Free Evil Intent by Kate Charles

evening. First she would cook a special dinner for Brian – it couldn’t be steak and kidney now, but another one of his favourites would do; he liked chicken casserole and dumplings nearly as well, and the money left in her purse would stretch to a nice bit of chicken. There was a good film on the telly tonight, so they could watch that, and afterwards she would slip into the negligee and surprise him.
    The chicken was already in the pot when Brian arrived home. ‘I’m exhausted,’ he declared, sniffing the air appreciatively. ‘I’ve been on the go all day.’
    ‘We’ll have a nice, quiet evening,’ promised Jane, smiling to herself.
    Brian shook his head. ‘Not a chance, I’m afraid. I did tell you that I had Clergy Chapter tonight.’
    ‘But you usually don’t go to that,’ Jane reminded him. He had mentioned it, and she had discounted it. Brian always said that after a hard day of work in the parish, the last thing he needed was to sit around with a bunch of clergy moaning about their problems.
    ‘I thought I would this time,’ he said. ‘For Callie’s sake. She doesn’t know anyone in the deanery, except for that new curate of Richard Grant’s, so I really need to go and make sure she meets everyone.’
    Jane bit her lip; she could see that he had made up his mind, and she wasn’t going to talk him out of it.
    ‘She’s nearly run me ragged,’ he said. ‘Callie, that is. We’ve been all round the parish today. We did a baptism visit and a bereavement visit. She’s a very quick study, Janey. She’s going to be a great help to me here in the parish. You’ll see.’
    ‘How nice for you,’ she said stiffly.
    ‘What has your day been like?’ he asked a bit later, as she spooned dumplings onto his plate.
    ‘Oh, the usual. Ironing, shopping.’ Jane paused. ‘But I do have some news. Something that arrived in the post this morning.’ She fetched the tickets and laid them on the table beside his plate.
    ‘Ah, the concert!’ Brian picked up the tickets with a smile. ‘I’d hoped he’d send these again this year,’ he said. ‘I thought I’d take Callie. There will be so many people from the diocese there – useful people for her to know. It never hurts to treat the curate to a nice evening out, eh?’
    Jane turned her head away so he wouldn’t see the tears.
     
    It seemed to Callie, tucked in what she hoped was an inconspicuous way into the far end of the middle row of the chapel at Leo’s church, that the most dramatic events of the evening must surely have occurred at the very beginning.
    The meeting of the Deanery clergy was to begin with an act of worship, a short Eucharistic service. Callie had arrived early, and chosen her seat without a word to anyone. She’d tried not to look at the other clergy as they arrived, composing herself for the evening by kneeling in prayer. With her eyes closed, she’d had a sense that the chapel was filling up, that someone was in the row with her.
    At the sound of the bell she stood, and her attention was on the altar party as they arrived: Frances, wearing her ordination stole, and a massive black man in a chasuble. They turned to face the congregation, and the black man raised his hands. ‘The Lord be with you.’
    It was then that the drama began.
    ‘Infidels!’ boomed a resonant voice.
    A second voice, softer and accented, said, ‘Church-killers!’
    Two men seated near the front pushed their way past the man next to them, towards the centre aisle. Callie had just a fleeting impression of them as they stormed past her: one was florid-faced and white-haired, the other as black as ebony. Both were wearing black cassocks.
    After the service the clergy trickled towards the church hall, where theurn steamed away comfortingly and one of the women of the parish spooned coffee granules into styrofoam cups.
    Callie hung back, wishing that Frances would appear. She’d had rather a shock during the service, when the time came to exchange the