Vinegar Joe entered the observation room and the Sergeant said, “The toilets at the other end of the hall.”
“No need. I had to break it off. He got to me.”
“Were you really born in a coffin?” Captain Moran asked.
Jobynski snatched the bottle of Dewar’s and poured half a water glass. “Yeah,” he said. “They were burying my mother in Pauper’s Field when they heard me crying inside the box.”
“Holy shit!” The sergeant said.
“Is that why you were raised in a monastery?” Moran asked.
“The Bishop thought it was some kind of miracle.”
“And you went on to be a priest.” The sergeant said.
“No. I ran away. I got religion as a Marine in Viet Nam. On discharge, the regimental Chaplin recommended I enter the priesthood.”
“Why did the Vatican send you to study criminology?” Captain Moran asked.
“Priests in confessionals often hear of illegal acts or ones about to be committed. My assignment was to write a guide on how priests should question and answer in such cases.”
“Sounds positive.”
“I made the mistake practicing the questions on priests in the confessional. That’s how I Iost my collar.”
“What did you ask?” Moran asked.
“About criminal activity.”
“And…?”
“I found it. Both criminal according to state and church law. The degree of moral degeneracy was disgusting.”
“You mean the priests?” The sergeant asked.
“Young and old,” Jobynski said
“They told you this in the confessional?” Captain Moran asked.
“Yes.”.
“Why didn’t they lie?” the Sergeant asked.
“They believe in God.”
“But they were committing criminal acts.” Moran said.
“They thought I would cover up for them. Other priests had.”
“You mean you revealed what was said to you in the confessional?”
“I went to my superiors in the Vatican. They tried to justify child molestation and corrupt banking manipulation. They told me I didn’t understand the facts of life. “I told them of the Brothers in the monastery who tried to teach me the facts of life. That’s why I ran away.”
“But you went on to be a priest?” The sergeant asked.
“I got religion in Viet Nam. The Marine chaplain influenced me.”
“there is no justification to reveal what transpired in the confessional,” Moran said. “They did right to throw you out.”
“I suppose so.”
“Why did you study Quantum physics?” the sergeant asked.
“I thought science was as far away as I could get from religion.”
“Are you going to speak to God?” Captain Moran pointed through the two-way glass at Paul Smith.
“God is starting to seep through into the character of Paul Smith.”
“I didn’t see that,” the sergeant said.
“Smith used the word “Touché and mentioned me being born in a coffin. Those were things he said as God.”
“Is he crazy?” Moran asked
“Probably." Jobynski said. "But he's already made a number of mistakes indicating he knows the difference between right and wrong."
"So we'll get a psychiatrist and he'll get a psychiatrist," Moran said.
"You mean he'll get off?" the sergeant asked.
"Not this bastard," Jobynski said. "I'm going to nail his ass to the cross just like his father. Right now I want to talk to God.”
“You better get back in there,” the Sergeant said and pointed to Paul Smith hunched over in his wheelchair sobbing uncontrollably. “Your boy might be ready to confess.”
Vinegar Joe hurried to the interrogation room. The two policemen men watched through the two-way glass as Jobynski tried to get Reverend Paul Smith to sit up and speak.
“Poor bastard!” Moran said.
“I got no pity for that murdering son-of-a-bitch.” The sergeant growled.
“I meant Jobynski.”
“Oh yeah! I heard his son’s death from leukemia was drawn out. “
"It was the daughter and wife that sent him over the edge. He used to spit shine his shoes and you could cut your hand on the creases of his suits. He even pressed his shoelaces and shaved twice a day. ”
“How did he get to be called Vinegar Joe.”
“He earned it in interrogation rooms in Guantanamo Bay. Joe probably thinks God punished him for betraying his trust as a priest. He’s coming apart at the seams.”
“What happened to his family?”
“Not long after his son died of leukemia. A drunk driver caused him to flip over at the Graveyard turn on Grand Central Parkway.”
“What was he driving?”
“A restored 1941 Buick Road Master convertible.
“With the soft top?”
“Yeah, had the whole family with him. It turned over, skidded on the roof. When Joe crawled to his wife she was holding their daughter in her lap scooping the kids brains back into her head. Joe still believes the kid opened her eyes and said, “Hi Dad.”
“And his wife?”
“Comatose in a nursing home. The grandfather flew from the rear seat through the front window and cut his throat. The grandmother committed suicide.” Moran’s forehead wrinkled in thought. He turned toward the observation window and pointed “When Jobynski was in here with us,didn’t he say he spoke to God?”
“Yeah,” the sergeant said.
"I don’t remember seeing that.”
“Neither do I," the sergeant said. "Maybe Vinegar Joe is already over the edge.”
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