A Gruesome Discovery by Cora Harrison

Author:Cora Harrison [Cora Harrison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Published: 2017-10-06T04:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

St Thomas Aquinas

Et ideo tristitia potest esse de praesenti, praeterito et futuro, dolor autem corporalis, qui sequitur apprehensionem sensus exterioris, non potest esse nisi de praesenti.’

(Consequently sorrow has the power to be of the present, past and future: whereas bodily pain, which follows apprehension of the external sense, can only be something of the present.)

‘Patrick said that you sounded worried,’ Dr Scher’s arrival had frightened her for a few moments, and even now she scanned his face for any sign that he had been sent to break bad news.

‘I merely wondered whether a visitor that I had an hour ago had dropped into the barracks to give him a message.’ The Reverend Mother had formulated her query to Patrick carefully during her return journey back up the lane and even now, to her own ears, it sounded innocuous, the sort of question that could have been put with regard to a visitor who had left an umbrella behind, she had imagined. Patrick, however, had read more into it, and so, apparently, had Dr Scher. For one of the very few times in her acquaintance with him, he had turned down the offer of a cup of tea and politely but firmly closed the door on Sister Bernadette who was doing her best to urge him into partaking, what she termed, just a small sup.

He poked the fire, more as a ritual performance than because it really needed it. Sister Bernadette had made it up to a roaring blaze while exclaiming with horror at the Reverend Mother’s damp muddy shoes and the stained hem of her skirts. He carried over her chair, placed it by the blaze, stood over her while she sat down and then placed himself opposite to her and waited for her to speak.

‘So Bridie didn’t arrive at the barracks.’

Somehow she was not surprised. There would have been plenty of time for Bridie to have gone to the barracks. If she had not arrived by now, there would be little chance of her being still alive. She would not have gone back up to Shandon Street and confessed that she could not bring herself to make a sacrifice for a boy who had been like a son to her.

‘Did she tell you that she was going to confess to the murder?’ he asked.

She did not answer that. Bridie had spoken to her in confidence. She just looked across at him and he nodded gently. ‘Don’t worry. Don’t bother answering. She was one of your flock at one stage, wasn’t she?’

‘How did you know?’ Sister Bernadette she supposed and did not probe him for an answer. He, like she, had a right to professional silence.

‘Is there anything that I can do?’ she asked.

His eyes went to her soaked shoes and he shook his head. ‘Nothing really. You’ve been down to the river, I see. But it would have been no good, you know. It’s hard even to save someone that has gone over a bridge in front of your eyes.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.