onto the wood.
Then shouts. “Open up! This is the police!”
As my eyes got used to the gloom, I could see my rescuer turning around and leaning on the door. He put his hands up to his mouth. “What have I done?” he gasped, looking straight at me. “Dear Lord, what have I done?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
He looked at me.
“Are you all right?”
I nodded.
“Are they really the police?” He meant the thugs banging on the other side of the door. I nodded again.
“I should open up, really, let them in.”
I closed my eyes — after all that, he was going to turn me in anyway.
“You look exhausted. Do you need a bit of time? Compose yourself?”
I didn’t know what that last bit meant, but I did want some more time.
“Yeah.”
“Go through that door into the abbey and have a seat. I’ll tell them what’s going on.”
I wasn’t sure.
“It’s all right. Go on.”
I pulled on a big metal handle and opened the inside door. I stepped through, expecting more gloom, but the church itself was flooded with light. I was in the tallest space: columns of stone reaching up and up to the ceiling, which seemed to be propped up with huge stone fans. Lower down, the windows were made of colored glass, but up high they were clear, the sky beyond now a brilliant blue. I took my bag off and sat down on a wooden bench. It dug into my back. Behind me, I could hear the bolts on the main door being slid back. Any minute now, those guys would burst through. I didn’t want to see it happen. I closed my eyes again and waited. There was the sound of voices, but I couldn’t catch all the words. The door banged back into place, the bolt went across again. Then footsteps, and the inner door opening.
“They’ll wait. They’re not happy, but they’ll wait. I said you’d claimed sanctuary in the Lord’s house and that they could not trespass here. A white lie,” he said, with a little self-conscious laugh, “made with the best of intentions.”
I opened my eyes and looked at him blankly. It took him a while to twig that I hadn’t a clue what he was talking about.
“It’s what you want, isn’t it? Sanctuary? A place of safety,” he explained. He was younger than I had thought when I first saw him. Late twenties, maybe. Thin, with wavy brown hair crinkling over from a side part, Adam’s apple bobbing nervously up and down, and pale, pale eyes.
“Yes,” I murmured, “somewhere safe.”
He frowned. “Do you mind me asking why the police are chasing you? I mean, you don’t have to say, not if you don’t want to.”
“They think I’ve done something bad, but I haven’t.”
“Something serious?”
“They think I blew up the London Eye.”
The frown deepened.
“Oh. I see.” He swallowed and the Adam’s apple went into overdrive. “You’re the one, the girl from London that they’re all looking for. That is serious. You really need to talk to them,” he said gently, “to clear it up.”
“Yeah, but they’re not going to listen to me, are they? They just want someone to frame, guilty as charged, case closed. You seen them, they think I done it, but I never did. I never…” My voice rose, echoing up and through the space.
“They certainly want to talk to you, but not as a suspect, as a witness.”
“They’re going to frame me, and they’ve taken my friend, and…”
“OK, OK. Look, the rector — my boss,” he added quickly, “will be here soon for Matins. I’ll discuss it with him. I need to get the church ready. Do you mind waiting here while I get on? Or you could come ’round with me. I don’t mind.”
The back of the chair was boring into my back. I didn’t want to sit there for any longer than I had to, so I got up and followed him as he bustled about the place, switching on lights, unlocking doors, and lighting candles.
“I’m Simon, by the way.” He half turned and offered me his hand. I took it in mine, and we shook awkwardly. His hand was warm, delicate, and surprisingly soft for such a thin man. “And you are…?”
“Um, Jem. I’m Jem.”
“Jem. Nice to meet you.”
Funny thing to say — suppose it was the way he was brought up, manners and everything. I didn’t know what you were meant to say back, so I didn’t say anything.
“Your hand’s very cold. Been sleeping on the streets?”
“Yeah.” We’d got to