Grace and Disgrace (20 page)

“Inane? Based on the analysis so far, it is the lead candidate. I have seen stranger things when working with codes.”

Tuohay exhaled a long plume of lavender smoke. “Fine work, both of you. I am sure the cryptic meaning will become clear as the mystery unfolds. ” His voice was somber, almost soft.

“I thought we were doing all of this work
to
unfold the mystery,” argued Eliza.

“And we are that much closer,” Tuohay offered.

“Doesn’t feel like it.” Eliza frowned. “How about you? You’ve been locked in this room since last night, doing God knows what. Have any investigative insights to share?”

“Let’s hear about Eldredge’s review of Father Donnelly’s accounting books first.”

“Avoiding the question, I see.” Eliza gave Tuohay a hard stare.

“Gladly,” said Eldredge, missing the exchange between Eliza and Tuohay in his excitement to share his information. “As you all recall, the good doctor and Mary Hart handed these over to us during our meeting at the hotel.” He pointed at a pile of leather-bound ledgers arranged neatly in a column on the floor. “I believe it was indicated that they were second copies of the financial records of the parish, which had been obtained by Aiden Kearney during his investigation of Father Donnelly.”

“That is correct,” said Tuohay, detachment in his voice. He rubbed his eyes with his palms.

“Hold on, Johnny.” Eliza stood and stomped over to where Tuohay was slouched. She addressed him with her hands still on her hips. “What’s gotten into you, Jack? Huh?” She leaned forward and wrinkled her nose. “You’re drunk.”

“It’s not an unusual circumstance for me,” he replied. “The spirits enhance my deductive reasoning.”

“You need a good kick to the face, you know that?”

“I’ll stick to the brandy for my kicks, but cheers all the same,” said Tuohay. He reached for his cigarette case with shaking fingers.

“If you’ve got something on your mind, say it. We’re a team, Jack.
Your
team. You owe that to us.” She kicked his foot to get his attention. “What’s got your goat, huh? The poisoning of Miss Hart? We got rid of Frost, so that can’t be it.”

Eldredge’s brows rose with curiosity. “Got rid of Frost?”

Eliza looked over her shoulder. “Yeah, we haven’t told you yet, have we?”

“No, not at all.”

Eliza formed a gun with her fingers and whispered in a Brooklyn accent, “I gots a message for ya, Inspector Frost. Blam!” She blew the fictional smoke from her fingers with a wink.

Eldredge jumped up, his notes spilling to the floor. “You
shot
him? You shot Inspector Frost?”

Eliza stared at Eldredge as if he had two heads. “What?”

A moment later, Tuohay burst into a fit of coughing. He tried to stand, and waved away help as he struggled to the windowsill. He stuck his head into the fresh air, his shoulders trembling. When he turned back, tears were in his eyes.

“Are you…
laughing
?” Eldredge cried.

“Bloody hell, John,” said Tuohay, his voice barely more than a rasp. A pained smile crossed his face. “As always, you know how to cheer a fellow up.”

Eliza rolled her eyes at Tuohay. “Enough already.” She turned to Eldredge. “Listen. What I was portraying for you was a
setup
. Jack and I put it together last night for the benefit of Inspector Frost—to get rid of him for a spell, if you catch my drift. We originally planned it for the Cocahasett House in Foxboro, until Miss Hart left unexpectedly for Plymouth. So we set it up at a local hotel here. I came in, threatened Frost, Tuohay chased me… and we escaped into the night.”

“Of course! One of your famous Sleuthhound performances, just like the old days,” said Eldredge. “If only I had been here to witness it.” The wistful smile on his face slowly diminished as a thought struck him. “Though…there is a severity that comes with hoodwinking the authorities.”

“We are far beyond
hoodwinking
, old friend,” said Tuohay, his smile gone. “Far beyond indeed.” He rapped his cane against the floor. “Back to it, then. The financial accounts of Father Donnelly. What did they have to say?”

Eliza stood between Eldredge and Tuohay, her hands on her hip. “No—not until you tell us what’s wrong.”

Tuohay lifted himself slowly with his cane, grimacing with pain. He turned to Eliza and Eldredge, the look of misery on his face causing a hush to fall upon the room.

“What is it?” Eliza demanded, her voice laced with concern.

“You are right, Eliza,” he said. “I have a revelation to share, and I ask for your forgiveness for it.”

Eldredge took a tentative step forward. “Jack, are you alright?”

“I have been in contact with a protected source through the RIC. Someone who I have been prohibited to share with you. He has been consulting with me on the matter of the diamond, and on the priests in Boston. He has come to Plymouth and demanded a meeting in secret tonight.”

Eldredge’s gaze was uncertain. “Protected source?”

Eliza stamped her foot. “You know I detest secrets, Jack. It is why I am so keen on breaking them!”

“I have not meant to deceive you, my friends. But…I am on probation at the RIC. And, more significantly, Scotland Yard has me listed as a suspect for the theft of the Templar Diamond.”

Eliza paled. “What?”

“Six years ago, shortly after the diamond was stolen from St. Peter’s in Belfast, I was discharged from the RIC—the highest officer removed for the debacle.”

Eliza stared at Tuohay. “You were
removed
from the RIC? Because of the diamond theft?”

“Negligent failure to prevent a crime.” The words had a bite to them. “A serious charge that carried more penalties than just the loss of my living and reputation. I have been a suspect for the last six years, though the evidence was contrived. After the crime, the RIC brass needed a scapegoat, and I was it. But the administration changed last year, and several months ago, when Father Aiden Kearney contacted me about the new evidence he had uncovered regarding the Templar Diamond, the RIC gave me a second chance.”

“Second chance?” Eldredge fidgeted nervously with his ascot.

“I was reinstated as an investigator on a probationary basis,” Tuohay replied with a morose smile. “To be fully reinstated, I needed to prove my innocence by solving the crime.”

Eliza frowned. “They can do that?”

“Not officially,” said Tuohay. “It was a gentleman’s agreement of sorts.”

Eldredge’s voice dropped to a whisper. “You, involved in the theft of the diamond? It’s… preposterous.”

“I am going to meet with the witness within the hour, if you would like to join me,” Tuohay offered. He turned to Eldredge. “And rest assured, old boy, I was
not
involved in the theft. But other than myself, there may be very few who actually believe that—except, I hope, my last two friends.” He coughed into his sleeve, and took a moment to catch his breath.

Recovered, he met their gazes with one of resolution. “If there is anything you are still willing to believe, make it this—I am going to find the diamond, and bring the truth to light about any crimes connected to it.”

Eliza crossed her arms. “No Jack, I’m sorry to say that you are not going to do that. It’s not possible.”

Tuohay looked frowned. “Eliza, please—”

“It’s not possible on your
own
.” She gave Eldredge a wink but continued to glare at Tuohay. “
You’re
not going to do anything because
we
are, the three of us, as a team. That alright?”

Relief flooded into Tuohay’s voice. “Perfect.”

“Hear, hear,” Eldredge added.             

Eliza twisted her lips into a curious frown. “Jack, is it true that Johnny and I are your only two friends? Anywhere?”

Tuohay nodded slowly. “I would say so, yes.”

Eliza whistled. “Jeeze. No wonder the RIC made you the scapegoat for the crime. Mr. Popularity. Maybe the next time you’re in Belfast, you should learn how to make a few pals.”

“One thing at a time,” Tuohay replied.

Eldredge cleared this throat. “And perhaps… ah, not to sound ungracious. But perhaps you should not disappear
entirely
from your only two friends for a decade without a word in between. Just an observation,” he added quickly, tugging at his ascot.

Tuohay regarded Eldredge and Eliza with the ghost of a smile crossing his lips. “In truth, the fact that you have not had to put up with me for a decade is probably the only reason you’re willing to now.”

“You know what they say,
make hay while the sun shines
.” Eliza shot a playful smile at Tuohay. “You haven’t worn out your welcome yet, Jack. So let’s get back to work before you do.” 

A misting rain fell lightly upon the shore, a bouquet of wet caresses transformed into warm tears as they ran down the face. The drizzle swept in from the sea along the waves; occasionally bearing a soft crystal of snow that floated unhurriedly and in no apparent direction on its own, coming to rest upon the shore to dissipate into nothingness.               

Tuohay walked along the shoreline, his cane sticking in the cold sand. The waves rolled in at his feet, bringing the salty scent of the sea with them. Opposite, the town of Plymouth was visible beyond the grassy dunes, but the shore itself was shielded by the rigid backs of vacant warehouses. Remnants of a long-forgotten campfire littered the grounds. It was a cold and forgotten strand of beach, with only the squawk of seagulls and the chime of a distant buoy as company.

Somewhere in those dunes Eldredge was perched, watching. Eliza was using the time to take a quick lunch.

A figure appeared on a path between the dunes and approached unhurriedly, his hands clasped before him. Tuohay met him near the water’s edge as the waves crashed behind them.

“Inspector Tuohay.”

“Your Grace.”

Archbishop Patrick J. Walsh was adorned in a black cassock, rippling in the wind. Usually buttoned to the throat, it hung open in a sign of hastiness, beneath which a finely pressed alb was visible, flowing like a black river as he moved. The pectoral cross wetly gleamed.

“I am here for Father Donnelly’s service, so our time is short, and we must maintain a low profile.”

“Of course.”

“Shall we?” Walsh asked.

Tuohay regarded his companion as they walked along the hushed shore. The archbishop’s visage was not radiant. Nor bold, or soft. It was something altogether different, something singular. At first glance it appeared preoccupied and worn. Lean with a long nose, framed by a crown of stark white hair brushed back smooth like the head of an eagle, the look was emboldened by bold eyebrows and sharp eyes. Deep within the clerical wisdom that emanated from his being there existed a furtive irony that only age could have wrought; in essence it was a lingering cynicism, a dry humor that seemed to ask how such an enormous task had fallen to one man in one life, and how that one man had become him. A man responsible for the spiritual well-being of thousands upon thousands of devoted Catholic followers.

“You have kept my involvement in your work a secret,” Walsh asked.

“As we agreed,” said Tuohay.

“But the work itself has not been kept a secret,” added the archbishop. “The papers are ablaze with news about the Templar Diamond.”

“So they are.”

“And Father Donnelly.
Deus misereatur
,” murmured the archbishop.

“I pray that God has mercy on him as well, your Grace. And for the Kearney brothers, for that matter.”

“Aiden and Rian.” A gust of wind blew over the rolling waves as if in response, tugging at the archbishop’s cape like an angry hound.

Tuohay grabbed his top hat tightly and the archbishop gathered his cassock and alb as the torrent of wind passed by. “I am going to see this investigation through to the end, despite your request to conclude it now,” Tuohay stated.

“I performed my end of the bargain,” the archbishop said. “I paid the rent on the Kearney brothers’ flat after their death until your arrival so any evidence would remain untouched; I opened the way for you to interview Father Donnelly; I used my influence to the best of my ability with the top Boston brass to minimize interference with your investigation.”

“So you did.”

“But now….”

“Now?”

“Things have gotten out of hand,” the archbishop murmured. “Father Kearney is dead.
Dead
. I wanted him investigated, not harmed. Your main suspect, Kip Crippen, shot in cold blood—silenced. Miss Hart poisoned, on the brink of death. Gunshots in hotels, dead bodies…this is not at all what I signed up for, inspector. I simply wanted the diamond found, and the truth uncovered.”

“Nor I,” Tuohay admitted. His voice hardened. “But nor did Father Aiden Kearney when he first came to these shores as a priest. Perhaps if you had listened to him from the first, none of this would have come to pass. He discovered wrongdoing with Father Donnelly and others long before any of
this
happened, and he informed you of it. If you had been objective then, and not allowed your misguided opinions to deceive you into blanketing the truth, this all could have been avoided.”

“Da Vinci, is it? A man’s opinion is his greatest deceiver? Well, perhaps it is.” The archbishop cast his gaze across the gray sea. “But you misunderstand me, inspector. I am concerned with
discretion
, not deception. It is deception that I hired you to ferret out. But your life is simplistic, free of politics, free of such demands. Not so for me.”

The archbishop clasped his hands behind his back as the rain darkened his cassock. “There are ways that we deal with these things that Aiden did not understand. He wanted to raise these indiscretions directly to Rome. And then to the
civil court
. No, no.” The archbishop shook his head. “There are systems within the American Church to deal with imprudence. Effectively, quietly. But he would not listen. He did not understand, could never understand. So he had to be silenced—not in death, mind you—but discredited. Removed from the flock. I had no choice.”

“You destroyed his life.”

“He would have done that and more to the Church, inspector.”

Tuohay coughed into his hand. “To you, you mean.”

The archbishop’s eyes flashed. “It is not about
me
. It is about maintaining the integrity and authority of the burgeoning Catholic Church in America. But it is not your place to judge. Nor to understand. It is—or
was
—your place to unobtrusively find the diamond and discover the truth behind its disappearance. Instead, you have brought bedlam to my shores.”

Tuohay stopped to lean against his cane, wincing as his leg buckled. He grimaced through the pain. “Bedlam, you say? What do you think Mary Hart and Kathryn Dwyer experienced during their time locked up in the Danvers lunacy asylum? How do think it felt to be Aiden Kearney, a promising and honorable priest who uncovered criminal behavior in your diocese, and suffered for years as a pariah only to be
silenced
in the end? No, do not speak to me about bedlam, Your Grace.”

The archbishop glared at Tuohay, but there was anguish in his voice as spoke. “I never intended for anyone to suffer.”

“Then let me finish my work and put an end to the suffering,” Tuohay offered. “I know you came here to tell me to cease my work, but I will not. You
know
I will not.”  

“I have known that all along.” The archbishop reached into a pocket of his cassock and withdrew a small leather booklet. “And so I brought this. Perhaps it will be of help. It is the last I have to offer.” He handed the booklet to Tuohay, who arched an eyebrow at the handwritten title on the cover.

CROWN MOUNT

Archbishop Walsh noticed Tuohay’s distracted look. “Do you know what
Crown Mount
is?”

“Yes.
Crown Mount
was the codename the RIC in Belfast used for the Templar Diamond operation—to keep it safe and secure at all times.”

“This book was given to me under the strictest of confidence by the highest authorities in the RIC,” the archbishop said. “It was protocol that the Church and State be aware of the operational details of the diamond’s movement.”

“But you shared its contents,” said Tuohay with sudden realization,” with Father Donnelly.”

“I did. He was the operational lead for the Church on the American side of things.” 

“
That
is how Father Donnelly obtained the information needed to know where the diamond would be,” said Tuohay. “The very information need to pull off the heist.” A furrow appeared in Tuohay’s forehead. “Why did you not tell me this before?”

The archbishop glanced at Tuohay. “I wanted to see what you would come across first. I hoped… I hoped it would not be necessary to expose this truth. Sharing Crown Mount with Father Donnelly was a serious oversight. It was for my eyes only.”

“Is there anything else you have not told me?”

“No. That is everything. And as far as I am concerned, I have done all I can, inspector. Even putting my own career at risk. I believe my usefulness as a source for the RIC is at an end.”

For the first time during their conversation, Tuohay noticed the deep lines of sorrow etched across the archbishop’s face. “So you are
not
interested in the uncovering the truth?” Tuohay slapped the booklet against his hand. “This may be the break I have been looking for—after going this far, you would pull back now?”

“Do not patronize me, inspector. I will always be interested in the truth. But I want no further part in what it will
cost
.” He turned away from Tuohay to face the sea, his hands once again clasped behind his back. “Do what you must. Find the diamond, if you can. Nothing would please me more. But do not turn to me for further assistance. I can make no more sacrifices.”

Tuohay stood beside the archbishop for nearly a minute, watching the waves in silence. Finally, he turned to his companion. “Good evening, your Grace.” He departed without another word, his cane sinking into the sand with each laborious step.

In the distance a man in an olive trench coat observed them from the dunes, his coat rippling in the wind.