The First Betrayal (10 page)

Chapter Forty Five

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Mike wasn’t sure how he felt being back. He opened up with the large rustic keys that opened the large wooden doors to his beloved house of God. The smell welcomed him. Incense and candle wax beckoned him back into the warmth of his religious being. The pews talked quietly amongst themselves, and Christ’s pictures spoke of forgiveness and acceptance. But something was wrong. He thought he would feel safe in Gods house, but he had actually felt safer at Stephens’s house. Even there alone with Chequers, he hadn’t had any fears or anxiety. Everything was as he left it, but everything had shifted. The balance was off; something had moved in and corrupted. His faith had always comforted and embraced him, like a blanket of unconditional love. Now, it just made him feel dirty and undeserving. He knelt before the alter, and asked himself some tough questions. Could he be faithful to God, or would his body utterly betray him. He might be able to forgive himself if he had fallen in love, but this wasn’t love, this was dirty, filthy lust. There was nothing good, or clean about it. This woman brought out the worst in him, dug into the very depths of lowliness. The vileness of mans needs and his bodies depraved wants. May God forgive him, and lead him away from temptation. Keep him pure and give him a sign that He had not forsaken him.

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‘You’re wasting your breath Father. He will not hear your pleas. He does not care. God is not in the business of forgiveness, I should know. I made one ill-judged decision, one transgression, and He wouldn’t forgive me. God is in the business of punishment and cruel and heartless revenge. Do you really believe that He will look past your carnal cravings? After all, isn’t your body, - and soul, supposed to belong to him? Will she be worth it, will a mere woman be your undoing and end the all the years of devotion you have given to Him?’

‘Who are you, and what do you want?’

‘I have been your beginning Father, and now it seems, I will play a part in your end. You know your temptress is like a cat with a mouse. She is not hungry, she does not wish to eat you, and feeding on you would not satisfy her. She wants to play, to enjoy the game. The brutality of it amuses her, and when she has had her fill of the game, you will be tossed aside, broken and useless.’

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Mike was having difficulty controlling his bladder. He couldn’t mistake the menace in the mans voice, and terror had gripped and twisted his guts. He assumed it was the guy Stephen and Rudder were after, and if that was the case, Mike knew what he was capable of doing. They say, when your time has come, that your life flashes before you, that it shows snapshots of the life you led and experienced. For Mike it wasn’t that simple, he saw dark images on a reel, ugly reminders of past horrors.

Children made of glass, their small gentle, innocent smiles, shattering every time they tried to speak. He saw bathtubs overflowing with blood and hands under the water, waving goodbye. He saw two figures walking up from the shadows, and realised they were not a memory or a gory image, but a real life threat. Recognising Evelyn and Lucy Woodcock made his stomach drop. As intimidating as he found the man, these two women together were terrifying.

‘Mrs Woodcock, what are you doing with these people? The have influenced your mind. Look what they made you do to your beautiful little girls?’ Mike desperately tried to get through to her.

‘These people as you call them have made me better. Since meeting Evelyn and her talking to me, I have returned to my old self. Yes, I had to sacrifice the girls, but they will be better off with God. I won’t have time to look after them you see, a new life is waiting for me. One where I don’t get married too young, or where I don’t have children before I’ve even grown up myself. You can see that cant you Father? I did it for the best.’ ‘Your a selfish murdering bitch, that’s all you are. Nothing more and nothing less.’ Mike couldn’t stop his outburst, and waited for the repercussion. It came, but not as he expected. The man said, ‘Ill leave you to it ladies,’ and went out through the back of the church. They advanced towards him and backed him against the alter.  Evelyn’s perfume was still intoxicating and she looked dangerously good. Beside her, Lucy looked plain and homely, but also dangerous. They looked at each other and smiled before looking back at him, and it chilled him.

Chapter Forty Six 

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If a space ship had come down and aliens had emerged and engaged with them, they wouldn’t have been more bewildered and confused.

‘You said that you dropped Adam off at the hotel, so lets go see this guy and pull out his fingernails until he talks.  How’s that for a plan?’ Rudder asked in a not so joking manner.

‘I like it, I’m sure I have a pliers in the boot.’

Rudder showed his badge to the young lady at the hotel reception. He enquired about a customer by the name of Adam Gardener. She lit up when she answered a moony expression on her face.

‘Oh yes, Mr sex on legs, he’s staying with us. Why, has something happened to him, or has he done something wrong?’ she asked, a worried look replacing the lovesick one.

‘We just want to ask him some questions, is he here?’

‘No, he went out earlier, sorry.’

‘Maybe you could help us. Did you check him in?’

No, that was Gladys, I remember cos that day she finished her shift at 3 o clock and I was starting mine. She said goodbye and left, but a half hour or so later, I saw her coming downstairs and leaving through the fire escape. I thought it strange then, but even more so after what happened.’

‘Why did you find it strange, especially after?’ Rudder wanted to know.

‘That was the evening they died. I assumed Jim had lost it when Gladys came home late again. She was always late going home, I don’t think she was very happy with Jim, but I didn’t realise things were so bad. You never know, do you?’

‘That’s very true,’ Rudder didn’t make her any the wiser by telling her that it was Gladys who killed Jim.

‘Do you see much of Mr Gardener?’

‘Not really, he comes and goes a lot, especially at odd hours.’

‘How do you mean, odd hours.’ Stephen asked.

‘We have sensors on the key pads, and it records when a resident leaves or enters.’ That information made them look at each other again, and when Rudder asked to see the records, the young woman, without hesitation, or asking her boss, gave them a printout.

Something had been niggling at Stephen for a while now and prompted him to ask, ‘Is there a beautiful woman called Evelyn also staying here?’

‘That’s right there is, I booked her in.’ She tapped her teeth with a blue pen before saying, ‘Something else I found funny, two incredibly beautiful people like that, staying here at the same time and not knowing each other, what’s the chances of that?’

They thanked the very helpful receptionist and left, but not before making her promise to be discrete, and her making them promise to return with any juicy tit bits they might gather.

Outside, the penny finally dropped for Stephen and he gasped.

‘Oh my God, they are a couple. Vera was right, Adam did kill all those people, but he didn’t do it alone. Him and Evelyn came here together, but must have separated to have their individual fun. Mike -- we have to get to Mike, quick, come on before it’s too late.’ Rudder understanding the panic in his voice raced with him. They didn’t even take the car, but ran like hell to the church.

. . . . .

Arriving at the church door, they paused to catch their breath, but also to prime themselves before entering. They both knew what could lie within and dreaded what they might find. After a few seconds, but what seemed like forever, Rudder took the initiative and pushed open the heavy wooden doors.

Mike was slumped in front of the alter, thankfully alive, but as they got closer, they saw another figure. This one was lying face up on the alter, and quite obviously dead. Stephen went to check on his friend, grateful when he looked up, tearstained but physically intact. Rudder went to the body to check for a pulse, and found none. It was Lucy Woodcock, her dress pulled up near her waist and a jewelled crucifix sticking out of her chest.

‘Jesus Mike, what happened here, please tell me you didn’t do this?’

‘Of course he didn’t, damn it Rudder you know who did this. For Gods sake Mike, what the hell went on here?’

‘She did it --- they did it. Oh Stephen, my vows, my beliefs. I did the unthinkable, they forced me, held a knife to my throat, my body deceived me and they ---- defiled me, forced themselves on me.’

‘Its ok Mike, it wasn’t your fault. If your God is as forgiving as you believe, He will not hold it against you. He will know you were an unwilling participant.’

‘Sorry to play the detective here, but I need to know exactly what went on. Can you explain Mike?’ Rudder left the corpse and knelt beside the emotionally broken man on the alter steps. They waited while Mike gathered himself, waited while he sobbed uncontrollably, and waited while he gathered himself again. Eventually Mike was able to speak coherently, and his story was perversely sexual and brutal. He was able to describe how Adam had appeared first, while he was praying, intimidating and threatening. He had left through the back as the two women bore down on him. In broken and sporadic English, Mike recounted the harrowing account of his degrading experience. Two women who dominated and took horrible advantage of his weak and vulnerable body. Not once did he mention the word rape, even though rape was what it was. Those women not only raped his body, but also raped and desecrated his soul. When they were finished with him, Evelyn kissed Lucy, congratulated her on how brave she had been killing her children, and promised her a new life. Sitting on top of Gods alter, obnoxious and glorifying in her conquest, Lucy didn’t see what was coming, that’s when Evelyn drew the crucifix and drove it into her heart, kissed her again, kissed Mike, whispered in his ear, “Ill be seeing you” and left.

Listening quietly and respectively, Rudder had remained silent throughout.

‘Are you telling me that when they check for DNA on Lucy Woodcocks body, that they will find you all over her, and - - in her, but that you didn’t kill her? You can see how that’s going to look?’

‘The only one I care about is my Saviour, and I don’t see how he can save me now.’

‘He’s not the one you should be worrying about; the law is what you should be worrying about. For pities sake, hasn’t it dawned on you people yet?’

‘But you know Mike had nothing to do with Lucy Woodcock’s death. You bloody well know those murderous bastards are responsible. Mike is lucky to be alive to tell us what happened.’  Stephen was appalled at Rudders’ inference. His friendship blinding him to the obvious.

‘Listen to me and listen good. Mikes bodily fluids are going to be found in Lucy Woodcock’s body. His DNA is going to be all over her, and if I’m not mistaken, his prints will be all over the crucifix sticking out of her chest. It is yours, isn’t it?’ Mike nodded, his chin barely lifting from his shirt.  ‘We may have been working colleagues for the last couple of days, but, I have to call it as it looks. “Mike, I am placing you under arrest for the murder of Lucy Woodcock. I will accompany you to the ferry for transportation to the rightful authorities. You will have the opportunity of legal representation when we arrive on the mainland.”

‘Come on Inspector, there’s no need for that. Mike and I will declare ourselves at the station tomorrow. We know you have a job to do, but if you bring Mike in, it only makes him look guiltier.’

‘Sorry, but I can’t do that. I don’t know that he didn’t kill this woman. We only have his word that there was any one else here. Maybe Father Mike here has been involved in all the deaths. Either way he’ll get the help he needs, look at him, he’s a damn mess. Out of respect for the cloth, I wont put the cuffs on, Ill ring the Sergeant Mathews to hold the ferry.’ While Rudder was on the phone, Stephen consoled Mike.

‘Ill be with you all the way mate.

‘It’s just a formality.’

‘I’m your alibi for Christ’s sake, oh - sorry.’

‘Look, don’t panic, I can’t get you out of this.’ Stephens near hysterical rant brought a small smile to Mikes face. He put a hand on his arm.

‘Its fine Stephen, I’m not afraid. I didn’t do anything wrong, and I have nothing to hide. Anyway, I have you to bully me out of any tricky situations.’ He knew his friend was putting on a brave act, and decided to play along.

‘That’s odd, I can’t get through, keeps going to voice mail. We better drive to the ferry. Father, do you need to get a few things together, you could be gone a while.’

Chapter Forty Seven

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What a day, what a stunning day. He felt a liberty in his bones that belied decay. A freedom that released his inner demons.

‘Hello, you must be Sergeant Mathews. Inspector Rudder said it was all right for me to travel with the deceased across to the other side, so to speak. I would like to pray over them and accompany them to their loved ones, and to help comfort them in their transition.’

‘Of course Father, no problem at all. That’s very decent of you. Go on ahead, and Ill tell the captain to shove off. Ill catch up with you in a couple of minutes.’  He patted him on the chest, made the sign of the cross and blessed him.

The sergeant checked and double-checked before giving the all clear, aware of his superior’s instructions, and happy that no one had passed the Inspectors criteria. He had the picture of the woman, and a very detailed description of the good-looking fellow.  It was a bizarre case, or cases, boating and bus accidents, a deadly house fire, child killings, murder suicide. For such a small place, there certainly was a lot going on. Of course, these small communities were full of inbreeding, was it any wonder the ratio of normal to freak, favoured the freak.

. . . . .

Making his way to the top deck and watching as they pulled away from the Island, he was happy with what they had achieved. Destruction of life always excited him. The ruination of Gods humanity was fitting retribution for their betrayal. It always sickened him, when the words “Forgive others as quickly as you expect God to forgive you” were thrown out there. What did they know?

‘Adam, is that you? I hardly recognised you with that dog collar on.’

‘Yes its me, what did you do with the priest?’

‘I let him live to sin another day. I have a feeling he and I will meet again. He will torture himself far more than I ever could.  Anyway, are you ready to move on? I’m itching for another priest.’

‘Absolutely Eve, temptation and betrayal wait for no man.’

The End