慞erhaps it抯 an April fool,?says Kate. Ruth had forgotten that today is the first of April.
Ruth and Kate step inside a kitchen that looks bigger and brighter than Ruth抯， partly because of the new, shiny, white units. Bob put them in, on orders of the agent, when he decided to rent out the house. But Zoe might have added the colourful posters, pot plants and orange kettle and toaster. There抯 a key hanging from a peg, helpfully labelled 慴ack door? Ruth pockets it. Derek appears and meows accusingly.
Ruth opens several cupboards before finding cat food, apparently made especially for Maine Coons. Another animal with expensive tastes. She puts a generous portion in an orange bowl marked 慏erek?
慡hall we look for Zoe??says Kate.
Ruth hesitates. Zoe抯 car isn抰 outside but nonetheless there抯 still a chance that she抯 in the house. And, if she抯 there, it抯 unlikely to be good news. Nelson recently told her about another case where a woman was found dead on her bed. 慥erdict was suicide but I抦 not so sure.?Ruth remembers the time she found a man dead behind his desk, the realisation that a human being can turn into an effigy. If there is a corpse upstairs, she does not want to be the one to discover it. But, on the other hand, does she owe it to her neighbour to look?
They go into the sitting room. It抯 so strange. Everything is exactly where it is in her house, just the other way around. The weekenders?place has been so extended and renovated that the resemblance isn抰 there any more. This could be Ruth抯 cottage, seen through the looking glass. This room, like its twin next door, has wooden floors and exposed beams but there are fewer books here and more ornaments. The sofa and chairs look newer and more comfortable and Zoe抯 cushions haven抰 been chewed by marauding animals. Ruth sees the chaise longue that she spotted being carried into the house on the day Zoe moved in. You can抰 imagine anyone ever sitting on it but there抯 no doubt that it does look rather cool. There抯 a book, face down, on the coffee table. Atonement by Ian McEwan. The staircase leads directly from the sitting room.
慡tay downstairs,?Ruth tells Kate. The stairs even creak in the same way hers do. On the landing, there are three doors. Ruth pushes open the first and sees an immaculate bedroom, bed neatly made, cushions all standing on their points. The next door is the bathroom and the third is a home office. All three rooms are completely empty.
慚um!?calls Kate from downstairs.
Ruth rushes down the stairs to see Kate examining the photographs on a pine dresser. 慙ook!?she says.
Ruth crosses the room to where Kate is holding a wedding photograph of a very young Zoe in a huge white dress holding onto the arm of a blond young man. But Kate is looking at the passport picture which has been inserted into the frame.
慖s that Grandma??she asks.
Grandma. Mum. Jean Galloway.
Back in her own house, Ruth rings Nelson.
慪ou and Katie shouldn抰 have gone there on your own,?is Nelson抯 first, predictable, reaction.
慖 was worried about the cat.?
慣hat抯 not a cat. It抯 a bloody leopard.?
慉nyway, Zoe抯 not there. I did find one strange thing though. A picture of my mum.?
慉 picture of your mother??Nelson sounds positively outraged. Is he at work? thinks Ruth. Are people listening to this through the thin walls of his office? Leah and whichever member of the skeleton staff is on duty today.
慪es,?says Ruth. 慠emember that picture I told you about? Dawn 1963? Well, Zoe抯 name was once Dawn and she was born in 1963. Now I discover that she抯 got a picture of my mum tucked into her wedding portrait.?
慏on抰 do any investigating, Ruth,?says Nelson. 慦ait until Zoe gets back. Then you can ask her. But ring me first before you tackle her about any of this.?
慜K,?says Ruth although she knows that, if Zoe抯 car were to draw up outside, she抎 be next door in a flash.
慉nd don抰 go gadding off into Norwich again,?says Nelson.