Death in Holy Orders (48 page)

“It wasn’t me. It must have been someone else. Nobody could have seen me, because I wasn’t there. It’s a lie.”

The confused denial must have sounded unconvincing even to Surtees’s ears.

Dalgliesh said patiently, “Mr. Surtees, are you asking to be arrested for murder?”

Surtees seemed visibly to shrink. He looked little more than a boy. There was a long pause, then he said, “All right, I did go back to the college. I woke up and saw a light in the church, so I went to investigate.”

“At what time did you see this light?”

“At about midnight, like you said. I got up to go to the lavatory and that’s when I saw it.”

Kate spoke for the first time.

“But the cottages are all built to the same plan. The bedrooms and bathrooms are at the back. In your cottage they face northwest. How could you have seen the church?”

Surtees licked his lips. He said, “I was thirsty. I went down to get a cup of water and saw the light from the sitting-room. At least I thought I saw it. It was only faint. I thought I’d better investigate.”

Dalgliesh said, “Didn’t you think to wake your sister or telephone Mr. Pilbeam or Father Sebastian? Surely that would be the natural thing to do.”

“I didn’t want to disturb them.”

Kate said, “Pretty courageous of you, venturing out alone on a stormy night to confront a possible intruder. What were you planning to do when you got to the church?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking very clearly.”

Dalgliesh said, “You’re not thinking very clearly now, are you? However, go on. You say you went over to the church. What did you find?”

“I didn’t go in. I couldn’t, because I hadn’t got a key. The light was still on. I let myself into the house and fetched one of the keys from Miss Ramsey’s office, but when I returned to the north cloister the light in the church had gone out.” He was speaking more confidently now and the clenched hands visibly relaxed.

It was Kate who, after a brief glance at Dalgliesh, took over the questioning. “So what did you do then?”

“I didn’t do anything. I thought I must have been mistaken about the light.”

“But you seemed quite certain about it earlier, otherwise why venture out into the storm? First a light is on, and then mysteriously it’s switched off. Didn’t it occur to you to go into the
church to investigate? That was your purpose, wasn’t it, in leaving the cottage?”

Surtees mumbled, “It didn’t seem necessary, not when there wasn’t a light any more. I told you, I thought I’d been mistaken.” He added, “I did try the sacristy door and it was locked, so I knew that no one was in the church.”

“After the Archdeacon’s body was found, one of the three sets of church keys was discovered to be missing. How many sets were in place when you took the keys?”

“I can’t remember. I didn’t notice. I was just anxious to get out of the office. I knew exactly where the church keys were on the key board and I just took the nearest pair.”

“And you didn’t return them?”

“No. I didn’t want to go into the house again.”

Dalgliesh interposed quietly, “In that case, Mr. Surtees, where are those keys now?”

Kate had seldom seen a suspect more broken by terror. The brave spirit of hope and confidence which had been apparent during the early part of the questioning drained away and Surtees slumped forward in the chair, his head bowed and his whole body shaking.

Dalgliesh said, “I’m going to ask you once again. Did you go into the church on Saturday night?”

Surtees managed to sit upright and even to meet Dalgliesh’s eyes. And now it seemed to Kate that terror was giving way to relief. He was about to tell the truth and was glad to put an end to the prolonged ordeal of lying. Now he and the police would be on the same side. They would approve of him, absolve him, tell him that they understood. She had seen it all so many times before.

Surtees said, “All right, I did go into the church. But I didn’t kill anybody, I swear I didn’t. I couldn’t! I swear before God that I never touched him. I was only there for less than a minute.”

Dalgliesh asked, “Doing what?”

“I was getting something for Karen, something she needed. It was nothing to do with the Archdeacon. It’s private between us.”

Kate said, “Mr. Surtees, you must know that that isn’t good
enough. Nothing is private in a murder investigation. Why did you go to the church on Saturday night?”

Surtees looked at Dalgliesh, as if willing him to understand. “Karen needed another consecrated wafer. It had to be consecrated. She asked me to get one for her.”

“She asked you to steal for her?”

“She didn’t see it like that.” There was a silence, then he said, “Yes, I suppose so. But it wasn’t her fault, it was mine. I didn’t have to agree. I didn’t want to do it, the fathers have always been good to me, but it was important to Karen and in the end I said I’d go. She had to have it this weekend, because she needs it on Friday. She just didn’t think it was all that important. It was just a wafer to her. She wouldn’t have asked me to steal something valuable.”

Dalgliesh said, “But this was something valuable, wasn’t it?”

Again there was a silence.

Dalgliesh said, “Tell me what happened on Saturday night. Think back and think clearly. I want every detail.”

Surtees was calmer now. He seemed almost physically to be drawing himself up, and the colour was again blotching his cheeks. He said, “I waited until very late. I had to be sure they would all be asleep, or at least in their rooms. And the storm was a help. I didn’t think they’d be going for a walk. It was about a quarter to midnight when I started out.”

“Wearing?”

“Just my dark-brown corduroys and a thick leather jacket. No light clothes. We thought it would be safer to wear dark clothes, but I wasn’t disguised.”

“Did you wear gloves?”

“No. We—I didn’t think it was necessary. I’ve only got thick gardening gloves and an old woollen pair. I’d have had to take them off to pick up the wafer, cope with the locks, and I didn’t think it mattered not wearing gloves. No one would know there had been a theft. They wouldn’t miss one wafer, they’d think they’d miscounted. That’s what I argued. I’ve just got the two keys, one to the iron gate and the other to the door from the north cloister. Usually I don’t need them during the day, as the gate and the doors from both the cloisters are left open. I knew that the church keys were in Miss Ramsey’s office. Sometimes
at festivals like Easter I give them flowers or greenery. Father Sebastian would ask me to leave them in a bucket of water in the sacristy. There’s always one of the students who’s good at decorating the church. Sometimes Father Sebastian hands me the keys or he tells me to get them from the office, lock up carefully after me and return them. We’re supposed to sign for the church keys if we take them but sometimes people don’t bother.”

“They made it very easy for you, didn’t they? But then, it isn’t difficult to steal from people who trust you.”

There was a second when Dalgliesh was simultaneously aware of the note of contempt in his voice and of Kate’s unspoken surprise. He told himself that this was too close to personal involvement.

Surtees said, with more confidence than he had shown before, “I wasn’t going to hurt anyone, I couldn’t hurt anyone. And even if I’d managed to steal the wafer, no one at the college would have been hurt. I don’t think they’d even have known. It was just one wafer. It wouldn’t have cost more than a penny.”

Dalgliesh said, “So let’s get back to what exactly happened on Saturday night. We’ll leave out the excuses and justification. We’ll stick to the facts, all the facts.”

“Well, as I said, it was about a quarter to twelve when I set out. The college was very dark and the wind was howling. There was only one light and that was in one of the guestrooms and the curtains were drawn. I used my key to get into the college through the back door, then past the scullery and into the main part of the house. I had a torch with me, so I didn’t need to put on any of the lights, but there was one light burning beneath the statue of the Madonna and Child in the main hall. I had a story ready if anyone appeared. I was going to say that I thought I’d seen a light from inside the church and was coming to get the keys to investigate. I knew it would sound unconvincing, but I wasn’t really expecting to have to use it. I took the keys and went out again the way I’d come in, locking the door behind me. I put out the cloister lights and kept close to the wall. There wasn’t any trouble with the mortice
lock to the sacristy, it’s always kept oiled and the key turned very easily. I pushed open the door very gently, lighting my way with the torch, and turned off the alarm system.

“I was beginning to feel less frightened and more optimistic; it had all gone so easily. I knew where the wafers would be, of course, to the right of the altar in a kind of alcove with a red light shining above it. They keep consecrated wafers there in case one of the priests has to take them out to someone who is sick in the community, or sometimes they are taken to a Communion service at one of the village churches where they don’t have a priest. I had an envelope in my pocket and I was going to put the wafer inside. But when I pushed open the door into the church I saw there was someone there. It wasn’t empty.”

Again he paused. Dalgliesh resisted temptation to comment or question. Surtees had his head bowed, his hands clasped in front of him. He looked as if remembering had suddenly become an effort.

He said, “There was a light on at the north end of the church, the light over the
Doom
. And there was someone standing there, a figure in a brown cloak and hood.”

It was Kate who couldn’t resist the question: “Did you recognize him?”

“No. He was partly behind a pillar and the light was too dim. And the hood was up over his head.”

“Tall or short?”

“I think about average, not particularly tall. I can’t really remember. And then, in the minute while I watched, the big south door opened and someone came in. I didn’t recognize him either. I didn’t really see him, I just heard him call out “Where are you?” and then I shut the door. I knew the whole thing was off. There was nothing for it but to lock up after me and go back to the cottage.”

Dalgliesh said, “Are you absolutely certain that you recognized neither of the figures?”

“Quite certain. I never saw either face. I didn’t really see the second man at all.”

“But you know it was a man?”

“Well, I heard the voice.”

Dalgliesh said, “Who do you think it was?”

“Judging from the voice, I think it might have been the Archdeacon.”

“So he must have spoken quite loudly?”

Surtees flushed. He said unhappily, “I suppose it must have been quite loud. It didn’t seem so at the time. Of course, the church was very quiet, and the voice sort of echoed. I can’t be certain it was the Archdeacon. It’s just the impression I had at the time.”

It was apparent he could tell them nothing more certain about the identity of either figure. Dalgliesh asked him what he had done after leaving the church.

“I reset the alarm, locked the door behind me and went out through the courtyard past the south door of the church. I don’t think it was open or even ajar. I can’t remember seeing a light, but I wasn’t really noticing. I was just anxious to get away. I battled my way across the headland against the wind and told Karen what had happened. I was hoping I’d have a chance to return the keys sometime on Sunday morning, but when we were sent for to go to the library and were told about the murder, I knew it wouldn’t be possible.”

“So what did you do with them?”

Surtees said miserably, “I buried them in a corner of the pig pen.”

Dalgliesh said, “When this interview is over, Sergeant Robbins will go with you to recover them.”

Surtees made to get up but Dalgliesh said, “I said when the interview is over. It isn’t over yet.”

The information they had just gained was the most important they had been given so far, and he had to resist the temptation to follow it up at once. First it was necessary to get what confirmation he could of Surtees’s story.

S
ummoned by Kate, Karen Surtees came into the room with no apparent sign of nervousness, seated herself beside her half-brother without waiting for Dalgliesh’s invitation, hitched her black shoulder-bag onto the back of the chair and turned immediately towards Surtees.

“You all right, Eric? No third degree?”

“Yes, I’m all right. I’m sorry, Karen. I’ve told them.” He said again, “I’m sorry.”

“What for? You did your best. It wasn’t your fault there was someone in the church. You tried. Just as well for the police that you did. I hope they’re grateful.”

Surtees’s eyes had brightened at the sight of her and there was an almost palpable sense of her fortifying strength passing through him as she briefly laid her hand on his. His words had been apologetic, but there had been nothing servile in the look he gave her. Dalgliesh recognized the most dangerous of complications—love.

And now she turned her attention to him, fixing on him a concentrated and challenging gaze. Her eyes widened and he thought she was suppressing a secretive smile.

Dalgliesh said, “Your brother has admitted that he was in the church on Saturday night.”

“Early Sunday morning. It was after midnight. And he’s my half-brother—same dad, different mothers.”

Dalgliesh said, “So you told my officers earlier. I’ve heard his story. I’d like to hear yours.”

“It will be much the same as Eric’s. He’s not much good at lying, as you’ve probably discovered. That can be inconvenient at times, but it has its advantages. Well, it’s no great deal. He
hasn’t done anything wrong, and the idea that he could hurt anyone, let alone kill them, is ridiculous. He can’t even kill his own pigs! I asked him to get me a consecrated wafer from the church. If you don’t go in for these things, I can tell you that they’re small white discs made, I imagine, of flour and water, about the size of a two-penny piece. Even if he’d managed to get one and been caught, I can’t see the magistrates committing him to the Crown Court for sentence. Value—insignificant.”