Read Sidney Chambers and The Forgiveness of Sins for Free Online

and freely received . The confession and the appeal must allow room for the victim – if he or she were still alive – to forgive with a whole heart .’ Sidney immediately regretted that he had brought the idea of murder into his sermon.
    He had begun to emphasise his phrases in order to make it clear but worried that he might be sounding patronising. Malcolm Mitchell didn’t seem to have this problem, producing culinary metaphors to aid understanding. He would look at all the women and explain divine spirituality as being like air in the cake mix. You had to let it breathe before it rose. (God, in his eyes, was clearly some kind of divine baker.)
    ‘There has to be a mutual understanding of what has taken place . . .’ Sidney went on. ‘A time for recognition and a place for silence: reflection on events in all humility. Forgiveness may be absolute but it cannot be taken for granted. It must be re-acknowledged each time we sin. But this is vital. Without forgiveness, we are condemned to the past. Forgiveness gives us our future.’
    ‘You got there in the end,’ his curate teased in the vestry afterwards.
    Mike Standing, the treasurer, was sorting through the collection. ‘Your words went over my head like migrating geese.’ He began to wheeze when he bent over to count the money.
    ‘I don’t suppose I need to declare my own offering?’ the curate asked.
    ‘What is it?’
    ‘Walnut cake from Mrs Maguire.’
    Sidney stopped as he took off his surplice. ‘So it’s true?’
    Mike Standing was impressed. ‘You’ve got them all eating out of your hand.’
    ‘Or rather, he’s eating out of theirs.’
    ‘How is your investigation coming along?’ Malcolm asked. ‘I was worried you were sounding a bit distracted.’
    ‘I wasn’t distracted at all ,’ Sidney said fiercely. ‘But it is frustrating.’
    ‘Anything I can do to help?’
    Sidney could not think of a single thing his curate could do that might bring light to the darkness. He missed Leonard Graham.
    Later that day, while walking Byron, he was surprised by Inspector Keating pulling over in his car.
    ‘Get in. Both of you.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Now.’
    ‘But . . .’
    ‘There’s been a murder after all.’
    ‘Sophie Madara?’
    ‘No. She’s still missing. It’s the other one.’
    ‘Natasha Zhirkov?’
    ‘That’s right. God knows what’s going on.’
    Sidney took in the news. ‘She was frightened that something was going to happen to her.’
    ‘Well it has.’
    ‘Where and when?’ Sidney asked.
    ‘London. Her flat. Looks like the husband did it.’
    ‘How?’
    ‘Stabbed. Not unlike the way Sophie Madara is supposed to have died.’
    ‘Could Madara have done it?’
    ‘I don’t think so. It seems he was still in police custody at the time of the murder.’
    ‘He has his alibi then . . .’
    ‘He does.’
    ‘But he left as soon as the deed was done?’
    ‘A coincidence.’
    ‘I’m not so sure,’ said Sidney.
    Keating sighed. ‘You mean someone got a message to him telling him that he didn’t need his alibi any more?’
    ‘Possibly.’
    ‘It sounds far-fetched. It also would have had to be some kind of inside job. Who else would have known about the Zhirkov murder?’
    ‘Perhaps he overheard a telephone call?’
    ‘To the police station? From his cell? I don’t think that’s likely.’
    ‘Or a young journalist told him . . .’
    ‘Helena doesn’t know anything.’
    ‘She soon will.’
    ‘Even she doesn’t find out about events before they happen.’
    ‘Then perhaps it is a coincidence. Any pointers?’
    ‘It’s the husband. Dmitri Zhirkov. There’s a knife with his fingerprints all over it. The victim was stabbed in the neck from behind and then in the throat. No sign of a forced entry. Natasha Zhirkov knew her killer. Nothing was stolen. But keep a lid on it. Williams is not saying anything publicly. And tell Helena that she can’t report any of this . . .’
    ‘She’s already asked if she