Rupert stood. "When you are ready, vicar."

Ian gave Rupert a cold stare. "A suggestion, Mr Parsons. Might it be better if the ladies searched the bedroom? It's wrong for two men to rifle through a lady's possessions."

Rupert shook his head. "Do you understand why I am here? This is an investigation. Your housekeeper drowned. She is a person of interest. I need you to witness and confirm the date, time, and location of anything I find that may be notable. I assume the door is not locked." His words silenced Ian.

Ian stirred. "I've never been in there."

Rupert led them along the hall and opened the door to the housekeeper's bedroom. He found it in total darkness, and the potent smell of lavender polish was overpowering.

Ian moved and opened the old wooden shutters. Light flooded the room.

Rupert's eyes adjusted to the brightness as he scanned the room. The large and old mahogany furniture reminded him of an aged aunt he had visited as a child. A painting of a man and woman over the fireplace made him smile. He recognised the woman as Mary Wilson, the housekeeper. The stern-looking man wearing a vicar's collar, he guessed, was her husband. Rupert smiled, definitely a fire and brimstone vicar. He grinned as the black-painted floorboards creaked beneath his feet. This room reminds me of the Hammer House of Horrors film sets."

Ian shrugged. "Where do you wish to start?"

"My routine is to begin at the door and work my way clockwise until I'm back at the door. It works for me, and you never miss anything. Do you know why she left this room uncarpeted?"

No idea. Is it important?

"Could be something or nothing, but we'll never know until we rule out a loose board concealing her secrets."

"Do you ever trust anyone, Mr Parsons?"

Rupert lifted his head. "Not until I know I can. Give me a hand removing the drawers from this dresser."

"You think she may have hidden something in the body of the dresser."

"Why not? Out of interest, where would you hide something you did not want others to discover?"

"Point taken. As an honest man, I haven't a clue."

Together, they removed the five drawers. The bottom first, stacking one on top of the other."

Rupert bent and examined the interior of the dresser. "Nothing untoward. Vicar, why don't you check the floorboards?"

"What exactly am I looking for?"

Rupert grinned, "Thank goodness you're a vicar. Loose boards. Short lengths of boards fastened by screws instead of nails. New boards. Anything you find different to the norm. I'll check these drawers before we put them back."

"Okay."

Rupert watched Ian drop to the floor. On his hands and knees, he inspected the floorboards. Rupert removed the contents of each drawer and then replaced them.

"The floor appears original," said Ian as he brushed his trousers.

Rupert pointed. "Drawers."

With the drawers replaced, Rupert moved to an oversized wring bureau." I've seen one of these before. I remember an antique shop in town. Thieves broke in and caused some damage, but when I asked the owner how much cash was missing, he replied. Not a penny. What he showed me next was interesting."

He opened the rolltop lid, removed a small drawer, and inserted his hand. A click released what, at first sight, was a solid piece of mahogany, revealing a concealed drawer."

"Vicar, I need you here to write a list of everything as I remove it.

Ian straightened up. "Is there a pen in the bureau?"

Rupert's eyebrows arched. "Here, use mine." He handed over a Parker ballpoint. "It has sentimental value, so I'd like it back."

Ian removed a few sheets of paper from the desk. "Ready when you are.

Rupert studied what was in the drawer before lifting the first piece. "One Opal Pendant on a gold chain. Five gold wedding rings tied together with a wire band. One small glass bottle half filled with pills. Four, two ledgers. Five, seven diaries."

"Can I have a look at the ledgers?"

Rupert handed them to Ian.

"Did you open these?

"No."

"The first words scare me."

"Why," asked Rupert."Tell me."

"It's not bedtime reading. What do you make of, Casting Spirits Back to Hell with God's Authority." He flicked through the pages. "There are many quotes from the bible. Another section is The Devil and Sex. Why was she studying this?"

"Do you know what kind of vicar her husband was?"

"I never met him, but his sermons encompassed the concept of eternal punishment in hell. In short, bad people will suffer hellfire after they die. I hasten to add things have changed."

Rupert lifted the bottle of pills, "I'll bet you a pound to a penny, Rohypnol or Ketamine."

"I understand they are date rape drugs."

"Yes, and they should lock up the bastards who use them for life. Excuse my French, Vicar."

"I'm confused. Why would my housekeeper need these drugs?"

Rupert rested his elbows on the desktop. "To disable. Ketamine is an anaesthetic that acts almost immediately. When taken, the recipient will not know until it's too late. A couple of these pills in a strong cup of coffee can be fatal. Your housekeeper administered these to the missing women before disposing of their bodies."

Ian, his hands shaking, glanced at him, his thoughts elsewhere. "But why?"

"You don't understand, do you?"

"Hearsay has it you were sexually active with the missing women. Your housekeeper may have judged she was saving you from yourself. Sex before marriage is a sin. Her faith, no doubt drummed into her mind by her husband, led her along the path that an evil force punishes. Hormones are rather powerful. Mary Wilson was protecting you from the devil. From our records, women in this area stopped going missing from the date of your marriage.

Ian glanced at him. "You have no proof, and your main suspect is no longer with us. Why would she go to such lengths?"

Rupert held up the opal pendant and the rings. "How did they end up in her bureau, albeit hidden from prying eyes? She is now a person of interest."

'This could be difficult, couldn't it?"

"I need to find the bodies. People have the right to have closure. I know a funeral took place in your graveyard the day following every disappearance. I intend to get permission from the family of those buried to exhume their coffins."

"Mr Parsons, you need to read this." Ian handed over one of the diaries.

Rupert clasped the open book in his right hand and started reading. After a few minutes, he uttered, "Jesus Christ. This blows the lid off the tin. Sorry, Vicar. If we add this to what we know, it becomes a handwritten confession. A good lawyer would convince a jury she had a mental problem. I know you read this, but I mean. Today, I begin my battle with the devil's associates. The sinful Jezebel comes and fornicates with our man of God. He is weak and succumbs to their temptation. Without them, he can do God's work in peace."

"I agree it does not look good. Mary, drowning in the old swimming pond, closes the door. However, if we can give these missing women's relatives or friends closure, it would help. Ian frowned. "You know I conducted every service you are referring to. For your information, every coffin arrived from the undertakers and remained sealed. The groundsman had dug the grave the previous afternoon. How would an old woman place the missing woman in a grave?"

Rupert smiled. "I figured how weeks ago. Providing you regulate the dosage, Ketamine relaxes, and people become confused and compliant. Control of the victim is easy. The victim will obey without any fuss. These women gave their rings to your housekeeper before walking to the graveside. A push and they would be in the grave and unable to climb out. For most funerals I have attended, the dirt was in a pile at the end of the grave. This makes it easier to replace the soil. Your housekeeper was old, but covering the body would not have been beyond her if she took her time. Let's face it, there was no one to disturb her. Placing the coffin over the grave before the burial would have obscured the base of the grave."

"The picture you paint is almost believable."

"Don't you believe what you see in front of you?"

Ian's reply was toneless. "I don't want to."

"You were not her keeper. You wouldn't have I can borrow. The detectives at the station will study everything. You won't know, but a deceased person cannot be charged in the United Kingdom."

Joyce and Kathleen entered the bedroom. "Found anything?" asked Joyce.

Rupert held up the pendant and rings. "Yes, we have."

"Your gut instinct was right."

"I'll bag everything for your people to examine. The Vicar is finding it hard to believe his housekeeper killed the missing women. Vicar, is there a key to this room?"

"Not that I know of."

"Joyce, will you contact the station? You'll need an officer to control access to this room."

"I can lock the main door when we leave," said Ian.

Rupert looked at his wife approvingly. "It will do until we fix a hasp and staple. As this room is a crime scene, my wife will take the main door key and any copies you have. Time to lock up, Vicar."

Joyce and Rupert watched the Vicar and his wife leave the church grounds and walk home hand in hand. "Come on, my love, you will have a busy day tomorrow after I tell you, Chief Superintendent, what we discovered."

"You will enjoy rubbing his nose in it, won't you?"

"Yes."