‘It’s no excuse for what he did. His actions endangered the lives of other officers. It’s lucky no one got killed.’
‘I agree with you.’
‘I wish more people on the force did,’ Jane said.
‘That’s your problem, Tennison. You think the world is against you. Because of that you sometimes fly solo, which in turn annoys your colleagues and turns them against you. Contrary to what you may think, I’ve heard many a good word said about you. If you want to make inspector, you need to learn how to communicate better with both your superiors and subordinates. Teamwork is based on trust and respect.’
She nodded, knowing he was giving her sound advice.
He looked at his watch. ‘I’ve got to head off to the Yard in a minute. Photocopy your report and leave the original on my desk. And remember, tread carefully with Father Floridia and anyone else you speak to at the diocesan offices. Don’t take their word as gospel,’ he smiled.
She couldn’t help asking before she left his office: ‘I don’t wish to appear nosy, sir, but have you had a bad experience with the Catholic Church. I mean, in an official way?’
Barnes nodded, removed another cigarette from the pack and lit it. ‘It was over twenty years ago now. I was a young DS in North London, investigating a case where a twelve-year-old boy called Stephen Phillips had gone missing from a children’s orphanage run by a priest and nuns. I instigated a search of the nearby woods and found him hanging from a tree.’ He took in a deep breath and let out a sigh. He rubbed his chin and shook his head as he recalled the memory. ‘The poor boy had taken his own life.’
‘That must have been a shocking thing to witness,’ she said.
His voice trembled. ‘Cutting Stephen down from the tree and holding his limp body in my arms still haunts me to this day. I didn’t even know him... yet it was if I’d lost my own son.’ He took a steadying breath before continuing.
‘At first, I couldn’t for the life of me understand why a mere child would want to commit suicide. It was during the post-mortem I discovered the answer. When we removed his clothing, there were black and blue welt marks over his lower back and buttocks. He’d been beaten so badly you could see the outline of the belt and buckle on his skin. The pathologist said some of the marks were old and some recent. I knew right away whoever was responsible for inflicting Stephen’s injuries had to work at the convent.’
Jane felt sickened by the idea. ‘Was it the priest or one of the nuns?’
‘At first, I suspected it was just the priest in charge of the orphanage, but I later found out some of the nuns also beat the children. He was a pompous, self-righteous man who believed it was “God’s will” that children who were unruly should be punished and the use of a belt was appropriate. He described Stephen as a “problem child” who needed to learn right from wrong,’ Barnes said, his sadness turning to anger.
‘What did the priest say when you told him Stephen had committed suicide?’
‘He considered it to be a mortal sin. His exact words were, “We must say what we know is the truth — taking your own life is a sin against God who made us.” The church even refused to hold a funeral mass for Stephen because he’d committed suicide.’
‘I never realised the Catholic Church could be so strict.’
‘Neither did I. The sad thing is, it took a child’s suicide to open my eyes. An orphanage should be a safe place where children are loved by adults they can trust, not a place that fills them with fear of physical abuse.’
‘Were they sexually abused as well?’
‘I don’t know for certain. But I believe the priest got a sadistic pleasure out of humiliating and inflicting bodily harm on the children under his care, some of whom were only six years old. It beggars belief that anyone of any faith could mistreat innocent children the way they did.’
Jane could see the sadness in Barnes’s eyes, but thought it strange he never said the priest’s name.
‘What was the outcome?’
‘The archbishop got involved. He informed my DCI the diocese would carry out a thorough investigation and I was told to await the outcome. A week passed and I’d heard nothing, so I went to the orphanage and said I wanted to interview some of the older children and have them examined by a police doctor. The priest refused to let me in the door.’
‘On what grounds?’
‘That the archbishop was still conducting his investigation and I would cause the children undue stress and disrupt their daily routine. The next thing I knew the divisional commander wanted to see me in his office. The archbishop had complained that my behaviour was overbearing and accused me of persecuting one of his priests. I was told to mark the case file up as a suicide by a mentally unstable child.’
Jane was staggered. ‘That’s awful. How could a commander condone serious assaults against young children?’
‘The archbishop used the law to his advantage. Corporal punishment in schools and orphanages is justified by the common-law doctrine known as in loco parentis, whereby teachers are granted the same rights as parents to discipline and punish children in their care if they do not adhere to the rules.’
‘But what about the welt marks from the belt on Stephen’s buttocks? Surely that was physical evidence the priest had gone too far.’
‘The archbishop said the priest and nuns had had justifiable grounds to chastise Stephen on a number of occasions as he was so unruly. The Met solicitors said without Stephen as a witness it was impossible to say who was actually responsible for inflicting the injuries, and therefore there wasn’t enough evidence to charge anyone. The archbishop said the priest had been given some advice on his future behaviour and moved to another post.’
‘Where did they send him?’
‘I don’t know. They wouldn’t tell me. As far as I’m concerned the whole thing was a big cover-up by the Catholic Church to protect its reputation.’
‘Did Stephen have any family?
‘No, both his parents had died in a car crash when he was six. One minute he was alone in the world and the next he was in a living hell.’
‘Where was he buried?’
‘The coroner helped me arrange an Anglican burial for him. No one from the Catholic Church even bothered to attend. It was a really sad day, but the whole of the CID office attended, and uniform formed a white-gloved guard of honour outside the church. I visit his grave a few times a year and lay some fresh flowers in his memory.’
Jane was deeply moved by Barnes’s shocking revelations. It was clear he would never forget Stephen Phillips, and was still deeply frustrated and angry at not being able to charge and convict the priest for the assaults he’d no doubt inflicted on numerous children. His distrust of the Catholic Church now made perfect sense. But she also worried that in the current investigation, it might cloud his judgement of decent, caring priests like Father Chris.
Chapter Ten
As she drove back to the station, Jane felt relieved her meeting with DCS Barnes had gone so well. He certainly hadn’t come across as the kind of authoritarian stickler for the rules Stanley had described.
But although she was pleased that Barnes wanted her to continue the investigation, Jane was also worried she might come to regret not being honest about telling Father Chris the nun had been murdered. It had also put her in an awkward position with Father Chris, as he understandably didn’t feel comfortable lying about a nun’s death to Bishop Meade. She just hoped Barnes would quickly form a full murder squad once the dead nun had been identified, and this would allow her to tell the bishop the cause of death.