it’s not our juristdiction.”
“The report our guys made corroborate the story you got?”
Moore nodded. “But not as colorful.”
“It couldn’t have been. It was a bare-hands fight?”
“It was in the beginning. But let me go back to my source.” Angie had really gotten into the spirit of the affair. So much so that Tully could easily envision the scene as she half quoted, half extrapolated from her witnesses’s account of events. “‘It was after we got Arnie off Hessler that the guy came up with the shiv, a big one. Then I was really scared. Not only for Arnie. For the rest of us, too. Hessler was like an animal fightin’ for his life. He woulda cut anybody. Lucky for us that was just the time when the super came in and broke it up.
“‘But you know the funny thing? Even after Hessler pulled the knife, Carson wanted him. I mean there was four of us holdin’ Arnie back and even after Hessler showed us the knife, I had to work as hard to hold Arnie back as when we pulled him off. You know how sometimes there’s a fight and you pull the guys apart and hold ’em? And they’re really not puttin’ up no fight to get back in it; all you gotta do is just keep your hands on the guy so the other guys get the idea the guy really wants to get back in the fight? Well, that ain’t the way it was with Arnie: He really wanted to tear Hessler apart. Even when the SOB was holdin’ a knife. Could you believe that?’”
As she triumphandy wound up her vivid recital, it was impossible to know whether the last question was hers or had been voiced by her witness.
“So the other guy had the weapon,” Tully said.
“Our guy’s report corroborates that,” Moore affirmed.
“Well,” Tully said, “the main thing for our purposes is that Carson seems to have the killer instinct. Your source sounds convinced that Carson would have gone all the way, given the chance.”
“Oh, yeah, Zoo. No doubt diere. Although he did seem to thing it was somewhat out of character-in that Carson had mouthed off lots of times in the past, but this was the first time, in my guy’s experience anyway, that Carson had actually become physical, violent, and even deadly.”
“God, I wish we knew if Carson owned a gun! But … okay for now. Real good work, Angie. How about the Stapleton character?”
She withdrew a much smaller packet of notes and readout sheets from her bag. She held the packet aloft as if performing a show-and-tell.
“Not nearly as much with Stapleton as I found on Carson,” she said. “All I found in the
She had to page backward to find the item. “Burke … Father Pat Burke.”
“Anything on him?”
“I don’t think so. I knew him back then. Matter of fact when I was a kid in parochial school, he was the assistant pastor in the parish. I had a crush on him.”
“Where is he now? Do you know?”
“Not really. After he quit the priesthood, he moved out of state. Arizona, I think. As far as I know, he’s still there.”
“Check it out, will you?”
“Sure, Zoo.”
“Now, let’s get back to Stapleton.”
“Well, with Fred Stapleton, the only prior notice I could find before that story about all those priests leaving was the one we talked about earlier-when he was shoved down the church steps by Arnold Carson. That, by the way, is a real coincidence, don’t you think?”
“Uh-huh. And I don’t like coincidences, They smack of blind luck and we deal in facts. Whether we find anything or not, we’d better check on whether there’s any connection there.”
“Connection?” Moore asked.
“Where does Stapleton fit in? As far as the Church is concerned.”
“You mean …?” She didn’t finish her thought.
“Well, liberal, conservative? Left wing or right?”
“Oh, Stapleton is a liberal.”
“And Carson is a conservative.”
“Off the globe.”
“Ah,” Tully observed, “that would explain the pushing incident.”
“Yes. Stapleton and Carson were always on opposite sides of just about everything.”
“Just about,” Tully observed.
“What are you getting at, Zoo?”
“They’ve got some common ground now.”
“Common ground?”
They’ve both been listed as being opposed to practices and laws of the Church.”
“Oh, yeah, Zoo. But the things that Carson can’t stand just couldn’t be the same problems Stapleton has.”
“Maybe not. But suppose they agree to bury the hatchet for the duration so they can get the Church’s attention. Suppose that’s the purpose of this crime spree. Suppose they find they have the same goal for different reasons. We can’t overlook the possibility … or any possibility, for that matter. This is growing into one slippery case.” Tully might have added that it was the sort of case that he most appreciated. One that called on every skill he possessed. “But, go on, Angie. What else about Stapleton? Besides the pushing incident and the resignation report?”
“Well, there were quite a few items either featuring him or mentioning him.”
“Oh?”
“He’s a psychologist. Kind of prominent, at least locally. Every so often you see him on one or another local TV news program. You know how the news anchors get into pop psychology and they get local authorities for ‘expert’ commentary. Well, Dr. Stapleton is there pretty regularly giving his opinion. He’s also quoted on radio and in newspapers along the same line, His picture’s been on TV and in the papers pretty often.”
“Ever give expert testimony in court?”
“Well, yeah, a few times.”
“In homicide cases?”
“Once in a while. Although, evidently, not in any of your cases. I think most people in the metropolitan area would be fairly familiar with Stapleton. In fact, from the number of times their pictures have been in the media, I’d guess that Carson and Stapleton are equally recognizable to a lot of people.” She stopped, almost embarrassed. She did not want to make her point too plainly. But it was evident that while Carson and Stapleton would qualify as local celebrities-at least in the sense of being easily identifiable-Tully had paid no attention to them.
It was one more indication of the measure of dedication Tully gave to his work. To a significant extent, as far as he was concerned if a news item had no relevance to his work it was not news. Some might call such an attitude tunnel vision. Others, dedication. Whatever one called it, Tully was near totally absorbed in his work. His former wife had discovered this truth early in their marriage and thought she could fight this intangible enemy. She spent a few years of her life in this doomed struggle. Tully’s present-day companion recognized and understood his priorities early on and was able to handle being a very strong but definite second in his life.
Anyone who had eavesdropped on this present conversation would have come to the same inevitable conclusion Angie Moore had reached: Alonzo Tully did not pay much attention to the passing parade. It was almost as if he did not want extraneous information crowding out the things he needed to know to do his job as well as or better than any comparable officer.
Tully’s unexpected grasp of the effects of Vatican II on current Church affairs was a case in point. From some source, presently unknown to Sergeant Moore, he had been briefed on the council and its impact on Catholicism.
