Wendy wasn’t expecting to get much joy out of her request to see Father Joseph Kümmel. She had no way of phoning ahead or contacting them — they didn’t have any phone lines, and they certainly weren’t hooked up to email. The only option she had left was to drive over there and try and speak to someone.
They hadn’t had much luck last time, and Wendy didn’t expect to have any better luck this time. She’d requested that someone else come with her, but Culverhouse had said no. She wasn’t keen on entering Hilltop Farm single-crewed. She felt sure that there was something far darker and more sinister going on there than met the eye. But it was what it was, and she was going in alone.
When she got to the gate, she pulled up outside and walked over to the intercom buzzer on the wall. She pressed the button and waited for a response. After a few seconds, the buzzing stopped and it sounded as though someone had picked up the call. But no-one spoke.
‘Hello?’ Wendy said. ‘It’s Detective Sergeant Wendy Knight from Mildenheath Police. Would it be possible to speak to somebody from the church, please? I’d like to apologise for what happened yesterday.’ She hoped they weren’t recording this. She wasn’t here to apologise for anything, but thought that perhaps that might be a way to ensure that they let her in.
There was a couple of seconds of silence, until she heard a male voice over the intercom.
‘Someone will be with you shortly.’
Wendy noted that even their intercom responses sounded sinister. How could anyone want to live with these people under their own free will? She didn’t know much about religious cults and sects, but she knew they tended to prey on desperate, vulnerable people, giving them something they needed at that point in their life. Everything else was just incidental. So what if you weren’t allowed to leave? So what if you had to cut off all contact from your family? If you’d been homeless and had no friends and family, and this church came along and gave you a second chance — not to mention a home and protection from the outside world — who wouldn’t jump at the chance? Being walled in, they wouldn’t know the grass was greener on the other side, either. And with every new generation born at the farm, the knowledge of the outside world shrunk and fear of it grew ever greater.
A couple of minutes later, Wendy heard someone unlocking the inner wooden gate, before it swung open to reveal the man they knew only as Nelson. Nelson opened the iron gates at the front of the complex and stood aside to let her in.
‘Father Joseph is in the chapel. Follow me,’ he said, locking the gates behind him.
They arrived at what was referred to as the chapel, but in reality was just a damp farmhouse. Wendy was surprised to see that Nelson didn’t seem to be going anywhere. He stood near the door, watching her as she spoke to Father Joseph Kümmel.
‘We met yesterday,’ Wendy said, trying to break the ice.
‘I know, I remember,’ Father Joseph said, with a hint of pleasantness in his voice.
‘Yes, well I just wanted to let you know where things stand at the moment. I’m sure you understand that when a report is made to us, it’s our public duty to investigate it. The ramifications if we didn’t would be... Well, it doesn’t bear thinking about. Now, as you pointed out yesterday, we didn’t find any evidence of any crime having been committed. That means there’s a real possibility that someone has been making malicious allegations against you and the church, which I’m sure you’d like us to get to the bottom of,’ Wendy said, trying to be as diplomatic as she could. ‘Now, whoever made the phone call obviously knows the farm. They knew there was an old grain store, for example. That sounds like more than just guesswork to me.’
‘You’re good,’ Father Joseph said.
Wendy wasn’t quite sure how to react, so she chose not to. ‘Which leads me to thinking that the person who made the call must have been here at some point. A former member of the church, perhaps.’
Father Joseph remained silent for a couple of moments before speaking.
‘It’s possible, I suppose,’ he said.
‘In which case, we can narrow down a list of suspects quite easily. Do you have a record of people who’ve lived at the farm in the past but have since left?’
Father Joseph smiled. ‘Detective Sergeant Knight, a great many people have come through the doors of our church over the years. Yes, some have left. Those people lost their faith and need nothing more than the loving arms of God to save them. I do not wish to harm them by giving their names to the police.’
Wendy shuffled uncomfortably in her seat.
‘But surely if these people are harming your church, you’d want to at least have the perpetrator identified, wouldn’t you?’
‘“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you”,’ Father Joseph said. ‘Matthew, chapter six, verse fourteen.’
Wendy looked at him for a moment before speaking. Admittedly, it had been a while since her days at Sunday School, but it was her job to remember what people said — whether they were biblical or not. And she knew damn well what the next line was: But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
‘Do you see what this person — or people — did as a sin?’ she asked him.
‘Sin is a subjective concept, Detective Sergeant. It is not for me to decide what is a sin. The sins that matter are those that are sins in the eyes of the Lord.’
‘Wrath is a sin, is it not? It seems like quite a wrathful act to make false accusations against a person, let alone a church.’
‘Forgiveness trumps all,’ Father Joseph replied with a smile. ‘It is not for me to judge.’
Wendy could feel herself getting more irate — wrathful — as the conversation went on.
‘No, but it is for me to judge whether a crime has been committed in the eyes of the laws of the country. And if I determine that it has, it’s my responsibility to investigate it, identify the perpetrator and recommend them for prosecution.’
‘And I would love to help you, but I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do at this stage. We don’t keep records of people coming and going. They are free to do as they wish.’
Wendy leaned forward. ‘You must be able to name at least one person who’s left the farm recently. Come on.’
‘Detective Sergeant, all the people on this farm are my parishioners. I see them as my children. They are all one. Besides, what’s in a name? It is God who will judge.’
‘With the best will in the world, Father Joseph, God is unlikely to do much about this Himself.’
‘Oh, I think you’d be surprised what God can do,’ came the reply as Father Joseph steepled his hands. ‘I think you’ll find he can be very convincing indeed.’