Author's note: Okay. One more chapter and then this monkey is off my back! Does anyone still remember this story? Thanks for all your support.
CHAPTER 9Danny rushed to the door of the parsonage only to find a note from either Sean or Father McPatrick. We're in the St. Peter chapel. The chapel was kept locked generally, and was only used for small, private weddings and funerals. Danny nodded, assuming that Sean's associate pastor, Father Roger McNally, was likely manning the main sanctuary and confessional.
He made his way to the small chapel, located on the rear of the campus. Despite the fact they were in the middle of a large city, the stone building achieved a certain amount of anonymity and privacy. Danny paused outside the large oak door a moment before knocking.
"Danny!" It was Father McPatrick. "Come in lad!"
The chapel had been built in accordance with the uneven land around it – it had been constructed before the era of modern land balancing – and opened to a stairway. Danny squinted to look into the dim light, as the stairway was lit only by a small sconce and a shaft of moonlight. He could make out the shape of Father McPatrick standing next to Sean, who was sitting on one of the old-fashioned wooden pews.
"Sean, buddy, you okay?" As Danny ran down the steps and into the light of the chapel altar, he saw three things quickly: the gun in Father McPatrick's hand, Sean's bound hands and taped mouth.
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Lindsay yawned and Hawkes smiled sympathetically. "Tired?" She nodded absently. They had spent the last couple of hours at the computer, trying to link Celeste Medina to the current victim and/or main players of the case.
"Hey, I've got an email from my friend Melanie in social services." Hawkes sat up in his chair. "Okay, her parents, Al and Majorie. They were killed by a drunk driver when Celeste was 10, no one to take her, foster homes. Oh … wait. She wasn't the Medinas' natural child. They adopted her as an infant."
"Really?" Lindsay was getting so drowsy, she pounced on this new factoid to keep her awake.
"Yeah. It says her mother was a woman named Denise Rockford, and it was processed though … St. Thomas's. That's really interesting. Oh."
"What?" she prompted impatiently. This was why Lindsay liked working on the computer by herself. Now she had to wait for Hawkes to mete out the details.
"The adoption was brokered by Father Andrew McPatrick … who also arranged for her Catholic education through St. Mary's in Brooklyn. Very pricey school."
An uneasy feeling began to stir. "Something's strange," Lindsay murmured
"Agreed," Hawkes grunted. "I'm calling Mel. I'm curious about what happened to Denise Rockford, and why Father McPatrick seems to be everywhere."
Lindsay drummed her fingers as she listened to Hawkes "Mmm hmm" and "Oh" and "That's interesting" through the conversation. Finally he hung up, expression pensive.
"Something's off here. According to Mel, who knows the guy that handled Celeste's case over the years, Father McPatrick took a particular interest in her. Not only did he arrange for her education, he kept in contact: He helped her get a position as alter server, took her to lunch regularly, involved her in church youth retreats. It seems he was almost grooming her."
Lindsay's mind began to jump unpleasantly. "We should bring McPatrick in …"
"Wait, Lindsay, there's more. Denise Rockford, before her death, was a maid at the church. In particular, she was responsible for cleaning the rectory. Mel said Roger Scranton, the social worker who dealt with Celeste was also a parishioner at St. Thomas's, and remembers there being rumors about Denise and Father McPatrick."
Lindsay sat up straighter. "You think Celeste was his?"
Hawkes nodded. "It would make sense. Scranton told Mel he was divided about McPatrick's involvement, suspected the same thing. Also felt McPatrick pushed her into the nun thing, actually said something about Celeste being a special child of the Lord or something."
"You know what? I'm going to call Danny." Lindsay punched in the numbers. When Danny's voicemail picked up, the blood drained from her face. "He's not answering. Oh God."
"What?"
"He went to meet Sean and Father McPatrick."
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Danny's phone trilled in the tense stillness of the church.
"Don't answer it, boy." Father McPatrick's joyful brogue making the situation all the more menacing. "Now Daniel, why don't you take your gun out - no false moves – and set it on the altar there. That's a good lad. Back away, now.
"C'mon father, what's going on? Why don't you untie Sean and we'll talk about this."
"You want to talk, do ya? Good idea son. But I don't think I'll untie Sean just yet." McPatrick reached over and ripped the tape from Sean's mouth. "Sean, my boy. Would you like to tell Danny boy here the story or shall I? The story of you, your sins, and how you destroyed Celeste?"
"Father, please. Just let Danny go. This is madness. This …"
"Don't want to discuss it? Perhaps I will explain then. You see, Daniel, may years ago, as a much younger man, you understand, I was tempted, and I fell. Denise – Celeste's mother – was the forbidden fruit, and I took a fateful bite. I remember falling on my knees in this very church, begging forgiveness. And God listened. He gave me a gift, luminous clay to shape and mold into his servant. If I could just keep her pure ..."
"Celeste." Danny murmured, the story beginning to take shape.
"Beautiful girl, she seemed so willing, so devoted to serving the Lord. And then Sean – this boy I brought from nothing, snatched from the jaws of the devil – took her from me. Led her down the path of sin."
"We fell in love, we didn't mean – "
McPatrick's slap echoed throughout the church. "Don't you talk about love! What you did was not love! I saw you, rutting like animals that night, in the shadows of the house of God!"
"Just let Danny go. We'll take care of it. We'll end it tonight … no one else has to suffer!"
"Oh, that's where you're wrong, Sean. You have not yet begun to suffer, I can never make you suffer enough. For taking Celeste past the point of redemption, down the path of sin. For what you made me do.
"I remember how she wept that last night, telling me how she loved you, how you rejected her. After that, she still wanted you. Was going to see you again, convince you that you belonged together. She thought she was pregnant! I couldn't let her produce a child, an abomination! I couldn't let that happen again. Not after her slut mother tempted me, made me stray. God gave me Celeste to make amends, and I was succeeding. Then you – YOU!
Sean finally seemed to find the strength for words. "Celeste … she was pregnant? Our child? She killed our child?"
"Your child," McPatrick sneered. "She begged, on her knees like the whore she'd become, begging me to spare her child. Interesting, though, she was stronger than I thought. It was a struggle to hold the gun to her head, but God gave me the strength, and I sent her and her demon seed to hell."
"You killed her, you bastard!" Sean flung himself off the pew, but his bindings prevented him from doing anything further. McPatrick let loose a vicious kick to his ribs. Danny moved forward.
"I'd advise you not to try anything, Daniel," he said, the gun swinging toward him. Danny stepped back warily. "Make no mistake, Sean, you killed her, as you've killed all the sinners I've sent to their rightful place in hell by drawing them here with your sin. Sinners always seem to find each other, you know. I've seen it happen over and over.
"Now Daniel, I'm glad you're here. Be a good lad and pull Sean over the altar." When Danny didn't move, McPatrick pointed the gun to Sean's head. "It wasn't a request."
He reluctantly pulled Sean over to the altar, mind racing as he tried to think of a way out of the situation. He still had his backup piece in an ankle strap, but was wary of McPatrick's sharp gaze. Could he reach it in time? Meanwhile, McPatrick pulled a knife from his pocket, training the gun on Danny while he cut Sean's hand. "No false moves, and stay there or your dear friend is dead.
"Now for the grand finale. Sean, my boy, you are guilt stricken over these tragic murders, don't you know, and you are going to take this gun – " McPatrick produced another pistol from his pocket. "And join that slut Celeste in hell. But first, you're going to watch your best friend die."
McPatrick pointed the second gun at Danny, grinning evily as Sean protested. "Sadly, though, the police are going to think your dear friend came to stop you, and you shot him rather than allow him to stop you from completing your destiny."
"Father, no! Not Danny! He's has no part in this! Please!"
McPatrick had cocked the hammer on the gun pointed at Danny and his eyes narrowed, ready to shoot, when a creak at the top of the stairs. Danny looked to see Lindsay at the top of the stairs, her brown curls shining like a nimbus in the moonlight.
McPatrick paled. "No! Celeste! It can't be! You're dead!" He turned as if to confront the image of his dead daughter and Danny grabbed the gun from the ankle holster. He fired, catching McPatrick in the chest.
"Danny!" Lindsay raced down the stairs, her own gun drawn. "Hawkes! In here!"
Crack! Lindsay and Danny spun around to see Sean holding one of McPatrick's guns, the disgraced priest lying dead from a second gunshot wound to the head. In his hand he held the other gun, which had been trained on Danny and Lindsay.
"He was going to shoot you," Sean said dully.
Danny went to his friends' side. "Are you okay?"
His eyes looked glazed. "I don't think I'll ever be okay."
TBC