The Gospel Makers (19 page)

‘But Sister Matilda has no need of your tears,’ Bellringer was continuing. ‘She is today in Paradise with the Lord. We must rejoice that she has found peace.’

Nina dragged her eyes from him to see how the others had reacted. Sarah’d slipped her hand into Brad’s but her face was impassive, as was his. Daniel was standing rigid and white-faced by the buffet table, and, behind it, Lucy’s face was streaming with tears.

The second schoolgirl now moved into the room with Adam, and Vince stood up to greet her. Normal conversation was starting up again, responding to the Captain’s assertion that grief was inappropriate. In any case, Nina suspected that apart from soft-hearted Lucy, it was shock they’d experienced rather than genuine grief.

She moved her chair to make room as Terry and Vince brought both girls to the table and introduced them to her and Ruth. She wished very much that they weren’t here, so directly under Bellringer’s powerful influence, but at least she’d be able to keep an eye on them.

*

Back in his office after lunch, Webb’s thoughts returned to Hannah. He’d promised to let her know the result of the PM. Although it would have complicated matters, he almost wished he could assuage her guilt by telling her it had not after all been suicide. Well, delaying it wouldn’t help; she’d probably be home by now. Reluctantly, he lifted the phone.

‘Hannah? I’m ringing with the post-mortem results, as promised. There was nothing to suggest anyone else was involved in Miss Hendrix’s death.’

There was a brief pause, then she said quietly, ‘Thank you.’ After a moment she added, ‘What about the other case? Are you any nearer tracking down the killers?’

He was relieved at the change of subject. ‘Possibly a little. We now have the descriptions of the couple who left the bar with Kershaw: a plain woman in her thirties and a tall man, probably American. Mrs French saw the woman on Tuesday, pushing a pram in King Street, so with luck —’

‘A pram?’ Hannah interrupted sharply.

Webb straightened in his chair. ‘What is it, Hannah?’

‘Could I have that description again?’

Puzzled, he gave it to her in more detail, reading from Christina French’s statement in front of him. ‘Early to mid-thirties, quite tall, mid-brown hair caught back with a tortoiseshell clip, pale face. And she was pushing a large white Silver Cross pram with a black hood.’

‘Sebastian’s,’ said Hannah unsteadily. ‘My God, it must be.’

‘Must be what?’ Webb demanded urgently. ‘And who the devil’s Sebastian?’

‘The baby that’s staying with Dilys. And the woman is his nanny, David! The description fits exactly!’

Webb said incredulously, ‘You’re telling me you know her?’

‘Yes, it’s Sarah Baines. And she has an American boyfriend, Dilys said, though I don’t know his name. God, David, does that mean —?’

‘Have you got Dilys’s phone number?’ Webb interrupted, reaching for his pen.

Shakily, Hannah gave it to him, then he heard her gasp. ‘David, I’ve just thought! I saw her in the town one day, talking to Miss Hendrix. She might belong to the cult, too!’

Nina had mentioned a Sarah. ‘She might indeed. Bless you, Hannah — it looks as though we’re almost there. I’ll get on to Dilys now — Miss Hayward, isn’t it? — and with luck we can go straight round and nab the woman.’

But there his luck ran out. Dilys, bewildered by his circumspect questions, informed him that Miss Baines had gone out for the afternoon and she wasn’t sure what time she’d be back. Webb apologized for disturbing her and hung up, suddenly knowing where she would be: meeting Noah-bloody-Bellringer. With Nina.

For several minutes Webb sat staring in front of him. It was damnable that Nina should be there in the thick of it, unaware of this latest development. Was there any way, without endangering her, that her presence could be made use of?

No, he decided almost at once, it was too risky. As it was, he’d have to underplay his visit. He’d been there before; they weren’t to know this time was any more serious. Then, once inside the house, he could extract Nina before arresting the couple.

He pressed the intercom. ‘Come in, would you, Ken. We have a tricky one here.’

*

At Victoria Drive lunch was over, the tables cleared, and the main purpose of the day had begun. They’d swivelled their chairs to face the dais, where Bellringer, his second-in-command and Brad Lübekker had taken their places. The Captain was now, as Nina thought with inward amusement, in full flow.

However, at the moment he had less than her complete attention. Probably as a result of the chilli, she had developed a raging thirst and was becoming desperate for a drink of water. The Captain had been speaking for twenty minutes already and showed no signs of stopping.

Surreptitiously, she looked behind her. Her chair was only feet away from a door leading into the corridor. As unobtrusively as possible, she let herself out of the room. It was doubtful whether, held in thrall as they were, anyone saw her go.

She found herself at the far end of the corridor, opposite the room where drinks were served before meetings and just short of the kitchen.

The latter was, of course, deserted, but with a touch of the Mary Celeste about it, since all the surfaces were covered with dirty plates, glasses and cutlery, and a pyramid of pans filled the stone sink. Obviously, whoever was on kitchen duty had deferred the washing-up till after Bellringer’s departure.

Nina located a clean mug and, reaching across the pans, filled it at the sink, where she drank long and luxuriously of the ice-cold water, looking out of the window as she did so.

It was not an inspiring view; the back garden was small and scrubby, any plants having long since given up the unequal struggle and abandoned it to weeds. As in most houses of its age, a gate in the far wall gave access — doubtless the old tradesmen’s entrance — and a rickety shed stood alongside. The only colour in the entire landscape was provided by the washing line, which flaunted a pair of jeans, several socks and a pink nylon nightdress flapping disconsolately in the breeze. A plastic bag of pegs, Nina saw, hung on the back door.

Her thoughts turned to the two girls: had they come from home or from school, she wondered, and hadn’t anyone missed them? And how was she going to extricate them from Bellringer’s spell without exposing herself as a police officer?

She should be getting back to them. She rinsed and dried her mug, replaced it on its hook, and returned to the meeting room. Not a head turned as she entered. She crept unnoticed to her seat and, after a quick glance at the girls’ wrapt faces, returned her attention to the Captain.

*

Hannah stood, telephone in hand, staring unseeingly at the wall in front of her. She said explosively, ‘That just isn’t possible!’

The house-mistress’s frightened voice reached her over the wire. ‘Honestly, Miss James, I don’t know what to say. Marina came to my study soon after you’d spoken to us. She said Kathryn Stuart had invited her and Stephanie to lunch and Miss Fowler had given permission. I admit I was distracted, still shocked about Miss Hendrix. It just never occurred to me to check.’

‘But you know those two have to be closely watched at the moment. Even if they had been invited to Austen, they should have been accompanied there and back.’

‘I realize that. I can’t apologize enough.’

‘Apologies,’ Hannah said crisply, ‘are of singularly little use at the moment. There’s nothing for it, we’ll have to contact their parents and see if they’ve gone home.’ Which would mean admitting that the school’s supervision of the girls had proved no more effective than their parents’.

A fact which neither family failed to draw to her attention. Smarting under their comments, though well aware they were justified, Hannah attempted to smooth things over.

‘Please don’t worry. It’s quite possible they’re still in the grounds somewhere — we’re looking now.’

‘A waste of time!’ Gordon Chase stormed. ‘It’s damned obvious where they’ve gone — back to those infernal God-botherers. And I for one am quite prepared to go round and dig them out.’

Hannah was alarmed, particularly in view of the suspicions now centred on Sarah Baines. ‘Mr Chase, I must ask you most strongly to do nothing of the kind. It could cause exactly the kind of incident we must avoid.’

‘What incident? What’s wrong in a father calling for his daughter?’

‘We don’t know how they’d react. Please, I really must urge you to leave it to the police.’

‘You’re getting on to them?’

‘Yes, if we don’t find the girls within the next few minutes.’

‘Then what can we do, for God’s sake?’

‘Wait by your phone. We’ll contact you the minute we have any news.’ And she hung up on his further protestations.

*

‘Once more unto the breach,’ Webb said under his breath as their car turned into Victoria Drive, closely followed by Bob Dawson’s with a couple of DCs in the back. As arranged, Dawson stopped just round the corner, two houses short of No. 5.

‘OK, Ken. Let’s hope we can get this cleared up with the minimum amount of bother.’

They walked up the path, climbed the steps, and rang the front doorbell.

Once again its ringing sounded through the room, coming, fortuitously, in the middle of a dramatic pause in the oration. For a moment no one moved. Then Bellringer said, ‘This is not a time for interruptions. Can you see who it is from the window, Brother Daniel?’

Daniel, who was at the table nearest the front of the room, went to look, lifting the net curtain. He let it fall, and turned back to face them all.

‘It’s the police,’ he said.

Nina’s heart jerked. But he’d promised! Something unexpected must have happened.

‘They’ve been before,’ Daniel added. ‘I shouldn’t think it’s anything serious.’

‘Is there an intercom?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Then I suggest you use it rather than opening the door.’

Daniel went into the hall and they heard him say, ‘Yes?’ And then, ‘Yes, she is, but it isn’t convenient to speak to her at the moment. We’re in the middle of a meeting; could you come back later?’

Nina’s nails dug into her palms. Was it she the DCI wanted? Should she offer to go out to him? But then they’d wonder why he wanted her, might even try to stop her, and her cover would be blown. She hesitated in an agony of indecision, but prevailing caution kept her in her chair.

The one-way conversation seemed to be developing into an argument and she grew steadily more uneasy. With an exclamation of annoyance, the Captain stepped down from the dais and strode up the length of the room to the hall. His voice reached them clearly.

‘This is Noah Bellringer. I must ask you to leave — you’re interrupting our meeting. If you wish to speak to someone here, you can call back later.’ A pause, then: ‘And what, might I ask, is so urgent that it can’t wait another hour?’

In the meeting room the small group sat unmoving, ears straining so as not to miss a word of the disjointed conversation.

Bellringer spoke again, and his voice had hardened. ‘Since you refuse to explain, I can’t help you. But I repeat, this door will not be opened until our meeting is finished. And please don’t attempt a forced entry. We have two young girls here — I should not like any harm to come to them.’

The veiled threat was not lost on Nina, and she closed her eyes on a wave of nausea. Oh, no! Not a hostage situation! God, what could she do?

‘Names?’ Bellringer repeated, obviously to Daniel, and then, into the intercom, ‘Stephanie and Marina … My dear sir, I have no intention of sending them out. They came here of their free will and here they’ll stay.’

Nina reached out a hand to Marina, sitting rigidly beside her, and felt her responding grip. It seemed that her complacent resolve to keep an eye on the girls could prove more hazardous than she’d anticipated.

Chapter 15

Out on the doorstep, Webb stood motionless, his heart like lead. Was it a bluff about the girls? Should he make an immediate forced entry before they could marshal their resources? Nina was inside, but they didn’t know she was planted — she should be safe enough.

He turned as DC Marshbanks appeared at the gate and came running up the path. ‘A message on the radio, Guv. Ashbourne School have reported two of their girls missing, Marina Chase and —’

‘Stephanie French,’ Webb finished with him, as all hopes of a quick end to the siege evaporated. It was true, then.

‘They think they might be at this address,’ Marshbanks added, hiding his surprise that the Governor should know of them.

‘Thanks, Simon. Unfortunately, a hostage situation has developed. Arrange for BT to immobilize the line — we want total isolation here. Ken, radio HQ and get them to inform the ACC of the situation. Ask for back-up and tell them I’ll contact them shortly.’

As he spoke he was hurrying back down the path, the two men at his heels. Jackson stopped at their car and Webb ran along the pavement to Dawson’s. Seeing him approach, the sergeant got out and waited apprehensively on the pavement.

‘Bad news, Bob — possible siege. You and Trent get round the back on the double — there’s an access road behind — and keep watch in case they make a dash for it. I’m asking for back-up and reinforcements.’

*

Inside the house Bellringer and Daniel came back into the room and returned to their places. Daniel looked shaken, but the Captain’s anger had given way to a palpable excitement. It was as though he’d had a fix, Nina thought, and was on a high. He glanced down at Sarah, seated below him, and gave a slight nod. Then he surveyed the rest of them, his face alight with zeal.

‘My friends, the forces of Satan are gathering against us. We cannot allow them to prevail.’

There was an uneasy stirring among his audience. His glittering eyes moved from one table to another, searching their faces. Nina, her heart knocking against her ribs, avoided his gaze.

‘Brothers and sisters, the supreme test is upon us — earlier, I admit, than I’d hoped, but it is not for us to question our destiny. We are required only to submit, joyously and with faith.’ He took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped it across his face. ‘Shortly, a stupendous choice will be offered you, but first it is only right you should be told the reason for this sudden crisis.’

Everyone waited, unmoving.

‘As you know, our time has always been short and we’ve had much to do. It follows that we could not afford setbacks. If doubt is planted in people’s minds, valuable time must be wasted in removing it, and prevention is better than cure.

‘You know also that in certain circumstances the Elders of the Movement are above the law, answerable only to that Authority which is higher than all others. If we do evil for our own ends, it is right we should be punished; but if in doing the Lord’s will we should go against laws that are man-made, we remain blameless.’

He paused again, surveying them as though awaiting some kind of challenge to his statement. None came. Even without subliminal help, Nina noted, he could hold his audience in the palm of his hand. However deluded, he was indeed a charismatic leader.

‘Under extreme conditions, therefore,’ he continued, ‘we are empowered to execute any person who, by threatening us or hindering our work, might cause serious harm to others. Better one death than thousands.’

Kershaw!, she thought, with a flash of understanding. It had to be.

‘And it was this dilemma that, a few days ago, faced Prelate Lübekker. Step up here if you please, Brother — and Sister Sarah with you.’

He waited for them to join him. Sarah was even whiter than usual and there was a nerve jerking in her throat. Beside her, Brad stood like a rock, staring down the room above their heads.

‘You are aware,’ Bellringer went on, ‘of the generous legacy left us by Mrs Kershaw, which will speed up the building of our Salvation Cities. You will also have read of the death of her son, here in Shillingham. Sister Sarah, you were the first to become involved. Will you take over, please, and explain what happened?’

Nina longed for her recorder. If only she’d thought to bring it!

Sarah started talking in a low voice which nevertheless carried clearly throughout the hushed room. ‘On Monday last week I called in here towards lunch-time with a note of my new phone number — I was moving to Lethbridge Road the next day. While I was in the study the phone rang, and as soon as I lifted it a man at the other end started ranting and raving about our stealing his inheritance, and threatening to “expose” us to the tabloids.’

She paused and moistened her lips. ‘I’d no idea who he was or what he was talking about. At that stage, none of us knew Mrs Kershaw had a son. Fortunately, at that moment Prelate Lübekker came into the room and I passed the phone to him.’

She stopped and turned to Brad, who took up the story. ‘The caller was extremely agitated and I couldn’t get any sense out of him. It was clear, though, that we couldn’t simply hang up, because there was no knowing what he’d do; so I arranged for us to go to the King’s Head, where he was staying, and meet him in the bar.’

He looked down at the riveted, upturned faces. ‘As the Captain said, sometimes it is necessary to take the law into our own hands. We couldn’t afford scandal, especially just then; the Captain’s arrival was imminent, and his visits to towns all around the country have been highly promoted. The last thing we wanted was sensational stories in the press.

‘Another factor was that whoever this man claimed to be, we needed the money we’d been left — quite legitimately, let me stress. In fact, quite a proportion of it had already been allocated. Having weighed all these points, we took with us, as a precaution only, the means of silencing him if all our reasoning failed.

‘As, sadly, it did. He was in no mood to listen and just kept accusing us of undue influence. So we suggested going to his room to discuss the matter more privately. Though we still hoped to talk him round, our main concern was to avoid a scene in the bar, which was becoming increasingly more likely.

‘But we did no better up there. No matter how often we explained, he kept insisting he’d take us to court and inform the press of what he called our shenanigans. So in the end we had no choice.’

Brad looked again at his motionless audience. ‘I must emphasize that no one in this room except ourselves and the Captain here knew what had happened. We hoped we could have kept it that way.’

Adam’s voice, strained and highly pitched, asked, ‘So what happens now?’

It was Bellringer who answered. ‘Now, Brother, there are choices to be made. Somehow the police have learned of our involvement, and by this time, no doubt, the house will be surrounded — I expect a voice over the loud-hailer at any minute. Realistically, we can only hold them at bay for a limited time.

‘Regarding Sister and the Prelate here, I mentioned that only in extreme cases is extreme action taken. But once it is taken, if things go wrong that action must be followed through to the end.’

‘You’ll hand them over to the police?’ That was Daniel.

‘No, Brother. It is not seemly that men should sit in judgement on those who do the Lord’s work, and provisions have been made accordingly. When need be, the right of execution may be extended to oneself. Our brother and sister here will avail themselves of that right, answering for their actions not to the police but directly to that higher Authority.’

He felt in his pocket and Nina went cold as he extracted several small foil sheets.

‘In wartime, tablets such as these were issued to spies behind enemy lines. Our war, against Satan, goes on.’

‘Suicide pills,’ said Terry under his breath, and Stephanie gave a choked little cry.

‘Death will be painless and instantaneous, my friends, you have my word on that. The moment the police break into the house, Sister Sarah and the Prelate will each swallow a tablet.’

His face was now shining with a radiance that Nina found terrifying. ‘Do we want our brother and sister to journey alone?’ he demanded exultantly. ‘Or shall we be willing fellow-travellers? Naturally, I myself shall be accompanying them; there is no way the forces of evil shall get their hands on this servant of the Lord!’

There was an uneasy stirring in the room as, against their will, his followers felt the pull of his suggestion.

Bellringer’s eyes, mesmeric and compelling, circled them again. ‘Think, brothers and sisters! Today you too could be in Paradise, free to do the Lord’s work without the fetters of this mortal flesh. Naturally, those who prefer to face the police may elect to do so. But what a glorious gesture a mass exodus would be! What a testament to our faith!’

Moving to the small table on the dais, he tore the foil sheets into separate squares and, with great deliberation, laid them out in a row. Then he stood back and lifted his hands, inviting all who wished to come and take one.

‘No more worry and hardship,’ he said softly, ‘no violence, terrorism or cruelty. No loneliness or pain. No fear of the unknown, for all will be clear. The peace of it — ah, the peace!’

Sarah turned and, walking like an automaton, went to the table, took a foil-wrapped pill, and stepped down from the dais. Brad followed her. Rigid in her chair, not breathing, Nina waited. If one moved, they all would. Please, no! she willed them desperately. Stay where you are, for God’s sake!

But after a timeless pause Adam pushed back his chair, and with a slow, ceremonial tread walked to the dais and picked up a foil square. A lesser pause, then Daniel followed him. Around her, chairs were beginning to be pushed back. A multiple tragedy was being set in motion. She could wait no longer.

*

Victoria Drive was cordoned off and neighbours warned to stay indoors. A rendezvous point had been established in the forecourt of the Cock and Feathers in Lethbridge Road, where Webb had passed on his knowledge of the situation to senior officers and briefed the back-up teams as they arrived.

The original anxious group, composed of the Frenches, the Chases, Hannah and Charles, had been joined at the police barricade by a steadily growing crowd who had stopped out of curiosity, persistently ignoring the uniformed constables who tried to move them on.

Behind parked cars and garden walls the firearms team had taken up their positions and cameras were trained on the inscrutable frontage of No. 5. The air crackled as different groups communicated by radio. Hannah could see David talking to the tactical firearms officer. Further down the road, Superintendent Donaldson was conferring with the negotiator. The immediate action plan had been agreed on and operations were about to begin.

*

She would collect a pill, Nina decided. The lab would want to analyse it and there might even be a chance of an antidote, though if death was as instantaneous as Bellringer had said, that was unlikely. Following Ruth, she went to claim her right to die, her brain moving into top gear.

The pills wouldn’t be taken till the police broke in — that was the plan at the moment. Therefore they must be warned of the situation.

Returning from the dais, she saw that Stephanie and Marina were preparing to go up in their turn. Nina stopped and put a hand to her head, and, as she’d hoped, they paused.

‘Are you all right?’ Marina asked anxiously.

Disregarding the banality of the question in such circumstances, Nina replied, ‘I feel a bit faint. Could you — come with me to get a glass of water?’

‘Of course.’ Marina took her arm and for a moment it seemed that Stephanie would continue to the dais. Quickly, Nina swayed against her so that the girl instinctively caught her and the three of them, barely noticed, went out into the corridor.

Even before the door had closed, Nina, taking them unawares, had caught hold of each girl and was running with them through the kitchen to the back door.

Pushing back the bolts, she said swiftly, ‘Now get out as quickly as you can and run.’ No doubt the authority Brad had recognized in her came to her aid — that and the fact that the girls were used to discipline. For whatever reason they made no demur but obediently started through the door.

As they emerged, several heads rose above the level of the back wall and the gate swung open. A man moved cautiously into the gap and, after a moment’s assessment, beckoned them.

Pushing the girls in front of her, Nina ran towards him. ‘DI Petrie. Can you come in straight away — quietly and from the rear? They’re planning mass suicide the minute you appear, but they’re expecting the loud-hailer first.’

‘I’ll get straight on to Control. How many are in there?’

She calculated rapidly. ‘Twelve. They’re in the room on the right, most of them seated at tables. There are two doors, one further up the passage — it’d be as well to come through both simultaneously and go straight for the foil squares they’re all holding. I don’t think anyone’s armed. Now hurry, for God’s sake. I’ll go back and do what I can.’

And before he could remonstrate she had turned and run back into the house.

When Nina slipped back into the room, they were all sitting with bowed heads while Bellringer led them in prayer. No pills seemed to have been swallowed yet, but the Captain, possibly tiring of the police’s waiting game, was obviously building up to it.