Confession at Maddleskirk Abbey (22 page)

‘We’ve got her but he had that coming to him, I can’t mourn him,’ commented Napier, ‘but it’s his wife I want to talk to. I think she’s the brains behind all this … but well done, everyone.’

After the initial explosion, the stricken helicopter settled down to be consumed by the fire that was now raging through
it, fanned by the moorland breeze and as things calmed down, Napier was first to move. He was heading towards the stricken helicopter when it suddenly exploded again with a plume of dark smoke rising from the flames that wrapped its carcase; he hurled himself to the ground as the fire roared, then it stopped as suddenly as it had started. There were no further casualties but it was another half-hour before anyone could approach the blackened remains of the helicopter.

‘Somebody will have to clear up this mess,’ shouted Napier as people became mobile once more. ‘But not until we’ve got the evidence we need.’

At that point, a small blue Morris traveller arrived and out stepped ex-Sergeant Oscar Blaketon and ex-PC Ventress.

‘You left it a bit late!’ shouted Napier. ‘We’ve got him!’

‘I shall pray for his soul,’ offered Prior Tuck.

‘I won’t,’ said Napier.

And so the siege of Whinstone Ridge ended without further loss of life. The remains of the helicopter, which included a surviving cache of drugs destined for delivery later that day, were eventually removed on a low loader for forensic examination. Its shattered carcase contained the DNA from Detective Inspector Radcliffe, in addition to evidence of other murders, serious crimes and drugs offences. Goddard’s body was eventually removed to the mortuary for a post-mortem and Napier called for a loud-hailer to thank everyone.

Geraldine Goddard was sentenced to twenty-five years’ imprisonment as an accessory to the murder of Inspector Radcliffe, and a cold-case review was opened into the murder of the Goddard girls. It was belatedly revealed that Goddard did have a motive for their murder – their natural father was a drugs baron who had warned Goddard off his pitch and stolen some of his most valuable customers. The killings were Goddard’s brutal revenge on his rival; they brought that bloodline to an end.

Scientific tests established the innocence of the man now known as Father John and confirmed the guilt of Michael Goddard, not for one murder but several, in addition to innumerable drugs offences. The woman called Sue disappeared as suddenly as she had arrived.

Father John remained peacefully in Maddleskirk Abbey whilst Detective Chief Superintendent Napier became a frequent visitor to the abbey church to listen to the monks chanting their calming music. ‘I’ll be back,’ he said to the abbot on one such occasion as the monkstables continued to preserve the tranquillity of their monastery. ‘But hopefully in peace and not to deal with another murder.’

‘Amen to that,’ said Abbot Merryman.

Murder at Maddleskirk Abbey

A Full Churchyard