‘He’s making a nuisance of himself, there’s nothing more you need to know than that.’
And he was certainly not going to tell him that he had invited this man into his home, shared meals with him, invited him into his marriage to some degree, and how often when he’d returned to his house this man’s car was parked in his drive, and he’d come upon him and his wife in the kitchen, in a cloud of cigarette smoke, laughing.
‘I’m afraid, Mr Keaveney, I’d need to know a great deal more if I am even going to consider transferring one of my priests to another parish. So let me clarify – Father Dempsey has been offering you marriage counselling of a kind—’
‘Yes, and he seems to know a lot about marriage for a priest. But then he’s not like the rest of you, is he? He’s had a whole other life before all of this. Imagine what he got up to? And now he’s in your fold and he’s going around telling people how to conduct their marriages and he has my wife’s head filled with nonsense.’
‘Mr Keaveney, do you have reason to believe that anything untoward has happened between Father Dempsey and your wife?’
‘Not with my wife, no, but if you believed half of what you heard around the town . . . he’s a bit of a ladies’ man, apparently. Big on house calls, if you know what I mean. And he has all sorts of new-fangled ideas. There’s a local woman – ran off with a married man and left her husband and kids behind. Well, now she’s back in the town and he has her reading at mass. You can imagine how that’s going down with the locals, hearing the good word from a woman with that kind of a reputation.’
‘Mr Keaveney, if I was to take action every time idle gossip was—’
‘I don’t care what you do with him, send him on sabbatical – isn’t that one of your words?’
‘I would have to give the matter a lot of thought and look into your claims more—’
‘Look here – this doesn’t have to be complicated. I know this isn’t the first priest you’ve had to move. They get shifted around all the time. If some mother phoned the Guards to say her child had been interfered with you wouldn’t be long moving him on then. I’d say there’s some who are constantly on the move. It’s just been scandal after scandal for you lot at the moment and I don’t think you need any more trouble.’
‘Even if your concerns were enough of a reason to transfer a priest to another parish, these things take time. I would have to find a suitable situation for him.’
‘You know how this works as well as I do. You might need something from me one day and I’m a man who’s in a position to help you. But if you don’t do this then I might find that my hands are tied when you come looking for a favour. And I have a very long memory. Now, I want some indication from you before I leave this room that you are going to move forward with what we’ve discussed.’
The bishop was staring down at his hands, fists unfurled, lying limp on his desk. ‘The issue will be dealt with, Mr Keaveney.’
‘Good,’ James said. ‘Then you’ll sort it. I want him gone by the end of the month.’
James rose from his seat and walked out of the office into the high-ceilinged hallway, where the young smiling priest seemed to have been waiting for him.
‘Ah, Mr Keaveney,’ he said, ‘are you on your way?’
‘I am. I can show myself out.’
James lengthened his stride, trying to keep ahead of the man. Sun shone through the stained-glass panels on the door at the end of the corridor, shedding pools of colour onto the tiles.
‘I’m afraid I have to show you out – house rules,’ the priest said.
‘You don’t have a lot to do up here, do you?’ James said.
‘Ah, we keep busy enough.’
James pushed open the front doors and a shock of cold air hit him. He stood atop the steep stone steps and looked down at the cathedral and the town and over the entire surrounding landscape, to where the hills rolled up to meet the sky. He wanted to run down the steps and jump in his car and drive home as quickly as he could, and then he remembered the silence that would greet him there.
‘Good day to you, Mr Keaveney,’ the priest said.
James turned to him. ‘Tell me this – if you had someone in your life who refused to speak to you, what would you do?’
The smile disappeared from the priest’s face. ‘Well, I suppose I would tell you to pray for them.’
‘Apart from that?’
‘Is this someone you’re close to?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, the irony, Mr Keaveney, is that with people we love these things are even more difficult. We want to be forgiven but only God is capable of that and so we have to focus on what is possible. And what is always possible, even if it can be a great challenge at times, is to show love and kindness and compassion to others.’
‘Kindness?’ James asked, puffing out his lips.
‘Yes, Mr Keaveney.’
‘OK – I’ll give that a try,’ he said. ‘Thank you, Father.’
James descended the steps, lifting his face to the pale winter sun.
Chapter 19
It was a quiet Tuesday night in the restaurant of the Harbour View. There were only two other tables seated and Izzy did not recognise any of the diners so she guessed they must be people staying in the hotel. The only waitress on duty was Ann Diver, and as she approached, Izzy sat back from her empty plate, looked up at her, and smiled.
‘God, Ann, you’re the only familiar face in here tonight.’
‘Isn’t it quiet?’ she said.
Margaret Brennan, Izzy’s dinner date, handed her plate to Ann with half her steak untouched. ‘It was gorgeous, Ann, but I wasn’t fit for it. You wouldn’t wrap it up in a bit of tin foil for me and I’ll bring it home? It’ll be lovely for my lunch tomorrow.’
‘I will surely. And can I get anything else for you?’
‘Two coffees,’ Izzy said.
