Sidney Chambers and The Problem of Evil (The Grantchester Mysteries) by James Runcie Read Free Book Online Page B

for evil?’
    ‘He has to be. He accepts it as the price of soul-making.’
    ‘Even if there are casualties?’
    ‘It is, of course, a perilous adventure in intellectual freedom. But the key question to ask, and perhaps the foundation for Christian theodicy, is this: can there be a future good, “set free from its bondage to decay”, that is so eternal and so complete that it compensates for all previous suffering and wickedness?’
    ‘A heaven that makes up for the hell of life on earth?’
    ‘Not exactly heaven, but a state of perpetual grace.’
    ‘That is a long promise. I’m not sure how we can ever justify pain and suffering, cruelty and wickedness by an end-state; however good that might be.’
    ‘THE SUPPER WILL BE COLD WHEN IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE HOT.’
    ‘We are on our way,’ Sidney answered.
    Leonard kept talking. ‘Dostoevsky asked this in The Brothers Karamazov ; could an architect build a heaven based on the unavenged torture of a baby?’
    ‘ “No, I would not consent, said Alyosha softly.” I have read it, Leonard. But Christianity is predicated on the idea of waiting: as Christ waits in the garden of Gethsemane, embracing the agony of suffering, as a father waits for his prodigal son, as we wait for those who matter to us and those we love, and as God waits with man for the secret of the world’s power of meaning; its wonder and terror, vastness and delicacy, good and evil.’
    ‘AND I WAIT WITH YOUR DINNER,’ Hildegard answered as they entered the kitchen. ‘You men. I think I am going to start pretending supper is ready when it is not. It is the only way to get you here on time.’
    ‘I am sure this will be delicious, my darling,’ Sidney replied before looking at the confection on the table. ‘Shepherd’s pie! What a treat.’
    ‘It’s your favourite and so I’d like to know what have you been talking about that’s so important?’
    ‘Ah,’ said Leonard. ‘Let me fetch the Worcester sauce.’
    Sidney confessed. ‘We have been discussing the problem of good and evil.’
    ‘I see.’ Hildegard met his look and made her challenge public. ‘I imagine that you have been referring to the murders?’
    ‘I’m afraid so.’
    ‘I should have guessed.’
    ‘I’m sorry.’
    ‘You know that I was thinking as I was cooking,’ Hildegard mused. ‘Even though Isaiah Shaw was married, do you think the murderer could have been mistaken about him?’
    ‘Do you mean people might have thought him queer?’ Sidney asked.
    ‘It being a potential motive for murder.’
    ‘That and, it seems, a hatred of priests.’
    Leonard poured out the water. ‘Why do people despise us so?’ His companions were not sure that he was talking exclusively about the priesthood but let the remark pass. ‘We are only trying to do good.’
    ‘It’s not “people”, Leonard. It’s one particular person. We just have to find out who it is.’
    ‘And you don’t think it could be Benson?’ Hildegard asked.
    ‘Which one? It could be either of them.’
    ‘Or both, perhaps? One could be killing the animals, while the other commits the murders?’
    Sidney looked at the shepherd’s pie on his fork and decided to speak instead of eating it. ‘Although they were brought up as atheists they don’t seem particularly hostile to priests, do they? Eccentric loners perhaps, but not murderers.’
    ‘I presume Jimmy Benson is still on the run?’ Leonard asked.
    ‘He may not be consciously “on the run” but I’d be surprised if we found him in hiding near here. I just need to think what links the birds to murder.’
    ‘They are omens, of course,’ said Hildegard. ‘I suppose Inspector Keating will find one next.’
    ‘A dead bird? Do you think so?’
    ‘I do,’ said Hildegard. ‘The murderer is taunting you.’
    ‘It looks like it.’
    ‘And I think you can assume it’s a man. But is there anything that links the two victims apart from the fact that they were both priests? Were they friends? Did