Confession at Maddleskirk Abbey Read Online Free PDF Page B

expressed her contrition,he’d had no option but to absolve her – there was nothing else he could have done.
    Was her victim that man in the woods? But he must not think like that … she had confessed and it was all over. Finished. Completely finished. He must forget she had ever spoken to him, that she had ever confessed such a crime. But had she spoken the entire truth? She said she’d stabbed someone but suppose she had been planning to kill someone?
    Could he have prevented that? He told himself once again that it was all over now. Forever.
    But what about her parting comment? That had not been part of her confession, she had spoken the words after absolution, and so he felt he could question their meaning. And the logical thing was to ask Father John when he returned because the parting comment had been directed at him! It was very odd there had been no word either from him or the hospital. Surely the hospital had rung? Perhaps they’d contacted the abbot’s secretary? Maybe someone at reception had taken the call without thinking to inform the community? That was highly likely in a place as busy and as large as Maddleskirk Abbey and College and in any case, there was no requirement that Father Will or any of the other monks should be made aware of Father Attwood’s medical condition. With 120 monks in the monastery, one person could not know everything about each of them.
    He began to wonder how he could trace the woman to ask about her knowledge of Father Attwood’s secret. Might she know where he was now? There was no need to tell anyone about his plan; he could do it quietly.
    But first he had to check the whereabouts of Father John. He rang the prior’s secretary, who said the prior had been told of the death in the wood and was already in the Postgate Room preparing it for the monkstables’ inevitable role in the investigation. Will rang the prior on an internal line.
    ‘Tuck,’ responded the cheerful voice.
    ‘Father Will Redman,’ he announced, there being two FatherWills in the monastery, both monkstables. ‘I’m in the cop shop, Father Prior. I’ve heard about the body in the wood, so I’m anxious to find out what happened to Father John after he was admitted to hospital.’
    ‘That’s worrying me too,’ responded the prior. ‘At my meeting with Father Abbot this morning, the matter of Father John was raised. No one has heard from him since Saturday night, when I believe you stood in for him at confessions.’
    ‘Yes, I did.’
    ‘I’ve checked at this end – certainly he was delivered to Scarborough Beach Hospital by our driver. He saw Father John being escorted away by a woman. The driver understood Father John was being shown to a specialist unit. It was to do with his prostate cancer – something had shown up in the analysis of a blood sample.’
    ‘So we know he got there. Has anyone rung the hospital to enquire about him?’
    ‘Yes, I did, but not until this morning. And there’s the problem. They’ve no record of him being there. The computers don’t record him being admitted as a patient on Saturday. In short, Father Will, they deny knowing anything about him or his whereabouts.’
    ‘That’s impossible! Or inefficient! We know he got there!’
    ‘Yes, I told them that and then I asked for a physical check – a body search in other words – of all the wards, corridors, side wards, waiting rooms, everywhere. That is underway as we speak. I’m awaiting a return call – my secretary knows where to find me.’
    ‘It’s a relief to know things are moving. I must say it’s odd he should vanish just before that body was found …’
    ‘He arrived at the hospital long before the body was found, Father Will. He went on Saturday evening and the body wasn’t found until this morning.’
    ‘But we don’t know when the man was killed, do we?’ persisted Will.
    ‘We don’t but I hardly think it was the work of a monk!’
    ‘I’m not suggesting he committed the