'We finally found this,' Pakula told him and watched all the color leave the man's face.
'Well, my goodness. Is that _ '
'Monsignor O' Sullivan's leather portfolio stashed full of interesting reports and memos and letters and therapists' analyses. Quite interesting stuff. I can see why you wanted him to deliver it personally to the Vatican for safe storage. Yeah, it would be against the law to destroy all these, but since the Vatican has diplomatic immunity it would have made sense to just go ahead and store them over there. Isn't that right, Archbishop?'
'I have no idea what you think you found, Mr. Pakula' he told him, sitting forward again and regaining his composure much too quickly. 'I would think you should know by now that it would be better to close this case once and for all, especially now that poor Monsignor O' Sullivan isn't here to defend himself.'
'You're right about that.' Pakula stood, ready to leave and the archbishop looked surprised, glancing back at the portfolio as if ready to snatch it if Pakula insisted on taking it back. 'There's not much we can do in the poor monsignor's case. Unfortunately it won't come to an end very soon. You'll never guess who ended up with this old portfolio and handed it in to me.' He waited for the archbishop to squirm just a little before he said, 'Of all the people to get their hands on it, wouldn't you know it'd be a reporter.'
And there it was __ the look, the dropped jaw, the wide eyes. That was the look Pakula had been waiting for. He turned to leave, now satisfied, but stopped and glanced back.
'Oh and by the way, I thought you might be interested to know that Creighton University called, apologizing that a huge mistake had been made regarding my daughter's scholarship. Seems a letter went out without their approval.' He shook his head and said, 'Wonder how that could have happened.'
He didn't need an answer nor did he expect one. He had gotten more than he had come for. He left the archbishop with the coveted leather portfolio stashed with copies of incriminating documents. All of the originals were currently on their way to the Douglas County prosecutor's office.
CHAPTER 91
Nick Morrelli watched his sister boss around the newspaper's top photographer and the petite blonde who wrote the front-page headlines. When she headed back in his direction he caught her smiling. She was definitely in her element, or as Timmy and Gibson would say, her zone.
'I can't believe you don't write your own headlines,' he said to her, feigning disgust.
'I've told you that before,' she said, swatting him on the arm. 'You just don't remember anything I tell you.'
'Maybe I'll listen better after you win the Pulitzer.'
'Yeah, right,' she said, but he could see her smile again. She liked that idea even if she knew it was a stretch.
'What time are we picking up the guys for lunch?'
She checked her watch. 'They get out of Explorers early today. Let me finish up one more thing, then we can leave.' She pulled several pages out of a folder and started scratching notes in the margins.
'Maybe we shouldn't be rewarding them with things like lunch.'
She glanced up and smiled but continued writing. She didn't think he was serious.
'I'm not joking,' Nick said and this time he waited for her eyes and for her full attention. 'The other night scared the hell out of me. It was like four years ago all over again.'
'But he's okay. And I really can't think of the what-ifs.'
'I've been thinking maybe I should try to spend more time with him. You know, be there more often for him.'
'Yeah, right.' She laughed and went back to her notes. 'I don't think Jill will appreciate you flying from Boston to Omaha all the time just to see Timmy.'
'If I were to stick around here I wouldn't need to fly.'
'Jill's not going to move back here, Nicky. I know your Jill Campbell. She might be having a lot of fun with her old girlfriends but that's wedding-preparation fun. Afterward she's going to be ready to get back to her life and her life is being a high-powered attorney in Boston at Foster, Campbell and whoever that other bigwig lawyer is.'
'McDermont,' Nick said, filling in the blank.
Suddenly she looked up at him as if it only now hit her. 'Oh geez, are you calling off the wedding?'
'I didn't say that,'
'But that's what you're thinking?'
'I didn't say that, either.'
'Is it because of Maggie?'
'Christine, all I said _ ' and he put up his hands in mock surrender ' __ was that maybe I should spend more time with my only nephew.'
But now she was smiling at him. No, not smiling, grinning.
'Well, since you've definitely convinced me that it won't matter one way or another whether I tell you this or not, I'm gonna go ahead and tell you.' She stood and leaned in close to him, glancing around the noisy newsroom even though no one had been paying attention to their conversation.
And then Christine said to him as though they were back in grade school, 'Maggie told me that she didn't dump you. As a matter of fact, little brother, this whole time you've been mooning and feeling sorry for yourself, Maggie O'Dell has been thinking you were the one who dumped her.'
Nick felt as if she had dropped a ton of bricks on him.
'Not that it matters who dumped who, right?' she added.
CHAPTER 92
Cunningham had told Maggie that she didn't need to be there to see Keller off, but she insisted. If she had to keep her end of the bargain and let him go, she wanted to make certain Father Michael Keller got on his plane and left for South America and this time never came back. She considered flying with him to Chicago just to make sure he made his connecting flight. There was a two-hour layover and she didn't trust him. What would stop him, she asked her boss, from just walking away, taking a cab from O'Hare and sneaking off to blend into rural North America instead of South America?
That wasn't her concern, Cunningham had told her. She was to see Keller made his flight. That was it. End of her deal. End of her obligation. He made it sound so easy.
Keller had refused to even get in the same vehicle she was in and accepted the alternative, a ride in an Omaha squad car with a police officer Pakula had assigned for the task. Keller seemed pleased with the escort. And she wished she could slap that smug look off his face. The thought of letting him go made her insides feel like liquid fire. And yet, she stood back and watched him walk down the terminal's ramp to get in line for the security check.
She had done her job. That was it. She didn't need to rub her own nose in it by standing around watching. She had other things to attend to, like Gwen. When she talked to her this morning her sounded in good spirits but very weak and vulnerable. She seemed overly concerned about Harvey though Julia Racine appeared to be taking good care of him. Gwen said she was okay about what had happened, but Maggie knew better. She wanted to see for herself and would be leaving for home tomorrow despite the fact that not all the pieces of this puzzle fit to her liking.
She turned to leave the terminal and almost bumped into Sister Kate Rosetti.
'Maggie, hi. Are you leaving for home?'
'Tomorrow. Where are you off to?' Maggie almost didn't recognize her. She wore blue jeans, another bright-
