Lynch took his last sip of alcohol for the afternoon.
“Then why did you leave the room?”
Each of them had put down two beers and a shot. That was nothing for Leo…cocktail hour…but he was still feeling the effects.
Archbishop Fellini’s face appeared in his mind’s eye. He was in the courthouse speaking to Father Leo as he was on his way to testify before Eric Bell’s grand jury. Leo heard the Archbishop’s words as loudly and clearly as if His Grace was in the room.
Whoosh…
“Because, Jim, for all of Philip McKenzie’s psychoses…”
“Just do what you think is…”
“…he was just doing what he thought…”
“…right Father.”
“…was right.”
Lynch was confused. He was sure it was the booze.
“Detective Lynch.”
“Yes, Father Pascucci?”
“Prepare yourself for a unique experience.”
“How’s that?”
“You’re about to take a confession from a priest.”
5 EPILOGUES
EPILOGUE 1
Two and a half minutes from Pastor Devlin’s next sermon:
“… with special permission, I was given early access to the transcripts from Mick’s arrest interview. They will soon be made public, and I highly recommend that all of you read or listen to them when you can.
“You will be saddened, as I was, to notice several word-for-word similarities between his…statements…and past sermons of mine.
“If I may beg your indulgence, I’d like to bear witness; no…not bear witness. I’m going to drop the religious nomenclature for a minute.
“I put no positive spin on the events of this past week. Admittedly, I initially looked upon the murders of Bishop Ryan and Archbishop Fellini as chickens coming home to roost. The transcripts…well…let’s just say my chickens certainly came home to roost.”
A pause.
“Some of you know Father Aiden O’Rourke from Saint Aloysius Roman Catholic Church. Until two days ago, our relationship was similar to that of two ambassadors. Now he and I find ourselves sobered…humbled…able to reach out a friendly and empathetic hand. I don’t know what he thinks of me, but I feel I can call him a friend.
“That’s a powerful word: friend. So much can change as the result of a really good conversation with a friend.
“The papers aren’t going to be kind to us over the coming weeks. Mick will be painted as a religious fanatic, and they’ll spin it as a reflection upon this church. They’ll find ways to spin it back on St. Al’s as well.
“Please. This is not a time to fight. It’s not a time to prove who’s the bigger bad guy. If you know anyone from St. Aloysius or anyone else who has been affected by these murders, extend a hand. Have a good conversation. Make a friend.
“You want to thwart Satan? You want to see some good rise from the ashes of Mick’s actions? Then do two things: Make a friend…an unlikely friend, and learn. Use what the bible tells us, and learn.
“Learn what? That will be too personal to generalize, but I’ll give you my take-away.
“A good number of people, including the press, will infer that the lesson to be learned here is religion is dangerous, and they won’t be completely wrong. Religion is dangerous, but that doesn’t make it bad.
“Friends, just like justice, just like freedom, just like honor, just like loyalty, religion…or, if you prefer…belief is a good thing. And, if the week’s events have shown us anything, if there is anything to be learned, it is how dangerous a good thing can be in the wrong hands.”
EPILOGUE 2
With the murderer caught, Cardinal Romero thought it best to stay in Batswana. Saturday Mass was turned over to Father Aiden O’Rourke. Here are fifteen seconds of his sermon. This is after a reading of the parable of the Good Samaritan; Luke 10: Verses 25 – 37:
“We find inspiration in Paul’s letters. We find solace in the Psalms. We find salvation in eyewitness testimony of the Gospel. But, when we read the words of the Lord, the things that Jesus said himself, what came from the lips of our savior … and, by this, I mean primarily the parables and the Sermon on the Mount. If we read these passages, we find that the vast majority of His teachings deal with how we treat each other. This is as easy to forget as it is important not to forget…”
Few in the congregation understood what he was getting at, but that was good enough.
EPILOGUE 3
Lynch was glad to get back to robberies and drug busts. The McKenzie murders (as they came to be known) made the national news, but James Lynch, to his own delight, did not.
It was six o’clock on a Friday afternoon some months later. Lynch reached the top of the stairs to find Julie staring thoughtfully at her laptop. They’d planned a trip to his sister’s house in Savannah, Georgia.
He spoke.
“You packed yet?”
“Yes, and so are you.”
“Awesome, thanks. What are you doing?”
“Taking a survey.”
Lynch laughed.
“A survey!?”
“Shut up. I’ll get a ten-dollar gas coupon at the end. That should at least get us to Delaware.”
He kissed her neck and rubbed her back. She purred and responded likewise. Hands wandered, breathing deepened.
“How long is your fucking survey going to take?”
“Half hour maybe.”
“I can’t wait that long. We’ll be sleeping in my niece’s bedroom for a week.”
“My session times out in ten minutes.”
He pulled off his tie and kicked off his shoes.
“Piece o’ cake.”
They launched into each other and maneuvered to the couch.
“Watch the laptop!”
Twelve minutes later, Lynch lay staring at his girlfriend’s bare back as she answered questions about her favorite reality TV show. The late afternoon sun put her partially in silhouette.
She looked back and winked.
He thought to himself…
Yeah, I can do this.
EPILOGUE 4
Kevin Reilly came out of his coma four days after his brother’s arrest.
In the end, he was allowed to keep his badge, thanks to a strong union delegate and a rally by the other detectives.
After the final hearing, Lynch took Reilly aside and made it very clear that he, Gomez, and Warner went to bat strictly for Braden’s sake.
“Your penance will be served behind a desk. Your redemption will be earned by being a role model
