慖抦 so sorry,?she says again.
慦e weren抰 allowed to be with her because of Covid,?says Denise. 慖 just hate to think of her dying alone.?She抯 crying now.
慖抦 sure . . .?starts Judy but she stops because she isn抰 sure of anything any more.
慖抦 ringing because when she went into hospital she was really struggling to talk. Struggling to breathe really. But she wanted to tell you something. She said, 揟ell Judy. It was you.敀
慖t was me??
慖t didn抰 make sense to me but that抯 what she said. Liam, my husband, remembers it too.?
慣hank you for telling me,?says Judy. 慖 do appreciate it. And, again, I抦 so sorry. I only met Tina once, but I could see what a lovely person she was.?
慡he really was,?says Denise. Her voice is choked and she rings off quickly.
Judy turns to Maddie and Cathbad, who are both looking at her with concern.
慖t抯 started,?she says.
Chapter 26
憮It was you??says Nelson. 慦hat the hell does that mean??
慖 don抰 know,?says Judy. 態ut that抯 how the daughter remembered it. Her husband too. I wish I could have spoken to Tina. It抯 so sad. She seemed fit and well when Tanya and I interviewed her.?
Although it抯 meant to be Tanya抯 day in the office, Judy has come in to discuss this latest development. Leah is back too, looking like a secret service agent in a black polo neck.
慣ina was in the dangerous age zone,?says Tanya. 慞eople over seventy are more at risk from Covid. Plus she was overweight. Petra says obesity is a contributory factor.?
慡he wasn抰 obese,?says Judy. She feels oddly protective about Tina. She remembers the active figure bustling around her kitchen, feeding children and chickens, answering their questions with matter-of-fact kindness. I抣l relax when I抦 dead.
慪ou抎 be surprised at the clinical definition of obesity,?says Tanya.
This reminds Judy of her Lean Zone theory. She fills Tanya in now. 慖t抯 the only link between all the deaths.?
慏id Tina go to Lean Zone??asks Tanya.
慖 don抰 know,?says Judy. 慖抣l find out.?She can抰 really go back to Denise on Tina抯 phone, but she can ask Jacquie and Barb to check their membership files.
慖 keep going back to that third person抯 fingerprints on the door handle,?says Nelson. 慡omeone was in Avril抯 house on the day she died. Or some time very close to it.?
慖t might be worth talking to Avril抯 daughter again,?says Judy. 慡ometimes the shock of a death can wipe out recent memories. It抯 been a few weeks now. Something might have come back to her.?
A few weeks. It seems like years since she and Tanya visited the bungalow with the veranda around it.
慓ood idea,?says Nelson. 慉nd let抯 keep trying to trace Joe McMahon. For his own safety as much as anything.?
慔e hasn抰 done anything wrong though,?says Tanya. 慉part from having pictures of Ruth all over his room.?She flicks a glance at Judy.
慙ike I say,?says the boss, rather stiffly. 慖抦 concerned for his safety. A fellow student mentioned that he might have had suicidal thoughts.?
慦hich is more than any of our so-called suicides did,?says Tanya.
慪ou never know what people are thinking,?says Nelson. 態ut we need to do some more digging on Avril. Good idea to go back to the daughter, Judy. Let抯 keep the other women in mind too. They might have taken their own lives but, then again, they might not. If so, there抯 a serial killer out there.?
It抯 the first time any of them have said these words. Judy wonders if they are all thinking the same thing. Lockdown could make life very easy for a serial killer.
Ruth is, once again, Zooming with her first-year students. There抯 no sign of Joe McMahon and, more worryingly still, Eileen does not appear. It抯 hard to engage them, online, with field methods in archaeology. Normally, this module is taught on site. Ruth had hoped to include Martha, the Tombland skeleton, this year. But today they have to make do with photographs of landscapes, spotting the topographical features ?hillocks, dips or lines ?that might be evidence of archaeological activity. Ruth抯 mind is slightly distracted and she抯 glad when the two hours are over.