慏o you think that Maggie抯 death might be suspicious??asks Tony as they drive back to the station.
慖 think we ought to investigate a little,?says Judy, 慴ut the coroner obviously didn抰 see any cause for an inquest.?
慚aybe losing Maggie is what pushed Avril over the edge.?
It抯 rather a violent image, thinks Judy. She sees a figure teetering on a precipice. A shadowy figure appears behind them and sends them tumbling to their death. She suddenly thinks of Samantha Wilson and the demise of her cat, Trudy. According to her daughter, Saffron, Samantha had been 慸evastated? Could these two bereavements have been triggers for suicide? Thinking of Samantha reminds Judy of something else.
慡amantha Wilson went to the service for the Outcast Dead,?she says. 慙ike Avril Flowers.?
慦hat does that mean though,?says Tony, 憃ther than they were both religious??
慡uicides could be considered outcast dead,?says Judy. 慣heir graves used to be unmarked, outside consecrated ground. It could show that Avril and Samantha were already thinking that way.?
慚other Wendy talked about plague victims,?says Tony. 慣hat made me think about coronavirus.?
Judy gives her colleague a sharp look. It抯 unlike Tony to be so melodramatic but, then again, his family are originally from China where, it seems, the virus originated. He might know more than she does.
慖t抯 hardly the bubonic plague,?she says.
慖 expect that抯 what they thought about the bubonic plague once,?says Tony.
The rest of the drive passes in silence.
Chapter 13
Monday, 23 March
Ruth can抰 believe how quickly things have changed in the past four weeks. One minute she was lecturing, excavating skeletons, having coffee in fake American diners, the next she is driving home with her car full of files and dividing her sitting room into part-office, part-schoolroom. On 19 March, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that he was confident that coronavirus could be 憇ent packing?in twelve weeks. On the evening of 23 March, Ruth sits with Kate on the sofa and watches Johnson saying that the country is going into lockdown. 慡tay at home, protect the NHS, save lives.?Ruth thinks the prime minister sounds slightly more coherent than normal, although his hair could still do with a good brush.
In a way, his words come as a relief. The last few days have been a nightmare of planning and cancellations. Staff started to panic. Some claimed pre-existing medical conditions and refused to do any face-to-face teaching. Others were clearly so nervous that they were unable to teach at all. When it became clear that virtual learning was the way forward, Ruth tried to put training in place. Over the last few weeks she has observed her colleagues?online lectures and has had to tell David to remove an empty bottle of wine and Fiona to discourage her cat from sitting on her shoulder. Students have enough to distract them as it is.
The students became increasingly twitchy, probably receiving constant messages from concerned parents. Ruth has gone from reassuring her students, promising them social distancing and good hand hygiene, to sending them home. Now she抣l have to deal with demands for fee rebates and requests for webcams and extra screens. Kate抯 school is closed. There are over 2,600 cases of coronavirus in the UK and more than a hundred people have died. At least, thinks Ruth, putting her arm round Kate and holding her close, she now has only one priority: to keep herself and Kate alive. From the armchair, Flint watches her intently.
She抯 not too surprised, as soon as the broadcast ends, to see her phone vibrating with the word Nelson.
慔i, Nelson.?
慏id you watch Boris抯 announcement??Why do we all call him Boris? thinks Ruth. He抯 not our mate. Other prime ministers were referred to by their surnames. She grew up with Thatcher and briefly rejoiced with Blair. It now looks as if she抯 entering the plague years with Boris.
慪es,?she says.
慪ou can抰 go outside, you know. Except once a day for exercise.?