Jane laughed. ‘Whitt-ling, as in carving wooden animals. It might be integral to the investigation.’

‘You’ve totally lost me,’ Stanley said.

‘I’ll explain why after you’ve told me about Meade.’

‘Do you want a coffee?’ Stanley asked.

‘That would be nice,’ Boon replied.

‘Then get us a coffee when you’ve finished your phone call,’ Stanley said, handing him a pound note.

‘Where’s Barnes?’ Jane asked, seeing he was not in his office.

‘The commissioner wanted to speak with him,’ Stanley said, sitting at Barnes’s desk.

‘Has the shit hit the fan?’ Jane asked.

‘We won’t know for sure until Barnes gets back. Sit down and I’ll tell you all about it.’

‘Do you want to wait for Boony?’

‘You can fill him in later.’ Stanley proceeded to tell Jane about the meeting with Meade.

Jane listened carefully, taking notes so she could compare what Meade had said with everything they knew so far about him.

‘Meade totally distanced himself from knowing Sister Melissa. But he lost his composure when Barnes suggested he offered sweets to the kids for “ulterior motives”.’

‘Does Barnes really think that? We’ve had a lot of calls from people who were at the orphanage. Not one of them has alleged sexual abuse.’

‘Barnes was just trying to goad him. You could see Meade was getting hot under the collar . . . excuse the pun.’

‘I’ve got a feeling Meade and Missy were in a relationship. It may even have been sexual,’ Jane said.

‘You’re kidding me!’ Stanley exclaimed.

‘Why shouldn’t priests and nuns have sexual desires like the rest of us?’

‘Is that a come on?’ he grinned.

‘Piss off,’ Jane retorted. She then told him about the photograph in which she thought Meade and Missy were touching hands.

‘Maybe he led her on just to get in her knickers, she got upset, then . . .’

‘What is it with you men and sex?’ Jane said testily. ‘Or are you speaking from experience?’

Stanley held his hands up. ‘Blimey, it was only a suggestion.’

‘What did Meade say when Barnes asked how he knew Melissa’s nickname?’ Jane asked.

‘He didn’t ask.’

‘Why not? Evidentially, that would be enough to arrest him and interview him under caution.’

‘Archbishop Malone walked in at that point. He didn’t recognise Barnes until he told him he was the officer who investigated Stephen’s suicide . . . then said he suspected Malone was involved and there’d be no cover-up this time.’

Jane winced. ‘I bet that didn’t go down well.’

‘It was like a red rag to a bull. Malone asked us to leave and said he’d speak with the commissioner. Which, by the looks of things, he has.’

‘I worry Barnes’s loathing of Malone and the Catholic Church over Stephen Phillips’ suicide is clouding his judgement.’