Page 28 of The Mercy Chair

‘What about Linus, Poe?’

‘Damn, I forgot about that twerp.’

‘Who’s Linus?’ Oldwater asked.

‘He’s either a trainee with the National Audit Office, here to see how SCAS contributes to the national security agenda . . .’

‘Or?’

‘Or he’s something else. I think we’ll find out one way or another very soon.’

‘Can you trust him?’

‘Not even a tiny bit,’ Poe said. ‘That’s not an insurmountable problem, however, as I have no intention of telling him what we’re doing.’

Oldwater looked at his document holder.

‘Maybe it’s best if—’

‘Nicholas,’ Poe cut in, ‘if there’s something sensitive in there, the best thing you can do is let Tilly scan it to her tablet, then shred it. I can assure you, once it’s in one of her devices, not even R2-D2 could get it out.’

‘Who?’

‘It’s a robot dustbin that Tilly likes,’ Poe said. ‘But, my point is, it’s as safe in Tilly’s tablet as anywhere on earth.’

‘Please pass me the file, Nicholas,’ Bradshaw said. ‘You can trust Poe to do what is right, and you can trust me to keep this information safe.’

‘And it was you who asked for this meeting,’ Poe reminded him.

The bishop nodded decisively and passed Bradshaw his file.

Chapter 24

‘During the course of your investigation you’re going to come up against a group called the Children of Job,’ Oldwater said. His pronunciation of Job rhymed with globe. He gestured towards the file that Bradshaw was scanning. ‘This is everything we know about them, and everything we know about their founding member, Cornelius Green – your victim.’

‘Job? The man whose family were killed after God made a bet with Satan?’ Poe said.

‘That’s right. God was demonstrating that true believers hold fast whatever their personal hardships. You’ve read the Book of Job?’

‘I hunt serial killers, Nicholas. I’m up to date withallreligious dogma.’

‘Of course,’ he said. ‘Anyway, wiser men than me have tried to understand the lessons we were meant to learn from Job’s suffering. Some believe it’s meant to demonstrate that suffering isn’t a punishment; others believe mortal men are not meant to understand God’s motivations.’

‘And what do you think?’

‘I think we need to stop looking for easy answers to hard questions. Life isn’t a meritocracy – we don’t always get what we deserve,’ Oldwater replied. ‘And like I said: the Old Testament isn’t meant to be taken literally.’

Poe patted the thick file. ‘Would it be fair to say the Children of Job are of interest to the Church?’

‘They are,’ Oldwater agreed. ‘As was Cornelius.’

‘Why?’

‘Initially it was because my office was asked to provide background information on their first application to become registered with the Charity Commission.’

‘Theirfirstapplication?’

‘They’ve applied several times. And each time they fall down at the final hurdle.’

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