"How long have they been in there?" Bobby Biggs asked his two coworkers as he glanced in the direction of Marshal Walsh's office.
"She called Sam in at five this morning. She isn't happy." Vannah Cooper replied.
"I'm not sure why Cath's so upset." Cosmo Refro said. "She didn't get nearly as mad when I did the same thing at my cousin's wedding."
"Probably because she knew that half of your relatives had already dealt with you for the commotion you created at the wedding." Vannah replied.
"Hey, Cos, did your cousin ever end up getting married for real? They would have had to do the wedding again for it to count, right, since the priest turned out to be a fugitive in disguise?" Bobby asked.
"No, which is probably why my cousin's sister Eva's still ticked at me." Cosmo grumbled. "You think we need to check on Sammy? He's been in there for a while if Cath called him on the carpet at five."
"Cos, if you go in there you'll add another woman who's ticked at you besides your cousin Eva." Vannah said. "I don't hear any shouting. I'm sure it's fine." She hoped things were fine anyway. How much trouble could Sam have gotten himself into for disrupting a funeral?
"Could you explain again," Catherine Walsh said in a deathly quiet tone, "what in the world possessed you to disrupt a funeral with a fugitive chase?"
"Cath, I didn't intend to disrupt the funeral." Sam explained for what felt like the hundredth time. "We located the fugitive, he was disguised as a priest, which really they should be checking these things, don't you think, after that mess at Cosmo's cousin's wedding?"
"Sam, you really don't want to remind me of the disaster Cosmo made of that wedding. He's lucky I didn't fire him." Catherine said. "Please, continue with your explanation."
"It wasn't our fault. We were spread out, watching the doors. Martin had no clue that anyone was on to him. We were going to let the service finish, let everyone clear out and then make the grab. No one from the funeral would even have known we were there. But the deceased's nephew was running late, and he ended up coming to the funeral in his Chicago PD uniform. When he saw the nephew Martin made a run for it. We knew he was armed, he was heading for where he could have taken hostages. We didn't have a choice but to step in. What else did you want me to do?"
"Caught Martin before he impersonated a visiting priest and officiated at a funeral?" Catherine suggested.
"If we could have done that, we would have. Cath, what's the big deal? We got him, no one got hurt, they got a real priest in to redo the funeral. I made sure it was a real priest."
"You demanded six forms of ID from Father O'Malley." Catherine said with a roll of her eyes.
"Two times that church has let fugitives walk right in and conduct services while claiming to be visiting priests." Sam said. "I think someone better start checking IDs. Cath, what's the big deal? No one got hurt."
"No, but I got a call from Bishop Perry. Do you know how annoying it is to get a call from Bishop Perry asking if I know what my deputy and his team just did? And I just happened to be in church at the time, too. My Aunt Olivia was getting an award for good works at the time."
"Your family already hates me. Not like it could make them like me any less". Sam said with a shake of his head.
"My Aunt Olivia doesn't hate you. Well, she….. No, she actually still likes you. She thought the entire thing was hilarious." Catherine said with a shake of her head. "Sam…. I know you were doing your best, I know you didn't intend to cause what happened, I'm glad you got Martin and no one got hurt. Do you know how the press is going to make this look, though? You and your team disrupting a funeral? They're going to have a field day, even though what you did was justifiable."
"Cath….. What do you want me to do? I'm not going on another flight to deliver prisoners again, you know."
"No, we're definitely not repeating that." Catherine told him.
"Vacation and fishing, then?" Sam asked.
"If I send you fishing, you would probably end up catching a federally protected fish, and then I would be having to deal with Fish and Wildlife and the press for two incidents involving you instead of one." Catherine replied.
"I'm not the one in this room who actually caught a federally protected fish, if you remember." Sam said with a chuckle.
"It wasn't federally protected at the time, and I let it go." Catherine replied with a glare at him.
"So, what are you going to do?" Sam asked. "Cath, I do know that this has created a headache for you, and I'm sorry about that. But there wasn't anything else I could do. You know that."
"I know. I know. And hopefully the press will loose interest fast, but until they do….."
Before Catherine could tell Sam what she expected Sam to do until the press forgot about the disrupted funeral, her door came open and Cosmo poked his head in.
"Hey, Sammy, we just got something from the New York office from a Deputy Conley. They're saying they need you over there pronto to track down a fugitive or two for them." Cosmo said.
"Why is the New York office requesting you? The New York office should be perfectly capable of catching fugitives without your assistance." Catherine asked with a suspicious look at Sam.
"I don't know. Did they say why?" Sam asked. New York. He definitely didn't want to go to New York, not after what had happened the last time they were there and how they lost Noah.
"They said something about needing your expertise." Cosmo said. "The request seemed pretty urgent, Sammy."
Sam closed his eyes for a moment. New York. He really didn't want to go to New York. But…. "Call the airport. Get four tickets. This time pack carry on luggage only." He said as he opened his eyes again. No matter his personal feelings, if he was needed, he would do what he had to do.
"Five tickets." Catherine said. "I'm coming with you. And don't try to argue, Sam. I really don't want to end up having a conversation with a cardinal from New York this week. Don't even think of arguing. I'm going." And, seeing the expression on Sam's face before he told Cosmo to get the tickets, there was no way that she was letting Sam go to that city to deal with the emotions that she knew would be stirred up without being there to try to support him.