‘Yes, sir,’ Boon said. He quickly left the office.
‘This case is a real can of worms,’ Barnes said. ‘The diocese will close ranks. They’ll speak to us, but they will lie through their teeth to protect their own and the reputation of the Church.’
After the meeting, Jane spoke privately with Stanley in the squad room. She asked him what was happening about searching the convent grounds and development site for other bodies. He told her that Barnes had spoken with Richard Eaves, the anthropologist, and sought his advice about looking for buried bodies.
‘What did Eaves say?’ Jane asked.
‘He’s going to speak with the university archaeology department. Apparently, they’ve got some new-fangled machine called a ground penetrating radar that looks for underground anomalies.’
‘Can it find human bodies?’
Stanley shrugged. ‘They’ve never used it for that, but they’re willing to give it a try. To be honest, I just think he’s going through the motions to cover his back, since we’ve not a shred of evidence any children or other nuns were murdered.’
‘Did they say how long it will take?’ Jane asked, thinking of Nick’s predicament.
‘A week or two. If they find nothing, then I guess the building work can recommence.’
When Stanley was out of earshot, Jane picked up a phone and dialled Nick’s office. There was no answer, so she tried his home phone.
‘Hi, it’s me. I’ve got a bit of good news for you. You might be able to reopen the site in a week or two.’
‘I’ll believe that when it happens,’ he replied dismissively. ‘My father just called. He’s not feeling well, so I need to go.’
‘Have I done something to upset you?’ Jane asked anxiously.
‘I don’t know, have you?’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Nothing. I’m really stressed at the moment. I’ll speak to you tomorrow.’ Nick put the phone down.
Jane wondered what on earth was bothering Nick. If he was having second thoughts about their relationship, she’d rather he be honest and say so. She racked her brain thinking of what she might have said or done to upset him, but nothing came to mind. She couldn’t go on like this, however: she had to talk to him face to face to find out what was going on.
Barnes walked into the squad room with a wad of information forms, which he handed to the civilian indexers.
‘I’ve marked up the ones that need further action and NFA’d the others. Some of the information received from former convent pupils is high priority. Allocate them to members of the squad to carry out interviews ASAP.’
Barnes saw Boon putting the phone down. ‘Any luck with Sister Suzanne?’
‘She’s happy to be interviewed and confirmed Adele Delaney is dead. She’d also heard through the grapevine that Sister Margaret Wilde is at a convent on Canvey Island. I rang the local Essex Old Bill. They said there’s a Sisters of Mercy convent on the island, which also has a large Catholic school on the site.’
‘Another home for abusers and the abused, no doubt,’ Barnes said, shaking his head.
‘According to the officer I spoke with, there’s no orphanage. But the school has a couple of hundred local kids. I’ve got the address and phone number. Shall I give them a ring and make an appointment to speak with Sister Margaret tomorrow?’
‘No, I don’t want her to know we’re coming,’ Barnes said. He called Stanley and Jane over. ‘Tomorrow morning, me and Stanley will pay Bishop Meade a visit. Boon’s got a possible location for Sister Margaret. Tennison, I want you to go with Boon to the convent on Canvey Island. If Sister Margaret is there, interview her — and don’t go easy on her.’
‘Yes, sir,’ Jane replied.
‘As things stand, are you going to arrest Meade tomorrow?’ Stanley asked.
‘You were right to question my decision earlier,’ Barnes replied. ‘The press conference and talking about Stephen’s death got me worked up. I think we need to turn the heat up slowly with Meade. Make him squirm a bit in a preliminary interview.’
Stanley nodded in agreement. ‘I gave Special Branch at Heathrow a call. Malone is booked on the seven o’clock BA flight which lands at ten. It will take him at least forty-five minutes to travel back to Archbishop’s House.’
‘We’ll leave here about half nine to interview Meade,’ Barnes replied.
‘Don’t you think we should aim to be there for nine, in case the archbishop returns?’ Stanley said.
‘On the contrary. I hope the son of a bitch does turn up!’ Barnes said.
‘What happens if they don’t let us into the diocesan offices?’ Stanley asked.
‘Then I’ll kick the bloody door in,’ Barnes said.
‘Are you going to interview Malone as well?’ Stanley asked.
‘Not yet. I want to make him squirm a bit first, too,’ he grinned.
Chapter Twenty-three
Jane established the time in Ontario was three in the afternoon. She phoned the Kingston police department and spoke with a Detective Inspector Tremblay. Jane told him she was investigating the murder of a woman they believed to be Melissa Bailey, who’d been a Kingston resident until 1953, when she came to the UK to become a novice at a convent in Bickley. The inspector seemed shocked when Jane told him how Melissa had been murdered.
‘I’ll do whatever I can to help,’ Tremblay said.
‘We’re almost certain our victim is Melissa Bailey, but we don’t have a confirmed identification due to the state of her body. I don’t have Christian names for her parents, but I’m led to believe her father is a university lecturer,’ Jane told him.
‘There’s a university here called Queen’s,’ he said.
‘I’d imagine Mr Bailey must be in his fifties or sixties by now, so he may be retired,’ Jane replied.
‘Leave it with me. I’ll get on to Queen’s University right away. If I trace the Baileys, would you like me to inform them their daughter might be dead or ask them to call you?’ Tremblay asked.
‘I’d be grateful if you could tell them in person,’ Jane said. ‘I think it would be better if they know what happened to Melissa before speaking to me hundreds of miles away over the phone. I’ll fax you over a copy of the dental chart our forensic odontologist made. Hopefully, if you trace Melissa’s parents, their family dentist might still have her old records and could do a comparison to give us a positive ID.’
‘If I do get your victim’s dental record, I’ll get our forensic dentist to check it as well. I wish you well in your investigation, Detective Tennison. As soon as I locate the Baileys, I’ll call you.’
After a meal in the canteen, Jane typed up her reports, and it was nearly nine before she got home. She was so tired she went straight to bed but tossed and turned, unable to get to sleep. She couldn’t stop thinking about the last two phone conversations she’d had with Nick, and his coldness towards her. She knew she’d done nothing to upset him, so why did it feel as if he wanted to end their relationship?
Jane thought about Thomas Durham and wondered if he was one of the builders Julie had seen fixing the convent roof. If it was him, and maybe Lee Holland, too, it meant they had deliberately not mentioned their connection to the convent before Missy had been murdered. Thomas Durham suggested he’d had nothing to do with the convent until long after the fire, but Jane also wondered if he was the builder who’d deemed the tunnel unsafe and bricked up the crypt door. Then something else worrying struck her: was it possible Thomas had revealed something to Nick about the convent, and that was what was forcing him to end their relationship?