yesterday. I saw him speaking. He gave the impression that he as good as owed his life to the church.'
'I was helping him, too,' Mrs Reardon said defensively. 'I'd been giving him healing for three years. They can't take all the credit.'
'He said he'd been suffering from depression.'
Mrs Reardon shifted her large mass uncomfortably beneath her. 'You can give it a label if you like. I don't put much store by doctors, personally, especially psychiatrists.'
Jenny gave an understanding nod, hoping she would tell her more. It worked.
'Freddy lost his father when he was younger and didn't get on with the man I was with,' Mrs Reardon said. 'But once the quacks get their claws into you it's hard to escape. I never wanted him in hospital but you're just the parent, you don't count for anything.'
Becoming agitated, she heaved herself to her feet. 'Where is he? He said he'd be here by now.' She produced a cordless phone from amidst a heap of clutter on the table and dialled his number.
'Freddy, it's Mum. Where are you? She's here, waiting for you.' She sighed. 'I don't care, it's up to you. Please yourself. All right, I will.' She stabbed the off button with a puffy finger.
'Is everything all right?'
'He doesn't want to talk to you in front of me.'
'I don't want to force him.'
Mrs Reardon was quiet for a moment, then suddenly flared. 'How about telling me what the hell it is you want from him?'
'He was one of the people Eva spoke to a lot before she died. I just want to know what she said.'
'I'm not stupid. He was at church the night she was killed, we went through all that with the police. He's only a boy - why can't you people leave him alone?'
'I'm sorry. I didn't mean — '
'He's got nothing to say to you. He's had enough trouble without you stirring it all up.'
Jenny wondered if it was Freddy or his mother who was the more fragile. Her face was beetroot; she laboured for every breath.
Deciding there was nothing to be gained by imposing herself, Jenny said goodbye and let herself out.
She could tell it was Freddy skulking on the bench at the far end of the stretch of grass, even though from this distance all she could see was a shadowy outline, stooped forwards staring at the ground. She hesitated, in two minds whether to disturb him. She was tempted not to upset his delicate equilibrium, but the mother in her wouldn't let her leave him looking so pathetic. She had to make contact, if only to offer some reassurance. She approached slowly, picking her way around the broken beer bottles, giving him every chance to retreat, but he wanted her to come, she could feel it.
'Hi, Freddy.'
He was silent for a moment, then said, 'I told them. I didn't touch her. I didn't even know where she lived.'
'Of course,' she said gently. 'It's hard to explain how I'm different from the police, but I am, very. My job is to find out how someone died.'
'She was stabbed by a nutter.'
'It certainly looks that way, but I have to make sure all the facts are known. I don't feel the police asked all the questions that needed to be asked. That's why I'm talking to people who knew her, people like you who knew what was going on in her life before she died.'
'Nothing was going on,' Freddy said.
'Do you want to tell me what you talked about on the phone? She called you a few times in her last week.'
'I was in her study group. We talked about that, how the new people were doing.'
'Did you ever discuss anything else? Did she talk to you about her life outside the church?'
Freddy shook his head.
Jenny could see why Eva might have taken him under her wing. Any thoughts she had entertained of a sordid connection between them dispelled. He was like a much younger child at the mercy of his moods, trusting and easily hurt.
'I get the feeling she was very precious to you,' Jenny said.
'It wasn't easy for her. People treated her like some sort of saint, but she was only human. She had feelings like everyone else.'
'What do you mean?'
'She got tired and depressed sometimes, but that's what your friends are for. Eva prayed for me when I first went to church and I prayed for her.'
'What did she get depressed about?'
'All the work she had to do, what people expected of