“Of course.” He gestured to the pew next to them. “This is God’s house, not mine.” He smiled again. “Well, maybe it’s a little Father Barnabas’s. He seems to put his stamp on everything around him.”
“That’s interesting,” she said absently as she sat down. Get down to the reason that she was here. She just hoped he was the right Father Dominic. She hadn’t even established that fact yet. “Several years ago, you visited a James O’Leary at his pub in Dublin. Is that right?”
“O’Leary?” He made a face. “Oh, yes. Not one of my most pleasant memories. He threw me out.”
She gave a relieved sigh. First bridge crossed. “After you gave him a rosary blessed by the Pope.”
He nodded. “And I prayed for his soul after I left him. I’m not even sure the Holy Father could—” He broke off, gazing at her curiously. “Why are you asking me this?”
“Because you told O’Leary that his cousin, Kevin Donnelly, had asked you to give O’Leary the rosary. I need to know how to find Kevin Donnelly.”
He tilted his head. “You don’t know?”
“If I knew, would I be asking you?” she asked impatiently. “The hospital where he worked isn’t being very cooperative. We’ll track him down, but there’s no reason why you can’t tell us where he is. It will save us time.”
He chuckled. “You sound like a bill collector. Though I know Kevin would never be a deadbeat.”
“You know him well?”
“Very well.”
“When was the last time you saw him?”
He didn’t answer directly. “Why do you want to find him? Are you one of the patients he worked with at the hospital?”
“No, but I have questions about one of this patients.” She said. “You’re trying to protect him? I don’t want to cause him any trouble. I just want to locate one of his ex-patients and ask Donnelly a few questions.”
He shook his head. “Kevin won’t disclose any confidences.”
“Isn’t that up to him? There’s a very good reason for him to tell me what I need to know.” She added deliberately, “Life or death, Father Dominic. So why don’t you tell me when you saw him last and where I can find him now.”
“Life or death?” He was silent a moment. “Truly, Ms. Duncan?”
She looked him in the eye. “I don’t lie, Father.”
He nodded slowly. “No, I don’t believe you would.” He thought for a moment. “I don’t know why I’m trying to guard him. He can take care of himself. He’d laugh at me.” He grimaced. “He does that quite a bit actually.”
Present tense. She stiffened. He was going to give her the information. “Tell me.”
“When did I last see him?” His lips turned up at the corners. “About forty-five minutes ago.”
“What?”
“And where can you find him?” He nodded at the door to the left of altar. “Out in the garden. He’s trying to repair the fountain.”
She stared at him blankly. “He’s a handyman?”
“Kevin is many things, a regular jack-of-all-trades.” He stood up and helped her to her feet. “And actually I offered to try to fix the fountain, but he said it was his responsibility.” He paused. “Since it was his church.”
Her gaze narrowed on his face. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“That Kevin is the priest who requested I come here and help him for a few weeks?” He nodded. “Father Barnabas.”
She had suspected it was coming, but she was still stunned. “Why?”
“I assure you that he wasn’t trying to go undercover or some such nonsense. He took the name when he graduated from the seminary.”
“In Valdosta, Georgia.” She was putting the pieces together. “That’s where he went to seminary.”
He nodded. “That’s where I met him. We were students together. We became friends. We’re still good friends. Kevin is a remarkable man. It’s not often a man gives up a lucrative medical practice and years of training to devote himself to God.”
“Why did he do it? You’re saying he had some kind of calling?”
“I’m saying that he’s a fine man,” he said quietly. “And that if you want to know anything else about him, you should ask him yourself.” He gestured to the door. “And tell him if he wants to go to the office and talk to you, I’ll take over repairing that fountain.” He smiled. “Kevin gets fixated on a project once he starts it. He won’t stop until he finishes. He’s always sure that nobody else can do it as well as he can. I always tell him that God doesn’t approve of the sin of vanity.”
“And what does he reply?”
“He says that God wouldn’t have given him a mind and a skill if He hadn’t meant him to use them.” He started to turn away. “Kevin always has an answer.”
“I hope he has a few for me,” Eve said grimly as she headed for the door he’d indicated. “I have a friend, John Gallo, who should be here soon. He stopped outside to take a phone call. Would you tell him what you told me and where I am?” She saw him hesitate, and added, “He’s no threat to Kevin Donnelly either. I promise you, Father Dominic. All he has to do is answer a few questions.”
He nodded. “I believe you. As I said, Kevin can take care of himself.” He headed down the aisle. “If he couldn’t, he wouldn’t be capable of caring for hundreds of parishioners.” He glanced over his shoulder, his eyes twinkling. “With the help of God … and his friends, of which I count myself one of the more intelligent. I’m afraid I have a bit of vanity myself.”
She could feel the excitement tingle through her. Close. She was so close. She had never dreamed that she’d be lucky enough to be heading straight to Kevin Donnelly when they’d driven up to this cathedral. “A little vanity never hurt anyone.” She was moving quickly toward the door. “Thank you, Father.” She opened the door, and her gaze quickly searched the spacious rose garden. It was a lovely, formal garden with a two-tiered stone fountain in the center of it. The fountain was encircled by three stone benches.
But there was only a dark-haired teenage boy in a Bon Jovi T-shirt near that fountain. He was squatting down and peering at—
“Give me the screwdriver, Billy.”
“Did you find it, Father?” He moved, and Eve could see that the side of the fountain had been jacked up, and a man was on his back and half under the fountain.
“I think so. It’s calcium deposits blocking the filter. If I can clean them out, the water should run fine until I can get a new filter.”
“Do you want me to do it?”
“No, not this time. I’m getting it. But the next time I expect you to be able to recognize the problem and be able to take care of it. You’re studying to be a gardener, and taking care of the hardscape is as important as the planting.”
It had to be Kevin Donnelly, Eve thought, as she walked toward them. Though all she could see was two black-clad legs protruding from beneath the fountain.
But when she was within a few yards of the fountain, he suddenly scooted out into the path with a quick, lithe, undulating motion. “Done.” He grinned at the boy and handed him the screwdriver. “Go turn the water back on. It should flow like the Red Sea rushing back to drown the Egyptians.”
“You shouldn’t be so bloodthirsty, Father.” The boy chuckled. “You’re always telling me that I need to—” He broke off as he saw Eve. His smile faded, and he quickly whirled on his heel. “I’ll go turn on the water.” He hurried down the path toward the church.
Eve’s gaze followed him. “I didn’t mean to scare him off.” She turned back to the man who’d emerged from beneath the fountain. If this was Kevin Donnelly, he was a man in his fifties, with a strong, tall, muscular body, a shock of gray-flecked hair, and blue eyes surrounded by laugh lines. “You’d think I had a contagious disease.”
“You’re a woman,” Kevin Donnelly said as he wiped his wet hands on a towel he’d picked up from the ground. “Billy has problems with women.”
“He’s shy?”
“No, just wary.” He got to his feet. “Forgive my appearance. I’ve been training Billy on the basics of becoming a gardener. He has a real talent for it. I’m Father Barnabas. Is there something that I can do for you?”
“Father Dominic thought you might.” She paused. “I’ve been looking for Kevin Donnelly.”