The story so far…
Week 21: Angels
Packington has sold sleeves do Richard Riche’s wife. ‘You don’t want to pay Packington,’ says Cromwell. ‘It only encourages him.’
Packington visits during Christmas 1535 with Humphrey Monmouth, to ask whether Cromwell can help free William Tyndale. He cannot. ‘So must our brother burn?’ The conversation is cut short and leaves a sour taste in Cromwell’s mouth.
Week 35: Wreckage (II) (Part 2/2)
On the street, Monmouth and Packington ask him about Tyndale and he says he has done all he can do. Richard says ‘they sound as if they are planning a surprise. Perhaps it is a present?’ Cromwell does not like surprises.
Week 39: Vile Blood (Part 2/2)
Packington becomes the first Londoner to be murdered by a handgun. Unreliable witnesses say the assassin looked Italian. Cromwell begins the investigation and visits Rob’s widow. Robert Barnes preaches at the funeral and his sermon is so inflammatory that he ends up in jail.
There is no Purgatory for Packington. He will rest quiet till, at the end of time, he takes a final boat to meet his God. A pity to have survived so many sea crossings, and Thomas More's persecutions, and the simmering fury of the London clergy, only to come to grief outside your own front door.