Free Death on Lindisfarne by Fay Sampson

the few moments’ silence, Lucy’s eyes ranged round her troop.
    James stirred restively. “What about sin?” he said, aggressively enough for Lucy to hear.
    Elspeth snorted loudly. “I thought I’d skipped the sermon.”
    A smile teased Lucy’s lips. “I’m sorry. It’s difficult to talk about Celtic saints without bringing in Christianity. Anyway, the Roman bishop Paulinus fled before the Mercians. Corman went back to Iona in a huff. But Aidan stayed. He worked here until he died.
    â€œKing Oswald had fallen in love with Iona, the island that had given him shelter and taught him the faith. He wanted to give Aidan the nearest thing in Northumbria to Iona. And this was Lindisfarne. Almost an island.” She let her eyes roam round this little sea-girt world. “Imagine it without the sand dunes. They came later.
    â€œAnd of course, Aidan’s abbey wasn’t the Norman priory you see today. Think wood and thatch. Paulinus had lived at court. Aidan kept a sacred distance. Look, you can see the fortress of Bamburgh from here. Aidan could visit the king, but he never stayed the night. And the king would come to this island, bringing only a small retinue, when he needed to get away from the cares of his kingdom and seek Aidan’s wisdom.
    â€œAidan and his monks travelled far and wide, along the coast and into the hills, taking the gospel. They didn’t baptize people in thousands, but as month followed month the heathen Northumbrians came to love and trust him. They saw the monks rolling up their sleeves and helping with the harvest. They saw them giving away the treasure and money people gave them to feed the poor. They watched them living the gospel. And when times turned bitter again for Northumbria, they had a faith this time that lasted.”
    Now her eyes challenged James directly.
    He was on his feet. “Is that all you think the gospel is? Doing good and telling people that God loves them? What about the wrath of God? What about sin? You rubbished Paulinus because he baptized thousands. At my church, yes, we have people streaming through the doors. Because I tell them the truth about sin and hellfire.”
    Lucy’s eyebrows rose. “I didn’t rubbish Paulinus’s preaching. I just pointed out that when things went pear-shaped for Northumbria, and the Mercians invaded, Paulinus did a runner and his conversions melted away. Aidan’s was a gospel that put down roots. Like him, it stayed.”
    â€œAnd that’s what you’re telling Rachel here, is it? That it doesn’t matter what she’s done in the past? She’s not a sinner?”
    â€œ James! ” There was real outrage in Lucy’s protest. But her expression turned to dismay.
    Aidan, like everyone else, was turning round to look for the unfortunate girl who had become a battleground between these two.
    Rachel was not there. Nowhere on the wide expanse of green that was the priory’s outer court. No dark shadow flitting between the sandstone walls and pillars. No solitary figure on the slope down to the beach. Other visitors were beginning to arrive, spreading out among the ruins. Nowhere was there anyone who looked like Rachel.

Chapter Ten
    L UCY LOOKED AROUND IN CONSTERNATION . How could she have been so wrapped up in her storytelling that she had not noticed Rachel’s absence for so long?
    She felt a rush of unchristian fury against James. Why was he always putting her on the defensive, challenging her? What had he said to Rachel? How much harm had he already done? Rachel was too often overwhelmed by the sense of her own worthlessness. Wasn’t that what had driven her into the arms of the drug dealers? Lucy had struggled so hard to convince the unhappy teenager that, underneath, she was better than that. That God loved her just as she was, whatever she had done, whatever had been done to her. Nothing could ever make her so soiled, so