He crossed campus and saw Josh walking alone and stepping over green puddles.
“Josh! Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”
“I have time, and I have some things to say to you.”
They walked like two strangers through the back door and into the sacristy.
Father Ralph said, “Please sit down.”
Josh stared at him. “I want to come back to Mass. Before I do, I have to know some things about you.”
“I understand. However, my personal life is not going to be the subject of our conversation. I want you to come back, and I have someone I’d like you to consider training.”
“As my replacement?” Josh yelled and walked out.
Father Ralph rushed after him.
On the mud, under a cypress tree, Josh turned and said, “Leave me alone.”
“I apologize for what happened. You’re not old enough to understand all this, but I want you to reconsider. What brought you back?”
“I don’t know. Who is that woman? And what are you going to do? I’m not a baby and don’t treat me like one.”
“You’re too young to understand. I know I’m not what you thought I was, but I’m going to make some changes. I can’t say more.”
“And neither can I.”
“Wait.”
“Why should I?” Josh said, without look back.
“I promise things will be better.”
“How do I know?” he asked, looking at the campus.
“Things will be better.”
Father Ralph looked up as the bell tolled.
“How can I know that for sure?”
“You’ve served Mass with me these three years. You know I wouldn’t make a promise unless I meant it. There’s something else I want to ask. I want you to train a new altar server. Uncle Larry is working on a plan for Angel Morales.”
“What! Pablo Morales was a thug, and so is his brother.”
Father Ralph thought of the words Larry had spoken to Mark.
“Trust me on this. Angel needs someone like you to help him. You know what to do. You’re the best person for this.”
He’s thinking.
“What’s it got to do with me?”
“Your uncle is trying to get Angel into Riordan and turn his life around.”
Josh turned around, and his hands dropped. “If Uncle Larry agrees to this, then I will, too.”
“Thank you. Be here at half past six Monday morning. I’ll introduce you to Angel, and you can show him what to do.”
Josh pulled down hard on his baseball cap, and Father Ralph pulled down hard on his Roman collar.
•••
“Maureen, this is Larry Leahy. I’m coming over to speak to you. I should be there at four o’clock.”
He rang her doorbell.
Let’s do some more good.
Maureen ushered him into the living room.
“Maureen, James was arrested for solicitation to commit murder. I want to ask you about your relationship with him. Are you pregnant with his child?”
She sank into the chesterfield next to him. “Did James tell you that?” She reached for her wine glass and stopped. With a hand pressed down on the coffee table, she leaned forward, swept a magazine onto the floor, and sank back into the cushions. “James and I decided to put the baby up for adoption. I refused an abortion.”
“What connection is there between the adoption agency and the land?”
“I had to find a reputable adoption agency, so I visited Cornelius. His sister had adopted two children, and we decided to use the same agency.” She took a deep breath. “Cornelius and I discovered accidentally we were using the same agency James’ parents had used.”
She picked at her nails.
“I don’t get it. Why did James want to purchase the land?”
“I told James what we did. He was furious. I told him it didn’t matter, but he said it did matter. He was worried about Clare finding out. I told him she wouldn’t.”
“Mr. Smith told me that James wanted Cornelius killed.”
“That’s nonsense. James never said anything of the sort.”
“He did, to Gerald Smith.”
“Who is he?”
“An ex-bellboy.
“That explains it. A disgruntled employee.”
“No, I’m afraid not. James told him there was some damaging information. Mr. Smith didn’t know what it was, but we know. Now, you were at James’ house the night of the murder. Were you there the entire time?”
“Yes, I was. James was furious that Cornelius knew about the baby. James planned to buy that land and give it to the church. I asked him why. He said it made him feel better. Maybe, it was a way to redeem himself for straying from marriage. Anyway, he gets it into his head to sue the agency for agreeing to meet us. He said they should have told us to go elsewhere.”
Wow.
“He got angry and told me not to tell anyone else about the baby. He was mixed up. I feel sorry that I got him into this mess.”
Larry’s face darkened. Thinking about the past made his head heavy. His father and James’ father had given their sons a horrible legacy of deceit and crime. The police notepad fell into the crease of the chair.
“All right. Is there anything else you need to tell me?”
“No.”
Larry let go of the silky armrest.
“Back to the night of the murder...just for a minute. Were you with James the entire night?”
“Yes, until two in the morning, when I went home.”
Why is she lying?
“Did you drive yourself home or did James offer to take you home?”
She didn’t answer.
“Has he been good to you?”
“I didn’t know all this would happen. James told me to find another agency. I’m still looking.”
“Has James helped you with that?”
“No.” Her eyes roamed the room. “Can you?”
“I will do whatever I can to help you, but please tell the truth.”
“James gave me a gun. He said it belonged to Cornelius. I told him to give it to the police. He said no.”
She grabbed the wine glass from the coffee table, walked to the liquor cabinet, and nervously pointed her forefinger down. “I don’t want to see it. Just take it.”
Her hand dropped, and she stepped away.
“One more question. Did James leave during the night...before midnight?”
“I didn’t see him for a while, but there were so many guests, I couldn’t really be sure.”
“I called James that night at about two. Did he take you home?”
She didn’t answer.
Larry placed the police notepad in his breast pocket. His rough hand rubbed against the armrest’s fabric as he pushed himself up.
Maureen looked deflated.
He turned the cloth-covered cabinet knob, its yellow and gold tassel becoming entwined in his fingers, and pulled the door open.
There it is.
“Thank you, Maureen, for being honest. I’ll take care of this.”
He stuck the police pen inside the trigger and lifted the gun.
“Do you have a paper bag, Maureen?”
“Yes, I’ll get one.”
Larry followed her to the kitchen and said, “I’m finished with the questions.” The gun rocked back and forth. “Did you happen to go with James to the Greenwich on the night Cornelius was found dead?”
“Yes. I wasn’t honest about that. I’m sorry.”
They stood face-to-face. He dropped the gun into the bag. “Did you go into the hotel with him?”
“No. I stayed in the car in the garage.”
“What time was it?”
“About midnight.”
“How long was he in the hotel?”
“About an hour, maybe less.”
“When he returned, did he say anything?”
“We drove home in silence.”
“Whose home?”
“Mine.”
“And did he leave you after that?”
“We said good-bye in the car.”
“Did you see the gun?”
“When he came back to the garage he handed it to me. I told him I didn’t want it. After kissing me, he said he would tell me more about the gun at another time. I knew he owned a gun, but the one he gave me didn’t look like his. I was upset the whole way home and couldn’t get to sleep, so I took a sleeping pill, against doctor’s orders.”
“Thank you. Tomorrow, give Lauren a call, and we’ll help find a good adoption agency. Maureen, you’ve got the future in your hands. Funny, me giving comfort to someone who’s had six children, but it might help. When St. Theresa of Calcutta was asked why God hadn’t given the world a cure for AIDS, she said, ‘You aborted the future.’ You did the best you could.”
She kissed him on the lips, and he felt a little embarrassed.
Only one cloud lingered, and it was on a different lady.
Larry needed to clear his head. A walk on the Mt. Davidson foot path would give him some fresh air and some time to think about what had happened and what would come next. The trailhead was a few yards from Maureen’s home.
A light drizzle had soaked the path and stairs, which coiled in a loop that would take him to the top of the city’s highest hill. His black jacket brushed against hanging vines of elderberry and blackberry, leaving traces of dark green, sapphire, and yellow. He kept his hands in his pockets to avoid the sting of their branches. He spotted a garter snake, but didn’t see a single coyote, and the ground felt hallowed when the sound of chirping, resident white-crowned sparrows reached his ears.
Mud and eucalyptus leaves stuck to shoes that got him to the base of the 103-foot cross. On the side of the cross was an old bolt ladder. The first bolt was missing, and most of the ladder rested on rusted hangers. Dusk was approaching. He walked to a knoll and looked out over the city. Two women, Maureen and Clare, in love with the same man, confirmed that love often leads to results unintended.
It wasn’t unlike Father Ralph’s dilemma. He loved two women but was committed to just one, the Church.
He slid on the last step of the loop, and the forest’s spell was broken.
•••
Lauren’s cigarette balanced in the groove of a pink ashtray adorned with tiny yellow and blue flowers. Larry took off his jacket.
Lauren grabbed it and looked it over. “How did you get these?”
“Mt. Davidson.” Larry smelled pot roast and trail stains. “It’s okay. They’ll come out in the wash.”
He slid into the bench seat.
“What were you doing there?”
“Thinking.”
Her eyes stared fearlessly back at him. Two hissing burners warmed the smell of whiskey and tea, and seven chimes in the entry hall signaled the end of another day.
“I don’t see the point of helping that boy. He’s like his brother. No good.” She stood fixed in place, toes riveted to her slippers, hands dripping suds onto the kitchen floor.
“How did you know?”
“Mark was here.”
“I’m going by my instincts, Lauren...trust me.”
Lauren dried her hands on the passion pink bathrobe as she walked from the stove to the bench seat, slid in, and pushed up her eyeglasses. When a few bits of gravel hit the window panes, she looked out. Larry could hear sparrows chittering on the roof gutter.
I wish I was outside with them.
“You never helped Mark.”
“Mark agreed.”
“To what? You still haven’t come to terms with him, and here you are helping someone else, a total stranger. You don’t need any more excuses. Helping a stranger over your own son. What kind of father are you?”
“I can’t help that Mark has forgotten about sin, but he agreed to support Angel.”
“That’s no answer. You’re his father. Tell him to stop living with her. Put your foot down.” She reached across the table with a free hand. He pulled it down to the cold tablecloth. One of her eyelids flickered when he let go. He slid off the seat, crossed the floor, and poured the Jack Daniels in the sink.
After dinner had ended, he sat in his favorite chair, moved his son’s pipe from one side of the end table to the other, and cleared away everything else. “Was Mark sitting in my chair?”
The clanging of pots made it impossible to hear anything.
Something shattered.
“Dammit.”
The closet door banged against the swinging door, followed by scratching and swishing sounds.
Chapter 20
Monday, July 15
While Father Ralph was vesting, Angel sat on a chair on the other side of the room. Angel’s white socks showed below tan trousers. Josh appeared and said nothing to Father Ralph.
“I’m Josh. Father likes polished black shoes. The tan Dockers need to go. He likes black slacks. Do you have a pair?”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“Just follow me and do what I do.” Josh walked over to the closets, three in a row, and opened one. Out came a black cassock and white surplice. “Put these on.”
“What the...” Angel looked at Father Ralph. “I don’t wear dresses.”
“They aren’t dresses. They’re called cassocks. Try it on. Take your jacket off first.”
To Father Ralph’s surprise and elation, Angel obediently did what he was told. Josh took off his baseball cap, smoothed down his cow-lick, and pulled the black cassock over his head.
“Good. Guys, we are ready to start. Angel, when you get into the sanctuary, stay on the kneeler. Josh will show you where and watch what Josh does. He’s an expert.” Josh glanced quickly at Father Ralph and motioned to Angel to get behind him. Father Ralph looked at the back of the heads of two boys and wondered how it would go.
After Mass, back in the sacristy, Father Ralph listened to their conversation.
“How long you been doin’ this?” Angel asked, as he took off the surplice and cassock. “Where do I put these?
“About three years. I’ll hang them up for you.”
“Where you go to school?”
“St. Ignatius,” Josh said without turning around. “I hear you’ll be going to Riordan.”
“Yeah, that’s what all of them want. Me, I don’t know about it. I’m leaving all my homies.”
“Yeah, I can understand that, but Riordan is a pretty good school, and you’ll make new friends.”
He faced Angel, who looked back at him.
“You got many friends?” Angel asked.
“Yeah, I do.”
“Girlfriend?”
“What...no.”
Josh stepped back against the closet door.
Father Ralph had removed the last of his vestments, watched, and listened.
I know where this is going. Josh doesn’t.
“I knew about Pablo,” Angel said.
“What?”
“I knew he was gay.”
“What are you talking about? He had a girlfriend, Larissa.”
“So. Don’t make no difference. He was gay. I got no problem with it. My friends are against gays, but I’m not. Pablo was the best thing in my life. So, uh, I got no problem with your being gay, either.”
“But I’m not.”
“Sure.”
Josh quickly put the baseball cap on. “Do you like the Giants?”
“No. I’m an Oakland A’s fan. I bet you’re a runner.”
“How do you know that?”
“You’re lean...leaner than me. Can we go outside and have a smoke?”
“We can go outside, but I don’t smoke. I serve Mass on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Can you be here on Wednesday?”
“Yeah sure, bro. You got a ride? My mom is parked across the street.”
“I walk home. Does your mom know you smoke?”
“Yeah, listen, bro, you can be honest with me.” Angel looked at Father Ralph. “I think it’s better we start off...well, you know what I’
m sayin’?”
“No. See you at quarter to seven, Wednesday.”
•••
At half past nine, Larry received a call from Father Ralph, who gave a good report on Angel and Josh.
Larry asked Varton for the phone call record on the night of the murder, all incoming and outgoing calls. Varton retrieved the logs. Back in his office, Larry sifted through the calls, disqualified irrelevant ones, and made a list on his large yellow notepad.
1) Last call from Smith to the lobby, 2345 hours, answered
2) Page from lobby desk to Cornelius room at 2355 hours, unanswered
3) Page from lobby desk to Cornelius room at 2356 hours, unanswered
4) Call from O’Hara to lobby 2358 hours, sent to Cornelius, answered
Larry jotted down all calls from O’Hara’s cell phone.
1) O’Hara calls the lobby desk at 2358 hours, answered
2) O’Hara calls Pablo’s phone at 2400 hours, answered.
Numbers started turning blue, but the color faded, and Larry concluded that Cornelius was in his room at the time O’Hara’s call was passed through because Cornelius knew who it was and answered, but Cornelius didn’t want to reply to the other pages, because he was tired. Who paged Cornelius? Larry concluded that O’Hara called Pablo at 2400 hours to be sure Pablo had the gun. Who was in Cornelius’ room after midnight? He thought he knew.
At half past ten, Hieu walked in.
“I spoke to Joe on my way in, Larry. The fingerprint tests just arrived. It’s conclusive. The fingerprints on the gun from Mrs. Daley belong to her, Gerald Smith, and Pepper Chase. Joe has issued an arrest warrant for Chase.”
“All we have to do now is find her. I have a plan, and I’m right in the middle of it.”
Larry picked up the receiver. “Joe, I’m using Smith as bait to find Chase. I know this will work. Thanks.” Larry looked at Hieu and said, “I hope Smith comes through.”
The morning passed without a word from Gerald. Hieu and Larry drove to Pepper’s apartment building after lunch and asked the desk clerk if he had seen Pepper.
“No, sir.”
“Have any of the other clerks said anything about her? Has anyone seen her?”
“No, sir.”
The afternoon passed by as if something were about to happen.
At five o’clock, Hieu and Joe went home.
Pretty City Murder Page 28
