Raising indignant blue eyes she met his considering gaze and repressed the reply on the tip of her tongue. ‘Sister Joan went down to find out why Sister Margaret had not rung the rising bell,’ the prioress said coldly. ‘At a quarter past five?’ He consulted his notes. Sister Joan nodded. ‘You went immediately to the chapel?’ ‘Sister Margaret rose at about 4.30 and went into the chapel to pray before waking the community. I went in and noticed at once that a candlestick was missing from the altar. Then the door leading to the visitors’ parlour banged. I opened it and –’ ‘The outside door was open?’ ‘Yes, but it was locked last evening. After evening prayers Sister Margaret went to lock it and then rejoined the rest of us as we filed out.’ ‘The candlestick was on the altar during the evening prayers?’ ‘Definitely. We would have noticed immediately had it not been,’ Mother Dorothy said.
