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‘Oh yeah.’
‘Bloody hell.’
Yes, his thoughts exactly. Although the messages had begun quite tame, they had become progressively more menacing and finally led to full-on death threats.
There was no question in Penn’s mind that the author of these messages had seriously wanted Sandra Deakin dead.
TWENTY-FIVE
‘You’re not going to treat him like a suspect, are you, guv?’ Bryant asked, parking the car outside St John’s Church.
Two squad cars and a forensics van were still in attendance.
‘Why do you get antsy when we speak to anyone in authority?’
‘Well, see, there’s this story about a china shop and a bull…’
‘I’m going to treat him no differently to anyone else,’ she said, ducking under the cordon tape.
‘That’s what worries me.’
‘You think he should be treated differently?’ she asked.
Bryant shrugged with a pained look on his face. ‘He’s a man of the cloth, a man of God. Surely that deserves some kind of…I dunno…respect,’ he said as she headed up the path towards the church entrance.
She was saved from replying when Father Markinson met them at the door.
‘Ah, Officer, I assume you’ve come to give me my church back?’
‘It’s Inspector and I’m afraid that’s a little premature, until the forensic technicians advise accordingly.’
He looked beyond her, and she tried to quell her immediate dislike of the man. In him she sensed an entitlement, an expectation of obedience, an obvious reverence for his position, as though he viewed everyone as his inferior. She tried to shake away the thoughts. She hadn’t spent enough time with him to make those judgements.
‘It’s quite inconvenient, you see. The church needs to be open to the community, especially now when everyone is feeling vulnerable and frightened. The church and the comfort it offers needs to be available to everyone.’
‘If the archbishop himself wanted to visit, it’d be a no. But not everyone is welcome to enjoy the comfort of the church, are they, Father George?’
Sensing he was getting nowhere with his pleas, his expression changed from irritation to tolerance.
‘If you’re referring to Sandra then I assume you’ve heard about our disagreement,’ he said, making no attempt to invite them inside. Clearly this church was not open to everyone. Only the people admitted by its caretaker.
‘We have. Would you like to elaborate?’ she offered, waiting to see the emergence of discomfort, even shame, at having been caught refusing someone access to the house of God.
‘Absolutely. I asked her not to attend this church any more.’
‘You banned her?’ Kim clarified, seeing no remorse on his face.
‘This isn’t some council-estate pub where people are barred for unruly behaviour. She was asked not to attend because of the effect she had on the congregation.’
‘And she obliged?’ Kim asked.
‘Not initially, no.’
‘Not until you physically removed her from the premises?’ she asked, tipping her head. He’d made no mention of physically engaging with Sandra.
‘Where I’m from we call it gentle persuasion.’
‘Where I’m from we call it assault,’ Kim said.
