A Room Full of Bones: A Ruth Galloway Investigation

complicated by an existing medical condition, but what about all that spooky stuff with the snakes? Did something happen that night that literally scared Lord Smith to death?
    She thinks about Randolph. She did find him attractive, in a theoretical way, though she would never admit as much to Clough. He’s not really her type though; she’s never been one for posh men. But then Cathbad’s not exactly Judy’s type either, which doesn’t explain why she can’t keep away from him; why, within seconds of meeting, they are ripping each other’s clothes off despite promising each other solemnly that it’s never going to happen again. Judy can’t explain it and she doesn’t try. For the past few months she’s been wandering around in an erotic trance, knowing that she’s headed for disaster. And now this news about Nelson … Cathbad had been devastated when she told him, unlike Ruth, who had seemed strangely cold. She wonders, fearfully, whether Nelson’s illness will be the final catalyst that will send the whole edifice of her life tumbling to the ground. The last straw, the last nail in the coffin, and various other clichés.
    She ought to have another team meeting but she can’t face it just yet. Clough and Tanya are trudging round the haulage yards, Rocky is out on a course designed to turn him (not before time) into a ‘twenty-first-century police professional’. Only Tom Henty is in the building and Judy is rather afraid of Tom, having been told once too often how he was out on the beat before she was even born. Maybe she should go back to the yard and confront Len Harris. It would be easier without Clough cringing at the horses and putting his flat foot in the horse muck. She allows herself a slight smile, reliving the episode. Then she stops, smile frozen on her face. She sees the offending pile of manure, hears Clough’s furious cursing and she sees something else too, sees it for the first time.
    She knows what’s going on at Slaughter Hill Stables.

CHAPTER 26
     
    Night. Michelle sits at Nelson’s bedside. Rebecca and Laura have gone home, exhausted by their late-night summons and the emotion of the day. But Michelle sits on, watching the red and green lights of the machines, looking at a cobweb high on the corniced ceiling. A few miles away, on the very edge of the coast, Kate, too, is asleep, unaware of her father’s epic struggle. She has had a fairly epic struggle herself, as she hadn’t wanted to go to bed while Cathbad was in the house and available for fun. But Ruth had, for once, insisted, and Kate now sleeps fretfully in her white cot with the oyster shell dreamcatcher overhead. And in the garden, watched from an upstairs window by a frightened and sceptical Ruth, Cathbad burns branches and walks slowly round the flames.
    Nelson’s eyes move under his closed eyelids. What is he seeing, Michelle wonders. Nelson has always been so impatient, so incapable of staying still, it seems impossible that he can just be lying there, tied down by wires and drips and monitors. Michelle doesn’t know when she last watched him sleep. It has always been Nelson whogets up first, who goes downstairs to make her a cup of tea. He likes the early mornings, he always says. On Sunday mornings he used to watch the early edition of
Match of the Day
. Michelle remembers the theme music, that wonderfully nostalgic jaunty tune filtering upstairs to where she lay in bed, comfortably conscious of the hot tea by her side and the sun streaming in through the curtains. When they were young, the girls used to watch
Match of the Day
too; both had been enthusiastic Blackpool fans for a while. In recent years, though, they had slept in, leaving Nelson in solitary splendour with the TV, the
Mail on Sunday
and a mug of strong tea. He probably liked it better that way.
    She hums the
Match of the Day
theme softly. What will it take to make him open his eyes? A guest appearance by the Blackpool first team? Michelle resolves to ring the manager tomorrow. Nelson’s mother is on her way down from Blackpool. A visit from Maureen is enough to wake anyone up. Michelle likes her mother-in-law but she’s rather dreading spending any time in her company, both of them eaten up with worry over their beloved Harry. Maureen is always forthright with her opinions, telling Laura that she’s too thin and Michelle that she spends too much on clothes. Michelle is not looking forward to Maureen’s first meeting with the masked nursing