“You have every reason to object,” Emtee Dempsey said, already on the phone in her study. “But wouldn’t you like to clear this matter up?”
“Only what is obscure can be cleared up. This is simple as sin. We have the one responsible for those bombings.”
“There’s where you’re wrong, Richard.”
“How in hell can you know that?”
“The provenance of my knowledge is elsewhere. I realized what had happened when we were returning from Mass less than an hour ago.”
“Not on your life, Sister Mary Teresa. And I mean it.”
With that outburst, Kim was sure the old nun had won. Richard had to bluster and fulminate but it was not in his nature to deny such a request. Too often in the past, as he would never admit, such a gathering at Walton Street had proved a breakthrough. When he did agree, it was on his own terms.
“I will be bringing her by,” he said, as if changing the subject. “I want her to see that upstairs bedroom and what’s left of the computer.”
“That’s a splendid idea. Ten o’clock would be best for us.”
Mr. Rush agreed to bring the Laytons, and wild horses could not have kept Katherine away.
8
Benjamin Rush introduced the Laytons to Sister Mary Teresa, who squeezed the grieving mother’s hand while Geoffrey Layton tried not to stare at the old nun’s habit. He looked around the room as if fearful of what signs of superstition he might find, but a man who could get used to the shrine in the hallway of his own house had little to fear on Walton Street. Katherine swept in, a glint in her eye. At the street door she’d whispered that she couldn’t wait to see how Emtee Dempsey broke the shell of Miss Butterfingers.
Kim said nothing. It was unnervingly clear that Emtee Dempsey meant to exonerate the convicted terrorist. Katherine might soon be witnessing the first public embarrassment of her old friend, rather than another triumph. Janet was in the kitchen talking with Joyce, so Kim answered the door when Richard arrived. Regina Fastnekker stood beside him, hands joined in front of her, linked with cuffs, but her expression was serene. Behind them were two of Richard’s colleagues, Gleason and O’Connell, shifting their weight and looking up and down the street. Kim stepped aside and they trooped in.
“Okay if we just go upstairs?”
“The others are in the living room.”
Richard ignored that and proceeded up the stairs with his prisoner. O’Connell leaned close to Kim. “Who’s here?”
“I’ll introduce you.”
Gleason tugged O’Connell’s arm and shook his head warningly. They would stay right where they were.
When Richard came into the living room, one hand on Regina’s elbow, he feigned surprise at the people gathered there.
“I’m here for an on-site inspection of the bombing,” he announced to the far wall.
Mrs. Layton was staring with horror at Regina Fastnekker and her husband looked murderously at the expressionless terrorist. Regina had an announcement of her own.
“Your automobile was blown up by Michael Layton,” she said to Sister Mary Teresa.
“Get her out of here!” Geoffrey Layton cried. “Better yet, we’ll go.”
“Wait,” Emtee Dempsey said. “Let us hear what Regina has to say.”
She repeated, “Michael Layton blew up your car. I called him as soon as I heard of it on the news.” She moved closer to the old nun. “He despised me for being born-again. He meant to force my hand.”
Geoffrey Layton sneered. “He blew up their car and then blew up himself and then blew up the sisters’ computer? Is that your story?”
“Did you kill Michael Layton?” Sister Mary Teresa asked Regina.
“No.”
The old nun shifted her hands on the arms of the chair. “Did you do anything that resulted in the death of Michael Layton?”
Regina started. But she did not answer. She looked warily, almost fearfully at the old nun.
“I know you express yourself with great precision,” Emtee Dempsey said. “One who has vowed always to tell the truth must be most precise in what he says. I ask you again. Did you do anything that...”
“Yes!”
A smile broke out on Richard’s face and he looked as if he might actually hug Emtee Dempsey.
“But you didn’t murder him?”
“No.”
“Richard, let our guest sit down so that she can speak at her leisure.”
But Regina shook her head. She preferred to speak standing. “Michael blew up your car, using skills we had learned together. This consisted in planting the device and from a distance activating it. After Michael’s phone call, I drove past his house with a transceiver set at the appropriate frequency.”
“And there was an explosion.”
“Yes.”
“So you killed him!” Richard said.
“No. He killed himself. That radio signal could only harm him if he intended to harm someone else. If a man fires at another and his gun backfires and kills him, has his intended victim killed him or has he killed himself?”
It was a discussion that went on for some time. The general consensus in the room was that Regina was lying, blaming a dead man.
“That’s how she planned it,” Geoffrey Layton said with disgust.
Benjamin Rush sat sunk into himself. Nothing Geoffrey Layton could say would restore his son’s honor.
Emtee Dempsey rose and went to Mrs. Layton who was looking around almost wildly, as if she could not at all understand what was going on. Kim felt much the same way. Her eye met Janet’s and she went to her. How awful this must be for her. But Janet did not want to be consoled.
“I’m leaving,” she said, and started for the kitchen door.
“Wait, my dear.” Surprisingly, Emtee Dempsey was at Kim’s side. She took Janet’s hand authoritatively and led her to Regina.
“Regina Fastnekker,” she said, “did you give this girl computer disks to pass on to me?”
Regina looked surprised for the second time.
“No.”
“You are not dissembling, are you?”
Regina peered at Janet. “Is that how it was done?”
Janet lunged at Regina, who lifted her manacled hands and staved off the blow. By then Emtee Dempsey had again grasped Janet’s wrist and Richard had come to her assistance.
“We’re talking about the device that blew up the computer?”
“She’s the one,” Janet screamed, trying to free herself. “She ruined Michael’s life and he waited for her while she was in jail and out she comes a religious freak. No more terrorism for Miss Butterfingers.”
Janet threw back her head and began to howl in frustration. Her father seemed to age before their eyes and Mrs. Layton recoiled from the spectacle of her out-of-control daughter. Benjamin Rush tried to calm Janet, but she lowered her shoulder and bumped him away, very nearly sending him to the floor. That’s when O’Connell and Gleason came in and subdued her. It seemed a good idea to unshackle Regina and put the cuffs on Janet. Katherine Senski stood, looked around the room, and asked if she could use the study. She had a story to write.
But her story was incomplete until two days later when a defiant but subdued Janet told of rigging the disks in order to turn suspicion firmly on Regina. The woman had ruined Michael’s life and Janet was sure she had killed him as well. By continuing with her brother’s plan, she hoped to send Regina Fastnekker back to prison.
That, as it turned out, was her own destination, however postponed it would be, given the legal counsel her parents hired for her defense. She released a statement saying that she regretted that anything she might have done had threatened the nuns on Walton Street. But by then she had reverted to her story that Regina Fastnekker had persuaded her to deliver the disks.