FRANKS, Bill (43 page)

   As Graham finally dragged himself to his feet and began to release Bethany, Ignatious was moving onto the motorway in Sallie’s Ford Mondeo, destined for a Jesuit farm situated at the beautiful and mysterious village of Avebury in Wiltshire, which dates back to around 2000 B.C
.
Here, Ignatious could recharge his aura, absorbing the atmosphere and the accumulation of spirituality amassed through the many centuries.

   There was also another reason; at the farm he would be protected and given a new identity
.
He would rest for a month or two, ease into the new personality and then set out to continue with God’s work, as he saw it.

The relationship between Graham and Bethany had, immediately in the aftermath of the terrible experience, been very close, each feeling a need to smother the other with affection and love
.
However, now, two months
on
, little niggles had begun to creep in; silly, needless fault-finding and criticisms.

   Whilst being pleased that Graham had saved her at the expense of Sallie, the fact that he had actually deceived her and compounded the deceit with lies, gnawed at her
.
  How could she punish herself in this way, she had thought, time and again, doubting a man who had made the ultimate decision, made a terrific sacrifice for her and, beyond argument, had proved his love?  She was also painfully aware that he was still grieving over his lover
.
For the marriage to survive, it would need a lot of soul-searching and possibly more than one frank and deep discussion
.
Bethany had to believe that, given time, their lives would return to normal
.
The Jesuit was still having an effect on their lives, even though he had not been seen since that fateful day.

   The trail had gone cold – as cold as the bodies he had left in his wake and that fact troubled Graham deeply, adding to the pressures on him
.
Clive had just returned to duty but he was on a course of counselling in an endeavour to rid himself of the terrifying memories of the experience with the animals, and had been consigned to desk duties for the immediate future.

   With a sigh, Graham put away the bulky file on Brother Ignatious Saviour, ready to turn his attention to other murder investigations that had been put his way
.
As the metal drawer slammed shut, the 10:15 am Eurostar railway shuttle from England to France was just setting off on its journey through the
English
Channel tunnel.

   Aboard was a clean-cut passenger, exuding fitness coupled with a worldly knowledge etched into his dark-skinned face
.
His passport showed the name:  Doctor Rhamada Gupta, registered as an Indian National, and an archaeologist by profession.

   Ignatious would travel under this name until reaching another Jesuit farm, situated in Southern France, where he would again adopt a fresh identity and wash away the skin colouring to once again become European
.
His Godly work was soon to restart.

             
             
             
             
END

Bill Franks
, a retired Fraud Investigator, has been writing seriously since 1995 and is a master in the adult psychological thriller genre, stories that may provoke hidden, uncomfortable thoughts in the reader.  He has also written one ‘based on fact’ book and one delightful children’s book.

Born in 1936 in Farnworth, a small village close to Bolton, Lancashire, UK., he received a moderate education that offered no educational certificates at the end of school. His best subjects were Mathematics, English Language and Art.

His working life was varied and included several years in cotton mills. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1954 in the Signals Corp and was disabled out with a back problem after two years. By then he was married to his present wife, Jean, with whom he raised three children; one girl and two boys,  all of whom live near to their parents.

Bill became engaged in insurance investigation for a local building firm and, later, moving to Blackpool, a popular UK seaside resort,  with his wife and two boys, he worked as a Fraud Investigator for the Local Council, mixing easily with people from all walks of life, from Solicitors down to those in very poor circumstances indeed.

His working background and service in the R.A.F.gave him a strong insight into people of varying backgrounds and the, perhaps strange, way some think.

Bill now lives with his wife on the Fylde Coast, England, UK and has six grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

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