Unlikely Hero--11

1

Chapter 102

A streak of water spread out from the bathtub and trailed along the tile floor. It ended at the bare feet of Aileen Hailey. The ends of her hair were separated into dripping strings, while chill bumps pebbled her flesh. Her wet hand clutched the lock. Her naked body was pressed against the bathroom door. The trapped breath ached in her lungs as she attempted to remain still while she strained to hear something. What horror lay beyond the locked door? She was shivering from cold as well as fear but she couldn't bring herself to reach for a towel. She couldn't make any noise and give herself away. 3

"Aileen! Are you home lass? Where are you?"4

She slid down the door, the palms of her wet hands making dark marks on the light oak. Kneeling now, she struggled not to pound on the door. Tears poured from her eyes and she quietly sobbed, "daddy." 5

"Aileen! Where are you?"6

"In the bath. I'll be out in a sec." She forced strength into her tone as she jumped up, grabbed a towel, and began rubbing heat back into her flesh. ‘I'm going to drive myself insane because of some wretched fellow in an old truck. I have to stop this. I'm acting like a schoolgirl.’7

The mirror told her she had to do something with her face. How could she explain away the bloodshot eyes and swollen cheeks? Never one for using heavy makeup, it was now time to indulge in the art. She found it only made her look worse and washed it off. A head cold, I'm getting, she glowered at herself in the mirror. And it would make a perfect excuse for her early return. She did sound and feel all stuffy and sore.8

Instead of dressing, Aileen wrapped herself in a big puffy pink robe to enhance her pathetic picture. She was sniffling into a tissue when she located her father in the kitchen.9

As he turned from the stove, teapot in hand, she groaned, "Miserable head cold." She slumped into a chair at the table.10

"Shall I put a spot of whiskey in your tea?"11

"All right…no…it may not be a good idea. I've already taken some medicine. I'll settle for plain tea."12

"You are a sorry sight, lass. Why don't you go back to bed and I'll bring it up to you."13

"I'll be fine. What gives you the right to play hooky? Shouldn't you be at the office?"14

He set the pot on its hot plate on the table and sat down heavily in the chair beside her. The worry lines in his forehead seemed more pronounced than usual. He took her hand in his and firmly squeezed it. "Something happened last night. I'm grateful I have this opportunity to tell you before you learn of it from someone else. Nan Fitzgibbon was murdered last night." His voice seemed to pause on the word murdered almost as if he forced himself to say it.15

‘Murdered!’ The idea rushed into Aileen's mind like a window slamming against its sill. ‘Nan murdered—inconceivable.’ "How? Who?" She struggled for words. 16

"We're fairly certain it was someone she was acquainted with. She was killed in her own bedroom but there was no apparent break-in. And nothing obvious was stolen and there's no damage to the rest of the house."17

‘Nan murdered!’ Memory of the woman's face floated in Aileen's mind. Nan felt comfortable with a smile; it came full and natural while engaging her whole face. Her wide-set eyes twinkled in the depths of their blueness and her cheeks scrunched up exposing twin dimples embedded in the corners of her mouth. 18

They'd been friends from the moment they met. Aileen felt numb, she'd wasted her tears on herself, and she couldn't find more for Nan. "She was killed in her bedroom?"19

"She was badly beaten."20

"Beaten? In her room? You mean someone attacked her? Nan didn't associate with men like that.” Aileen immediately came to the dead woman’s defense. “ She was so religious that an off-colored joke caused her to blush and leave the room. The office staff teased that she was in the wrong profession and should be a nun.” 21

“The woman was raped during the attack." And though he reached over to pat his daughter’s hand in a comforting gesture, the policeman surfaced automatically in her father and he questioned. "Did Nan mention anything about harassment? Perhaps an unhappy romantic interest-- or being stalked lately?"22

"Please Dad, the only thing she could talk about was her new house. She was so thrilled with it. 23

"Of course we had to discuss the Ahern case. Nan was so great with abused children, but for some illogical reason she began disliking Garth. I should have replaced her and I would have if things didn't work so quickly to the boy's advantage. Besides the boy liked Nan and so did his Uncle. If I took her off the case, Mathew might have objected." Aileen poured some hot tea to replace the little she'd drunk. "Still, it bothered me when Nan acted disgusted by and almost frightened of Garth."24

"Can't say as I blame her."25

"Dad, please, don't start on that. Why did you visit him in the first place?"26

"When I heard what happened to his mum." Hailey took a deep swallow from his own cup, shook his head, and then rubbed at a hidden pain in his brow. "I had this urge to see the kid myself. A stupid urge-- I knew when I first walked in that room. His mum dead and all that kid said was could he have a soda, and did we have any ice-cream."27

"He's only nine, Dad."28

"Yes, well, we've seen the last of him, thank the Almighty." 29

Around that time, senior investigator Rodger Keenan said, "Heaven help us! Damn…damn." He was mumbling to his partner Andy Stone as they rushed down the center aisle of Father Reagan's church. The closer they got to the tableau, the viler his curses became.30

The younger investigator remained mute. Stone's eyes were riveted on the unbelievable sight.31

"It's gotta be the priest. No one else is likely to be here on a workday noon and he wasn't in the rectory." Keenan seemed compelled to keep adding logical conclusions between profanities. They had reached the naked body flung face first on the altar. 32

He touched the neck to satisfy himself to what he was already certain of. So much blood could only mean the body was dead. "A murdered priest, gonna be fuckin’ hell ta pay." His eyes scanned the scene. Pulling a small journal from his pocket he began to take notes.33

The dead man had been crucified. A wooden handled knife through the back of each wrist pulled the outstretched arms nearly free of their sockets on the trunk. The legs were spread, with the same type of knife embedded in the soft flesh above each anklebone. The pooled blood testified this had been done while he was alive. A fifth blade handle protruded from the man's back at a spot in the area of his heart. Large pieces of black fabric stained richly by blood were mixed with ripped white undergarments; all thrown haphazardly around the altar floor.34

"He was raped with that." Stone found his voice and gagged with the words.35

Keenan looked where Stone pointed. A golden staff normally used to light candles lay on the floor. The handle of it was discolored. "Looks like object rape. Have to wait and see. Damn vicious kill. The flesh is still soft so he hasn't been dead too long. Let's back out of here. I'll call it in, you start looking around the grounds. See if you can locate the housekeeper or the janitor." 36

Andy Stone didn't need a second prompt. He wanted out of there as quickly as his legs could carry him.37

Just turning twenty-six, Andy was proud of his promotion to homicide, but he'd never considered stuff like this. Sure people killed each other, they beat, shot, knifed, that was a fact in any society. If they didn't he wouldn't have a job. But what kind of a sick creature killed like this in a church?38

He hadn’t gone far when he encountered a "Miz Kelly" in the act of setting down packages before the back door of the rectory. 39

He couldn't bring himself to tell her they had found a body in the church. The elderly housekeeper couldn't be asked to identify the body. Were she to do so, he was certain the gray-haired lady would drop over with a stroke. 40

"Father should be in the church," Miss Kelly said. "Sure, but he's a busy weekend coming up. Two marriages and a christenin'. Forms and such ya know, told me this mornin' he planned to be home all day. That was about six. Good man is an early riser. I stepped out about nine, went to market. Just getting' back. Something wrong, is there now?"41

"We came to talk to him about one of his parishioners. You happen to know Miss Nan Fitzgibbon?"42

"Sure, and a fine lass she was too. Heard about the killing when I met a few ladies while I was shopping. Terrible, terrible, thing, what's this country coming to when a lass ain't safe in her own bed."43

"You wouldn't happen to know if Nan had a steady fellow?"44

"Oh." A whimsical expression fluttered across her aged features. "Well, now…" She paused as if about to disclose a secret. "I've seen her talking a lot with Fred Cummins. Mind ya, mostly after services. Cummins lad ain't a bad sort, mind ya, I'm not one to be talking out of turn but he's not the sort to be courting a lass like Nan. The Cummins ain't parishioners, but his sis married a Hennessey and they is."45

“She was dating him?"46

"Now, I wouldn't be knowing that. Her parents would be shocked for certain. The Fitzgibbons are good people. The Cummins was always drinkers and raised a pack of rowdy younguns. Old man himself been in the lockup more times than out. But mind ya, I'm not saying young Fred's a bad one."47

"The janitor?"48

"Mr. Gill's gone to Belfast with his good wife. She's ta have surgery this morning, poor thing, a cancer ya know."49

Stone soon found out more about Mrs. Gills' cancer than he wanted to know. Added to that, in less then twenty minutes, he had enough material for a novel on every family in the small parish and fifty miles 'round.50

When he finally got away, he caught up with Keenan coming back out of the church. "It's the priest, all right," he said. "Let's put out a pick up on Fred Cummins. He was chummy with Nan Fitzgibbon. He was due to stand up for a nephew in this very church come Sunday. Father Reagan was giving the infant's mother, Fred's sis, a bad time over her choice of Godfather."51

"That's a reason to kill the priest?"52

"A lot of tie-ups here. Those are butcher knives that were used in the murder. The Cummins own a rundown meat market. 53

"I lifted Fred and his brothers a number of times in the past. Drunken brawls, a bit of thievery, Fred beat up a prostitute once—nearly crippled her. He's the real loose cannon in the bunch. 54

"And here's another odd coincidence. Not only does Cummins live in Strabane but also it seems the priest there is getting on in years. Father Reagan has been helping him out with administrative duties. Didn't the Ahrens have a run-in with some priest?"55

"Lad told me, himself. " Keenan corrected. "When I asked him about his ma's friends. Hell of a conversation. A kid that age, calling his ma a tart. Said a priest told him Leona consorted with the Devil. Don't think he knew what the priest meant. But he sure knew his ma didn't sleep alone every night.56

“ There are the blokes from the Coroner's office. You go send in the call to have Cummins picked up. Tell them to hold off questioning him 'til we get there." He went off to join the lab-coated gentlemen headed for the front door of the church.57