The Ministry of Blades : The Madness of Angels, episode 2

Dr Pleasant is introduced; Prentiss chases a burglar.

Played

18^th November 2010.

Dramatis Personae

Lady Antonia deVore - a Heavily-armed Aristocrat.
Captain Benson Curruthers - a Military Policeman.
Doctor Zephaniah Pleasant - a Sinister Surgeon.
Miss April Sharpe - a Self-taught Inventor.
Jack Prentiss - a Dodgy Pedestrian.
The Chief Verger of St Paul’s Cathedral.
The Foreman of Burland’s Contractors.
Mrs Geffey, a Worried Wife.
Mrs Bodie, an Unconcerned Wife.
The Very Reverend Greenfield's Valet.

Plot

The team descended to the central area under the dome, where they found a tall, dark figure waiting somewhat impatiently. Introducing himself as Dr Zephaniah Pleasant, another Ministry agent, he demanded to know why he had been dragged out of bed at such an ungodly hour. While Marsh ducked out into the streets to pursue some leads of his own, Curruthers brought him up to date on the mystery and their discoveries so far. Pleasant requested access to the body and proceeded to carry out a more thorough examination; although he was able to learn little new, he was able to confirm the others’ suspicions.

The team decided it would be helpful to examine the Dean’s office. Taken upstairs to the west wing of the building, they found a smart but somewhat sterile room. A detailed examination of the furniture and window frames and a search for secret panels discovered little of interest. Musing that he would have kept anything of interest at home, Curruthers realised that the key in the pocket book was for the front door of a house. Deciding to investigate this later, they asked the Chief Verger about the works in the roof.

The Verger took them to the Records Office, situated in the Chapterhouse nearby, where he pulled out a ledger and tracked down the works order for the job. As the office of the contractor was close by, they headed there first. Upon arriving, they found the foreman looking rather annoyed: it seemed three of his workmen had failed to report in this morning, and while he expected this kind of behaviour from Bill and Charlie Bodie, he thought better of the senior mason, Martin Geffey. It didn’t take long for the team, posing as a Metropolitan Police investigative team, to discover that these were the workers from the Cathedral project and to obtain their addresses. They moved on to Geffey’s address, a decent, if small, terraced house in the East End, where they found his wife beside herself with worry: he had failed to return home last night and she was worried something had happened to him. Asked if he ever stayed late at the pub, she told them that he was not a heavy drinker and was devoted to his family. Mrs Bodie, meanwhile, wife of Charlie and daughter-in-law of William, was completely unworried; while both men had failed to come home, this was hardly unusual and she was much happier when they weren't cluttering the place up.

The team decided to move on and investigate the victim’s private residence in Islington. Once more presenting themselves as members of the Met, they were admitted by his valet, who they questioned with care, discovering that the staff were very upset by the news. He agreed to let them examine the Dean’s study, leaving them to take their time. Carrying out a thorough search of the room, they turned up a bundle of personal letters, a series of personal journals, a collection of reference works on the study of the angelic hierarchies (from several different traditions) and a pair of hefty looking tomes in Hebrew. Miss Sharpe tried her Detecteronatron again, detecting a faint aura around the Hebrew works, which Dr Pleasant now took an interest in.

After they had searched for half an hour or so, several of them heard noises from upstairs, not unlike furniture being moved. Curruthers reacted immediately, heading out and up the stairs at the double. He found the door to the room above closed and knocked, listening for a response. He heard the sound of footfalls, moving away from the door, and tried to open the door, planning to give chase. Unfortunately, the door was locked but Prentiss, currently standing idle, was looking out of the window and saw a pair of boots descending from above. Wrenching the window open as their owner dropped past him, he sprang out to give chase…