Dying Fall

ambulance which is parked by the gate, its headlights illuminating the rain. They ask if Cathbad wants to accompany them but he thinks that he ought to stay with Thing. ‘We’ll have to inform the police,’ they say, almost sympathetically. Cathbad nods and says that he understands. He has already called the only policeman who matters.
    *
    Nelson arrives to find Cathbad sitting by the fireplace with Thing on his lap. There is no fire in the grate and the room is freezing. Dream-catchers swing crazily in the draft from the open front door.
    ‘Is he dead?’ he asks.
    ‘Yes. The ambulance took him away.’
    ‘And you found him hanging in a shed at the end of the drive?’
    ‘Yes. He must have been there all day.’
    Nelson rubs his eyes, digesting this. Then he asks, ‘Have you any idea why he did it?’
    Cathbad smiles sadly. ‘I’ve got lots of ideas, none of them very edifying. I found a room upstairs with a computer in it.’
    ‘A computer? I thought this place was still in the Dark Ages.’
    ‘I think that’s what Pendragon wanted us to think. Anyway, there’s lots on the computer about the White Hand.’
    ‘Think they had something to do with this?’
    ‘I don’t know. I only know that he was scared of something and now he’s dead.’
    ‘It’s enough to be going on with,’ agrees Nelson. ‘I’d better tell Sandy and he can come and pick it up. He’d never forgive me if the local boys got their hands on it. Where is this hidden room?’
    Cathbad shows him but he doesn’t show him the memory stick, which is in his pocket next to the illegal knife. He doesn’t know why he is keeping quiet about the find. After all, he told Ruth to tell Nelson about the computer. It’s just that he has a very strong feeling that Ruth ought to see the contents first. And, after all, his instincts have already been proved right once that day.
    Nelson looks all round the secret room but is careful not to touch anything. Then he announces that he is going to drive Cathbad back to Lytham. Cathbad doesn’t demur and Nelson, in his turn, says nothing about Thing,who climbs happily into the back seat and breathes down Nelson’s neck all the way home.
    *
    Ruth is asleep on the sofa when Cathbad gets in. He meant to wake her gently but Thing bounds over and licks her face briskly.
    ‘What?’ Ruth sits up immediately, rubbing her cheek.
    ‘Sorry,’ says Cathbad. ‘I brought Thing back with me.’
    ‘So I see. Why?’
    Cathbad explains about Pendragon and about the hidden room and the computer. By now, dawn is breaking and a pink light filters through the curtains. Cathbad makes tea and they sit on the sofa with the dog between them.
    ‘So you say Dan’s files are all on this memory stick,’ says Ruth.
    ‘I think so.’
    ‘Where is it? Did you give it to the police?’
    In answer, Cathbad holds out his hand. On his palm is a little silver object shaped like a bullet.
    ‘Shall I have a look?’ says Ruth, almost in a whisper.
    ‘I think that’s what he would have wanted,’ says Cathbad seriously.
    Ruth puts the memory stick into her laptop and immediately two files pop up. One is called archaeology and this Ruth resolves to explore in depth. The other is titled, simply, ‘Days’. Ruth clicks onto it:
    9 May 2010
    I’ve found him. I know it’s him. As soon as we moved that last stone and I saw his face, still with the gold circlet around his head, I knew. Guy said, ‘Is there anything inside?’ and I said, ‘It’s Him.’ Stupid, I know, and, afterwards Elaine teased me about it, saying that I was ‘more Martha than Arthur’. Her latest thing is implying that I’m gay, which doesn’t bother me at all. Let her think I am gay if that makes it easier for her.
    It was getting dark by the time we had recorded the sarcophagus and skeleton and Clayton suggested that we secure the site and leave the actual excavation until tomorrow. He was right but I hated to leave Arthur there. It was a mild night and we put an awning over him but even so … It didn’t seem right to treat a king that way. God, Elaine is right. I am getting weird. None of us mentioned the White Hand but Clayton suggested, casually, that we took turns to guard the bones. He volunteered to watch until midnight, then I am going to relieve him. Sounds crazy, I know, but I am looking forward to going back and paying my homage to the Raven King.
    ‘It’s a diary,’ Ruth says.

CHAPTER 22
    Both are expecting a summons from Sandy and