Confession at Maddleskirk Abbey by Nicholas Rhea

dozen, male and female, with quite a lot of young people among them.’
    ‘That sounds promising.’
    ‘Give me a second. Come into my office. There’s a chair.’
    She lifted some papers from a cabinet and then found the relevant file on her computer.
    ‘We combine the old and new,’ she explained. ‘Some guests don’t have computers so we use snail mail but most of the young ones now book online.’
    ‘Computers are taking over the world!’ Nick joked.
    ‘Well, so long as it’s for the better. Right, I’ll do a computer printout for you. The CID will need it, won’t they? To check names?’
    ‘They’ll want details of everyone who has stayed here recently,’ he agreed. ‘It’ll mean a physical check to see if they all got safely home. Obviously, those who were on these premises during last weekend are of special interest – they’ll need to be eliminated from the inquiry. And of course, they might have noticed our man whilst they were here. CID will need to talk to them all.’
    When he ran through the list of names she could not confirm that any of the young men fitted the description of the murder victim. She recalled one with ginger hair, one who was prematurely bald and a third who was very much overweight.
    ‘So are these people on the premises the whole time?’
    ‘Oh no, we take them to visit various locations, using abbey mini-coaches. As you know, we’re surrounded with lots of ruined abbeys, all with a long Catholic history that is largely ignored or overlooked, and there are also modern convents and abbeys like ours. The Marian shrine at Osmotherley is always popular as is Egton Bridge through its association with the martyr, Nicholas Postgate, with Ampleforth Abbey always on our list of places to visit with its fine tearoom and shop.’
    ‘You’ll be rivalling the Holy Land next!’
    ‘Well, it’s true that all those places provide a great deal of spiritual interest to people who join our retreats. Sometimes we take them to the seaside at Sandsend, Whitby or Scarborough where they can walk along the beach with a monk to contemplate upon what they have been told. Those beach pilgrimages work very well and we also take some up to our moorland with its own religious history. We try hard to give them a variedperspective on their ancient faith and its long, turbulent and troubled history in this country.’
    ‘It’s a blessing someone does that! If you can provide a printout of these names, I’ll give them to Detective Inspector Lindsey for his teams to work on. Thanks for your time, Ruth.’
    ‘Always pleased to help, Nick. You’ll keep me informed?’
    ‘Of course, and if you recollect anything that could be relevant, let me know.’
     
    When Nick entered the murder room, detectives were arriving from those police stations nearest Maddleskirk Abbey. Detective Inspector Lindsey was dividing them into teams of two, allowing a mix of men and women, each comprising a detective sergeant and a detective constable. He was allocating ‘actions’ to those who had arrived. An action was a specific task which they should investigate and then record the results in the ever-expanding computer files of the murder room.
    Periodic conferences would ensure that the entire assembly knew the outcome of all the actions. Simple devices such as blackboards and whiteboards displayed the essential data: ‘Victim – white male about thirty years old, dark hair, six feet one inch tall, dressed in dark green T-shirt and blue jeans. Identity not known. Believed to have been killed before his body was dumped.’
    There was an additional note that said: ‘NB. Cause of death may be a head injury to rear of skull – PM confirmation awaited. Weapon could be a firearm but more probably a stab weapon – not found at scene . It must be traced and preserved for forensic examination. There could be a drugs or gangland link . Location of body: near base of cliff in woodland to the east of the footpath leading