The Messiah Secret - James Becker [31]
What Donovan had told him had shocked him into stunned silence; a silence that had lasted so long Donovan had eventually knocked on the pierced wooden divider between the two sections of the confessional and asked if he was still there.
‘I told Donovan that what he was planning to do was a mortal sin, a blasphemy of such appalling magnitude that nobody would ever be able to forgive him. And I absolutely forbade him to even contemplate proceeding with his plans,’ Mitchell told Killian. ‘What stunned me most was that he apparently thought I’d be pleased with what he was intending.’
‘What was it that so shocked you?’ Killian asked quietly.
So Mitchell told him, and what he said was so extraordinary that Killian felt the blood drain from his face.
‘Dear God in heaven,’ he had whispered, and then pulled himself together. ‘Tell me everything you know about that man,’ he’d said. ‘His address, telephone number, whatever you have.’
Mitchell had passed across a sheet of paper.
‘God will reward your courage,’ Killian had told him. ‘Now you must leave everything to me. If Donovan approaches you again, about anything at all, let me know immediately.’
Killian had prayed for guidance that night, and by the following morning the way ahead had been clear. Donovan himself wasn’t the problem. Whatever he had found could also be discovered by others, now or sometime in the future, and that could have disastrous consequences. The only way to achieve a lasting solution was to allow Donovan to locate the relic. And then it would have to be utterly destroyed, as would everybody involved in its search.
He would have to break the first commandment; Killian knew this. But he also knew that he’d have God’s forgiveness. Because the reality was that the killing of one or two men – or even the deaths of hundreds or thousands of people – was completely inconsequential, totally insignificant, in comparison with the stakes he was playing for.
16
‘I’m not even going to discuss it,’ Richard Mayhew snapped. ‘It’s completely out of the question.’
‘Actually, Richard, it’s not out of the question at all, and I’m afraid you’re not in any position to make an autonomous decision.’ Angela’s tone was sweetly reasonable, but there was no mistaking her resolve.
‘I’m in charge of this group,’ Mayhew snapped.
‘According to Roger Halliwell, you’re only the administrative head. That means you control the budget that buys our food and pays for the accommodation back at the pub. Otherwise, we’re here as six individuals from six different departments, with an equal say in what we do. Chris has volunteered to stay here overnight to make sure that whoever’s been burgling this house doesn’t get back inside again, and I for one think that’s a really good idea. I had hoped you’d think it was a good idea as well but, as you don’t, maybe we should take a vote on it.’
‘What’s the harm, Richard?’ Owen Reynolds suggested. ‘It’s not like one of us staying here – Chris is a police officer, well able to take care of himself. He’s the ideal man for the job.’
Mayhew glanced around the kitchen, sensing general agreement among the others there. He made one more attempt to get them to change their minds.
‘Suppose he gets hurt? What about the insurance implications, all that kind of thing?’
‘It’s not your property,’ Bronson interjected, ‘so you have nothing to do with the insurance of the building or its contents. But if it would make you any happier, I’d be pleased to sign a waiver absolving you and the museum