Mersey Murder Mysteries Collection - Books 7-9

Chapter 4

Miles Booker gave every sign of being a frustrated man when Ross and Drake finally managed to pull him away from the murder scene.

“Not a lot to go on Andy,” he said immediately. “A few fibres where the body was found. If there"s anything present on the actual victim, I"m sure Doc Nugent will find it, but I strongly suspect the fibres will prove to be from the monk"s habit. As for the killer, if he attacked the victim, there"s no sign of a struggle, so it would have had to be a lightning fast attack that immobilised the poor bugger immediately. Of course, as there"s no wound involved, there"s no blood we can work with, and it doesn"t appear as if the man or woman involved dropped anything at the scene or left anything behind. It"s like we"re looking at a blank canvas. We"ll go over everything again in broad daylight of course, but don"t go building your hopes up mate, sorry.”

“That"s all we need.” Ross looked frustrated. “Not your fault, Miles. You can only work with what you"re presented. Bloody typical, the Chief Constable"s watching over the case, Oscar Agostini"s on holiday, and I"ve got the bloody DCS directly overseeing the investigation!”

“Sarah Hollingsworth, the Queen Bee herself?”

“Yep, and here I am, on the grounds of a monastery in the middle of the night without a friggin" clue to go on.”

“Er, it"s a priory, sir,” Drake corrected.

“Oh right, priory. I stand corrected. What"s the difference between a monastery and a priory, anyway?”

“Maybe we should ask the Prior when we talk to him again,” she suggested.

“Good idea. Right, Miles, if there"s nothing you can give me here and now, we"d better go and have that word with Brother Gerontius. Izzie?”

Walking towards the administration building, where Brother Gerontius would be patiently waiting for them, Ross and Drake took a moment to exchange a few words.

“That was clever of Sister Paulette to put the silence of the birds together with the time of the Brother"s death, don"t you think?”

“Yes, she"s quite an astute young lady. Observant, too. Not everyone would have thought of that and associated the two events.”

“Comes from her having a close connection with nature, I suppose. She"s probably very attuned to the sounds of wildlife and so on,” Ross agreed.

“You got any thoughts yet?” Drake asked.

“Not any worth sharing,” Ross shook his head. “From the sounds of it, almost anyone could have wandered onto the property and killed the monk, but one thing is really baffling me at present. Why poison?”

poison“It might help us formulate a theory when we get the results of the autopsy, always assuming Fat Willie can come up with a definitive cause of death and give us some idea how the poison, if that"s indeed what killed Brother Bernárd, was administered.”

ifRoss could say no more for the time being, as they were entering the building where they would find Brother Gerontius, whom they located easily in his office at the end of a long corridor; it was the only one with lights streaming through the open doorway. All the other doors were open, but led only to darkness.

* * *

“To answer your question, Sergeant,” the Prior began in response to Drake"s query about the difference between a priory and a monastery, “it"s a little complicated,”

Somehow, I knew it would be, Ross thought, but said nothing.

Somehow, I knew it would be,“To put it in the most simple terms, I can tell you that a monastery, in most cases, is larger than a priory, and houses more monks and/or nuns, usually a minimum of twelve. Ecclesiastically speaking, a monastery is senior in rank to a priory and is under the control of an Abbott. A Prior, such as myself, is of a lower rank in the order than an Abbott. The word "prior" is actually derived from the Medieval Latin word prioria, which simply means a monastery governed by a Prior. The nuns are usually governed by a Prioress, and though we have five nuns in this community, someone has to take responsibility for them, so Sister Ariadne is our Prioress. I have overall responsibility for the day-to-day running of the priory, with Sister Ariadne in charge of all things pertaining to the nuns. I can have her summoned here if you wish to speak with her.”

prioria“No, Brother, that won"t be necessary tonight,” Ross replied, “though we will need to talk to her, and everyone else in your community, tomorrow.”

“That won"t be a problem, Inspector. We"re at your disposal, if it helps to find whoever perpetrated this heinous act. I hope I"ve managed to answer your question also, Sergeant Drake?”

“Yes, I think so, as much as I need to know in relation to the case, thank you,” Drake replied as Ross cleared his throat, ready to begin his questioning of the Prior once more.

“Tell me, please,” he began, “just how much you know about the people who make up your religious community, and whether you also employ any people here who aren"t actually members of your religious order.”

Ross noticed that the Prior had a large, old-fashioned dappled-grey box file on his desk, annotated on the spine with the words "Personal Files". At this point, though, he made no move to open it.

“When it comes to our fellow monks and the nuns who make up our community, Inspector, we know as much about them as they share with us when they enter the order.”

“That sounds a little vague, if you don"t mind me saying so,” Ross said with a hint of frustration.

“It"s not intended to be. You must understand however, that we are not the army or the security services. In order to become a monk or a nun, one only has to demonstrate one"s fealty to God, and to the aims and beliefs of our order. What a person was, or was not before coming to us, is of no real importance, apart from it being useful to know if a monk has, for example, a specific skill which could be of use or significance in maintaining our community. You"ve already met Brother Ignatius of course, who"s blessed with the skills of a gardener, what is known in everyday parlance as having "green fingers". What better person could we wish for when it comes to maintaining the kitchen garden? Likewise, Sister Paulette also has some expertise in that area.”

“I think I see what you mean,” said Ross nonchalantly. “So if one of your monks, hypothetically speaking, had a criminal record, you might have no knowledge of it, am I correct?”

“Inspector, God sent his son Jesus Christ to earth to take upon himself the sins of mankind. If a new recruit to our order chooses to inform us of a criminal act perpetrated in the past, it wouldn"t necessarily preclude that person from becoming part of the order. Christianity is based on love and forgiveness, as I"m sure you know.”

“Yes, of course, but …”

“I think I"ve explained it as much as necessary, Inspector.” Brother Gerontius appeared firm in his resolve to reveal nothing else about the members of his community.

Ross decided to leave things at that, at least until the morning. He was tired, it was getting late, and they weren"t about to solve this case in the next few minutes. A good night"s sleep had become a priority in his mind. “I think we"ve done all we can for tonight,” he announced, much to the Prior"s surprise. “We"ll wish you goodnight, but we"ll be returning in the morning with the rest of my investigative team. I hope your people will cooperate fully with our investigation, as I"m sure you"ll want the killer of your fellow Brother apprehended as soon as possible.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” the Prior agreed quickly. “You can count on our full cooperation.”

Ross and Drake rose and, before leaving, took a brisk walk around the grounds, ensuring they knew the lay of the land, but also making sure there were no unauthorised persons lurking where they shouldn"t be. Lastly, they checked in with one of two uniformed constables who"d been assigned to keep watch over the murder scene until morning.

“Keep your eyes peeled, Constable. I don"t want the scene disturbed,” Ross advised the young man.

“No problem, sir,” the constable acknowledged.

“There"s supposed to be two of you. Where"s your oppo?” Drake wanted to know.

“Constable Shepherd"s gone to take a turn round the premises Sarge. He thought we could do alternate patrols around the place through the night to deter any intruders or maybe your killer who might be hiding somewhere, waiting for a chance to sneak away.”

“That"s good thinking.” Drake was impressed.

“Very good thinking indeed,” Ross agreed. “Okay lad, have a good night. Stay alert, Constable …?”

“Pearson, sir.”

“Just fancy that, someone showing a bit of initiative,” said Drake as she and Ross stood by their cars.

“I"m impressed with Constables Shepherd and Pearson,” Ross concurred. “Let"s hope those lads don"t meet up with the killer in the night, though. One victim is enough for me.”

Both detectives climbed into their cars and, as their taillights receded from view, a pair of eyes, well hidden from the sight of either Constable Pearson or Constable Shepherd, breathed a sigh of relief. A smile of grim satisfaction spread across a face twisted with hatred. So much for number one, the killer reasoned. With one gone, the next one would seem so much easier.