He tells her it's nothing, really, he shouldn't have written the letter at all, everything's fine now, she must be very excited about the trip to Japan, hm?
But Irene knows him too well. She was thirteen When he was born, which puts her at forty-five now, and she raised him almost as if he were her own child, her mother being a businesswoman who ran off to work every day and then complained of utter an all weekend long. She knows her brother all too well, and she knows he is hiding now, excited about the trip to Japan indeed; she accompanied her husband to Japan on evi business trip he's made in the past six years! So bides her time, and listens patiently to him telling about someone in the congregation who umbrage over his sermons about the tithe... "He mentioned Arthur Farnes, did he?”
"I don't remember the man's name. But, yes, . was one of the things troubling him...”
... and someone's mother coming to seek and advice about her homosexual son's involved with, of all things, devil worship.., and about... "He was beginning to rattle on by then," said, "do you know the way people sometimes When they're trying to avoid what''s really them? I'm not saying these things weren't bothering him.., the tithe.., and the drugs... the ... "The what?" Carella said.
"Well... drugs, yes. My brother seemed to someone was using the church as a sort storehouse. For drugs. He tore the whole place one weekend, looking for where they were but...”
"Are you saying illegal drugs? substances?”
"Well, yes, I'm sure that's what he meant.”
"He found drugs inside the church?”
"Well, no, he didn't. But he certainly looked for m. At least, that's what he told me. As I said, he tas starting to get a bit hysterical by then. Because he was coming to what the real problem was, and it didn't have a damn thing to do with any of the little things he was talking about. It had to do with...”
A woman.
Her brother is involved with a woman.
He does not tell Irene how this started or even how long it has been going on, but it is tormenting him that he has violated his vows of chastity and himself in a situation from which there is no honorable escape. He loves Jesus Christ and he loves this woman and the two loves are incompatible and irreconcilable. He mentions that he has considered suicide... "He told you this?”
".Yes. On the telephone.”
"Had he considered a way of doing it?”
"What?”
"Did he tell you how he planned to kill himself?.”
"Well, no. I mean, what difference would that make?”
“A lot," Carella said.
"It frightened me, I can tell you that," Irene said.
"I almost cancelled the trip. I thought I'd come east instead, be with my brother, see him through this...”
But he tells her that taking his own life would be even greater sin than breaking his solemn vows.
swears to her and to the good Lord Jesus that he will not even think such thoughts again, swears on the telephone. At Irene's urging, he swe well that he will tell this woman he cannot go! with a relationship that is tearing him apart, continue deceiving God in this way, destro, " is dearest to him. He will once again renounce flesh, as he'd sworn to do so long ago, and pray God's help in living forevermore a chaste spiritual life.
He promises this to his sister.
"And then.., when I got the call from Quentin... we'd just come upstairs from dinner.i was a lovely night there in Tokyo, the blossoms still in bloom, the air so sweet.., and he told me my brother was dead. And...
and... first thing I thought was that he'd killed He'd done it. He'd broken his promise to me.”
The limo went still.
"But this is worse, isn't it?" Irene "Someone killing him that way.”
Yes, Carella thought. This is worse.
Not to kill him, no. To talk to him. To ask him her. Because you can't condemn a person first hearing his side of the story, isn't that true?
can't just begin hating a person until you prove sure that there's really a reason to hate him. this is a man of God, don't forget, this is not someone like you or me, this is a man dedicated his life to God. And if he's going to break the rules that way, then he shouldn't be saying one thing and doing another thing. The rules should apply to everybody.
That's the way rules work.
Everybody knows you have to stop when a traffic light turns red. If you don't stop when it's red, then nobody is obeying the rules, and there'll be an accident, and someone might get killed. Of all people, he should be the one obeying rules, especially the promises he made to God. If you make a promise to God, you have to keep it or God will strike you dead.
That's in the Bible, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.
Kissing her. But maybe there was some explanation. On the lips.
Maybe he had some explanation for why he was doing that. Maybe there was something in church custom or church law that you had to kiss a woman on the lips in order to whatever. Bless her maybe.
Greet one another with a holy kiss, that's in the Bible. It was all right to kiss in Scriptures, it was common practice. The one I shall kiss is the man and he came up to Jesus at once and said Hail, Master, and he kissed him. Or when he's sitting at table in the Pharisee's house and the sinner brings an alabaster flask of ointment and wets his feet with her tears and kisses his feet, this was Jesus getting his feet kissed.
It was common in the Bible, look at Solomon, O that you would kiss me with the kisses of your mouth for your love is better than wine, your anointing oils are fragrant, your name is oil poured out, therefore the maidens love you. So maybe there was. explanation, and if you go to the person and ask what the reason is, if there is a reason, then can tell you, explain that he was only greeting holy kiss, you shouldn't judge a book by its ask and it shall be delivered unto you. Was intention. To ask. To inquire. To discover. To from his own lips that this kiss was not appeared to be, was not a man kissing a beautiful woman, in fact, but was instead a holy priest, performing some kind of of do whatever it was he was doing. A holy kiss, the Bible, there are holy kisses, what's in the true, every word of it. Not to kill him, no. To ta him. To ask him about her. But how could he his hands under her skirt, her panties down her ankles, this was not a holy kiss, this could have been a holy kiss, not with her blouse open her naked breasts showing, Oh, may your like clusters of the vine, and the scent of your like apples, and your kisses like the best wine goes down smoothly, gliding over lips and goes down smoothly, goes down no this was holy kiss it was not that no.
The call came at twenty minutes to one afternoon, not five minutes after Willis had gone for the Sunday papers. The moment she heard voice, Marilyn realized they'd been watching ouse, waiting for him to leave before they placed the call.
In Spanish, the voice said, "Good afternoon.”
Buenas tardes.
She recognized the voice at once. The handsome one. The one she had cut.
In Spanish, she answered, "I've been waiting for your call.”
"Ah, did you know we would call?”
Politely. In Spanish. No sense playing games now. They knew who she was.
If they were to do business, it would be simpler to do it in their native tongue. From now on, nothing but Spanish.
"Yes, in fact, I was hoping you'd call," she said.
"We have business to discuss.”
"Ah.”
A note of sarcastic skepticism in that single word.
The Spanish were wonderful at conveying shades of meaning by inflection of the voice alone.
"Yes. I want to pay you. But I'll need time.”
"Time, yes.”
"But I'm not sure I'll be able to raise the entire two million.”
"Ah, what a pity.”
"Because even if I sell everything I own...”
"Yes, that is surely what you must do.”
“ . I'll still be short.”