The Anger of God

slink away to die anywhere and we have found dead rats in the house, haven’t we, Albric?’ The young man, white-faced, just nodded.
    ‘That’s impossible!’ Ranulf, entering the spirit of the occasion, now spoke up. ‘Foxglove would kill a rat immediately. I would swear to that. Indeed, I could show you.’
    Albric sat down again and stared fearfully at Athelstan.
    ‘You also mentioned treason.’ Rosamund rushed her words to hide any confusion.
    ‘Yes, I did,’ Cranston replied softly. ‘Last night I was attacked by footpads, I beat them off and took one prisoner,’ he lied. ‘He confessed how you hired them to kill me.’
    ‘Nonsense!’
    ‘He named you.’
    ‘Oh, this is ridiculous!’ she sneered. ‘Are you also accusing me of hiring three footpads?’
    Cranston smiled. ‘How do you know there were three?’
    The sneer died on Rosamund’s face.
    ‘They also named you.’ Cranston nodded at Albric.
    ‘That’s not true!’ the young man snapped and glared furiously at Rosamund. ‘You said it would be safe!’
    ‘Oh, shut up, you fool! ‘ She sat down, covering her face with her hands.
    Athelstan relaxed, aware that he had been digging the nails of his fingers into the palms of his hand. He went to stand over the young man.
    ‘Confess,’ he said quietly. ‘Turn King’s evidence and who knows what the Coroner will do for you?’
    Athelstan crouched and patted the young man’s hand then stood up as Albric stared at the floor, ‘I‘ll confess,’ he muttered.
    Rosamund pushed her tearful, hate-filled face at Athelstan. ‘Shut up, you bloody priest! You ragged-arsed half-man! I did it for you!’ she hissed at Albric. ‘I did it for you!’
    He shook his head. ‘We’re finished,’ he whispered. Cranston turned and beckoned Robert over. ‘Quickly, go down the street. At The Moon and the Cage tavern you’ll find four serjeants. You are to bring them here immediately!’
    The steward scurried off. Athelstan and Cranston walked to the front door and waited until the four city serjeants came. Cranston whispered instructions to them then he and his companions left even as Rosamund’s rage turned to hysteria. She screamed her fury at Cranston and Athelstan as the serjeants began to load her and Albric with the chains they had brought.
    Outside in the street Cranston stood still, his eyes full of tears. ‘I can’t say anything,’he said. He shook Athelstan’s hand very formally and then Ranulf’s. He wiped a tear away. ‘Comeon. IdidnotgotoOliver’srequiemmassbut let me buy you the funeral toast.’ He pointed down to Ferox, now dozing quietly in his cage. ‘And our little friend here can go home drunk.’

CHAPTER 10

    An hour later, a rather drunk Ranulf with an even tipsier ferret staggered out of The Moon and the Cage tavern, muttering that he had to get back to Southwark. Cranston watched the rat-catcher disappear out of the door of the tavern and grew expansive.
    ‘A fine man, Brother. I’ve always called your parishioners a gang of sinners but there goes a good man.’
    ‘We are all sinners,’ Athelstan replied. ‘But, God knows, thinking of Mistress Rosamund, I’d draw a line between those who fall due to weakness and those who sin out of malice.’
    ‘Which brings us,’ Cranston trumpeted, keeping a wary eye on the relic-seller feasting on his ill-gotten gains in the far corner of the taproom, ‘back to the deaths at the Guildhall, eh?’
    Athelstan quickly told him about his meeting with Pike the ditcher. Cranston heard him out, smacking his lips and sniffing at the savoury smells from the tavern kitchen.
    ‘Pike should watch himself,’ he growled. ‘A man who stands with a foot on either side of a flame ends up getting his balls burnt. Oh, by the way, talking of danger, has the Lady Benedicta collected that minx of a girl?’
    ‘By now, Sir John, she should be safely at the Minoresses.’
    ‘A bad business that,’ Cranston muttered. ‘Do you know, Brother, there was something evil in that house?’
    ‘Well, it’s finished, ‘ Athelstan declared half-heartedly. He agreed with Cranston ’s conclusion but still felt guilty about what had happened. ‘However, this business at the Guildhall.’ He ran a finger round the rim of his cup. ‘You realize, Sir John, those murders are not like the ones we usually investigate? You knew Sir Oliver had been murdered. Someone in that house had killed him. The same is true of the other crimes we have resolved, be