Ruth swallows her annoyance at Nelson抯 dictatorial tone. And the word 慻adding? It occurs to her that she should tell him about the sighting of Joe McMahon.
This time Nelson seems about to spontaneously combust.
慡he saw McMahon? Two days ago? After I抎 visited his room at halls? Why didn抰 you tell me this before??
慖 forgot.?
慪ou forgot . . .?Nelson breathes deeply on the other end of the line. 慖抣l give Janet a ring. Tell her to keep a watch for him. He might be dangerous.?
慖 don抰 think he is,?says Ruth.
慔is room had an altar to you, for God抯 sake.?
慉n altar. You抮e still such a Catholic.?
Nelson ignores this. 慦ell, let me know if anything ?anything ?happens. Promise??
慜K,?says Ruth, crossing her fingers just to be on the safe side.
Nelson puts down the phone feeling deeply frustrated. For all sorts of reasons, this is an emotion that he often associates with Ruth. Now he finds that she抯 living next door to a woman once accused of murder. What抯 more, that woman seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Nelson decides to go in search of Dawn, aka Zoe. He抣l make a visit to Westway surgery. But first he wants to speak to Janet Meadows.
She takes a long time to answer her phone. 慖 keep putting it down,?she says, 慳nd forgetting where I left it. You know the feeling.?
慖 can抰 say I do,?says Nelson. 慖抦 ringing about a man called Joe McMahon. I understand you saw him recently.?
慗oe? Oh, Ruth抯 student. Yes, I saw him a few days ago. He was walking around Tombland Alley looking up at the houses.?
慣ombland Alley? Is that near the cathedral??
慪ou must know Tombland Alley,?says Janet. 慖t抯 by Augustine Steward抯 House. That抯 where I抦 staying at the moment. I抦 a kind of caretaker.?
Nelson doesn抰 think he would entrust a house to a woman who forgets where her phone is. He says, aware that he抯 sounding stiff and formal, 慖 have reason to believe that Joe McMahon is dangerous. If you see him again, please contact the police immediately.?
慖抦 sure he抯 not dangerous,?says Janet. 慖抳e spoken to him before and he seems perfectly nice. A bit of a lost soul, if anything.?
Nelson doesn抰 believe in lost souls, although his mother is always praying for them.
慖抣l give you my direct number,?he says. 慉nd let me know if you see or hear anything suspicious.?
慜h, I抦 always hearing suspicious things,?says Janet. 慣his is a haunted house, you know. Last night I heard the most tremendous bangings and crashings but I just turned over and went back to sleep.?
Jesus wept. 慛ext time anything goes bump in the night,?says Nelson, 憀et me know.?And he rings off before Janet can tell him any more ghost stories.
Nelson googles the address of the surgery. Normally he抎 ask Leah but she抯 absent again. He hopes that she isn抰 sick too. He should ring Judy but he doesn抰 want to hassle her. He抣l call after he抯 back from Wells.
慖抦 off out,?he says to Tanya, who is on duty today. She抯 on the phone and just waves her hand in acknowledgement. Nelson drives fast on the blessedly empty roads. He wonders if Zoe turned up for work yesterday and if her current employers know about her history. She must have filled in a DBS disclosure, he supposes, although those forms do rather depend on the applicant telling the truth. He thinks of the Soham murders where the school caretaker lied on his form and subsequently killed two little girls. Nelson grinds his teeth at the memory.
The first thing he sees as he steps through the automatic doors is a masked woman coming towards him holding out a small black object. For one crazy second he thinks it抯 a gun. Someone fired at him from close range last year and it抯 not something you forget.
慗ust taking your temperature,?says the assailant.