Boon hung his head. ‘Not at first. After we spoke with Annette Gorman, Becky kept pressing me about who Father Bob was. I said I didn’t know, but she knew I was lying. In the end I told her about Bishop Meade and said we suspected he may have been involved in the murder.’

‘I’ll swing for you, Boon, if any harm has come to my daughter!’ Rogers shouted.

‘Excuse me, but you were the one who told Becky about the post-mortem results. You know your job stipulates not to pass on information about a deceased person or an ongoing investigation,’ Stanley said.

Rogers pointed at Jane. ‘She never told me it was to be kept quiet!’

Barnes slammed his hand on the desk. ‘All right, everyone, calm down. Sitting here blaming each other is getting us nowhere. My concern right now is for Becky. Stanley, I want you to go with Rogers and search her flat; see if there’s anything there that might indicate where she’s gone. Boon, you go to her work with a couple of detectives and speak to all the staff. Tennison, you’re coming with me.’

‘Where to, sir?’ she asked.

‘Meade’s office, to arrest him and find out what he was doing yesterday afternoon. Arrange for a uniform car to take us there on blues and twos,’ Barnes said.

‘Is that advisable after what the commissioner said?’ Stanley asked.

‘Right now, I couldn’t give a flying fuck about the commissioner. Finding Becky is all I care about,’ Barnes said, putting on his jacket.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Barnes said nothing during the high-speed journey to Archbishop’s House. Jane knew there would an uproar after Meade was arrested and Barnes might well find himself suspended from duty. He also risked being sacked for disobeying the commissioner’s orders and even losing his pension. Jane sighed to herself. She knew nothing and nobody was going to stop Barnes in his quest to bring down Meade and Archbishop Malone.

Arriving at their destination, Barnes asked the two uniformed officers to accompany him. He knocked on the door and the young priest answered.

‘Where’s Meade?’ Barnes grunted.

‘The archbishop said you are not allowed on these premises. I’ll have you know he’s presently with your commissioner.’

Barnes’s eyes widened. ‘I couldn’t care if he’s with God himself.’ He grabbed the priest by the front of his cassock. ‘Is he in Malone’s office?’

The priest looked terrified and frantically nodded.

Barnes raced up the stairs followed by Jane and the uniformed officers. He tried to open the door, but it was locked from the inside.

‘Open the bloody door now, Meade, or I’ll kick it in!’ Barnes shouted.

There was no reply from within. Barnes nodded at the burly uniformed officer, who knew what to do. It took him two running shoulder charges to force the door open with a crash.