Dying Fall

really need that information, Ruth. I want to carry on Dan’s work. As a tribute to him.’
    And to help your career, thinks Ruth. She resents the implication that Guy – a mere graduate student – is the only person who could make sense of Dan’s findings. She is the one Dan asked for help and, right now, that information is going nowhere.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ says Ruth. ‘The laptop’s with the police.’ This is, of course, true, but she doesn’t add that Tim has given her a brand-new memory stick containing copies of Dan’s files.
    Guy groans and slumps back in his chair. ‘That’s it, then. That DCI Macleod is an ignorant bastard. He’s got no interest in furthering human knowledge.’
    Ruth thinks this is probably true but, on the other hand, she wouldn’t call Sandy Macleod ignorant. He seemed uncomfortably sharp to her.
    ‘Don’t you have any records of your own?’ she asks. ‘After all, you were at the excavation.’ Too late, she wonders if she should admit to knowing this.
    ‘I’ve got a few notes,’ says Guy. ‘Nothing substantial.Did Dan say anything to you about the discovery? About King Arthur?’
    ‘I’m sorry,’ says Ruth. ‘I hadn’t seen Dan in over twenty years.’
    *
    Tim is going through paperwork which, in effect, means checking computer records. He realised, after a few days working for Sandy, that this was the way to make himself indispensible. Sandy loathes paperwork but he knows it has to be done. Tim saw immediately that his best chance of ingratiating himself with the infamous ‘Beast of Blackpool’ McLeod was to become an expert on forms, procedure and the Freedom of Information Act. It’s not what he dreamt of when studying (physics at York) or when he signed up for the graduate fast-track programme, but Tim is a pragmatist, and if his future holds no obstacles greater than a dinosaur DCI who can’t work a computer, he will be doing pretty well.
    Despite everything Tim doesn’t dislike Sandy. He’s rude, chauvinistic, and he thinks that Jim Davidson’s a fine comedian, but he’s also a good copper and, according to his lights, fair. That is to say, he’s rude to everyone. Sandy doesn’t hold back from a borderline racist joke because Tim’s in the room and, in a way, Tim’s quite grateful for this. At least this way he knows what’s going on. And since they have been trying to infiltrate the White Hand Sandy has appreciated Tim’s ironical take on the problems of a black man who wants to join a whitesupremacist group. ‘At least you’ve got a sense of humour about it, lad,’ is his considered opinion.
    And now Sandy’s old mate has turned up. Harry Nelson, as much of a legend in the department as Sandy himself. So many of Sandy’s stories begin ‘When Harry and I were young coppers …’ and end ‘that was policing, that was. None of this hand-holding you buggers get, none of this PC nonsense either’. Tim was expecting a Sandy clone, another jovial relic of the good old days. Instead, DCI Nelson turned out to be a good-looking man in his forties, rather quiet and slightly sad. Tim, who prides himself on reading verbal and non-verbal clues (he has done a course on neuro-linguistic programming, not something he’d admit to Sandy), thinks there is more in Nelson’s relationship with both Cathbad and Ruth than meets the eye. Either he’s having an affair with one or both of them. Tim’s straight (something that would surprise some of his colleagues) but he’s not against keeping your options open.
    Now Tim trawls through the names of participants cautioned at a recent EDL rally. He is cross-checking with a list of recent Pendle graduates so a name that’s not on the second list initially passes him by. It’s only a mental double take that sends him scrolling backwards until he finds it again. He pauses, thinking hard, and then makes a call on the internal phone.
    *
    ‘Would you like another cup of tea?’ asks Guy.
    Ruth hesitates. She would like another cup of tea, anda large slice of cake, come to that, but she should be getting back to Cathbad and Kate. On the other hand, she senses that there is more that she can learn from Guy. He was Dan’s trusted friend and he knows Clayton and Elaine too. He might know who took the laptop in the first place.
    ‘Just a quick one,’ she says.
    Guy stands up. A couple who are hovering, waiting for a table, step back in disappointment when they realise that Ruth is staying put. The pier is