Dying Fall

bones had been switched? Who did move the bones and why? Realistically it must have been one of the main players – Clayton, Guy or Elaine.Or maybe even Dan himself. Tim told her that Dan had been to see the bones several times. Was his identification with the Raven King so strong that he wanted his remains close at hand? After all, didn’t he say that what he really wanted was to take the bones home with him?
    There are voices outside and Thing gets up, hackles rising. He keeps doing this; it’s very disconcerting. Ruth remembers that Flint does the same trick, looking past her as if he can see someone who isn’t there. Or someone only he can see. Ruth remembers Pendragon saying that Thing could see the ghost of Dame Alice. Is he now seeing his dead master? Of course not, he’s just jumpy because he’s in a strange house. Ruth goes to the window but the street is deserted apart from the woman with her little dog. No sign of the patrol car that Nelson has promised. Ruth pats her temporary dog.
    ‘It’s OK. It’s just someone going past. We’re not used to houses with people nearby, are we?’
    Thing looks up at her, his eyes liquid with trust. He’s really a very sweet dog. Is it too late to ring Bob and ask how Flint is doing? She misses her cat. Hard to believe that she’s only been away from him for a week. It seems much longer. She gets out her phone.
    There are two text messages in her in-box. One says, simply:
We know where you live
. The other, also caller unknown, reads:
Hi Ruth. It’s Guy Delaware here. Got your number from Clayton. I was wondering if we could meet up tomorrow. There’s something I’d like to discuss
.
    Ruth doesn’t know which message worries her most.

CHAPTER 24
    Guy suggests meeting on the Central Pier in Blackpool. It seems an inappropriately cheery choice of venue, heightened by the fact that it is the first really sunny day since Ruth arrived in Lancashire. The beach is filling up and on the pier the big wheel is already going round. Ruth and Guy sit outside the ice-cream parlour with mugs of tea and watch the children playing on the sand below, which, this morning, stretches far beyond the end of the pier. In fact, if Ruth strains her eyes, she can just see Cathbad and Kate building what looks like a sand henge. Kate is in her pink sun-suit with Hello Kitty hat and Cathbad has his trousers rolled up like a proper holiday-maker. For some reason, looking at them makes her want to cry. You wouldn’t think that Kate is estranged from her father or Cathbad from his child. You wouldn’t think that, less than forty-eight hours ago, Cathbad found his friend’s body swinging from a beam. They just look like a father and daughter playing in the sun.
    Guy asks if Ruth would like something to eat. He is polite, almost too polite, holding doors open and flattening himself against walls to let her past. In the sunlight, the Brideshead features look rather careworn but he’s still a good-looking man with thick blond hair and a square-jawed face like a character from a Fifties comic strip. The voice matches the face; surely vowel sounds like this have not been heard in this cafe since Tommy Trinder starred in the end-of-the-pier show. Yet Guy tells Ruth that he is Lancashire born and bred.
    ‘You don’t sound like it,’ says Ruth.
    Guy smiles, showing lots of white teeth. ‘I went to a rather posh school, then I did my first degree at Oxford and stayed there for a number of years. The accent stuck, but I can still do broad Lancashire if you want.’
    ‘And now you’re back in Blackpool.’
    He takes a sip of tea and grimaces, whether at the question or the beverage it’s hard to tell. ‘I never expected to come back but I met Elaine and …’
    Ruth waits. Guy looks up at the cloudless sky for a moment. Are you meant to look to the left or right if you’re lying? Ruth can never remember. Then he says, ‘It’s hard to explain but I think I’m going to have to. You see, I have a really strong connection with Elaine but we’re not lovers, never have been. It’s more like we’re twin souls. As if we were brother and sister in another life. Does that make any sense?’
    Ruth could just imagine Nelson’s response to this. She too feels rather sceptical but then she thinks of Cathbad,playing on the beach with her daughter. She and Cathbad live together quite happily yet there’s no hint of sexual attraction between them. Maybe they too were brother and sister in a