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Rose shrugged. “Because we liked him.”
“That’s it?”
“We felt we owed him.”
“Owed him what?”
“Not to be forgotten. Not to be ignored just because he was a drifter, a man with no place in society and no fixed abode.”
“What about everyone else at St Mark’s?”
“A few people agreed. Mostly women. However, I suspect that the majority of people in the church thought we should just leave it to the police.”
“And was there anyone who was actively hostile to your plans? Anyone who tried to dissuade you?”
Rose frowned. Not for the first time Mullen realised he found her rather attractive. She wasn’t a conventional beauty, but then he had never been drawn to conventional beauties.
“The vicar of course. Diana didn’t like Chris. She hid it well. She was perfectly nice to him, but . . .” Rose paused, allowing Mullen to interrupt.
“But she was worried about the effect he was having on her congregation? On people like Janice and yourself?”
“I guess so.”
“Anyone else apart from Diana?”
“My mother.” Rose laughed at the thought. “She definitely didn’t like the way Chris flirted with me.”
“Why not?”
“Being nice to him in church was one thing. But any sort of relationship would have been quite another thing in my mother’s book.”
“And did you respond to any of his flirtations?”
There was a slight pause before she answered his question. “No.”
Mullen considered this for a few seconds before moving on. “So when you came and told me you wanted me to stop the investigation, who put you up to it?”
“Diana and my mother essentially. But Janice had got cold feet too. That was what we talked about the last time I spoke to her. She and Rachel Speight waited behind at the end of the youth group. They said they wanted to offer me some ‘good Christian advice.’”
“That was it? Did none of the men offer you ‘good Christian advice?’”
Rose frowned again, as if that was something she had not considered before. “There was Derek Stanley of course. Wherever my mother goes, he follows in her footsteps. But in my experience, men are less keen to hand out free advice.”
“Tell me about Derek.”
“What is there to know? He was here at St Mark’s when my mother and I came ten years ago.”
“Does he have any family?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“He had a sister, didn’t he? Lived in Hungerford. She committed suicide.”
Rose opened her eyes wide. “Gosh. You are well informed.”
“She was in Hungerford the day Michael Ryan ran amok and killed fourteen people. According to Derek, she was lucky not to be killed herself. Exactly one year later she hanged herself.”
She stood up and walked over to the balcony windows, staring out across the river. Mullen studied her profile and was struck by her nose, long and slightly upturned at the end, suggesting an arrogance that was at odds with what he knew of her character. She turned towards him. “How on earth did you get Derek to tell you that?”
