‘I don’t know it by memory yet, I’m afraid. The presbytery is next door; I’ll go and get it for you.’

‘Is it in the phone book?’

He nodded.

‘Don’t worry. I can look it up when I’m back in the office. It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Father Chris, and thanks for all your help.’

‘My pleasure.’ He smiled. ‘I look forward to hearing more about your mysterious coffin.’

CHAPTER FOUR

As it was half past eleven, and her house in Oakdene Avenue was nearby, Jane decided to nip home, have a wash, and change out of her muddy shoes and tights before going to Queen Mary’s Hospital.

Jane had recently bought the two-bedroom property for £25,000. It was cheap because it needed a lot of work done on it, which, at present, she couldn’t afford to do. However, she looked on modernising and decorating it as a long-term project. Above all, she was pleased to have a house of her own with a nice, if small, garden.

Arriving home, the first thing she did was phone DI Stanley.

‘Where are you?’ he asked.

Jane said she was at home, then recounted how Boon had knocked her over at the building site and being covered in mud she needed to change her clothes.

Stanley laughed. ‘I wish I’d been there to see that.’

‘Yeah, well, it wasn’t funny for me. Boon’s a walking disaster zone,’ she replied before telling Stanley about the coffin being taken to the mortuary.

‘If the coffin’s empty, you’ve wasted ‘job’ money by calling out the undertakers and arranging a post-mortem. You could have opened it at the site to save time and money.’

‘I didn’t feel it was appropriate to look inside it on the site,’ she countered. ‘What do I do if there is a body in it?’

‘Under the coroner’s rules, a pathologist has to do a routine examination before it can be released for burial, and they won’t do it for free!’ he told her.

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t realise that would be the case.’

‘What time are they opening the coffin?’

‘One o’clock. I was going to go to Queen Mary’s straight from here. Will you be attending the mortuary?’

‘No, I won’t. I’ve better things to do,’ he said dismissively.

‘I spoke with the local priest, Father Christopher Floridia. He’s helping me regarding the correct religious procedure, and he said—’

‘I’m not interested in what he has to say! Body or no body in that coffin, hand the bloody case over to the coroner’s officer and he can deal with it,’ Stanley barked before putting the phone down.

Jane was annoyed at how disrespectful Stanley had been – not just to her but also to Father Chris, who was only trying to help. She went to her bedroom to change her clothes and looking in her dressing-table mirror noticed a smear of mud on her face. She felt mortified realising it must have been there when she met Father Chris and he hadn’t said anything so as not to embarrass her. She also knew Boon must have seen the mud and deliberately failed to mention it just because she’d told him to stay at the building site.