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There it was again.The look.
“A couple of people left.We kind of disbanded from that point on,” Hugh said, carefully.
“Who?”Kate asked.“I mean, which people?”
“Well, Ray was one of them,” Hugh said, as if he was having a tooth pulled.“For obvious reasons.”
“Sure,” said Marcus.“Makes sense.”
“And the other person?”Kate asked.
“Well… that was Father Tom.”
“Why did Father Tom drop out?”
“Look, I don’t know what’s going on here…” Hugh began.
“We’re talking about your pétanque team,” Kate said.“I thought.”
“But we’re also investigating a very brutal murder,” Marcus added.“And asking you questions related to that.So if there’s some reason why you don’t want to answer those questions here, gentlemen…”
“This is ridiculous,” Hugh fumed.“We haven’t done anything wrong.”
“The Bishop advised him to leave,” Remy said, sharply.
“The Bishop?”
“For some reason, Father Tom was advised, or more probably told, that he should leave the team,” Remy went on.“If you want to know why, you’ll have to ask the Bishop.”
CHAPTER SIX
The proper term for the administrative offices of a diocese, Kate learned, was a chancery.The word conjured up images of medieval England, towers with turrets, drawbridges, and lattice windows.So it was a shock to find the Bishop’s HQ in an ultra-modern box of glass and steel, with an elevator that ran outside the building, and a central courtyard boasting a sculpture of twisted wire that could have been an angel, or simply abstract.An immaculately groomed young man in a dark suit greeted her at the reception desk, and she felt as if she might be checking into a very expensive hotel.
Subsequently, she sat on a dark leather bench and sipped ice-cold water while she waited for someone called the Suffragan.Google told her that it meant the Bishop’s assistant.She took advantage of the pause for a quick catch-up with Marcus.
“What news?”she asked him, in a low voice.
“I mentioned the leaks to Chief Daniels,” Marcus said, in a low voice.
“And?”
“He hit the roof.An Oscar-winning performance.How dare we accuse his team of such an awful thing?What evidence have we got?He’s been nothing but generous with his time and his resources and this is how we repay him…”
“You know what I think?”Kate asked.
“It was him?”
“Yep.It’s no wonder he’s been so accommodating.He’s probably got a little account running with the editor of theMaine Packet.From now on,” Kate said, “we leave nothing on our desks.We only talk about the case when we’re alone.”
“Agreed.On that subject, young Arthur found no footage of the killer.There are half a dozen operational cameras on that road, and they’ve picked up zilch.I also checked the bus station camera, in case he arrived or departed that way, and again – no sign.He knows how to stay off the radar.”
Denton, she remembered, had been exceptionally savvy when it came to CCTV, plotting routes that avoided them, even, in a couple of cases, sabotaging the lenses with black paint.She forced the memory away.
“I’m also not having any joy with the Father’s laptop – my special USB stick isn’t working its magic, which suggests he’s got some extra level of security on there.”
“Excessive for a small-town priest, you think?”
“I’m not sure.People tell them things in confidence, so maybe Father T had reason to keep things secure.Anyhow, I’m going to call IT, see what they suggest.Have you seen his boss yet?”
