room for several minutes, watching Father Christmas and Batboy join the Armadillo, Ruth looks through her contacts at the Serious Crimes Unit. She can’t ring Judy, for obvious reasons. Clough is no longer on the team. In the end, she clicks on the name ‘Tanya’.
‘Tanya Fuller.’ The no-nonsense voice is a relief.
‘Tanya. It’s Ruth. I’ve had a rather worrying message and I can’t reach Nelson.’
‘That’s weird,’ says Tanya. ‘The boss left an hour ago. I’m still at the station,’ she adds, rather self-importantly.
‘That is strange,’ says Ruth, feeling the first stirrings of real concern. She tells Tanya about the message from Janet Meadows. ‘I’ve tried to ring her, but the message goes straight to voicemail.’
‘Where does she live?’
‘She’s staying in Steward’s House in Norwich.’
‘Have you linked to her location via Find My Phone?’
‘No,’ says Ruth. Her phone is only linked to Nelson’s because Kate did it.
‘Shall we go to Norwich? Have a look at this Steward’s House? You can meet me at the station.’
‘I’ll have Kate with me.’ Ruth isn’t about to leave Kate on her own at night.
‘That’s OK,’ says Tanya. ‘Tony can babysit.’
Nelson stops the car in a lay-by and rings Leah. No answer. The voice on the phone had been high and frightened. The plea had been genuine, he’s sure of it. He looks in his contacts to see if he has an address for Leah. She lives in Gaywood, which means going back the way he came. He considers calling for back-up but thinks it might be better to check out the situation for himself first. Nelson starts the car again and performs a screeching U-turn.
Ruth half expects to see Nelson on the road but the only vehicles she passes are delivery vans. Kate is excited by this change in their routine.
‘Why can’t I come with you to Norwich?’ she asks.
‘It’s against the rules when the police are involved,’ Ruth extemporises.
‘There are a lot of rules now,’ Kate mutters.
‘They’re to keep us safe,’ says Ruth. She’s noticed a tendency in Kate to flout regulations. She doesn’t get this from Nelson, who believes strongly in the rule of law, even if he flouts it when it suits him. It must be from Ruth’s side of the family.
She reaches King’s Lynn in thirty minutes, which must be a record. The town centre is quiet but there are lights in the upstairs rooms of the police station. It’s half past seven.
Ruth texts Tanya, who comes down to let her in.
‘Still no word from Nelson?’ asks Tanya.
This was going to be Ruth’s first question too. ‘No,’ she says, trying to squash down her anxiety.
‘Well, let’s go and see what’s going on,’ says Tanya. Tony appears behind her. Ruth has only met the DC a few times but he seems pleasant enough. Very young, of course, but isn’t that what all middle-aged people say about police officers and doctors?
‘Hi, Ruth,’ says Tony. ‘Hi, Katie.’
‘It’s Kate,’ says Ruth.
‘Hi, Kate,’ Tony grins at her. ‘Do you want to play battleships with me?’
‘OK,’ says Kate, allowing herself a slight smile.
‘We won’t be long,’ says Tanya. ‘It’s probably nothing.’
Ruth doesn’t know whether to be reassured or offended.
Nelson has keyed Leah’s address into his satnav but still gets lost in the suburban streets of Gaywood. Eventually, the smug voice tells him, ‘You have reached your destination.’ Nelson parks outside a semi-detached in a cul-de-sac very like his own. The curving street, like every other street he has passed, is completely deserted. It’s not yet dark but the street lamps have come on, casting unnatural, theatrical shadows across tidy lawns and neat hedges.
Nelson marches up the garden path and raps on the door. After a few minutes’ delay, the door is opened by a man Nelson vaguely recognises as Leah’s husband. He has picked her up from a work a few times, an inoffensive-looking sandy-haired chap. Nelson thinks he has an inoffensive job too. Something to do with banking or insurance.
‘DCI Nelson,’ says the man. What’s his name? Something short, Nelson thinks. Lee? Ian? Jay, that’s it. ‘To what do we owe this pleasure?’
‘Is Leah in?’
‘I think she’s taking a bath.’
Nelson’s antenna are now on full alert. Who takes a bath at six thirty on a Thursday evening? A shower, maybe, but a bath?
‘Can I talk to her?’ he says.
‘She’s in the bath,’ repeats Jay, sounding slightly less genial.
‘All the same,’ says Nelson, ‘I’d like a word.’
Jay looks as if he’s about to refuse. For a moment he and Nelson stare at each other then Jay turns and shouts up the stairs, ‘Leah! Your boss is here.’
After a few seconds, Leah appears, fully dressed, at the top of the stairs.
‘Hallo,’ she says. Her voice sounds odd, as if she’s trying to warn him about something.
‘Hallo, Leah,’ says Nelson. ‘Can we have a word in private?’
‘Now look here,’ says Jay, ‘this is my house. And we’re under lockdown. I can’t allow it.’
‘Let me in,’ says Nelson, ‘or I’ll arrest you.’
Tanya doesn’t talk much on the drive to Norwich. She drives fast and well, arms braced at the wheel. Judy drives like that too. Maybe it’s how they are taught on police training courses. Tanya is wearing a red mask with blue and white stars on it. The effect is incongruously cheerful. Ruth has forgotten to bring a mask and surreptitiously opens her window slightly, trying not to breathe in Tanya’s direction. She checks her phone repeatedly. No messages from Janet or Nelson. The A47 is dark and empty but, when they drive through Dereham, the streetlights illuminate people standing by the side of the road and framed in open doorways. It seems almost sinister, as if they are waiting for a signal. Then a siren sounds. Ruth opens her window completely and hears a ripple of applause punctuated by the clatter of pots and pans.
‘Clapping for carers,’ says Tanya, without taking her eyes off the road.