Thursday 6:00 P.M.
Brian was in his tux. Jeff was taking pictures. Because the number of venues were finite and the number of proms in the Chicago area were legion, proms quite often were on nights other than Friday or Saturday, especially if one wanted a particularly popular venue.
One of Jeff’s sets of expertise was taking digital pictures. The first one he took that night when Brian came down the stairs in his tux was one of the teenager between his two dads. They got one of Jeff on his crutches with Brian, and then Jeff set up the camera with a timer and got all four of them.
Paul watched the limousine with Brian move off down the street. He and Ben held hands. Jeff took a picture of that as well. Paul felt his eyes get misty. Jeff swung around on his crutches. “I wonder who I’ll take to the prom.” He moved off to his room.
Paul and Ben stood on the porch, and watched the limousine glide onto Taylor Street.
After a few minutes of companionable silence, Ben asked about the case. They sat in the swing on the porch in the soft light of evening and Paul filled him in.
When he finished, Ben said, “I think the situation is sad. Their world is crumbling, and it’s going to die, and there’s little they can do or are willing to do to stop it. That must be very frustrating. It may not be a relevant world, and it may be and is mean spirited and cruel in many ways, but it’s all they’ve known.”
“Except when they molest little kids.”
“I’m not talking about the criminal parts. Of course, that’s awful. I’m talking about those who genuinely believe in a gentle Jesus, and those who care for and try to help those that they serve. Their world is going to be gone too.”
“Maybe some bits will be saved.”
“It’ll all come crashing down, the good with the bad,” Ben said. “What I don’t get, is what do they get for all this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, they run around like mad things, plotting and conniving, and evening the score, and investigating, but what do they get?”
Paul said, “Kappel got a fancy condo.”
“Which he had to share in secret with a man he sort of loved.”
“Maybe there wasn’t enough ever for them to have. Maybe they just fed the acquisitive impulse. Maybe feeding it was what they needed. It was the feeding, not the fullness.”
“That sounds more plausible than I’d care to believe.”
Mrs. Talucci came out on her porch and waved them over.
“Did you hear?” she asked. “Brian and Shane’s baseball coach quit.”
“What happened?”
Mrs. Talucci shrugged. “I asked to meet with him. Here, for a cup of tea.”
“What happened at the meeting?”
“Nothing. He never showed up. I got word a few minutes ago that he quit his coaching job and his teaching job.”
Turner knew real power when he heard it. It was always best when a person complied without any threat. Next best was making the threat but never having to carry it out. But if you were afraid to go to a meeting at which a threat could possibly be made, the person calling the meeting had real power. That’s what Mrs. Talucci had.
Paul said, “I wonder if a coach and a college team will be any less homophobic.”
Mrs. Talucci shrugged. “Alas, over that I have no control. The scholarship is safe, after that, with luck, Shane’s success will depend on his ability and nothing else.”
He filled her in on the case.
All she said about it was, “They are sad people. As human as the rest of us. It’s such a shame so many of them don’t understand that.”
Back in his house, Paul thought of turning on the television, but all that were on were crime shows or contestant shows that he either laughed at or found boring. He thought he might pick up a book when his cell phone rang. The ID said it was Ian.
“They’re all here,” Ian said.
“All who where?”
“I’m upstairs at the Abbey. The newly disgraced Cardinal, the desperate Abbot, the vicious bishop Pelagius, the unbelievable prick Drake, and the pathetic Tresca.”
“Why would I care?”
“They’re fighting. They’re guilty.”
“They invited you in?”
“I’m with Demarco. We’re hidden.”
“What good will it do me to be there?”
“You don’t want to talk to them?”
“Very much.”
“Well, here they all are.”
“I’ll call Fenwick. This is different from the coffee house the other day. This is going to be an official visit.” After calling Fenwick, he let Molton know what was going on. The Commander told him to keep him updated.