Dying Fall

rings New York to be told that the person she needs is in a meeting.
He’ll call her back
, says the lilting American voice.
Have a nice day now
.
    It’s a new experience, going for a walk with a bull terrier. People cross to the other side of the street to avoid Thing, and in the park mothers clutch their children nervously, even though Cathbad doesn’t let the dog off the lead.
    ‘Now I know why Pen lived in the country,’ says Cathbad, smiling encouragingly at a terrified toddler. It is almost the first time that he has said his friend’s name since he told Ruth how he died.
    Now he says, almost chattily, ‘You know, Ruth. That’s something I just don’t understand. How Pen could leave Thing like that?’
    ‘Maybe he knew you’d come for him,’ says Ruth. She is in the play area pushing Kate on a swing and has to talk to Cathbad across the fence. Thing wags his tail at all the children and crinkles his nose engagingly. ‘Look at that dog snarling,’ says one grandmother. ‘Shouldn’t be allowed.’
    ‘I can’t stop thinking,’ says Cathbad. ‘When did he do it? The paramedics thought he hadn’t been dead long. Maybe he’d just done it when Nelson and I arrived. Maybe if I’d found him sooner, I could have saved him.’
    Maybe he didn’t want to be saved, thinks Ruth. Aloud, she asks, ‘Did Pendragon have any family?’
    ‘A sister,’ says Cathbad. ‘They weren’t close. I gave her name to the police. I ought to speak to her as well, I suppose.’
    A sister, but no children, thinks Ruth. Just like Dan. Are their deaths linked as well? In the sunshine of thepark it’s hard to believe in shadowy fascist conspiracies. But there is someone out there, someone who wants to scare her too.
Ladybird, ladybird
. Ruth shivers, looking round at the children on the slide, at the parents sitting on benches, at the elderly bowlers on the green. Is he here, the texter? Is he watching her now?
    ‘Don’t stop,’ orders Kate.
    Ruth pushes the swing, enjoying the sight of her daughter, her dark hair and red T-shirt silhouetted against the sky.
    ‘Higher, higher,’ shouts Kate.
    Cathbad too is watching Kate, leaning on the fence with the devil dog at his side. ‘What a wonderful thing it is to be a child,’ he says. Ruth thinks he sounds very sad.
    *
    When they get home, Ruth has a message to ring Todd Holland at the American lab. She does so and they spend a few minutes establishing her identity, the identity that is, apparently, coveted by someone else.
    ‘I’ve got the DNA and isotope results here,’ says Todd. ‘They’re very interesting, especially when you think where the bones were found. Of course, the Roman Empire stretched into all sorts of places, but even so.’
    ‘Yes?’ says Ruth, encouragingly. Her mouth is suddenly dry.
    ‘Well, oxygen isotope analysis points to the subject originating from the north of England.’
    Big news, thinks Ruth. She has known all along thatthey are dealing with a northerner, a sort of Ancient Roman version of Nelson – or Sandy. But Todd isn’t finished. ‘The interesting thing is the DNA result …’
    ‘Don’t tell me it’s a woman.’
    ‘No,’ says Todd, sounding surprised. ‘Subject is male and at least one of his parents was from North Africa.’
    When Ruth puts the phone down, Cathbad is looking enquiringly at her.
    ‘King Arthur was black,’ she says.

CHAPTER 23
    ‘What do you mean?’ asks Cathbad.
    ‘The tests show that the skeleton found in the tomb had North African DNA.’
    ‘How can that be?’
    Ruth paces the room. It’s as if some of the excitement described in Dan’s diaries has communicated itself to her. Some of the fear too. This could be huge, she tells herself. She sees the headlines in the papers, ‘Legendary English King was Black says Archaeology Expert’. Then she remembers that someone burnt Dan alive to protect this secret.
    ‘There was a black Roman emperor,’ she says. ‘Septimus Severus, I think. The Romans were in North Africa and it stands to reason that some of the population would have become Roman citizens.’
    ‘Didn’t you have to be Roman to be a Roman citizen?’
    ‘No. They were quite progressive that way. St Paul was a Roman citizen, remember. I wonder if there were any other black Romans in Britain. I’m going to ring Max.’
    Max answers on the second ring. He sounds delighted to hear from her. Guiltily, Ruth remembers that she never really gave him an answer about coming up to