Blood Harvest

‘Time to kill,’ whispered the voice.

Oh, for the love of…

Harry didn’t bother with the steps, he swung his legs over the pulpit rail and dropped to the floor. The voice had been just feet away, he was sure of it. There was no time for anyone to disappear. Except they had. No one in the choir stalls, no one in the small space behind the organ, no one hiding behind the altar, no one in the… he stopped. Could someone be in the old crypt? Could sound be travelling upwards somehow?

‘Everything all right, Vicar?’

Harry stopped and turned to face the new voice. Je

‘Have you ever heard of a secret way into this building, Je

She shook her head. ‘Not to my knowledge,’ she said. ‘Why, has anything gone missing?’

‘No, nothing like that,’ said Harry quickly. ‘It’s just I was ru

Je

‘It really didn’t sound like an echo,’ Harry replied. ‘It sounded like a child. In which case I need to find him before I lock up.’

Je

‘You?’

‘Yes,’ she nodded, a small, slightly sad smile on her face. ‘I came to have a quick word with you. And then I wanted to spend some time here on my own. Would that be OK, do you think? I promise to make sure there’s not a soul here when I leave.’

‘If you’re sure,’ he said.

‘No problem. Let me walk outside with you. It’s a beautiful evening.’

Harry collected his jacket and then the two of them walked into the vestry. Harry couldn’t resist a last look back around the nave. Empty.

‘Do you need to borrow my keys?’ he offered.

‘No, it’s OK, thank you,’ Je

A Land Rover pulling a long, low trailer had stopped outside Dick Grimes’s shop, near the church entrance. The driver jumped out, followed by a black and white collie. He went to the back of the trailer and unfastened the rear door. The dog ran up the ramp and a dozen sheep stumbled out. Harry and Je

‘You’re not a countryman, are you, Vicar?’ she said to him.

They watched the sheep disappear into the barn, then the driver and collie reappeared and jumped back into the cab. As the vehicle drove off around the corner, a woman had to step close to the wall to avoid being hit. It was Gillian.

‘No,’ said Harry, turning back to Je

‘It’s all done humanely,’ she said. ‘And the animals don’t suffer the stress of a long journey.’

‘I don’t doubt that for a second.’ Harry glanced up the hill. Gillian was still there. ‘Don’t think I disapprove,’ he went on. ‘I just need to get used to it.’

‘The men all come up to our house afterwards,’ said Je

‘Thank you,’ said Harry, acutely conscious of Gillian just yards away but determined not to look at her again. ‘That’s very kind,’ he went on. ‘And next year I’d love to. But I have a big day tomorrow. I probably should get an early night.’

‘Next year then.’ Je

‘I wish Gillian would go home,’ said Harry. ‘It’s getting cold and she never seems to wear a proper coat.’ Evi’s fingernails had been short too, but very clean and polished. Fu

Je

‘She suffered a terrible loss,’ said Harry.

Je

‘I didn’t,’ he replied, turning away from Gillian to meet Je

‘In a way. It was ten years ago, so I’ve had more time, I suppose. But there’s not a day goes by when the pain isn’t there. When I don’t think, what would she have been doing today? How would she look, now that she’s eight, or nine, or ten?’

‘I do understand,’ Harry said, although he knew he didn’t, not really. No one could appreciate that sort of pain unless they’d lived through it.

‘Are you nervous about tomorrow?’ Je

‘Of course,’ he replied truthfully. ‘I’ve led worship in my other two parishes and that went fine, but here’s different somehow. Probably because the church has been closed for so long. I haven’t managed to find out yet why that was.’

‘That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Can we sit down for a second?’

Harry found himself following Je

Je

‘Why did they stop?’ he asked, realizing she needed a direct question.

She wasn’t looking at him. ‘Out of respect,’ she said. ‘And also out of sadness. Lucy, my daughter, died in the church.’

And no one had thought to warn him? ‘I’m so sorry,’ he said.

‘She fell from the gallery. It was my fault. We weren’t even in the church, we were at Dad’s house and I was talking to someone – to Gillian and her mother, as it happened. They used to work for us. I didn’t see Lucy wander off.’

‘From the gallery?’ said Harry. ‘You mean like Millie Fletcher almost did the other week?’

Je

‘I’m so sorry,’ said Harry. ‘Please, tell me about Lucy. She just wandered away when you weren’t looking?’

‘We started searching, of course, but we looked in the house – it’s a big house – and then the garden, then the lane outside. It never occurred to us that she might have made her way into the church. And up all those steps. By the time we found her, she was cold. And her skull, her little skull was just…’

The blood was draining from Je

‘I’m so terribly sorry,’ repeated Harry. ‘I had no idea. All this… opening up the church again, it must be very distressing for you.’

‘No, it’s fine, I’m ready.’ Je

‘That was very brave of you. Thank you.’ It certainly explained a lot. He’d been told that ten years ago the parishioners had suddenly stopped using the church. When the incumbent vicar retired, the diocese had formally closed the building. Only when the parish had been united with two others had the decision been taken to reopen. He’d had no idea what had really lain behind it all.

At the top of the lane, Gillian was still hovering. Je