Forgive Me Father

by Paul Gitsham

  ‘Presumably, it also removed him from the community and placed him out of harm’s way?’

  ‘Yes, of course.’

  ‘Were you keeping Father Nolan out of harm’s way when you invited him to stay?’

  ‘I’m not sure what you mean …’

  ‘How much did you know about Father Nolan’s transgressions? Were you contacted by the school? Did a parent or child tell you? We have no record of a formal complaint, and the school denies any knowledge of any incidents.’

  ‘There were no allegations made against Father Nolan that I am aware of,’ said Fisher firmly.

  ‘So you are saying that Father Nolan did not engage in any inappropriate behaviour with children in his care.’

  ‘As I said, there were no allegations made about his behaviour.’

  Warren looked the bishop squarely in the eyes.

  ‘That wasn’t what I asked, Your Grace.’

  Fisher said nothing.

  The idea, when it came, formed so quickly that Warren barely had time to think it through before the question came tumbling out of his mouth.

  ‘There weren’t any allegations, were there? Father Nolan came to you himself.’ Warren paused as the ideas crystallised further, the truth of his thoughts reflected in Bishop Fisher’s eyes.

  ‘He confessed his sins to you, didn’t he?’

  Chapter 65

  ‘I’m afraid that what is said in the confessional must remain confidential, DCI Jones,’ Bishop Fisher’s voice was firm.

  ‘That’s exactly what happened isn’t it?’ continued Warren. ‘Father Nolan confessed his sins to you, knowing that you could not say anything to the police and begged you for forgiveness?’

  Fisher looked over at the PACE tape recorder.

  ‘I would like to end the recording of this interview.’

  Warren looked at the man carefully. Did this mean that the interview was over, or that Fisher wished to make an admission that he’d rather wasn’t on tape? If necessary, Warren could still take notes, and these would still be admissible as sworn evidence, although Fisher hadn’t been arrested and wasn’t under caution.

  Warren reached over and pressed stop.

  ‘What did he tell you, Bishop Fisher?’

  ‘As I have said, the seal of confession is absolute.’

  ‘That retirement home – it has no links to the local schools, and the residents are largely separated from the community, except for the celebration of Mass and a bit of volunteering in the abbey grounds. You set it up to protect society from these men, didn’t you?’

  Fisher remained silent.

  ‘That’s why you blocked Father Dodd from taking up a new position as a school chaplain and insisted that he take early retirement, isn’t it? You knew his past, he told you all about it in confession. Then what? Absolution? What was his penance, ten Hail Marys and a demand that he lock himself away in your special home?’

  Fisher said nothing.

  ‘You’re a retired bishop. You don’t need to be slumming it in a retirement home in the grounds of a ruined abbey. Why are you there, Your Grace? As a prison guard or an inmate? What sins have you committed, Bishop Fisher?’

  ‘I think this interview is over.’ The bishop’s tone was icy.

  ‘Not so fast. I need to know, do we have a home full of sexual predators on our doorstep?’

  The recorder was turned off and Warren no longer cared what the bishop thought of him. The time for good manners had passed.

  ‘There are over twenty residents in that home. Are they all paedophiles? Do the staff know? What about visitors?’

  ‘Of course not,’ Fisher snapped. ‘That house is filled with good, holy men, who have dedicated their lives to serving God and the community and are now living out the remainder of their lives in peace and quiet.’

  ‘How many more of those “good and holy me” have confessed to you that they are a danger to children?’

  ‘I’ve told you that the seal of confessional is absolute. I cannot reveal what was said to me, without the penitent’s express permission. That is the agreement that is entered into between the penitent, his confessor and God.’

  ‘Three of the penitents are dead.’

  ‘That does not matter; as far as the Catholic Church is concerned, life continues after death.’

  ‘You realise that it is an offence to conceal a crime, such as this?’

  ‘I will be judged by a higher authority than the courts, DCI Jones.’

  ‘Maybe so, but whilst you are still in this earthly realm, you are subject to the court’s authority. You have a moral and legal obligation to reveal what you know to help this investigation, uncover historic offences and protect the public.’

  ‘I have an obligation to the oath that I swore when I accepted my ministry. Only the Holy Father himself can release me from this obligation.’

  ‘If necessary, I will arrest you.’

  ‘Then it looks as though I am going to prison.’

  Bishop Fisher glared across the table at Warren, who matched the intensity of his stare with his own.

  How on earth had it come to this? Standing head to head in an interview room with a bishop, who he had just threatened to arrest for perverting the course of justice? Had anyone ever done such a thing? Had using the seal of the confessional as a defence actually been tried in the courts? Warren couldn’t remember.

  Regardless, such a call was well above his paygrade. To say the shit would hit the fan if Warren followed through with his threat, would be an understatement of epic proportions; the Chief Constable would have a stroke.

  Unbidden, an image of his mother-in-law Bernice sprung to mind. The Chief Constable had the power to make Warren’s professional life an absolute misery if he misjudged this call. Bernice, as devout a Catholic as Warren had ever met, would make every other aspect of his life a living hell.

  When Warren spoke, his tone was deliberately more conciliatory.

  ‘Your Grace. It is clear to us that a killer is out there, hunting down priests who have been accused of child abuse. Regardless of what these men were alleged to have done, they were tortured and brutally killed. We do not have the resources to protect everyone in your community indefinitely, we need to know who the next victims might be. That way, we can keep them safe and hopefully bring this person to justice.

  ‘I am begging you, please at least give an indication of who the killer’s next victim might be.’

  When Fisher spoke again, his voice was also softer.

  ‘I’m sorry, DCI Jones. When a person takes the sacrament of confession, they know that the seal is absolute.’ He paused. ‘There can be no exceptions. Perhaps the consequences of their actions are catching up with them.’

  Chapter 66

  ‘Arrogant bastard,’ said Sutton after Warren filled in the team about his interview with Bishop Fisher.

  Sutton had already made his thoughts on Fisher hiding behind the seal of the confessional quite clear, and Warren had no intention of going over that ground again.

  ‘I have put in a request to the diocese to release details of which residents took early retirement and/or had their place at the home granted at the request of Bishop Fisher. If he has been using the home as a way of sequestering problem priests somewhere safe, this may give us an idea of who else could be a target.’

  ‘And are they cooperating?’ Sutton’s tone was more belligerent than usual.

  ‘So far. However, I have prepared warrants as well, I’m sick and tired of getting the run around.

  Sutton grunted, apparently satisfied for the time being. Warren resolved to have a talk with him about his attitude.

  ‘Where do we stand legally in forcing Bishop Fisher to give evidence regarding what he was told in confession?’ asked Hutchinson

  ‘I spoke to the CPS and strictly speaking there is no legal recognition for priest-penitent privilege in English civil law,’ said Warren, ‘but it’s never been fully tested in court. It’s a moot point regard
less, Bishop Fisher has made it absolutely clear that he isn’t going to break that seal, and we won’t get any support from the church so what’s the point? It’ll just create a shit storm.’

  The look on Sutton’s face suggested that he wasn’t entirely adverse to that outcome, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.

  ‘So, given what we now believe, who are our chief suspects?’ asked Warren. The interview with Bishop Fisher had placed a whole new complexion on matters and he wanted to see what new ideas his team thought of. He resolved to stay mostly quiet for the time being and let his officers thrash it out amongst themselves.

  ‘I still can’t make my mind up about Rodney Shaw,’ admitted Sutton. ‘He has no alibi for either night, he’s lied about his whereabouts, and he just keeps on cropping up.’

  ‘Much of that evidence is circumstantial though,’ Richardson pointed out. ‘He’s the groundsman, we’d expect his foot and fingerprints to be all over the place.’

  ‘And what about motive? If he didn’t know about Nolan’s sexual proclivities, killing him because of a bit of pilfering and an embarrassing gambling problem seems a bit extreme,’ said Hutchinson.

  ‘We’ve all known people kill for less,’ said Sutton.

  ‘What about Father Daugherty? Why kill him?’ asked Ruskin.

  ‘He might have seen something he shouldn’t. Father Nolan was taken down to the chapel around about the time that Father Daugherty usually takes his evening stroll,’ said Sutton.

  ‘He didn’t mention anything when he was questioned,’ Hutchinson reminded him.

  ‘He might not have realised the importance at the time,’ countered Sutton.

  ‘Just to play Devil’s Advocate,’ said Richardson, ‘if Shaw isn’t the killer, then the real killer may well have known that he keeps his spare work boots and jacket hanging up in the shed.’

  The team fell silent; from the mixture of facial expressions around the table, Warren could see that the team were torn, but nobody had dismissed Shaw completely.

  ‘How does this morning’s interview with Bishop Fisher change things?’ prompted Warren.

  ‘It still doesn’t let Rodney Shaw off the hook,’ said Sutton. ‘What if he found out about both priests’ past and decided to enact some revenge?’

  ‘It’s not impossible that he was abused himself when he was younger,’ suggested Hutchinson, ‘I don’t want to generalise, but a lot of people turn to drugs to cope with shitty childhoods. Could that be why Shaw was a heroin addict?’

  ‘That’s a good point,’ said Sutton, ‘but if he was abused by priests when he was a kid, why would he seek out work with the church, and why wait twenty-odd years to start killing?’

  Warren was pleased to see that Sutton was willing to raise objections to his own theory.

  ‘Who says he was abused by priests?’ replied Hutchinson. ‘It could have been someone completely different. But imagine the sense of betrayal and anger if he found out that people he worked with every day were abusers?’

  ‘But how would he find out?’ asked Ruskin.

  ‘Could he have been on Survivorsonline?’ asked Richardson.

  ‘We’ll know when they finish looking at his computer, although if he was clever enough, he might have used a different machine,’ said Warren.

  ‘Would he have known about the historic murders?’ asked Ruskin.

  ‘It’s entirely possible that he attended that talk given by Vernon Coombs,’ said Pymm. ‘The title of it certainly sounded interesting enough, especially if you’ve worked in the place for twenty years.’

  ‘Good point. So we leave Shaw on the suspect board. Who else should be on there?’ asked Warren.

  ‘Bishop Fisher,’ said Sutton immediately.

  ‘Go on,’ said Warren, his voice neutral. He wasn’t in the mood for another rant by Sutton about the bishop’s refusal to cooperate fully.

  ‘I think we can probably assume that Bishop Fisher knew about Father Nolan and Father Daugherty’s past. Perhaps he has taken it upon himself to seek justice for their victims?’

  ‘He’s a bit old, don’t you think?’ said Ruskin.

  ‘He could have been working with somebody else. He could even be trying to hinder our investigation,’ said Sutton.

  ‘But why now? And what is the link to Survivorsonline? Surely he doesn’t need to look up the details if he already heard them from confession?’ said Richardson.

  ‘The link to Survivorsonline could just be a coincidence,’ pointed out Hutchinson.

  ‘As to why now, there could be any number of reasons,’ suggested Sutton. ‘It could just be old age. Maybe he’s worried that if he doesn’t sort things out now, he never will?’

  ‘It also implies that he didn’t believe Father Daugherty was innocent of those accusations,’ said Pymm. ‘Or perhaps Father Daugherty admitted to other offences during confession?’

  ‘But why kill them? Why not just report them to the police?’ said Ruskin.

  ‘“The seal of the confessional is absolute”,’ parroted Sutton.

  ‘I doubt it’s more absolute than “thou shalt not kill”,’ interjected Warren.

  ‘If he did have help,’ said Richardson, ‘who could it have been?’

  ‘Again, Shaw is the obvious choice,’ said Sutton.

  ‘Or Deacon Baines,’ said Hutchinson. ‘Most of what we’ve said about Shaw could also apply to Baines. He has full access to the grounds, he has known Bishop Fisher since before the retirement home even existed and he has no satisfactory alibi for the night of either killing.’

  ‘He’d also be in the perfect position to frame Rodney Shaw over the missing money,’ pointed out Richardson.

  ‘What about Lucas Furber?’ asked Ruskin. ‘The homeless guy arrested for trying to break-in to the retirement home. He certainly had a grudge against religion, from what we’ve found out.’

  ‘His time of death appears to have been sometime after Father Daugherty was killed. He could have done it,’ pointed out Richardson.

  ‘That raises a fair few questions,’ said Sutton. ‘Not least, how did he know about the historic murders? I can’t imagine that he’s a paid-up member of the Friends of Middlesbury Abbey or a local history aficionado.’

  ‘That’s a bit of an assumption, don’t you think?’ said Pymm. Uncharacteristically, it was the first contribution she’d made to the meeting, the single day off that she’d taken having done little to refresh her.

  ‘Even addicts have interests and hobbies,’ she continued. ‘For all we know Lucas Furber could have been obsessed with history since he was a school kid.’

  Sutton raised his hands. ‘That’s a fair comment, I take it back.’

  ‘But that doesn’t tell us how he got hold of the keys to the chapel and the undercroft, or even the padlock to the gate by the mill house bridge,’ said Hutchinson.

  ‘Or gained access to St Cecil’s, for that matter,’ said Sutton. ‘The forensics suggests that Father Nolan was probably taken from the house after evening meal, whilst the killer had to somehow place the “Forgive me Father” note on Father Daugherty’s dressing table. In both cases he’d have needed to enter the home, unseen. That’s pretty risky.’

  ‘So if Furber was the killer, it suggests that he wasn’t acting alone,’ said Warren, ‘so who was he working with?’

  ‘Any of the above,’ said Sutton after a moment’s thought.

  ‘It also raises the question as to whether he was killed, committed suicide or accidentally overdosed on a batch of dodgy heroin,’ pointed out Ruskin.

  ‘Again, I’m thinking Rodney Shaw,’ said Sutton, ‘but if he’s been clean for thirty years, would he know anything more about the current drug scene than anybody else?’

  ‘He’s been doing outreach work with troubled young people, could they have put him in contact with dealers?’ said Ruskin.

  ‘If we are assuming Shaw has specialist knowledge about drugs, then wouldn’t we also expect him to know that medical grade morphine is unlikely t
o increase the potency of street heroin?’ asked Pymm.

  ‘Again, if he has been clean for thirty years, he might not have been up to date on the latest trends,’ pointed out Sutton.

  ‘Whilst we’re on the topic, have there been any reports of medical grade morphine being stolen recently?’ asked Warren.

  Pymm flicked over a page in her notepad.

  ‘There were at least eight thefts across England and Wales in the previous twelve months, so we know that the stuff is out there, but none were reported within Hertfordshire.’

  ‘I’m sure the stuff gets moved around the country,’ said Warren. ‘It could have come from anywhere, which doesn’t really help us.’

  The team agreed.

  ‘So with that in mind,’ he continued, ‘who else should we keep on the suspects board?’

  ‘What about Dr Massey, the head teacher at Thomas Tichborne?’ asked Sutton. ‘Did you get any feeling that he knew what Father Dodd had been up to when he was working at the school?’

  Warren pinched his lip, ‘Hard to tell. He denied any knowledge and seemed surprised, of course, but he admitted to having Googled me before I arrived, so he had time to get his story straight.’

  ‘If it is him, then there are a whole load of questions regarding whereabouts, motive and opportunity,’ said Sutton. ‘Not least why he waited until now, if he worked alone, and why he decided to kill Fathers Nolan and Daugherty when nature had already done the job for him with Father Dodd.’

  ‘OK. Arrange a team to dig into his background. See if he overlaps at all with any of our victims, or suspects for that matter. Get support from Welwyn. We’ll make a decision either way based on what we find out,’ ordered Warren.

  ‘Have we definitely eliminated Olivia Mason, the girl who falsely accused Father Daugherty?’ asked Richardson.

  ‘She certainly won’t have been physically involved,’ said Hutchinson. ‘She’s been in Australia for the past few years.’