By the time the cops had Father Jim in handcuffs and were leading him away, Jazz, Kim, Nick, and Wally were sitting on the front steps of the church sipping the water the paramedics had provided them. Nick looked at his mother in wonder. “What the hell do you have in that purse, anyway?”
Kim handed it over to him and he unzipped the purse and looked inside. Even before he fished out what was in there, the look he gave Jazz—a little surprised, a little flabbergasted, a whole lot amazed—told her exactly what he’d found. He pulled them out one by one, three cylinders, each about eight inches long, each wrapped tightly in duct tape.
“The coins!” Jazz held out her hand and Nick dropped one of the stacks into it. “No wonder you knocked him out cold.” She hefted the roll. “These things weigh a ton. But how did you—”
“Somebody wanted something.” Kim trailed a hand through Wally’s fur. “Even an old lady like me knows that. That’s why those people…” Her expression clouded. “Well, I guess it was him, wasn’t it? That’s why he was looking in my windows to see if I was home. He wanted to get inside and I wanted to find out why. So I went looking. You remember, Nick, that one corner of the attic where the floorboards are loose?”
“We looked there, me and Jazz. And of course, there was nothing there. Because the whole time Father Jim was looking for the coins—”
“And the whole time Lisa Raab was looking for the coins…” Jazz breathed in a breath of amazement.
“And the whole time we were looking for the coins…” Nick gathered his mom into his arms and hugged her. “You had them all along!”
“Took a look, wrapped them up again. Wasn’t sure what to do with them,” Kim admitted. “Had to think. Had to get away. When Father Jim invited me to visit—”
“He wanted to keep you toasted so he could go through the house.” Jazz couldn’t say if she was more horrified or disgusted. She knew she was disappointed. “I liked him,” she said. “I always liked him. He was a good man.”
“A good man who got drawn into Dan Mansfield’s web. Nothing much good could ever come of that,” said Nick.
“Oh, I don’t know.” Kim patted her son’s knee. “You did.”