Solo (Aka the Cretan Lover) (v5) by Jack Higgins Page B

afraid, sir.'
    'No arrest, you mean?' Wood smiled gently. 'What possible difference could it make to us now if there were?'
    'I saw Colonel Morgan yesterday. His sentiments were rather different.'
    'Knowing Asa, I would imagine so.'
    People started to arrive, mainly on foot, obviously villagers. Wood greeted them and then the gate in the wall on the other side of the churchyard, which gave access to the rectory garden, opened and his wife appeared.
    She was not dressed in mourning, but wore a simple grey suit with a pleated skirt, tan shoes and stockings. Her hair was tied back with a velvet bow as on the first occasion Baker had met her. She was unnaturally calm considering the circumstances.
    She nodded to Baker. 'Superintendent.'
    Baker, for once, couldn't think of a thing to say. Francis Wood kissed her briefly on the cheek and she moved on inside. The hearse pulled up at the lych gate and a few moments later the coffin was brought forward on the shoulders of Harry Pool, his son and four assistants, all suitably garbed in black coats.
    Wood went forward to greet them. Baker said, 'You know what I hate about this sort of thing, George? The fact that they've probably done two already today. Same hearse, same black overcoats, same appropriate expressions. It means something, but I'm not sure what.'
    'No sign of Morgan, sir.'
    'So I'd observed,' Baker said, and added as the procession moved towards them, 'Let's get inside now we're here.'
    They sat in a pew half-way down the church and the cortege moved past them, Francis Wood reciting the Order for the Burial of the Dead.
    I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
    The coffin was placed before the altar rail, the bearers retired. There was a pause and Wood carried on.
    Lord, thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another.
    The door opened, then shut again so loudly that he paused and looked up from the prayer book. Heads turned. Asa Morgan stood there in full uniform, razor-sharp, polished Sam Browne belt gleaming, medals hanging in a neat row beneath the SAS wings above the tunic pocket. He removed the red beret, sat down in the rear pew.
    The one person who had not turned was Helen Wood. She sat alone in the front pew, shoulders straight, staring ahead. There was the briefest of pauses and then her husband carried on in a loud, clear voice.
    As they moved out to the churchyard thunder rumbled in the distance and the first heavy spots of rain dotted the flagstones of the path.
    'One of life's great cliches,' Baker observed. 'Eight times out of ten it rains at funerals. That's why I brought this thing.'
    He opened his umbrella and he and Stewart followed at the tail end of the villagers as they made their way between the headstones towards the freshly dug grave.
    Most of them stayed at a respectful distance while Helen Wood stood at the edge of the grave facing her husband. Asa Morgan was behind the rector, his red beret tilted forward at the exact regulation angle.
    Francis Wood continued with the committal, raising his voice a little as the rain increased in force. His wife, at the correct moment, dropped to one knee to pick up a handful of soil to cast into the open grave. She remained there for a moment, then glanced up and found that Morgan had moved forward to stand beside her husband.
    Francis Wood carried on without faltering, Earth to Earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection.
    Morgan took the red beret from his head and dropped it into the open grave on top of the coffin. His wife stood up slowly, her eyes never leaving his face. He turned, marched away through the tombstones and went into the church.
    'Which should give them something to talk about in the village for quite some time,' Baker observed.
    When Francis Wood went into the church a few minutes later, he found Morgan sitting