Weve got a lot of extras in, she says. So Id like you, Ruth, to brief them.
Brief them?
Tell them the right way to hold a trowel, that sort of thing. Nearest most of them have ever come to digging is on Cromer beach.
Couldnt Phil do it? says Ruth. He said he was coming tonight.
No, Dani shakes her head authoritatively. I get the impression that Phil doesnt get his hands dirty too often.
Frank laughs. And Frank, Dani whirls round. I want a scene of you talking about the hanging. We can make those signposts look like gibbets. I want you to say that an innocent woman may have been killed.
Excuse me, Corinna tosses her head. Ruth finds herself looking at the cascading curls and wondering if she can see the join. The metal truck positively reeks of expensive scent. Excuse me, but Im going to take advantage of the night setting to give a bit of atmosphere. The sort of atmosphere for which Women Who Kill is rightly famous.
Are you going to mention the hook? asks Ruth.
Yes, Ruth. Corinna turns on her. Our viewers will have tuned in to see a programme about one of the most evil women who ever lived, a woman who had a hook for a hand. So, yes, I am going to mention the hook.
And Frank is going to mention that she may have been innocent, says Dani. Itll make good TV. Dex, is that you? The lead cameraman has appeared at the truck door.
Yes, Captain. The crew sometimes treat Dani the way Nelsons team treats him.
A word. And Dani sweeps out of the truck.
Frank! calls Corinna without looking at Ruth.
Coming maam. Frank levers himself upright.
Can you give me your arm to make-up, theres a darling? The grounds wretchedly uneven.
Sure, says Frank, proffering his arm. Will you be OK, Ruth?
Yes, Ruth, says Corinna over her shoulder. Dont forget to visit make-up yourself, dear. You could do with a bit of toning down.
Ruth decides to give Corinna time to get through makeup. She also wants to give her decidedly flushed face a chance to tone itself down. She sits on the bank below the castle and watches as the sound engineers unload their equipment. Tents are being set up on the grass and she can see a sign saying Extras. Queue Here. The castle is obviously expecting an invasion. She checks her phone. No message from Cathbad.
Hi, Ruth.
Its Dex, the friendly cameraman. As usual he looks perfectly relaxed, Styrofoam cup in hand, camera on shoulder.
Looking forward to tonight? he asks.
Not particularly.
Itll be all right. Corinna will put in a command performance.
Thats what Im afraid of.
You mustnt mind Corinna. Shes had a tough life.
She has? A successful acting career followed by being a full-time mother to two supremely gifted children doesnt seem exactly roughing it to Ruth.
Yes. Her husband left her a few years ago. She practically had a nervous breakdown.
Was this when she lost her hair, wonders Ruth. She wonders about the nature of Dexs relationship with Corinna. On set, they often argue but they are also often to be seen deep in discussion. Could Dex have consoled Corinna after her husband left? Hes curiously ageless with his shaven head and earrings but they could be almost the same age.
I dont think Ill have much more to do with Corinna, she says. Im just digging today.
Thats right, says Dex. You concentrate on the archaeology. Its safer that way.
Ruth looks up at the cameraman. His face is in shadow and, just for a second, the camera on his shoulder gives him a monstrous misshapen look. Richard the Third, the bottled spider.
Then Dex smiles and the shadow passes. Have fun, he says.
The hair and make-up area has been set up in a little room at the front of the castle usually used for lockers. Ruth sits feeling uncomfortable as the make-up artist, a kindly woman called Mary-Anne, puts rollers in her hair. The windows are leaded so its hard to see out but she can hear people going past all the time. Mary-Anne is being driven distracted by extras coming in and wanting her to powder their noses.
You can finish with me, says Ruth. She hates people fiddling with her hair and face. She has her hair cut once every six months and often trims the ends herself. She remembers being excruciatingly embarrassed throughout her one and only visit to a spa (to celebrate one of Shonas thirty-ninth birthdays). Besides, its torture to sit still when all the time shes longing to check her phone. It feels so wrong to be sitting here in this scented room with a towel round her shoulders while Judy is … but Ruth cant even imagine what Judy is doing.
No, Ive got to have you looking beautiful, says Mary-Anne seriously, slathering on orange foundation. Dani says there are going to be some close-ups.
Take more than a bit of foundation, thinks Ruth.
Hi, Ruth. Frank appears in the doorway.
Hi. Instinctively Ruth raises a hand to her hair but Mary-Anne gently pushes it away.
Hallo, Frank, says Mary-Anne. Come for some makeup?
One of your colleagues has just offered to take some of the grey out of my hair, says Frank, sitting beside Ruth.
Greys OK on a man, says Mary-Anne. Silver fox and all that.
Ruth notices that Frank doesnt seem to mind this description. She also muses that there isnt a female equivalent to silver fox. Grey-haired old bat doesnt cover it somehow.
Frank is lounging beside her, watching her reflection in the mirror. He has this in common with Nelson, if nothing else; when Frank is in a room it instantly feels smaller. Ruth feels nervous, acutely conscious of the curlers and her orange skin. Frank seems to feel no need for conversation. Mary-Anne is humming along to the radio, a cheery little Lana del Ray number. Video Games.
Is Phil here? asks Ruth at last.
Yes, says Frank. Wafting around looking very pleased with himself. I bet hes already made the trip to make-up.
He spent about an hour in here, says Mary-Anne. He was very particular about the bags under his eyes.
Mans a complete asshole, says Frank. What does his girlfriend see in him? I mean, shes gorgeous.
Ruth is used to men reacting to Shona in this way. Cathbad, for example, exempts Shona from all Phils idiocies. Poor Shona, hed comment. He probably made her do it. But Shona, as Ruth knows, is tougher than she looks.
She loves him, she says now. God knows why.
Well, love is hard to explain, says Frank. Theres another awkward silence while Lana sings about heaven and bad girls and the blue dark. Mary-Anne is taking out the rollers, which seem attached to Ruths skull by tiny wires.
I cant believe how many people are here tonight, says Ruth, wincing.
Yeah. The production company are really pushing the boat out. Im surprised. Must be costing them a fortune. The crewll be on golden time. Thats why theyre all so cheerful.
Who do you think will win? Corinnas "most evil woman who ever lived" or Danis "she was innocent all along"?
Frank grins. Dani. After all, shell be the one doing the editing. And shes determined, Dani. She usually gets what she wants.
But you think Jemima Green was innocent too.
You bet. Thats another reason why our version will win. Because Ill be better than Corinna.
He grins again but Ruth can see something rather steely in the blue eyes reflected in the mirror. She thinks that Frank, too, is used to getting what he wants.
Its a pity that we havent got any hard evidence, says Ruth. If we could only find Joshuas body …
Well have to go on another trip, says Frank. Hows Kate?
Shes fine, says Ruth. We went to Yarmouth today. With my brother and his children.
Oh, you said your brother was coming to stay. Must be good to catch up, huh?
Yes, says Ruth. It has been good.
Are the two of you close?
Ruth hesitates. Are she and Simon close? They are close in age, they have endured a childhood characterised by their parents religious certainties. They share both a defensiveness about their lower-middle-class origins and a desire to escape them. They are both intelligent, cynical and somewhat insecure.
We havent seen that much of each other recently, she says. But we are close. Yes.
Id like to meet him.
Ruth finds herself blushing again. She imagines the pink clashing horribly with the orange. What does that mean? That Frank wants to get to know her family? That he likes spending time with random English people? Maybe hes just missing his own children. As she thinks this, she sees Kate on her donkey and has a sudden excruciating pang for Judy. She simply must check her phone.
Are you OK? asks Frank. You look a bit worried.
Ruth opens her mouth. She wants to tell Frank that shes tired and sad, that she cant work up any enthusiasm for night digs or Mother Hook while her friends baby is missing. But just as she is about to speak, Mary-Anne removes the towel with a flourish.
There you are, Ruth. All finished.
Come on, says Frank. Lets go and join the action.
Outside, the excitement is mounting. The arc lights make the castle look unreal, like a stage set. Ruth thinks again of a siege. The shadowy figures scurrying across the bridge could be an army ready to attack, the giant wheeled cameras battering rams and trebuchets. Ruth wonders if the castle has seen anything like this in all its nine-hundred-year history. Surely William Rufus and gang can never have imagined a time when their fortress would be invaded by make-up artists and sound systems engineers. The medieval overlords who turned the place into a prison could never have thought that the mere memory of one of those prisoners would be enough to create this jamboree, this modern son et lumière.
She checks her phone. No messages.
By the castle wall Corinna, wearing a black hooded cape that makes her look like a Scottish Widow, is being filmed talking straight to camera. Ruth cant hear what shes saying but shes got a good idea that it will include the words horror, evil and monstrous. Frank watches with a half smile on his face. They cross the bridge and approach Danis dig. Its being set up near the seating area where the service for the Outcast Dead was held, but now the space has been transformed into an arena of bright lights and white tents. The finds are going to be examined live on camera. What if there arent any finds? Ruth had asked earlier. Your friend Phil has brought some coins and stuff over from the university, said Dani. Phil is now standing by one of the tents being briefed by Dani. Ruth can sense his excitement from a hundred yards away. Shona, in her mini skirt, is standing at Phils side flicking back her hair.