Charles Todd - Watchers of Time

It had been simple theft after all. “What connects him with the priest?” Rutledge felt like hell, his mind refusing to function, while his lungs burned.

“Circumstantial evidence so far. Mrs. Wainer was quite put out when she found Walsh wandering about in the rectory on the day of the bazaar looking-he said-for water to wash up. She sent him away with a flea in his ear. Fortunately, later on she remembered what had happened and told Sergeant Jennings. And when the police in Swaffham caught up with him at a fair there, he had a new cart for his gear. We’ve just brought him in, as a matter of fact.”

“Nothing suspicious in a new cart, surely?” The fire was subsiding.

“It was paid for two days after the priest was killed. With bits and pieces of bills and coin.” Blevins gestured to the chair vacated so abruptly by the Strong Man, then sat himself down behind the Sergeant’s desk. There was a cut on the heel of his hand, and he stared at it, then at the bloody stain spreading on his cuff. “Damn the bastard! Teeth like steel traps!”

Rutledge took the chair. His chest was settling into a dull ache now. Gingerly testing, he took a deep breath and felt nothing beyond the usual resistance. But the memory of the pain was still fierce. “The sort of money a bazaar takes in, yes. But surely the kind of thing his act brings in as well.”

Blevins glared at him. “Look, we’re just at the beginning of this business. I’ve got men asking questions at the smithy where the new cart was built to see when it was ordered. I’ve got men asking questions about Walsh’s movements the day of the festival here as well as the night Father James was killed. A man that size can’t slink around without being noticed. Half the county force has been given to me for the duration to track the killer down. A local lord has even put up a reward for information leading to an arrest. Father James was well liked. We’re doing the best we can!”

Rutledge rejoined peaceably, “Yes, I can see that. You seem to have the investigation well in hand. Bishop Cunningham was alarmed enough to ask the Yard to see if there was anything we could do. Monsignor Holston will be glad of the news that someone’s in custody.”

“I suppose he will.” Blevins rubbed his eyes tiredly. “He was a friend of Father James’s. Do you want the truth? This is the first reasonable lead we’ve found. And if he didn’t kill the priest-Walsh, I mean-why did he put up such a fight? Here and in Swaffham!”

Because, Hamish pointed out, the man might well have other secrets to keep, unrelated to murder.

Rutledge said, “Then you don’t want me underfoot. I’ll return to London and leave you to it.” He had already been planning to do just that, but now there was an unexpected sense that he had somehow failed the people who had turned to him for answers. This arrest wouldn’t bring them peace…

Hamish said, “They were wrong-Bryony and Mrs. Wainer and Monsignor Holston. It wasna’ a Greek tragedy that brought Walsh here. Only a new cart.”

Blevins was staring thoughtfully at Rutledge, debating something on his mind. Then, to Rutledge’s surprise, he said, “I’d take it as a favor, Inspector, if you stayed on. A day or two. At least until we’ve had an opportunity to look into Matthew Walsh. The Strong Man.” He used the words with irony, then meticulously straightened the stained green blotter before adding, “I’ve felt a good deal of anger over this business. I was one of Father James’s parishioners, you see. I’m not certain I’m detached enough to do my job properly. To judge Walsh’s innocence as well as his guilt.”

“Have you spoken to the Chief Constable-?”

“He tells me that it isn’t a question of my feelings,” Blevins interrupted. “It’s a simple matter of the facts. Well, I ask you, how am I to judge the ‘facts’ in this murder case when I’d cheerfully watch the bastard who did it hanged?”

“You must have known Father James fairly well. What was he like?”

“Middle-aged, but he went out to France. All through the Somme, he was there, ministering to any man who needed him. Of any faith. Even Hindus, for all I know. You could come and sit down in his tent and talk. I mean- talk.” He considered Rutledge. “In the War, were you?”

Rutledge nodded.

“I wondered, when I saw you flinch just now. Thought it might be an old wound caught wrong. Well, then, you know what I’m trying to say. Half of us were scared of dying, and the other half knew we were already dead-there was no hope of getting through it. But I never once heard Father James say it was ‘duty.’ What we owed to England. Or any of that other-” He broke off and grinned sheepishly as he remembered where he was. “He never treated us like fools. Instead he’d help us pray for courage. I was never much of a praying man until the Somme. No more than was required of me, at any rate. Father James taught us to pray for strength to see us through whatever came our way. It was all that saved me sometimes, walking into No Man’s Land in a hail of fire. My guts would turn to water, I’d shake so the rifle jerked in my hands. And I’d pray loud enough to hear myself. I wasn’t the only one, either.”

“No.” Rutledge had heard men pray in such straits. An odd mixture of pleading and defiance sometimes, trying to bargain for their lives. He’d done it himself, until the prayer had turned to begging for release.

Blevins shook his head. “Well, that’s the kind of man Father James was. And some bloody coward strikes him down for a few pounds. All that good-all that kindness and compassion-wiped out for a bloody handful of coins!” He waited for a response, watching Rutledge. There was nothing in his face to show how he felt, but his eyes pleaded.

Hamish observed, “Yon’s a worried man…”

“I don’t see why I shouldn’t stay. Until you’re satisfied,” Rutledge answered slowly. Bowles had, after all, given him a few days in which to carry out his original orders. And the Bishop would never complain of thoroughness…

“There’s a hotel here in Osterley. Not up to London standards, perhaps, but it’ll suit you well enough. The woman who runs it is pleasant, and the food is good. I’ll call round later to see if you need anything. Best to let Walsh calm down before we try to talk to him.”

Rutledge heard dismissal in Blevins’s voice. The Inspector also needed to calm down, Rutledge thought. Hamish, agreeing, said, “He’s no’ a bad policeman, if he sees his own weakness.”

Standing, Rutledge said, “I left my luggage in Norwich. I’ll go back there tonight, and drive up tomorrow. I’d also like to have a look at Father James’s study, if you don’t mind. Before we talk to Walsh.”

“Mrs. Wainer will see to it. I don’t think she’s opened that door twice since it happened. No doubt pretends the study and the bedroom don’t exist anymore. She took it very hard, Father James’s death. Blamed herself for not staying on until he’d come back for his dinner. But that’s always the way, isn’t it?”

“Hindsight. Yes, it’s common enough.” Rutledge thanked him and left.

He drove back to the outskirts of Norwich, to the hotel there, and left a message with Sergeant Gibson at the Yard that he was staying over. Within half an hour Frances telephoned him to see how he was managing and to pass on the good news that a mutual friend had just given birth to a daughter, mother and child doing well, father recovering.

She had always managed to pry information out of Gibson. The crusty old Sergeant was apparently water in her hands.

There was still an hour before dinner, and Rutledge sat down in the most comfortable chair in his room and shut his eyes against the lamplight.