Free The Shadows in the Street by Susan Hill

us.’
    ‘Seconded,’ Cat said. ‘The best coffee and cake in the Cathedral Close.’
    ‘And the best sofas.’
    ‘Ah, no, you haven’t visited my brother’s flat. He has two white leather sofas to die for.’
    ‘Your brother?’ Ruth Webber, the wife of the new Dean, said sharply. ‘Why does he live in the Close?’
    Ilona, wife of the cathedral Precentor, caught Cat’s eye before turning quickly away.
    ‘A few houses are rented privately,’ Cat said.
    ‘I thought all those were used as offices.’
    ‘They are, mainly. Simon lives on the top floor – there are three offices below him.’
    ‘So what’s his cathedral connection then?’
    ‘He doesn’t have one. He’s a policeman.’
    Ruth raised her eyebrows. ‘I’d have thought everything available in the close was needed for clergy. Miles Hurley is looking for somewhere better than that bungalow at the end of the Precentor’s garden.’
    ‘I think it’s a rather nice bungalow.’
    Cat bent down in a gesture of clearing coffee cups and plates from the low table to avoid continuing with this interrogation, but brief acquaintance with the wife of the new Dean had taught her that Ruth Webber was nothing if not persistent.
    ‘Is your brother married?’
    Cat shook her head and picked up the tray of crockery.
    ‘Aren’t there police flats?’
    Ruth was hard on her heels out of the room, carrying a plate with a single biscuit on it towards the kitchen.
    ‘Though I suppose it helps us with security. Don’t you find it odd having a policeman for a brother?’
    ‘Why on earth should I find it odd?’
    Ruth shrugged. She was looking around her. ‘Did you ever see the old kitchen in the Deanery? I mean, I’m not much of a cook but honestly, it came out of the ark, how on earth they managed … I’ll be hosting the book group the minute all the work’s done – not in the kitchen, obviously. Which service do you and your family come to, Cat?’
    She was a tall bony woman and it was difficult to tell her age, though Cat guessed at early forties. The previous Dean had retired only three months ago, and Stephen Webber had already started making major changes, not all of which met with the approval either of the rest of the chapter or of the congregation. St Michael’s Cathedral people were not, Cat thought, backward-looking or, as Ruth might have put it, out of the ark, but if there were to be changes they needed to be made over time, with tact and care. So far, they were being made at speed and without much consultation. There was a new canon residentiary in Miles Hurley – someone else Cat had not yet got the measure of.
    ‘Nice garden,’ Ruth said, looking out, ‘though the Deanery’s is nicer. Where do you live, Cat?’
    ‘Out of Lafferton. A farmhouse.’ She could hear Ilona talking at the front door and willed her to come to the kitchen.
    ‘You didn’t say which service you come to?’
    ‘No. I didn’t. It varies.’
    ‘In what way?’
    ‘I sometimes come on my own to the early Communion.’
    ‘Why?’
    Good God, this was an inquisition.
    ‘I like the 1662 order, I like the quietness.’
    Ruth snorted. ‘I’m not sure how long 1662 is going to last here, so you’d better make the most of it. We can’t be doing with it at all. You have a family, don’t you? The ten thirty is a big family service now of course.’
    ‘It always was.’
    ‘Yes, but Stephen is putting much more emphasis on being family-friendly. And then evensong is going to be very much for the young, the students and so on. We’ve got some great preachers lined up. Quite a few of Stephen’s old colleagues of course, and some very exciting rising stars. Have you done the Alpha Course?’
    She has a very wide mouth, Cat thought, and I wish she would shut it. And a rather large nose and I wish she would keep it out of my business. She felt uncharitable and unrepentant. Ruth Webber wore jeans with Mary Jane shoes.
    Ilona came into the room, and said brightly, ‘So