Dalgliesh said, “Thank you, Father, but we must be away. I think we’d better take the car. We may have to leave in a hurry. Thank you for seeing us and for your help.”

In the car, their seatbelts buckled, Dalgliesh opened the paper and passed it to Kate. Father Curtis had drawn a meticulous little diagram with arrows pointing to the school. She knew why Dalgliesh had decided not to walk. Whatever the coming interview revealed, it would be prudent not to return and risk questions from Father Curtis.

After a moment’s silence, sensing Dalgliesh’s mood, she asked, knowing that he would understand, “Do you think this is going to be bad, sir?” She meant bad for Stephen Collinsby, not for them.

“Yes, Kate, I think it may be.”

Chapter 4

4

They had turned into the noise and heavy traffic of Marland Way. The journey wasn’t easy, and Kate didn’t speak except to give Dalgliesh directions until he had taken a right turn at the second set of traffic lights and they found themselves in a quieter road.

“Sir, do you think that Father Curtis will have phoned to say we’re on our way?”

“Yes, he’s an intelligent man. By the time we left he’ll have put several puzzling facts together, the involvement of the Met, our rank—why a commander and a detective inspector if this is a routine enquiry?—the early return of his car and his friend’s silence.”

“But he obviously doesn’t know yet about the murder.”

“He will when he reads tomorrow’s broadsheets or listens to the news. Even then I doubt whether he’ll be suspecting Collinsby, but he knows that his friend may be in trouble. That’s why he was determined to get in all that information about how he’s transformed the school. It was an impressive testimonial.”

Kate hesitated before the next question. She knew that Dalgliesh respected her and thought that he was fond of her. Over the years she had learnt to discipline her emotions; but though the core of what she had always known was a hopeless love remained and always would, it didn’t give her the freehold of his mind. There were questions better not asked, but was this one?

After a silence in which she kept her eyes on Father Curtis’s instructions, she said, “You knew he’d warn his friend, but you didn’t tell him not to.”

“He’ll have a bad five minutes of spiritual struggle without me making it worse for him. Our man isn’t going to run away.”

Another turn. Father Curtis had been optimistic in describing the school as “quite close.” Or was it the turnings, her companion’s reticence or the apprehension about the coming interview which made the journey seem long?