Vow of Obedience Read Online Free Page B

will keep, if it is their daughter. Did you know the girl, Sister?’
    Sister Joan, her throat burning from the brandy, her self-possession restored, shook her head.
    ‘I saw the posters earlier,’ she said. ‘The photograph was a good likeness.’
    ‘I’ll have to ask you to accompany me, Sister. I can run you back to the convent afterwards.’
    ‘What about Lilith?’
    ‘I’ll have someone ride her back. Get things moving, Stephens.’
    Outside he slid behind the wheel and gave her a keen glance as she strapped herself into the passenger seat.
    ‘Feeling better now?’ His tone had the solicitousness of an old friend.
    ‘In myself yes. About that girl’s death no. It seemed so – blasphemous somehow. The white dress and the fading leaves.’
    She bit her lip.
    ‘Nobody gets used to it.’ His voice had changed, becoming rough with what she guessed was suppressed anger.
    ‘The desk sergeant seems fairly unshockable,’ Sister Joan said. ‘I don’t suppose he’s any relation to the curate, is he? Same name.’
    ‘Don’t think so. Is the curate the stolid, unflappable type?’
    She thought fleetingly of Father Stephens with his involved sermons and beautifully polished shoes, and answered discreetly , ‘Oh, he’s a very worthy young man. A great help to Father Malone.’
    But not the man to break the news of a horrible death to worried parents. His mellifluous phrases would have no comfort set beside Father Malone’s simpler vocabulary.
    The desk sergeant had been efficient. Two other police cars snaked behind them on the moorland track, their headlamps raking dark peat and bracken that made strange shapes against the wind-swept sky.
    The schoolhouse was a darker square against the dark. Detective Sergeant Mill drew to a halt and gave her another glance.
    ‘You don’t mind coming in with me, going over what you did when you arrived? Sergeant Barratt, over here. Sister Joan, this is Sergeant David Mark Barratt, our latest acquisition from Birmingham.’
    There was a faintly ironic edge to his voice as he rolled out the full name. An ambitious police officer who had arrived with the intention of patronizing the rural constabulary, Sister Joan summed up at first glance, shaking hands with the tall, smartly manicured and brushed officer.
    ‘I met your wife, Daisy, this afternoon,’ she said. ‘She was kind enough to give me a lift to the convent.’
    ‘I’d only just reached home when the call came in so she hadn’t had the chance to tell me about it yet,’ Sergeant Barratt said. ‘What happened here?’
    ‘Looks as if Valerie Pendon’s turned up,’ Detective Sergeant Mill said. His face and voice were carefully neutral; the process of hiding his feelings under a mask of officialdom had already begun. ‘Now, Sister, take us through it. You rode here …?’
    ‘I dismounted and left Lilith to graze. She’s very good and never wanders. Then I realized that I didn’t have the key to the school, but I tried the door and it was unlocked.’
    ‘Not forced?’
    ‘Not as far as I can recall noticing, but then the door is occasionally unlocked. I’ve been guilty of forgetting it myself. It’s so remote here and there’s nothing of monetary value inside. Anyway I pushed it open and went in.’
    Repeating her action, poised on the threshold she paused, then said, ‘There’s no electric light here. We have a primus stove to provide heat in the cold weather and brew soup for the children.’
    ‘We can rig arc lights,’ Detective Sergeant Mill began.
    ‘I took the liberty of ordering that done, sir.’ Sergeant Barratt nodded towards a small group of policemen occupied with trailing cables.
    ‘Did you now?’ His superior officer spoke somewhat dryly. ‘I’m glad to see you aren’t afraid of using your own initiative, Barratt. Right, get the lights on and in here. Sister Joan, would you like to lead the way? I have a fairly powerful torch.’
    She didn’t want to lead the way anywhere save