Until he did.

Assume the worst, Cyrus thought again.

Was she pregnant? Possibly. A priest finding out he got a young woman pregnant would be a good motive for a suicide. Or a murder. Men killed their pregnant partners all the time. Or maybe she wanted an abortion, and he offered to take her to get one when really he was going to keep her captive until it was too late for that. The thought turned Cyrus’s stomach.

Assume the worst.

There was something worse than even that. Don’t be a kid. Don’t be a kid. Dear Lord Jesus in heaven, don’t let it be a kid, Cyrus prayed silently.

They parked in front of the house on Annunciation Street.

“Ready?” Cyrus asked.

“Ready.”

They headed in the general direction of the street where Father Ike had left his car the day of the suicide. When they saw someone was home, they knocked on the door. Nora flashed her smile. Cyrus flashed his P.I. credentials. Nobody had seen a priest around, but they hadn’t been paying attention either. Lots of Catholic schools in the area. Priests and nuns didn’t make a big impression.

“I’m glad you’re with me,” Nora said as they turned the corner onto Rose. “Knocking on stranger’s doors is a little dicey.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Cyrus said. “Glad you’re with me.”

She felt safer walking around at night with a man. He felt safer walking around at night with a white woman.

“What now?” she asked as they stopped at the place where Cyrus had found Father Ike’s car.

“I guess we come back tomorrow,” he said. “And do it again.”

Nora exhaled heavily, nodded. As they walked back to the car, back to Annunciation Street, Cyrus tried to meditate, to reach the river and the answers he hoped were waiting there for him. But he couldn’t find his way there. Instead, his mind kept taking him back to that morning he was called to the house and had seen Father Ike’s body on the floor.

Maybe that meant something.

“If you were planning to meet someone somewhere,” Cyrus said, “and they didn’t show up, what would you do?”

“Call them.”

“If they didn’t answer?”

“I’d call again. If they still didn’t answer…I’d get very scared.”

“So what would you do?”

“Probably try to find them,” she said. “Go to their house, knock on the door, make sure they’re okay.”

Cyrus spun on his heel.

“Cy?”

“Come on,” he said, waving his hand and Nora jogged after him.

They ran all the way back to the street where Father Ike had parked his car that morning.

“What are we doing?” Nora asked, panting, out of breath.

Cyrus wasn’t sure. He only had a hunch. A strong hunch, but still just a hunch.

“Remember that nosy lady who asked us about the car? Where’d she live?”

Nora pointed to a pink house. Cyrus went up to the door and knocked.

A woman answered. It was the same woman who’d given them the third degree about the car.