‘Ah, too bad. The stories these stones could tell!’ murmured Holmes. A sound from the nave had us all turn to see three men in dusty overalls, carrying some tools, passing through. One of them saluted the father.

Lamb waved them away.

‘I am sorry. Workmen. Quite a few repairs to be made.’

‘Repairs or construction?’ asked Holmes.

‘Both, actually. The restaurant, when it was here, had a wine cellar in the crypt below. I am having it expanded.’

At Holmes’s raised eyebrow, the priest continued. ‘The crypt is the perfect temperature for wine storage. We will be renting out space to several local restaurants to store their bottles there.’

‘Ah, a welcome bit of income, then!’ said Holmes cheerfully.

‘One must be resourceful,’ said the priest. ‘But again, sir, I don’t wish to be rude. What is your business with the deacon?’

‘I understand there have been some problems with this church. I read about a flood some years ago.’

The priest frowned. ‘But what has that to do—?’

‘Church histories are a special hobby of mine,’ offered Holmes. ‘They reflect so much about the changing populations and customs of our towns. And this one is particularly colourful.’

His thoroughness never failed to impress me.

‘Yes, there was a flood,’ said Father Lamb. ‘But we have taken precautions. There is a drainage system in the crypt, somewhat complex. The workmen are attending to that.’

Holmes turned to me with a smile. ‘Watson, the Cam regularly runs over her banks during a heavy rainfall. You have noticed the broad fields which line the river, where cattle and sheep graze? They are floodplains, and that is where the water spreads harmlessly. Most buildings are set back from the river for this reason. But not this church.’

I wondered at this seemingly irrelevant disclosure.

‘Yes, flooding has been a problem,’ the priest replied.

‘Hmm,’ said Holmes. ‘Some records survived, then?’

‘The floods are a matter of town history.’

‘You should be secure then, I suppose, though not from human disaster. I believe I read that this church has been touched by scandal. Just after the flood, was it?’

Lamb smiled thinly. ‘You are well informed, Mr Holmes. But I still wonder why you are here.’

‘Something about the previous priest,’ Holmes continued. ‘What was his name, Watson?’

I said nothing but Holmes turned to me as though I had. ‘It’s true – a terrible scandal! It reached all the way to London, Father Lamb, did you know?’

The priest’s face slowly coloured, and he stiffened. ‘Yes, of course I am aware. That, however, had nothing to do with us.’

‘Dr Watson and I were just discussing this on the way here. What a scandal indeed! No one would have expected Father – what was his name? – well, he was quite the roué, I understand. Before the – before the terrible event.’