She had spent a second day in London, then a sleepless night with a long-suffering friend who had agreed to put her up in exchange for a visit to Somerset the following spring and she had set off for home at six a.m. She needed tea and breakfast, a shower and bed. Dropping the case in the hall she walked into the kitchen and stopped dead. Justin was sitting at the table reading a newspaper. At his elbow she saw he had found her percolator and the pack of coffee she kept for visitors. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’
‘Waiting for you.’ He folded the newspaper and set it down. ‘Where have you been?’
‘None of your business. You get out now.’ She paused. ‘How did you get in, anyway?’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘And how nice to see you too.’
‘Justin, I am very tired. I have just had a long drive. I am in no mood to mess about.’
‘OK.’ He gave her an appraising look. ‘I’m sorry. I asked Bella for the spare key. Don’t blame her – I charmed it out of her.’ He gave her his best heart-warming smile. ‘I knew you’d be back soon or you would have asked her to come and water your plants.’ He glanced out of the window where a hanging basket was gently swinging to and fro in the breeze. ‘And I need to ask you something. Just answer me this one question, then I shall go. Why did you tell Abi Rutherford that I had killed someone?’
‘Because it’s the truth.’ She held his gaze.
‘You know it’s not.’
‘You claimed you could help my sister. You reassured her. You drew her into your stupid belief system. You told her not to bother with doctors. You convinced her she could get well without the help of orthodox medicine so she cancelled that last operation. She refused chemo. And she died. And that was your fault!’ There was a sob in her throat.
He nodded slowly. ‘She made her own choices, Athena. All I did was show her that she had choices. You know as well as I do that surgery would not have helped her in the long run. Her family, and that includes you, were desperate to do something, anything, to keep her with you and that was understandable, but you were thinking of yourselves, not of her. This way, she had a few months at home, happy and positive months, and she was in a position to say her farewells with dignity. It was what she wanted.’
Athena slumped down into the chair opposite him. ‘She would have still been here. She would have been alive now.’
‘No, Athena, she wouldn’t.’
He reached up to the shelf for a mug and poured her a cup of coffee from the percolator beside him. ‘Drink this. Calm down. Think about it. I was very fond of Sunny. I wouldn’t have done anything to hurt her, not in a million years.’
She reached for the mug and took a sip. She winced at its bitterness. ‘I’ve just been to Tim’s funeral.’ She changed the subject abruptly.
‘I heard he had gone. I’m sorry.’
‘I don’t even know where he died. His sisters had arranged the most god-awful cremation.’ Her eyes filled with tears.
‘You can do something for him here. That’s what he would like. He always loved you, Athena.’
‘Did he?’ She looked up at him. ‘How do you know?’
‘Because I do.’ He gave a slow smile. ‘Believe me.’
‘You’re always so damn certain about these things.’
‘Some things, yes.’
‘I’ll tell Abi I was wrong to say that about you.’
‘I wish you would. She is in deep trouble and I want to help her. It’s not very reassuring to be told that the man who can set you on the right path is the next best thing to Dr Crippin.’
She gave a watery grin. ‘Sorry.’ She stood up and went to throw her coffee down the sink and rinsed the mug under the tap. Switching on the kettle she reached for a tin of herbal teabags instead. ‘You think she is in real trouble?’
‘She is very sensitive. In every sense of the word.’ He took a sip of his own coffee. She watched for him to grimace, but he appeared to enjoy every mouthful. She couldn’t believe that someone who claimed to be spiritually advanced, a druid and a shaman, could allow anything so bitter and strong and filthy to pass his lips. ‘It’s really strange,’ he went on thoughtfully. ‘As a priest she should have been given the tools to deal with the situation which has arisen, but either she wasn’t, or she doesn’t have the experience, or the right training.’ He paused. ‘And she’s too inhibited. On the one side by the church and on the other, so Cal tells me, by a formidable bully of a father. She needs instruction.’
‘And you can help her.’
He nodded.
‘By destroying her Christian faith.’
‘No.’ He looked up sharply. ‘Absolutely not.’
‘Then how? What on earth can you do to help a Christian?’
He smiled at her. ‘I’ll think of something.’ He stood up. ‘In fact I might go back there now.’ He leaned forward and gently touched her cheek with the back of his hand. ‘Go safely, Athena. If you need me, you know where I am.’
Neither Abi nor Kier spoke, each sat sunk in their own thoughts as the minutes ticked by. The church felt very empty. Abi could feel the desolation. It was as if the heart of the place had been ripped out. She could still see the spots of water on the stone floor. How could he have used holy water against her? Against Mora. Against Jesus himself. It was crazy. And wrong. So wrong. When the door latch clicked up and the door swung open she didn’t move.
Kier stood up. ‘Ben, at last!’
Ben came in, shaking raindrops from his jacket and looked round, seeing Abi still sitting on the altar step. She didn’t move or greet him. ‘What’s happened?’ He swung to face Kier. He was speaking in a whisper.
‘I performed a minor exorcism.’ Kier straightened his shoulders. ‘Nothing heavy. Prayer and holy water. To get rid of this presence that’s been haunting her. It worked well I think.’
‘You think,’ Ben echoed. ‘Wait here.’ He pointed back at the seat and Kier sat down.
Ben walked towards Abi, studying her demeanour. She still hadn’t looked up. ‘Abi? Are you all right?’ He paused beside her. ‘What happened?’
‘Didn’t he tell you? He assaulted me! He twisted my arm. And he splashed me with holy water and bade Mora begone. He tried to exorcise the church. The church, Ben!’ At last she looked up. He saw fury and despair in her eyes in equal measure. ‘This special, beautiful, sacred place. He tried to exorcise it.’
Ben sighed. He shouldn’t have touched her. ‘Prayers and holy water will harm no-one unless they are evil, Abi, you know that.’
‘But she’s gone! She knew he meant her harm. He banished her. Just as we were going to talk.’ She was suddenly aware that Kier had tiptoed up the aisle behind them.
‘Did she tell you that this fiend, Mora, was a druid priestess, Ben? And did she tell you that Mora claimed to have made love to Our Lord Jesus Christ!’ Kier’s voice was heavy with disgust.
Ben looked at Abi sharply. ‘You told him about your theory that Jesus himself was here?’
‘It was a mistake. I shouldn’t have.’ She was still sitting on the step, her arms round her knees. Then she looked up again. ‘And I never said Mora made love to him. She was in love with him, that is a very different matter.’
Ben was struck dumb for a moment. He looked at each of them in turn, then he shook his head. ‘You shouldn’t have told anyone.’
‘I know.’ She buried her face in her arms. ‘And Kier has made it seem dirty and evil and heretical.’
‘It is heretical, Abi,’ Kier put in. ‘She needs care, Ben,’ he went on. ‘I think she’s having some sort of nervous breakdown. This is the result of the strain she’s been under. You should have taken this whole episode more seriously. You’ve breached your role as her spiritual mentor. This has escalated out of all control now and we have to act at once. To save her.’
Abi looked up. ‘I’ve had enough of this.’
Ben hesitated. He looked from one to the other and shook his head. ‘I think we should go back to the house,’ he sai
d at last. ‘Come on Abi, let me give you a hand.’ He held his hand out to help her up from the step.
She ignored it. ‘I want Kier to leave.’
Ben looked up at Kier. ‘She’s right. I think you should go. Leave this to me.’
‘I left it to you last time,’ Kier retorted. ‘And look what’s happened. You did nothing!’
‘Abi and I have been working on all this slowly,’ Ben said patiently. ‘There is no cause to be dramatic. Abi’s experiences need to be explored and prayed about and that’s what we have been doing. Please go. Your presence can only exacerbate matters.’
Kier’s face reddened in anger. ‘It seems to me I am the only person who cares about her!’
‘Go away, Kier!’ Abi scrambled to her feet. ‘For God’s sake! How many times? You don’t understand me. You don’t understand what is happening to me. Your reactions to this whole thing are archaic. I came down here to get away from you!’
‘Go, Kier!’ Ben said forcibly before the other man had a chance to react. ‘Go now.’
Kier shook his head. ‘My conscience won’t let me. I have to deal with this. You’re obviously not going to. “Your enemy the devil walketh about, as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Don’t you see it, man! In God’s name, open your eyes.’
Behind them the door opened. For a second none of them turned round, then Kier looked up. His eyes widened and Abi saw the skin over his cheekbones blanch.
‘What have we here? A gathering of vicars. Does that make a synod?’ Justin’s voice rang out with authority as he walked slowly towards them up the aisle, sweeping his rain-soaked hair back from his eyes with his hand. He gazed round, hastily taking in the situation. ‘You don’t look happy, Abi.’
‘I’m not. I want Kier to leave.’
‘Why doesn’t that surprise me?’ Justin gave a grim smile. ‘And Ben?’
‘Ben is fine,’ his brother retorted. ‘But he would also like Kier to leave.’ He turned to Kier. ‘If you would be so kind.’
Kier stared from one to other of the men, his eyes wild. ‘No!’
‘It is strange how we seem to have been in this situation before,’ Justin said calmly. ‘You seem to make a habit of being where you are not wanted, my friend. I think it would be as well if you left. I would be sorry to have to use force in a house of God.’
‘You don’t believe in God!’ Kier spluttered.
‘My beliefs or lack of them are not the issue here.’ Justin did not raise his voice. ‘This is a Christian church and you are a Christian priest and you have been asked to leave. I think it behoves you to do so. And if you don’t go in the next ten seconds I shall throw you out.’
Kier looked at Ben. ‘Are you going to let him talk to me like that? A foul heathen!’
‘One. Two.’
‘He’s my brother.’ Ben shrugged. ‘We don’t talk theology much, but he seems to have reiterated what Abi and I have been saying. I would have found it much harder than Just to resort to violence in a church, but I might have done so had he not appeared.’
‘Five. Six. Seven – ’ Justin said slowly.
‘Right. I’m going. And I’m going to phone the bishop as soon as I’m out of here,’ Kier said, already moving towards the door. ‘This is not the end of the matter. Abi has to be saved. If neither of you cares, then I am going to have to do it myself!’
They watched as he gained the door and went out, banging it behind him.
Abi subsided onto the step again. ‘He tried to exorcise the church,’ she said to Justin. ‘He tried to banish Mora.’ Her voice was shaking.
Justin glanced round slowly. ‘I can feel the rage in here. The place is vibrating with anger and fear. If I take Abi back to the house, Ben, will you pray to settle the church?’ He held out his hand to Abi.
Unsteadily she climbed to her feet. She stared round. The place seemed to be full of an angry mist.
‘Who is Cynan?’ Justin asked suddenly.
Abi stared at him, then she turned slowly, glancing round the church. ‘Is he here?’
Justin nodded. ‘He is angry and confused and afraid for Mora.’
Abi stared at him. ‘Where? Where is he? I can’t see him.’
‘He comes here to be alone. Here on the hill top. In his time there is no building here. This is a sacred place. He prays here, just as you do. And he senses that it has been desecrated.’ He paused for a moment. ‘Kier’s obsession has allowed something very powerful to worm its way into his soul. Not love, though I’m sure he feels he loves you, Abi. I’m afraid it is something much more sinister. Come with me. He held out his hand. ‘Leave Ben to sort this out here. We will speak to Cynan outside.’
He took her hand and led her up the aisle towards the door. She stopped abruptly. ‘Suppose Kier hasn’t gone?’
‘He has.’ Justin didn’t seem to have any doubts on the matter. With a glance at his face Abi meekly followed him out into the rain.
The churchyard was deserted. She glanced round in relief. ‘I had no idea he had followed me in there.’
Justin shrugged. ‘Forget him for now. We have to speak to Cynan.’
‘How? I’ve left the stone – ’
‘We don’t need the stone.’ He stood for a moment in silence, staring round, then he set off at a brisk walk towards the gate. ‘Follow me.’
Abi glanced behind her towards the church door. There was no sound from inside. She wondered what Ben was doing. More holy water, or just prayers to try and settle the jangling echoes? After a second’s hesitation she followed Justin out of the gate and down the steep path towards the orchard.
So, there wouldn’t be another winter here, to stand and watch the frost-sparkled lacework on the graceful branches of the willow, the bright icicles on the bare angles of the old apple trees, the splintered ice out on the shallow immovable waters, their spears of reed and sedge rigid with cold. He shrugged the robe more comfortably onto his thin shoulders and turned full circle, looking out across the distances. God’s world, at every season, had its beauty and its infinite mystery.
16
Cynan was standing looking out across the water of the lake. The brisk wind had made it choppy. He could see the reeds thrashing to and fro, the yellowed leaves on the willows rustling back and forth and there in the distance he saw the dugout canoe with Romanus paddling in the stern. Yeshua had taken the other paddle and between them Mora sat low in the boat, cradling her bag of herbs. He narrowed his eyes. She had gone without a backwards glance. He shook his head. He could feel danger crackling in the air around them, like summer lightning on a humid, luminous night. He closed his eyes and tried to pray, but he wasn’t calm enough; he couldn’t reach deep into himself to touch the silent core of his being from where he could speak to his gods. He opened his eyes again. They were further away now, almost too far to recognise, heading for the landing point below Gaius’s fields. Glancing round he saw another boat pulled up among the reeds. He paused for only a second before he ran to it and began to push it into the water. At least he could be there. At least if they needed him, he could help.
Janet Cavendish parked her car beside Cal’s in front of Woodley Manor and climbed out. The front door opened and the two dogs came hurtling out, followed by Cal. ‘Thanks for coming over.’ She leaned forward to kiss her sister-in-law’s cheek.
Janet looked at her in concern. The urgent message had been totally unexpected. As a rule the two of them rubbed along in a state of happy incomprehension. They came, as Janet often thought, from two different worlds; two different planets. All they had in common was the surname and the two brothers. When they met it was always to sort out something one or the other of them felt could not be done alone. A Cavendish problem. Both of them realised that at some level that joined them at the hip. If a phone call came, it meant drop everything and listen.
Cal led the way into the kitchen, settled Janet into a chair and put on the kettle. The two dogs threw themselves down in front of the fire recognising th
e fact that this was obviously going to be a conference. No prospect of an imminent walk, then.
‘We have to be prepared to do something about Kieran Scott,’ Janet said without preamble. ‘And soon.’
Cal was spooning coffee into the percolator. ‘Horrid man.’
‘More than horrid, Cal. Dangerous.’
Cal turned and glanced at her. A word like dangerous from Janet was serious.
‘He rang earlier and called Ben, did you know?’
Cal shook her head.
‘He was in St Mary’s with Abi. Ben took off like a scalded cat. I’ve never seen him look so worried.’
Cal pursed her lips. ‘Wretched man. Why can’t he leave Abi alone?’
‘He’s obsessed, that’s why. Dangerously obsessed.’ Janet took the cup of coffee, sipped it and winced as it burned her mouth. ‘I’ve seen men like this before, Cal. Fundamentalist; absolutely convinced he is right and that everything he is doing is for God. I know Ben has tried to calm him down, and will be trying to calm him down as we speak, but he won’t recognise any possibility that he could be wrong or that Abi’s views and feelings are the remotest bit relevant. I gather she is troubled too, and she seems to be quite a feisty lady. The combination could be disastrous. The problem is that Ben is such a gentle, good man. He believes that prayer and reason can sort out anything.’ She shrugged and shook her head, knowing instinctively that Cal would recognise that this was probably not a realistic outcome.
Janet looked round suddenly. ‘Where is Mat?’
‘He had to go back to Taunton to collect some papers.’
Janet looked relieved. On the balance of things this was probably just as well. Mat was a bit of a wild card. And if anyone mentioned Justin in front of him…She glanced back at Cal. ‘Did you know that Ben called Justin in?’