‘I mean, I’ve got kids myself. And my husband, he doesn’t… It’s got out of hand, you see. They started calling it the Pod only because they were meeting here. It just grew out of healthy eating and Green issues. I’m not really that involved, but the name’s linked now, and it’s very hard for me to… to…’
‘Look,’ Lol said, ‘I realize this is not your fault. You had pressure put on you, right?’
Sorrel didn’t answer.
‘So maybe it’s whoever put on the pressure I need to talk to.’
‘Please’ – she was actually looking scared now – ‘can’t you just leave it?’
‘I wish I could, but her mother’s in the clergy. Things are difficult enough for women priests.’
‘How did she find out?’
‘An anonymous letter.’
‘Bastards,’ Sorrel said.
‘You know what I think, Sorrel? I think you suspected Jane was quite young, but somebody else put the arm on you to take her into the group, and you weren’t in a position to refuse. Who would that have been?’
Sorrel bit her lip.
‘Was it Angela?’
‘I don’t know any Angela.’
‘Anna Purefoy?’
‘Oh Christ.’ Sorrel stood up and walked to the counter, picked up a cloth and began scrubbing Today’s Specials from a blackboard, her back turned to Lol.
He stood up. ‘I gather she’s not actually in the group.’
‘She doesn’t need to be.’
‘Why’s that?’
She turned to face him. ‘Because they own this building.’
‘The Purefoys?’
‘The building came up for sale when our lease had only about six months to run. The chemists next door were going to buy it to extend into, so it would’ve been… over for us. Then suddenly the Purefoys bought it. They knew one of our members…’ Sorrel began to squeeze the cloth between her hands. ‘Mr Robinson, I don’t want to talk about this. I really do need this cafe. My husband’s about to be made redundant, we’ve got a stupid mortgage… I’m sorry about Jane, but she’s not been with us long, there’s been no harm done. Nothing to interest the police, really.’
‘Quite a bit to interest the press.’
‘What do you
‘How well do you know Rowenna?’
‘I don’t. No more than I know Jane. All right, a bit more. She’s picked up messages here and things.’
‘From whom?’
‘We have a notice-board, as you can see. People leave messages.’
‘And some that aren’t on the board, maybe?’
‘There are no drugs here,’ Sorrel said firmly.
‘I never thought there were. I don’t even assume the Pod gets up to anything iffy. What I think is that maybe Jane will meet other people who aren’t regular members, and she’ll get invited to – I don’t know – interesting parties. And Rowenna makes sure she goes to them, and at these parties there are maybe some slightly off-the- wall things going on, and before you know it her mother receives some pictures of Jane, well stoned and naked on a slab. Just call me cynical, but I used to be in a band.’
‘That’s ridiculous.’
‘You know it’s not.’
Sorrel threw the cloth down. ‘So what do you…
‘I want to know about Anna Purefoy.’
‘I don’t know anything about her.’
‘OK.’ Lol stood up and moved towards the door. ‘Thanks for all your help.’
‘But I… I know somebody who might help you.’
He turned and waited.
‘She used to be our teacher – before Patricia. When she heard the Purefoys had bought this building, she stopped coming. She may or may not need some persuading. But I can tell you where to find her.’
‘In Hereford?’
‘About twenty miles out,’ Sorrel said. ‘If she’s still alive, that is.’
By the time they left the gatehouse, half the street’s Santas and lanterns seemed to have gone out. You felt as though you were on the bridge of a ship leaving port at night, gliding slowly away from the lights.
‘I’m sorry, lass,’ Huw said, ‘but think about it. What does the smart-arse iconoclast new Bishop do first? He breaks a twothousand-year convention by appointing a female exorcist. In a city which history has shown to be periodically in need of a good guard dog, he…’
‘Swaps his Rottweiler for a miniature poodle?’
‘I’ve gone far enough down that road, luv. Don’t want me throat torn out. All I’m saying is that the combination of all these factors – and maybe others we don’t know about – could be felt to be having a dissipating effect. And a weakened body invites infection. Well, I’m telling you how Thomas Dobbs sees it.’
They walked across the green towards the huge smudge of the Cathedral.
‘And you,’ Merrily asked him, ‘what do you believe?’
‘Wait till we’re inside.’
She was struck, as always, by the hospitality of the place: the stones of many colours, almost all of them warm; the simplicity of the arcade of Norman arches; the friendly modern glitter of the great corona, which always seemed to be hanging lopsided, although it probably wasn’t. She knew nothing about medieval architecture, but it just felt right in here.
They went directly to the North Transept, deserted except for one of the vergers, a tubby middle-aged man in glasses who looked across, suspicious, then relaxed when he saw Huw’s collar and recognized Merrily.
He raised a hand to them. ‘Anything I can do?’
‘I’ve got a key, pal.’ Huw indicated the partitioned enclosure. ‘We’ll be about ten minutes.’
‘I’ll have to stay in the general vicinity,’ the verger said, ‘if you don’t mind. The Dean’s been a bit on edge since that slab was reported stolen.’
Huw stopped. ‘What was that?’
‘I’d forgotten all about it,’ Merrily said. ‘A chunk of one of the side-panels, with a knight carved on it – it’s missing.’
‘Oh no,’ the verger said, ‘it isn’t missing. Somebody must have made a mistake – miscounted. When the mason was in here this morning, he confirmed everything was there. Quite a relief, but it did make us think a bit more about security.’
Huw said, ‘Do you know which piece it was? Which knight?’
‘No idea, sir. The masons will be back on Monday. They’ll now be able to put St Thomas together again. Too late, unfortunately, for the Boy Bishop ceremony. It’ll be the first time he won’t be able to pay his respects.’
‘Boy Bishop?’
Merrily briefly explained about the annual ceremony and its meaning, while Huw unlocked the padlock with what apparently were Dobbs’s keys. She saw where rudimentary repairs had been carried out since George Curtiss had kicked his way in.
Huw surveyed the dismantled tomb, looking more or less as it had the afternoon Merrily and Jane had stood in here with Neil, the young archaeologist. Segments of a stone coffin; knights in relief, with shields and mashed faces. ‘What happens at this Boy Bishop ceremony then, lass?’
‘Never been to one. Harmless bit of Church pageantry, I’d guess.’
‘Is it?’
‘Harmless? Any reason why it shouldn’t be?’
‘Everything worries me tonight.’ Huw shoved his hands into the pockets of his greatcoat. ‘Especially this missing stone business. First a stone’s missing, then it’s not. Church masons don’t miscount.’
