The Other Path

Chapter 29

As they move away from the subway entrance, Kate and Rick gradually drop further behind Jonah, allowing other pedestrians to come between them. While keeping him firmly in sight, they blend with the flow of sidewalk traffic. Jonah continues eastward for blocks, passing Gold Street and into a fast-food row. Among the houses of worship of overindulgence is a storefront, unremarkable except for the red-painted door. The sign above it, in block letters, merely says "Rebirth." The couple observes as Jonah knocks. He's admitted after a few moments, but his watchers can't make out by whom.

"Now what?" Rick asks, turning to Kate.

She gestures to a table outside a nearby Lot O'Taco. "We wait."

"Want a breakfast burrito?" Rick offers. "I hear this place makes excellent rolls of spicy goodness."

"Just get us a couple of drinks, so we look like we belong here. Small drinks," Kate adds. "We can't be caught needing the facilities when Jonah leaves."

"Roger that."


"What do you want here, Jonah?" Pastor Gideon demands.

"What I've always wanted, Gideon, the truth. When you left the temple eighteen years ago, I knew you'd chosen a different path. I'd hoped it would be one that would honor God. And I knew that the Blade of Truth disappeared at the same time you did. I prayed that it would bless your purpose. But now I fear it didn't. There were terrible acts of violence at that time, three of them. But the police put them aside – until now. You were raised in the ways of truth. So tell me, Gideon, did you turn the Blade of Truth to the spilling of human blood?"

Gideon's dark eyes blaze from a gaunt face. "Not the blood of humans, the blood of demons. They tempted the lambs from the flock with their lies. But the Blade of Truth silenced them. And it still holds God's power."

Jonah's stomach clenches. "Have you slain others?"

"I've defended my flock. But the demons keep coming. I'm raising an army to wash the world clean. Jonah, your voice is still strong. You could help us reclaim the world the Father created. We can return to Eden."

"Gideon, no," Jonah pleads. "You know that is not our way. We fill the earth with those raised in the truth to shut out the evil. We celebrate life, not slaughter."

"You're weak, Jonah!" Gideon accuses. "You let the words of demons fill your ears and corrupt your soul. Leave this holy place, or the very air of righteousness will sear your skin and burn out your tongue."

Jonah backs toward the door. "Pray, Gideon. Pray to hear God's true word. And pray for forgiveness."

"Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins, Jonah," Gideon warns. "You are for God, or you are against him."


"Jonah's coming out," Rick exclaims as Kate sucks up the last of her cherry cola.

Springing from her seat, Kate tosses her cup in a receptacle. "Come on, Babe. Let's go."

"He looks shaken," Rick notes as he and Kate get closer to their quarry. "Kate, he's still shaking. What could have happened in there?"

"Nothing good. And it looks like he's trying to hail a cab."

"Ooh! Are we going to do the follow that cab thing?"

Kate starts running. "That only works on TV. We need to stop him before we lose him." Two pairs of longer legs quickly catch up to Jonah at the curb. Kate holds her badge in front of his face. "We need to talk."

Jonah breathes out relief. "God must have sent you. Yes, we do."


In the box at the 12th, Kate hands Jonah his second bottle of water. "So, you think this Gideon committed the slasher murders and that he may have killed more victims?"

"From what he told me, it sounded like he did, Detective," Jonah confirms. "He's lost all touch with God's purpose. I believe he's possessed by the very demons he believes he's fighting."

"Demon-possessed or not, we need to stop him," Kate declares. "But we can't just pick him up. Any first-year law student could get his confession to Jonah thrown out of court."

"What about the Blade of Truth?" Rick asks. "Jonah, didn't you say that disappeared when Gideon left your church?"

Jonah nods. "Yes, it did."

"Then Kate, can you get a search warrant for the weapon?" Rick wonders.

"Maybe," Kate considers.

"At our last poker game, Markway told me he's gotten into knishes," Rick recalls. "If we make a quick stop at Goldstein's, that may seal the deal."


As Rick looks on, Kate scrolls through the lab report on the Blade of Truth. There's no record of the DNA of Matt Fleming, Zina Zorofsky, or Esther Finkleman. Still, highly degraded residue suggested it had been on the blade for years. Three additional samples matched the victims of newer murders, assumed to have been gang-related. While there's no immediate match for the fingerprints on the weapon's handle, it shouldn't be hard to match them to Gideon. "We've got him." She signals to Ryan and Esposito across the bullpen. "Let's take some unis and go grab our suspect."


The rattle of metal fills Interrogation as Gideon struggles against his shackles. "This is a nest of vipers. Jonah is demon-spawn, and you are his minions. You will be condemned to everlasting torment."

"When's the shrink supposed to get here?" Rick asks as Kate meets him in observation.

"Any minute. But that's also when we'll know if we have Gideon's fingerprints on the murder weapon. Deranged or not, if he killed all those people, he can't ever be put back on the streets again. It will just be a matter of where he's locked up."

"At least Jonah's going to try to deal with the army Gideon was raising," Rick muses. "Hopefully, he can convince them that they were listening to the wrong voice."

"For women, Jonah's voice isn't exactly the right one either," Kate points out.

"With you on that," Rick agrees. "but at least Jonah doesn't want to kill anyone. And something good may be coming out of all of this. I think Bethany Stempel will be injecting some fresh energy into the women's rights movement. She's already got a slogan: 'Remember Esther!' That could reach some of Jonah's potential followers. As biblical characters go, Esther is pretty kick-ass. Mother wanted to be in a play about her, but it never made it to the stage. I hear someone's writing a musical, though. Maybe Bethany can borrow a song as an anthem."

A text dings on Kate's phone. "That's it. We have a match on the prints."

"Kate Beckett closes another case – more than one, it would appear. So now what?" Rick wonders.

"Am I supposed to say I'm going to Disneyland?" Kate teases. "I'll have to write reports for Simmons and Gates. After that, I don't know."

Rick runs his index finger along her cheekbone. "When you signed up for the squad, you weren't anticipating double paperwork, were you?"

"No," Kate admits. "And you weren't anticipating being frustrated with plotlines you couldn't use, were you?"

"No," Rick confides. "But you know I'll support whatever you want to do. Are you having second thoughts?"

Kate shrugs. "I don't know. A squad case led to this one, which will make a real difference. But I had to fight with Simmons to get into it. Maybe now that he sees how it worked out, I'll move up a little in squad ranks."

"And I'll be ready and able to give you any boost you need."

A/N The scripture about shedding blood is from Hebrews 9:22.