The Case of the Haunted Cot

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

No matter how much he tried, how much he wanted to, Miller couldn’t force himself to concentrate on Father Lenn’s sermon. Father Lenn was on top form as always, his heavy and authoritative voice effortlessly filling the church. Although one had been bought for them, Father Lenn had stopped using the PA system. He had control of the room through his natural voice alone, and — aside from a few young children brought here against their will — Miller was the only person not captivated by him.

It wasn’t that the sermon didn’t resonate with Miller; everything Father Lenn spoke about was always relevant, intelligent and thought-provoking. It was just that Miller’s mind couldn’t stop bouncing around from one thing to another, although it always came back to the Fullwoods.

Where were they now? The image of Sophie Fullwood alone in her flat, having thrown out her husband, came to Miller. He could see her sitting there, staring nonstop at the radio, waiting to hear her daughter again. And would she? If Price was right, it seemed unlikely that it would happen again. Surely the man with his daughter had either bought a new monitor or changed the bedtime routine. Miller couldn’t imagine he’d go back to doing everything the same way after discovering what it was doing to Sophie.

‘You might ask your-yourself. Err, you might ask yourself —’

Miller had never heard Father Lenn stammer or repeat himself before, especially not that badly. He recovered quickly and continued on from the same spot as if nothing had happened. Miller looked up at him. Father Lenn was again speaking as professionally as ever, but he was staring down at his podium continuously. Father Lenn rarely had to check his notes while speaking, and never for longer than a quick glance. What had changed?

Had anybody else had noticed. Several people were staring at Father Lenn with a questioning or confused expression. But several more were staring in the opposite direction, towards the door. Miller swivelled in his seat so he could see farther back.

Standing just inside of the door, like two children nervous for their first day of school, were Sophie and Keith Fullwood. Despite how uncomfortable and unhappy they both looked, Miller couldn’t help but instantly smile when he spotted them. The kind of smile that was forced out by an overbearing amount of joy.

There was a couple of feet gap between Sophie and Keith, and Sophie was showing little attention to him. But the mere fact that they were still together was enough to give Miller hope, as well as the fact that they were here, among friends.

Keith took the first few steps forward, clearly conscious of those watching him. When Sophie followed, Miller realised he shouldn’t be among those subjecting them to stares, and he turned back to Father Lenn. Although his mind was still racing, its improved mood meant he had less trouble paying attention.

***

***

Staring at himself in the mirror, at the huge bruise that had come up on his jaw in the last week, Price wondered again whether he should go to the doctor’s. Another possibility was timing how long the wound took to heal, then seeing if Keith Fullwood could hit him on the other side with the same amount of force. Then he could try alternative medicines and see how long it took to heal. It would be another chapter in his stagnant book.

Ah, but there were too many variables, and if random luck meant it healed a day earlier the second time, the morons would consider it a win. Meaning he would have to conduct the experiment multiple times to get useful data, and with multiple participants, and they might be hard to find. Not to mention far better more effective studies had been done to disprove alternative medicine.

Let it heal, there are still plenty of other subjects and experiments for your book.

Yes, ‘the book’, the one his agent had given up waiting for. The one that Price would have to write bloody well in order to get past the bad reputation the first one had given him. Yes, that book.