Her face was stormy, but after staring at the priest for a long minute she muttered agreement. He let her go. A few minutes later we heard a motor roar into life. Her motorcycle. I’d have to ask young Emily what kind of bike Lacey Dowell rode around town. I was betting on a hog.

Twenty thousand dollars to St. Remigio’s instead of three Hail Marys? That’s what it sounded like to me.

“I’m tired; I’d like to go to bed,” he said. “Did she tell you what you need to know?”

I wasn’t sure—I still didn’t understand why the shirt Frenada made was so important. And I wasn’t as sure as Father Lou that I’d heard the truth. When I left the rectory I wondered how much time I had before I joined Lucian Frenada in a pine box. Maybe Father Lou would offer a funeral mass for me, heathen that I was.

Chapter 31: A Day in the Country

31 A Day in the Country

Everything was making me nervous. I was afraid to go home because I didn’t know if someone would jump me. I was afraid to go to my car for the same reason. I was afraid to send Mr. Contreras down to my office to fetch the car in case Baladine had planted a bomb under the hood. In the end my nervousness made me angry enough that when I got off the L, I went home the direct way: up the sidewalk, into the front door. Nothing happened, and perversely enough that made me even edgier.

In the morning I took the train down to my office and threw a rock at the hood of the car. It bounced off. The car didn’t blow up, but a couple of boys who were lounging across the street scuttled into the alley: it’s scary to share the street with a crazy woman.

The woman from the temporary agency was waiting for me inside: Tessa had arrived unusually early and let her in. I got the woman started on organizing papers before calling the Unblinking Eye to discuss a surveillance system for the building. Since Tessa and I really had only one entrance to protect, we didn’t need more than two screens, one for each of our work spaces. Although it was still money I didn’t have, it wasn’t as big a hit as I’d feared. The Unblinking Eye would do the installation in the morning and pick up their rental camera from me at the same time.