by Helen Phifer
‘You can’t help but stop to have a sniff can you? I do it every time I go in and out of the gate and I don’t think I could ever tire of it.’
Annie turned to see a man with a shock of thick silver hair and crinkly blue eyes standing on the front step to the house. He was wearing a pair of three-quarter denim shorts and a faded Rolling Stones tee shirt, trainers and no socks.
‘They are gorgeous; I don’t suppose you know what it’s called. I’d love to plant some in my garden.’
‘I don’t but I think Father Simon might, he’s in hospital at the moment but you could always ask him when he comes out. I’m sure he would be grateful for a visitor who didn’t want to know about whose turn it is to arrange the church flowers.’ He winked at her and she laughed.
‘I might just do that.’
‘Please forgive me, I’m stopping you from carrying out your duties; I’m sure you didn’t come to discuss the roses. Do you have a more pressing matter?’
‘I’m looking for Father John Trelmain; I just need to have a quick chat with him.’
‘Would you advise that I tell that I’m him or should I have told a white lie and said he wasn’t in either?’
‘I’d rather that you admitted to being you, it’s nothing for you to worry about but it is really important. Do you have five minutes?’
‘For an officer of the law I have all morning if I’m not in any trouble. Please come inside and we can chat without the local residents paying too much attention and it’s much cooler inside, these big houses are lovely and cool in the summer but a bugger to keep warm in the winter. Still you can’t have it all.’
She held out her hand to shake his, ‘Annie Graham.’ He took hold of it, shaking it firmly, then opened the door and walked inside. Annie followed. The hall had a beautiful original mosaic floor, and a huge oak sideboard which was ornately carved to depict the Last Supper. Everything was pristine and immaculate but then she supposed that it would be, no kids had ever run wild in this house to cause any damage. She followed him into the kitchen where a huge table filled the middle of the room.
He pointed to a chair. ‘Would you like a drink?’
‘Coffee would be lovely, thank you. I haven’t had one this morning because I didn’t want to be late for work.’
John laughed, ‘Well that’s no good, I can’t have you running around all morning with no caffeine in your veins – you might not survive, I know that I wouldn’t.’ He made two mugs of coffee and put some chocolate biscuits onto a plate, placing it onto the table in front of her. ‘I think I can guess what this is about – I believe they found another woman’s body in the churchyard three days ago.’
Annie picked up her mug, ‘Thank you. Yes and to be honest we are still at a loss as to why. I’ve been asked by the Detective Sergeant in Barrow to come and have a chat with you to see if there is anything at all you might know that could shed some light on the matter. Do you know of anyone who may hold a grudge against the church or you?’
‘There are probably millions of people who hold a grudge against the church, religion is not everyone’s cup of tea. But personally to my knowledge I can honestly swear on the holy bible that as far as I know I have no enemies as such. Don’t get me wrong there may be the odd jealous Mother’s Union woman who I haven’t given much attention to but these women are even older than me. As far as I know I have no parishioners who have displayed psychotic tendencies if that’s what you are thinking. In fact I don’t have many parishioners full stop. The church is in decline and the majority of people who bother to turn up for mass are my age or older, although there has been an influx of Thai people lately who are the most gentle, beautiful souls that I have ever met. I would never point my finger at any one of those. I would be surprised if whoever is killing these women has ever come to a church service.’
Annie picked up a biscuit and nibbled at it before sipping her coffee. ‘I think you may have a point, maybe they should start checking with local hospitals to see if any patients who hold a fascination which the church have been released. Did you know that the last victim was a police officer? ’
‘No I didn’t, that must be terrible for you all, how do you even begin to cope with such tragedy?’
‘I didn’t know her very well but I feel sorry for her colleagues and friends. She was last seen leaving a pub with a man who we haven’t managed to identify as yet.’ She realised that she didn’t have a picture of the man to show him. ‘Damn, I can’t believe I didn’t print a copy for you to look at, in case you recognise him.’
Annie realised she had just blasphemed in front of a priest but he didn’t look in the least concerned that she had.
‘I’m going out to do a couple of home visits to sick parishioners in the next half an hour but I should be back after two if you want to pop back with it?’ I could get the housekeeper to rustle up some lunch and you can sit and have a proper break.’
‘If you don’t mind that would be great, but don’t bother going to any trouble, I don’t want to put you out.’
‘Annie it would be my pleasure, it’s nice to have some company, it’s very lonely up here. It’s even nicer to have a conversation which doesn’t revolve around how much you’ve sinned this week. It drives me mad, yes I’m a priest and it’s my calling but I have a life as well. I love to read, listen to rock and roll and I’m partial to the odd bottle of wine but that’s between you and me. I don’t want to tarnish my image as a pillar of society.’ He winked at her again and she grinned.
‘Thanks for the coffee Father and the biscuits, you certainly know the way to a girl’s heart.’
He bowed, ‘At your service Officer.’
Annie stood up, sad to be leaving the cool, peaceful kitchen to face the burning sun. She could have stayed all day. If she ever got fed up of working for the police she might just look into becoming a vicar…,
‘I’ll look forward to seeing you around two, if you’re busy don’t worry. Just come when you can.’
Annie made her way down the path and past the gorgeous roses and began to walk back towards the police station so she could email Will and get him to send her a copy of the photo of Laura and her mystery man.
***
Will finished the last line of his email to Grace, which he had read twice over to make sure it all made sense. He pressed the send button and hoped that whoever she was on holiday with would forgive him for just spoiling it. He looked up at the whiteboard, which was above Laura’s desk. The desk was just as she’d left it. No-one had wanted to be the one to move her things so they hadn’t, they had left it, including her mug and empty packed lunch box. The pictures of the two women were very similar, there were pictures of them when they were alive and two larger ones of them before they had their post mortems. They definitely had a look of each other. Same long blonde hair, thin, both pretty although not so much on these photos because these were death masks. Laura the prettier of the two but they both looked relatively peaceful, which was the only saving grace, it would have been terrible if they had been sliced open like the girls last year. Those images were the last things he saw most nights before he closed his eyes, he could never forget them.
He walked to the far corner of the room where the kettle was and switched it on; he was waiting for the DI to arrive. The office was empty which was nice; Will liked his own company, it gave him the chance to think without any interruptions. He took his mug of coffee back to his desk and began checking his emails. He had one from Annie and his heart skipped a beat. He opened it and read down, she’d talked to the priest and he definitely had no suspects. She wanted him to email the picture to take and show him and he cursed himself, had no-one sent out a global email with the picture of the man to see if anyone recognised him? He was just hitting the send button when his phone began to ring, he looked at the display and cringed but answered immediately, ‘I’m so sorry to bother you Grace.’
‘Will, I can’t believe it and to be honest it is very nice here but it�
�s ever so boring. I was about to resort to buying a new book to read but this is much better.’
Will paused.
‘Oh my, I’m sorry Will. I didn’t mean that how it sounded. Poor Laura, poor you, I’m home in three days but I’ll go over everything you’ve sent me and get back to you, is that okay? Because if not I can come home sooner, but whatever, as soon as I’m back in England I’ll grab some clean clothes and come straight down.’
‘Thank you Grace, that’s really kind of you. I hope I haven’t ruined your holiday too much.’
‘Don’t be soft; you know I love my job as much as you love yours even though it takes over. I want to help and I’m glad that you asked me.’
She ended the call and he felt a little bit better, knowing that her input might be able to make the difference because up to now they didn’t have a bloody thing. The church was just a body dump, Matt had told him that they had died elsewhere because of the Liver Mortis on the small of their backs and necks, yet they had been found lying on their sides. He just had no idea where to start looking. If only they could track down this mystery man. Will had a feeling that he might be falsely pinning all his hopes on this guy as the killer but it was all that they had up to now, along with a boot print they couldn’t say wasn’t from one of the uniformed officers who had attended the scene.
Chapter 23
Annie went straight back out on foot patrol after emailing Will; she didn’t want anyone catching her moping around in front of the computer like a lovesick teenager waiting for him to reply. She wanted to make a good impression and get to know the locals and the best way to do that was by walking around and meeting them. She headed through the town and towards the pier and the boat club, there was something about the place and it was the ideal place to fantasise about being rich. Bowness was busy today; she got stopped to have her picture taken at least six times. She smiled, nodded at them and continued on her way. The Teal had just docked at one of the piers and there were quite a few passengers waiting to board. Annie waved at the crew members who were busy on deck and they paused to wave back. The hills and mountains which surrounded Lake Windermere were a luscious mixture of almost every colour green you could imagine. There were lots of small rowing boats out on the water and a couple of sailing boats which were gently bobbing on the calm surface of the lake; she stood for a moment to take in the view. It was one that she could never tire of and she wished she knew how to write poetry so she could write something to describe how lucky she felt but literature had never been her strong point, she wouldn’t have a clue where to begin.
‘Annie.’
The voice broke into her daydream and she turned to look behind her in the direction that it had come from. She smiled to see Lily making her way towards her.
‘I’m so glad that I’ve seen you, I wanted to ask you if you would like to come to our barbeque on Friday night. Tom gets this unearthly desire to cremate every piece of meat in a three mile radius when the sun shines for more than two days.’
Annie didn’t know what to say, she was touched that they had thought to invite her, but she hated anything like that. ‘I would love to, thank you. I’m working until six but I could come after if that’s okay?’
Lily squealed and then stepped forward and hugged her. ‘Marvellous, it will be a good chance for you to get to know some of the locals and it would be the perfect chance to introduce you to Tom’s son; I think you two would really get on.’
‘Do you need me to bring anything with me?’
‘Just yourself, Tom has a complete shopping frenzy and empties the shelves of the supermarket. I think he drives them mad to be honest but it keeps him out of trouble.’
Annie felt a little overwhelmed by the thought of it, she couldn’t remember the last time she had done something or been invited anywhere on her own. As if Lily was reading her mind she whispered, ‘And don’t worry about getting all dressed up, clothes don’t make the person. You could be dressed from head to toe in Chanel and be a total bitch, or you could be wearing Primark and sparkle like a diamond. Trust me I know, just be yourself and don’t worry that anyone is better than you. We are all the same only each of us has a different purpose in life, some work hard for their money and others are handed it on a plate.’
They began walking in the direction of the boat club and Lily continued to chatter away. ‘If we get the chance to have a good old natter on Friday night I’ll tell you my secrets and how I ended up marrying Tom. I know how it looks because he’s much older than me but it’s not like that at all, I would love Tom if he lived in a two-man tent at the top of Coniston Old Man. Don’t get me wrong, I hate camping but I love him so much it wouldn’t matter where we lived.’
Annie found herself grinning; Lily was funny and nice and they chatted about anything and everything until they reached Tom’s boat. ‘Please come and have a drink and you can let Tom bore you for a bit while I hide my shopping.’ Annie followed her up the ladder and onto the boat.
Tom was below deck and smiled when he saw them both. ‘To what do I owe this pleasure?’
Lily patted his arm. ‘Annie was on her way down here, she told me that she couldn’t wait to see your boat again.’ With a wicked grin Lily ran down the steps to the galley below leaving her with Tom.
‘Did Lily invite you to our do on Friday?’
‘Yes she did, thank you. I’m looking forward to it.’
‘Good, I’m glad about that. It will give you a chance to get to know a few people.’ He lowered his voice, ‘I think Lily has her heart set on matchmaking you with my son, so don’t be offended. Just tell her to mind her own business if she drives you mad.’
Lily appeared with another jug filled with juice and fruit. ‘Non-alcoholic Pimm’s.’
Annie couldn’t be offended by Lily, she was too nice and it was very sweet of her to try and get her fixed up but she was off all men, well almost all men. She finished her drink and said goodbye, there was a shoplifter at one of the jewellers who had been detained so she made her way back up the hill towards the shop. She walked in and was surprised to see a little old lady sitting on a chair with a glass of water in one hand and a security guard standing beside her. She looked at the guard. ‘What happened?’
‘Mrs Fitz was looking at the watches, she felt a bit faint and asked for a glass of water and then put one of the watches into her handbag when the shop assistant went to get her a drink.’
‘Where’s the watch now?’
The elderly woman began to sniff into her handkerchief, then rooted around in her bag and pulled out a white watch which had a crystal-studded face and strap. ‘I don’t know what I was thinking, I was looking for a gift for my granddaughter and knew that she would love it. Then I started to feel a bit faint, the lovely girl went to get my drink and I must have put it into my bag. I’m so embarrassed, I’ve never done anything like this before – I swear. My Albert will be furious.’
Annie patted her shoulder, she felt sorry for her. ‘It’s okay Mrs Fitz, what’s your full name and date of birth? Let’s see if we can sort this out, you wait here while I speak to the manager.’
‘Margaret Alma Fitz, 12th October 1931.’
Annie went through into the back office to speak to the manager who didn’t look a day over twenty five and had red, flushed cheeks.
‘It’s company policy to prosecute all shoplifters, but I feel terrible.’
Annie nodded in agreement. ‘Well technically she didn’t leave the shop, let me do some checks on her to make sure she isn’t a master criminal.’ Annie passed the details over the radio for a PNC check; if she came back no trace she would do her best to make sure the manager let her off with a stiff warning. After a minute her radio burst into life. ‘No trace on those details.’ Annie let out a sigh of relief and turned to face the manager. ‘She isn’t on any of our systems and she’s getting on a bit, it looks as if it was a mistake. Would you be willing to not press charges?’
The man bit his bottom lip then
sighed. ‘Yes I would, I’d never sleep again if she got marched from here in handcuffs. I can’t talk to her though, can you take her outside and talk to her. Just tell her not to come back in and I’ll smooth it over with the staff.’
‘Wise decision, the publicity wouldn’t help, she looks like everyone’s favourite nana.’
They went back in and Annie bent down to talk to Margaret on her level. ‘Good news Margaret, the manager thinks that you made a mistake and is happy for me not to take this any further as long as you don’t come back in. Do you understand?’
The woman dabbed at her eyes and patted Annie’s hand. ‘Thank you so much, I’m sorry to have caused you any trouble dear.’
Annie straightened up and offered her hand to Margaret. ‘Come on Margaret, let’s take a walk in the fresh air and let these nice people get on.’ She helped her up and walked her outside. As she reached the door she turned and smiled at the manager, ‘Thanks.’
‘Do you need a lift home?’ she asked Margaret. ‘I can get one of my colleagues to come and take you.’
‘Oh gosh no thank you, I’ve caused you quite enough trouble for today. I will be fine; I’ll go and get the bus. I’m so grateful to you, I don’t know what my family would have said if they found out.’
