A Finer End

with the earth”, as you put it, usually evolves into actively opposing those who abuse our natural resources for their own ends, and there you encounter great greed. And there are men — and a few women — who cannot abide the idea of women in power. But I’m certain you know that from your own experience,’ Dr Rosenthal studied her shrewdly. ‘Paganism, like any system of belief that is world-shaping, can easily inspire fanaticism. You could say that Christianity is a basically benign belief, and yet it has been responsible over the centuries for enormous suffering in the world.
    ‘But the worship of the Old Gods can go further. It has a dark side to it, an element of chaos, and there are those who aspire to tap that, to release it again into the world. And there are those who are caught up in it unawares. You say this murder happened in Glastonbury?’
    ‘Yes, very near the Tor.’
    Dr Rosenthal frowned. ‘Glastonbury has always been a pivotal point, an energy focus. Dion Fortune understood that. Have you read her books? You should. Fortune was a practical woman with the soul of a poet, and she understood that the balance between the old forces and the new was quite a delicate thing. Some believe that the old powers give the earth its vitality, but that those powers must be kept in check, or chaos would overwhelm us.’
    ‘But if that were true, why would anyone want to upset the balance?’
    ‘Just as there are children who cannot keep their hands from the hot stove, there are always those who court the flames. It may be that your victim was one of them.’
    Gemma thought of what Faith had told her about Garnet — and of the power she herself had sensed in the Tor. ‘Do you believe such things are possible, then?’
    ‘I am a Jew, my dear. During the war, I lost every member of my family to the camps. If you ask me what I believe, I can tell you that those atrocities were an incontrovertible example of the power of chaos, magnifying and abetting a very human evil.’
     
    Kincaid was waiting outside the bookshop a halt-hour before opening time on Monday morning, having dropped Faith at the café on his way.
    After ten minutes of watching the passers-by, he saw Nick go past on his motorbike, then turn the corner into Benedict Street. A moment later, Nick came round the corner on foot, walking fast, but when he glimpsed Kincaid, his stride broke for an instant. Recovering, he came on, a determined expression on his handsome face.
    Kincaid pushed away from the wall when Nick reached him. ‘We need to talk.’
    ‘I have to open the shop.’
    ‘Then I’ll come in with you.’
    Nick hesitated, then shrugged and unlocked the door. Kincaid followed him in and Nick turned the ‘Open’ sign face-out.
    ‘Jack and Faith have been worried about you.’ Kincaid picked up a book on the Glastonbury Zodiac from the front table.
    ‘I couldn’t... after the police... I was bloody humiliated, if you want to know the truth.’
    ‘Well, it seems you’ve lost first place on the suspect list, if that makes you feel any better. DI Greely has now moved Jack up in the running, but he still likes Faith as accessory.’
    ‘You’re joking!’
    ‘I’m not. Perhaps if we all cooperated, we’d make some progress finding out who did kill Garnet, instead of working at cross-purposes. If you tell me, for instance, what you found out about Garnet yesterday, I might be able to put it together with something else. That’s the beauty of an investigation.’
    ‘How did you—’
    ‘Faith had me look for you. I had a chat with the nice lady at the Assembly Rooms café.’
    ‘Oh... Janet. I never thought..
    ‘It sounds to me as if you put your contacts and your knowledge of the town to admirable use.’
    ‘It seemed a good idea.’
    ‘Tell me why.’
    Nick moved round the table, absently straightening books. ‘I’d been worried for a long time that Garnet’s intentions towards Faith weren’t as altruistic as everyone seemed to think. But I knew anything I said, especially to Faith, would just be put down as jealousy.’
    ‘So you kept quiet, and watched.’
    ‘Listened would be more like it. I hear things in here.’ Nick gestured around the shop. ‘Gossip. Rumours. Bits of conversation. All pointing in the same direction — that this year is a window of power, a time when the forces of the Old Religion are near the surface.’
    ‘Millennial hysteria?’
    ‘Maybe. But 1 think Garnet meant to use Faith