Dying Fall

feels about Dan now. Caz said that she seemed very upset at his funeral and it was apparently Karen, the career woman, who wanted to settle down and have children. Why didn’t Dan want children? Ruth remembers his bitter observationthat she was probably married with ten children ‘like everyone else’. Maybe Dan just didn’t want to be like everyone else. Maybe he was happy living on his own, having a succession of affairs. But in his diaries he doesn’t sound like a happy man exactly.
    She searches the diaries for Pippa and comes up with a couple of mentions. There’s the reference to her presence at the excavation and, a few days later:
    Pippa came round. We both know it has to stop but I think neither of us wants to say the word. Pippa talked about leaving Clayton but I don’t think she ever will. She loves the lifestyle – the windmill, the parties, the adoring husband. She couldn’t survive on her own. Does she mean to throw in her lot with me? I’ve never encouraged her to think that we have a future together. I told her that after Karen left I vowed never to marry again. She accepted this at the time but she may think that she can get me to change my mind. I asked (again) if Clayton suspected. She said he didn’t, that he trusts me and would never think that I would betray him. Afterwards, I felt bad about this. Clayton has been good to me, according to his lights, and, whichever way you look at it, I am betraying him. Then I thought that it was odd that she had said that he trusted me , he didn’t think I would betray him. What about Pippa? What about his wife? Didn’t he trust her ?
    Ruth reads this with, once again, mixed feelings. She finds Dan’s tone a little hard – ‘I’ve never encouragedher to think that we have a future together’ – but at least he had felt some remorse about deceiving Clayton. The part about Pippa is interesting though. Did Clayton trust his wife? Did he know about the affair? And if he had found out, what would he think about the man who had betrayed him, the man he had welcomed into his department, into his life? Would Clayton have been angry? Angry enough to kill?
    Did Dan end his relationship with Pippa? Ruth scans the rest of the diary but can find only one other reference to Pippa Henry. Dan is writing about the possibility of organising another dig to explore the area around the temple. He says that Guy and Elaine are keen to help but ‘Pippa thinks that Elaine is dangerous’. That’s all. Was Pippa just prejudiced against Elaine because she knew that she was Dan’s ex-lover or did she know something else about her? Ruth suspects that there are many words that could describe Elaine Morgan but
dangerous
? It’s an uncomfortable choice. Was Elaine dangerous? To herself? To Dan?
    She looks at the time displayed on the side of the screen. Eight o’clock. Where is Cathbad? At least she hasn’t got Thing pacing around, driving her mad. She gets up and pours herself another glass of wine. They’re very small glasses, more like sherry glasses really. She checks her phone. No messages from the wandering warlock. She’s not worried about Cathbad – he’s a grown man and he’s got a bull terrier to protect him – but she does hope he hasn’t decided to stay the night at the cottage. She doesn’twant to be on her own, that’s all. Not with the texter still on the loose and the memory of the hooded figure on the riverbank so clear in her mind. She goes to the front door and looks out. It’s nearly dark outside and the street is deserted. No sign of Sandy’s mythical patrol car. The holiday-making crowds have all gone home. Ruth puts the chain on the front door and goes back into the sitting room.
    There is nothing else in the diaries about Pippa or Elaine – or Ruth. The last entry is the one where Dan received a letter from the White Hand containing the names and addresses of his family. The last lines are:
I rang Clayton and once again said that we should call the police. He refused. He’s shielding someone. But whom?
    Who was Clayton Henry shielding? His wife? Himself? He was scared enough of the White Hand to sanction the removal of the bones to a private laboratory but why won’t he call the police when a member of his department is being threatened? It’s as if the White Hand are moving closer and closer. They write letters, they leave dead birds on Dan’s doorstep, a few days after this last diary entry his house was set on fire.