"No, I don't know of anything that was troubling "she said.
"Never mentioned any problems or...”
"Never,”
“And these women who called or wrote...”
"Different women. Women in the parish mostly," she said.
"Would you remember their names?”
"Not offhand. But any letters would be in the file...”
"Yes, I saw them.”
"... and I kept a log of all telephone calls - unless the new secretary's already thrown it out.”
"Where would it have been?”
"On my desk. To the fight of the phone.”
"A book, a pad...?”
"One of those printed message pads. Pink. While You Were Out, and so on.
And then a space for the message and the caller's name and number.”
"These women who called.., did any of them ever visit Father Michael?”
"Visit him?”
"Yes. Come to the church. To see him. To talk to "There were women who came to the office, yes," Krissie said, and looked at him. "You know,” she said, "I get the feeling you're.., well.., never mind, I'm sure I'm wrong.”
"Maybe you're right," he said. "What are you thinking?”
"That... well.., from the questions asking.., well, you seem to be suggesting that Michael was.., well...”
" r ¢,, eso "Do you think that might have been the "No.”
"You sound very positive.”
"I think Father Michael was wholly God and to the Catholic Church. I doubt if he noticed women as such. Or thought of them way.”
"In what way?”
"A sexual way. He was very good-looking," know.., well, you saw him...”
Hawes had seen a corpse.
Someone repeatedly stabbed and slashed. "... all the little parish girls were crazy those classic black-Irish looks, that Gene smile...”
The body on the stone floor of the garden been smiling.
They had caught a homicide, period.
The victim was a white male in his early dark hair, dark eyes.
Good-looking?
Hawes could not remember.
"... is what I'm saying. He was sensitive marvelously understanding, and these are traits women naturally find appealing. But he was a you see?
And as such, he couldn't dwell on... matters of the flesh. He couldn't think of laimself as being attractive to women. And he ..certainly couldn't allow himself to be attracted to thena.”
"His sister thinks otherwise," Hawes said.
"Oh?" Krissie said.
"She seems positive her brother was having an .affair with someone.”
"Someone in the parish?”
"He didn't say, and she doesn't know.”
"I'm surprised," Krissie said. "Really.”
"You never saw any indication that he might have...”
"Not the slightest.”
"Even though there were calls and letters...”
"Well, from men too.”
"And visits...”
"Yes, from both men and women. St. Catherine's is a busy parish and he was a responsive pastor. I remember how surprised I was when I first began working there, the number of people he found time to see. His energy was.., well.., amazing. I don't think the man ever slept, really.”
"This was when?”
"When I started the job? The beginning of March, it was snowing I remember. I walked from the Subway stop to the church...”
... and had trouble finding the entrance. You Come in on the Culver Avenue side, you know, well, you've been there. The church is laid out like a all churches are, with the central portal altar. The rectory at St. Catherine's is on the we side of the church, you come through this arched door, and you go through the sacristy then into a wood-paneled corridor and into rectory. Father Michael's office is in a corner once was a part of the kitchen. In fact, there us be a wood-burning stove where the filing now are, against the southern wall.
It's funny, but Krissie feels as if she's auditioning for a part.
Maybe because there's another girl in the when she arrives. You go to a theater to try something, there're always a hundred other there. In the theater, of course, you call anyone the age of thirty a girl, but the girl in Michael's office on that blustery March really is a girl, thirteen years old if that, jeans and a grey sweatshirt, and yellow rubber boots, her long dark hair spilling down over her as she leans over the desk. He is saying, "You put in the ticket price, Gloria," it turns out discussing a big church dance that won't take till the beginning of June, and the beautiful little girl has designed the poster for it, and brought it for Father Michael to look at. "What do you it?”
he says to Krissie, lifting the poster off the and showing it to her.
She hasn't even told him who she is yet, said she's here about the part-time secretarial b, but immediately he's getting her involved in :h matters. She looks at the poster, which shows lot of young girls and boys dancing, and features fat black music notes floating on the air over eir heads, and balloon-type lettering that ounces The June Hop, to take place at St. "fine's Hall on Friday night, the first of June. is only the beginning of March, but Father ;hael likes to get his young people involved long advance of any planned event. "So?" he says, and at her... "He really did have a Gene Kelly smile...”
... and waits for her answer as if the entire future the Catholic Church depends upon it. The little girl- she's not truly little, she is in fact five feet six tall, but to Krissie she's only a little girl, , thirteen, whatever is also waiting for her decision, critics, critics everywhere. This is a first-night opening up here on North Eleventh Street, they're waiting for the reviewer from Channel 4 to express an opinion. Gloria, he'd called her Gloria, is a beautiful little girl, with a pale oval face and high bones, long black hair falling clean and to her shoulders, lips slightly parted, electric eyes opened wide in anticipation.
Krissie feels a sudden empathy for the girl, who sly drew the poster and who is now yearning y for the priest's approval, which may or not hinge upon what Krissie has to say about her effort. Krissie knows what it's like to be however, and she also knows what a "sell" can mean to a show, and so she expresses the that the poster really makes a person want to here and dance, at which point Gloria "Yippee!" or something equally adolescent throws her arms around Krissie and gives her a big hug.
Krissie is here for a job, remember. And beginning to think this isn't such a dignified impression, a teenager jumping up and down in arms and yelling when she hasn't even introduced herself. So she listens to Father Mi telling the girl that the poster is terrific except for price she forgot to put in, and the girl is excited by Krissie's rave review and the terrific Gene Kelly grin of approval and his Let's Put On A Show contagion that she's wetting her pants there in the office. But scoops up the poster and thanks Krissie again leaves the office all adolescent happiness and The handsome young priest shakes his head she's gone and says something about the kids in this parish, and finally, Krissie introduce herself and to tell him she's here job. And do you know what he says?
"He says, "Can you start today?' Just like Krissie said, and shook her head. "I guess he what happened there with Gloria, the way I myself with Gloria who, by the way, is a president of the C.Y.O., bright as can be, and tiful besides.”
“I know," Hawes said, "Carella told me.”
"The point is... well.., he was a fine, decent man, Look, I don't know his sister, I can't say she's telling the truth or not. But if she told he was.., involved with some woman... I mean, find that hard to believe.
That he was having an rir with some woman... I mean, I guess she said were sexually involved, didn't she?”
“Yes, he told her he'd violated his vows of :hastity.”
"With some woman.”