Page 40 of The Chapel of Bones

There was a long silence. Then Hughes raised his hand. ‘Hang on, it’s probably not important, but I do remember him mentioning once that he was a little concerned about one of the students in his tutorial group.’

‘Do you know who that was?’

‘I’m sorry. It was just something he said in passing and I wasn’t taking much notice. I think it was a boy whose sister had died and he was about to drop out of the course before the exams. That sort of thing happens from time to time.’

‘Did you ever hear him mention the name Timothy Fontescue-Burns? He ran some kind of commune near Neston. Casa Mirabilis.’

‘Doesn’t ring a bell. Sorry, I’ve not been much help, have I? But as I said before, it was a long time ago. Plenty of water has flowed under the proverbial bridge since then.’

‘He didn’t really tell us much we don’t already know,’ said Gerry gloomily as they walked back to the car.

But Wesley didn’t share his pessimism. ‘I don’t know. He said that everyone assumed Donnal had gone off to France at the time he disappeared. That’s probably why he was never reported missing. He lived alone and his colleagues thought he was backin Brittany living his best life rifling through the cathedral archives in Rennes.’

‘When all the time he was dead, walled up in Sycamore House.’ Gerry paused. ‘As far as Sue Potter’s murder is concerned, my money’s still on Jim Baker. He argued with the dead woman, and if we can find a link with Aleric Donnal . . .’

‘Perhaps Baker was the troubled student Professor Hughes mentioned, the one Donnal was concerned about.’ Wesley fell silent as he turned the possibilities over in his head. ‘What if Jim Baker lived in Sycamore House as a student and Donnal went there to speak to him?’

‘It’s a good theory, Wes. But was Donnal the type to go in for pastoral visits?’

‘Probably not.’

‘We need to speak to Baker again. The alibi Gadson gave him was vague to say the least. And I have the feeling that Baker was lying when he said he didn’t know Timothy Fontescue-Burns.’

‘The team have been trying to trace the former residents of Casa Mirabilis, but finding them on any official records is like trying to trap smoke in a bottle. And they’re still trying to track down the house’s previous owners.’

‘Someone’s bound to know more about the people who lived there. What about that builder, Pete Wolsey?’

‘As far as he was concerned, they were just a bunch of hippy weirdos, and they probably weren’t on surname terms, so it’s a long shot.’

Gerry thought for a moment. ‘A woman called Fiorenza gave evidence at Tim Fontescue-Burns’s inquest. According to Miles Fontescue, she laid out Timothy’s body. Fiorenza’s not a common name.’

‘It might be a name she just fancied using, in which case it might not be the name she’s known by now. We’ve had no luck tracing her so far.’

‘Well, someone put that body inside the wall and sealed up the alcove. If it wasn’t Pete the builder – and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t – it must have been someone who lived in the property or had unlimited access to it either just before or shortly after Timothy Fontescue-Burns moved in. I think we should make finding out who was there that month a priority.’

‘What about Sue Potter?’ asked Wesley.

‘I suspect that once we solve one case, we’ll solve the other.’

26

Neil decided not to let Helen Jones know that he’d overheard her spat with her husband. He already felt as though he’d intruded on someone else’s private business, and he didn’t want to embarrass the woman – or himself, for that matter.

When he returned to the chapel, he asked for a volunteer to help him remove the rest of the ivy, and one of the postgrad students offered his services. He was a well-built young man, a rugby player. Just the sort of person for the job.

It took half an hour to clear what was left of the clinging vegetation from the stones, and once it had gone, the shape of the structure was revealed. It was definitely an arch, around three feet tall, probably covering something that had been buried by earth and centuries of falling leaves and debris. The soil surrounding it was soggy, as though there was some sort of spring or watercourse underneath. Annabel had found documentary evidence of a holy well near the chapel, and Neil was sure he’d discovered it.

‘I’d like to see what’s under here,’ he said as he stood beside the student, looking down on the newly exposed stones. ‘Might be a bit of a battle against the tree roots, though.’

The student looked worried. ‘Shall I fetch a mattock? Make a start?’

‘Sounds like a plan. Get a couple of the others over, will you. I’ve a feeling this might be significant.’

Once he was alone, he knelt down and began to scrape at the damp earth around the arch. As he plunged his trowel into theearth nearby, it hit something solid: more stone. His heart began to beat faster.

But before he could investigate further, he heard someone shouting his name.

‘Neil. Come and look at this.’