Safe in the arms of Jesus 2

The area around the grave of Muriel Firmage had already been isolated by police tape strung between four gum trees that seemed to lean slightly in with concern. There wasn’t too much fuss being made by the police. Only one car was in attendance, and it had apparently disgorged the two uniformed officers of either gender and a detective who stood about showing no apparent interest in the prone body. The detective tapped into his mobile phone; the officers, their arms folded, chatted to pass the time.

Graham went first to the church office, where Glenda was in crisis mode.

‘Bob found him when he went to water the plants,’ she said. ‘Oh, and did you forget you were meeting Bryan today? He’s sitting in your lounge room.’

Graham nodded, fearing that perhaps she would add to the conversation a list of calls that had come in that morning already. It was, after all, his day off.

He grabbed his keys and walked off across the church grounds. He felt a bit sheepish- why hadn’t he seen the body that morning when he left the rectory? How would he explain that to the police? It was entirely an arbitrary habit that he had developed of driving around the left hand side of the church, which was ringed by a gravel drive. But this meant that the body had been entirely obscured from his view.

‘So – what’s happened?’ he said to the detective, who continued to press his smart phone with a ponderous finger.

The detective finally looked up at Graham.

‘You’re the priest here, then? Look, I don’t know if you can identify the body –‘

‘I’m the minister, yes. He’s definitely dead, then.’

‘Oh yes, no question about that. Must’ve laid there since at least two in the morning I’d say. Lonely place to die. D’you know him, reverend?’

‘No, no, haven’t seen him before. We’ve had a couple of homeless guys creep into the graveyard to die before. Is –‘

‘Not this guy. Ma-afu Kefu. Worked for the local council, a regular job. Part of their tree-felling and gardening team.’

‘And what happened to him?’

‘Yeah, well, someone was pretty upset with guy.  Blunt force trauma over the right ear. His workmates were expecting him to show up at six this morning to tidy up the median strip over on Lamech St. Not today, but.’ One of the uniformed officers had slipped unnoticed down to the café and now handed the detective a paper cup, from which he now sipped.

The ambulance now made its way up the gravel drive, rocking slightly from side to side over the uneven ground.