Watchers of Time

by Charles Todd

  He made it sound as if Rutledge had been prying, vulgar curiosity driving him.

  Rutledge rose and thanked him for his time.

  He reached the door and was just putting his hand on the knob when the doctor said swiftly, for a second time, “Look, forget what I just told you.” There was a harsh expression on Stephenson’s face, a fierce desire to recall his words, and a strong dislike of the man who’d heard them.

  As Rutledge walked down Water Street, he found himself wondering if indeed Father James had lied to the doctor. It was a small lie, of no great importance. Unless it was nested in a pattern of lies? This was perhaps what lay at the center of the doctor’s unease.

  In the hotel lobby, Monsignor Holston rose from one of the chairs there and said, “I’ve come for lunch. Will you join me?”

  It was an unexpected invitation. Rutledge said, “Yes. Let me wash up first, if you don’t mind.”

  “Of course.”

  Rutledge took the stairs two at a time, wondering what had brought the priest here from Norwich.

  “He canna’ stay away, for a man who doesna’ wish to stay here,” Hamish commented dryly.

  Busy with that question, Rutledge reached the head of the stairs, turned toward his room, and in the narrow passage nearly collided with his fellow guest coming the other way.

  “I beg your pardon!” he said, catching her arm to steady her. “I was in too much of a hurry.”

  Startled by his sudden appearance, May Trent said hesitantly, “It was my fault as well. I had just knocked at your door. Today in the churchyard I should have apologized for last evening. You were trying to help, and I turned on you like a termagant. It was rude and ungrateful of me!” There was a rueful smile in her eyes.

  “Not at all,” he said lightly. “You had no reason to believe my methods would work.”

  “I had no cause not to believe in them. But I have a way of collecting lost sheep, and then defending them from imaginary wolves. When I returned to my table, my friends had a few pithy comments to make. You may consider me chastised and properly chastened.”

  Rutledge laughed, and received a deeper smile in return. He noticed a flicker of a dimple in one cheek, and on the spur of the moment said, “I have a friend who has come to take lunch with me. He’s a priest, and should know more than most about the old churches in this part of Norfolk. If Mrs. Barnett can accommodate us, would you care to join us?”

  Hamish grumbled that it was unwise.

  For an instant Rutledge could see that she was tempted, but she shook her head. “That’s kind of you. My friends are leaving for London tonight, and asked me to come with them as far as King’s Lynn. I’ve promised.”

  She started past him, to the top of the stairs, but he put out a hand to stop her. “Miss Trent, I need to ask—it’s a matter of police business. Are you aware that Father James has left a bequest to you in his Will?”

  “Bequest? There must be some mistake.”

  “His solicitor has had some difficulty carrying out Father James’s wishes, because neither he nor the housekeeper has been able to find the item—”

  Miss Trent shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve heard nothing of this—and I know of nothing that Father James might wish me to have.” She was clearly mystified, and a little apprehensive.

  “It was a photograph. It was kept in the drawer of his desk, but apparently it isn’t there any longer. Did he by any chance give it to you himself?” And perhaps hadn’t got around to rescinding the codicil. . . .

  She said, “No. He gave me nothing, and he said nothing about a bequest. Are you quite certain—why should he leave me a photograph?”

  “Perhaps you should speak to the solicitor about it. The name in the Will is Marianna Trent, of London.”

  “But I haven’t used Marianna since I was a child. Everyone calls me May. Marianna was also my aunt’s name, you see, and perhaps he meant her? Although he never said anything to me about knowing her—” The confusion in her face seemed genuine.

  “Did he ever show you a particular photograph? Of himself, of his family, possibly of someone who was in some fashion dear to him? Someone he discovered you had known as well?”

  The confusion cleared, but a frown took its place, as if the reminder was not welcome. “I think—it’s possible I know what you mean. But I haven’t the time to discuss it now. I’m already late; my friends will be waiting. When I come back to Osterley tomorrow? Will that do?”

  He wanted to tell her that it wouldn’t. But she was eager to be gone, and he had no choice but to step aside and let her pass. She went quickly down the stairs, her heels clicking softly in the carpeting, and he heard the door to the street open and close behind her.

  Hamish said, “It doesna’ seem to be of importance to her, this photograph.”

  “On the contrary,” Rutledge answered thoughtfully. “I believe she would much prefer not to talk about it at all.”

  Mrs. Barnett had already seated Monsignor Holston, and was chatting with him at the table. She looked up as Rutledge came striding through the French doors, and smiled. “Here he is now,” she said. “I’ll just go and fetch the soup.”

  Except for the two men the dining room was empty, no other tables set, no other guests expected.

  The scent of warm bread rose from a basket on the table as Rutledge took his chair next to the window.

  “I have it on the best authority,” Monsignor Holston was saying. “This is one of the tallest loaves ever to come out of her ovens.”

  “I’ve had no complaint about the food here,” Rutledge agreed. “I don’t see how she manages the hotel without more help. I’ve seen a maid upstairs a time or two, and there’s someone in the kitchens to do the scullery work. But Mrs. Barnett appears to do most everything else. She’s a widow, I think?”

  “Her husband was quite a gifted man. He could turn his hand to anything—and it would flourish. But Barnett died just before the War, of a gangrenous wound. A horse stepped on his foot, and infection set in. They amputated the foot, then the leg, and in the end couldn’t do anything to save him. She watched him die by inches, and nursed him herself.”

  “Did you know him?”

  “As a matter of fact, I did. He’d been hired by Father James for work on the rectory, and I’d approved the cost at the Bishop’s request. Barnett was working there when he was injured.”

  “You seem to know the parish here rather well. Are you equally knowledgeable about all of them?”

  “No more than most. Old churches and rectories require an enormous level of upkeep, and while the local priest does as much as he can, the diocese has to fund many of the major repairs. Which means that I inspect and report, approve agreements, and pay the workmen.” He grimaced. “A far cry from the office of priesthood I prefer. That’s why I’m under consideration for St. Anne’s, because I’ve asked to serve a church again.”

  Dishes of hot soup arrived on the tray Mrs. Barnett held aloft, and she set them before the two men with an unobtrusive grace. Vegetable, Rutledge decided, in a rich beef broth. He realized he was ravenous.

  Cutting through the crisp crust of the loaf of bread, Rutledge said, “Did Father James find his parish troublesome? That’s to say, the kinds of problems he had to deal with here? I should think it would vary from church to church.”

  “Human nature is human nature, everywhere. Still, this was once a rich parish, and now it’s not. The kinds of problems shift with the economic balance.”

  “Give me an example.”

  Monsignor Holston was suddenly uneasy. After some seconds, he began slowly, “A priest counsels broken marriages and intercedes in disputes. Sometimes he has to take sides, and that’s never simple. He tries to set the moral character of his parish; he keeps an eye on wayward children. God knows there are enough of those, thanks to the War.”

  “Which tells me he knows the secrets of dozens of people.”

  Monsignor Holston shook his head.
“We’re not speaking of the confessional.”

  “Neither am I. Only of secrets that might be more important to someone than we realized.”

  “The Vicar at Holy Trinity can tell you much the same story, if you ask. Hardly the stuff of revenge, if that’s what you’re getting at. For instance, there was a youngster here in Osterley. Wild and heading for trouble. We discussed what to do about him. How best to redirect his energies. Father James discovered that the boy was interested in motorcars and aeroplanes, and was all for becoming a mechanic. His father was set on making him a farmer, like his forebears. It took some persuasion, but the father finally relented and let the lad learn a trade.” He smiled wryly. “It isn’t always quite that easy. But that’s more or less typical, all the same.”

  “Not as typical as telling a straying husband that he has to confess to his wife that there’s a child out of wedlock. Or telling a man angry with his neighbor that he has to apologize and make restitution for whatever he’s done. That’s more the stuff of revenge.” Leaving the thought lying there, Rutledge changed the subject. “Tell me about Father James’s interest in Titanic.”

  Surprised, Monsignor Holston stopped with his spoon in midair, staring at Rutledge. Then he said slowly, “I suppose he was overwhelmed by it, like the rest of us. And of course Lusitania as well. There’s great loss of life when a ship goes down. It’s almost incomprehensible.”

  Hamish said, “He willna’ gie ye a straight answer!”

  “There was a particular photograph Father James wished to bequeath to someone. The solicitor can’t find it. It wasn’t in his desk, where he’d indicated it would be found.” Rutledge broke off a piece of bread.

  Monsignor Holston put down his spoon. “Let me see. There were the usual photographs from seminary, quite a few of his family, that sort of thing. He liked Wales, he’d walked there a number of times on holiday. As I remember, he’d had a number of those framed, and of course a few from the Lake District, too. Speak to Ruth Wainer. She will know.”

  “I have. She doesn’t,” Rutledge said baldly, and paused, to let Monsignor Holston finish his soup. When the plates had been removed, he went on. “What did you know about Father James that frightens you so much? Did he have another side that we haven’t stumbled across? A secret life, perhaps.”

  An angry flush rose under the priest’s fair skin. “That’s ridiculous! You know it is!” He considered Rutledge for a moment and added more calmly, “I thought the matter was settled. That it was Walsh who’d done the murder!”

  “I have a feeling you aren’t satisfied with Walsh as the killer either. You wouldn’t still be afraid of that rectory, if you were. And it’s true—there are holes in the evidence against him. Even Inspector Blevins is aware of that. The question is where to look if Walsh is shown to be innocent. I have no allegiances here in Osterley, you see. Or to the church that Father James served. I’m not afraid to turn over stones and see what’s there. . . . I think the time has come for you to tell me what’s behind your fear.”

  Monsignor Holston said earnestly, “Look. I’m in no position to tell you whether Walsh is guilty or not. What I can tell you is that Father James had no secret life—”

  “He was—apparently—fascinated by the Titanic disaster—”

  “So you say!” Monsignor Holston interrupted. “But he never told me the disaster fascinated him. For God’s sake, even priests have a life of their own. I know one who has written quite knowledgeably about butterflies. Another who collects front-edge paintings, and one who prides himself on having grown the finest marrows in Suffolk. I have an interest in grafting fruit trees. I can’t say that I talk about it very often. But it’s a way of relaxing, when I have the time.”

  Hamish said, “He’s a bloody master at shifting your questions. . . .”

  “Mrs. Wainer believes Father James was killed for revenge. Why would she tell me that, if he had no enemies?”

  “You’ll have to ask her!”

  “And there’s a Priscilla Connaught, who said that Father James ruined her life, and she hated him. It must have been true. I watched her eyes as she said the words. There’s a man called Peter Henderson, whose father disowned him, and Father James did his best to heal the breach, to the anger, apparently, of both parties. Failures, both of them! Potential murderers? Who knows?”

  Mrs. Barnett came with another tray laden with dishes. She took one look at Monsignor Holston’s stormy face, and at the coldness in Rutledge’s, and made no effort to talk to them as she deftly arranged the dishes of vegetables and roasted potatoes, then set in front of them the heavy platters of baked fish.

  When she had gone, Monsignor Holston tried to recover his equilibrium. Struggling with something he himself found it difficult to express, he made an effort to explain. “The boy who wanted to be a mechanic had secret dreams he couldn’t tell his own father. But he told Father James. People do confide in priests: their dearest hopes, darkest fears. But we aren’t perfect, and we aren’t always going to get it right. Failure means the person wasn’t ready to come to terms with a problem.”

  “Perhaps a comfortable conclusion to draw as an excuse to walk away.”

  “We can’t work miracles where none is wanted. And sometimes we can’t stand up in a court of law and tell the secrets of others—” The words had slipped out, and the priest’s eyes told Rutledge that he was instantly regretting them.

  “Are you trying to say that one of the secrets Father James kept had to do with breaking the law?”

  Monsignor Holston lifted his serviette to his mouth, giving him time to find the words he wanted. “I’m telling you that Father James never led a double life. I would swear to that. In your courtroom. As for what his parishioners confided in him, Father James took his knowledge of that to the grave. I was never a party to it, unless there was some way in which I could help. Which is as it should be. What I don’t understand, if we’re getting down to bitter truth, is why you’re still asking me questions when there is already a man in a cell. If as you say, I have a feeling of dissatisfaction, how do you define your own persistence?” Monsignor Holston let that lie between them for a moment, then added, “You haven’t been exactly open with me, either, have you?”

  Hamish, who had been listening carefully, said to Rutledge, “He doesna’ want you to stop searching!”

  Rutledge didn’t answer, his eyes on Monsignor Holston’s face.

  “Did Father James ever speak of Matthew Walsh to you? During the War or after it?”

  “That’s the name of the man Blevins brought in, isn’t it? No. Should he have?”

  “Just closing a circle.” And then Rutledge changed the subject entirely to something more pleasant. But he’d learned what he wanted to know. Not even for the deep friendship that had existed between the two priests was Monsignor Holston willing to break whatever rules bound him. Or it could be that he suspected that something had disturbed Father James over the same period during which Mrs. Wainer had noticed a similar uneasiness, and was afraid to speculate aloud on the reason for it, because if he was wrong, he might reveal matters best left hidden.

  “Aye, he canna’ tell you the lot, and let you sort through them!” Hamish agreed.

  If the murderer was afraid that what one priest knew, he might pass on to another, surely that pointed away from a parishioner at St. Anne’s? And toward someone who wasn’t clear on how the priesthood worked.

  It was an interesting avenue to explore. Rutledge had a sudden feeling that Blevins was right about one thing— that it wasn’t the collar that had made Father James a victim.

  For the remainder of the meal, Monsignor Holston appeared to be distracted, as if behind the now ordinary conversation he was conducting with Rutledge, he was weighing what he had said earlier—and what conclusions the man from London would have drawn from his words.

  As they rose to leave the dining room, the Monsignor paused on the threshold to the lobby, his eyes heavy with a personal guilt. “I’m a clever ma
n when it comes to the faith I uphold. I understand the nuances of Church Law, and the responsibilities I’ve undertaken. Father James was a man who carried that a step further. He was deeply involved with the needs of people. That’s why he was still a parish priest, while I had moved higher in the Church hierarchy. If he hadn’t been a priest, I think he would have been a teacher. Please keep that in mind as you go digging through his life. You could do a great deal of harm, without ever intending to do it.”

  Rutledge understood what he was trying to say—that it was important to exercise discretion in what was brought out into the open.

  Monsignor Holston went on wearily, “I’m not sure what I believe anymore. Whether there was a sense of evil in that study or not. I could have imagined it, just as you suggested the first day we talked. I could have been searching for a way to explain the death of a friend. I don’t even know how I feel about Walsh, whether I have compassion for him or not. In the days just after the murder, I was haunted by the need for action, for answers, for proof that this death mattered to the authorities, that out of the shame of it would come some meaning, a memorial to a good man.”

  Rutledge said, “I don’t believe you were necessarily wrong about the sense of evil there in the study. My only question from the beginning has been, why should evil reach out to touch a parish priest in a small town, hardly more than a village, on a bleak and marshy stretch of coast? That’s the answer I have to find.”

  Monsignor Holston started to say something, then bit back the words. Instead he reached out and clapped a hand on Rutledge’s shoulder. “I’ll make a bargain with you—with the devil, as it were. If you come to me with the truth, and I recognize it, I’ll tell you so.”