St Benet's

by David Blake

  Sending them a look of intense concern, Jenny asked, ‘But he’ll be OK though, yes?’

  ‘He should be, but it does sound like he’s been through a lot. Better to have him in overnight, just in case.’

  As the paramedic began fitting an oxygen mask over his mouth, Tanner yanked it away, stared deep into Jenny’s eyes, and said, ‘My car, Jen?’

  ‘Yes, your car. What about it?’

  ‘Is it all right?’

  With a smile that burst with emotion, Jenny said, ‘Yes, John! Your bloody car’s fine, for fuck’s sake!’

  Re-fitting the mask, the medic looked at her and said, ‘We’d better take him. You can come with us if you like?’

  ‘I’d like that,’ she replied. ‘Thank you.’

  CHAPTER FORTY FOUR

  Sunday, 7th July

  ‘SORRY I’M LATE,’ croaked Tanner, the following morning, as he laid two bandaged hands down on the back of Jenny’s chair to squeeze his way past.

  Jenny spun round to glare at him and ask, ‘Tell me you’re not being serious?’

  ‘I’m fine,’ said Tanner, wincing with pain as he eased himself down into his chair.

  ‘Yes,’ she said, watching as he fumbled to turn his computer on, ‘you certainly look fine, apart from maybe the bandages covering your hands, and the plasters stuck all over your face.’

  ‘Apparently, looking like a multiple burns victim is all the rage these days,’ replied Tanner, as he logged himself in. ‘Didn’t you know?’

  ‘I suppose you read that in Cosmo?’

  ‘Men’s Health, actually,’ he corrected. ‘Anyway, I’ve been awake since six o’clock this morning and I’ve got bugger all else to do.’

  ‘At least tell me you didn’t drive in?’

  ‘Well, I would’ve done, but I’ve got no idea where my car is, so I got a taxi.’

  ‘That’s something, I suppose.’

  ‘Speaking of which, I don’t suppose you know where it is?’

  ‘It’s parked around the back.’

  ‘Still in one piece, I hope?’

  ‘Bad news, I’m afraid. Apparently, just after we left in the ambulance, it caught fire and blew up. Sorry about that.’

  ‘I do hope you’re joking?’

  ‘Unfortunately, I am.’

  ‘One day you’re going to like my car so much that you’ll be wanting one for yourself.’

  ‘Somehow, I doubt that. Anyway, putting your 1980’s TV mini-series of a car to one side for the moment, may I ask what you’re doing here, exactly?’

  ‘I thought I’d pop in to see how everything’s going.’

  ‘Well, you’ll be pleased to hear that everything’s going just fine, so you can pop straight back to your hospital bed. I’ll even be happy enough to give you a lift.’

  Ignoring her offer, Tanner looked down towards the other end of the office. ‘Is he in?’

  ‘Assuming you’re referring to DCI Forrester, then yes, he is. Why?’

  Heaving himself back to his feet, he said, ‘I’ll tell you later,’ before staggering around the desks to make a slow beeline for his superior’s office.

  Reaching his door, Tanner gave it a tentative knock.

  Hearing the call to enter, he eased it open and poked his head around to say, ‘Sorry to bother you, sir, but I was wondering if you had a moment?’

  Looking up with a start, Forrester said, ‘Tanner! What the hell are you doing here?’

  ‘The doctor gave me the all-clear, sir.’

  ‘Really? From all accounts, you barely made it out of that bookshop alive.’

  ‘It wasn’t that bad, sir.’

  ‘Judging by the state of you, it was probably worse.’

  ‘Just some minor burns. Anyway, I wanted to say that I’ve been thinking things over, about the investigation, and I feel that as things stand at the moment, we have no choice but to re-open the Claire Judson case.’

  ‘Sorry, I thought you already had?’

  ‘Er…I meant officially, sir. It’s obvious now that Gary Mitchell is innocent. There’s no way he could have attacked Alan Birch, not when he was locked up in one of our holding cells.’

  ‘Surprisingly, Tanner, I’d somehow managed to figure that one out for myself, which was why we let him go last night.’

  ‘Oh, sorry. I didn’t know.’

  ‘Well, I would have asked you first, of course, had you not just been dragged out of a burning building and driven away in an ambulance. And before you ask, yes, I have arranged police protection for Father Thomas, but this time we’ve posted men outside his front and back door, not just parked idly outside his house.’

  Still standing in front of the DCI’s desk, Tanner shifted uneasily from one foot to the other, before eventually saying, ‘I’d also like to speak with the Bishop of Norfolk again, sir.’

  ‘Please god, tell me you’re joking?’ demanded Forrester, scowling at him over his desk.

  ‘Not at all, sir. We still need to find Claire Judson’s son, and the only person who may have been able to confirm his identity was the person I saw burnt to death yesterday.’

  ‘Yes, quite, but why does that give you cause to speak with the bishop, again?’ asked Forrester, with a heavy emphasis placed on the last word.

  ‘For the same reason as before, sir. It’s the Church connection. If what the nurse said is correct, that Claire Judson’s son was taken into care by them, then there’s a good chance that the bishop’s office will have access to records kept on file somewhere, which will hopefully provide a name, and possibly even tell us his whereabouts.’

  Forrester thought for a moment, before eventually saying, ‘OK, you have my permission to contact his office, but not the bishop himself. There’s no reason why he should personally know anything about this, and with what happened the last time you spoke to him, I don’t want him bothered again.’

  ‘You mean…apart from the fact that he personally held a funeral service for an excommunicated, self-confessed devil worshipper who, according to the coroner’s office at least, took his own life; meaning that by Catholic standards he’d have gone straight to hell, and therefore had no place being given any sort of a church send off, let alone one in Norfolk Cathedral?’

  ‘Seriously, Tanner, if I receive so much as a text message from Head Office saying that you’ve been attempting to speak with the bishop again, and for no other reason than he presided over that funeral, forget being suspended, I’ll have you thrown off the bloody Force! Do you understand?’

  ‘With respect, sir, over the last few days I’ve seen a priest crucified, another impaled, one nearly hanged to death, and a former Church defence lawyer burnt alive, right in front of my eyes. Frankly, I don’t give a fuck who I have to speak to in order to find out who did it!’

  With a darkening face, Forrester sprang up from his chair. ‘But I do, Tanner! And if you dare speak to me like that again, you’ll be off the fucking Force, whether you’ve questioned the bishop or not!’

  The sudden shock of being yelled at sent Tanner reeling. As he stumbled, he grabbed hold of the top of one of the chairs to try and stop himself from falling, only to bring it crashing down on top of him.

  ‘Jesus Christ!’ exclaimed Forrester, as he launched himself around his desk to come to Tanner’s aid.

  Pulling the chair off of him, he helped him back to his feet to ask, ‘Are you OK?’

  ‘I’m fine. Just a bit dizzy. That’s all.’

  As he eased him down into the chair, Forrester said, ‘Look, it’s glaringly obvious to anyone with half a brain that you’re in no fit state to be back at work.’

  ‘I’m fine, sir. Really!’

  ‘Like hell you are!’

  Moving back to the other side of his desk, Forrester picked up his phone, saying, ‘I’m having you taken back to the medical centre, and that’s my final word on the matter.’

  With one of his bandaged hands pressed against the side of his head, Tanner said, ‘After I’ve found Claire Judso
n’s son.’

  ‘No, Tanner!’

  ‘But he’s the one who’s behind all this; I know he is!’

  ‘That’s as may be, but I’m afraid you’re not going to be the one who finds him. I’ll get Cooper to cover it.’

  ‘Cooper?’

  ‘Yes, Cooper!’

  Feeling his head starting to spin again, Tanner conceded by saying, ‘OK, but at least allow me to contact the bishop’s office.’

  Holding the receiver in his hand, Forrester scowled at him. ‘You don’t give up, do you?’

  ‘I can’t let this one go, sir. Not after what I saw happen to Alan Birch.’

  Forrester replaced the receiver back into its cradle, sat back down and cast an eye over his more senior detective inspector; in particular the stitches on his forehead, the taped gauze covering his left cheek bone, and the bandages wrapped around his hands.

  ‘OK, I’ll give you permission to contact the bishop’s office, but only by email, and I’ll need to approve whatever it is that you write before it’s sent off. How about that?’

  ‘I suppose that’ll have to do.’

  ‘But if they are able to identify who Claire Judson’s son is, then the whole thing will have to be handed over to Cooper, and you’re going to be checking yourself back into the medical centre. Agreed?’

  ‘And if they’re unable to identify him?’

  ‘Then I suppose we’ll be back to square one.’

  ‘And what about me?’

  ‘I’ll have to have a chat to your doctor about that. It will be for him to decide if you’re fit to return to active duty. However, at this precise moment, even from a layman’s perspective, it’s pretty bloody obvious that you’re not up to it, not by a long way.’

  CHAPTER FORTY FIVE

  WITH FORRESTER DECIDING to give DI Cooper the order to officially re-open the forty-three year old investigation into the rape and murder of Claire Judson, Tanner sat down with Jenny to compose an email to be sent to the Bishop of Norfolk’s office, requesting any historical documents held with regard to both the trial of Martin Isaac, along with the identity and location of Claire Judson’s son.

  After it had been drafted, approved by Forrester, and sent to the general enquiries email address for the Diocese of Norfolk, Forrester told Jenny to drive Tanner back to the medical centre, which Tanner was happy to agree to; or so it seemed until he sat in the passenger seat of Jenny’s Golf.

  ‘How about we go and see how Father Thomas is doing?’ he asked, sending her an oh-so-innocent grin.

  ‘Do I have to remind you that I’m under orders to take you back to the medical centre?’

  ‘Yes, but it wasn’t an order, as such. It was more of a suggestion. Besides, St. Andrew’s is on the way.’

  ‘It’s in completely the opposite direction.’

  ‘Not if you take the long way round.’

  ‘Based on that logic, anywhere is on the way if you take the long way round.’

  ‘Exactly!’

  She pulled a face at him, but didn’t argue. Reversing out of the parking bay, she asked, ‘What have you got against hospitals, anyway?’

  ‘Nothing in particular. I just don’t like spending my time having to look at an endless number of posters advertising a wide variety of god-awful diseases, ones that if I don’t already have, I’ve apparently got an above average chance of developing. Besides, as I keep telling everyone, I’m fine!’

  ‘Forrester told me you keeled over in his office.’

  ‘Apart from that.’

  Coming to a halt at the car park’s exit, looking left and right, she said, ‘If Forrester’s watching from his office and I turn left, he’ll know that I’m not taking you to the medical centre.’

  Swivelling around in his seat, Tanner looked behind them, towards Forrester’s window.

  ‘Is he watching?’ asked Jenny.

  ‘Uh-huh.’

  Turning back around, he said, ‘You’d better turn right, but you can do a u-turn when we’re out of his sight, and head back the other way.’

  ‘But what if he’s still watching when I drive past?’

  ‘Then it’s a good job your car looks almost exactly the same as everyone else’s.’

  CHAPTER FORTY SIX

  AFTER TAKING A minor detour for the benefit of DCI Forrester, about half an hour later Jenny pulled up behind a squad car parked directly outside Father Thomas’s house, next door to St. Andrew’s church.

  Seeing the car was empty, as they climbed out, Jenny said, ‘At least they’re not sat inside, enjoying an early afternoon snooze.’

  Looking over at the house, Tanner said, ‘But they’re not guarding the front door either,’ and broke into a run.

  Reaching the house, he rang the bell before peering through the letter box to call out, ‘Father Thomas! Are you in there?’

  There was no response, just a cold still silence.

  ‘He must be up at the church,’ Jenny said.

  ‘Let’s hope so,’ replied Tanner, and together they set off up the path that led up towards St. Andrew’s.

  The moment the church’s heavily fortified entrance came into view, they reined themselves in to continue up the hill in a more sedate, leisurely fashion.

  In front of the door, pacing up and down, was the welcome sight of a uniformed constable.

  ‘We were beginning to wonder where you were,’ said Tanner, with some relief, though a little out of breath.

  ‘Don’t worry, sir,’ the young constable replied. ‘Father Thomas is inside. He’s just packing up after the Sunday service.’

  Tanner had completely forgotten about that. Had he remembered, he’d have told him to cancel it.

  ‘Did it go all right?’

  ‘What, the service? Yes, it was fine, sir. Kind of nice, actually.’

  ‘And Father Thomas? Is he OK?’

  ‘Well, his voice is a bit hoarse, but apart from that, he seems well enough.’

  Taking in Tanner’s bandaged hands and face, the constable went on to ask, ‘And how about you, sir?’

  ‘Me?’ questioned Tanner, surprised to have been asked.

  ‘Yes, sir. We were told what happened; and your face…’

  ‘Nothing for you to concern yourself with, Constable. It’s Father Thomas you need to worry about.’

  ‘Yes, sir. We’ve been ordered not to let him out of our sight.’

  ‘And yet here you are, standing outside his church, where you can’t see him?’

  ‘Er…yes sir, but Constable Higgins is inside.’

  ‘OK, fair enough, but keep your eyes open!’

  ‘Absolutely, sir,’ the young man replied, standing to attention.

  Brushing past him, Tanner and Jenny headed inside the Church to see Father Thomas at the top of the very pulpit where they’d found him hanging only the day before. Thankfully, this time around he was standing at the top, leaning over the lectern, looking down with a pen in his hand.

  A quick glance over to the right side of the church revealed the other constable, propping up one of the ancient stone walls.

  Seeing Tanner and Jenny walk in, the young constable straightened to nod over a greeting.

  ‘Oh, hello, you two,’ came the cheerful yet rasping voice of Father Thomas, looking up to see who was approaching.

  ‘Good afternoon, Father,’ said Tanner, his voice equally strained. ‘We just thought we’d stop by to make sure that you were OK.’

  ‘As you can see,’ the priest replied, glancing over at the constable by the far wall, ‘I’m being well guarded. Hold on. Let me come down and say hello to you properly.’

  With that, he pocketed the pen and carefully made his way down the pulpit’s wooden steps, which were as steep as they were narrow.

  Watching the way he was having to cling onto the hand rails, Tanner said, ‘We can still put you up in a safe house, if you’d prefer?’

  ‘No, no. I feel quite looked after, thank you. A little too much, to be honest.’

&nb
sp; ‘I must admit, we thought you’d be staying at the medical centre for a while longer.’

  Stepping safely onto the floor, as he began making his way over towards them, the priest replied, ‘I can’t say that I’ve ever had a particularly good relationship with hospitals. Too many posters advertising too many diseases for my liking.’

  Glancing at Jenny, Tanner said, ‘See. It’s not just me.’

  ‘And besides, I had a service to prepare for.’

  As he approached, he took in the state of Tanner’s face and hands to say, ‘Goodness! What on earth has happened to you?’

  Glancing down, Tanner replied, ‘It looks worse than it is.’

  ‘Your face doesn’t, surely! Shouldn’t you be in hospital yourself?’

  With a grim smile, Tanner replied, ‘Too many posters.’

  As his face brightened with amusement, extending a hand, Father Thomas said, ‘I never had a chance to thank you for yesterday.’

  Taking it with his own bandaged one, Tanner gave it a careful shake. ‘Anyone in my position would have done the same.’

  ‘But it wasn’t anyone, though, was it? It was you! If you hadn’t come along when you had, I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t be standing before you today.’

  Feeling a twinge of embarrassment, Tanner replied, ‘But I was, and you’re OK.’

  After they’d exchanged smiles, the priest’s face darkened as he said, ‘I heard you were able to apprehend the man who’d done that to me, but that you’ve since released him. Is that true?’

  ‘Well, yes, but I was going to ask you about that. Are you absolutely sure it was Gary Mitchell who attacked you?’

  ‘It was definitely him,’ he replied. ‘The same man who’s been visiting Claire’s grave.’

  ‘Yes, but are you sure that the man you’ve seen outside in the graveyard was Gary Mitchell?’

  ‘Oh, I see what you mean. Well, when you put it like that, I suppose it’s possible that I could have been mistaken. But if it wasn’t him, who else would it have been?’

  ‘We’ve found out something rather interesting,’ continued Tanner, ‘from a nurse, over at Wroxham Medical Centre. Something about Claire Judson.’