A Prayer for the Devil (8 page)

Luke stood and walked over to a nearby table to get a tissue, which he handed to the distraught man. Kneeling down next to his wheelchair, Luke put his hand on Mark’s and looked him square in the eyes. “I need to know who killed Aaron and why.”

Looking back at Luke, tears rolled down the old man’s face. “I was supposed to be there that day. I didn’t feel well that morning and called your brother to get some advice. He told me that I should stay home and get better, and he promised to come and see me as soon as the speech was over.”

Luke squeezed Mark’s hand.

“He was like a son to me. He was the only one who came to see me just to talk. He was a good man.”

Luke asked more directly, “Do you have any idea of who would have wanted Brad Thompson dead?”

Mark dried his eyes and answered, “I don’t know, but I wouldn’t rule out anything.”

Puzzled, Luke asked, “What does that mean?”

Mark pushed himself up in his chair. “It means that I wouldn’t assume that it had anything to do with that Muslim lady. Hell, it might not even be directly related to Brad Thompson. Luke, politics is a dirty game. If Brad Thompson was elected president, there’s a good chance that he would have been responsible for nominating the next three Supreme Court justices.”

Luke said softly, “But you just said it might not be about Brad.”

“I just don’t want you to focus all of your energy in one place. If your brother was elected to the Senate, it’s likely that he would have been the fifty-first vote, the deciding one. With a Republican Congress and president, his vote could have had a dramatic impact on laws like Roe versus Wade, English as an official language, offshore oil drilling, and securing our border with Mexico. The elections of Brad and Aaron would have drastically changed the balance of power and the direction of our nation. Anyone from special-interest groups concerned with those issues would have greatly benefited from their deaths and could be responsible.”

Luke sighed. “It’s just so frustrating, since it feels like the police are getting nowhere with this case. That’s why I’m starting my own investigation.”

Aldridge replied gravely, “OK, I understand, and I’ll do anything I can to help. But let me give you some strong words of advice: Don’t discuss any of this on the phone, and be extremely careful. You can’t trust anyone.”

LUKE PULLED BACK INTO
his hidden parking spot in the woods, climbed the ladder, and did a quick visual sweep of the backyard. With none of his family in sight, he quickly traversed the manicured sod and entered the house through the rear door. When the children heard Luke in the kitchen, they ran to see him, and he bent down and hugged them tight. Looking up, he saw Deborah standing in the doorway watching. “They’ve been asking for you all morning.” He smiled and stood up with Abel and Alessa in his arms. She continued, “Your father has been asking for you also. He wants to talk to you about something.”

Still holding the children, Luke walked into the family room, where he knew his parents would be watching television. He sat the children on a small love seat and walked over to greet his parents. While kissing his mom on the cheek, he extended his hand toward his dad. He could tell that his mother was upset. As Luke stood, his father said to the children, “I think your mother needs you in the kitchen.” They quickly ran to find her. His dad pointed for Luke to sit down. Luke moved an ornate chair from the other side of the room so it was in front of the couch, directly facing them.

Glancing at his mom, Luke’s dad spoke. “We’ve decided that after Thanksgiving, we’re going to move back home. We want to be in our own house.” He quickly added, “But we want you to stay with Deborah and the children. We won’t leave unless you promise to stay.” Surprised at this turn of events, Luke looked down and noticed the newspaper on the coffee table. It was open to the gossip page. There was a half-page picture that must have been taken outside police headquarters a few days ago. It showed Luke extending his hand to help Deborah over a pothole in the street. Of course, there was no sign of the pothole in the picture, leading the reader to believe that they were holding hands. They looked like a Hollywood couple, complete with designer clothes and sunglasses. The sleek black Mercedes was in the background. But what really caught his eye was the headline, “Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Brother’s Wife!” He couldn’t believe that this headline had planted a seed of doubt in his parents’ minds. “Dad, you can’t possibly think that there’s something going on between me and Deborah?”

“Of course not, we know that,” his father answered nervously. “But think of how nice it would be if you stayed here with Deb and the children. Your brother would be so happy.”

Ready to angrily argue back, Luke bit his lip, knowing that his parents were just thinking of what would be best for the children. Instead, he said, “Listen, we have a few days before Thanksgiving. Let’s just take it slow and see what happens.” Content that he didn’t reject the idea, they nodded at him and smiled at each other.

Luke excused himself from his family and, after another undetected getaway, he made his way to the cemetery for his meeting with Romo. Before leaving the car, he pulled on a hooded sweatshirt, then he stepped out and began walking quickly in the brisk fall air. He hoped that the cold weather would be keeping crowds of visitors and tourists to a minimum.

The Granary Burying Ground was a Boston landmark, established in the mid-sixteen hundreds. It was the final resting place of some of America’s most prominent historical figures, including three signers of the Declaration of Independence: Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Robert Treat Paine. Paul Revere and five Boston Massacre victims were also buried here.

Walking down the old sidewalk that ran alongside the wrought iron fence surrounding the cemetery, Luke was relieved to see that the grounds were practically empty. He stepped through the massive stone entryway and scanned the graveyard for Detective Romo. Not finding him, he waited next to the twenty-five-foot-tall obelisk that marked the tomb of Benjamin Franklin’s parents.

A few minutes later, he was relieved to see a tall figure approaching wearing a wool stocking cap and sunglasses. He sat down next to Luke without looking directly at him.

“Nice to see you, Father.”

Luke mischievously responded, “Is that you, Detective?”

He smiled back. “So Father, tell me, how’s your investigation going?”

Luke laughed. “I wouldn’t really call it an investigation.”

The detective glanced around to see if anyone was watching. “Luke, I was a freshman in high school when you were a senior. I watched just about every baseball game you played. I even went to Boston College a few times to watch your brother play. My mother is a longtime parishioner at Saint Leonard’s, so I feel like I’ve known you for a long time despite the fact that we met just days ago. What I’m trying to say is that you need to be very careful. I’ve been given strict orders to stay out of this investigation. If I try to help you in any way, I’ll be fired immediately and will have to forfeit my pension. If anyone followed me here today, there’s a good chance I’ll lose my job. I borrowed my sister’s car
to try to conceal my identity because I felt obligated to meet you, but I can’t assist in any official way.”

Shocked, Luke quickly replied, “I completely understand your predicament. Please forgive me, I never meant to compromise your career. I won’t bother you again. Please accept my sincerest apology.”

With that, the detective stood and whispered, “Talk to you soon,” before walking away. Confused, Luke now wondered why the detective agreed to meet him to begin with. Dejected, he tried to figure out what to do next. He heard something buzzing and looked around, noticing a brown paper bag on the bench. He picked it up and opened it, finding a vibrating cell phone inside. Unsure of what to expect, Luke opened it and listened. “Luke, I’ll help you any way that I can. Just remember that we have to be careful. The phone I left for you is a prepaid cell phone that can’t be traced to me. You can use it to call or text me at the number saved in the contact list, but don’t call from inside Aaron’s house, since it might be bugged. If I can’t answer, I’ll call you back as soon as I can.”

Relieved that the detective hadn’t abandoned him after all, Luke responded, “Thank you so much and God bless you, Detective.” Thinking quickly, he asked, “Hey, one more thing, where do you buy prepaid cell phones?”

DURING DINNER, LUKE WAS
disappointed to notice that once again Deborah had consumed several glasses of wine. This was now becoming a recurring activity, happening nightly for the past week. He knew that his parents would never mention it, so he decided to talk to her himself.

Searching the house, he found her sitting on her bed, looking out the window. Knocking softly on the open door, Luke asked, “Can I come in?” She didn’t answer but waved him inside and motioned for him to sit down on the bed next to her. Looking straight ahead with his hands on his thighs, Luke asked, “How are you doing?”

“I just want this sick feeling in my stomach to go away. Sometimes at night I dream of Aaron and I feel so good, then I wake up and the sick feeling immediately returns.”

“Does the wine help?”

She turned to face him, understanding the implication of his question. “I know, I need to stop, but it sometimes dulls the hurt.”

Smiling, he replied, “Until the next morning.”

Not wanting to dwell on the topic, and now certain that she knew he had noticed, he moved to another subject. “Have you heard from the financial planner?”

“Oh, Luke, I’m so sorry, I forgot to tell you. He wants to meet with us. We need to sign some papers and let him know where the money should be deposited. I’m forgetting everything lately.”

Perhaps the wine has something to do with that, he thought wryly, but he didn’t bring it up again. “I’ll call him tomorrow and set up an appointment.”

She put her hand on his. “Thank you for being so good to me and the children. I don’t know what we would do without you.”

Luke smiled weakly and quickly changed the subject. “Do you know if Aaron has any old clothes, especially winter coats, that I could bring to the homeless people in the park?”