The Darker Side

'This doesn't affect the entirety of the United States, as far as we know. We clamp down on this locally, keep it confined to my team and you and the Director. No one else. The Director gets hold of someone in the church who has some juice and briefs them. He gets them to arrange access for us and we agree to keep the whole thing quiet. We don't even need to let the local priests in on it if they don't want us to.'

'What about Father Yates?'

'He has no interest in this getting out, believe me. He's loyal to his church, and I imagine they know that.'

'It could work,' he allows.

'It will work. I doubt the Catholic Church is different from any other bureaucracy when it comes to some things. People guard their territories and their budgets and work hard to keep shit from rolling uphill. I'll bet even money that they won't want to let the Pope know if they don't have to.'

'You make them sound like us,' he says, only half joking.

'It's survival of the species taken to the level of the group organism, that's all.'

'True enough.'

'I like this approach better anyway. The Preacher's whole deal is shaking things up. He thinks he's a prophet, preaching about the truth, getting people to think and talk and wonder about God. The less chaos we allow him to create, the better I'll feel.'

'Agreed. I'll call the Director now.'

'YOU'RE ON THE NEWS,' JEZEBEL tells me when I walk back into the office.

'Good thing there's no TV in here.'

She smiles. 'Not to worry, I can access a feed right here on the computer.' She points to Alan's monitor. 'May I?'

'Sure.'

She taps a few keys and enters a password. A moment later a different desktop appears on the screen.

'This is actually my computer we're looking at. I'm controlling it remotely.' She opens a program and a video player fills the screen. The video begins to play.

The newswoman looks familiar.

'She was at the Cavanaugh home,' I say, placing her. 'The smart one.'

The one who'd noticed us pulling up and who had directed her cameraman to point his lens our way.

I watch as we climb out of the car and the newswoman begins her voice-over.

'This morning a young girl was found dead in her own bedroom, in this quiet suburb of Burbank. It didn't take long for a large police presence to develop, which is not, in and of itself, surprising. What is surprising is the arrival on scene of this woman: FBI Special Agent Smoky Barrett.'

'Hey, what about me?' Alan jokes.

'Special Agent Barrett became known to most Californians and many Americans almost three years ago. She herself became the victim of a home invasion. Joseph Sands, a serial killer Agent Barrett was hunting, turned the tables on his pursuer. He entered her home at night, murdered her husband and ten-year-old daughter, and raped and disfigured Agent Barrett herself.'

A photograph of me, scars and all, appears on-screen.

'Agent Barrett recovered and continued her job with the FBI, a move debated by many at first. The debate seems to have died down; results tend to do that. Agent Barrett has continued to do her job and do it well. Which brings us to the burning question: why is the lead serial murder investigator in Southern California at the Cavanaugh home? The only conclusion this reporter can come to is that the death of ten-year-old Valerie Cavanaugh is tied to the man who calls himself the Preacher.'

A recap of the Preacher's exploits follows, along with his promise to kill a child if we didn't catch him first.

'Stroke of luck,' Callie observes. 'They haven't seen Valerie's clip.'

I consider the Preacher's promise that he'd find a way to promulgate the truth in spite of us. I wouldn't count on that luck lasting.

'How much coverage has the Preacher been getting?' I ask Jezebel.

'A lot. Worldwide. There's plenty of dialogue about truth, religion, the topics he soapboxed about. He's got a surprising number of supporters.'

'Supporters?' Alan says. 'What the fuck is there to support? He's a murderer.'

'It's not so shocking,' James says. 'There's plenty of precedence, and it's not confined to Catholicism. He's preaching a totalitarianism of faith, an all or nothing 'giving of self to God.' That'll always have support among the faithful. Extremism and fanaticism go hand in hand with religion. They always have.'

'The connection's also been made between you and the Reids,'

Jezebel says. 'Someone was nice enough to let a reporter know that you and your team were in Virginia.'

'Nature of the beast,' Alan says.

'Have any of them mentioned the victims' Catholic connection?'

'No. Only the Preacher's.'

'Good.'

I brief them all on my conversation with AD Jones and my proposed handling of the confessional information.

'Probably the best move,' Alan agrees. 'They're a little touchy about scandals.'

'My mother is Catholic,' James says, out of nowhere. 'She loves going to confession. The idea of someone violating that would kill her. The big question now is, how is he doing it?'

'Finish making that list.'

'AGENT BARRETT?'

I'd answered a call on my cell phone from a number I didn't recognize.

'Yes?'

'This is Cardinal Adam Ross. Of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles?'

'Oh. Hello, Cardinal.' I frown. 'Is 'cardinal' the correct form of address?'

'Cardinal is fine. So is Adam, if you like.'

'Let's stick with cardinal, then. How can I help you?'

'I think that question goes both ways, Agent Barrett. I received a call about ten minutes ago from the Director of the FBI. A very disturbing call. I'm in my car on the way to your office right now. Can you see me?'

The man's manners are impeccable in spite of the obvious tension in his voice. I had expected imperious; he's the picture of politeness.

'I'll be here, Cardinal.'

*

*

*

AD JONES WHISTLES. 'THAT WAS fast. I got off the phone with the Director less than a half hour ago.'

'How did that go?'

'He agrees with your plan. He says to keep it under wraps permanently if at all possible.'

'Do you know Cardinal Ross, sir?'

'I've never met him. I'm not exactly the churchgoing type. But if he's on the Director's speed dial, he's a mover and a shaker. Try and treat him accordingly.'

'We play well with others as long as they return the favor, sir.'

'ISN'T CARDINAL ONE OF THE stepping-stones on the road to wearing the Pope hat?' Callie asks.

'Technically, any Catholic male who fit the criteria could become Pope,' James says. 'In practice, it's reserved for the cardinals. The last time a non-cardinal was elected Pope was 1378.'

'How does someone become a cardinal?' I ask.

'You're appointed by the Pope. They're called 'the princes of the church.' It's a big deal, obviously, and it