Jane picked up the pen and notepad from the phone table. ‘Tell me exactly what happened.’

‘What, from the moment he came in . . . or just what he did in the chapel?’

‘From the start would be good, but go slowly. I need to write it all down.’

Jack said that he was in the mortuary when he heard the door buzzer. He asked who it was over the intercom and a man said he was a priest, who’d been sent by the diocesan bishop to view the body of the nun found on a building site.

‘I went to the door and saw a man dressed like Father Floridia, but with a purple shirt.’

‘Did he say his name?’

‘No. I had no reason to doubt he was a priest and didn’t ask. He sat in the waiting room while I prepared the body. When I returned, he asked if I knew how she’d died. I told him I didn’t, and her death was still under investigation. He also asked if he could see the coffin as he’d need to arrange for a similar one to be provided for her reburial.’

‘Did you show it to him?’

‘Yes. Shouldn’t I have done?’

‘How did he react when he saw it?’

‘He didn’t say anything, but he looked shocked, then I took him to the chapel of rest to pray for her.’

‘Tell me exactly what he did, Jack.’

‘He stood by her, laid his hand on her chest, then shook his head from side to side. Suddenly, he fell to his knees and put his head in his hands. It seemed to me he was in a very distressed state. I felt a bit awkward watching him, so I moved away and waited for him to come out, which was about three or four minutes later.’

‘So, you never actually saw him crying?’

‘It was pretty clear he had been from the state of his eyes. He asked me where the toilet was. I showed him and when he came out, he’d obviously washed his face and composed himself.’

‘Did he say anything?’

‘No. He just left the building and got in a car.’

‘What sort of car was it?’

‘It was a black Ford Granada. Someone else was driving and he got in the back.’

Jane could understand Bishop Meade sending someone to the mortuary, but clearly what Jack had witnessed was most odd. Then something very worrying struck her, and she knew the questions she asked Jack mustn’t be leading ones.

‘Did the priest wear any jewellery?’ Jane asked.

‘He had a large gold cross hanging from his neck.’

‘Anything on his hands?’

Jack thought about it. ‘Yes, he wore a gold ring with a large round purple stone.’

Jane felt her pulse quickening. ‘Can you remember which hand and which finger it was on?’

‘His right hand, but not which finger. Sorry.’