Phil Rickman - The Fabric of Sin

‘What happened to Mary?’

‘I’ve told you.’

‘No, you haven’t.’

‘I told you I went to London to meet my old man.’ Hayter’s eyes were half-screened by his heavy hair. ‘And Gwilym went home to his old man’s farm. And when we got back, she’d gone.’

‘Gone where?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘So when you and Gwilym had left the premises, who was left?’ Mickey what’s-his-name and … Mat Phobe?’

‘No.’ Hayter wiped the air with both hands. ‘That’s absolutely as far as I go, Robinson.’

‘You haven’t even explained why you’re here yet.’

‘Fuck off.’

‘What about the four grand? I could after all …’ Lol started to laugh, hair dripping, leaning back over the bonnet of Hayter’s Jag ‘… seriously damage you.’

‘It’ll be on the desk by tonight.’

‘Hey, I’m not going in there . Especially at night.’

Hayter started to walk away, then turned. ‘HSBC. The bank?’

‘Centre of town?’

‘With your name on it. One hour. You’ll need some ID.’

Hayter walked back to The Centurion, quickly, through the rain.

MERRILY SPOTTED THE Animal, a serious presence in the Broad Street traffic, and ran out across the cathedral green as Lol pulled in on the yellow lines. Holding on to his left arm as she climbed in from the running board.

‘God, you’re soaked!’

‘Where’s Huw?’

‘Left ages ago.’ Merrily hauled the passenger door shut. ‘You OK?’ Checking him out, peering into his face as he waited for a gap in the traffic. ‘You saw him?’

‘Hayter? Yes.’

‘And?’

‘I’m not sure.’

‘He admits it was him?’

‘Not exactly, but … Where’re we going?’

‘Somewhere we can talk,’ Merrily said. ‘I’m trying to come to terms with something that … I don’t quite know what it means, but it’s disturbing.’

‘Hayter’s worried. He’s floundering.’

‘So he bloody should be.’

‘He offered me ten thousand for the damage to the Boswell.’

‘What, just now?’

‘He implied that the guy who did it overreacted. It must’ve happened very quickly. He was still thinking I was trying to blackmail him, told his guy to follow me. Guy rings him from Tanworth after I’ve left the truck to go into the churchyard. Hayter – some kind of knee-jerk thing – tells him what to do to show me what I’m taking on.’

‘How did he find out you’re on the level?’

‘I’m thinking two possibilities.’ Lol turned left into Bridge Street, traffic congealing around them. ‘Maybe he called Prof back, in a rage, and Prof explained the situation. Or he talked to Gwilym on the phone and Gwilym did some checks.’

‘What did you do … about the money?’

‘Told him to make it four grand and give me some honest answers. We reached the same point, where Mary disappears, then he clammed up. He says the money will be at HSBC in an hour. Unless he already has some arrangement with them, I don’t know how he’s going to do that, so maybe he was just lying, to get rid of me.’

‘But he and Gwilym are together?’

‘For the first time, he insists, since Garway. What does that suggest?’

‘I may just be able to tell you in a few minutes.’

Lol drove down to the car park near the swimming pool. By the time he’d found a space big enough for the Animal, Merrily had the mobile out, was consulting its index of numbers.

‘I just want to try something, see what reaction I get.’

She put the call through. The rain had stopped again but the sky was smoky over the hills.

‘Good afternoon,’ Beverley Murray said professionally. ‘This is The Ridge.’

‘Beverley, it’s Merrily Watkins. Sorry to bother you. Don’t suppose Teddy’s around?’

‘Oh. Merrily … haven’t you seen him? He was supposed to be calling at your place with the bags you left behind.’

‘Oh, well, actually I’m not at home. Perhaps he’s left them somewhere.’ Unlikely that Mrs Morningwood would have answered the door, especially to someone from Garway. ‘It was very kind of him, but there was really no need, I’ll be back there, probably tomorrow. In fact …’

She told Beverley she’d only just found out that the special service for the Templar anniversary was tomorrow, the twelfth, rather than Saturday, the thirteenth.

‘Oh … yes, that’s … There has been a change of plan, I think.’

‘Only, I know Teddy was feeling a bit apprehensive about it, and I was thinking there was nothing I could do because I’ve got this wedding on Saturday … but, of course, Friday’s not a problem.’

‘Oh … Well, I think …’

‘And obviously I’ve learned a lot about the Templars in the past few days. So, you know, I’d be happy to take it off his hands …’

‘Merrily, I—’

‘So, do you know what time it is? That’s all I wanted to know, really. I’ll come up and meet him an hour or so before and we’ll work it out.’

A silence. Merrily watched rain clouds tangling in the rust-coloured sky over Dinedor Hill.

Beverley said, ‘Can I call you back about this, Merrily?’

‘Sure.’

Merrily clicked off, sank down in the seat.

‘I wasn’t getting the right messages. From Beverley.’

‘This is the wife of the guy who’s standing in as vicar at Garway.’

‘Mmm, they’re waiting for a new team minister. Beverley was telling me how stressed out Teddy was and how it would be bad for him to get involved in any exorcism, and that he didn’t really want to do a service to commemorate the seven hundredth anniversary of the suppression of the Templars. Which, of course, led to all kinds of torture and burnings at the stake, for which the Roman Catholic Church is now being asked to issue a formal apology.’

‘By whom?’

‘Some neo-Templar groups. The Vatican won’t authorize an apology, of course, because the Templars are still very iffy. The accusations may, at least in part, be true. No religious organization is totally clean.’

‘Certainly not one consisting largely of trained killers.’

‘There is that.’

‘You really want to do this service?’

‘No way. I was just seeing what reaction I got. The situation is that the C of E didn’t want to be involved, but Teddy said a lot of people had been pushing for something at Garway. What he didn’t say is that this was going to be a Masonic service.’

‘Oh …’

‘Reluctantly approved, possibly under pressure, by Bernie and conducted – something else Teddy didn’t say – by a Mason.’

Merrily watched a trans-Euro container lorry coming off Greyfriars Bridge inside a grey haze, thinking maybe she knew this city no better than its driver.

‘Teddy Murray, it seems, has been on the square for many, many years. Which opens up so many scary possibilities that I don’t know where to start.’

‘Suggests a special relatonship with Gwilym.’

‘Mmm. And it means he’s been extremely parsimonious with the truth in his various conversations with me. The guy’s always so vague and far-back. Butter wouldn’t melt. She said he’d actually been to the vicarage this afternoon.’

‘Your vicarage?’

‘Ostensibly to bring my bags back. Unlikely. It suggests he wants to talk about something. I’ll see if …’

Merrily rang home. No answer. Jane must be back by now, so she left a message saying she could be late, was reachable on the mobile, if Jane could see her way to calling.

‘What do we do now?’ Lol said.

‘Pick up the money for the Boswell?’

‘It’s not going to be there, Merrily.’