The Prayer of the Night Shepherd

‘Jane—’

‘If Ben and Nat did have something on the go, they couldn’t very well do it in the hotel, could they? And Ben was so anxious to be first on the scene of the fire. Without me there. Without video. Suppose he’d started it?’

‘Why would—?’

‘If I hadn’t been in the kitchen at the right time, nobody would’ve spotted that fire, so like no wonder he was mad at me. No wonder he wanted to get up there to make sure it was fully destroyed. Because… DNA? Whoever was with Nat, they’d have left DNA all over the van, wouldn’t they? Doesn’t fire destroy DNA? Like at Gomer’s depot?’

‘And Ben killed Dacre as well, did he?’

‘He nearly killed Dacre’s shooter!’ There was suddenly a hard sensation in the pit of Jane’s stomach. It felt like certainty.

Mum’s fingers were squeezing her knees. ‘We should… stop speculating.’

‘How do we do that, take sedatives? Like, Nat was even telling me she wouldn’t be surprised if Amber walked out on Ben.’

‘When?’

‘Earlier tonight. She wanted Amber to walk out, didn’t she? It’s blindingly obvious. And also when Antony — Antony Largo, the TV guy? — was eyeing up Nat, Ben was very quick to warn him off. He’s like, Keep your filthy paws off my house- manager, she’s in a relationship. Well, yeah: Smoothie Ben and Foxy Nat? You gonna tell Bliss or shall I?’

‘I don’t think either of us needs to tell Bliss anything. I think he knows something already. He’s too confident.’

‘He’s always like that.’

‘In front of you, maybe. I think we should wait to see what happens before interfering.’ Mum sat for a while on the edge of the bed, rocking backwards and forwards. ‘Wouldn’t mind another chat with Jeremy, though.’

‘That’s your way of not interfering?’

‘He talked to me before. He was still talking to me when Lol rang. Gomer and I said we’d come back and tell him what had happened.’ She stood up. ‘At least you’ll be safe here with half of Hereford CID on the premises. Just don’t… don’t be alone with Ben Foley. Or anyone else, for that matter.’

‘Am I stupid?’

‘Don’t tempt me.’ Mum wrapped her scarf around her neck.

‘Mum—’

‘Mmm?’

‘You’d better see this.’ Jane dug the Brigid Document from her jeans, opened it out and tossed it on the bed.

They found Gomer in his truck on the edge of the car park. He jumped down, a half-inch of glowing ciggy slotted into his front teeth like a red jewel. He extracted it.

‘Cops brought out the base of a paraffin lamp, vicar. Likely the oil was used to start the fire, somebody emptied it over some bedding, whatever’d burn easy. Made a pile of it, set it alight, buggered off.’

Somebody opened both doors of the hotel porch and yellow light splashed out into the slush. ‘Nothing left?’ Merrily said.

A man in white leggings came out of the porch, carrying a bulky leather holdall, and got into a police Range Rover with orange traffic markings.

‘Not much at all, vicar. Only Sebbie, and he en’t sayin’ a lot.’

‘Who did you get this from?’

‘Les Thomas, Danny’s cousin — one o’ the part-time fire boys. Les also says…’ Gomer lowered his voice. ‘Says the cops is runnin’ this big search for Natalie Craven.’

‘On what basis?’ Merrily asked.

‘Mrs Watkins…’ None of them had noticed Sergeant Mumford coming over; he moved quietly for a fat slob. ‘Boss can see you now.’ Mumford glanced at Jane. ‘On your own.’

Lol had found deep footprints across the snowy lawn: two sets of them. One coming, one going.

Dexter Harris had come in through the old gate from the orchard, walked across to the lighted scullery window, peered in and then returned the same way before Lol could get round there.

Maybe the sight of Lol through the window had been a disappointment. If he’d seen Merrily here, alone, would he have come to the door? It was a disturbing thought, and something even more disturbing occurred to Lol when he was back behind the computer.

How sure was he that it had, in fact, been Dexter? Hadn’t got a very good look at him in the kitchen earlier. Suppose, this had been the other one, Darrin? The bad guy. How alike the cousins were in appearance he had no idea, but he knew they were about the same age. The lower lip might have been exaggerated by being pressed against a wet window.

What must it be like here for Merrily now that Jane was away at weekends? For a house right at the heart of the village, it was surprising how isolated the vicarage seemed in conditions like these.

Something must be done.

Nothing, however, he could do tonight.

Lol sat down and rang Canon Jeavons back.

The lounge door was half-open and she could hear Bliss on the phone. He sounded irritated. ‘Yes, I will. I already had. I’ll ask her now.’

When he brought Merrily in, they sat this time at the table near the window, either side of the unlit Victorian oil lamp.

‘The Ice Maiden’s been called in,’ Bliss said. ‘Perfect night, eh?’

‘Annie Howe? Is she coming here?’

‘God forbid. No, she’s on another one. This, er… this is something and nothing, Merrily, but you might be able to help us.’

‘I heard you were looking quite seriously for Natalie Craven,’ Merrily said.

‘And where did you hear that?’

‘She works here, Frannie, where else would I hear it? And she seems to be missing.’

‘Yes, she is.’

‘And you’re looking for her.’

‘Yes, we are.’

‘And her daughter?’ Would he know about Clancy being at Danny Thomas’s?

‘Her, too,’ Bliss said.

‘And the van that was set on fire was originally Natalie’s, I believe.’

‘Yes, it was.’

‘You don’t want to talk about this, do you?’

‘No, I don’t. Unless you can tell me where she is.’

‘No, I can’t. However, I do get the feeling that you know a lot more about her than you’re saying.’

He leaned back. ‘Oh?’

‘Like that her real name’s not Natalie Craven.’

‘And what would her name be, Merrily?’

‘Brigid?’

She could tell by the absence of reaction that Bliss was very surprised.

‘You want to tell me about it?’ she said.

‘You little bugger,’ Bliss said. ‘Who else knows?’

‘Who else knows what?’

‘Right, Merrily,’ Bliss said, ‘we’ll deal with this. But first let’s get the other matter out of the way. Before Annie Howe arose from her coffin, I’d already heard from Melvyn at headquarters. The custody sergeant? Feller I consulted about your friend… forgotten the bugger’s name, now…?’

‘Dexter Harris.’

‘Dexter. And his cousin, Darrin. Not Harris, Hook. Darrin Hook.’