Criminal Intent by William Bernhardt

Author:William Bernhardt
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780345458629
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2002-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter

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23

The crime scene teams were still hard at work when Ben drove by the church about eight o’clock that night. Most of the hardest work had been done—the pictures were taken, the site had been combed for physical evidence, the body had been removed. But that was just the start of the process; Ben knew it would be days before the police pulled out entirely, and weeks before the church was able to return to any semblance of normalcy.

He was surprised, however, to see Mike’s shiny silver TransAm out front. He parked and strolled inside.

Mike was in his usual rumpled trench coat, even though it wasn’t remotely cold, barking orders and marching his underlings through their paces.

“Didn’t I tell you to get those bloodstains off the wall?” Mike bellowed. He was nose-to-nose with some poor unfortunate baby officer.

“Y-y-yes, sir. I did that, sir.”

“And how, may I ask? Did you lick it up?”

“N-n-no, sir. I used a rag.”

“A rag and what?”

Ben heart’s bled for the poor chump. He looked as if he were about to pass out. “Water, sir.”

“And where, may I ask, did you get this water?”

“I—I found a sink. In the sanctuary, sir.”

“That wasn’t a sink, you dunderhead.” Mike leaned into his face. “That was a baptismal font! You just scrubbed the walls with holy water!”

“I—I—I—oh, I’ll refill it—”

“I’ve been informed they have that water brought in all the way from the river Jordan in the Middle East.”

The young officer’s mouth formed a broad O.

“And you just used it to moisten your Comet!”

“I—I—I—don’t know what—”

“Get out of my sight, Sergeant. Finish your job!”

“Yes, sir. I will, sir.”

“And this time get the water out of the bathroom!”

The young man scurried away, obviously relieved to escape the senior homicide detective’s wrath.

Mike spotted Ben standing at the door. “Returning to the scene of the crime?”

“So to speak. Being a bit harsh, weren’t you?”

Mike shoved his hands deep into his coat pockets. “It’s good for them.”

“Oh, no doubt. Sort of like verbal shock therapy.” He grinned. “I thought you were supposed to mellow as you got older.”

“Seems to be having the opposite effect on me.”

“That’s because you spend too much time around murders.”

“No, that’s because I spend too much time around lawyers. So what brings you here? Didn’t your big case start today?”

“Yup. But I wanted to see what was going on here. See if you learned anything.”

“Like what?”

“Like maybe—who did it?”

Mike gave him a withering look. “Give me a break, Ben. I’m not on the jury.”

“Mike . . . Father Beale did not commit this murder. Or any of the others.”

“You’re in deep denial, Ben.”

“I’m serious. I have a strong feeling about this.”

“Do I need to catalog all the times your feelings have turned out to be dead wrong?”

“I’m not wrong this time. I know I’m not.”

Mike shook his head. “I think it’s best we change the subject. Before I have you arrested for aggravated stupidity.”

Ben took the hint. “Is this killing consistent with the previous two murders?”

Mike’s head tilted slightly.

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