Phil Rickman - Remains of an Altar

‘Oh? That mean you’re no longer convinced?’

‘Oh, no, it’s true, it’s all true. Even though when I went to see the local councillor, there were all these council officials there, and they were all, like, Oh, it’s all nonsense and Alfred Watkins was a misguided old man . And the councillor was suggesting I was trying to mess up his plans for turning Ledwardine into some kind of town, which would be really crap. And I was warned that I should be careful what I said. I mean, I’m not worried about me that much, but my mum’s the vicar there, you know?’

The line went quiet. If they’d lost it, Jane decided she wasn’t going to call him back, at least not until tonight when she’d had time to think of a way he could maybe do the story but keep her out of it…

‘The vicar,’ Jerry Isles said. ‘No, I didn’t know that.’

Oh hell. Why, in this so-called secular age, were newspapers so fond of vicars?

Jerry said, ‘Tell me again, Jane, what these people from the council said to you … ?’

‘I don’t think I told you the first time, did I?’

‘About the councillor wanting to turn your village into a small town? That’s what I’ve got.’

‘You’re writing this down?’

Morrell jogged back and went into the main building, his car keys swinging from a finger.

Jane began to sweat.

Merrily sat in the scullery, watching the play of morning light on the vicarage lawn, the clusters of yellow wild flowers in the churchyard drystone wall that bordered it. A whole ecosystem, that wall.

What are you, some kinda stoolie for the cops?

Going back over it, she could pinpoint the exact moment when Winnie Sparke’s attitude had altered. It was when Merrily had revealed that she’d been inside Loste’s house. Winnie had been afraid of what Merrily – not the police – might have seen in the house and been able to interpret for Howe.

Which meant there was something she should have spotted in there and hadn’t.

She called Syd Spicer, not expecting him to be in. But he picked up on the second ring.

‘You’ve offended Sparke, Merrily. Easily done.’

‘She told you?’

‘She’s walking round wailing and gnashing her teeth. A woman who likes to be in control. And she can hardly control poor Tim at the moment, can she?’

‘You think he did it, Syd?’

‘I wouldn’t have thought so, but time will tell.’

‘I like an interventionist priest.’

‘Yeah, well, I don’t scale walls with pockets full of smoke bombs any more.’

It was the first reference that he’d made to his past, but this probably wasn’t the time to follow it up.

‘Loste and Winnie, Syd. What’s that actually about? This musical work, this search for Elgar’s source of inspiration. I mean, is there anything you haven’t told me that might relate to that?’

‘Lots, I imagine. I wouldn’t know what was relevant. Equally, I can’t betray a parishioner’s trust. I can point you in a certain direction, which I’ve done, but I can’t pass on what I’ve been told in confidence, can I? Would you? Maybe you would. Maybe you did.’

‘Because I’m a police informer?’

‘When Winnie Sparke takes offence, she doesn’t hold back.’

‘Why is Loste collecting oak trees?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘OK, Joseph Longworth’s vision. That sounds like a modern-day version of one of those old legends often connected to the foundation of churches. A vision indicating where to build.’

‘There are some documents relating to that. It’s in the parish records. Letters. Winnie has copies.’

‘Could I have copies?’

‘No reason why not, I suppose.’

‘Could you send them? Email anything?’

Spicer sighed. Merrily persevered.

‘Do you have any idea what Winnie Sparke might have meant when she talked about a great and beautiful secret?’

‘No,’ he said.

Merrily called the home of the dead girl, Sonia Maloney, in Droitwich. No answer. The Cookman number Syd Spicer had passed on turned out to be a spare line, which meant he hadn’t even tried it.

She came to the third on the list.

‘Who?’ Stella Cobham said.

‘Merrily Watkins. The Deliverance woman?’

‘Oh, yeah. Look, Merrily, I was just on my way out. Perhaps I could call you back.’

‘Won’t keep you a minute, Mrs Cobham. I just wanted – before I make any specific arrangements – to find out if next Sunday would be suitable for you.’

‘I’m sorry. What for?’

‘We were discussing the idea of a Requiem Eucharist for Lincoln Cookman and Sonia Maloney?’

‘Oh yeah.’

‘It seemed to answer everybody’s … you know?’

‘Yeah, well, look. I don’t think we’ll be coming.’

‘But Mrs Cobham, it was your—’

‘Things have changed. Change of plan. Change of future.’ Brittle laugh. ‘We’re putting the barn on the market. I’m just off to the agent’s in Ledbury now, actually.’

‘Just like that?’

‘It was a wrong move. Nothing’s been right since we came here. We’re probably going to America. Paul knows this guy in Naples, Florida. Anyway, all I’m trying to say is … it really doesn’t concern us any more. Look, I’ve got to go, all right?’

Click.

Merrily threw the phone book at the wall.

It had been Merrily’s plan to go into her own church before lunch, when it was quietest. Find a cool place in the chancel and lay all this out, the whole Wychehill mess. To ask the question, Is it time to leave this alone, walk away? An in-depth exchange with the Management on this issue was long, long overdue.

So what was she doing in Lol’s bed?

‘Oh hell…’ She gazed into his unshaven face. ‘This is a bit like adultery.’

‘In what way, exactly?’

Lol rolled off her. He looked almost hurt.

‘ No , I …’ She trapped one of his legs between hers. ‘I just meant … cheating on the Church. The parish. Sorry. All I need is to offend you, and that’s virtually nobody left still speaking to me.’

He smiled. Maybe he hadn’t looked hurt a moment ago. Maybe she’d conjured that out of her own hurt.

Lol’s bedroom had a three-quarter bed in it. That was all. It was a very small room with no space for a wardrobe. He said he needed to sleep here because it had a view across Church Street to the vicarage – they could see each other’s lights at bedtime. Which was nice. But she’d sometimes wondered if he wasn’t just a little timid about using the bigger bedroom where Lucy Devenish had slept.

Whatever, this room was bare without being stark, a sanctuary, a space out of time. One day, perhaps, she might even get to spend a whole night here.

‘Then, at the same time,’ she said, ‘I get the feeling that I’m neglecting you.’

‘Some feelings you should listen to,’ Lol said. ‘This could be God telling you that you’re neglecting me.’

‘Dangerous to blaspheme in front of a vicar.’ Her fingers paddling over his thigh. ‘Especially when naked.’

He gripped her hand. They laughed, and when they stopped laughing she told him everything. About Winnie Sparke and Tim Loste and their beautiful secret and her own dismal morning.

‘I’m tired. I can’t get a handle on it any more. People’s attitudes change overnight. They want me to do something, then they don’t. They want to talk to me and then … Winnie Sparke, particularly. It was as if she’d picked a fight just to wind up the conversation because I was asking the wrong questions. Like mentioning the blow-up photo of Elgar.’

‘Let me get this right. Who’s seen Elgar, other than Loste?’