Dying to Know (A Detective Inspector Berenice Killick Mystery) (13 page)

His
knife
was
sharp
,
tearing
at
the
meat
.
The
noise
of
the
blade
against
the
plate
was
loud
.
She
wanted
to
put
her
hands
over
her
ears
.

‘
It’s
not
so
-
called
.
’

He
looked
up
. ‘
What
?
’

‘
My
faith
,
’
she
said
. ‘
It’s
not
so
-
called
.
It’s
real
.
’

‘
If
you
say
so
.
’

‘
I
do
say
so
.
And
Guy
believed
too
.
He
was
baptized
,
confirmed
,
just
as
I
was
,
we
made
our
promises
together
…
’

‘
Oh
,
and
he’s
in
Heaven
now
,
is
he
?
’

She
bit
her
lip
. ‘
Yes
,
’
she
said
. ‘
I
believe
that
he
is
with
our
Lord
.
’

The
noise
of
his
knife
resumed
,
tearing
the
meat
to
strips
under
savage
blows
.

‘
Well
,
you’re
wrong
,
’
he
said
.

‘
How
can
you
–
’

‘
How
can
I
be
so
sure
?
I’ll
tell
you
how
.
In
those
last
hours
,
did
he
cry
to
your
God
?
No
,
he
did
not
.
In
those
last
hours
,
lying
in
the
mud
,
the
life
draining
out
of
him
,
surrounded
by
the
wreckage
of
battle
,
the
screams
of
the
dying
,
the
stench
of
flesh
…
’
The
knife
clattered
on
the
plate
. ‘
Where
was
your
God
then
?
An
empty
promise
of
Heaven
when
we
were
all
in
Hell
.
’

‘
Hush
,
Gabriel
,
please
…
’

‘
What
do
you
know
of
it
?
Were
you
there
,
when
we
called
for
help
and
no
one
came
?
The
light
going
out
of
his
eyes
,
and
I’m
pleading
with
him
to
stay
with
us
,
stay
with
me
…
’

‘
Gabriel
,
please
dear
…
’

‘
Where
was
your
God
then
?
’
His
eyes
flashed
with
rage
.

‘
Hush
,
please
,
think
of
Grace
-
’
she
could
hear
the
light
footsteps
of
their
daughter
in
the
hall
.

‘
Grace
-
’
His
face
was
blank
.

She
knew
these
times
,
when
his
mind
was
elsewhere
,
attending
to
other
sights
,
other
places
.

‘
Guy
,
’
he
said
.

‘
Guy
is
my
brother
.
’
Was
,
she
corrected
herself
.

His
eyes
stared
at
her
unseeing
.
He
frowned
,
appeared
to
focus
,
nodded
. ‘
Yes
,
’
he
said
. ‘
Your
brother
.
’

The
door
opened
,
the
handle
tugged
down
with
difficulty
by
small
fingers
. ‘
Naddle
said
you’d
have
finished
I
could
come
now
,
can
I
mummy
,
can
I
?
’

Amelia
wrapped
her
arms
around
her
daughter
,
lifted
her
onto
her
lap
,
buried
her
lips
in
the
blonde
curls
.

Opposite
her
,
Gabriel
sat
,
frozen
,
staring
still
at
unseen
horror
.

Chapter Nine

Chad
stooped to get through the door, as Virginia stood to one side to let both men in.

‘I
thought you weren’t coming,’ she said. She was in black, black skirt, black jumper.

They
followed her into the living room.

‘The
Archdeacon,’ Liam said. ‘The Reverend was delayed.’ He smiled, but her face remained expressionless. ‘Is Tobias here?’ he asked.

She
shook her head.

‘Shame,’
Liam said. ‘I like to catch up with him when I get the chance.’

‘He’s
off with his tutor,’ she said. ‘Once a week, I can still afford it while he’s earning. After that…’ She shook her head. She turned to Chad, and reached her arm out towards him. ‘Can I take that?’

Chad
was standing in the middle of the room, his coat slung over his arm. He looked down at her as she took the coat, watched her as she went to hang it up. She seemed dwarfed by her clothes, her sleeves hanging over her fingertips. She sat on the edge of an armchair.

He
felt his way to the sofa and took one end of it. Liam took the other.

To
the surprise of both men, Virginia burst into tears. ‘They’ve been here again,’ she said. She put her hands up to her face. ‘Coppers. Can’t bear them…’ Her words were swallowed up in sobbing.

Neither
man moved. They sat, side by side on the sofa, their hands on their laps.

‘I
can’t answer them, can I?’ Virginia looked up. ‘Anyone would think it was me who’d killed him, the way they go on.’ She sniffed, dabbed at her cheeks with her fingers. ‘That detective sergeant, the one who came the first time, saying his name was Ben as if we’re best friends… He had a different girl with him, Ashcroft or something, she was just as bad.’ She fiddled in her pocket and produced a handkerchief. ‘And now they’re saying they want me to come in, they kept asking me about Jacob, it was years ago now, why did they have to bring that up, it’s not as if I don’t think about him all the time, I loved that boy more than my own life…’ Her eyes welled with tears again, and she dabbed at them with her handkerchief.

‘Why
– ’ Chad glanced at Liam, then went on, ‘why do they want to question you?’

‘The
police?’ She looked up at him. ‘I’ve no idea. The cheek of it, that policeman asking me about the state of my marriage, I told him it was none of their business. That’s when he said I might have to come in for questioning. Then I said, why are wasting your time with me, why aren’t you out there looking for a real murderer, if murdered he was?’

‘What
did they say?’ Liam’s voice was soft from his corner of the sofa.

‘The
girl said they wanted to help. As if that’s helping. Then she told me about his injuries, a blow over the head at the top of the tower there, and then whoever did it pushed and he fell. They’re up there now, looking for fingerprints or whatever they do these days. And she said her boss wants me to come in tomorrow, in the morning, that’s why I wanted you two here, it’s going to upset him so much, he needs us all on his side, he’s not himself at the moment as it is, and seeing me carted off by the Law isn’t going to help.’

‘No
one’s going to cart you off,’ Chad said. ‘They want to interview you, that’s all. It’ll be quite straight-forward, they’ll just need a statement – ’

‘So
I told them you’d be with me, tomorrow,’ she said. ‘I said, I’m bringing my priest.’

A
look passed between them. ‘OK,’ Chad said.