"Ma ficca li occhi a valle, che s'approccia la riviera del sangue in la qual bolle qual che per violenza in altrui noccia..." "Mi scusi, signora." "Yes?" "They're a pair, yes." "And your valuation?" "Grazie." "Good for you." "Excuse me?" "Well... women priests." "I'm not really a priest." "Morning, Sister." "Good morning, Bishop." "Everyone!" "The bus is here." "Your favourites, Mrs Goffe." "Garibaldis." "How reassuringly... traditional." "I didn't think Verona was too much cop, love, as it goes, but it was years ago and I was working." "I suppose we could give it a look." "What about Pisa or Florence?" "As we now depart, it falls to me to express our gratitude to both Caroline Hope, for organising, and to you, Vice-Regent, for hosting this voyage of interfaith discovery." "I hope our brief presence within your hallowed walls was not too alarming." "St Gerard's survived the Black Death, the Reformation, the Counter Reformation, and Vatican II." "A woman bishop is not such a threat." "You've been terrific." "If anyone can blow the cobwebs off of this place, it'll be you." "Do you know, Helen, I think I damn well will." "We're going to enjoy a jolly Oxford picnic before we go." "Won't you join us?" "Or... are you busy... prepping that lecture for tomorrow?" "I am, yes." "Sorry." "Well... take good care." "Sir." "Bishop Helen Parsons." "She died in the ambulance, ma'am." "She was at some colloquium, which is posh for "conference", according to Hathaway." "It looks like a poisoning." "Right, ma'am." "All three had the food." "Only she drank the wine." "So who brought the wine to the picnic?" "Well, she packed everything, but the first that Sister Gloria and Lama Tulku knew of any wine was when they saw her drinking." "They assumed she was brought it by someone they saw her with, but by the time they moored their punt, he was gone." "Description?" "They couldn't see his face." "He had his hood up." "What, a young lad?" "Not that sort of hood." "I've often wondered about this place and all the monks." "They're friars." "Go on, enlighten me." "You first." "Monks stay in and chant a lot and friars get out and about." "There's an interesting chapel, apparently." "Ah, you are the police?" "Detective Inspector Lewis." "This is Sergeant Hathaway." "I am Father Moreno Mancini, Vice-Regent." "I have asked Caroline Hope to join us." "She organised the colloquium and she spoke to the Bishop just before she left." "This way." "How old's the College, Father?" "Not a college, to be precise." "We are a Permanent Private Hall, operating under licence." "But the students count as members of the university?" "In every respect, yes." "Wasn't there a St Gerard's Priory in Oxford... 13th century?" "Indeed." "Ah, Caroline." "Thank you." "Caroline Hope, English Department." "What happened?" "She was fine this morning." "We think she might have been poisoned." "She drank from this bottle of wine." "Ah." "St Gerard's Chianti." "Do you make the wine here?" "We buy it from Tuscany, where it's given our own label." "We have strong Italian connections." "Is it available outside St Gerard's, in a gift shop or something?" "It is strictly for us alone, so it must have come from here." "You can ask Brother Stephen." "Stephen Blackmore." "He is responsible for our wine." "Did Bishop Parsons say anything to you about arranging to meet someone else from St Gerard's at the picnic?" "No." "It was just a last-minute idea." "How many men here wear the robe and hood, like yours?" "Oh, not all staff or students are members of the order, so only the ordained friars, the lay friars, the undergraduate friars..." "Approximately... 35." "Can't wait for the identity parade." "Sir, can you give me five minutes?" "I'd love to take a look at this chapel." "Yeah, OK." "I've got to pick up a gizmo for my Italian trip with Lyn, so I'll see you at the hotel." "Hello." "Who are you?" "Serve, Felix." "I'm not waiting any longer." "Are there any further details?" "All they're saying is that she died before they could get her to hospital." "God moves in a mysterious way." "Now, now, signora." "Sorry, Mother." "Police closed off the river bank." "I had to go the long way." "Avocado?" "My favourite." "Did she drown, or what?" "Caroline Hope says it was poison... in a St Gerard's wine." "Good heavens!" "Lighting doesn't strike twice." "We'll pray for her soul." "After pudding." "There you go, sir." "Cheers." "Hello." "Barry Winter." "Yeah, yeah, I just got back." "Yes, I did." "It's in the paper." "Funny you should mention her." "Don't see me off." "I haven't checked train times yet." "And the gym will get crowded." "Find someone to go with tonight." "Don't waste my ticket." "What time will you be back?" "Early, by breakfast." "So I'm fresh for the lecture." "You will come, won't you?" "Oh, what?" "I get enough of your rabbit at home, mate." "Are you OK?" "It's just... the Bishop." "Helen." "I really liked her." "Ta-ta." "Ah, this thing works." ""Smooth and fruity."" "Hm?" "Morbido e fruttato." "It doesn't do pronunciation, then?" "No, just translation." "Do you think it knows "smart arse"?" "All packed for home." "Yeah." "I'll shut that." "Better." "I'll check the bathroom." "So, do you think I should take early retirement?" "What?" "You seemed to be riveted by that notice." "What if it was the voluntary redundancy that caught my eye?" "No." "No." "What else would I do?" "When's the husband arriving from the States?" "First thing in the morning." "That's just last-minute stuff." "I'd get a reasonable pension." "Lyn says go for it." "She thinks I should slow down." "What do you think?" "I think..." "I should stop thinking too much." "It could be a nice step up for you, mind." "The White Devil." "Horror story?" "Of sorts." "It's a revenge tragedy." "Jacobean?" "Yeah." "Recommended reading for yesterday afternoon's session:" "Justice And Redemption In Jacobean Revenge Drama." "A lecture by Caroline Hope." "Somebody's given her their phone number there." "Shall I try it?" "Yeah." "Go on." "Forensics should be finished with HER phone by now." "Stephen Blackmore." "Brother Stephen Blackmore of St Gerard's?" "Yeah, who is this?" "Oxford Police." "About the death of Bishop Parsons." "Yes?" "We'd like to talk to you." "I doubt if I can help, but as you wish." "Come to St Gerard's at five." "Thank you." "When was the last time you spoke to or saw Bishop Parsons?" "We were introduced when she arrived, but I wasn't a participant in the colloquium, so that was it." "OK." "We'll see you later." "Felix." "Brother." "Is that where the Bishop died?" "Oh, is it?" "I'm often here." "What?" "Are you all right?" "Go away." "Signora's touchy today." "The signora's busy." "What did the scene search turn up?" "Nothing." "Oh, except they found a trace of superglue on the neck of the wine bottle." "It's a screw top." "So there'd be resistance when it was opened again, once the poison was in." "Intelligence report on the Bishop's phone." "Anything worth following up?" "She made three calls this morning." "One to Blackmore." "That's Brother Stephen Blackmore from St Gerard's." "We're meeting him later." "When did he call her?" "20 minutes before the picnic." "He told us he hadn't spoken to her since they met." "Who else?" "Landline for Caroline Hope." "That's the English lecturer, ma'am." "Organised the conference." "And a J Pinnock." "Professor Joanne Pinnock, Theology:" "Justice And Forgiveness In The Coptic Church AD42." "First-day seminar." "Don't get too excited." "You've missed it." "I met her." "Useful?" "Interesting." "But we weren't talking about the case." "Inspector Lewis." "I am so sorry, I really am." "Professor Pinnock?" "Guilty." "My son's getting married and we're having the reception in the Ashmolean." "Would you mind if we talked inside?" "No." "I'm meeting him in there." "The Goffe family built Hall House in 1608 and they've been the main benefactors of St Gerard's ever since." "Mrs Goffe and her daughter live here, so does the Vice-Regent and a couple of the academic staff, including Caroline." "We were all very shocked to hear about the Bishop." "Had you met her?" "Mm, nice woman." "That door there." "Um, you know when the police want information, and they say "let us decide if it's important or not", who would I tell?" "Have you information?" "No." "But if?" "You call me, Mr...?" "Felix Sansome." "Yep?" "Police for Caroline?" "Yeah." "Sergeant Hathaway." "May I?" "Carrie's in Cardiff, back tomorrow." "I'm her partner, Alastair Darlow." "I know." "I've just finished reading New Situational Criminology." "A copper who reads serious books." "A villain who writes them." "Ex." "Come in." "I've got something for you." "Bishop Parsons phoned you this morning after the last colloquium session." "Why was that?" "To say goodbye." "I'd missed her because I was meeting Ben." "How I ever thought it was a good idea to stand for election at the same time as getting him married." "What election's this?" "Father Mancini's stepping down as Vice-Regent after... ooh, it must be 35 years, at least." "Long time." "Who's the Regent, if he's Vice-Regent?" "King James II was our last." "Ah." "Can you think of any reason why the Bishop might have been killed?" "It's terrible, isn't it?" "She was a sweetheart, too." "A breath of fresh air." "It's so drearily conservative, St Gerard's." "And you'd like to change all that?" "Oh, I won't win the election." "Caroline Hope is firm favourite, but I'm still going to give it my best shot." "Look, um... as you're here..." "I'm anxious about a colleague." "Another candidate, actually." "Jeremy Swain." "He's Ben's godfather." "He was due back from holiday yesterday and..." "I think he would have phoned if he'd changed his plans." "Was he with anyone?" "No, just walking in the Lake District, alone." "His phone's off." "I've checked his flat and he definitely hasn't been back there." "But his car's gone and I know that he went away by train." "If you have the registration number, we'll keep an eye out in case it's been stolen." "But I expect he's just enjoying another day away." "Oh, there's Ben." "I'd better not keep Sergeant Hathaway waiting or I'll be in trouble." "What an interesting young man he is." "Why did he leave the seminary to become a policeman?" "Didn't he tell you?" "No." "Me neither." "Hello, Barry Winter." "Oh, hello again." "What about?" "Fair enough." "Very mysterious." "I'll be here." ""James, may your policeman's lot be a happy one." "Al Darlow."" "Didn't ask for it." "Is it all about his personal road to Damascus or does he mention the bank manager he tortured to get into the safe?" "He was never violent." "His associates were." "Two of them are still doing life for killing that off-duty constable at the building society." "I think you'll find that Darlow was still in prison then." "Are you for me?" "Stephen Blackmore." "Sergeant Hathaway." "This is Inspector Lewis." "About St Gerard's wine?" "Father Mancini tells us that it's only available actually here in St Gerard's." "Is that right?" "Absolutely." "It's supplied direct from Italy and I handle all that." "Where does it live?" "In our cellars, but they're not secure and we operate a trust system." "If someone wants a bottle, they take one and leave the money." "Did you by any chance join Bishop Parsons for her picnic?" "I'm the last person to share an egg sandwich with a lady bishop in the spirit of ecumenism... if you know what that means." "Is it a striving towards Christian unity, as well as sometimes referring to a shared spirituality with the other two Abrahamic faiths?" "Sorry." "Amazing what you pick up in this job." "You're a traditionalist, Brother?" "For 400 years we were Catholic in here." "Then, since 1968, merely Christian." "And now, if Caroline Hope becomes Vice-Regent, we'll be open to all faiths and none." "Druids for all I know." "That's why I'm standing myself." "You told me that you last spoke to the Bishop when she arrived, but that's not quite true, is it?" "She called you before the picnic." "Oh..." "So she did." "Yes, it was to ask about a thing about a prayer resource - in Greek, which is my subject." "Look, I'm rather behind." "I'm collecting work to take home." "You don't live in?" ""God made the country and man made the town."" "I value the quiet life." "Well, we're done here, sir." "Goodbye." "What's "a thing about a prayer resource"?" "Something to say when you've been caught out." "I won't have the toxicology results yet." "No, I just wondered if you fancied a bite to eat, on the off chance?" "Sorry, I'm booked." "Ah." "Never mind." "Do you want to talk?" "It'll keep." "How To Donate A Body For Medical Research?" "I just picked it up in reception." "Our Lyn's on at me to sort out my will, her partner being a financial adviser." "Some cultures believe you can't enter heaven without all your bits intact." "Some of us don't believe in heaven." "Ha." "Do you know who asked me about donating their body?" "Morse." "I told him he should help the living and consider donating his organs instead." "He said he wouldn't inflict his organs on anyone." "All those years." "Still, things change, don't they?" "Walk you to your car, at least?" "Amen." "Amen." "There is one item only on the agenda." "The election of the Vice-Regent." "The processional route has been agreed by the authorities, and there is a map included in your details of the day's arrangements." "So I can now formally confirm the four candidates as follows." "Professor Joanne Pinnock..." "Miss Caroline Hope..." "Brother Jeremy Swain." "Is there any sign of Brother Jeremy?" "No." "I did mention his absence to the police." "Surely he's not missing?" "Oh, no, no." "We all know Brother Jeremy." "He's just a little late." "By two days." "And Brother Stephen Blackmore." "Confermo." "I confirm and may God bless your endeavours." "Thank you, Inspector." "The Bishop's husband." "Not something you hear every day." "He said she was looking forward to renewing a friendship in Oxford." "With who?" "She just mentioned it in passing, he said, and then changed the subject." "But this was her first trip to the UK." "She'd travelled in Europe." "Studied in Italy for three months." "Tuscany." "Where the wine came from?" "Yeah." "Mind you, whoever it was, she could have met them in the States." "Caroline Hope's back." "Alastair Darlow called." "Hm." "Don't forget your autograph book." "If Jeremy doesn't materialise soon," "Brother Stephen will be representing the dark forces on his own." "Jeremy's your friend." "I know, darling." "But he's still a reactionary old misogynist." "They both are." "They all are." "I wouldn't be surprised if Mancini poisoned the wine himself." "Do we both really need to stand?" "We might split the progressive vote." "I know." "You think it risks letting in a dinosaur, but we do have our differences, Caroline." "I still want St Gerard's students to be practising Christians." "I'm not stepping aside." "Well, then..." "I suppose we'll just have to wait and see what happens." "How can we... maximise the chance of it being me who carries forward your legacy?" "I shall give the question some consideration." "And the Italian project?" "Any news on the paintings?" "Ah." "What's that?" "It's for you." ""Father Mancini is the Devil." "Don't trust him."" "Why shouldn't you trust him?" "Who'd do this?" "Oh, many are my persecutors and mine enemies." "Carrie worked on a prison outreach project from St Gerard's, five years into my sentence for the Bristol job." "Has she always been at St Gerard's?" "She read English here straight out of sixth form, got a First, then her Doctorate." "Now she's a senior lecturer." "She directed my energy to a better place." "She reckoned I was pretty bright and I reckoned she was pretty and bright." "So the criminal career was just you being over-energetic?" "Clearly there was more to it than that, Inspector." "Sorry." "Arrangements for this afternoon." "I'm giving this year's Goffe Memorial Lecture." "The first woman ever, too." "Come along if you want to give your intellect an outing." "His intellect's busy this afternoon, working." "Quite." "We're following up on some phone calls the Bishop made just before she was murdered." "One of them was to you." "Not me, no." "I last spoke to her when I saw her before the picnic." "Unless I missed her." "This was to your landline." "Maybe she left a message." "I'm lousy at checking the thing." ""Carrie, what a great surprise gift." "At least I guess it's you."" ""I'll drink to your health on the banks of the Cherwell with the taste of Italy." "God bless."" "End of messages." "Carrie?" "I didn't give her wine." "I didn't give her anything." "She'd mentioned she liked it, but no." "Play it again, louder." ""Carrie, what a great surprise gift." "At least I guess it's you."" ""I'll drink to your health on the banks of the Cherwell with the taste of Italy." "God bless."" "Piped music." "The wine must have been left at the hotel." "I've never been to her hotel." "Where were you before you said your goodbyes and she went back there?" "Here at St Gerard's after the last session, with her and all the others." "So if the wine had been left for her before the session, she'd have thanked Carrie in person." "Yes, Mr Darlow, I had got there." "Why's a woman like that hitched up to Darlow?" "Maybe she sees something in him that you don't, sir." "A violent criminal." "And shoving a sawn-off in a cashier's mouth until she wets herself IS violence." "Gets a degree in prison, starts writing books telling us where we've gone wrong." "Safer with a pen in his hand than a gun." "But where's the repentance?" "Repentance?" "Ah, it's this place." "I like it here." "I did see a monk out of the corner of my eye, but I couldn't see his face." "It's a friar, not a monk." "Are they different?" "No, not really." "Then that's who it was." "He just wrote the room number and left it with the wine." "Room 507." "And I gave it to Bishop Parsons when she came in." "And there " "There was nothing else he put on the note apart from the room number?" "No." "There's another week of that." "The Bishop wanted to change rooms but we'd already moved one guest from 507 and we were chock-a-block." "Somebody else should have been in Room 507?" "Who?" "Um..." "Mr Barry Winter from Bristol." "He checked in four days ago and then we moved him to a quieter room after his first night." "Was he on his own?" "Yes." "On business, or what?" "Just sightseeing." "He said he was being treated to a little break." "Who paid his bill?" "He used his own credit card to secure the reservation and then used cash yesterday when he checked out." "If our mystery friar left the bottle of wine for this Winter bloke, why was he at the river with the Bishop?" "Maybe they realised it was in the wrong hands and they wanted to get it back." "This is a message for Mr Barry Winter to call Sergeant Hathaway, Oxford Police, as a matter of urgency." "Number 07700 900457." "Just because he dresses as a friar, doesn't mean that he is one." "He or she." "It could be anyone under that hood." "It could be the Chief Constable." "Too tall." "The vehicle is registered to Jeremy Swain of St Gerard's Hall." "Inspector Lewis flagged it." "We're looking into it now, thank you." "Over and out." "Your turn." "I hate surprises." "Phew." "Won't be a sec." "Madness and murder." "Poisonings, stabbings, suffocations and stranglings." "Unspeakable mutilations and catastrophic carnage." "Just a... good night out in the theatre circa 1600." "And an opportunity for Jacobean audiences to gawp at foreigners, especially the duplicitous Italians." "But beyond the grisly and the gruesome lies an exploration of revenge." "Our avenging hero - or very occasionally, heroine... pursues a justice that has been denied them by authority." "The deceased is Jeremy Swain." "Date of birth, 05/08/46." "Copy?" "Copy." "Over and out." "He's out of the ground, but I'll need to get him away to take a proper look." "And um... he's got a finger missing." "When you say "missing"...?" "Someone's hacked it off." "What's the Italian mean?" "According to this, "A kind of wild justice."" "Revenge." "Francis Bacon, 1625." "He wrote, "Revenge is a kind of wild justice."" "Coffee?" "Thanks." "Mancini wants to see you later." "What about?" "Calling off the election?" "There's still three candidates." "Come on." "Swain's death is unspeakable but... you know how much this means to me, Al." "Where's Mother?" "With the Vice-Regent." "He frightens me." "Look." ""Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour..."" "This thing..." "Brother Stephen will still fight these women, will he not?" "Si calmi, signora." "I brought the flowers yesterday as a welcome back." "Jeremy loved flowers." "I may as well take them back." "Where do we start?" "We need to know how long he spent in the Lake District, and why he didn't make it back here before we found him." "I'll check the bedroom." "Oh, and get on to Bristol CID." "Ask them to do us a favour and check on Barry Winter, since he hasn't got back to us." "Professor?" "Where were these taken?" "Tuscany." "That's Jeremy with the Vice-Regent." "They were looking at a possible site for the Italian study centre." "Father Mancini's retirement project." "That's if St Gerard's can raise the money." "Mancini wants to run it in accordance with traditional values." "No more cosying up to lady bishops, then?" "No more 21st century." "It looks like he never made it to the Lake District." "Well, where was he?" "Did you hear nothing from him all the time he was away?" "No, but I wasn't expecting to." "I just knew he'd be back in time for the election." "Oh, I'm due to meet Dr Hobson." "Can you finish up here?" "Thanks, Professor." "I'll wrap those flowers." "Or shall I just burst into tears?" "I could wrap them while you cry." "Are you used to it by now... violent death?" "Yes, sadly." "What sort of priest do you think you'd have been?" "Restless." "Too thoughtful." "And what sort of policeman are you?" "Ask my boss." "What about promotion?" "It's a possibility, but I'm not sure it's worth it." "I mean, what are we really for?" "There is a junior research fellowship coming up in Theology." "Lousy money, of course, but..." "Sorry." "Hathaway." "Yeah." "No, I remember." "St Gerard's still owns pieces of Oxford all over." "This was the original priory here, which is why I always say it's good growing soil... years and years of dead and... dead and buried friars." "But with what's happened..." "There's two things." "It's up to you if you think they're important." "I'll let you decide that." "Thanks." "First?" "Mrs Goffe got this anonymous letter yesterday." "What do you think?" "If Mrs Goffe wants to get in touch, we'll talk to her." "I put it in the bag for fingerprint preservation." "I noticed, thank you." "Second?" "On Monday afternoon, soon after Bishop Parsons was killed," "I met someone staring at where it happened." "Brother Stephen." "It was very odd." "Not that unusual, in my experience." "No, he said he often went there." "I've been going that way nearly every day since I came to St Gerry's, which is getting on for three years now, and... well, I've never seen him." "He was lying." "Mr Winter?" "Mr Winter?" "Prepare for the weird, Robbie." "Jeremy Swain's cause of death." "It's a first for me in a homicide." "Starvation." "Starvation?" "And or dehydration." "How long would that take?" "They say three minutes without air, three days without water and three weeks without food." "But it's a moveable feast, to coin a phrase." "From his live body weight and general health," "I'm estimating he died between four to ten days ago." "And he last ate at least two weeks ago, closer to three." "That would fit with when he disappeared." "But he can't have been in the ground that long." "He must have been kept hidden somewhere, tied up, gagged." "What about this missing finger?" "Left hand, little finger, severed at the base of the proximal phalanx." "There." "After death." "Small mercies." "There's something else, if you've got five minutes." "Sure." "The election's going ahead." "Good." "However..." "I must confess to reservations about your suitability, not because of what you represent but because of what you are." "What I am is what I am now, not what I was." "Perhaps..." "Perhaps you should consider withdrawing from the contest." "Not in a million years." "Why now suddenly?" "Because of these killings." "Because Stephen Blackmore's got cold feet about his chances?" "Questions may be asked." "What are you saying?" "Ever since you came here as a young woman, I have protected you." "Hm?" "But if you were to become Vice-Regent," "I would consider it my duty to tell Alastair the truth." "To avoid that unpleasant possibility, withdraw now." "No." "Do you really think Alastair will understand?" "Caroline?" "Is this about Jeremy?" "It's unbelievably appalling." "It's more about Bishop Parsons and what you were doing at the murder scene." "Would you mind Sergeant Hathaway looking in there?" "I'll lock up for you." "Don't you ever feel isolated?" "Solitary." "The place belongs to St Gerard's and I rent it." "What's your colleague looking for?" "Anything that could help us." "What do you keep out there?" "Whatever doesn't fit in here." "Did you spend time in the States?" "I studied there for a year, but I didn't much like it." "In Boston, which - to save you the trouble... is 3,000 miles from Portland, Oregon, where Bishop Parsons comes from." "Have you been back there since?" "I planned a visit last year, but there were visa problems so I cancelled." "I met the Bishop - briefly - for the first time in Oxford, and there's no law against being on a bridge looking at a view." "Felix Sansome is a tiresome busybody." "Nobody's accusing you of anything." "All very neat and tidy." "I'm a born again de-clutterer." "Bristol CID." "Hathaway." "DC Karen Middleton." "Welcome to Bristol." "Sergeant Hathaway." "He was suffocated with that cushion." "It's from St Gerard's." "St Gerard's?" "Yeah." "Take a look at this." "Was Winter a copper?" "Retired." "Detective Inspector here, before my time." "Here." "The Bristol pension scheme must be better than ours." "That's a fair few bob." "What's the connection?" "Tell us that, Karen, and you get first prize." "Did their neighbours see anything?" "The lady across the street saw someone going in the night before yesterday, about 9:30." "Description?" "Couldn't see his face... but he was a monk." "After you, sir." "Friar." "Sleep well, Mrs Goffe." "Comfort me?" "Just speak, Al." "Please, mate." "Years of lies." "I'm telling you now... because I thought you could understand." "May I speak with Professor Pinnock, please?" "I'll leave a message." "It's James Hathaway." "So what are these strings you want me to pull?" "American ones." "I need to know why Stephen Blackmore had a visa problem." "Why Blackmore, now we know the Bishop wasn't the intended target?" "Yeah, I think he's lying." "We still don't know who the friar was at the picnic or why he was there." "Oh..." "I promised to look in on this wedding." "Professor Pinnock's son, Ben." "She's a bit nervous." "Fine..." "I suppose." "What are you doing?" "May I read you some Shakespeare?" "If you must." "Titus Andronicus." "The Emperor condemning the villain to death." ""Set him breast-deep in earth, and famish him."" "Like Swain?" "Titus Andronicus is a real horrorfest." "The Queen of the Goths eats her own children baked in a pie." "Not deliberately." "Oh, good." "Rarely performed." "Do they wonder why?" "What?" "Well, it's a revenge play." "Revenge as in Caroline Hope's colloquium lecture." "Justice and..." "Justice And Redemption In Jacobean Revenge Drama." "Poisoned wine feature in any of these plays, by any chance?" "Frequently." "Often Italian." "I am not easily frightened." "I imagine not, Mrs Goffe." "But I am easily annoyed, Sergeant." "Father Mancini is a trusted friend and confidant." "Who would call him the Devil and why would they warn you not to trust him?" "Do I bear even the slightest resemblance to a detective?" "No." "I'm not sure you do, to be frank." "You might be right." "This just came for you." "Felix!" "Felix!" "It must have been a tough call to go ahead." "Sometimes you just soldier on." "Like the election?" "Exactly." "Oh, you must see the procession on Saturday." "It should be quite something." "Have you and Caroline Hope always been friends?" "Ever since she joined the staff." "As a student, she kept herself very much to herself." "Oh, James, I got your message." "Can we um... talk later?" "Yes." "Yes, of course." "Sergeant." "The note was with it. "I could not get the ring without the finger."" "De Flores says it in The Changeling." "Is that a Jacobean revenge play?" "Yes." "So I take it you've made the Titus Andronicus connection." "We have." "What about this cushion at Barry Winter's place?" "There's an ex-policeman in Bristol, been suffocated with a cushion." ""Thy treacherous breath with silken cushion I stop and thus avenge."" "Fulworth." "The Devil's Friar." "Why is this happening?" "What are you thinking?" "Why is my field of study chiming so precisely with these killings so far?" "So far?" "These things only stop when the mad person dies." "Yes, ma'am." "What, now?" "Right away." "The highest level of confidentiality applies to this conversation." "The Ministry of Justice made that crystal clear when they called." "Ma'am." "Yes, ma'am." "Do you remember the Sally Bond case?" "The name rings a vague bell." "1982." "Sally Bond was a ten-year-old child in Gloucester." "Yeah." "Terrible." "She and another girl viciously assaulted an elderly couple during the course of a burglary." "The wife, Mrs Napton, managed to knock out Sally's friend using her walking stick." "Sally panicked and set fire to the house before running away." "The three of them died." "Mr Napton was in a wheelchair." "She stabbed his arms." "Sally Bond was released on licence with a new identity at 19." "Sally Bond is Caroline Hope." "The only person in Oxford meant to know is Father Mancini." "He was told when Sally" " Caroline... won her scholarship to St Gerard's." "When they caught the ten-year-old Caroline, she had a signet ring she'd forced from Mr Napton's little finger." "No-one saw who left that envelope." "And..." "look who it was that caught her." "Detective Sergeant Barry Winter." "Why are you always late?" "Sorry, Mother." "Be a dear, get me one, too." "Pleasure." "All this and the election on Saturday." "I wish you well." "But not too well, naturally." "Naturally." "Have you seen Ben anywhere?" "It's speech time." "It's Ben." "Professor Pinnock's son." "The ligature was a friar's waist cord." "We're waiting on Dr Hobson's prelim." "How long was it before he was missed?" "Well, you know these dos." "His mother said ten minutes, but who knows?" "Where are we going with this, Robbie?" "Four murders in five days?" "Yeah, I can count, ma'am." "Swain's been dead for at least nine days." "Don't split hairs." "Hathaway had to call in favours from Forensics to get the test done on Swain's car cos we can't fast-track it." "You know the budgetary constraints." "Dead right I do!" "I'm at the sharp end." "If this carries on, you won't have to ask for volunteers to jack it all in." "People will be queuing up." "Are you thinking of going?" "Well, I won't be around for ever." "Sir?" "Caroline Hope is here." "Sergeant Hathaway said she wanted to "clear the air"." "Right, just me." "But room five." "You won't turn to stone if you look at me." "I'm not a monster... even if I am a living legend." "It's what they called it - my new identity - my "legend"." "And..." "I am living it." "Has he ever shouted at you, James?" "Only when it was the right thing to do, ma'am." "He needs his holiday... or something." "The fire was accidental." "I knocked over the oil heater and it just all went up..." "And both you and your friend, Jackie, had the sort of abusive childhood most of us couldn't even imagine," "but you still left all three of them to burn to death." "I was frightened." "I didn't know what to do." "Not as frightened as Mr Napton, I bet, in his wheelchair, 17 puncture wounds in his arms where you'd poked him with a penknife just for fun." "He was 81." "I was ten." "And it was Jackie with the knife." "That's not what you told the police." "She was dead." "It was the start of my atonement." "I wanted all the blame." "And she got it." "Maybe she deserved it." "And that's what St Gerard's offered, atonement?" "No." "You have to have a faith to atone... in their sense." "And I never had one." "You?" "Once." "I lost it." "And I don't miss it, either." "Do you remember Detective Sergeant Winter, what he was like with you?" "There wasn't much um... gentleness from any of them." "Not that I knew what gentle meant as a child." "I had to wait for Al." "Did he understand?" "I only told him yesterday." "He's walked out." "Who have you got?" "A couple of grown-up kids." "No-one else." "Do you see much of them?" "I'm spending time with my daughter soon." "On Monday night, you were in Cardiff, is that right?" "A spur of the moment thing." "I went to see my nan in her nursing home." "Where did you stay?" "In a hotel." "And yes, Bristol, where Winter lived, isn't that far away." "But I had no idea where he was after 30 years." "And no idea what he was doing in Oxford?" "No." "What?" "How did she know Winter was in Oxford?" "How do you know Winter was in Oxford?" "I saw him on Monday." "I think he was watching me." "Why do you think he'd track you down after 30 years?" "I don't know." "Blackmail?" "Did he have any history of corruption?" "I'll check why he left the Gloucester force." "I was ten." "Ben was strangled with two cords tied together in parallel." "It's called a "lover's knot"." "Caroline's recommended reading for the colloquium was The White Devil." "In the final act, a bridegroom is strangled as his murderer says, "This is a true-love knot."" "Somebody is trying to make me look like I'm a killer." "There's another line in The White Devil..." ""There's nothing sooner dry than women's tears."" "Yes?" "Yes." "Moreno Mancini, Vice-Regent." "I don't understand." "Where did you have this?" "Did they?" "Aargh!" "I..." "I must have slipped on something." "It was something." "Yes." "I'd..." "I'd go easy on the Benedictine." "We don't want to lose the Vice-Regent before the election." "Are you all right?" "Yes." "Yes, thank you." "Good night." "Good night, sir." "You could have killed him." "That was the general idea." "What the hell are you doing?" "I did it for us." "What?" "You were like a tiger with me." "Gina." "What happened last night..." "Shh." "I've got a lot to offer, Felix." "Not just..." "It could change your life." "Looking for me?" "No, I've been arranging to talk to some probationers, to explain my job." "Can you explain mine?" "Have you told James your news?" "Not yet." "Don't leave it too long." "No." "I'm sorry for shouting, ma'am." "I didn't notice." "Thanks." "Don't do it again." "Yeah, moving on," "Professor Pinnock's withdrawn from the election for Vice-Regent." "Understandably." "So I was wondering if these last killings might be to do with election rivalry." "There are just two candidates left, Caroline Hope and Stephen Blackmore." "Whether either are ambitious enough to..." "But why murder Ben Pinnock in order to get his mother to withdraw?" "Why not just kill her, like Jeremy Swain?" "Maybe so the method fits with another of these revenge plays, ma'am." "Which brings us back to Caroline Hope." "She says somebody's trying to incriminate her." "Who'd have a grudge?" "The families of her victims from 30 years ago?" "Where would you start?" "We've got quite a strong new lead on that, ma'am." "The Naptons, the old couple that died, they had a daughter." "And Hathaway's just found out that Barry Winter left the Gloucester force under a cloud because he'd had an affair with her during the case." "Family liaison that went too far." "Where is she now?" "Well, we're working on that, but she's moved away from the area." "Any joy on Blackmore's visa problems, ma'am?" "I'm expecting a call." "Forensics." "Lewis." "Yeah..." "Oh, right." "Right, thanks." "The soil analysis on Swain's car tyres has found traces of chicken waste." "Hen droppings." "The lab reckons a farm." "I can hear you tutting even if you're not." "I don't like misplaced apostrophes." "Yes, ma'am?" "Yeah, we're there now." "What will you do?" "Help me!" "Get the rug!" "Leave it!" "What's down there?" "Room for a prisoner?" "Prisoner?" "Not amongst this lot." "Cases of it." "That belongs in St Gerard's cellars." "What's it doing there?" "Last night, a gentleman telephoned me to ask where he could buy some more of St Gerard's Chianti, because he'd enjoyed it in a restaurant in Scotland." "Brother Stephen has been selling our wine for his own benefit." "Do you want to press charges?" "Our Lord forgave the thief." "He wasn't running for Vice-Regent." "You're protecting your boy." "How well you express the matter." "Now, unless there is anything further..." "Sergeant Hathaway would like a word, outside." "After you, Father." "You lied." "You didn't cancel your trip to America." "You were forbidden entry because of an undeclared criminal conviction in Portland, Oregon, where Bishop Parsons lived." "What was that for?" "It was a... steamy night in a steamed-up car... and the cop smelled marijuana." "It was hers." "She was still at theological college so..." "British chivalry to the rescue." "I said it was mine." "Did you know she was coming to Oxford?" "When I saw the list of delegates, but she had no idea about me until she arrived." "We avoided each other." "Then on Monday she called and said meet her at the river to say goodbye." "How serious was this... relationship?" "Helen was the only woman who ever really did it for me." "But she chose God." "We lost touch, though I followed her progress." "Why didn't you join her in a glass of wine?" "Did you know that it was poisoned?" "I don't drink." "I haven't done for nearly nine years now." "We do know about Caroline Hope." "Sally Bond." "Ah, yes, of course." "Does anybody else?" "Not from me." "Was Jeremy Swain ever out here?" "Yes." "When was the last time?" "Six months at least." "Are you sure?" "We know his car was recently on a farm." "Do you know how many farms there are in Oxfordshire?" "Tell me, how do you fancy your chances as Vice-Regent, now it's just a two-horse race?" "I'm a thoroughbred." "The nag will fall." "So Blackmore was the friar at the picnic, but was he the one at the hotel and in Bristol?" "If it is just one and we're not looking for a double act." "Blackmore and Mancini?" "Well, I'd buy Blackmore being unstable enough to eliminate rival candidates." "But why would he kill Winter?" "Unless it was to frame Caroline." "But he'd have to know she was Sally." "Mancini could have told him." "Hathaway." "Mrs Goffe?" "Father Mancini?" "Well, what exactly have you found out?" "Mrs Goffe?" "Are you there?" "She says she knows why she was told not to trust Mancini." "I wrote that note." "I didn't want Mother selling the paintings to pay for Mancini's Italian study centre." "My loyal Felix discovered the truth." "Best to clear the air." "Secrets fester." "Those exquisite Castellis are my only liquid assets of any note." "But she'll inherit this house when I go, which is worth far more than they are." "I can't wait for that." "I want to marry Felix, get away from this Godforsaken place." "Godforsaken?" "Shame Felix doesn't share your bizarre ambition." "I do." "Mrs Goffe, marrying Gina answers a deep-seated need for her and for me." "It makes perfect and joyful sense." "So..." "I may yet dandle a grandchild on my ancient knee." "I don't think this is a police matter, is it, sir?" "No." "Thanks, Mrs Goffe." "Good luck, both of you." "Funny thing, taste." "His?" "Hers." "Though Sansome did seem heartfelt about needing her." "Listen, I might as well tell you." "Dr Hobson knows already, but I asked her to keep it under her hat until I went public." "What?" "Our Lyn's pregnant." "Oh." "Congratulations." "Thanks." "That's why she wants me to slow down." "This Italian trip's meant to be the start of that." "It's "nonno", I think, Italian for "grandpa"." "Yeah, yeah." "The thing is, my dad died young, not much older than I am now." "And I want longer with my grandchild." "Lyn says retire now and move up near them." "So what do I do?" "Stick it out... or take this chance to chuck the job in?" "Is it heavy?" "Only at first." "It's Al Darlow." "Leave a message and I'll get back to you." "Please, Al, call me." "Sergeant Hathaway?" "I'm looking through Winter's things and I've found a stack of surveillance photos of..." "Caroline Hope - long-lens stuff." "His neighbours say he was spending like it was going out of fashion." "When they asked him, he winked and said..." ""There's a fortune in secrets."" "Making money from a secret doesn't have to be blackmail." "He could have sold Caroline's true identity." "Well, let's have her in on suspicion, at least." "She had no alibi for Winter's murder." "We can't ask them to stop." "Cut through to Turl and meet her back at St Gerard's." "When you're married to Gina, perhaps you won't need to worry about money, although Father Mancini and his plans would have to wait." "I'll give it some thought." "Much appreciated." "Another one." "I never even noticed apostrophes before I met you." "Hathaway." "Yeah?" "When?" "How old?" "No." "Thanks, yeah." "The Naptons' daughter killed herself four years ago, never dealt with her parents' death, but she had a son." "Do we know his name?" "No, but he'd be in his 40s." "This is about revenge." "It's always been about revenge." "The signs at the farm, remember?" "Yeah, "Bean's, tomato's..."" "There was one for fertiliser." "And who's the obvious customer for fertiliser?" "Can I have my camera?" "What do you think?" "Serious kit, Felix, yeah." ""A death as full of horror as my life of sin."" "He's been practising a confession, a suicide note." "Considerate." "Yeah, not his, though." "Caroline's." "You'll walk it." "Let me get this stuff off." "Stay." "I won't be long." "He's got her confessing to all of them..." "Winter for blackmailing her, the Bishop by mistake," "Swain to eliminate him from the election, and Ben so that his mother would stand down." "Then he puts, "Even if I win, I can't hide my true nature any more and I know that I am beyond redemption." "That's why I must take my own life."" "You took my grandad and my gran." "Then my dad, who couldn't live with Mum's grief and walked out on us." "Then my mum, who killed herself after years of nothingness." "And you sail through life, thinking all the bad stuff's behind you." "Well, it's not." "Winter thought you were a horrid little girl." "I paid him to help me trace you." "But then he was curious to get a look at you all grown up, so I treated him to a little Oxford break." "You see, if I'd just killed you, then you'd have died Caroline Hope, who turned her life around, instead of Sally Bond, the same horrid little girl who just couldn't stop herself from killing again and again" "to get what she wanted." "What you did made me what I am!" "And now I can get on with my life while the world spits on your memory." "In The Atheist's Tragedy," "Levidulcia gets a final speech before she commits suicide." "You won't." "She didn't leave a note, though." "You will." "Excuse me." "Where's Caroline?" ""In detestation of my deed," "I seal it with a death as full of horror as my life of sin."" "Stage direction..." ""Stabs herself."" "Aargh!" "Proceed with the sale of the Castellis." "And may God bless your Italian endeavours." "Grazie mille, signora." "Have you informed that woman that she's won?" "Not yet." "Thanks." "Thank you." ""Revenge is a kind of wild justice which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out."" "Maybe that's what we're for." "This... change of direction opportunity for me with Professor Pinnock... it depends on whether you take early retirement." "Well, I wouldn't bank on there being an Inspector vacancy if I go." "Jean Innocent might just decide not to fill it." "Still, you stay if I go, fair enough." "That's not what I'm saying." "What I'm saying is, if you go, I go." "Who else would... understand me?" "Look at that." "What do you need God for when we've got that?" "God is in everything." "Do you know what St Thomas Aquinas said?" "Was it... "Same again, please"?" "Near enough." "Una birra, per favore."