A VOW OF EVIL an utterly gripping crime mystery by VERONICA BLACK

Author:VERONICA BLACK [BLACK, VERONICA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joffe Books Crime thriller and mystery
Published: 2021-07-05T22:00:00+00:00

TEN

‘How are the drawings coming on, Sister?’ Sister Dorothy, making an inventory of library books, looked up as Sister Joan came from the storeroom.

‘Not too badly, thank you, Sister. I’ve reached St David but he’s proving a bit of a problem,’ she confessed. ‘I know he’s patron of Wales, but real information about him does seem to be a bit scanty save that he was a rabid teetotaller and that is hardly likely to excite eight-year-old kids.’

‘His mother,’ Sister Dorothy said helpfully, ‘was St Non. She was a nun but whether before or after his birth the records don’t tell.’

‘Oh dear!’

The two of them stared at each other for a moment and then unexpectedly Sister Dorothy laughed.

‘Very few are born natural saints,’ she said. ‘Some of them led high old lives before the Holy Spirit descended!’

‘I don’t think Mother David will be dwelling on the former aspect,’ Sister Joan said, with an answering chuckle. ‘Do go and look at them if you have time. Criticism is always welcome.’

‘Oh no it isn’t.’

Sister Dorothy smiled again. Being one of the sisters instead of prioress had brought out her human side, Sister Joan thought, as she went down the spiral stairs into the chapel.

Genuflecting to the altar, she reflected that life had settled over the last couple of days into its usual peaceful pattern. She had found an opportunity to go over and look along the enclosure wall but there was no trace of anything, no broken coping or dislodged stone to suggest that anyone had climbed over it recently.

‘Sister Joan, are you busy?’

Mother David emerged from the parlour.

‘Not particularly, Mother. What can I do—?’

‘There’s been a telephone call from the Mothers’ Union. The chairwoman has a surplus of gifts donated for the parish party on October the tenth — or is it ninth? — at all events she’d be grateful if someone could go down and pick out anything that might be useful for the Children’s Home.’

‘She can’t do it herself?’

‘Apparently there was a slight contretemps several weeks ago between the respective chairwomen,’ Sister David said, twitching her nose in token of amusement. ‘One ought not to pander to such idiocy but a gift from one lot to the other might pave the way to harmony.’

‘And you think I can act as ministering angel.’

‘Oh no,’ Mother David said in faint surprise. ‘You happen to be the only one who drives the van!’

‘I’ll go at once,’ Sister Joan said, suiting action to words. The damp drizzling of the rain that had never quite settled had dried into crispness. She put on her cloak, went out and started up the engine.

Alice, stretched out just within the stable, lifted her head and then, apparently preferring the society of her companion who munched hay contentedly, lay down again.

Automatically Sister Joan slowed as she passed the old postulancy, but the curtains in the lower windows were drawn close though the glow of firelight shone through. The car was parked neatly outside.

At least the family kept within their prescribed limits, she mused, and chided herself mentally for being ungracious.

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