He smiled slightly. “It’s not as if we don’t have experience.”
His words brought back a flood of memories of those weeks she had stalked Gallo in the wilds of Wisconsin before she had become convinced he had not killed Bonnie. That time had become a fascinating and challenging game when the prey had turned hunter, and they had gradually begun to know each other in ways that neither had dreamed. For the briefest instant, she felt a stirring of the sensual heat that had become a part of the chase before she blocked it. “Yes.” She met his gaze. “And this time we’ll be working toward the same goal. We’ll be doing this together.”
He nodded and turned away. “It may take two of us. My uncle is sharp and experienced. He’ll try to cover his prints.…”
* * *
WHEN JOE WAS TWENTY minutes from the cathedral, he placed a call to Father Barnabas. He didn’t expect it to be picked up, but he took the chance. It rang four times before it was answered.
“Father Barnabas, my name is Joe Quinn. I need to talk to you. I know you’ve undergone a terrible experience but—”
“Where are you, Detective Quinn?”
“About twenty minutes from you. Detective? Eve told you about me?”
“No, we didn’t discuss anything but Ted Danner. But the detective who questioned me seemed to have tapped a good deal of information regarding you and Eve Duncan. He asked me if I knew you, and he told me that he had to question you. I told him that you had nothing to do with the taking of Ms. Duncan, but he said that it was always necessary to question the husband or significant other in a relationship.”
“That’s true. Is the detective still there?”
“No, he just left. But there’s a policeman on duty. I reminded him about the adage about locking the barn door after the livestock was stolen, but he insisted anyway. If you wish to see me privately, it would be better if we met in the rose garden in the back. You can go to the cross street beyond the church and double back and go in the garden gate.”
“You’ll meet with me?”
“Certainly. I’ve been expecting you. Eve Duncan is a strong woman, and her disappearance would cause ripples that go far and deep. I’ll see you by the fountain in the garden.”
There was a uniformed policeman on guard outside the cathedral when Joe drove past it and up to the cross street. That meant that the back entrance would likely be unguarded.
Ten minutes later, he was walking down the garden path toward the fountain. It was dark, but the fountain area and the man sitting on the bench beside it were illuminated by a gas lamppost on the rosebushes on either side.
“Father Barnabas?”
“Sit down, Detective Quinn. I’d stand to greet you, but I’m still a little woozy.” The priest smiled. “I’m sure that Eve Duncan didn’t mean to hurt me by that blow to the head, but it was immediately followed by one by Ted Danner. He definitely meant to put me out of action for a while.”
“Yet the two of you have had a close relationship that’s spanned years.” He sat down on the bench. “He was willing to give that up just to make sure he got his hands on Eve? Why?”
“Lately, our relationship has not been as close as it once was. He won’t listen if I don’t say what he wants to hear.” The priest’s smile faded. “Danner has changed. He claimed that his medication is keeping him from being alert enough to guard himself from the demons and refused to go back on it. His illness has become uncontrollable. There are times when he believes everyone is his enemy.”
“But you refused to help Eve when she asked you to help her find him.”
“I’ve been trying to bring him back to some kind of normalcy since the moment I started treating him at the VA hospital. There have been times when I thought I was coming close. I thought it was my responsibility to find him before he did any more harm.” He met Joe’s eyes. “My responsibility, Detective. There is so much good in Ted Danner. I’ve watched him work with the children of the parish here. He wants to do what’s right. I don’t want him hunted and shot down like a rabid dog. I want to get him under treatment again.”
Joe shook his head. “It’s not going to happen. Not if he killed Bonnie Duncan. Not if he hurts Eve.”
“But what if he didn’t do either? He has a chance.”
“All I care about is Eve’s chances.” Joe’s lips tightened. “And I’ll be the one who shoots Danner if he even touches a strand of her hair. You turned Eve down, but you’re not going to refuse me, Father.”
His brows lifted. “Are you threatening me?”
“If you don’t show me a way to find Danner, I’ll regard you as an accomplice. I don’t care if you’re a priest or the Dalai Lama.”
“And you love Eve Duncan very much.” His gaze shifted back to the shimmering spray of the fountain. “Love is a wonderful thing. Through all his torment, Danner still feels love. That’s why I think he can still be saved.”
“Then you should have saved him when you had a chance instead of shunting him off to another psychiatrist and joining the priesthood.”
Father Barnabas flinched. “Do you think I haven’t thought about that? I wasn’t vain enough to think that I was the only competent psychiatrist in the country. I thought I was doing the right thing. I’d come to a point with some of my patients that I’d tried every skill I’d learned to bring them back to the human race. I couldn’t do any more. I couldn’t perform miracles. But God can do what I can’t. I decided to quit claiming I was brilliant and all-knowing and give Him a chance.”
“And you’re not sorry?”
The priest shook his head. “Why? Occasionally I get to even be present for one of his miracles. Sometimes they’re small, sometimes they fill me with wonder. No, I’m not sorry.”
Dammit, I like this man, Joe thought with frustration. He might be conning him and hiding his real agenda but, if that was what he was doing, he was a superb actor. Ignore that warm charisma and force him to do what he needed him to do. “Then you can get God to keep Eve safe and deliver Danner to me, Father. Either that, or it’s up to you.”
The priest chuckled. “It doesn’t work that way. I’m permitted to observe, not orchestrate. But you’re right, it is up to me. You’re not going to have to damage your conscience by harassing a priest.”
“My conscience isn’t in danger. Not if it concerns Eve.” He met his gaze. “And I regard you as damaged goods in the clergy department. You may be very dirty.”
“And I may not. You’re not sure.”
“Evidently, the court wasn’t either. I can see you’d be a very believable witness. But your obsession with finding Danner could be—”
“Not what it seems,” the priest said. “But you’ll have to accept that if you want to find Danner yourself.”
He tensed. “You’re going to tell me where I can find Danner?”
“I’m going to tell you where we can start.”
“We?”
“I told you, I’m going with you,” Father Barnabas said quietly. “I’m not going to give up my chance of saving Danner. But I can’t run the risk of having him hurt Eve Duncan if I can prevent it, so I’ll permit you to accompany me. You have that right. But I have the right to try to keep Danner alive if I can and try to end his torment.”
Joe frowned. “It’s a lousy idea. You could get hurt. You’d get in my way.”
“Your concern is truly touching. It’s a possibility, but just because I wear a white collar is no sign that I haven’t lived in the real world. I was in the army myself when I was a kid fresh out of high school. I know how to survive.”
“But not how to attack. Or if you did know, you chose to forget it. I don’t believe in turning the other cheek, and I don’t like the idea of having to protect you when you do.”
“Get used to it. I’m going to be with you until we find Danner.”
Joe stared at him in exasperation. The priest’s expression was calm but completely resolute. “We’ll talk about it. What’s your starting point?”