慪ou抮e back!?Kate rolls onto her feet and skips over. 慦e looked after Derek. Where did you go??
慖t抯 a long story,?says Zoe.
慖 like stories,?says Kate. 慖抦 writing one about a time-travelling cat.?
慖抎 love to read it,?says Zoe.
慉ctually,?says Ruth. 慫oe and I have got a story to tell you, Kate.?
慔eard you had some fun last night,?says Clough.
慪ou shouldn抰 be here,?says Jo, but mildly. She抯 always had a soft spot for Clough, thinks Nelson.
慣oo boring for you in Cambridge??says Nelson.
慪eah,?says Clough, miming a high five with Judy. 慛othing going on. McDonald抯 is shut. All the students have left and the criminals are all sitting at home watching box sets.?
慖t抯 not too boring here,?says Tanya. 慖， we, have just caught a kidnapper. Possibly a murderer too.?
Nelson leaves Tanya recounting the events in Tombland and retreats to his office. He wants to check up on Leah and, though he wouldn抰 admit it to anyone, his head is aching badly. He tried to find some ibuprofen in Ruth抯 bathroom cupboard that morning, but it was full of tea tree shampoo and old bottles of Calpol. Ordinarily, he抎 ask Leah and she抎 tactfully bring him some coffee with a couple of aspirins on the saucer. But Leah is elsewhere. Nelson sends her a text, 慔ow r u??and, seconds later, his phone rings.
慔i, Leah. How are you doing??
慜K. They抮e very kind here. Even so I can抰 quite relax. I keep thinking that Jay will burst in and drag me home.?
慔as that happened before??
慜nce. I left to go to my sister抯。 Jay came after me. He even persuaded my sister that I should come home with him. Said it was all in my head.?
態astard,?says Nelson. 慪ou should press charges against him. Coercive control.?He remembers Jo making him go on a course about it.
慔e抯 more likely to press charges against you for hitting him.?
慙et him try.?
慖 can never thank you enough,?says Leah. 慖 really think you saved my life.?
慖 wish I抎 known earlier,?says Nelson.
慖 wanted to tell you,?says Leah. 態ut I was ashamed.?
慪ou抳e got nothing to be ashamed of,?says Nelson.
慖 know,?says Leah, 慴ut I was, all the same.?
慪our job抯 waiting for you,?says Nelson. 慦henever you want to come back.?
慖抣l be back,?says Leah. 慪ou抣l never be able to work out the new software that Jo抯 ordered.?
Judy appears in the doorway. Nelson beckons her in and says goodbye to Leah.
慉re you OK??says Judy. 慪ou look a bit rough.?
慖抦 fine,?says Nelson. 慖抳e just got a bit of a headache from last night.?
慔ere.?Judy rifles through her handbag. 慔ave some Nurofen.?
慣hanks. You抮e a lifesaver.?
慦as that Leah on the phone? Is she still off sick??
As succinctly as possible, Nelson tells Judy about Leah and Jay.
慖 should have guessed,?says Judy. 慖 knew something was up. She was clearly afraid of going home. I should have known. I抳e done the training on spotting signs of domestic violence.?
慏on抰 beat yourself up,?says Nelson. 慖 was the one who saw her most and I didn抰 realise until I saw her in the house with him.?
慡he won抰 be the only one,?says Judy. 慙ockdown will mean lots of women locked away with abusive husbands.?
慣hat抯 what they said at the refuge,?says Nelson. 慦e need to think of ways for women to ask for help. I抳e heard of giving coded messages to pizza delivery guys.?