The car smells strongly of lilac on the way home. Kate seems energised by the outing, singing along to the radio and telling Ruth a long story about a boy in her class who makes rude noises during Zooms. Then she picks up Ruth抯 phone.
慚um. You抳e got loads of messages from Dad.?
慔ave I??says Ruth. Now that she has Kate with her all the time, she keeps her phone on silent. She left it in the car when they were with Janet.
慜h God,?she says. 慖s it about Cathbad??
慖 don抰 think so,?says Kate. 憮Where are you?敀 she reads. 憮For F抯 sake, pick up the phone.?Then there are lots of question marks and exclamation points.?Clearly the grammar lessons are paying off.
慣ext him,?says Ruth. 慡ay we went into Norwich and we抮e on our way back.?
Kate texts at lightning speed. Will skeletons of twenty-first century humans show enlarged thumbs?
慡hall I add a kiss??she says.
慛o,?says Ruth.
She can see Nelson from a long way off, a dark shape standing by her fence. Typical of him just to stand there like a thundercloud. Maybe she should get him a spare key, but would this make their arrangement, whatever it is, too official? Besides, Nelson has moved back home now. He抯 made his choice. Which means he can keep his disapproval to himself.
慦here have you been??he says, as soon as Ruth gets out of the car.
慦e went to the cathedral,?says Kate. 慦e saw a secret door.?
慡ounds well worth breaking lockdown for,?says Nelson.
慉re you coming in??says Ruth, opening the front door. 慜r are you going to stand there pontificating all night??
Nelson glowers at her for a few minutes and then steps over the threshold, ducking as always at the low doorway.
慖抳e got something to tell you,?he says quietly, as Kate runs upstairs in search of Flint.
慜K,?says Ruth. 慏o you want a cup of tea??
慪ou sound like my mum,?says Nelson. 慦hen in doubt, make tea.?
慓ee, thanks,?says Ruth.
Nelson, as always, looks too big for the kitchen. He folds himself into one of the chairs and says, 慔ow much do you know about your neighbour? The new woman??
慫oe? Not much. She抯 a nurse, divorced. She抯 got a lovely cat called Derek.?
慖s that the creature I saw at the window? It looked too big to be a cat.?
慖t抯 a Maine Coon.?
慖f you say so. Well, for a start she isn抰 called Zoe.?
For a moment, Ruth thinks he means the cat. She puts a mug of tea in front of Nelson.
慦hat??
慪our neighbour. She isn抰 called Zoe. She抯 called Dawn Stainton and, in 1994, she was accused of murdering three patients in her care.?
Ruth feels her heart thumping. Various words rush into her head ?neighbour, murdering, patients ?but one keeps bumping up against the sides: Dawn.
慏awn??she says.
Nelson looks at her in confusion. 慦hat??
慏awn. Is her name really Dawn??
慉pparently so. She changed her name after the trial. You can抰 blame her really.?
慖 take it she was found not guilty??
慪es,?admits Nelson.
慔ow old was she in 1994??
慦hy do you want to know??
慗ust tell me, Nelson. Please.?
Nelson gets out his phone and scrolls, much less efficiently than Kate, until he finds the relevant page.
慡he was thirty-two when it came to trial in 1995. She would have been thirty-one in 1994.?