The Stone Circle: The Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries 11

by Elly Griffiths

  Rebecca arrives on Sunday. She’s the brunette, the rebel, the one who is most like Nelson. If there’s trouble, it’ll be from Rebecca. His chance comes in the afternoon. After another epic lunch, Louise offers to take George out for some fresh air. She says politely that she doesn’t think she can manage Bruno as well so the dog stays panting in the sitting room, looking hopefully at the door. Michelle, looking rather nervous, sits in her favourite chair. Rebecca and Laura are on the sofa, Rebecca’s legs on Laura’s lap. Both are on their phones.

  ‘Girls,’ says Nelson. ‘I’ve got something to tell you.’

  *

  When Judy and Clough call round to Karen’s house on Sunday morning, Annie greets them at the door.

  ‘Mum and Pete have gone to mass,’ she says. ‘Do you want tea or coffee?’

  Both ask for coffee and Judy makes an attempt to chat to Annie in the kitchen.

  ‘I didn’t think your mum went to church on Sundays,’ she says.

  ‘She doesn’t,’ says Annie, crashing cups and saucers. ‘This kitchen is a mess. I’m always on at Mum to let me redesign it.’

  Karen’s kitchen looks tidy enough to Judy but it’s definitely outdated, with blue Formica cupboards and tiles with embossed vegetables on them. It’s friendly though. It reminds her of her grandmother’s house.

  ‘They’ve gone to mass today because they like the priest,’ says Annie. ‘The one doing Margaret’s funeral.’

  Karen, when she arrives, confirms this.

  ‘Father Declan has been so nice about the funeral arrangements,’ she says. ‘We thought we ought to go to church today. It seemed only polite.’ Karen is smartly dressed in a black trouser suit with a leopard-print shirt. Maybe she’s from the generation that dresses up for church but Judy thinks that Karen is the sort of woman who always takes trouble with her appearance. She remembers Kim Jennings saying that Karen used to look like one of Pan’s People. Judy hadn’t got the reference at the time but she looked them up and it turns out that Pan’s People was the name of a deeply sexist dance group that used to appear on Top of the Pops. From old YouTube clips it appears that the dancers specialised in routines that took song lyrics extremely literally, acting out lines like ‘clouds in my coffee’ whilst wearing very little clothing. Still, Judy assumes that it was meant as a compliment.

  ‘We’ll both be at the funeral tomorrow,’ says Clough, as they move into the sitting room with their coffees. ‘We want to pay our respects. Our boss will be there too, DCI Nelson.’

  ‘Oh, I’ve heard about DCI Nelson.’ Karen sounds impressed. ‘It’s good of him to come.’

  ‘He wants to be there,’ says Judy. ‘Margaret is very important to us.’

  Karen and Pete exchange a glance. ‘Father Declan was asking about readings,’ says Karen. ‘Annie is going to do one and we were wondering if you’d do the other, DS Clough.’

  ‘What about Luke?’ says Annie. ‘He might want to do a reading.’

  ‘I’ve asked him,’ says Karen, ‘and he doesn’t.’

  Clough doesn’t look at Judy but she knows what he’s thinking. He’s pleased to be the one who was asked but, at the same time, he wishes that it wasn’t him.

  ‘I’d be honoured,’ he says.

  They talk for a little while about readings and hymns. Clough says that his favourite is ‘Amazing Grace’, which surprises Judy. Hers is ‘How Great Thou Art’, a soaring anthem that seems as much about the glories of Nature as it is about God. Karen says that they wanted ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’, which Margaret used to sing at school, but that Annie had said that it was ‘feudal’.

  ‘All that guff about the rich man in his castle and the poor man at his gate,’ says Annie. ‘It’s obscene.’

  Judy agrees in principle but she can’t help noticing that Annie seems to wield a lot of power in the family. She asks who else will be attending.

  ‘Luke will be there, of course,’ says Karen. ‘With Rina, his wife, and their children. They’re not staying here though. It’s not smart enough for them. They’ll book a hotel.’

  Interesting, thinks Judy.

  Karen and Pete have two sons: Bradley, who is thirty, and Richard, twenty-eight. Bradley is divorced with two small children. Richard, Karen tells them rather proudly, is gay and married to a man called Brian. The brothers will be carrying the offertory gifts at the funeral.

  ‘Of course, they never knew Margaret,’ says Karen. ‘But they feel as if they do. I mean, she’s everywhere.’ She looks up at the photograph on the wall.

  She’s everywhere and nowhere, thinks Judy, like one of the song lyrics so beloved of Pan’s People. She wonders what it was like for Bradley and Richard, growing up with this presence in the house, this much-loved ghost.

  ‘Annie’s children will all be there tomorrow,’ says Karen. ‘Matt’s working for a building society in Norwich, Sienna’s training to be a nurse. Like her mum. And there’s Star.’ She smiles. Judy remembers that Carol Dunne had also smiled when she mentioned the mysterious Stella who became Star.

  ‘Star’s just had a baby,’ says Pete. ‘A lovely little thing. She wants to bring her to the funeral.’

  ‘It’s ridiculous,’ says Annie. ‘I told Star Ava’s far too young. She’ll only cry and upset everyone.’

  ‘I think Margaret would have liked it,’ says Karen. ‘She loved babies.’

  Judy wonders who will emerge triumphant from the battle of wills between Annie and Star.

  ‘We’ve just got a quick question for you,’ she says. ‘Do any of you have any links with Scarning Fen? It’s a nature reserve in Dereham.’

  ‘Scarning Fen?’ Pete looks at his wife. ‘I don’t think so.’

  ‘What’s this about?’ says Annie. ‘Has it got something to do with Margaret?’

  Clough and Judy exchange glances. ‘It’s just a line of enquiry,’ says Clough, in the soothing tone that he has now adopted for the Bensons. ‘Might well be nothing but we’ve had some forensic reports back. Remember we thought that Margaret might have been buried somewhere else before the Saltmarsh? Well, the forensics show that she might have been buried near Scarning Fen.’

  ‘Forensics?’ says Annie. ‘What forensics?’ She seems outraged at the thought of such a thing in relation to her dead sister.

  Judy doesn’t want to go into the wildlife eating the body or the pollen in the nasal cavity. ‘Moss,’ she says at last. ‘Moss that’s unique to the area.’

  ‘Any family links?’ says Clough. ‘Anyone live in Dereham?’

  ‘No,’ says Karen, sounding quite shocked even though the town is only about twenty-five miles from King’s Lynn. Judy thinks of Tom Henty, ‘It’s an east Norfolk thing.’ And of John Mostyn talking about the Roman port at Caister-on-Sea.

  Before they go, Pete asks if they’ve made any headway with catching Mostyn’s killer.

  ‘We’re following several leads,’ says Clough.

  But the truth is that Mostyn’s killer seems to have vanished without trace. There’s DNA at the scene but that’s no use unless it matches some currently held on record.

  ‘If anyone can catch him, you can,’ says Karen.

  Clough says modestly that the team has a pretty good clearance rate. Karen and Pete look at him admiringly. Annie is frowning in the background.

  *

  Ruth and Kate have a good day with Frank in Cambridge. They have lunch in a pub and go on a tour of the more picturesque colleges. Kate is entranced by the chapel at King’s College and Ruth allows herself a brief daydream involving gowns and punting and a first in natural sciences. Of course, these places are incredibly elitist but Kate is such a clever girl and she’ll be state educated . . .

  ‘Ruth,’ says Frank. Ruth comes back to earth. Frank is staring at a stone gargoyle that reminds Ruth of the Lincoln imp but it doesn’t look as if he’s seeing it. ‘What are we doing?’

  ‘Sussing out the right college for Kate?’

  ‘You know what I mean.’

  R
uth does know what he means and she very much wants to avoid having this conversation. She looks round for Kate but her daughter is looking up at the vaulted ceiling, apparently deep in thought.

  ‘Do we have to be doing anything?’ she says.

  ‘I don’t know,’ says Frank. He runs a hand through his thick grey hair. He’s wearing a heavy jacket and looks bulkier and more dependable than ever. A silver fox, he’s often called by viewers of his TV programme. Ruth can’t think of an equivalent compliment for a greying woman but there’s no denying that Frank is still very attractive.

  ‘I’m nearly sixty,’ Frank is saying. ‘I suppose I want to know if there’s any future in our relationship. There’s a job going at Cambridge. A permanent post. I’d like to apply. I could easily settle here. My kids are all grown and transatlantic flights aren’t that expensive. It’s just . . . Can you ever see us living together? I don’t know about you, but I thought the other night was pretty special.’

  Ruth cringes slightly at the word and at the memory of hustling Kate out of the house so that she didn’t meet a semi-naked Frank on the landing. She glances over to check that her daughter is still out of earshot.

  ‘It was great,’ she says, thinking that her own word is also rather unsatisfactory. ‘It’s just . . . I like being with you but I don’t know if I could live with a man again. I’ve got used to it just being me and Kate.’

  ‘And Flint.’

  ‘Well, Flint would move in with you like a shot.’

  ‘Thanks,’ says Frank, rather wryly. ‘What about you?’

  ‘Can’t we take it more slowly? After all, we’ve only just started seeing each other again. And I do like you.’ She laughs, embarrassed at how lukewarm that sounds, but Frank takes her hand.

  ‘I like you too, Ruth.’

  In Frank’s warm west-coast accent it sounds a lot more positive.

  *

  He tells it very badly. He’d meant to start with Katie, how sweet she is, how fond they all are of her, but instead he finds himself blurting out that he had an affair with Ruth.

  ‘Ruth Galloway?’ says Rebecca, sitting up and putting her phone down. ‘The archaeologist woman?’

  ‘It was a long time ago,’ says Nelson, not entirely truthfully. ‘And it wasn’t even a proper affair, well, anyway . . .’

  ‘Katie’s your daughter?’ Laura is staring at him with a blank, traumatised look that is worse than anything he could have imagined.

  ‘I know it’s a shock,’ says Nelson. ‘But I want you to know that I love you girls – and George too – more than anything.’

  ‘Does Mum know about this?’ This is Rebecca, sounding angry which is actually almost a relief.

  ‘Yes,’ says Michelle, her voice admirably steady. ‘I knew about it from the beginning.’

  ‘And you let Dad see Katie?’

  ‘Well, it’s not her fault, is it?’

  ‘Jesus, Dad.’ Laura stands up. ‘I can’t believe this. I thought you were one of the good guys. I thought you two had the perfect marriage. And, all this time it’s been a complete sham. You’ve had an illegitimate daughter. You had an affair. And what about Tim?’

  ‘What about him?’ Now Michelle does sound nervous.

  ‘He must have been in love with you. You rang him that evening, didn’t you? That’s why he came to save us. That’s why he died.’

  ‘This isn’t about Tim,’ says Nelson.

  ‘Yes, Tim was in love with me,’ says Michelle quietly, ‘but I always loved your father.’

  ‘I know it’s hard,’ says Nelson. ‘But we do still love each other. We’re still a family.’

  ‘Bullshit.’ Laura, who never loses her temper, yells so loudly that Bruno shoots out of the room. ‘We’re not a family. I never want to see either of you ever again.’

  She storms out of the room and, with an apologetic look at her mother, Rebecca follows her. Seconds later, the door slams and they hear a car starting up. Bruno barks and then the front door opens. Nelson goes to the hall and sees Louise manoeuvring the buggy over the step.

  ‘We’ve had a lovely walk,’ she says. ‘Georgie’s been as good as gold. Where are the girls off to? Laura looked upset.’

  It seems to Nelson that even Bruno is looking at him accusingly.

  Chapter 23

  ‘Slow down, for Christ’s sake. Where are we going anyway?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ says Laura. ‘Away.’

  ‘Well slow down or we’ll be away to the next world.’

  Laura was always the sensible one, thinks Rebecca, it’s very odd to see her like this; face set, hair flying, eyes glittering with tears. But she does slow down slightly.

  ‘That was a shocker,’ says Rebecca. ‘Did you have any idea?’

  ‘It had crossed my mind,’ says Laura. ‘I mean, why was Dad always taking Katie to places? He brought her to the house once when Mum was out. I made her a fish finger sandwich. She was very sweet, I have to say.’

  ‘She’s our sister,’ says Rebecca. ‘How weird is that? I can’t believe you suspected.’

  ‘Well, I’ve been living at home for the past year. It’s been obvious that something’s up. Even you must have noticed.’

  Rebecca is stung by the ‘even you’. ‘You’re always imagining things,’ she says. ‘Remember when you were sure you were adopted because the date on your baptism certificate was wrong?’

  ‘I wish I was adopted,’ says Laura, taking a mini-roundabout at speed. ‘I wish they weren’t my parents.’

  ‘You don’t mean that,’ says Rebecca, clamping a foot on the imaginary brake. ‘Where are we going anyway?’ They are on the Fakenham road now, full of Sunday drivers taking their time to look at the view.

  ‘To see a friend in Wells.’

  ‘You haven’t got any friends in Wells.’

  ‘He’s my meditation teacher,’ says Laura. ‘I want to talk to him. He’s the only person who understands anything.’

  ‘Meditation teacher?’ says Rebecca. ‘Have you gone a bit nutty since the Tim thing?’

  ‘The Tim thing? Since a man was killed in our house, you mean?’

  ‘Yes,’ says Rebecca. ‘That. I mean, you finished with Chad and you never go out with any of the old gang.’

  Laura is driving more carefully now but her face (so like their mother, whatever she says about being adopted) is set and serious, jaw clenched. ‘I have changed,’ she says. ‘It feels like I’ve grown up at last. Cathbad says—’

  ‘Cathbad? He’s your meditation teacher?’

  ‘Yes.’ Laura colours slightly. ‘He knows a lot about meditation techniques.’

  ‘But he’s Dad’s friend. And Ruth’s.’

  ‘Mum and Dad don’t know. They’re so tired at the moment that they only think about George. Or this old murder case Dad’s working on.’

  Rebecca thinks it’s a good sign that Laura is now mentioning their parents in an almost normal voice. They are taking the country route, hedges on either side, the occasional glimpse of grey winter fields. As they approach Wells, they see the sea, still exciting even if you’ve lived within sight of it all your life. Fishing boats are beached on the sand but the tide is coming in, streams becoming rivulets, lapis-lazuli blue in the twilight. It seems like a different world.

  ‘Remember getting the train here when we were little?’ says Rebecca, as Laura negotiates the tiny streets. Some of the shops are still open and their family name is everywhere because that other Nelson, Admiral Horatio Nelson, hero of Trafalgar, was born in Burnham Thorpe, near Wells. Nelson’s café. Nelson’s sweetshop. Nelson’s Seaside Souvenirs. Outside a shop called Little Rocks, tiny stones glitter.

  ‘It’s a very special place,’ says Laura. She even sounds like someone who takes meditation classes.

  But, when they park in front of a row of fishermen’s cottages, Laura seems reluctant to knock on the door that is painted an unusual turquoise colour.

  ‘Go on,’ says Rebecca. ‘After all, we’ve come all this way.�
�� She’s curious to see Laura with Cathbad. She remembers him as a slightly oddball friend of her parents. He once gave her a dreamcatcher; she still has it above her bed in Brighton.

  Laura gives her a nasty look but she gets out of the car. Rebecca watches as her sister knocks on the door and waits. After a few minutes she knocks again. There’s obviously no answer. Laura starts to walk back to the car but then she stops. A man is approaching. He’s got long hair. Is it Cathbad? No, this man is younger and, even from Rebecca’s viewpoint, seriously good-looking. He stops and talks to Laura. Rebecca can’t hear what they’re saying but it seems very intense. The man has his hand on Laura’s arm, bending his head down to her level. Laura flicks her hair back and laughs, all traces of the heartbroken daughter vanished. Then she comes back to the car. Rebecca winds down the window and Laura hands her the keys.

  ‘Can you drive home? I’m going for a walk with Leif.’

  ‘With who?’

  Laura gestures at the long-haired man who raises his hand in a friendly wave.

  ‘You’re going off with a complete stranger?’

  ‘He’s not a stranger. I met him the other day. He’s a friend of Cathbad’s. He just came to call but they’re out. It’s synchronicity.’

  ‘Is that what you call it? What shall I tell Mum and Dad?’

  ‘Tell them I’m dead.’ Laura gives her a dazzling smile and turns back to Leif.

  *

  It’s dark by the time that Ruth gets home from Cambridge. Kate, who has kept up a steady flow of conversation, falls silent just as they take the road across the Saltmarsh. It’s as eerie as ever, the raised tarmac with the ground dropping away on either side. One false move and they would find themselves in a ditch, prey to whatever night terrors are roaming the marshes at night. There are no lights, only that faint glimmer out to sea which might be late-night fishing boats, or phosphorescence or something altogether more sinister. Ruth hears Erik’s voice, floating back through the years. Fireside tales, from that first dig, when they found the henge.