Page 25 of The Altar Girls

Seated at the large oak table with their backs to the Aga and bowls of soup in front of them, Father Maguire watched Alfie twist his spoon round and round.

‘Do you want to talk about it?’ He glanced at the clock above the industrial-sized refrigerator. Dicky would be needing him. The rush started right about now. Then again, with the roads and footpaths in a dire condition, people might not venture out. But he knew hunger was a great motivator.

‘I can’t stop seeing it.’

‘Seeing what, son?’

‘Her body. When I looked at her, I saw it.’

‘Is this something you need to tell your mother or the guards?’

‘I don’t know, but I want to tell you. Can it be like in confession? I always feel better after confession.’

‘Freeing your soul from guilt is always a relief. Confession is a powerful sacrament, so it is.’

As he said the words, Father Maguire wasn’t at all sure he believed them. His burden grew heavier by the day. He shook his own problems from his shoulders and concentrated on the boy.

‘I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She reminded me of the time I saw my baby brother in his coffin. I was only six at the time. He was so small. All that lovely silk around him. Mam said it was to keep Stevie’s skin soft like the baby he was. In the afterlife, she said.’ Alfie stopped and stared at the table for a moment before turning towards the priest. ‘But Naomi wasn’t like that. She was so cold and hard. Her skin will get old and fall off. She wasn’t wrapped in silk to keep her soft in the afterlife.’

‘Ah, but when her little body is washed and dressed in her favourite clothes, she’ll be placed in a coffin lined with silk.’

‘I know, but she was just lying on cold snow and I took it.’

‘Took what?’ Father Maguire felt his heart leap against his ribs. He grabbed the boy’s hand. ‘Did you touch or move her? Did you tell the guards?’

‘Father, you’re hurting me.’

He hadn’t realised. He released Alfie’s hand. ‘I’m sorry, son. You gave me a fright. But did you really touch her? Take something?’

‘No. Yes. You can’t tell anyone. I had to feel her to see if she was like Stevie. The snow was falling so hard at the time and she must have been cold because she only had that light thing on like a choir robe, and that’s useless outside unless you have your coat over it. Will Naomi’s skin fall off, Father?’

Forcing a smile, the priest said, ‘Not at all. Her body will be cared for, but remember, her soul has been set free to float above us in heaven. That’s what’s important.’

Alfie smiled. ‘Thanks, Father.’ He dived into the soup and the priest looked at the clock once again.

‘I won’t say a thing, Alfie, but what did you take?’

‘It doesn’t matter now. It was nothing anyhow.’

Father Maguire scrunched his face, worry threading into his pores. He wanted to know more, but he felt the boy had said all he’d come to say. ‘Hurry up there. I don’t want Father Pearse doing a war dance if I’m late.’

Laughing, soup caught in the corners of his lips, Alfie said, ‘Can you imagine Father Pearse dancing? That would be so funny.’

‘If you put that bowl in the sink, we can go to the community centre and you might just witness such a hilarious sight.’

‘I am scared, you know,’ Alfie said.

‘Stick with me, son, and no harm will come to you.’

20

The community centre was only a few hundred yards from the cathedral, but the path down to it was frozen solid. Clutching Boyd’s arm, Lottie let him lead the way.

‘That priest, Maguire, is definitely a suspect,’ she said.

‘It should be easy enough to confirm his movements yesterday.’

‘For the food bank and hospital visits maybe, but the remainder will be dependent on church staff and his colleagues. They could cover for each other.’