A Room Full of Bones: A Ruth Galloway Investigation

preservative.’ Gently she unwraps the silken shroud. Behind her, there is a sharp intake of breath as the bishop’s skeleton is revealed.
    It is a perfect skeleton, laid out on its back, arms crossed across the chest. There is a ring on one of the fingers and below the feet something that looks like a shoe. But, looking closer, Ruth realises something else.
    Bishop Augustine is a woman.
    ‘So the old boy was really an old girl. How priceless!’ Cathbad leans back in his chair and laughs uproariously. Kate, who is watching him closely, laughs too. ‘Are you sure?’
    ‘Of course I’m sure,’ says Ruth with some asperity. ‘Female pelvic bones are quite different from male. Thefemale pelvis is shallower and broader, the pubic ramus is longer. It was a woman’s skeleton all right.’
    ‘Do you think the bodies were switched, or was Bishop Augustine a woman all along?’
    ‘I don’t know. There was meant to be a pope who was a woman, wasn’t there?’
    ‘Pope Joan,’ Cathbad nods, taking a swig of wine. ‘She was only found out because she gave birth in the middle of a public procession.’
    ‘Well, that would tend to give it away,’ says Ruth, filling up their glasses. She hadn’t really wanted Cathbad to come over (entertaining is too much of a pain these days) but now he’s here it’s surprisingly pleasant. Cathbad had spent the first ten minutes playing wildly with Kate and now she looks satisfyingly sleepy, though she is keeping her eyes fixed on him in case he does anything fun. He also brought wine, which is always welcome. Ruth offers to make some pasta. She’s not much of cook but she’s hungry and Cathbad is hardly a demanding guest. He’s a vegetarian (of course) so all she has to do is shove some pesto on top. Kate loves pesto too. Then, with any luck, she’ll go to sleep.
    ‘What did Lord Smith say?’ asks Cathbad, pulling a funny face at Kate behind his wine glass. ‘Was he shocked that his famous ancestor turned out to be a cross-dresser?’
    ‘He was flabbergasted,’ says Ruth. ‘He kept asking if I was sure. Phil was delighted. It makes more of a story for the press.’
    Cathbad pulls another face, not entirely for Kate’sbenefit. ‘Typical. He’s a publicity junkie, that man. Poor Shona. I don’t know how she puts up with him.’
    Cathbad’s affection for Shona and antipathy towards Phil go back a long way but Ruth isn’t about to let him get away with this. ‘She puts up with him because he does everything she tells him. She’s not exactly downtrodden.’
    ‘I know. She’s a warrior maiden at heart. But what about the bishop? How are you going to solve the mystery?’
    ‘I’m going to go to the cathedral, look at the archives. And there’s a local historian who’s meant to be an expert on Bishop Augustine.’
    Cathbad nods. ‘Janet Meadows. Yes, I know her, she’d be the perfect person to ask. I bet the bishop
was
a woman though, otherwise why would she be buried with the bishop’s staff?’
    ‘The crosier? Yes. And she had the bishop’s ring on her finger. There was a single shoe in the coffin too. I don’t know what that was meant to signify.’
    ‘That she was a left-footer?’ suggests Cathbad, grinning.
    ‘They were all Catholics then,’ says Ruth dismissively. ‘I’d better go and get the pasta on.’
    But just as Ruth has wrestled Kate into her high chair and put the pasta on the table, there is a knock at the door.
    ‘I’ll go,’ says Cathbad, jumping up.
    He seems very keen to greet the visitor and Ruth isn’t altogether surprised to see Bob Woonunga’s smile coming through the front door.
    ‘I hope I’m not intruding, but I heard Cathbad’s voice.’
    ‘I’m not surprised,’ says Ruth, ‘the noise he and Kate were making.’
    ‘I’ve brought some fireworks.’ Bob holds up a small, brightly coloured box. ‘That’s traditional here, right? I thought Kate might enjoy them.’ It is firework night. Ruth’s drive home was punctuated by explosions and random flashes of red and green light. She is rather frightened of fireworks and intends to keep Kate as far away from bonfires as possible. Still, it’s a nice thought.
    ‘Thank you,’ she says. ‘That’s very kind. Would you like to stay for some supper?’
    ‘If you’ve got enough.’ Bob sits at the table and waves at Kate, who screws up her face and blows an impressive raspberry.
    ‘Kate!’ Ruth doesn’t know where to look.
    ‘She’s playing the didge,’ says