A Room Full of Bones: A Ruth Galloway Investigation

morning?’
    Ruth doesn’t bother to answer. Cathbad is alive. That’s enough for her. She runs back into her room where Kate is just starting to squawk. She changes Kate’s nappy and dresses her in warm clothes. Kate is so surprised by this turn of events that she is quiet, watching Ruth out of her great, dark eyes. Then Ruth gets herself dressed, throwing on clothes at random. She goes downstairs, feeds Flint (who is also surprised, though not displeased, at theearly start) and makes some porridge for Kate and a black coffee for herself. Then, just as dawn is breaking over the Saltmarsh, she carries Kate out to the car. She doesn’t know when visiting starts but she’s determined to be at the hospital as early as possible.
    In the car she switches on the local radio and learns that last night’s storm caused devastation around Norfolk. A tree fell on a car outside Swaffham, caravans in Cromer were destroyed and trains in and out of Norwich are delayed. But there seems to be nothing in the way of Ruth reaching the university hospital. She drives carefully, avoiding fallen branches and waterlogged gutters. As she reaches the King’s Lynn road she drives through water that is several inches deep; she skids slightly but the little car holds the road well. As she reaches the suburbs she sees rubbish bins strewn across the road and fallen hoardings extolling the beauties of Norfolk. Ruth drives on, unheeding. After a while she switches from the local channel back to Radio 4 and is, as ever, soothed by the familiar voices telling her about war, disaster and financial collapse. It is nearly seven o’clock.
    She pays an extortionate amount to park in the hospital car park and carries Kate to the main entrance. It is some minutes before she finds the way to Intensive Care. She doesn’t want to ask for directions in case they tell her that babies aren’t allowed. But Kate is going to see her father, no matter what. Kate enjoys the adventure, trotting along beside Ruth through endless swing doors, up and down stairs, into lifts, across a glass walkway. This last transfixes her. Sky is all around them and pigeonsare actually flying under their feet. ‘Bird!’ she shouts joyously. ‘Bird!’ ‘Come on, Kate.’ Ruth picks her up. They must, they must get there in time.
    But the entrance to the Intensive Care ward is barred by an avenging angel. A nurse is actually standing in her path, arms akimbo.
    ‘You can’t bring a baby in here.’
    ‘But we’ve got to see Harry Nelson,’ pants Ruth. ‘It’s urgent.’
    ‘He’s not here.’
    Ruth feels her legs giving way underneath her. She’s too late. Nelson is dead and she will always know that she failed him. As she struggles to frame the fateful question, a voice behind her says, ‘Ruth?’
    Michelle is standing by the sign telling visitors to wash their hands. She is putting away her phone. Is she ringing her daughters to tell them … what? There’s no clue in Michelle’s pale, closed face. Ruth runs towards her, bouncing Kate against her hip.
    ‘So you’ve come, have you?’ says Michelle.
    ‘Is he …’ Ruth stops. She is a coward, even at the last.
    Michelle stares at her for a long moment then she says, with the faintest trace of a smile, ‘He’s regained consciousness. They’ve moved him onto a ward.’
    ‘What? Oh my God.’ Suddenly Ruth’s feet can’t hold her any longer and she and Kate collapse onto a nearby chair.
    ‘Yes. At about three o’clock this morning,’ says Michelle, almost as if she’s talking to herself. ‘He’s very weak but they think he’s going to make a full recovery.’
    ‘Oh God.’ Ruth leans forward, tears spilling from her eyes. Kate touches them experimentally. ‘Mum?’
    ‘I’m going home to get some sleep,’ says Michelle. ‘I’ve just rung the girls. Neither of them slept a wink either.’
    But I did, thinks Ruth, and so did Kate. She feels as if they have failed some important test. She stands up. ‘Thank you,’ she says. ‘Thank you for telling me.’ And she turns to follow Michelle back out of the swing doors.
    Michelle stops her with an imperious hand. ‘Don’t you want to see him?’
    ‘Yes … I … I didn’t think …’
    Michelle gestures towards a door on their left. ‘He’s in there. They’ll probably let you in. Go on. Take Kate to see him.’
    Judy is mopping up. She has just finished an exhaustive debrief with Whitcliffe and feels as if she has been awake for several years.