Dying Fall

unexpectedly. ‘I’m a real gadget boy, just got the new iPhone 4.’
    Ruth stops him before he can get into one of those iPhone conversations that their owners think are so fascinating. ‘So,’ she says, getting out her (low tech) notebook. ‘Who was there that day?’
    Clayton crumples up his face in thought, looking more like a peevish baby than ever. ‘Some people from the local archaeology society,’ he says. ‘I could get their names for you. Susan Chow, the county archaeologist. I was there, and a couple of other people from the department.’
    ‘Who?’
    Clayton takes a sip of tea, grimaces and pushes the cup away. ‘Guy was there, I think. Yes, Elaine and Guy. They were very interested in the excavation.’
    ‘Did you actually see Dan box up the bones?’
    ‘Yes. We were going to take them to the university but Guy thought …’
    He stops.
    ‘What?’ asks Ruth. ‘What did Guy think?’
    ‘He thought they would be safer at the lab so he drove them there himself.’
    *
    When Ruth gets back to Lytham, Beach Row is deserted apart from a blonde woman walking her dog. Cathbad is out with Kate. He has left a message saying that they wanted to see the lifeboat museum, for all the world asif Kate has expressed a keen interest in marine rescue. Still, Ruth is grateful that Cathbad is prepared do so much babysitting. What’s more, he seems to enjoy it. All in all, living with Cathbad is not as difficult as she feared. Ruth hasn’t lived with anyone since Peter. Max’s weekends don’t really count, though by Sunday Ruth often catches herself looking forward to being on her own again, free to have Flint in bed with her or to watch TV in her pyjamas. But Cathbad is different. He’s not a boyfriend so she doesn’t really care how he sees her. Also, for someone who claims to be outside the normal rules of human behaviour, he’s surprisingly domesticated. He gets up early, goes for a dawn walk and then is back in time to make Ruth a cup of tea and watch breakfast TV with Kate. For the first time since Kate’s birth, Ruth is actually able to have a lie-in. And, if instead of dozing peacefully, she lies in bed worrying about Nelson, Max, Dan and mysterious text messages, then that’s her own fault, isn’t it?
    Now Ruth puts some shopping down on the round kitchen table. It’s one o’clock and she wonders whether Cathbad and Kate will already have had their lunch. Should she make a salad, just in case? Put on some potatoes to bake? She is trying to take her turn with the cooking but Cathbad is so much better at it than she is. Last night he made a wonderful vegetarian lasagne and, when she opens the fridge, she sees that another delicious dish is already in there, neatly covered in clingfilm. Really, Cathbad would make someone a wonderful husband.
    As the house is quiet, she decides to do a bit of work. She opens her laptop and clicks on her inbox. She has sent messages to a few labs that she knows, hoping that Dan might have used them for his isotopic analysis. Maybe one of them will have answered. But there are only two new emails: one from Max enclosing a jokey picture of his dog, Claudia, in a hard hat and one from a company called University Pals. Where has she seen that name before? She clicks onto the message. ‘Hi Ruth! Your friends from University College London, Archaeology 89 miss you. Why not get back in touch? Just click on the link below.’
    Ruth looks at the email with its cheery message of emotional blackmail. Why does it give her a slightly uneasy feeling? Because she first heard from this company the day after she heard of Dan’s death? Because it brings back memories, not only of Dan, but of Caz, Val and Roly, the friends who were once central to her life but have now, somehow, become lost to her? She is going to see Caz tomorrow. Maybe that will help put things in perspective. They can talk about Dan, maybe find a way in which they can resurrect their old friendship or, better still, forge a new one. Ruth bets that Caz would never join a site calling itself ‘University Pals’.
    She is so deep in the past that when her phone rings she assumes it must be Caz. But it’s Max.
    ‘Hi, Ruth. How’s it going?’
    ‘Hi, Max.’ She starts to relax. Max sounds so cheerful and normal that she’s suddenly incredibly grateful tohim for not being a shadowy figure from her past or a sinister one from her present. Besides, she wants to tell him about Dan’s discovery.
    Max is