Greg quietly moved towards the sofa where he eased himself into the corner, crossing his legs. Both men were focused on Kier’s face.

Kier took a deep breath. They saw him flex his hands, visibly trying to calm himself. The tea lay untouched on the low table in front of him ‘My career is over unless you can convince the bishop that she has lied.’

‘I can only convince him if you can convince me,’ Ben said firmly. ‘Sit down, Kier and tell me what has happened.’ He found it hard to keep an edge of irritation from his voice.

Kier perched on the edge of the chair opposite him, but only for a second, then he stood up again and went back to the fireplace. ‘I should have known. I should have seen it when I first met her, but I liked her so much.’ His voice rose in anguish. ‘I was blinded. I thought we could work together. I thought she would be so good for me. For the parish. She seemed just what was needed.’ He paused. ‘It took me a long time to see through her, but she wasn’t clever enough to keep it up forever. Her disguise wasn’t quite good enough.’ He paced over to the desk and back. ‘And I was too weak! It was too late. I had been snared. She bewitched me. She was working with the dark arts. She was conjuring devils. I love the woman, Ben!’ He perched back on the chair and put his face in his hands, running his fingers through his hair.

‘So where is she now?’ Ben asked softly.

Kier looked up. ‘I haven’t hurt her. She is safe where she is; as long as she is there she can harm no-one else.’

Ben nodded quietly. ‘The bishop will need to deal with her himself,’ he said after a moment. ‘This is too serious for any of us to cope with, you do realise that?’

Kier narrowed his eyes, but he nodded. ‘Once the bishop has realised it is not my fault.’

‘He knows that already, Kier,’ Greg said firmly. ‘I am the bishop’s envoy. I have come down especially to deal with this matter and report back to him. He is very concerned that he allowed Abi to come here. I do need,’ he paused, ‘to see her as a matter of urgency.’

Kier looked up, seeming to realise there was someone else in the room for the first time. ‘I have told you, she is safe. And she can’t hurt anyone else.’ He clenched his fists.

‘If she has indeed been taken over by demonic forces,’ Greg said slowly, ‘where she is, is not relevant. She can manifest her curses non locally.’

There was a moment’s silence. Kier appeared to be trying to work out what he meant.

‘He is trying to tell you that she can cast her spells over you from wherever she is. She doesn’t need to be near you,’ Ben put in. ‘So keeping her a prisoner somewhere will do nothing but make her more angry, and therefore more powerful.’ He paused. ‘If she is as evil as you think.’

‘Oh she is!’ Kier rounded on him. ‘Believe me. She can conjure spirits. I have seen her do it.’

Greg nodded. ‘Then you need to leave her to me, my friend. For the sake of your own safety.’ He reached into his pocket for his cross and held it out. ‘I have special powers she would never have dreamed of. I have been trained for just this sort of eventuality, which is why the bishop sent me, so you must allow me to cope with her from now on. Ben will see to it that the bishop is informed what is happening, and make sure he understands that you have been the innocent victim here.’

Kier looked from one man to the other, his eyes like slits. ‘I don’t believe you,’ he said after a long pause. ‘You are just trying to find her. You’re on her side.’

Greg shook his head vehemently. He had not looked at Ben. ‘I can assure you I am not. I have never met the woman. If you doubt my qualifications you can look at our diocesan website under Deliverance. You will find me there.’

Kier was shaking his head. ‘You can’t save her, only God can do that,’ he muttered.

‘God has entrusted me with my calling, Kier,’ Greg said reprovingly, his voice carefully even. ‘I work in his name.’

Kier stood up again. ‘That is as maybe, but I think you will find that my way of dealing with this is better.’ He faced Ben. ‘Are you going to ring the bishop?’

Ben caught sight of Greg’s quick nod.

‘Of course I am. If you tell Greg where she is, I will ring him now. The sooner the better. But there is no point in speaking to him while Abi is still out there able to channel her malign thoughts in your direction.’

Kier grinned wildly. ‘You must really think I’m mad. I’m not telling you where she is. Not until I have the bishop’s word that my future is secure.’

Ben inclined his head. ‘OK. If you insist. I will ring him now.’ He stood up with a sigh and walked towards his desk.

‘Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,’ Kier said softly, almost to himself.

Ben stopped in his tracks. ‘What did you say?’

‘I think you heard me.’ Kier sat down again. ‘I am as qualified as you two gentlemen, to deal with someone like Abi. Perhaps more so. I don’t want her to suffer. It is up to God how he punishes her. But it would be better if she were dead than that she go on with her apostasy. You must see that. I thought she would listen to me. I thought she would see the error of her ways, but if she doesn’t and if she stays where she is, then she will die. I have put something in the food I have left for her. She won’t feel any pain. I’m not a monster or a sadist. She will just go to sleep.’

Ben looked at Greg. ‘I will ring the bishop now,’ he said.

Kier smiled. ‘I thought you would.’

‘How do you know she hasn’t eaten it already?’ Greg said sharply.

Kier shrugged. ‘I don’t.’

‘You haven’t given her any poison.’ Ben’s eyes narrowed shrewdly. ‘You haven’t got what it takes to be a killer. Don’t make matters worse for yourself, Kier. You still have the possibility of coming out of all this with your job and your credibility. But only if you cooperate.’ He turned his back on the desk. ‘Abi isn’t a witch. She isn’t a conjuror of spirits. Grow up, man. The woman doesn’t want you and your pride has been hurt. Get over it!’ He folded his arms.

Kier stared at him. ‘Aconite,’ he said softly. ‘They used to call it wolf’s bane. One of the deadliest of poisons. Tasteless, so I’m told. I wasn’t sure of the dose, but I put it in some samosas. I thought the flavour would cover any bitterness there might be.’ He smiled sadly. ‘I so hoped we could work together on this, but it appears not.’ He sighed and stood up. He made his way towards the door. ‘I promise she won’t suffer. At least not until she gets to God’s great tribunal.’

‘Kier, wait!’ Greg was on his feet and at the door at the same moment Kier reached for the door handle. ‘You can’t go. We have to know where she is.’

Kier shook his head. ‘I’m truly sorry.’

‘Wait, man!’ Greg reached him, and grabbed at his arm.

‘Not a chance!’ Kier gave him a violent push which knocked him off balance. Before Greg had recovered he had run down the passage and out of the front door.

He was in his car, gunning the engine before Ben and Greg were halfway across the drive. Narrowly missing both men he drove out of the gate, swung onto the road, overtook a van with a scream of tyres and disappeared.

‘Did you get his car number?’ Ben gasped. ‘I’ll call the police.’

Abi had explored every corner of her prison. Acutely aware that it was getting dark she walked around the walls, examining them in detail. There were no other doors, no windows, no weaknesses that she could see in the stone, nothing to use as a lever or a battering ram. The floor was interesting. Two thirds of it was beaten earth. The other third, up a step, and raised about a foot above ground level, was boarded and when she stamped on it, it sounded resonant. It appeared to be hollow. There were rotten holes in the boards. Kneeling, she peered in. She could see nothing. Down there it smelled of damp earth. She glanced round. There were still stray sunbeams threading their way inside round the cracks in the big doors as the sun sank lower. As one ray of light caught the floor as she knelt there she glimpsed something white lying in the darkness beneath. It looked like a bone. She drew back in shock, then she leaned forward again and stared in. Whatever it was it had long ago dried clean. After a moment’s hesitation, she reached into the dark and grasped blindly at the bone. It was large and cumbersome and might just give her some sort of tool with which she could dig her way out. With a wiggle she pulled it free and found herself staring at a horse’s skull.

Laying it down on the floor she wiped her hands on the seat of her jeans with a shiver. There was something deeply disquieting about finding it; she had expected the bones of a sheep or a cow perhaps, but a horse? Horses were special. Horses in pagan times had been sacred. Its burial under the floor was probably part of some ancient superstition, designed to bring luck or fertility or protection to the barn. She backed away from it, aware that the light was now going. In minutes the place would be dark.

‘Bugger you, Kier,’ she whispered.

How dare he lock her up like this! The self-righteous, sadistic, power-crazed, bloody man! A dangerous man. She paused. Yes, he was dangerous and she was at his mercy. She made her way back to the sleeping bag and sat down on it, pulling a blanket round her shoulders. At least he had left her food and water. And entertainment. Reaching forward she switched on the radio.

Thiz and Pym stopped in their tracks, their ears pricked. ‘What have you heard, dogs?’ Mat was shivering, his hands in his pockets. ‘Can you hear Abi?’ He had taken them towards the churchyard, sensing that she would have gone there and guessing that perhaps that was where Kier might have jumped her. He flashed the torch around into the dark trees, starting as a bird launched itself out of a bush in panic and blundered past him in the darkness. ‘Find Abi!’