Ground Truth by Rebecca A Miles

Author:Rebecca A Miles
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pittsburgh;detective;diversity;poison;skeleton;cold case
Publisher: Light Messages Publishing
Published: 2022-04-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

Unlike Michael’s and Rosalie’s funeral, which was held at the diocese’s grand cathedral, Fiona McCarthy’s Mass took place at her local church and was attended only by family, neighbors, and her bingo buddies. The priest’s remarks were bittersweet; sweet because his reflections on Fiona’s life were personal and humorous, but bitter because he was at a loss to explain why an innocent like her would be gunned down in her own home.

Jablonsky attended the service. He parked himself in the last pew of the church in order to observe the congregation. The neighborhood church he grew up in was much like this one—small, gossipy, always struggling for money. It felt familiar, but not in a good way; the sheer numbers of the sexual abuse cases had destroyed any good memories he had of church.

The chief headed to the basement hall where he saw Kate and Joan sitting together at one of the back tables; they were watching Johnny, with Eddie Fitzroy at his side, moving around the room fulfilling his filial duty. Jablonsky noticed that Fitzroy seemed to know how to strike just the right tone with Fiona’s elderly friends—sympathetic and sometimes irreverent. His years of dealing with elders from other cultures served him well.

Stefan overheard Joan ask Kate, “How is Johnny doing?” Kate folded and refolded her napkin, so preoccupied that she did not answer Joan’s question. “Ladies, I’m going to give my condolences to John, and then I’m going to have to leave.”

Jablonsky looked longingly at Kate and Joan’s food; Fiona’s friends had prepared a luncheon filled with ethnic favorites, which were also the chief’s favorites. Rosalie’s Bakery had sent a fabulous spread of pastries, enough so that the funeral guests could take some home. His hungry look brought Kate out of her machinations—she offered to make him a plate of food to take back to the precinct.

The chief encircled Johnny in a fatherly hug, deeply sorry for the brutal way his mother had died. While they were talking, Dr. Marco Rossetti moved slowly toward them, guiding his mother, Lisa Marie, obviously still nervous at being outside of her home.

Mrs. Rossetti offered her hand to Johnny, saying, “I worked with your mother for more years than I’d like to admit. She was a good baker, always cheerful and pleasant to the customers—a hard worker. I liked her. And I’m so sorry about all this ugly business. I’ll pray to St. Anthony to help the chief find her killer.” Everyone in the room grew quiet as she spoke. They knew the pain that Mrs. Rossetti had borne over her missing children, so for them, she was now endowed with a patina of gravitas.

Johnny bent forward to thank the diminutive woman, and when she put her mother’s arms around him, he gave in to his grief. Jablonsky, Joan, and Kate all searched in their pockets for Kleenex. Marco, on the other hand, stood apart, in a posture of watchfulness. His mother let go of Johnny, then slowly walked around the room greeting old friends; Marco approached Jablonsky.

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