Joe was warmly welcomed by the Bishop the next morning.
“Something you forgot?” asked the Bishop after their initial exchanges.
“No, Bishop,” Joe replied, whilst thoughts tumbled as to how to begin. “It’s about Chelsea and the Brown family.”
“Oh!” The Bishop spoke quietly, “Such a sad affair.”
Straight in, thought Joe.
“I’m acting on my own – I thought I’d make that clear from the beginning. From what I’ve heard there seems to be suspicion in some quarters that Chelsea’s father had molested her. I believe that is false, dangerous gossip. Her family have suffered enough. Is anything being done?”
Silence prevailed for the next few seconds. Eventually the Bishop answered, “You’ve taken me by surprise. I’ve just had to make a quick decision. I will answer your question as far as the knowledge I have. But, Joe, I state this in the strongest terms, our conversation on this matter must never go out of this room. Can I have your word on that?”
Rather taken aback, Joe answered, “Yes.”
The Bishop began, “Like you, from the beginning of this tragedy I soon became 80% sure that whatever Chelsea was suffering did not emanate from her family. School was the next step. It seemed that her personality had changed so dramatically after the class excursion some months back. Her classmates have been quizzed but there’s a wall of silence there. Of course the police have had to handle these kids with kid gloves. They are extremely vulnerable. The police believe the silence is unnaturally opaque – someone knows something but is too traumatized to speak. Perhaps the truth will come from there later, but… who knows!”
Subconsciously, he mopped his forehead.
“At that excursion there were only the teachers,” the Bishop continued. “I have checked the background of all our lay teachers – no obvious flaws there. Apart from that… only the three Brothers.”
Once more the Bishop became silent. As he watched it appeared to Joe that the Bishop was fighting back tears – sadness, anger, both? Soon it was obviously both as the Bishop continued,
“Out of the blue yesterday I received a phone call from their Provincial.” Now Joe could sense anger in the Bishop’s voice. “He is withdrawing Br. William from here as he is needed elsewhere. When, I asked. Immediately, he replied. Br. Cornelius will replace him next week. No, I told him, that is not good enough. The school is in enough turmoil as it is without changing a Sixth Grade teacher in the middle of term. He apologised but was adamant that Br. William was needed in another school.” The Bishop paused for a few seconds then continued, “I almost begged that he remain until the end of the year but the Provincial wouldn’t budge. I rang off pretty abruptly. I was mighty angry. But as I settled down, questions began to arise. Why now? Why so quickly? I have different discreet means of looking for information. So I used them immediately. It was only just before you came that a phone call gave me the information I did not want to hear. Br. William was quietly removed from his last position after he was accused by one of the young students of trying to rape her. She was a fanciful young lady and a known liar, so it never went to court. And, of course, he claimed innocence and that he was set up. I will phone the Provincial again and ask why I had not been told of this accusation prior to Br. William being engaged by our school. But, I can almost guess his reply – a student lying; no need to further sully William’s character!”
Both sat in silence for the next few minutes.
Joe spoke first. “Bishop, what are you going to do now?”
Joe knew the answer before it was spoken.
“Joe, what can I do? No court would listen to any case without evidence. And we have no evidence at all. Just possibilities! If teachers or students come forward with any evidence at all we’ll take it further. Without evidence, we can do nothing!”
Joe’s anger was mounting. “There must be something, Bishop! We can’t let this tragedy go without some type of justice.”
“There is nothing we can do right now. Our only hope is that someone, somewhere knows the truth and will come forward.”
Joe had to concede nothing could be done without evidence. And there was no concrete evidence – only suppositions.
“I assure you Joe – if ever I have enough evidence of any kind to bring the person responsible for this tragedy to justice, I will do so!”
As they parted, neither Joe nor his bishop would know that it would take almost forty years for justice to be served.
But nothing would ever ease the burden of sadness Rose and Leo Brown would always carry in the tragic loss of their beloved Chelsea. Soon after they moved back to Sydney. For the children it was a new start. But for Rose and Leo Brown their innate sadness would remain with them for the rest of their lives, no matter where they went.