The Outcast Dead (11 page)

‘We’ve come to the beautiful city of Norwich to discover the truth about one of Victorian England’s most notorious murderesses. A woman whose name still strikes terror into the hearts of mothers and children everywhere. Mother Hook. The so-called baby farmer who killed her charges for profit. The hook-handed killer who slaughtered innocent children and wrote their names into a ledger chillingly entitled The Book of Dead Babies.’

Corinna Lewis stops and pauses impressively, staring into the camera. Ruth, who is dutifully standing in the trench for an action shot, reflects that there is little sign of Dani’s even-handed approach in the presenter’s script. What had Dani said? That Corinna wasn’t one for subtlety. Ruth amuses herself by cataloguing Corinna’s favourite words: ‘terror’, ‘slaughter’ and ‘chilling’ are definitely three. She also likes ‘shadowy’, ‘horrific’ and ‘innocent’. So far all these words, except the last, have been used to describe Mother Hook.

‘Archaeologists digging in the grounds of this ancient
castle,’ continues Corinna, ‘made a chilling discovery. The bones of a woman with a hook for a hand. I’m at the dig now with Dr Phil Trent, Head of Archaeology at the University of North Norfolk. Phil, tell me about your find.’

It was my find, thinks Ruth, as she digs and scrapes, conscious that the cameras may be on her. She can hear Phil talking in his new TV voice. One of the researchers told him to smile just before he spoke, ‘it makes your voice sound really warm’. By the sounds of it, Phil has been grinning away for hours.

‘It was really exciting, Corinna,’ he says (‘Use Corinna’s name’ urged the researchers). ‘I knew at once that it was something really significant. It was the right age, for one thing, and it was a woman. Then I saw the hook and … well … wow.’

Well wow
, thinks Ruth. Is that the sum of your intellectual input? A PhD in archaeology, years of experience and research.
Well, wow
. And it’s impossible to tell the age of bones just by looking at them. Carbon 14 tests can give a clearer picture but they can be out by as much as a hundred years. The only real clues are in the context, the objects found in the earth beside the body. Phil won’t mention this, it’s far too boring. Besides, the most significant find is still on Ruth’s bedside table.

‘Do you get frightened, Phil, looking at the skeleton of such a monstrous figure?’

Phil laughs modestly. ‘Well, I’m an old hand at digs but I have to confess there was a slight frisson, here.’ He pats his chest.

‘Cut!’ Dani’s voice rings out from behind the camera. ‘Don’t bang your chest, Phil. It makes the microphone boom. Let’s take a quick break folks.’

I’ve been trying to tell Phil not to bang his chest for years, thinks Ruth, straightening up. She thinks that Phil looks rather chastened. Dani is talking to him and she can see him nodding vigorously. Probably agreeing to do a full-frontal striptease for the cameras. She can tell just by Phil’s body language that he’s in awe of Dani. He’s standing just that little bit too close and laughing just a little bit too loudly. Shona said that she’d be along later to watch the filming. Ruth will be interested to see her reaction. Ruth’s friend Shona, once a glamorous free spirit, has been in a relationship with Phil for almost three years and they have a baby son, Louis. Ruth is fond of Shona but she doesn’t always trust her. She wonders how much Shona trusts Phil.

Ruth hopes that there’ll be more interruptions and that they won’t get round to her interview today. Dani had said that filming would take four to six weeks but they’ve been here all day and, as far as Ruth can see, they’ve only shot about ten minutes of film and most of that was Corinna telling the horrific/terrifying/chilling story of Mother Hook.

‘Good game, isn’t it?’ Frank is leaning into the trench. He is wearing jeans and a check shirt and looks rather like an intellectual Indiana Jones. Ruth is sure that this is deliberate. Frank is also due to be filmed today.

‘Does it always take this long?’ Ruth climbs carefully
out of the trench. The runners usually provide tea and coffee in the breaks and she doesn’t want to miss out. It’s surprisingly tiring, standing still for hours.

‘We’re doing well,’ says Frank. ‘Dani’s good at moving things along.’

‘What do you think she’s saying to Phil?’

‘Probably telling him to cut down on the theatrics and put in some history. She’s going to be spitting mad at Corinna’s script.’

‘Can’t she tell her to change it? She’s the director after all.’

‘It’s not that simple. Corinna’s quite a big star and the
Women Who Kill
programmes are always heavy on blood and gore. That’s one reason why I’ve never done one before.’

‘Why did you do this one then?’

‘Because Dani asked me. I’ve done a few history programmes with her. She really knows her stuff.’

‘What about Corinna? Have you worked with her before?’

‘No, but I know of her. She used to be quite a well-known actress but then had a career break to bring up her children. Now she’s becoming famous all over again.’

‘She’s certainly making it all sound very dramatic.’

‘Yes, ‘says Frank. ‘It’s a bit over the top for me, I must admit. But you’d be surprised how the most serious people become drama queens when they’re on camera. Look at Phil.’

‘He’s always like that.’

Frank laughs and takes two polystyrene cups from a passing runner. ‘You wait till it’s your turn.’

‘I’m dreading it.’

‘You’ll be great. Just be yourself.’

‘People always say that,’ says Ruth. ‘It’s surprisingly unhelpful.’

‘Frank!’ Suddenly Dani is beside them, a tiny figure in jeans and combat boots. ‘Can I have a word?’

‘Sure,’ says Frank, not moving away from Ruth.

Dani glances at Ruth and obviously decides that she is harmless. ‘What do you think of Phil?’

‘He’s not telling us much,’ says Frank.

‘No. I think he’s a bit of a tosser. We need someone with a bit more weight.’ She turns (rather unfortunately, as far as Ruth is concerned) to Ruth. ‘What about you? Aslan said you were good.’

Aslan is a gloriously-named researcher. Ruth blushes. ‘Did he? Well …’

‘The thing is,’ says Dani. ‘We need someone to give us some archaeology, otherwise it’s all going to be Corinna flitting around talking about ghoulies and ghosties. Frank here will give us some proper history, won’t you?’

‘I’ll certainly try.’

‘So we need some proper archaeology to go with it. OK, Ruth? We’ll do a longer interview with you.’

‘OK,’ says Ruth. Phil is looking over. She waves back cheerily.

*

‘Carbon 14 is present in the earth’s atmosphere in the
form of gas carbon dioxide. Plants take in the gas through their leaves, animals eat the plants, carnivores eat the animals. So we all absorb the Carbon 14 and, when we die, we immediately stop taking it in and the Carbon 14 in our bones – or in the wood of trees, for example – starts breaking down. So by measuring the amount of Carbon 14 left in a bone, or a piece of charcoal or cloth, it’s possible to estimate its age.’

Ruth stares fixedly at the red light in front of her. The cameraman gives her a discreet thumbs up. The sound engineer brings the furry microphone closer to her mouth.

‘So,’ says Corinna, glancing down at the notes in her hand, ‘how accurate are these tests?’

‘Well, they’re very useful when we’re dealing with ancient finds where we just want to know the date within a certain historical period. But with modern finds it’s more problematical. Radiocarbon dating can be skewed by sudden surges in the radiation, for example sunspots or solar flares. So we would only be ever able to give a date within a range of, say, a hundred years.’

Corinna seems to find this answer exasperating. ‘So are you telling me that Carbon 14 tests won’t give us a definite date for the skeleton of Mother Hook?’

‘Yes,’ says Ruth.

‘Cut!’

Corinna turns round. ‘Dani! Can I have a word?’ She stalks away, stepping carefully over cables. Ruth is left alone with the cameraman. She finds him rather a
soothing presence, much less frightening than Dani or the researchers. ‘Was that OK?’ she asks.

‘Great,’ says the cameraman. ‘I love all that stuff. Never miss
Time Team
. Corinna won’t like it though. She wants you to tell her exactly what Mother Whatsit had for tea.’

‘You need stable isotope analysis for that,’ says Ruth. She feels surprisingly exhilarated. After the first nerves, it hadn’t been so terrible after all. She’d had nightmares about being struck completely dumb in front of the cameras but, in the event, she had just imagined that she was talking to a room full of students and the words had come quite easily. She wonders what she looks like though. Dani had told her to dress casually so she’s wearing linen trousers and a loose blue shirt. Corinna, on the other hand, is in a tight red dress and high heels.

A runner brings Ruth coffee and she drinks it gratefully. She feels quite important for a moment. She can see Phil watching her and a flash of red hair which shows that Shona has joined her partner. But who’s that next to Shona? Ruth looks again. There’s no disguising the breadth of those shoulders, the thick greying hair, the scowl. Christ, it’s Nelson.

‘Are you ready to go again, Ruth?’ Dani appears beside her.

‘Did you ask the police to come?’ asks Ruth. She gestures towards Nelson who ignores her. ‘It’s just I know that man over there.’

‘Oh, we had some trouble clearing the traffic,’ says
Dani airily. ‘But it’s all sorted now. I’ve got a letter of authorisation.’ She pats her pocket.

Ruth isn’t convinced. She knows that Nelson would never lower himself to be involved with traffic calming. But, if not, why is he here?

‘OK,’ says Dani, darting behind the monitor. ‘Can you tell us about Carbon 14 again? Straight to camera this time, Corinna’s taking a break.’

Ruth goes again. She talks about Carbon 14, stable isotope values and the importance of calibration. She ignores Dani and addresses herself directly to the sympathetic cameraman. She tries not to think about Phil or Nelson or whether her stomach is sticking out. When it’s over, Dani says ‘I think we can use this,’ which Ruth takes to be a compliment. The cameraman gives her another thumbs up and Ruth finds herself free to go. She walks slowly back towards the knot of people standing behind the catering van. Shona waves but Ruth is looking at Nelson. He’s accompanied by two young women; one looks like she might be his daughter, the other, a slim figure with long blonde hair, also looks vaguely familiar.

‘Hallo Nelson.’

‘Quite the TV star.’

‘Hardly.’ Ruth laughs, rather wildly. The girls are looking giggly and awestruck. Ruth looks round to see the source of this excitement but nothing much is happening on the set and the film people are all in a huddle round the monitor. Then it occurs to her that they are in awe of
her
. Because she’s on TV. Wonders will never cease.

‘You know my daughter Rebecca.’ Ruth doesn’t know Rebecca though she’s certainly interested in her, partly because she’s Kate’s half-sister. Rebecca Nelson is a good-looking girl with Michelle’s grace and Nelson’s dark hair. She shakes hands with Ruth and says how cool it must be to be on television. ‘I’d like to get into TV,’ she says. ‘I’m doing media studies at uni.’

Ruth distrusts any discipline with ‘studies’ in the title but she smiles at Rebecca and wishes her good luck with her ambition.

‘The girls heard that there was some filming at the castle,’ Nelson is saying, ‘so I thought we’d pop over to see what was happening. This is Maddie. Maddie Henderson.’

Ruth looks at the blonde girl. Maddie. Cathbad’s daughter. Scarlet’s sister. She remembers her dimly from four years ago. Then she was a watchful adolescent, now she seems to have grown into a beautiful young woman with something of her father’s other-worldly manner. She wonders how on earth Maddie has ended up in Nelson’s company, best buddies with his daughter.

Nelson seems to know what she’s thinking. ‘Maddie came to see me. She had some questions about a case. She’s studying journalism. She was staying in a squat so I invited her back to our place.’

This seems to leave a hell of a lot unanswered. What case? And why is Maddie, who she knows is at university up north somewhere, in Norfolk? Didn’t Cathbad say that the family had moved away? But Nelson is frowning in a
way that doesn’t invite further questioning. Rebecca asks what they are filming.

‘It’s a programme called
Women Who Kill
,’ says Ruth. ‘About Jemima Green. Mother Hook.’

‘Oooh.’ Rebecca and Maddie look at each other in delicious horror. ‘Mother Hook.
Don’t cry little darling
. I used to have nightmares about her when I was younger.’

Nelson looks outraged. ‘Who told you about her?’

‘Oh Dad! Everyone knows about Mother Hook. She killed all those babies and cut them up with her hook.’

‘There’s no evidence for that,’ says a voice behind them. Frank is smiling at the girls, clearly more used to admiration than Ruth.

‘You’re the history man, aren’t you?’ says Rebecca. ‘I saw you on that programme about Jack the Ripper.’

Frank looks at Ruth. ‘I get all the classy gigs.’

‘Nelson,’ says Ruth, nervous though she couldn’t have said why. ‘This is Frank Barker, a historian on the programme. Frank, this is DCI Harry Nelson, of the King’s Lynn police.’

Frank looks politely interested, Nelson glowers. Ruth feels that she needs to explain why a senior policeman would be visiting her on the set. Should she mention the traffic?

She is saved by Shona, who floats over to kiss Ruth on both cheeks and tell her that there’s a button missing on her shirt.

Nelson drives back through the rush-hour traffic, listening to Rebecca and Maddie chatting and feeling as if he’s gone back in time. Though he’d complained then, he misses the days when he provided an unpaid taxi service for his daughters, lurking outside parties (‘Don’t get out of the car, Dad!’) and freezing on the touchline at netball matches. When he’d invited Maddie back to his house he’d been motivated by a vague desire to save her from a squat described (admiringly) as ‘a proper commune, like in the Sixties’. If he could save Maddie from three nights of free love and marijuana, perhaps Cathbad might forgive him for arresting Liz Donaldson. Michelle had been happy to invite Maddie to stay – she likes Cathbad, and perhaps she too missed the time when the house resembled a non-stop pyjama party. Only Rebecca had been inclined to grumble. She had just arrived home from university and had counted on having the house to herself. Her older sister, Laura, who took her finals last month, was on holiday in Ibiza. ‘I’ve got
essays
to write,
Dad,’ Rebecca had said from a recumbent position on the sofa. ‘You and Mum never seem to appreciate how hard I have to work.’ But, in the end, she and Maddie had hit it off immediately. Before the evening was over, they were huddled under a duvet watching
CSI Miami
. Nelson, watching them, reflected that he had never really understood women.