Unholy Murder

by Lynda La Plante

  ‘She wouldn’t be a credible witness,’ Jane said.

  ‘You two would be. You witnessed her reaction; you saw her point at Sister Melissa.’

  ‘We couldn’t actually see who she was pointing to,’ Boon said.

  ‘Come on, it’s bloody obvious, so what’s the harm in saying it was her?’ Barnes shot back.

  Jane knew what Barnes was suggesting, but she wasn’t going to lie in court. She handed him the close-ups of Meade and Sister Melissa touching hands. ‘This is stronger evidence they were in a relationship, which proves he’s lied to us and implicates him in her murder.’

  Barnes looked at the photos as Jane continued.

  ‘There’s something else that’s come up which suggests Mother Adele may have been involved.’ Jane then explained about the foxglove seeds in Melissa’s stomach.

  ‘All very interesting, but as Mother Adele is dead, not much use.’

  ‘It’s also possible Meade knew foxglove plants contained a poison,’ Jane suggested.

  ‘Would the amount of foxglove in her stomach have killed her?’ Barnes asked.

  Jane shrugged. ‘I don’t know, but it’s clear it didn’t, since she was stabbed to death.’

  Stanley picked up on Jane’s remark. ‘Then it is possible Mother Adele was angry with Melissa and slipped some foxglove in her food to kill her but for some reason it didn’t work. Then later that night, Melissa met secretly with Meade in the crypt where he killed her because she posed a threat to his career.’

  ‘It still leaves the question of who moved the coffin outside and when,’ Boon said.

  ‘It could have been Meade and Malone,’ Stanley suggested.

  ‘God, how I’d love to arrest that bastard Meade! I know I could force the truth out of him and get the evidence we need against Malone as well,’ Barnes said.

  Although Jane knew Barnes was fixated on Meade and Malone, she decided it was time to raise her concerns about Thomas Durham and Lee Holland.

  ‘There’s something else that’s come up in the course of the investigation that I need to ask you about. Thomas Durham and Lee Holland are hiding something, but I don’t know what it is or why.’ She was interrupted by a knock on the door.

  ‘I’m busy,’ Barnes shouted.

  The door opened and PC Roger Rogers, the coroner’s officer, walked in. He glared at Boon.

  ‘Where’s my daughter?’ he asked aggressively.

  Everyone looked at Boon, waiting for a reply.

  ‘I don’t know,’ he replied.

  ‘Her flatmate said she was meeting you last night and she never came home. She hasn’t turned up for work this morning either. So, where is she?’ Rogers demanded to know.

  ‘We were supposed to meet at The Chequers in Bickley last night, but she never turned up,’ Boon said.

  ‘What were you meeting her for, Boon?’ Barnes asked with a frown, clearly wondering if he was passing on information about the investigation.

  Boon started to look uneasy. ‘We were just going to go for a social drink, nothing more, sir. I phoned her work a few minutes ago because I was worried about her. I’m even more worried now.’

  ‘Why?’ Barnes asked.

  ‘I asked when they had last seen Becky. Her editor told me she had arranged to meet someone from the diocese yesterday afternoon and left the office at about two.’

  ‘Who was she meeting?’ Rogers asked.

  ‘I don’t know . . . and neither did her editor,’ Boon said.

  ‘Did you tell her about our interest in Bishop Meade?’ Barnes asked.

  Boon hung his head. ‘Not at first. After we spoke with Annette Gorman, Becky kept pressing me about who Father Bob was. I said I didn’t know, but she knew I was lying. In the end I told her about Bishop Meade and said we suspected he may have been involved in the murder.’

  ‘I’ll swing for you, Boon, if any harm has come to my daughter!’ Rogers shouted.

  ‘Excuse me, but you were the one who told Becky about the post-mortem results. You know your job stipulates not to pass on information about a deceased person or an ongoing investigation,’ Stanley said.

  Rogers pointed at Jane. ‘She never told me it was to be kept quiet!’

  Barnes slammed his hand on the desk. ‘All right, everyone, calm down. Sitting here blaming each other is getting us nowhere. My concern right now is for Becky. Stanley, I want you to go with Rogers and search her flat; see if there’s anything there that might indicate where she’s gone. Boon, you go to her work with a couple of detectives and speak to all the staff. Tennison, you’re coming with me.’

  ‘Where to, sir?’ she asked.

  ‘Meade’s office, to arrest him and find out what he was doing yesterday afternoon. Arrange for a uniform car to take us there on blues and twos,’ Barnes said.

  ‘Is that advisable after what the commissioner said?’ Stanley asked.

  ‘Right now, I couldn’t give a flying fuck about the commissioner. Finding Becky is all I care about,’ Barnes said, putting on his jacket.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Barnes said nothing during the high-speed journey to Archbishop’s House. Jane knew there would an uproar after Meade was arrested and Barnes might well find himself suspended from duty. He also risked being sacked for disobeying the commissioner’s orders and even losing his pension. Jane sighed to herself. She knew nothing and nobody was going to stop Barnes in his quest to bring down Meade and Archbishop Malone.

  Arriving at their destination, Barnes asked the two uniformed officers to accompany him. He knocked on the door and the young priest answered.

  ‘Where’s Meade?’ Barnes grunted.

  ‘The archbishop said you are not allowed on these premises. I’ll have you know he’s presently with your commissioner.’

  Barnes’s eyes widened. ‘I couldn’t care if he’s with God himself.’ He grabbed the priest by the front of his cassock. ‘Is he in Malone’s office?’

  The priest looked terrified and frantically nodded.

  Barnes raced up the stairs followed by Jane and the uniformed officers. He tried to open the door, but it was locked from the inside.

  ‘Open the bloody door now, Meade, or I’ll kick it in!’ Barnes shouted.

  There was no reply from within. Barnes nodded at the burly uniformed officer, who knew what to do. It took him two running shoulder charges to force the door open with a crash.

  ‘Robert Meade, I am arresting you—’ Barnes stopped, aghast at what he saw.

  A motionless Meade, eyes bulging and tongue protruding, was hanging from the tall bookshelf, his red cloth cincture tied round his neck as a noose.

  ‘No!’ Barnes exclaimed, grabbing a pair of scissors off the desk. He quickly climbed up the library ladder. The uniformed officers supported Meade to ease the tension on the cincture as Barnes hurriedly cut through it.

  Jane noticed a six-by-four-inch photograph on the desk. Looking closer she could see it was a copy of the 1962 Sisters of Mercy group photograph, where Meade was standing next to Sister Melissa with their little fingers entwined. She turned it over and was shocked to see ‘May God forgive me my sins’ written on the back. Jane put the photograph in her coat pocket.

  As Meade was laid on the floor, Barnes jumped down from the ladder.

  ‘Don’t you dare die on me!’ Barnes said, kneeling beside Meade. He started mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and chest compressions.

  Jane knew Meade was dead. She placed two fingers on his wrist to feel for a pulse, then looked at Barnes.

  ‘He’s gone,’ she said softly.

  ‘No, he’s not getting away with it like this!’ Barnes said, continuing the resuscitation attempt.

  Jane gently put her hand on Barnes’s arm. ‘Sir, I can assure you he’s dead . . . you can’t save him.’

  Barnes clenched his fist and slammed it down on Meade’s chest in anger. ‘That bastard was our best hope of finding Becky Rogers.’

  He stood up and walked over to the young priest
who was in a state of shock. ‘Did Meade leave this building yesterday afternoon?’

  The priest nodded.

  ‘He left here just after two. He didn’t say where he was going.’

  Jane recalled Boon saying Becky had left her office at about the same time to meet someone from the diocese.

  ‘I want you to remember his exact words,’ Barnes said.

  ‘He asked me to hail him a cab, then said, “I’m going out to see someone. I’ll be back in a few hours.”’

  ‘Did you hear him say to the cab driver where he wanted to go?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Did you see him when he got back?’

  ‘Yes, it was between seven thirty and eight.’

  ‘Can you be more exact with the time?’

  ‘I went to his apartment just before seven thirty to see if he wanted some supper, but he wasn’t there. I called on him again at eight and he was there. He said he didn’t feel hungry, so I left and didn’t see him again until this morning in his office.’

  ‘What sort of mood was he in last night?’

  ‘He was fairly quiet and looked tired.’

  ‘And this morning?’

  ‘He seemed all right. He had a meeting with Archbishop Malone before he went to see your commissioner. He remained in the archbishop’s office on his own and said he didn’t want to be disturbed. That was the last time I saw him . . . until now.’

  ‘What was he wearing when he left here yesterday afternoon?’ Jane asked.

  ‘His clerical suit, purple shirt and white collar.’

  She knew Meade would stand out dressed like that, particularly if he had met Becky in a public place.

  ‘Does the name Becky Rogers mean anything to you?’ Barnes asked the priest.

  He nodded. ‘She called yesterday and asked to speak with Bishop Meade.’

  ‘What did she say?’

  ‘Just that she wanted to speak personally with him about a delicate matter.’

  ‘Did Meade speak to her?’

  ‘I put the call through to him. A minute or so later he came to my office. He seemed annoyed.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘She never told me she was a newspaper reporter. I thought it was a personal call when I put her through. Bishop Meade told me who she was. He said if she ever called again, I was to put the phone down on her.’

  ‘Did she call again?’

  ‘Not to my knowledge.’

  Something didn’t add up for Jane. She very much doubted Meade would agree to meet Becky in the first place, much less harm her, as she posed no direct threat to him. Although Melissa’s death had been brutal, there was no direct evidence that Meade was ever violent or abusive. Malone, on the other hand, regularly beat children.

  Barnes looked at the uniformed officers. ‘I want this room treated as a crime scene. Get on your radio and ask for DS Johnson from the lab to attend. Also ask for four detectives from the incident room. I want Meade’s office and apartment searched top to bottom. I need one of you to drive me back to Orpington, and one to guard the scene until DS Johnson and my detectives arrive.’ He turned to Jane. ‘Let’s go, Tennison.’

  ‘Can you give me a couple of minutes please, sir? I just want to nip down to the archives and speak with Mrs Parkin.’

  ‘What for?’

  ‘She might know something about the letter of dispensation Malone purportedly signed. If she says there wasn’t one in the archives, then the letter he’s taken to the commissioner must be a fake.’

  ‘Good thinking . . . I’ll come with you.’

  ‘She might be a bit tetchy after our first meeting – even more so if there’s two of us. It might be best I go on my own.’

  ‘I’ll wait for you in the car then.’

  As Jane entered the archives, she knew Mrs Parkin would not yet be aware of Meade’s death.

  ‘What do you want?’ Mrs Parkin asked with a stern expression.

  ‘I need your help, Mrs Parkin.’

  ‘You tricked me into helping you last time. Archbishop Malone said I was not to speak to the police. So please just go away and leave me alone.’

  ‘I’m sorry I was underhand. I regret not being upfront with you. At the time I believed Bishop Meade was lying to me and wouldn’t let me speak with you personally,’ Jane explained.

  ‘Bishop Meade is as honest as the day is long,’ she said primly. ‘He wouldn’t—’

  ‘Bishop Meade is dead. We just found his body in the archbishop’s office.’

  Mrs Parkin looked mortified. ‘Dead! How?’

  ‘It looks like he may have taken his own life.’

  ‘Why . . . why would he do that?’ she asked, clearly distraught. ‘Bishop Meade is a kind and gentle man.’

  ‘Other people have said that as well. I understand how distressed you must be, and I’m sure you want to go home right now, Mrs Parkin. But my job is to get to the truth of what happened and why. There’s something very important that’s come up in our investigation and we need to resolve it as soon as possible.’

  Mrs Parkin wiped her eyes with a tissue, then took a deep breath before replying. ‘What is it?’

  ‘We now know the murdered woman was a sister at St Mary’s Covent. Her name was Melissa Bailey. We have reason to believe Archbishop Malone signed a dispensation letter allowing her to renounce her faith and leave the convent. Do you know if that document exists?’

  ‘No, but it might. Archbishop Malone came down here yesterday morning and said he needed to look through some old documents.’

  ‘What time was that?’

  ‘About eleven or eleven-thirty. I offered to get the documents for him, but he said he’d get them himself.’

  ‘Did he appear angry?’

  ‘He did, actually. Anyway, he went into the archives and came out a few minutes later holding a document, then left the room without saying anything. It might have been the dispensation letter.’

  ‘How do you find Archbishop Malone?’

  ‘To be perfectly honest, he’s an arrogant pig of a man with a terrible temper. He talks down to everyone and shouts when you make a mistake or are too slow in doing something for him. The truth is no one here likes him, but you don’t dare talk back, or he’ll have you sacked. He’s been known to move priests who have upset him to churches in all sorts of godforsaken places.’

  Jane remembered Boon telling her Becky had been making inquiries at the council planning offices about the sale of the convent.

  ‘Remember last time I was here I asked you about quotes or invoices for building work at the convent? I wondered if you found any.’

  ‘I haven’t really looked, but I can do it now if you want.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ Jane asked.

  ‘God rest his soul,’ she said. ‘But a woman was murdered. Whoever did it needs to be found and punished.’

  ‘Thank you, Mrs Parkin. ‘I’ve got to go back to the station. If you find anything could you fax a copy over to the incident room for me?’ Jane said, handing her the station fax number.

  ‘That’s fine. But please don’t tell Archbishop Malone I’ve helped you or I’ll lose my job.’

  *

  Jane told Barnes about her conversation with Mrs Parkin, but decided not to mention her request for any documents about building work at the convent until she knew if there were any. Barnes said nothing on the journey back to Orpington, clearly in deep thought. As they walked across the station yard he finally spoke.

  ‘I have to say I wasn’t expecting Meade to top himself.’

  ‘I found this on the desk,’ Jane said, handing him the photograph.

  Barnes looked at it briefly, read what was written on the back and returned it to Jane. ‘A veiled confession, I suppose. Suicide is considered a mortal sin in the Catholic faith. He won’t get God’s forgiveness, a funeral mass or burial in a Catholic cemetery.’

  ‘I didn’t know that,’ Jane replied.

  ‘That’s because you’re not a Catholic.
And before you ask, I was until I dealt with Stephen Phillips’ death and then renounced my faith. Mark my words, there’s going to be an uproar at the Yard over Meade’s suicide. My career is over, Jane, but I don’t want you, Stanley, or anyone else getting dragged down with me. When the top brass start asking questions, I want you all to say you acted under my orders.’

  ‘I think you’ll find the officers on the squad are all on your side,’ she said.

  ‘Thank you. But now Meade is dead, the investigation into Sister Melissa’s murder is all but over. I suspect the commissioner and Malone will agree to sweep everything under the carpet. But I’m not going to let that happen.’ Barnes looked at his watch. ‘DCS Salmon will be here in a couple of hours to take over. Let the team know I want an office meeting in an hour. See if Stanley and Boon are back from their inquiries. Tell them to come to my office so we can discuss Becky’s disappearance. We need to find her.’

  *

  Stanley had not yet returned from searching Becky’s flat. A dejected-looking Boon was sitting at his desk with his head in his hands.

  ‘You, all right, Simon?’ Jane asked.

  ‘This is all my fault. I should never have told Becky about Bishop Meade being a suspect. Does he know anything?’ he asked.

  Jane sat next to him and put her hand on his shoulder. ‘Meade’s dead. He hanged himself in the archbishop’s office this morning before we got to him.’

  Boon looked stunned. ‘Did he have a meeting with Becky yesterday?’

  ‘It’s possible, but we don’t know for certain,’ Jane replied.

  He shook his head. ‘If he’s killed Becky, we may never find her.’ He was close to tears.

  Jane saw Stanley walk in. ‘Barnes wants a meeting with us in his office.’

  ‘I know. I just saw him in the corridor. Looks like Meade took the coward’s way out once he knew we were on to him,’ Stanley said.

  ‘I’m not so sure you are right about Meade. There may be other reasons he took his own life that we’ve yet to discover,’ Jane said.

  Boon glared at her. ‘Why are you defending him? He clearly killed Sister Melissa, and he’s probably killed Becky. I hope Meade rots in hell.’