got me out eventually,” Petty said, looking at Larue. “I’m sorry. I hope those guys know...”
“They know,” Larue reassured him. He turned back to Quinn. “The other officers corroborate what Officer Petty just said. They swear there was some kind of fog in the evidence lockup.”
Quinn nodded. “So, did any of them stay behind?”
“There are men there now, three of them. The fog dissipated.”
“You saw it, too?” Quinn asked.
“Don’t know what it was, but I saw it, yes.”
“All right. I’ll talk to these guys, see what they have to say,” Quinn said. He patted Officer Petty on the knee. “Something bizarre happened in there. No need to feel like a crazy man. I’ll take a look and see if I can figure out what went on.”
“You’re not just, uh, patronizing me, are you?” Petty asked.
“I don’t patronize anyone,” Quinn told him. “Did you hear voices? Did you hear anyone speaking? Could you see anything in the fog?”
Petty shook his head. “No...just black within shadows, if that makes any sense. And—and I couldn’t stop myself. I’ve never had a stroke...I’m in great health. I don’t know...I just don’t know.”
Quinn glanced over at Larue. He wondered what his friend was thinking and quickly found out when Larue said, “I came in at the tail end when everything was pure chaos. But...”
“But?” Quinn prodded.
“But as I said, I saw it, too. Fog. Like the fog you get when the weather’s about to change and you know there might be a storm on the horizon. At first, although I couldn’t smell smoke, I thought there’d been a fire. It was a mess. Hell, maybe my mind’s going...except that if it was some hallucination, we were all affected.”
“Was anything missing?”
“The first assessment we made was on confiscated weapons,” Larue said. “All accounted for. The crew in there now is still checking.”
“I think I should see the evidence room,” Quinn said.
Larue nodded and then returned his attention to Officer Petty. “Dan, you know you’ll need to spend an evening in the...the hospital for assessment yourself, right?” Larue asked gently.
“A night in the loony bin,” Petty said. “I don’t care. Anywhere except the evidence lockup.”
Larue gestured at the doorway. There was a man in some kind of medical uniform waiting. Petty rose and shook Quinn’s hand. “Thank you. Thank you for listening. And you...you weren’t even here. You didn’t see. Thank you for believing.”
Quinn nodded gravely.
Petty left the room; one of Larue’s men was outside the office, too, ready to accompany the medical man and Officer Petty.
“What do you think?” Larue asked Quinn.
“I think you’re going to find something missing from your evidence room. We have to determine exactly what it is.”
“You mean someone was trying to break in?”
“Break in—or break out. I’m not sure which,” Quinn replied. But he immediately thought of the Garcia murders and the evidence that might have been taken from the house....
“Look for a little glass jar,” he said. “Like a vial.”
“What’s in it?” Larue asked.
“I don’t know, since it was empty—except for a trace of...something. Anyway, Grace and I felt it needed to be tested. But, whatever it was, I think the killer brought it to the house with him. And I’ll bet it’s gone.”
* * *
Danni returned to the shop, but she didn’t stay. She smiled cheerfully at Billie and Bo Ray and promised she’d be back—and they should plan for a nice dinner party. Billie just nodded. Bo Ray, relatively new to their team, still looked anxious.
She told them she was going to drop in on Father Ryan and invite him over for dinner. She could call him, of course, but this way, even if he couldn’t come that evening, she’d get a chance to see him.
Bo Ray, who’d gained a life thanks to the priest, seemed to like the fact that Father Ryan might be coming to visit.
They’d actually met Bo Ray because he’d been a suspect when people started dying during the Pietro Miro case. Sadly, he’d become caught up in it all, an alcoholic in the early stages of liver failure. Quinn had a good eye for people, just as Father Ryan did. They’d both seen that Bo Ray could be saved. He’d become a great asset to the store—and to their lives, Danni thought.
With Wolf in the car this time, Danni started out.
Father Ryan ministered well to his flock, gave great sermons, tended to the poor and downtrodden and did everything that a priest should do. He even looked like the perfect priest. Middle-aged with snow-white hair, big and brawny but possessing a gentle manner, he seemed to inspire trust. He was also a no-nonsense man, unafraid to take a stand. Willing to confront the unknown...
Father John Ryan was standing at the front door of the rectory, almost as if he was waiting for someone, when Danni drove up and parked on the street. He didn’t seem surprised when she and Wolf got out of her car and approached him.
“You knew I was coming,” she said.
“I did.”
Danni offered him a curious half grin. “You speak with the Almighty?”
“I do.”
“Oh?”
He smiled ruefully. “I speak with Him the same as you and every other man and woman out there, Danni. Actually, I knew you were coming for a far more mundane reason—Natasha called me.”
“Ah! But I didn’t tell her I was going to see you.”
“That’s where instinct kicks in,” Father Ryan told her. “But I had a feeling you or Quinn would be by soon enough. I heard about the massacre this morning.”
“I believe the police are looking into Garcia’s financials and other records,” Danni said. “It’s the type of thing that could happen if a big drug deal went wrong.”
Father Ryan shook his head fiercely. “There was no drug deal gone wrong, Danni. I’m sure of that.”
“How?”
“You and Wolf come on in. I’ll tell you what I can.”
“You know something?”
“Let’s have tea, shall we?”
Father Ryan didn’t want to be rushed. She and Wolf followed him into the rectory kitchen. First, Wolf got treats; Father Ryan kept
