A Stillness in Bethlehem(107)

“Right,” Gregor said.

Kelley turned around, looked back at her chair, frowned and then brightened. “I thought I’d lost it,” she said, leaning over and extracting something from the space between the cushions and the chair’s arm, “but I didn’t. Here it is. I came to bring you this.”

She handed over a manila envelope and stepped back, waiting politely. Gregor opened the envelope and pulled out a thick sheaf of manuscript. It had the impeccable printed look of something typed by a first-class computer printer. “BORN IN BLOOD,” the title page said. “A Book About Children Who Kill. By Patricia Feld Verek.” Gregor said “mmm,” softly to himself, and pushed the manuscript back into the envelope.

Kelley was looking at him anxiously. “It isn’t one of a kind,” she explained. “I wasn’t paying much attention at the time, you know, but from what I understood, there were several of these things wandering around. And Tisha had a contract, so there’s an editor in New York with a copy of this, and Tisha’s agent had a copy of it, too.”

Gregor considered this. “Tisha Verek gave this to you?”

“Oh, no,” Kelley said. “Of course not. She gave it to Gemma.”

“And Gemma kept it,” Gregor said.

Kelley Grey shrugged. “She kept it in the wall safe in her office at the rectory. It was silly to do it, you know, because like I said, it’s not the only copy. Although it may be the only copy in town. I’m not sure. Anyway, Gemma said keeping it in the safe was symbolic. That the material in it was so explosive, it had to be locked up.”

“Mmm,” Gregor said again. “Did she tell you what was in it that would be so explosive?”

“No.” Kelley hesitated. “The thing is, I don’t think whatever it was had something directly to do with anybody in town. I’m putting that badly. It might have had something to do with somebody in town, but that wasn’t the point of it, that wasn’t what would cause the trouble. Gemma said that the people people are connected to are just as important as the people themselves and that this would really blow the town apart, considering who it would upset. I’m really not doing this very well at all.”

Gregor was about to say “mmm” for the third time and decided against it. Instead, he motioned Kelley to sit down again and waited politely until she was seated, then drew up the chair Tibor had been sitting in until he could sit close enough to Kelley so they wouldn’t have to raise their voices to talk. “Do you have any idea what’s in this thing?” he asked. “Have you read it?”

“Oh, yes, I’ve read it,” Kelley told him. “I made a point of it this morning. It’s awful stuff, really.”

“Do you mean the contents are awful or that it’s badly written?”

“I mean the contents are awful,” Kelley said. “All these children and not many of them really sane. I mean, every once in a while there would be one of them who killed in simple self-defense, but mostly they were so calculating. And so deliberate.”

“Did you read anything you thought might refer to anyone you know in town?”

“Well,” Kelley said, “I did pay attention to all that stuff about Tommy Hare. There’s been a rumor around—a rumor Tisha started, by the way—that Timmy Hall who works at the News and Mail is really Tommy Hare who killed all those people in the swimming pool. But I don’t think it’s true. I don’t think the dates are right, for one thing. And Timmy—”

“Yes?”

“Well, for one thing, it just doesn’t seem like his kind of thing. He wouldn’t go sneaking around with a cattle prod or whatever. He’d just pull back his fist and punch. He’s not a planner, if you see what I mean.”

“Yes,” Gregor said. “I see what you mean. I’ve met him. And I agree with you.”

“The other thing is that I don’t think it would matter if it was true,” Kelley said. “To the town, I mean. Gemma kept saying there was something in here that would ‘blow the lid off everything,’ by which she explained that she meant that someone important in town would be so upset by the revelation that he or she would do something drastic if it ever came out. Well, nobody would do anything drastic if something damaging came out about Timmy Hall. At least, nobody important would. Amanda Ballard treats him like he’s her own child—and no, I don’t think he is; he’s too old and she’s too young—but she isn’t anybody important. She’s just Peter Callisher’s mistress.”