The Reaper

Twenty

Three days after Christmas, a Renault car with an R registration was examined by the Bournemouth police. It had stood in a minor road near the bus station for about ten days according to people living there. Nobody remembered seeing it arrive. The police checked the national computer records and found the owner was Mrs. Cynthia Haydenhall, of Primrose Cottage, Foxford, Wiltshire.

The local police were informed. After checking once more that no one was inside Primrose Cottage, PC George Mitchell reported Cynthia to Police Headquarters as a missing person.

The news spread rapidly. No one knew of any connection Cynthia had with Bournemouth. She didn't particularly like the sea and it was a long way to go Christmas shopping. Out of season Bournemouth is best known for its conference centre and its concerts, but there had been no conference in the week preceding Christmas, and the only events at the Pavilion were children's shows.

A search operation was mounted in the Bournemouth area. Empty buildings, wasteland, woodland and the beaches were checked. Posters were put up. The local press were informed. Nothing of substance was discovered.

Back in Foxford, there were fears for Cynthia's safety. The fact that she hadn't cancelled her newspaper was taken seriously at last. She wasn't the kind of person who would take off for weeks on end without letting anyone know.

George Mitchell and three officers from Warminster made house-to-house inquiries. It was difficult. Normally ten days is not an over-long period in people's memories, but with Christmas intervening it was like asking about some event that happened six weeks before.

"I wish you'd listened to me," Rachel reminded George when he knocked on her door. "I knew something was wrong when she didn't turn up for the carol evening. She told me she'd be there. She really looked forward to it."

George noticed how pale Rachel was looking, worse, he thought, than when her husband died. He supposed she and Mrs. Haydenhall were closer friends than he'd imagined. "We've got a lot of men and women working on this in Bournemouth," he told her. "Don't give up hope."

Burton Sands had tried repeatedly to get through to Milton Davidson College, Toronto. All over the world everything stopped for Christmas, it seemed. And then for the New Year. It was not until January 3rd that someone picked up a phone.

Usefully for Burton, the most senior staff have to come into college during holidays to deal with urgent business. He was put through to the Deputy Principal. This time he dropped the This is Your Life ploy for something simpler. "I'm checking the records of clergy who came to Britain from abroad," he said as if this was part of a larger project. "I have a name here and I wonder if you'd confirm that he was with you until nineteen ninety-three. Otis Joy."

"I'll bet it is," said the voice on the line. "I don't envy you."

Burton was forced to explain that Otis Joy was someone's name, not a cynical aside.

"You say he came to Britain?"

"Right."

"Wrong-if you mean our guy. We had a student of that name, but he didn't go to England. He didn't go anywhere."

"Why?"

"He died."

Burton gripped the phone and pressed it harder to his ear. "Did you say 'died'!"

"Sure. In ninety-three, the year you mentioned. He drove his car off a mountain road when he was on vacation in Vancouver. A sheer drop. No chance."

"This is Otis Joy?"

"It's not a name you forget, specially in a theological college. He was the only student of that name we had on our books, or ever had."

"Did you know him personally?"

"Otis? Sure. I've been here fifteen years. He was in my tutor group. Nice guy."

"Would you mind describing him? There's obviously some confusion in our records."

"Sounds like it. Let's see. He was short, Afro-Caribbean, rather overweight-"

Burton blurted out his reaction. "A black man?"

"Are we at cross purposes here?"

"We must be. The man I know is white."

"We're wasting our time then. These are two different guys."

"But he claims to have been at your college. It's on his file."

"I don't think so."

"I'm telling you," insisted Burton. "He finished his training at Brighton. Their records show he attended Milton Davidson College. There is only one college of that name in Toronto, 1 suppose?"

"In the world."

As if by consent, they let a moment of hard thinking go by.

"If you had a picture of your Mr. Joy," said the Deputy Principal with a new, suspicious tone, "I'd be interested to see it."

"I can supply one."

"OK. Do you have access to a scanner and e-mail? We could do this today. I'm here until six, our time."

Burton said he would see to it, and they exchanged e-mail addresses.

That head and shoulders shot in the Wiltshire Times would do if he could get hold of a sharper print. They sometimes had the originals on file at the newspaper office in Trowbridge and sold copies. He left work early and drove over there. They had a brown envelope stuffed with pictures of the man from various functions they'd covered. Burton went through it and found the print he wanted. A nice glossy postcard-size mugshot.

On his own computer at home, he scanned the photo and sent it with a short e-mail message to Toronto. Within a couple of minutes his phone rang.

"I don't know this man," said the Deputy Principal. "He never attended this college."

"Did the picture come over cleanly?" Burton asked.

"It's very clear. I know my students, and, this man was never one of them. I also rechecked at our alumni office and there was only one Otis Joy in attendance here in the past twenty years. If someone of that name is claiming affiliation with our college, he's an impostor."

Burton put down the phone and experienced a pleasurable sensation of power amounting almost to rapture. "Got you, you bastard," he said aloud.

He looked at his watch. Twenty minutes to get showered and dressed for the last confirmation class, followed by the rector's party.

Watching the man behind his great desk in the rectory, with the books of sermons behind him and The Light of the World to his left, listening to his confident and lucid interpretation of the Order of Confirmation, Burton still found it difficult to credit that this was a bogus priest.

"And when the moment comes and the bishop lays his hand on your head, you will hear some of the most comforting words in our liturgy: 'Defend, O Lord, this thy Servant, with thy heavenly grace, that he may continue thine for ever.' Defend-it's a word we find throughout the Book of Common Prayer. 'Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies.' " Joy curved his hand over the glass paperweight of St. Paul's Cathedral. " '. . and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night.' Some people have told me they felt strengthened by God at this moment, and of course they are."

Burton had spoken to nobody of his sensational discovery. This evening he felt detached from the confirmation candidates, watching them listen respectfully to the man he would soon expose. They were in for a shock, but not yet. He would choose his moment. This evening gave him the chance to settle the business beyond reasonable doubt. This was a high-risk plan, but he had right on his side, and if you can't rely on God's protection in a Church of England property, it's a poor lookout for mankind. There was another "defend" in the Prayer Book that Joy had not chosen to mention: Psalm 42. "Give sentence with me, O God, and defend my cause against the ungodly people: O deliver me from the deceitful and wicked man."

The spiel was coming to an end. "And then, of course, there follows a communion, your first, and we went through the service last time. Simple, beautiful, comforting." Joy's eyebrows formed the shape of a Norman arch as he closed his prayer book. "If any of you have last-minute questions, or concerns, I'm here to help. I'll be with you at the service, and should you feel nervous just imagine how the new bishop will be feeling. Let's not forget that it may be your confirmation, but it's his baptism."

The doorbell rang and Joy got up. "I asked the parish council to join us and all of them are coming except Rachel Jansen, who sends her regrets. This kind of get-together is difficult for her so soon after Gary's death." He went off to receive his first guests.

"Where's it happening?" asked John Neary.

"In that big room, for sure," said Ann Porter. "Shall we go through?"

"You carry on," said Burton casually. "I'll join you presently."

"Didn't know you were a smoker," said Neary.

"I'm not. I need a few minutes to myself."

"Says you."

The minute the others were out of the room Burton crossed to the filing cabinet by the door. Joy would be busy with his guests for some time, a perfect opportunity.

It wasn't locked. The top drawer was stuffed with bulging files that turned out to be circulars from the diocesan office at Glastonbury. He tried the next. Letters, hundreds of them. Local societies wanting a speaker. People researching their family history. And quite a batch about brass-rubbing. Useless. With hope ebbing away he pulled out the third and last drawer. Agendas and minutes of parish council meetings. Orders of service from years back. Sermons. But no personal papers^.

The doorbell rang at least! three times while he was still in the office. Sudden noises weren't good for his nerves.

He tried the drawers of Joy's great mahogany desk. Blank stationery, stamps, paperclips and a stapler. A wire basket on the windowsill excited him briefly. It was stacked high with paper. Catalogues of religious books.

This was not so simple as he'd hoped.

The two box files on the bookshelf were the only possibilities left. One was filled with church music and when he opened the other dozens of communion wafers scattered across the floor. He used valuable time picking them up.

Outside the office he stood in the hall for a moment listening to the voices in the front room. They sounded well launched into conversation about how they'd celebrated the new year. With luck, he wouldn't be missed for a while.

This, after all, was the last opportunity he would get to search the rectory for evidence of the man's real identity. But which room? Apart from the drawing room where everyone was, and the kitchen, dining room and cloakroom-unlikely places to keep private documents-there was only the upper floor. Was it worth the risk? Fainter hearts than Burton's might have abandoned the search. He braced himself and crept upstairs. Joy's bedroom was as likely a place as any.

The stairs creaked horribly. If the front room door was flung open and Joy demanded to know where he was going he'd say he needed the bathroom. How was he to know there was a cloakroom downstairs?

He'd reached the landing halfway up when the doorbell went once more and Joy came out into the hall. Burton backed out of sight and waited.

Peggy Winner, downstairs, said, "Am I the last?"

Joy told her, "Don't worry, Peggy. We're still missing someone, but I can't think who it is."

He took her coat and hung it in the hall and they went back to the others.

Burton climbed the rest of the stairs. He'd have to be quick now. Tiptoed along the upstairs passage, opening doors. Found the bathroom and a guest room bare of everything except the bed and a wardrobe.

The next room had to be Joy's.

It wasn't how he imagined a rector's bedroom might be. No crucifix, Bible or embroidered text. A music centre, portable TV and double bed with a quilt covered in a Mondrian design. Two shelves of fat paperbacks. Every sea story Patrick O'Brian had written. Quite a few Hornblowers.

He looked around for the kind of box or briefcase that might contain personal papers. Nothing. Looked into the wardrobe, the chest of drawers and the bedside cupboard. Felt on top of the wardrobe and among the shoes at the bottom.

Then the bedroom door opened and a voice said, "What the fuck are you doing?"

He swung around guiltily.

It wasn't Joy, thank God. It was John Neary.

"Poking around," he answered.

"What for?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

"Bloody hell. I was sent to collect you from the study. He thinks you're overcome with shyness, or something. I heard you moving about up here, so I came up."

"You don't have to tell anyone," said Burton.

"What's up with you-creeping around up here?" demanded Neary.

"Just don't say anything to him please. I'll come down."

"Bloody weirdo."

Sheepishly, Burton followed him downstairs. In the room where the party was, Ann said loudly, "Here he is. Where were you all this time?"

"Bit of a headache," was the best Burton could think to answer.

"Do you want something for it?" Joy asked.

Burton shook his head.

Neary rolled his eyes upwards and said nothing, and the talk started up again. Peggy Winner was asking if the rector minded sleeping alone in this old building.

"Is that an offer, Peg?" said Geoff Elliott, chuckling over his fourth gin and tonic.

"No problem. The rectory has a good atmosphere," said Joy.

"Everyone said it was haunted when I was a kiddie," said Peggy.

"If it is, the ghost has got to be one of my predecessors in the job," said Joy, "so it doesn't bother me. A blue lady or a knight in armour might give me the jitters, but not a humble cleric. There are some I'd definitely like to meet."

"Waldo Wallace?" suggested Norman Gregor.

"Top of the list."

"And what would you ask him?"

Joy held out his hands expansively. "There'd be no need to ask him anything. The man was unstoppable, full of good stories, like the one about Archbishop Tait at a dinner party. The old Archbishop was sitting next to the Duchess of Sutherland and suddenly went white as a sheet, turned to her and said confidentially, 'It's come to pass as I feared. I dreaded this. I think I'm having a stroke.' The Duchess said without even looking his way, 'Relax, your Grace, it's my leg you're pinching, not your own.'"

Everyone liked the story. "He sounds like a man after your own heart," Gregor said. "Some of your stories aren't so bad, Rector."

"The best ones I borrowed from Waldo. He threw better parties than me, too. His home brew was a legend in the parish."

"Where was it brewed?"

"Underneath us, in the cellar. Unfortunately some tee-total rector removed it all early this century, but you can still see traces of the kegs on the floor."

"What do you use it for?"

"The cellar? All the furniture I don't want. Someone who comes after me may find a need for a Victorian commode or a wind-up gramophone, but I get by without them."

"Things like that could be valuable," said Peggy.

"Oh, I sold the Chippendale chairs."

"I never know when you're serious," she said.

Burton stood with Ann Porter near the door, saying little, listening to the man in his element, the centre of attention, charming an audience. Inwardly Burton was fuming that for all the risk he'd taken, no evidence had come to light. But the mention of a cellar had not escaped him. "Which way is the cloakroom?" he asked Ann.

After she'd told him, he nodded, as if asking her to cover for him, and stepped outside again. Surely that cellar was worth looking into.

He guessed there might be access somewhere towards the rear of the house, through the kitchen, and he was right. There was a door in the scullery, to the left of the old leaded sink. The key was in the lock. He let himself in, located a light-switch and went down some whitewashed steps.

The cellar was in a respectable state, as if some effort had been made to keep it free from dust and cobwebs. Plenty of old furniture was stored down here, just as Joy had claimed. Otherwise all he could see were newspapers and magazines in tidy stacks. He stepped around an old coat-stand, checking the furniture, trying to miss nothing, hopeful of locating another filing cabinet. You can tell when a place has been untouched for years, and this was not it. j

Then he saw the display cabinet, an unappealing mid-Victorian piece in some dark wood, without legs, and with three glass doors. What caught his eye was the array of white boxes and small brown bottles, an unlikely collection to be housed here. He opened one of the doors. The interior was in use as a medicine cabinet.

Odd, he thought. Why keep your medicines down here when most people want them handy in the bathroom, or at least in the house? He looked more closely. These weren't the sorts of medicines you keep for emergencies. There were no Band-Aids, aspirins, Alka-Seltzers or Vaseline. Neither were they prescription drugs. They had labels, certainly, but they were handwritten, with just the names of the contents, and nothing about dosage. Burton was not well up on pharmacy, but he was intrigued by this lot. Insulin, hyoscine, morphine, dextromoramide, aconite, digoxin, antimony. Even with his limited knowledge he could tell there were poisons here, lethal poisons. What was a village rector doing with a collection like this hidden in his cellar?

It shocked Burton to the core. He'd harboured suspicions of malpractice, impersonation, even the taking of life. None of it had prepared him for this. For all the evidence to the contrary, he couldn't shake off the thought of Joy as a man of God.

What now? Here was the proof that the man was evil. He hesitated, dry-mouthed with stress, raking his fingers through his hair and tugging at it.