Free Murder at Maddleskirk Abbey by Nicholas Rhea

tools by the sound of it, and by the time we’d finished,he’d gone. We didn’t see him leave and he didn’t speak to us. He was there when Mr Rhea arrived but left soon afterwards. I’ve not seen him since.’
    ‘Show me.’
    Together we retraced our earlier steps as Napier stood and looked at the incomplete clay proofs, then allowed his gaze to take in the workbench and its arrangement of tools, all on show and ready for instant use. I noted he did not handle anything, leaving everything for forensic scrutiny. We also showed him the cupboard where more tools were stored; again, he did not touch anything. The monks were now chanting
Laetatus sum
– ‘They said unto me, let us go unto the house of the Lord’.
    Napier addressed his sergeant now. ‘Sarge, all this must be preserved as a crime scene, as I know you’ve done so far, but we need to test every one of these tools for blood or other deposits, if only to eliminate them from our enquiries. That sculptor must be found and must not be allowed in here until we’ve finished, is that clear?’
    ‘Yes, sir.’
    ‘Right, now Prior Tuck and Mr Rhea, did you do anything else before leaving and locking up the crypt?’
    I responded. ‘Yes, we searched the entire area, looking for the murderer in hiding or perhaps another victim, or even the weapon. We didn’t find anything.’
    ‘No weapon thrown away?’
    ‘Nothing.’ I realized we could have missed something that might have been a weapon – even a heavy stone. A thing like that could have been tossed into a dark corner – or hidden among the sculptor’s tools.
    ‘We’ll search it again with better lights once we’ve concluded our action at the scene. I must say you’ve both done well, but now it’s our turn.’
    ‘Is there anything we can be doing now?’ asked Prior Tuck.
    ‘Not a lot. We’ll leave here for the time being and secure the scene until our experts arrive.’
    We left the crypt, extinguished the lights and emerged intothe reception as the sound of the singing monks diminished.
    ‘Sarge,’ Napier addressed Sullivan, ‘we need to form a joint plan of actions to be allocated to our murder team. So what are you two going to do now? Are you going to help us with this investigation?’
    ‘That’s the general idea, if we’re allowed,’ I responded.
    ‘In view of your past experience, I’m happy to have you both on board, Mr Rhea and Prior Tuck. You are both former police officers which means you swore the oath so I can trust you. And that includes your monkstables who are officially police officers and know their way around the place, as well as its daily routine and personnel so they must be useful. But if anyone makes a mess of things, they’ll get their marching orders. Of course we do have non-police personnel working on murder inquiries – secretaries, forensic experts and so on, and all can be trusted to do their jobs. I’ve recently heard of two police forces who are considering their pensioners rejoining as serving officers – they’ve got a lot to offer society at large. So there we are. We’re all one big flexible team!’
    ‘Thanks, we won’t let you down. I’ll begin by finding out how our searchers are getting on,’ said Prior Tuck.
    ‘So what about me speaking to the abbot,’ asked Napier.
    ‘I’ll call him from here,’ I said. When I rang, he agreed to see Napier immediately. Father Will offered to show him the way.
    ‘Now I’ll track down Brother George to see if he has the number of the sculptor’s van,’ I offered. ‘Then we might learn more about him.’
    As Chief Superintendent Napier prepared to leave with Father Will, he produced one of his rare smiles. ‘I can see you fellows know your own minds. I like my officers to show some initiative, but always keep me informed. Remember, that I am the boss as from this moment: this is now
my
patch.’

    When Father Stutely returned within a couple of minutes, having delivered Napier to the Abbot’s