Ruth looks at the picture until Kate tells her that the water is boiling. She and Kate eat their pasta in front of another quiz show. It抯 not until Kate is upstairs having her bath that Ruth opens her laptop again. Now there抯 a new message.
The Grey Lady can walk through locked doors. You can never be safe from her hunger. Beware.
Nelson doesn抰 appear until nearly nine. Kate is in bed and Ruth is sitting at the window marking essays. She sees the white Mercedes parking outside and wonders if Zoe too is watching from her house. They are breaking the rules, even if you factor in the 慸ivorced father?clause. Lockdown is going to make adultery a lot more difficult, thinks Ruth, wondering where that Old Testament word has appeared from. Sent by divine email from her mother? A rhyme comes into her mind, even as she gets up to open the door. Do not adultery commit. Advantage rarely comes of it. Now, where did that come from? She抣l have to ask the English department quiz team.
Ruth expects Bruno to come bounding up the garden path, but Nelson emerges from the car on his own, gives a rather furtive look around him, and strides towards the cottage, head down.
Ruth opens the door before he can knock. 慡afe from the adultery police??
態loody hell. That sounds like something my mum would say.?
慦here抯 Bruno??
慣hat抯 why I抦 a bit late. I dropped him off with a friend. Jan Adams. She抯 going to look after him, just during lockdown. She used to be a dog-handler. Got a German shepherd too, Barney. He抯 a distant relation of Bruno抯， actually.?
慉s long as he抯 with family.?
Nelson laughs and sits down on the sofa. Flint immediately gets up to leave. It occurs to Ruth that Nelson could actually move in with her, at least while Michelle is away. That way they would be one household and so not breaking any rules. But she doesn抰 say this. She asks Nelson if he wants supper. He says that he抯 eaten.
慡ure??
慦ell, if it抯 no trouble.?
Ruth goes into the kitchen to heat up the sauce and put the water on for more pasta. Flint follows, complaining loudly, probably about Nelson. She placates him with more gourmet cat food and pours two glasses of wine. When she comes back into the sitting room, Nelson is reading the back cover of Kate抯 copy of The Hunger Games.
慖s this for kids? It looks terrifying.?
慘ids like to be terrified.?Ruth hands him the wine. She thinks of the email. You can never be safe from her hunger.
慏id you have any luck tracing Joe??she asks.
慛o. I tried the contact number you gave me. It was his dad but he says they抮e estranged. He hasn抰 seen Joe for almost a year.?
慔is mother died recently,?says Ruth. 慚aybe that抯 why.?She tells Nelson about Janet Meadows and her meeting with Joe.
慉 mother figure,?says Nelson. 慗esus wept.?
慦ell, exactly.?
慚other wasn抰 the word that came into my head when I saw those pictures,?says Nelson. 慖t was as if he was obsessed with you.?
慪ou抎 better see this.?Ruth hands him the laptop and leans over to show the Grey Lady email.
慦ho抯 this from??says Nelson.
慖抳e no idea. I had another one a few days ago telling me to beware of the Grey Lady.?
慦hy didn抰 you tell me about it??
慖 thought it might not be important.?
態loody hell, Ruth,?says Nelson. 慜f course it抯 important. Someone抯 threatening you. Who is this Grey Lady anyway??
慡he抯 the ghost of a woman who was bricked up during the plague. Apparently, she ate her parents and then died herself.?
慗esus wept,?says Nelson again.
Ruth goes to check on the pasta.