慡he got on with everyone, as I remember, but I don抰 think she had a special friend. People do become very close sometimes. We抳e even had a few romances.?She sounds rather wistful. Judy wonders if Jacquie is spending lockdown alone.
慦ell, if you can think of anyone, can you give me a ring on this number??says Judy.
慜f course,?says Jacquie. 慍an I ask though . . . I thought Sam . . . took her own life. Is there more to it than that??
慖抦 just following up on a few loose ends,?says Judy. 態ut suicide is still the most likely cause of death.?
慏id Karen commit suicide too??
慪es, she did,?says Judy. This was what was on the death certificate after all.
After yoga, Ruth gives a lecture on decomposition and then settles down to do some marking. With end-of-year exams cancelled, the third years will have to do an extra piece of coursework, which means yet more work for the teachers. In their last departmental Zoom, David said the students were lucky to miss finals, but Ruth feels sorry for them. They may have avoided the horror of a written exam, but they抣l miss the joy afterwards. She remembers sitting with her friends Roly and Caz in Gordon Square after their last exam at UCL. They had drunk red wine from the bottle and gazed up at the dusty plane trees. Anything seemed possible then. Ruth抯 students won抰 have this moment and, the way things are going, they might not even have a graduation ceremony.
Kate is making Hogwarts out of Lego. She got the set last Christmas, made it on Boxing Day and destroyed it by Twelfth Night. Ruth doesn抰 know why the wizarding school has appeared again, but she抯 pleased that Kate is happily occupied. Besides, she tells herself, slightly defensive even in her inner monologue, it抯 based on a book so it must be educational.
Ruth is scrolling through another second-year essay on lithic technology when an email pops up on her screen.
Can I talk to you? Eileen.
Ruth hesitates. Eileen isn抰 one of her personal tutees and this sounds like rather a personal request. Should she direct the girl to her counsellor? But she remembers Eileen coming to see her and her interest in Martha, the Tombland skeleton. Maybe this is just another question about isotope analysis.
OK, when?
The answer comes back almost as soon as Ruth抯 fingers leave the keyboard.
Can we zoom now?
Intrigued now, Ruth sends a link and, in a few minutes, Eileen抯 face appears on her screen. Ruth抯 first thought is that the girl looks ill. Ruth remembers seeing Eileen waiting outside her office at UNN and being struck by her long dark hair （rather like Kate抯） and by her general air of health and well-being. Now the hair is pulled back into a greasy ponytail and Eileen抯 skin looks both grey and blotchy. Perhaps it抯 just a bad Zoom angle. Ruth has abandoned hope of looking good on screen and, most of the time, manages not to look at herself. The second thing she notices is the brick wall behind Eileen抯 head and the institutional-looking noticeboard.
慉re you in halls??she asks.
慪es,?says Eileen. 慣hey抮e still open for international students and for people who haven抰 got anywhere to go.?
Eileen clearly falls into the second category. Was this why she kept her camera off during the last Zoom lecture, because she was embarrassed about not going home?
慦hat抯 it like??she asks. 慉re you able to get food??
慖 go to the shops,?says Eileen. 慣here抯 a mini supermarket quite near and I don抰 eat much anyway.?
Alarm bells are now going off in Ruth抯 head.
慖s there anyone else you can stay with? Family or friends??
慛ot really,?says Eileen. 慚y dad抯 dead and I don抰 really get on with my mum. I mean, she抯 OK, I just don抰 feel welcome in her house.?
This was the dad who watched Time Team, Ruth remembers. She feels the chill of 慼er house? Despite all Ruth抯 disagreements with her parents, the house in Eltham has always felt like her home.