Free Sidney Chambers and The Problem of Evil (The Grantchester Mysteries) by James Runcie Page A

sure.’
    Helena hooted her horn, cut in front of a delivery van, and turned into Market Square, swerving to avoid a pedestrian before accelerating down Sidney Street and into Jesus Lane. Sidney was now too terrified to speak.
    At last they pulled up outside Westcott House, and Helena slammed the car door behind her. ‘Where now?’ she asked.
    Sidney pointed in the direction of the refectory.
    Inside, the crucifix had been taken down from the wall and lay on the floor. The figure of Christ had been removed and replaced by the unconscious body of Simon Opie, who had been tied to it by his arms and legs. A liquid circle surrounded him. Patrick Harland was straddling his chest with a knife in his hand and had made the first incision of the mark of the beast. He stopped when he saw Helena and Sidney.
    ‘You are not just in time but just too late. I couldn’t wait. I wonder what took you so long. I gave you enough clues.’
    ‘You left a robin . . .’
    ‘With a breast as red as this man’s chest is about to be. I hope you appreciate the symbolism.’
    ‘In the past, the omens have not been left in the homes of the victims.’
    ‘That would be too obvious, wouldn’t it? Besides, I wanted to test you as a little trio. I know that you two both fancy yourselves as detectives.’
    ‘We did not set out to investigate these things,’ Sidney replied. ‘But when a good priest is killed . . .’
    ‘As opposed to a bad priest. Are you sure he was good?’
    ‘These are dedicated holy men.’
    ‘We are all flawed, Canon Chambers.’
    Helena interrupted. ‘Why did you kill Jimmy Benson?’
    ‘Because he blabbed to my sister. He said he was worried about me. He thought I was going to do something stupid. Well, there’s a surprise.’
    ‘Bianca,’ said Sidney.
    ‘You were very slow, Canon Chambers. I told you her name and even where she lived. Yet you didn’t find the time to see her. I imagine many of your parishioners must feel the same way: neglected.’
    ‘Jimmy Benson was in love with your sister.’
    ‘All his life. But he wasn’t suitable. Not good enough, you understand. We like a bit of propriety. That’s why, when we don’t get it, it upsets us. Then we have to force people to give us the respect we deserve: like Mr Opie here.’
    ‘Don’t touch him,’ Helena shouted.
    ‘Oh but I already have. Do you think I should stop?’ Harland began carving again. Simon Opie’s body twitched. ‘Don’t worry. He’s still alive.’
    ‘What have these priests ever done to you?’ Helena asked.
    ‘What have they not done? That is the question you should be asking.’
    ‘There’s no need for this.’
    ‘But there is, Canon Chambers. Mr Opie, here, would not let me become a priest. None of them would. I am the most despised and rejected of men.’
    ‘But that is no cause to kill. You can still do God’s work. As a lay-reader and as a Christian.’
    ‘It was not enough. And these men themselves are not good enough to serve.’
    ‘That is for God to judge.’
    ‘I cannot wait that long. I have to take the law into my own hands. And what fine strong hands they are, don’t you think? Such clean lines. My father was a butcher. Don’t you think he’d be proud if he could see me now? Perhaps he can gaze in wonder through the flames of hell. That’s how Mr Opie is going to see me. This liquid, as you can see, is petrol. I have a match. The devil has taken possession of a body where Christ should be. Serpents writhe inside me. I must burn them out, kill the devils that you will be purged. You may believe in prayer and fasting and medicine, but you do not know evil as I do. You have failed to heed it and I have shown you what it is like. Now I will show you more; your Church, your life with mine, must burn.’
    ‘Let us pray first,’ said Sidney.
    ‘It’s too late for that. There is no God. His only defence is that he does not exist. And without God, everything is permissible.’
    ‘Without God there is only