Death on Lindisfarne by Fay Sampson Page A

Sue! She’s a child of God who needs rescuing. And I can’t imagine that a woolly liberal like Lucy Pargeter is going to do it. What that girl needs is a real fear of hellfire.”
    â€œSo why is it always teenage girls?” Sue’s voice protested. “Elspeth’s been far more outspoken about atheism. But I don’t notice you turning on the charm to try and save her from hell. You didn’t drag her off for a walk on the sands on your own the moment you arrived.”
    â€œBe reasonable, Sue. Elspeth Haccombe is a hardened sinner. She’s thrown up a wall like granite around her. Rachel’s young. She’s not set in her ways yet. I can get through to her, I know I can.”
    â€œLike you get through to all those girls at True Gospel? You have your fan club drooling over you, all hoping for a special smile from those big blue eyes. Don’t think I haven’t seen you taking them off to the vestry. For personal shepherding, was it?”
    â€œSue! That’s an outrageous suggestion. I’m doing the Lord’s work.”
    Aidan came to suddenly. He shouldn’t be here with Melangell, listening to this. He started to hurry her down the steps.
    A last shout floated back to him.
    â€œSue! Come back here!”
    They set off down the cobbled ramp, heading back towards the village.
    The plump figure of Sue was already hurrying away from the castle. But not along the road that would lead her back past the harbour to St Colman’s House. In spite of the approaching storm, she was taking the footpath that headed north between the fields and the rocky eastern shore.

Chapter Eleven
    â€œY ou’re back, then.”
    Mrs Batley was setting out teacups in the lounge. There was no one else about at St Colman’s House.
    â€œPerhaps the others are taking shelter in the Priory Museum or a teashop,” Aidan suggested.
    â€œOr they’ve gone to their rooms to get dry.” Melangell squeezed the rain from her fringe expressively.
    â€œPoint taken. We’ll be down in a minute, Mrs Batley. That chocolate cake looks good.”
    Up in his room, he changed into dry trousers. He’d have done better to stick to the shorts he had worn in yesterday’s sunshine.
    When he and Melangell came downstairs again, there were two people in the hall, shaking rain from their waterproofs: Lucy and Peter. One look at their faces told Aidan all he needed to know.
    â€œYou haven’t found her?”
    Lucy shook her head. He was alarmed to see how exhausted she looked. He was already regretting his behaviour towards her last night.
    Peter was trying to sound cheerful, though the naturally lugubrious downturn of his face made it hard to be convincing. “Holy Island’s bigger than you think. We checked the village and the shoreline out to Castle Point. It’s rocks and stones all the way north to the light at Emmanuel Head. Then you’re into a wilderness of sand dunes and more rocks. There’s any number of gulleys, caves and things. We couldn’t do it all.”
    Lucy sighed. “She might have gone the other way – east along the coast road and the dunes out on the Snook.”
    â€œWe were up on the castle roof,” Aidan offered. “We didn’t see a sign of her. Or on the way back.”
    â€œSue and James were there,” Melangell said. “They were quarrelling.”
    Lucy was hesitating. “I know what I said, about it being too early to report her missing. But I’m getting a bad feeling about this. There aren’t any police on the island, are there, Mrs Batley?”
    â€œNo, it’s the Coastguard and Rescue people get called out if someone’s missing. I didn’t like the look of that girl when she first arrived. That peaky face, and she’d never look at you straight, behind all that hair. That girl’s trouble, I said to myself.”
    â€œI’m worried about what might have happened