Read A Line in the Sand Online
Authors: Gerald Seymour
"W
et there."
"G
ere had once been ambition in Mr. Hackett's ministry, but that
Th
was
ng gone. He existed now in this coastal parish, believing his
lo
congregation and his community were beneath his talents, on a diet of
gs, hurried funerals and a continuing~nxiety about the
godless weddin
intenance of the fabric of his church.
ma
His welcomin1 smile, his
proffered friendship were shams. He was lonely, he was better; his away and the fiction that explained her absence involved
wife lived
her
need to care for an elderly, bedridden mother, but she had left him.
He
lived out his life in the village, kept trouble from his door and
the
bishop off his back, and waited for retirement, blessed release. The ambition of the Reverend Alastair Hackett, then an inner-city curate on
a fast-promotion track, had ended twenty-seven years earlier in the north Welsh mountains when he had taken a party of deprived children, with volunteer helpers, from their Manchester tower blocks for a
camping holiday. It was the sort of expedition blessed by bishops, the
of
sort
trip that was good for advancement.." and an eleven-year-old 323
here was no
boy had died in a fall. Such a long time ago, but t
rgiveness in the file that passed from bishop to bishop each time
fo
he
d for subsequent promotion. The file held the muted
had applie
the
criticism, unspecified but hinted at, of the police evidence at
bsequent inquest why had the child been alone, why had the child
su
not
en better supervised?
be
had never recovered, and the bitterness lingered still.
His career
Its
target was sometimes the bishops, who did not seem to understand the lems of watching over eighteen hooligan youngsters, but most
prob
on detestation.
particularly the police. That bitterness verged
en
Wh
cumstances of the accident to
he should have been explaining the cir
s
hi
bishop, and comforting the bereaved
ents,
par
he had been incarcerated
a bare interview room in the police station at Conway, treated
in
like
felon, quizzed relentlessly by men seeming determined to find
a
nt.
inconsistencies in his accou
The career gone, ambition fallen,
he
had moved from Manchester to mid-Devon, then taken this Suffolk
parish.
ife, no fault of his own, and empty.
It was a blighted l
They were in the village. If Geoff Markham spoke, he won a grudging f he didn't speak there was silence.
response. I
e want to go up the church tower, use it as an observation point?
Did h
A grunt, a shaken head. Did he want to take a look at the house?
similar response.
Again, a
had driven, Chalmers had spread across his knees the map
While he
on
ink line marked the trail the police dogs had found, and
which a red-
the riverbank where they had lost it. By Chalmers's boots, the dogs d noisily at the car's floor mat. Markham was pretty damn
chewe
certain
maybe both, had peed during the journey.
that one,
l reeked through the car.
The smel
He stopped near to the hall, down
the road from the green. Chalmers's brow was furrowed in
ntration
conce
as he studied the detail of the map.
324
ack to
A young woman with a guidebook was sitting on a bench, her b
em. An older woman was coming out of the shop with a wheeled
th
shopping bag. He ignored the slow life of the village around him
and
busied himself with putting new batteries into the second radio then checked
e
th
transmission between the two... Shit, the stress snatched
at Markham. Hadn't rung Vicky, and he didn't know the terms of
ered him.
employment off
Hadn't spoken to Bill Davies, didn't know
whether they were still on their feet or down on the floor. Hadn't d the picture.
remembere
Chalmers eased out of the car, took a little
of the smell with him, but not enough. The mat was chewed and puddled not to notice. Markham took the picture out of his
and he seemed
briefcase, locked the door after him.
"Sorry about that sorry I didn't give it you earlier you should have efore."
had it b
now why he should be frightened into abject apologies to
He didn't k
this stinking kid. He passed over the picture. It was the first
time
he had seen anything other than hostility in Chalmers's eyes. He
had
once been
a
to boxing match, when he was at college, for a middleweight
title. He remembered the first sight of the men when they had come the ring with the hype blaring over the loudspeakers, and it
into
was
to be a grudge match.
supposed
There had been no hate in their eyes,
only respect, and the fight had started. Each had done his bloody to
damnedest
batter the other to the canvas. The bout had been brutal
d merciless, and he'd hated it.
an
ack the picture, and they walked away, following the map's
He took b
trail.
Chalmers unpicked a piece of cotton thread from a strand of
-wire
barbed
fence and said that the man wore a camouflage tunic.
topping a garden
d
Where the path narrowed, Chalmers stopped, hunched down and studie the
ide the path's mud. Half hidden by squashed nettles, a
ground bes
boot
as just visible.
print w
Chalmers said the man was size eleven, and
added casually that he was hurt, handicapped.
325
ne from the
They were beside the river. Chalmers unhooked the twi
gs'
do
throats but cooed softly to them. They stayed at his heel.
. The grey cloud was low on the reed-beds.
Ahead were the marshes
e
Th
rain spat on their faces. Chalmers gestured to his right, a
contemptuous short motion of his arm, and Markham saw the movement of
the policemen in bushes away on higher ground. The marshes stretched the mist-line and the far, dull shape of the trees.
ahead to
There
was
w thunder of the waves on shingle beyond the sea wall.
the slo
"Get lost," Chalmers growled.
"When'll I see you?"
e, when I'm ready. Go away."
"Some tim
Geoff Markham walked back down the path alongside the river. He
d
turne
once, looked round, and the path behind him was empty.
Bill Davies flushed the downstairs lavatory, and came back into the Nothing for him to do but drink coffee and ruminate on the
hall.
catastrophe of the evening before, which he'd been doing all morning.
king like chilled death when Davies had come in
Perry had been loo
first
elieve Blake and was now pacing the living room. Meryl
thing to r
was
tchen, quiet, and she'd only been out the once, to hang her
in the ki
washed dress on the line. Paget had been with her, scanning the
om
bott
fence all the time she'd pegged it up, and the rest of the clothes from
the machine. He heard a sudden clatter of sound from the kitchen
and
knew that with a numbed mind and clumsy fingers she'd dropped a plate, it.
broken
He glanced out through the window, through the new net
curtains. There was a spit of rain misting the glass but he saw the wiry man's clerical collar. He moved aside the curtain for
tall,
a
nce. Mr. Hackett's name hadn't been scratched off the
better gla
list
by the kitchen telephone.
326
It was reflex, not thought through.
He spoke on his radio to the hut, said he'd be outside, to the front of
the house.
He went out into the light rain. He ran across the green, past the new
tree and the new post, towards the clergyman.
"Excuse me."
The man stopped in mid-step, turned, the wind catching his greying hair.
"Excuse me are you Mr. Hackett?"
"He is me." A piping voice and a thin smile of greeting.
"Please, have you a moment?"
"A moment for what?"
"I'm with Frank and Meryl Perry."
The caution clouded his face.
"Which means you're a policeman, which means you're an armed
policeman.
Why would you want a moment of my time?"
Why? Because Frank Perry was told last night of his responsibility in
the death of a coach load of Iranian military scientists. Because he
had drunk two bottles of wine and been sick twice. Because he and Meryl were at home alone, and needed a friend.
hought, if you'd the time it's rough for them.
"I just t
A visit from
a
uld help."
friend wo
gyman took a step forward.
The cler
appointments. People are expecting me."
"I have
327
Bill Davies caught his arm.
"What they need, please, is for someone to show them some charity."
"Be so kind as to take your hand off me. Another time, perhaps..."
Davies's hand was shaken off, and the clergyman quickened his stride.
"You are a leader in this community, Mr. Hackett."
"I doubt it, but I do have a filled appointments diary."
"Your example is important. Please, go and ring the bell, go and smile
and make some small-talk. Better still, walk up this road with Meryl ank we'll protect you.
Perry, with Fr
Show everybody here that they
have your support."
"Another day, perhaps. But I cannot promise."
ed you."
"They ne
many who need me. I don't know your name and I do not
"There are
need
to, but we did not ask for your guns to be brought into our community.
We did not ask for our children and our women to be endangered.
We
are
not a part of whatever quarrel Frank Pejry is enmeshed in. We owe him
g.
nothin
He should go what he owes us is his departure from here.
I
have a wider responsibility to the majority. I do not condone the ostracism of this family, but I cannot condemn it. But we are a
God-fearing and law-abiding community, and I doubt that observance of
God's teaching and the rules of society have brought Perry to his
present situation. In your search for a friend to Perry, I suggest that you look elsewhere."
"Thank you, Mr. Hackett, for your Christian kindness."
ay."
"Good d
Bill Davies walked slowly back to the house.
328
The Italian owner of the restaurant, from Naples, eyed the
many-layered
stomach of the German and murmured, with quiet discretion to Fenton,
"The full menu, Mr. Fenton, not the two-course luncheon special?"
They were eased into their seats, and immediately the German ordered decisively, as if to feed himself for the rest of the week. Fenton's guest was from the BfV, attached to the embassy, an old hand at
counter-terrorism, and a friend of sorts. As was his habit, Fenton set
an agenda. He was confused, he admitted, and in search of
enlightenment. The Foreign Office preached appeasement of Iran, the Israelis demanded they be beaten with lump hammers, the Islamic
movement claimed there was American-inspired unwarranted hostility towards the Muslim world. Where lay the truth?
The German talked and ate, drank and smoked.
"So, you have one of their excrement loose on your territory otherwise it would be sandwiches and Perrier in your office. You wish to know how seriously to take that threat. My government, as you well know because you have leaked your criticisms, has taken a conciliatory
attitude towards Iran, has rescheduled debts, has given out visas, has
pushed for stronger trade links, and has still provided the venue
for
Iranian assassins to meet their targets. It won us nothing, so we have
considerable experience of their tactics. That is what I should talk about our experience of their murder tactics?"
A heaped plate of antipasti was followed by a wide, filled bowl of pasta with fungi. The German left his cigarette burning. The smoke made Fenton's eyes smart.
hey aim to be near, to kill at close quarters.
"T
But the beginning
the
is from the top in Tehran, from the peak of government,
beginning
and
the authorization for the allocation of hard-currency funding and
the
on of weapons through diplomatic pouches.
provisi
A trusted man is
appointed and he will be backed by local sympathizers, but he takes the
responsibility for success or failure. He will have no contact point with his embassy, there is the creed of deniability. He will not
329
be
helped by diplomats or intelligence officers. Our experience is
that
the trusted man is most hard to capture or kill. It is the