"Including myself, five."
Pakula let out a long breath. His eyes met Maggie's before he reached up to swipe his hand over his shaved head.
"The deal was to turn over everything that I believe might help you capture this person. It's to my benefit that he be caught. However, before I do that," Keller said, but by now there was a definite, although subtle, quiver to his strong deep voice, "there's something else I need."
Of course there was, Maggie thought. What good timing. She wanted to tell him to forget it. They weren't even sure any of his information would help. But she could see Pakula sit forward and shift in his chair. She knew he wanted to see what was in the box and if there were actually any fingerprints.
"What else?" Pakula asked, glancing at Maggie but not waiting for her okay.
"As I mentioned to Agent O'Dell, I believe I've been poisoned. I have reason to believe it's something called monkshood."
Maggie wanted to laugh at the irony but instead muttered, "How appropriate."
Both men ignored her.
"I believe The Sin Eater sent me tea laced with monkshood. That's how he thought he would eliminate me."
"But you found out?" Pakula said. "How?"
"He told me. He seemed rather proud of his cleverness." Keller wiped at beads of sweat now on his forehead despite the room's still being freezing cold. Maggie thought his pupils were dilated and one of his hands had dropped to his lap where it fisted up as if he might be in pain.
"What do you want from us?" Pakula asked.
"I think it's called digitalis. It's used in heart medication. It's supposed to be an antidote to treat monkshood poisoning. I need it. You bring it to my hotel room and I'll hand over the box and my laptop."
He pushed back strands of hair sticking to his forehead and now he stood. She saw him wince; perhaps that simple movement was painful. Maggie tried to remember what the symptoms were for monkshood poisoning but couldn't be sure of anything other than it had been used mostly during the Middle Ages. It certainly wasn't a modern-day poison of choice.
Pakula stood, too, but looked at Maggie, waiting for her response, letting her finalize what had initially been her deal.
She remained seated. "Why in the world do you think you can trust us," she asked Keller, "when I've made it quite obvious that I think you're a cold-blooded killer?"
Although he appeared to be in some discomfort __ she could see him using his left hand against the table to steady himself __ his voice didn't waver when he met her eyes and said, "Because you gave me your word, Agent O'Dell. And I happen to know that means something to you."
CHAPTER 76
The Embassy Suites
Omaha, Nebraska
Pakula had finished his call to Chief Ramsey, then checked his voice messages to see if any were urgent. Kasab had taken Keller back to his room before the priest ended up having some sort of attack or before O'Dell ended up strangling him. She still looked like she wanted to. Pakula thought it looked more like Keller had malaria than been poisoned, but Keller seemed pretty certain what was wrong with him,
"Chief Ramsey's wife is an internist over at the Med Center. He's having her get whatever the hell Keller said he needed." He wondered if O'Dell heard him. She was pacing again, back and forth across the room.
"That boy, Arturo," she said "Keller murdered him before he left. He hasn't stopped."
Pakula let out a long sigh. She didn't look like she cared if he believed her or not. He knew what she was probably thinking. He didn't know Keller the way she did. He was meeting him for the first time, seeing him only as he was today, sick, sweating and trembling. However, Pakula could still remember details of that case four years ago. He'd never seen the killer's handiwork _ the raw carvings sliced into the chests of those poor innocent little boys __ but anything with kids was hard to stomach. He could understand it driving O'Dell crazy if she believed Keller was the killer, and especially if she believed he hadn't stopped.
"Look, O'Dell" Pakula said. "You might be right about Keller killing those boys outside of Platte City. Maybe you're right about this Arturo kid, but we have nothing on Keller. You're gonna have to let it go." He wasn't pissed at her. He hoped she could hear sympathy more than impatience in his voice. "You're no help to me in catching this killer if you don't let it go."
She was quiet and continued pacing. Then out of the blue she said, "Monkshood," and let out a laugh.
"Excuse me?"
"The Sin Eater certainly has a sense of humor."
"Careful," Pakula joked. "You sound like you're starting to admire him." He needed to get her mind on the killer and off Father Keller.
"Wouldn't you agree that the evilest of evil are those who intentionally harm children?" Her question sounded like a challenge.
"Without a doubt," he answered without hesitation.
"And what about the ones who not only intentionally do harm but use a child's respect and reverence for authority, like for a priest, in order to keep doing it again and again? Come on, Detective Pakula, you and I both know pedophiles well enough to know that Mark Donovan's experience with Monsignor O'Sullivan was not an isolated case."
"Agreed." He crossed his arms over his chest, suspecting that she was going somewhere with this, and that he didn't necessarily want to go along.
"How many pedophiles do you know who've been rehabilitated?"
"I know what you're getting at, Agent O'Dell."
"I don't know of any, but I can tell you about the little girl who was sexually assaulted and buried alive by a pedophile who had just been released from prison. In fact, I can tell you about dozens of cases." He watched her pause to run her fingers through her hair, her frustration clear. But her mind was off Keller and so he'd allow her the soapbox.
"You know as well as I do," she continued without any prompting, "that with pedophiles the violence usually accelerates, instead of stops. And yet in the last fifteen years the Catholic Church reassigned approximately fifteen hundred priests after allegations of sexual abuse. That is, of course, with the exception of a short vacation for some of them to a magical treatment center. My guess," she said, rubbing her shoulders as if she still hadn't gotten rid of her earlier chill, "is The Sin Eater is someone who simply got tired of seeing it happen over and over again without anyone else doing something about it. And yes, I suppose unlike any other killer I've profiled, I have to admit, I can almost sympathize with this one."
He was afraid that was exactly where she was going. "Is that your new profile?" he asked, smiling just enough, hopefully, to get her to relax and let the intensity go. "Yesterday you were telling me it was two killers, teenage boys who had been abused and were playing some game."
"It could be," she said, considering this as she began pacing again. "Kids sometimes have a basic, clear-cut view of justice."
"Father Paul Conley's head on the altar isn't my idea of any kind of justice."
She stopped for a minute and he wondered if she was reminding herself of the magnitude of these murders, or if she was simply envisioning Father Keller's head in Conley's place.
"I don't believe the man who killed Monsignor O'Sullivan killed Father Paul Conley," she said.
"Which follows your theory of two killers." Pakula still wasn't sold on the idea that teenage boys could pull these murders off. But he was beginning to think she was right about two killers. All the more reason they needed anything and everything Father Keller had brought with him.
"Why do you suppose Father Rudy down in Florida wasn't on the list?" she asked. But before he could answer she continued, "That may mean Keller's list is bogus. The murderer gives Keller a list knowing he'll hand it off to the authorities. Of course, he's going to include those who have already been killed to give the list some credibility. But why isn't Father Rudy on the list?"