Chapter 16

‘What was Superintendent Nightingale pointing at?' Doctor Lang asked.

‘Tents,' Poe said. ‘And not the two-person tents you find wedged next to the trombones in the middle aisle at Aldi, these were revival-style tents. If they'd been painted red and yellow, they'd have been full of clowns and acrobats.'

‘Your use of "revival" is no accident, I think?'

‘It wasn't. The tents were part of a large religious convention.'

Doctor Lang frowned. ‘I didn't know they had things like that in the Lake District.'

‘Unless you're serious about being a Christian there's no reason you would,' Poe said. ‘But for three weeks every summer, fifteen thousand evangelicals descend on Keswick for readings, seminars and celebrations.'

‘You don't approve of Christians?'

‘I have nothing at all against Christians,' Poe replied. ‘Although I suppose I'm more Clement Atlee than Spencer Perceval.'

‘Believe in the ethics, don't believe in the mumbo-jumbo?'

‘That's the quote.'

‘So it's the convention you don't approve of?'

‘In things like this,' Poe said, ‘I always listen to the locals.'

‘The locals don't approve? Why not? I thought they'd be glad of the extra footfall.'

‘It lasts half the summer holidays, and they mob the town but don't spend any money. You speak to business owners and they'll tell you: Keswick essentially shuts its doors to the outside world when the convention is on. There's nowhere for tourists to stay and nowhere for them to park. Everywhere is booked up a year in advance. The conventioneers demand special treatment in restaurants and do things like bring their own teabags into cafés.'

‘It's that bad?'

Poe shrugged. ‘The Church Times featured an article in 2017 that acknowledged businesses such as pubs and other licensed premises suffer due to attendees not using them the same way regular tourists do. And I've personally been harangued by someone telling me I had to repent my sins.'

‘How did you deal with that?'

‘I asked him how long he had,' Poe said. ‘The point is, the convention and a victim covered in religious tattoos gave Superintendent Nightingale's team somewhere to start. They asked around the tents and churches and other meeting places, and it wasn't long before they had his name.'

‘What else did they find out?'

‘Not much. Although Cornelius was well known in Keswick, other than some vague notion of him running a religious retreat, no one really knew anything about him.'

Doctor Lang checked her file. ‘But that all changed when you, Tilly and Linus met with the Bishop of Carlisle?'

‘It was just me and Tilly.'

‘Oh? I thought Linus was supposed to be shadowing you?'

‘There was a . . . misunderstanding.'