A Room Full of Bones: A Ruth Galloway Investigation

only just big enough for a desk and a chair. One wall is full of books, the other has a window overlooking the grounds. It’s too hot in summer and too cold in winter but Ruth loves it. It’s a place where she can be Doctor Ruth Galloway, expert in forensic archaeology, not Kate’s mum, running late as usual, or Ms Galloway, single mother. ‘You’re very brave,’ someone saidrecently, ‘to bring her up on your own.’ What choice did I have? Ruth wanted to say. Expose her on the hillside? Leave her to be adopted by a friendly wolf pack? But she did have a choice, she recognises, right at the beginning. A choice she supports. It was just that when it came to it she realised she wanted a baby very badly indeed. And, if she never sees him again, she will always be grateful to Nelson for this at least.
    Nelson’s birthday present was a large stuffed monkey. Ruth had looked at it for a long time, trying to find some hidden meaning in the blond acrylic fur and beady eyes. Why a monkey? Why a present at all? Hadn’t Michelle forbidden all contact? And when did Nelson deliver it? When the children were singing ‘Happy Birthday Dear Katie’? When Cathbad was rampaging round the garden? She doesn’t like the idea that someone can just drive up to her house, leave an offering on her doorstep, and disappear. Though it has happened before.
    Ruth sighs and starts opening her post. November is a busy time, there are assessments to be made, essays to mark. They are more than halfway through the autumn term. She needs to read through her lecture notes for the morning but first she needs a coffee. Maybe a doughnut too. The canteen does a tolerable espresso but the trick will be getting there without running into Phil. She’ll risk it. He’s probably still at home, sleeping off last week’s conference.
    ‘Ruth!’
    ‘Hi Phil.’
    Caught just outside her office, coffee money in hand.
    ‘Going for a coffee?’
    ‘Er …’
    ‘Great idea. I’ll go with you. Though I’m off coffee at the moment. Keeping Shona company.’
    When, last year, Phil had left his wife of fifteen years to move in with Shona, few had felt confident that the relationship would survive. Even Shona seemed shocked at the transformation of her married lover into full-on live-in partner. Ruth had thought that Shona might lose interest in Phil once she had prised him from his wife (it had happened before) but then Shona had become obsessed with having a baby. Maybe it was because Ruth had just had Kate; maybe Shona just felt that the biological clock, though on silent for many years, was not to be denied. But for whatever reason, she had wanted a baby and Phil had obliged. Now Shona’s pregnancy is all that he can talk about. He seems to feel that Ruth is interested in every twinge of heartburn, every swollen ankle. Was he like this when his first children were born? Ruth wonders. She didn’t know him then but she bets not. Phil is embracing older fatherhood as he does every new fad, with tail-wagging enthusiasm. It’s quite sweet, she supposes, though she draws the line at discussing piles.
    Phil, though, has something else on his mind. He buys a Smoothie and a banana (‘Shona’s got a real craving for them’) and steers Ruth to a discreet table near the window.
    ‘Terrible thing at the museum on Saturday.’
    ‘Yes,’ says Ruth. She bets Phil was gutted to miss the excitement.
    ‘That poor curator. Do police know how he died?’
    ‘I’ve no idea,’ says Ruth. ‘They don’t confide in me.’
    Phil looks at her curiously. Ruth knows that he has always been intrigued by her relationship with Nelson. She keeps her face blank and takes a sip of coffee. It is thick and bitter and perfect.
    ‘Anyway,’ says Phil, obviously deciding that there is nothing more to be gained in that direction. He pauses impressively. ‘I had a call last night from Lord Smith.’
    ‘Oh yes?’ The name means nothing to Ruth. She looks longingly at her doughnut, the grease just starting to ooze through the paper bag.
    ‘The owner of the Smith Museum.’
    ‘Oh. Danforth Smith. What did he want?’
    ‘It’s a delicate matter.’
    Phil looks positively delighted. He loves any intrigue. Ruth raises her eyebrows. She is desperate for a bit of doughnut but doesn’t want to look greedy in front of Phil – especially as Shona, even pregnant, is thinner than she is.
    ‘You know the museum has a large collection of New World artefacts?’
    Ruth dimly remembers a