The Reaper

Fifteen

Rachel took a phone call from Otis one Thursday morning in November. He asked how she was.

Heart pumping at the sound of his voice, she said with all the calm she could dredge up, "So, so. I'm trying to get on with things. No sense in feeling sorry for myself." As she spoke, she was thinking but I wouldn't mind some sympathy from you.

"I'm sure you're right. Are people helping out?"

"Some are."

He was quick to say, "Some aren't, you mean?"

"Some find me scary now."

"Scary?"

"I've been touched by death. It's some primitive fear that I'll spread the bad luck to them."

"It can't be that, Rachel. They're stuck for the right words, that's all. Hang in there. They'll lighten up."

Hang in there. She smiled at the phrase, from a clergyman. Shouldn't he have been telling her about the patience of Job?

He told her, "I was about to invite myself for coffee and a chat. How are you placed?"

How was she placed? Over the moon, now. "Come whenever you like."

"Tomorrow morning?"

Twenty-four hours away. She had an urge to say, "Why not now?" but she stopped herself. No doubt he had his day filled with choir practice and hospital visits and ecumenical meetings.

He was saying, "A simple cup of instant, right? That's what I drink all the time. I don't want you going to any trouble."

She managed to sound casual and light-hearted. "All right. Instant, in a chipped mug."

"And not so much as a digestive biscuit."

The first sign of the festive season, winking lights on the fir tree outside the Foxford Arms at the end of November, was not widely welcomed. It came too soon for most villagers. The shops and streets of Frome and Warminster had been decorated since the beginning of the month; out here, people liked to believe they didn't need to rush things.

"It's all about the cash register," Owen Cumberbatch said in the bar, where he held forth nightly. "Pack the customers in at all costs."

"No, it isn't, not here it isn't," insisted the publican, Joe Jackson. "It's no busier here tonight than any other day. It's about bringing a little joy into the village. Lord knows, we've had an unhappy few months, what with poor old Stanley passing on, and then that fellow Gary Jansen. Let's try and cheer ourselves up."

A voice from the outer reaches called out, "Well said, Joe."

"Did I hear you say drinks on the house, dear boy?" said Owen.

"No, you didn't. I've got a living to make like everyone else. You'll get your glass of punch on the carol-singing evening, if you go round the village with the choir, that is."

"When's that?"

Sometimes people forgot how recent an arrival Owen was. He seemed to have been telling his stories for ever.

"About ten days before Christmas. They go round the houses collecting money for the Church."

"And mince pies," added PC George Mitchell from his seat by the fire, "and the odd glass of something warm. It's a good evening."

"You can count on me, then," said Owen. "I've sung with the best."

"The Three Tenors?"

Owen disregarded that. "My good friend Sir Geraint Evans wanted me to go professional, but I had other plans at the time. I can still hit top C when I want to."

"We don't want any of that. You'll frighten the livestock," said Joe Jackson. "You'll be better off carrying one of the lanterns."

The friend of the famous found it difficult to comprehend why people failed to warm to him in this village. He shifted the focus of the discussion. "I expect OJ joins the carol-singers?"

"OJ?"

"The rector."

At one of the three tables grandiosely called the dining area, Burton Sands paused over the microwaved steak pie he was quietly consuming. Burton's week had been thrown into disarray by his visit to Old Mordern. He'd come to the pub because he hadn't been shopping for food. At the mention of the rector he put down his knife and fork and leaned back in his chair so as not to miss a word.

"Wouldn't surprise me if he turns it into another jam session," Owen went on.

"Get away!" said someone.

"He's not one to be troubled by tradition. You've seen it for yourself. Anyone who can turn a funeral into the Twelfth Street Rag isn't going to think twice about trampling on people's feelings."

"That wasn't his doing," said George Mitchell. "That was the widow wanted that."

"Bollocks, dear boy. She'd never have thought of that in her state of grief. Typical Otis Joy, that was."

"What do you know about it?"

The buzz of conversation around the bar stopped suddenly, enabling Burton Sands to overhear every scrap of gossip about the rector.

Owen Cumberbatch claimed smugly, "I happen to know the way the man works, his modus operandi. He's a master of deception. If you or I had something dodgy to cover up, we'd do it quietly when no one was around. Not that fellow. He does it with a bloody fanfare. Everyone cheers and says what a great bloke he is. Showmanship, dear boy."

"What's he got to hide?" said Joe Jackson.

"There you go," said Owen, snapping his fingers. "You're blind, you lot. I knew a fellow once-a very good friend of mine-called Borra. He was the world's greatest pickpocket. This was in my circus days."

"Here we go," some voice said from the dark.

"When I was no more than a lad," Owen went on, unfazed. "Borra was doing it legitimately, as an act. He'd invite several of the audience into the ring and sit them on chairs in full view, under the spotlights, and riot only empty their pockets, but remove ties, wristwatches, braces, even, arid the poor suckers wouldn't feel a thing, wouldn't know it had been done. That's what OJ is doing to you lot, and you're the mugs who can't see it, because he distracts you with all the razzmatazz."

"What's he up to?"

Owen spread his hands and smiled.

"Come on," said Jackson. "We're waiting to hear."

Over in the dining area, Burton Sands was so eager to hear that he'd abandoned his pie and turned right round in his chair.

Owen shook his head and picked up his drink. "There's none so blind as those that will not see."

It was out of character, but he refused to say any more. Normal conversation was restored.

Presently, Burton Sands materialised at Owen's elbow and offered him a drink, a fateful moment, this coming together of bombast and calculation, for Owen was happy to say in private what he'd been unwilling to tell the whole pub. Mostly, Burton listened, trying not to betray his amazement at the litany of wickedness Owen was only too happy to repeat for him. Not merely fiddling the funds, not just philandering with the ladies of the parish, but murder, serial murder. Burton's festering suspicions of Otis Joy were justified, according to this man. His head reeled. A clergyman who killed his own wife, a sexton, a PCC treasurer, and maybe others?

"And you seriously think he kills people when they find out about his embezzlement?"

"Without a doubt, dear boy."

Burton hesitated on the brink of the chasm of evil that had just opened up. "I heard a rumour that prior to Bishop Marcus's death, he was investigating Joy."

Up to this moment Owen hadn't made any connection between Otis Joy and the death of the bishop. However, no one was his equal at claiming other people's gossip as his own. "Spot on. I heard it, too. And you wonder if he had anything to do with the bishop's death? You bet your life he did."

"It isn't far from here, that quarry," Burton said, more to himself than Owen.

Owen was thinking fast. "Easy enough to dress it up as a suicide."

Burton was appalled. In a wicked, wicked world, surely this was beyond all.

He left the pub soon after with eyes as wide as a bushbaby's.

Twenty minutes later, Owen got off the stool and collected his coat and Russian fur hat-the last relic, he liked to tell people, of his days as an undercover servant of the Queen-without noticing PC George Mitchell leave his place by the fire and fol- low him out. The first he was aware of it was a firm grip on his upper arm outside the pub door.

"A quiet word, Owen."

"Here?" Owen's face was turning strange colours in the lights of the Christmas tree.

"I'll walk with you."

They started along the road.

"Normally I don't take much notice of things said in pubs," Mitchell told him, "but you went overboard in there tonight. It was close to slander."

"Slander?" said Owen. "Not me? I'm a truth-teller, through and through."

"You know who I am?"

"I do, indeed."

"With me, you'd better stick to facts."

"I intend to."

"What is it about the rector, then? What were you getting at?"

Owen was less fluent at this point of the evening. "The rector? You mean…? What do you mean?"

"You were saying the jazz at Gary Jansen's funeral was his doing."

"In a way, in a way," Owen hedged.

"As if he had some ulterior motive."

"Did I?"

"You talked about a modus operandi."

"Well, yes."

"As if he was up to something criminal."

"I can't prove anything."

"You made it up, because you don't like the man."

"No, no. I wouldn't do that."

"So you do know something."

"Things I pick up here and there, that's all."

"Such as?"

Owen sighed heavily. There was no pleasure in giving up his scant information this way. "Well, I knew him before, in his former parish. No one can deny that wherever Otis Joy goes, sudden deaths take place. His young wife. The sexton. He comes here and what happens? The church treasurer drops dead."

"People die unexpectedly every day," said George.

"Yes, but they aren't all closely connected with one man. Then Gary Jansen goes."

"You can't link Gary Jansen with these others. He didn't even go to church."

"His widow does. She's the new treasurer."

George hesitated, weighing what had just been said. "What are you saying? That it has to do with money?"

"I don't honestly know. All I can tell you is that I saw Gary Jansen on the day he died talking to the rector outside the village shop and it didn't look to me as if they were on about the weather, or the state of the world. Serious things were being said."

"By Gary?"

"Oh, yes. He was doing most of the talking. And the rector didn't like what he was hearing."

"Is that it?" said George. "That's your case against the rector? You saw him talking to Jansen?"

"On the day he died," Owen repeated.

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning they weren't unknown to each other, those two, just because Gary wasn't a church-goer. Gary said something that got up Joy's nose. I don't know what it was. But just suppose he found out a couple of things about Joy's past. Wouldn't Joy want him out of the way, and quickly?"

"Owen, this is a crock of shit."

"Do you mind?"

George stopped and grabbed Owen's coat-front and pulled him almost nose to nose. "And if you go on repeating it, people are going to get stroppy with you and I'm not going to guarantee your safety. Do you follow me? So cut the crap."

Rachel made scones for Otis and the whole cottage filled with the smell of baking. She was sure from her visit to the rectory kitchen that he was no cook himself. The shelves had looked bare except for tins and cereal packets. No doubt he lived on convenience foods. Impressing a man with her cooking might not do much for her feminist credentials, but she was sure she could make a real difference to his quality of life. She wondered if his wife-the one who had died so tragically-had been a good cook. It wasn't certain. The French make a big deal of their culinary skills, but they often go out to eat.

The right way was to be subtle about it. Let the scones make their own suggestion.

He arrived on time, buoyant as usual, saying it was a peach of a day for the time of year. Rachel thought he was overplaying the heartiness a bit, probably to gloss over (what happened the last time he came. To avoid more embarrassment on the sofa, she asked if he minded coffee in the kitchen, and he was in there like a terrier scenting rabbit.

They faced each other across the kitchen table, formal as privy councillors. "We agreed instant coffee," he reminded her as she reached for the cafetiere.

"That was a joke."

"I'm glad to hear it."

"You secretly wanted real coffee?"

"No, I mean if you can joke at a time like this, you're winning. Here's one you may not have heard: the first pair ate the first apple. Geddit?"

She managed a smile, but she didn't want this to be a laugh- in. She said straight out, "There wasn't any love between Gary and me. I'd be lying if I said there was."

He shifted awkwardly on his chair.

She had to say more now she had started. "You must have realised. But it's still a shock, becoming a widow, I mean. Well, you understand. You lost your wife suddenly, didn't you?"

He looked even more uncomfortable. He was bound to respond seriously. "It wasn't so much the way I felt in myself. There was grief, but I could handle that. It was the reaction of other people-like you told me on the phone. They cut you. They don't know what to say, most of them, so they stay clear."

She nodded. "You feel as if you've got the plague."

"It doesn't last long. Do the things you normally would and they'll be more relaxed with you. Christmas is coming up. Make a point of joining in things, the carol concert, the midnight service. Parties, if you want."

"So soon?"

"We've left the Victorian age behind. I mean, you don't have to overdo it. I wouldn't walk around waving a sprig of mistletoe."

"Not this Christmas," she said.

She hoped for a positive response. Certainly his eyes opened wider. Too wide. He looked startled. Otis Joy was shockable.

"These are great," he said, holding up a piece of scone, but Rachel wasn't to be sidetracked. She was more in control than when he last came here. Disposing of Gary had strengthened her.

"It must have been different for you, losing your wife."

He looked away. All too obviously, he didn't like talking about his wife. "How do you mean?"

"I expect you were very close. Gary and I weren't. You know how he went off to America for three weeks."

He seized the chance to talk about Gary. "It was important to him, wasn't it-the jazz? Chance of a lifetime?"

"And I thought I was going to share it with him," Rachel said, "but it turned out to be a guys-only trip. Actually I realised while he was away that I was happier without him around."

"You feel guilty about that?"

"Now that he's dead? No. Why should I?"

"Right," he said without much conviction. "You gave him a wonderful send-off."

"I couldn't have done it without your support, Otis."

He blinked at the mention of his name. "It raised a few eyebrows among the clergy, but they know me by now. And so what? There was reverence in what we did. I think the Lord approved, even if the Lord Bishops didn't."

"Did you get into trouble over it?"

"No, thanks to good timing. We don't have a bish until the new one is enthroned. Marcus Glastonbury wouldn't have been too thrilled, I have to say."

She smiled. "You mean he wasn't a jazz man?"

He grinned back, avoiding the cheap quip about the kind of man the bishop was. "Still, you must be pleased that Gary got to New Orleans."

"Yes-and it wasn't a letdown, as it could easily have been. They had a; terrific time. Met lots of other! jazz fanatics." She paused, pacing the conversation, fascinated to see how he would react to the next statement. "Wasn't that strange about the Canadian Otis Joy who was training to be a priest?"

He said quite smoothly, "Curious, yes. I've got some sympathy for anyone else with a name like mine who goes in for the Church."

"This man must have been about your age, too."

"Is that so?" He was trying to sound casual about it.

"I wondered if he could have been you-if you were ordained in Canada."

He shook his head. "Boring old Church of England, I'm afraid. I spent some time in Canada, but my college was in Brighton."

"There's nothing boring about you," she told him. "You don't mind me asking? I'd love to know more about you, where you were born, that kind of thing."

He took a moment to butter the second half of his scone, spreading it evenly. "Well, it wasn't Canada. I'm from Norfolk originally."

"And your parents died?"

"Did I tell you about that? A car crash. 1 was seven at the time."

"That's terrible."

"I'm over it now."

"But losing your parents at that age …"

"I survived. No thanks to the nuns. They were Catholics, my parents, so I was sent to Ireland, to this orphanage run by the Sisters of Mercy. Not well named. The scripture was beaten into us. And I went to a Jesuit school where the principal teacher was the strap."

"Poor Otis. You've had more than your share of hardship."

"Slings and arrows," he said dismissively. "We all face them at some time in our lives. Some poor beggars take more hits than others. No sense in complaining. They gave me a wonderful grounding in the Bible. I can argue theology with anyone."

Something in his tone made her say, "But there's more to life than theology."

"It was a narrow education, yes. Knowing the Beatitudes by heart wasn't going to make me into a brain surgeon. After quitting school I found it very hard settling to anything."

"Then you went to that wedding you told me about?"

"Right, and turned my back on the Church of Rome."

"Revenge?"

He laughed. "These days I get along fine with the good Fathers."

"Losing your parents like that must have traumatised you."

"Kids are resilient. It helps me understand how my parishioners feel when they lose someone."

"You've been there, done that, yes?"

"Got the T-shirt."

"Read the book, seen the video."

"As the Reverend Sydney Smith once put it, 'I have, alas, only one illusion left, and that is the Archbishop of Canterbury.'"

"How do you remember all these wicked quotes?"

"Self-preservation. Clergymen shouldn't take themselves too seriously."

"But you're brilliant at the job. You may be the Archbishop yourself one day. You deserve to be. You're doing so much for the church in this village."

"Running a parish is all I want, Rachel. It's a great high. You wouldn't believe the buzz I get from it. I don't want to be a bishop."

"But you must have some ambition to rise in the Church."

"I'm there," he told her with a conviction in his eyes and voice that she couldn't mistake for anything but the truth. "I've made it. I've moved mountains to get where I am, and nothing is going to shift me. Nobody had better try. This is all I could desire from life-or nearly all."

"What else?"

"I'd like to travel one day."

She'd hoped he would say he wanted to marry again, or start a family. Just a hint that he was of the same mind as she was. Was that too much to ask?

The missionary zeal had shifted from his face and all his attention was on her, and her hopes flickered again. "There's something I want to ask you, Rachel. I don't know if this is too soon to mention it."

"Yes?"

"Are you happy to carry on doing the parish accounts?"