[Ben Whittle Investigations 01.0] The Revelation Room by Mark Tilbury

Author:Mark Tilbury [Tilbury, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller, Mystery
Goodreads: 25491720
Publisher: Bloodhound Books
Published: 2015-05-04T06:00:00+00:00

21

Ebb escorted the prisoner down into the kitchen. Twice the prisoner had tried pleading his innocence, but Ebb had learned long ago that the truth was best extracted by time and torture. You could set your clock by that.

Tweezer looked at Ebb with his good eye and tried to smile. ‘Would you like a brew, Father?’

Ebb took a deep breath and tried to summon patience. Tweezer was in denial. That was as plain as Sister Emily’s face. ‘A brew?’

‘Yes, Father.’

‘What kind of brew? A Hebrew?’

Tweezer snorted laughter. A mistake. His nose bled again.

‘You disgust me, Brother Tweezer.’

Tweezer wiped his nose. ‘Sorry, Father.’

‘You have betrayed me.’

‘She tempted me, Father.’

‘I know she bloody well tempted you, you fool. I don’t need you to tell me she’s a nest of vipers.’

Tweezer bowed his head. Blood bubbled from his nose. ‘I’m really sorry, Father.’

Tweezer’s eyes put Ebb in mind of a wounded animal. ‘The girl has just arrived. What do you expect her to be? Pure?’

‘No, I—’

‘She has all the sins of the free world raging inside her.’

Tweezer plucked a flake of dried blood from his beard. ‘She might be a witch, Father.’

Ebb squinted at Tweezer as if he’d just challenged him to a dual at dawn. ‘A witch?’

‘Yes, Father. I think we might have to drown her.’

‘You do, do you?’

‘Yes, Father. It’s the only way to rid her body of the evil inside her.’

‘Perhaps we ought to put you both down the wishing well in the garden. What do you think about that?’

Tweezer clamped his mouth shut and focused his attention on his dripping nose.

‘The girl’s not a witch. She needs purging, nothing more than that.’

‘She’s dangerous, Father.’

Ebb ignored him. ‘But you’re a different kettle of mackerel, aren’t you?’

‘I didn’t do—’

Ebb slapped the table. ‘Save your tongue. If you tell me one more time that the girl lured you to the bedroom, I shall render your mouth incapable of speech. Is that clear to your ears?’

‘Yes, Father.’

‘You are supposed to be my right-hand man. What do you suppose that means?’

‘I carry out your instructions, Father.’

‘What else?’

‘I serve the Lord?’

Ebb fought an impulse to bang Tweezer’s head on the table. ‘You’re meant to set an example to the group. Do you think attempting to rape an uninitiated member is setting a good example?’

‘No, Father.’

‘I trusted you.’

‘You can still trust me, Father.’

Ebb shook his head. ‘Not anymore. You have proven yourself to be weak. Weak and open to attack. I fear Satan has attached himself to you.’

‘No, Father. No, he’s—’

Ebb held up a hand. ‘Stop babbling. The weak always deny the truth, even when it’s perched on their shoulders like a parrot.’

‘Satan’s inside the girl, Father.’

Ebb crossed his arms. ‘I vividly remember your inauguration. I truly believed that we’d purged all traces of Satan from you when we tied you to a tractor and hauled your sinful body back and forth across the North Field.’

‘You did, Father.’

‘But I still see him standing before me, large as life, twice as brazen.’

‘No, Father.’

Ebb held up a hand. ‘You can no longer be trusted, Brother Tweezer.

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