Doctor Who_ The Hollow Men - Keith Topping [41]
commented Denman.
„Let‟s hope so, sir,‟ replied Hill.
„Well done,‟ said Denman, scanning the room for further contributions, although none were offered. „I want you all working on these lines of inquiry as hard and as fast as you can. If previous experience has taught me anything, it‟s that you can‟t skewer Shanks just the once. We need to hit him hard, with multiple charges. And then finally the streets will be safe again.‟ And with a final nod, Denman was gone.
The remaining officers began to file out of the conference room in their teams. DC Fielder paused in the doorway, turning back to Hill, who remained seated, deep in thought.
„Coming, guv?‟
„I‟ll be along in just a minute, Mick.‟
Fielder smiled and left, leaving Hill alone in the room. Hill pulled a mobile phone from his pocket, and stared at it momentarily as if he‟d never seen it before, his brow creased with concentration. Then, with feigned casualness, he strolled towards the window. With his back to the door, he tapped in a number, holding the mobile to his ear.
„Tell Shanks,‟ he snapped when someone answered at the other end, „if he‟s going to have a pop at Denman, he‟d better do it now.‟
Ace passed the war memorial with a curious sideways glance.
„Back for more, boys,‟ she said with a grin, patting the stones tenderly. „I wish you lot were here. I might get some straight answers then.‟
She found the Reverend Thomas Baber tending to his begonias in the front garden. He was a picture of childlike contentment, entirely absorbed in his flowers. Ace decided to try the „little Dorothy‟ act once again, hopeful that it would get her further than the day before.
„Hello,‟ she said brightly. „Lovely day, isn‟t it?‟
Baber snapped up to his full height, seemingly taken aback. „Err... Yes, yes it is,‟ he said, wiping the dirt from his hands. „I‟m afraid Rebecca is in school today, so...‟
„Actually, it was you I came to see,‟ said Ace with a dazzling smile.
„Oh,‟ said Baber.
„I wonder if it would be possible for me to have a look at the church records. Parish registers, that kind of thing.‟
„They‟re church property,‟ said Baber quickly. „I‟m afraid -‟
„It‟s for research,‟ cut in Ace before he could get any further with his refusal. „The Doctor‟s writing a book on the history of the area, and your help would be much appreciated. We‟d include an acknowledgement to yourself and the church, of course, wording to be agreed at a later date. And there could be a small payment...‟
„What are you looking for?‟ asked Baber, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.
„Anything I can get, basically,‟ she said.
Baber seemed to consider this for a long time. Ace could imagine the turmoil in the man‟s mind. Her request was reasonable enough, but there must surely be some reason that he could contrive to refuse her. At length the cleric shrugged and said, „I have nothing to hide.‟
„I didn‟t say you had,‟ responded Ace automatically, but Baber wasn‟t really listening.
„Research is the quest for truth,‟ he said with a faraway look in his eyes that Ace found disturbing and yet rather pathetic. „I can understand that. This way, young lady.‟
He led her to the church, opening the main wooden door with a big iron key about as long as Ace‟s arm. Once inside, he tapped a code into an electronic pad. Ace found the mixture of old and new amusing.
„A shame we have to keep the house of God like a bank vault,‟ said Baber. „But there are some valuable things in here. And young people are always so keen to desecrate.
Present company excepted, I‟m sure.‟
„Times change,‟ she said.
„Indeed,‟ nodded the man, switching on some lights. „But God doesn‟t. And people think that makes him irrelevant, but actually that makes him more relevant than ever. It‟s old fools like me who get in the way.‟
Ace couldn‟t believe that this was the same glacier-cold man as she had seen the day before. She followed Baber into the vestry, a musty, dank room than contained a single writing desk and a hard-backed wooden chair. „Not a very comfortable place to do the