Chapter 48

‘We have course records going back twenty years,' Poe said, as soon as they were back on the road, ‘and there's nothing that was running then that isn't running now. But the note under the windscreen wiper was clear: we were to ask Cobb why the courses stopped. What are we missing?'

‘Perhaps the person who left the note was wrong, Poe,' Bradshaw said. ‘Perhaps there was a course they only thought had stopped.'

Poe considered that carefully. ‘I don't think so, Tilly. We were annoying him with all those questions about Cornelius, but he didn't boot us out until I asked about the cancelled courses. And Cobb was obviously lying when he said he and Cornelius Green hadn't fallen out; no one can fake hate like that. Everything in the note has been accurate so far, so we have to assume the Children of Job were running courses we don't know about.'

‘Perhaps the answer is in Cornelius's tattoos, Poe,' Bradshaw said.

‘Perhaps,' Poe agreed.

‘I can try to decipher them if you want. I don't think I have anywhere near enough data though. They could be the equivalent of a one-time pad and they're theoretically secure. With a pre-shared key that is only used once, the alphanumerical tattoos cannot be cracked, even with unlimited computing power.'

‘What if you had Israel Cobb's tattoos as well, Tilly?' Linus asked. ‘Assuming it's not a one-time pad, would you have enough data?'

Bradshaw shrugged. ‘More data is always better than less data, Linus.'

‘Did you see what his tattoos were, Poe?'

‘I only saw them for a second, Snoopy,' Poe replied. ‘They were underneath his dressing gown the rest of the time and I don't have 3D vision.'

‘Yes, you do, Poe,' Bradshaw sighed. ‘Everyone does.'

Poe paused. Realised he'd meant to say X-ray vision, not 3D vision. ‘Steeleye Stan doesn't,' he said eventually. ‘He's only got one eye.'

‘Who?' Linus asked.

‘A bouncer in Carlisle. Lost an eye in a bar fight and he uses a ball bearing as a prosthetic now.'

‘Bloody northerners,' Linus muttered, before adding, ‘OK, because you don't have X-ray vision; why not apply for a warrant instead?'

‘To examine his tattoos?' Poe replied.

Linus nodded.

‘On what grounds? I've sent Superintendent Nightingale a text and she's agreed to chase down Cobb's alibi for the night of the murder. Unless it's full of holes all we have is a man with possibly similar tattoos who knew the victim fifteen years ago. Not only would we not get a warrant, it would be an abuse of police powers to even apply for one. For all we know, all the Children of Job old-timers have these tattoos.'

‘We're ignoring them?'

‘For now,' Poe said. ‘We need to chase down everything that was in that note first. We need to know about these missing courses.'

‘But they weren't on any of their curriculums, Poe,' Bradshaw said.

Poe considered what he knew about the courses they did have on their curriculum. They were well attended. Some were rooted in rigid interpretations of the Old Testament. Some, like the thinly disguised conversion therapy, were repugnant. Others, such as the Christian and spiritual leadership courses, were more positive. But they all had one thing in common: none of them were free.

‘Start with their bank records, Tilly,' he said. ‘Even if Cornelius Green didn't record the courses anywhere, you can be damn sure he charged money for them.'