The Deadly Whisper by Marie Dalgety

Author:Marie Dalgety [Dalgety, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-04-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-one

“This is the window that got broken on Saturday night, then?”

“The one and only,” said Father Foley, leading me to the back of the church. A temporary sheet had been nailed over a small window on the right-hand side of the church. Peeking through the window next to it, I saw a thick copse of trees and bushes from the moa paddock next door. No wonder I hadn’t seen Father Foley that fateful Sunday morning when he’d been tending to the window outside—he’d been hidden between the church and the patch of scrub.

“I just don’t understand why somebody would have wanted to break a window,” he said. “Everybody knows I keep the doors unlocked in here, all hours of the day… if someone had wanted to come in, they could have just used the doors. But to break a window…” He frowned. “Do you think somebody has something against the church?”

“I wouldn’t jump to conclusions.” I led him away from the window, noting the pain that crossed his face when he looked at it. I sat down in the front pew and waited while he joined me. “A lot of odd things happened that night. I wouldn’t take anything personally.”

“You’re right. Of course you’re right.” He blinked, his wide eyes magnified behind his glasses as he turned to me. “But you didn’t come here to listen to me worry. How are you, May? You had an awful shock the other day.”

I smiled. “I’m keeping busy. What else can you do?”

“You’re right. Again.” He quirked his lips at me, then he leaned back against the pew and laced his fingers together. We sat in silence for a minute, but where Father Foley’s silence appeared to be content, my lack of conversation was borne out of nerves.

“I was coming here to see you that morning, you know.” I played with my own fingers in my lap, as if doing so would help loosen the words from my throat. “I’d seen something strange the night before. At the time…” I laughed, more to cover my anxiety than anything else. “I thought I’d seen a ghost. A tall ghost that could speak Bleak.”

Father Foley let out a breath. “I see.”

“It was silly. It wasn’t a ghost, I knew it then, deep down, and I knew for sure the next day. But for a moment there…”

“It isn’t silly. You mustn’t say things like that. This world…” Father Foley gestured at the vaulted ceiling of the church, as if that explained everything. “We can’t possibly have answers for everything that happens. There are some things that are beyond reason, beyond comprehension.” He pursed his lips. “Though, in fairness—some things do have reasonable explanations. Our eyes play tricks on us, and we really mustn’t believe everything we see. But no matter what explanation we are presented with…” He turned to face me. “I believe it’s important to examine what the things we think we’ve seen have made us feel.”

I blinked, trying to engage my eyelids in battle against the sudden warmth that sprung up beneath them.

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