With haste and investigatorial wiles, I looked up the phone number for All Saints on my laptop and dialed it.
“I need to speak with Jeremy Cameron, please.”
The nice woman on the other end said, “One moment please.” I listened to an instrumental version of “I Can Only Imagine” for a minute, and she came back on. “I’m sorry, sir, but Jeremy is gone for the day. Can I send you to his voicemail?”
“Jeremy asked me to get ahold of him today, but I don’t have his cell,” I said. It was deceit. Lying to a church receptionist. Mackenzie August, maybe going to hell. “This is Elvis Cole at St. John’s. Could you either have him call me or pass me his cell number?”
“Elvis Cole, you say?”
“At St. John’s, yes.”
“Well I don’t see the harm, then. I’ll give you his cellphone number,” she said, and she did.
I hung up and dialed Jeremy Cameron. He answered on the third ring.
“Mr. Cameron, my name is Mackenzie August. We haven’t met yet, but I wanted to give you a heads-up.”
The voice on the end uttered a chuckle. I could tell he was driving. “Okay, sure. A heads-up about what?”
“I was hired to investigate Father Louis’ sexual improprieties.”
Brief pause. “Oh. Alright, I’m listening.”
“I only just started but Father Louis himself surprised me at my office. Somehow he knew I’d been hired.”
“Oh no. That’s not good. Wow, that’s…that’ll sure stir the drink, I guess. How’d he know?”
“I haven’t had time to guess yet. Either someone at the church told him, which would severely reduce the number of suspects, or someone eavesdropped on a conversation. Or some other avenue I haven’t thought of yet. However, I get the impression he doesn’t know who made the accusation.”
“Hang on a sec. I’m pulling over so I can think,” said the voice. The drone of the motor reduced. Then more noise, like static or distortion, and I visualized him rubbing his face in a panic. “Okay. So…he knows about the accusation, but he doesn’t know who.”
“That’s my guess. But again, this happened fast.”
A blast of noise, like he sharply exhaled against the receiver. “All of a sudden this is happening fast. But the past year has felt like an eternity for me.”
I normally didn’t make calls like this. I hadn’t been hired to protect anyone. I wasn’t a bodyguard. Jeremy Cameron could be lying for all I knew. For reasons I hadn’t yet processed, I was worried for Jeremy.
I said, “I have no educated opinion yet on the authenticity of your claim. That’s not what this phone call is about. But if you are telling the truth, that puts you on his list. He wanted to know who made the accusations, and he’ll narrow his search to those he has assaulted or seduced, if in fact he has.”
“That makes sense. I appreciate the heads-up. A lot.”
I put my feet on the desk. I had butterflies in my stomach, anxiety on his behalf. “Let’s meet tomorrow and talk about this.”
“Yes, absolutely.”
“Maybe you can lay low until then to avoid a confrontation with Father Louis. He could be on a warpath. Go home. Turn off your phone. Avail yourself of peace and quiet.”
“Jeez. This is…that might be a good idea. Father Louis is intense. A force of nature that I’d prefer to duck. Situations like this aren’t taught at seminary,” said Jeremy Cameron.
“Very little of life is.”
“Tomorrow morning work for you? I’m feeling alone in all this. The men on vestry don’t believe me, I could tell.”
“Tomorrow morning works. If you’re telling the truth, you’ve got friends.”
“That’s, ahh…” His voiced tightened with emotion. In my head, he closed his eyes and lowered his head. Thirty seconds passed before he tried again. “That’s not easy to believe. But it’d be nice.”
“Believe it, kid.”