the top of the stairs. He had not distinguished himself by rushing down to attack either the intruder or the police.
When he spotted her, MacTee dived to pick up a stuffed toy elephant lying beside him and ambled toward her to present his prize. Even in her state of jangled nerves, she observed his genetically coded compulsion to retrieve. Fleetingly, she remembered an occasion when he had presented her black lace bikini briefs to a particularly austere Roman Catholic prelate visiting Paul on ecumenical business.
With her arms and legs feeling soft and formless like play dough, she took tiny experimental steps. When she was sure her legs would support her, she wobbled downstairs.
Two Ottawa police officers waited in the kitchen.
The younger of the two said, “I’m Constable Bledsoe, and this is Constable Parico. We’ve had a quick gander at the ground floor. There’s nobody here. Except for the open door, it doesn’t appear anything’s been disturbed. Would you walk through the house with us and check if anything’s missing? Did you hear anything before the alarm went off?”
“Something woke me.” She wanted them to stay until she regained her equilibrium. “Would you like a cup of tea?”
Both men brightened. Constable Bledsoe said, “That’s very kind of you. We certainly won’t say no, will we, Bill?”
She filled the kettle, opened three of the many cookie tins stacked on the counter and unpacked butterscotch squares, shortbread, and chocolate macaroons. The congregation had supplied enough sweet morsels to satisfy a hungry horde, let alone two policemen.
After the men had pulled out the yellow painted chairs and sat down, Bledsoe withdrew his notebook from his breast pocket and prepared to write up a report. Once she’d set out the cups, napkins, spoons and tea along with a plate of cookies and squares, he picked up his ballpoint. “The security people told us you were in the house, Mrs. Robertson, but they didn’t say how many people live here and if you’ve had break-ins before. Occasionally, the same person breaks in repeatedly when they know what they’re after. It’s usually kids who want money for drugs, and they take whatever they can sell easily.”
No intelligent burglar would choose a minister’s house; “poor as church mice” usually applied to the resident clergy as well as the rodents.
“I’m Hollis Grant, not Robertson, and this is the manse, the minister’s house, for St. Mark’s.” No glimmer of recognition flickered across the faces of the two as they wolfed the dwindling mound of sweets. “Reverend Paul Robertson was my husband. He . . .”
At the word “reverend”, both men stopped chewing. Bledsoe, whose cheeks bulged with the last macaroon, swallowed noisily. “We didn’t make the connection. This is a different matter. I’ll contact the detective in charge right away.” He clambered to his feet. “Would you have his name and number?”
Hollis unpinned Simpson’s card from the cork bulletin board above the phone. “Her name is Simpson, but why are you phoning her? If nothing has been taken, why can’t it wait until morning?”
Bledsoe shook his head. “Oh no, Mrs. Robertson, it would be worth our heads if we didn’t tell her. Time is important in a murder investigation. When it’s murder, we often work around the clock.”
He took the card and dialled Simpson’s home number.
“Detective Simpson, sorry to wake you. It’s Constable Ralph Bledsoe here. There’s been a ‘b and e’ at the home of Reverend Paul Robertson.”
Bledsoe listened and said, “No, the back door had been pried open, but I’d guess when the alarm went off it scared him away.” The constable paused, “Well, we haven’t asked her yet. We thought we should tell you before we did anything else.” He jotted in his notebook. “Of course, ma’am. Yes, if we find anything, we’ll call immediately.” He replaced the phone and made another notation. “It was the right thing to do. Detective Simpson will be over if we uncover anything unusual. If not, she’ll be by in the morning. She wants us to take a good look around without touching anything. Mrs. Robertson, she wants you to take a gander to see if anything’s different. She said we should make sure the door was secured, and you should reset the alarm.”
During Bledsoe’s phone conversation, Constable Parico re-attacked the cookies. Having sampled each variety, he’d designated the butterscotch squares “taste treat of the evening” and systematically eaten all of them before Bledsoe had finished his call.
Hollis swivelled from one man to the other and considered Bledsoe’s instructions. “She doesn’t think this was an ordinary break-in. She thinks it was connected to the murder, doesn’t she?” She shivered. “It isn’t over.”
Bledsoe reassured her. “It most likely was a regular burglar who happened to pick this house. Because the alarm went off, he probably didn’t even set foot inside, but we’ll walk through the rooms and have a gander. If you don’t feel up to it—wait here.”
Although the thought repulsed her, she led the way through the downstairs rooms, flicking on the ceiling lights and glancing around in each room. Nothing appeared out of place. In the kitchen again, she said, “Everything seems the same.”
“Yeah, it looks in order,” Bledsoe agreed. He strode over to the damaged door. “I’d suggest you install a deadbolt tomorrow. Tonight you can hook it and reset the alarm.”
“I’m sorry to be a nervous Nelly, but would you check the basement and the upstairs too? I don’t have the courage to do it myself, and unless we do, I’ll think of Psycho and imagine a homicidal maniac lurking behind the furnace or the shower curtain.”
“Of course we will,” Bledsoe said. “I should have suggested it myself. And why wouldn’t you be afraid, with the terrible time you’ve had and being woken in the middle of the night and all? You wait here. We’ll investigate every nook and cranny, and before we leave, we’ll make sure you’re safely locked in.”
They tramped from the most distant corner of the cellar to the unfurnished third floor. At one point, Bledsoe returned for the key to Paul’s bedroom, and she handed him the ring of keys from the desk in the downstairs study. Once they’d satisfied themselves that nothing bigger than a small hamster could be hidden in the house, the officers left.
Hollis reset the alarm, tidied the kitchen and went to bed. Whatever the killer was searching for must be here. First thing in the morning, she’d investigate Paul’s bedroom. The inner sanctum might hold the clue to his murder.
At home, waiting for the constable’s call, Rhona said “to hell with cholesterol” and stepped to the fridge. She gave in to her stomach’s demand for a fried bacon and egg sandwich. While the bacon sizzled, she cleared a space on the cluttered kitchen table and considered the entries in her notebook. Opie, who adored bacon, sifted back and forth, rubbed against her legs and loudly complained about the injustice of spoiling his sleep without sharing the booty.
Rhona ignored him. Instead, she considered the killer’s motive. Had he intended to right an imagined wrong? The trashing of the church office linked the crime to the church. The attempted break-in at the manse suggested the killer’s search continued.
She drained the crisp bacon on paper towels, set a strip aside for Opie, cracked an egg in the bubbling fat and pushed the bread down in the toaster. As she spooned fat over the egg, her thoughts
