Betty Kelly was out in front of St. Vibiana’s when Crumley and I arrived. We stood for a long moment before she saw us, gave a quick, half-realized wave, and dropped her gaze. We came to stand by her. I introduced Crumley.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
She raised her head.
“Then you are the one was talking to Father!” she said. “Oh, Lord, let’s get inside.”
The big doors were locked for the night. We went in through a door at the side. Inside she swayed and almost fell. I caught and led her to one of the pews, where she sat breathless.
“W
e came as quick as we could,” I said.
“You knew him?” She gasped. “It’s so confusing. You knew someone in common, an acquaintance, a friend?”
“A relative,” said Crumley. “The same name.”
“Rattigan! She killed him. Wait!” She grabbed my sleeve.
For I was on my feet.
“Sit,” she gasped. “I don’t mean murder. But she killed him.”
I sat back down, gone cold. Crumley backed off. She clutched my elbow and lowered her voice.
“She was here, sometimes three times a day, in confession, whispering, then raving. Poor Father looked like he’d been shot when she left, but she hardly left, just stayed until he fell out starving, couldn’t eat, and the liquor cabinet low. He let her rave. Later I’d check the confessional: empty. But the air smelled like it had been hit by lightning. She kept shouting the same thing.”
“What?”
“‘I’m killing them, killing them!’ she yelled. ‘And I’ll keep on killing them until I’ve killed them all. Help me to kill them, bless their souls! Then I’ll kill the rest. Kill them all! Get them off my back, out of my life! Then, Father,’ she cried, ‘I’ll be free, clean! But help me bury them so they won’t come back! Help me!’
“‘Off ! Away!’ Father yelled. ‘My God, what are you asking me to do?’
“‘Help me put them away, pray over them so they won’t come back, stay dead! Say yes!’
“‘Get out!’ Father cried, and then she said worse.”
“What?”
“She said, ‘Then damn you, damn, damn, damn you to hell!’ Her voice was so loud, people left. I could hear her weeping. The Father must have been in a state of shock. Then I heard footsteps running in the dark. I waited for Father Rattigan to speak, say anything. Then I dared open the door. He was there. And silent because … he was dead.”
And here the secretary let the tears shed themselves down her cheeks.
“Poor man,” she said. “Those dreadful words stopped his heart, as they almost stopped mine. We must find that awful woman. Make her take back the words so he can live again. God, what am I saying? Him slumped there as if she had drained his blood. You know her? Tell her she’s done her worst. There, I’ve said it. Now I’ve thrown up, and where do you go to be clean? It’s yours, and sorry I did it to you.”
I looked down at my suit as if expecting to find her vile upchuck.
Crumley walked over to the confessional and opened both doors and stared in at the darkness. I came to stand next to him and take a deep breath.
“Smell it?” said Betty Kelly. “It’s there and ruined. I’ve told the cardinal to tear it down and burn it.”
I took a final breath. A touch of charcoal and St. Elmo’s fires.
Crumley closed the doors.
“It won’t help,” Betty Kelly said. “She’s still there. So is he, poor soul, dead tired and dead. Two coffins, side by side. God help us. I’ve used you all up. You have the same look the poor father had.”
“Don’t tell me that,” I said weakly.