慖t was like a bloody shrine,?says Nelson. 慛ewspaper cuttings, stuff from the internet. Even some photos that look as if he took them himself. One had Katie in it.?
慘ate??Ruth can抰 stop her voice sounding sharp and anxious. Kate looks up and even Flint twitches in his sleep.
慦hat do you know about this lad??Nelson is asking.
慔e抯 one of my first years. He seems keen. Intelligent.?Ruth sees the dark-bearded face. Lytton Strachey. She thinks about Joe going to see Janet to talk about the Grey Lady. Beware the Grey Lady.
慔ave you got a home address for him??asks Nelson.
慣here抣l be one on the files. I抣l check.?
慣here was a Post-it note too. It said: 揝tone walls do not a prison make. Nor iron bars a cage.?Do you know what that抯 all about??
慖t sounds like a poem.?
慖t is. I googled it. By someone called Richard Lovelace.?
慖抳e never heard of him. I抣l ask Shona.?
慏on抰 tell her too much.?Nelson is not the greatest fan of Shona, Ruth抯 friend in the English department. Ruth is fond of Shona but has to admit that discretion is not her strongest suit.
慖 spoke to the campus security,?says Nelson, 慴ut they were bloody useless. There抯 a warden but it turns out he doesn抰 even live on site.?
慚ost wardens don抰。？
慖 spoke to him too. I抦 a bit worried about the girl. Eileen.?
慚e too.?
慖 spoke to some of the other students in the halls. There are only a few of them. One of them, a nice Chinese girl, offered to keep an eye on Eileen. As well as she can from two metres away.?
慖抣l check in with her regularly too,?says Ruth. 慖 wish she could go home but she says she doesn抰 get on with her mother. I don抰 think the government have thought about students like Eileen. They think everyone has a nice safe home to go back to.?
慔ome isn抰 always safe,?says Nelson. 慖抎 better get back to the station now. Text me Joe McMahon抯 address. He抯 not necessarily a danger to you but I抎 like to have a word with him.?
Not necessarily. It抯 not the most reassuring phrase, thinks Ruth. But Nelson抯 next remark is better.
慡ee you later,?he says.
After lunch, Ruth and Kate go for a windy walk across the Saltmarsh. Kate finds some crab claws and is ghoulishly pleased at the thought that a bird must have dropped them after feasting on the creature抯 insides. Back at home, she goes to give them pride of place on her nature table. Ruth takes the opportunity to ring Shona.
慔i. How are you??She抯 guiltily aware that she hasn抰 contacted her friend since the start of lockdown.
慜K. I抦 going mad trying to keep Louis and Phil entertained. When you think we should have been halfway across Thailand by now.?
Shona and her partner Phil ?Ruth抯 ex-boss ?had been planning to take a year off and go around the world with their ten-year-old son, Louis. Phil had taken early retirement after a heart attack two years ago and Shona had managed to secure a sabbatical. Strictly speaking, they weren抰 planning to leave until July, but Ruth forgives Shona the slight exaggeration.
慖t抯 awful the way everything抯 on hold now,?she says.
慖t抯 the not knowing,?says Shona. 慦ill everything be back to normal by the summer? Phil says not but he抯 being very gloomy.?
Shona sounds thoroughly fed up and Ruth doesn抰 blame her. Being locked down with Phil must constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Louis is not exactly easy company either.
慚aybe Louis and Kate could do something on Zoom one day,?she says, although she knows that the two do not always see eye to eye.
慣hat would be lovely,?says Shona. 慉nd the English department are having an online quiz tomorrow. Perhaps you could join in with that??