Part 36 (1/2)

*Mark . . .?'

*Blundell. Right at the end there a laughing boy. Worked for the Department of the Environment in Belfast. Remember him?'

Flynn shook his head. Looked from the corpse to me to Finaly and back. *Should I?'

I handed him the government ID card. Flynn studied it intently, then glanced back at the less healthy version. He shook his head again.

*He was killed and buried here about six years ago, if that's any help.'

*I wasn't here six years ago, Dan. You know that. I was still in Crossmaheart.'

I nodded. *So you were. That's you off the hook then.'

*I . . .'

*Joking,' I said.

The priest turned watery eyes on me. *What about the others?' he asked quietly.

*No idea,' said Finlay, nodding at the two still unidentified corpses, a little too slim now for their rotting jeans. *Who knows what the poor sods did? Wrong place, wrong time. Didn't believe. Or believed too much. Or in something else.'

*This is crazy,' Patricia said, hooking her arm through mine.

*Madness,' said Moira. She shook her head. *It wasn't meant to be like this.'

*What was it meant to be like?' I asked.

She shrugged. *It's all . . .' she began, the freezing wind causing her to hug herself tightly, *it's all been like a dream so far. Real, but not real, do you know what I mean? Just us, here, n.o.body could touch us. I didn't really have to think about what might happen next.'

*Others were doing that,' I said.

*Not like this,' said Flynn, *not in a million years. I don't understand why . . .' He shook his head miserably. *Why would anyone want to tarnish such a wonderful . . .?'

*Power,' said Dr Finlay, *and control.'

I nodded at his side. *This is the biggest thing since sliced bread.'

*But this is about Christine, innocence and love and . . .'

*Father,' I said, *it may have escaped your notice, but half the deaths in the whole b.l.o.o.d.y history of the world have been about religion. It's nothing new.'

*But it . . . felt like something new.'

*Aye, well,' said Dr Finlay.

Flynn suddenly stamped his foot in the mud. It wasn't the greatest idea, as mud flew everywhere, but n.o.body complained; the priest's jaw was now set firm and there was a new and determined look in his eyes. *Moira, we can't let Christine's name be tarnished by all this. We'll go back to town. We'll call a meeting. We'll confront Father White. Expose him. Throw him and anyone else involved in this off the island. We have to bring all of this to an end.'

He wasn't looking for a debate. He turned and strode quickly towards the Land-Rover.

*Talk about mood swings,' said Patricia. I nodded. She was an acknowledged expert on the subject.

The doctor followed him. *Frank, let's not be too hasty. There's nothing to be gained by rus.h.i.+ng in.'

Flynn's eyes blazed with his new-found missionary zeal. *Either come with me, or stay here, Doctor.'

The doctor turned back to us and raised his palms in exasperation as the priest climbed behind the wheel. Then Patricia and I, plus the baby, hurried to the vehicle. Moira hesitated, shaking her head vaguely at the corpses.

*Father,' she called, *we can't just leave them like this.'

Flynn ignored her. He started the engine.

*Come on, Moira,' Patricia shouted as she s.h.i.+fted Little Stevie up onto her shoulder in order to climb into the back. *They aren't going anywhere.'

But they were. Seagulls were circling.

We decided to leave Dr Finlay's vehicle for the time being. The inside was caked with mud and little bits of rotting flesh, so we all squeezed into Father Flynn's. It was a little uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as having your chest shot out and the maggots holding their annual convention in your lower intestine.

Patricia told me wordlessly to hold Little Stevie. I took him. I had a little ground to make up with her. About the size of Australia. Stevie's eyes were bright and darting. I cooed at him. His ginger hair looked a little darker than I remembered, and I thought maybe there was hope for him, anyway.

*How come,' I said as Father Flynn roared towards the town, *you lot all arrived together?'

Patricia barely opened her mouth. *Like I say, I was worried. G.o.d knows why, for all the consideration . . .'

*Just tell me, would you?' I snapped.

*I am telling you,' she snapped back. *I was worried.'

*So you ran to Father Flynn.'

*No, actually.'

*You ran to Moira, then . . .'

*No, again. They came to me.'

*They just happened to come out on a social call a like at what, eight in the morning?' I glanced at Moira, and then away, just in case Patricia's mood was more to do with a sordid revelation than . . .

*Christine told us to come,' Moira said.

I sighed.

*She did,' Moira said. *She was up half the night. Couldn't sleep. Having nightmares. I didn't know whether it was an upset stomach or the end of the world. She kept saying she had to go to the hedgehog house. I didn't know what to do. I mean, you can't do every silly thing your child tells you, but then . . .'

*The Messiah, yeah, I know.'

*So I took her to Frank's.'