NO AGE TO DIE: The release of a dangerous prisoner leads to murder (DCI John Blizzard Book 9) by John Dean (digital ebook reader .txt) 📕

in the interview room, Blizzard and Colley expected to see a cowed man but instead the vicar had dug deep into his reserves and staged a remarkable recovery. He seemed somehow taller, more upright in his chair. He had stopped running and it felt good. Henry Sanders was ready to face his accusers.

‘Henry, Henry,’ said Blizzard. He placed a brown folder on the table. ‘For a man of the cloth you seem to have a strange idea of goodness.’

‘We are all sinners,’ replied the vicar.

‘Yes, we are, but few seem to make such a career out of it.’ Blizzard opened the folder and scanned the top sheet of paper. ‘Your previous church seemed to think that you stole money from them, and Edgar Rose-Harvey would dearly like to have his twenty-eight thousand pounds back.’

‘That man!’ spat the vicar.

‘Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?’ said Blizzard. ‘And we want the truth. Too many people have been lying to us. Oh, and before you tell us why someone decided to turn you into a punchbag, you should be aware that we know about you and Marian…’

The vicar started, the first crack showing in his freshly constructed composure.

‘There’s nothing to tell,’ he said. It did not sound convincing.

‘My, my, stealing, adultery, now lying. You certainly do run through the sins, Henry.’ Blizzard’s voice turned harsh and there was an icy glare in his eyes. ‘But I have enough problems without playing your stupid little games. Marian said you planned to run away together. I take it that was what the money was for?’

The vicar nodded. His confidence of a few moments previously had evaporated.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Yes, it was. To set us up for a new life away from Hafton.’

‘Did Jamie know about your affair?’ asked Colley.

Sanders nodded; something about the sergeant’s more friendly demeanour suggested that he might be easier to deal with.

‘Did he approve?’ asked the sergeant.

‘He liked me,’ said the vicar. ‘And I liked him. He was a nice kid.’

‘So why were you down on the canal path the day he was killed?’ asked Colley. ‘Did you kill him?’

The vicar’s confidence in the sergeant vanished; clearly, the two detectives were as bad as each other.

‘No, I didn’t!’ he said quickly.

‘Are you sure about that?’ said the sergeant. ‘Maybe he didn’t like the idea of you running off with his mother, or maybe he knew that you had stolen the money. Maybe you killed him to stop him telling. Maybe you didn’t mean to. Maybe it was manslaughter rather than murder.’

‘Never! Never!’ yelled the vicar. He sprang to his feet. ‘Do you hear me? Never! There is no way I would ever hurt that boy!’

Blizzard jabbed a finger towards the vicar’s chair.

‘Sit down,’ he said.

Sanders remained standing.

‘For what it’s worth,’ said Blizzard, ‘I don’t think you killed Jamie Holdsworth.’

Sanders looked accusingly at Colley.

‘He does,’ he said.

‘He had to ask,’ said Blizzard. ‘But, no, you didn’t kill Jamie.’

Relief enveloped the vicar’s face as he slumped back into his chair.

‘I thank you for that,’ he said gratefully. ‘I thank you from the bottom of my–’

‘But that doesn’t mean that you didn’t kill Glenda Rutherford,’ said the inspector. ‘Or attack Jacob Reed, for that matter.’

Sanders stared at him in horror, the blood draining from his face.

‘You surely don’t think I’d do that,’ he said quietly. His voice tailed off as he stared at them.

‘Look at it from our point of view,’ said Blizzard. ‘We know that Jacob Reed had rumbled your fraud and that he confronted you in the hostel. And we know that the only other person who knew you were there was Glenda Rutherford.’

‘Yes, but–’

‘You had been under a lot of stress, suddenly the one thing you wanted – to run away and start a new life with Marian – was threatened. Maybe you lashed out at Jacob, grabbed the first thing that came to hand. Smashed him over the head.’

‘No! No!’

Sanders was on his feet again.

‘Sit down, dammit!’ said Blizzard. ‘It’s like interviewing a sodding Jack-in-the-Box.’

‘You’ve got me wrong, I’m not like that,’ moaned Sanders. He sat down heavily. ‘I could never do anything like that.’

‘We can all do anything if the pressure is too much for us,’ said Blizzard. ‘Maybe you set out to silence Glenda as well. After all, you had nothing to lose. The theft alone was enough to send you to prison, especially given the suspicions hanging over you from your previous church. You’re a serial offender, Henry.’

‘You’ve got it all wrong,’ protested the vicar.

‘And then there’s your history of mental illness.’

‘That was a long time ago, for God’s sake!’

‘Not so long. You have been to see a consultant lately, have you not?’ said Blizzard. ‘In the past few weeks, in fact.’

Sanders looked shocked at the revelation. He was silent for the best part of a minute and the detectives allowed him time to regain his composure.

‘I am not a violent man,’ he said eventually. His voice was so quiet that they had to strain to hear him. ‘Yes, I admit, I was angry when Jacob Reed confronted me that night but he gave me the opportunity to return the money and said he would not tell anyone. He’s a great believer in forgiveness is Jacob. They all are. He was unharmed when I left and I did not kill Glenda.’

Blizzard leaned back in his chair and surveyed the vicar thoughtfully.

‘I think I believe you,’ he said at length. ‘But how come you were seen on the canal path?’

‘I go for a walk there sometimes – helps clear my head.’

Blizzard glanced at Colley, who shrugged.

‘Tell me why we found you chained to a radiator,’ said the inspector.

Sanders sighed.

‘They came to my house,’ he said.