One street of houses, a phone box and a shop that is only open for two hours in the afternoon. Scarlet’s family live in a big modern bungalow built of ugly brown brick slightly redeemed by ivy. Ruth parks behind Nelson’s Mercedes and two police vans. The police presence has not gone unnoticed in the small community. A group of children watch, wide-eyed, from the other side of the road, and up and down the street faces appear in windows. Their expressions are hard to read: curious, frightened, gleeful. As Ruth approaches, Nelson appears around the side of the house. The front garden has been reduced to mud by police boots. Someone has put down planks, presumably for a wheelbarrow. ‘Ruth,’ Nelson greets her, ‘how are you this morning?’ Ruth feels slightly embarrassed. Today she is the professional, the expert once more, she doesn’t want to be reminded that last night she was sobbing over a dead cat. ‘Better,’ she says. ‘Erik … you know, my ex-tutor, he came round after you left.’ Nelson looks at her slightly quizzically.
What do You think about The Crossing Places - Elly Griffiths (2009)?
