Precious Blood(98)

The Cardinal came up to him, took his arm, and began pushing him farther along the corridor. “Let’s go to the lounge,” he said, “you need to sit down. You need to sleep.”

“I blew it,” Tom said. “I was standing there, ready to baptize, and I blew it. I looked at the baby and I couldn’t—”

“Never mind, Father. Joe was just as glad to have me do it. More than glad. The Cardinal himself for his Margaret Mary.”

“She’s the wrong Margaret Mary, Your Eminence. And she may die, too.”

“I baptized the other one, after a fashion. Enough after a fashion so Joe didn’t notice the differences there had to be. Joe wanted to name her Margaret Rose.”

They had reached the lounge, a large square room lined with plastic-cushioned chairs. Tom lowered himself into one and put his head in his hands.

“We ought to get back to the Chancery,” he said. “There’s work to do still. I’ve got to check the requisitions for the Easter dinners at the shelters. I’ve got to check the—”

“No,” the Cardinal said.

Tom looked up. There was something wrong with his vision. He seemed to be looking at the Cardinal through water. “It won’t do any good for me not to work, Your Eminence. I’ll just sit in my room thinking about Peg. And Margaret Mary and Margaret Rose. And about the work, for that matter.”

“I’ve called Dr. Markham. He’s going to give you a sedative. You’re going to sleep from now to the vigil Mass.”

“I can’t do that, Your Eminence. There’s work—”

“Scholastica can do it. She’s offered.”

“—and there’s Gregor Demarkian. I was talking to him earlier, at the cathedral, after Stations of the Cross.”

“I know. He told you about Peg. Was that why you didn’t hear Confessions?”

“No.” Tom flushed. “I’m sorry, Your Eminence. I know you won’t believe this, but I just forgot. Kath—Scholastica—called asking for Judy Eagan, and I went out and found Judy, I’d gone back to the office to find an extra prayer book, I’d forgotten mine—”

“I told you you needed sleep.”

“I know I need sleep, Your Eminence. Anyway, I was in the office looking for a book when the phone rang, and I went out and got Judy. Scholastica must have been calling to tell her about Peg. She didn’t tell me. I don’t know why not. Maybe after all this time she thought I wouldn’t be interested.”

“She probably wasn’t thinking straight. That must have been some scene at the convent.”

“Yes. Yes, it must have. I told Judy and then I went outside, to go around to the rectory wing door. I think I was on my way to get a book from my room. There wasn’t one in the office. Just as I was going down the steps, Demarkian showed up with that police lieutenant.”

“What happened?”

Tom Dolan shrugged. “We talked.”

“About what?”

“Things. The way I fixed the cameras, the day Andy died. The Vaseline. Why I didn’t graduate with my class at Cathedral Boys’ High. If I’d noticed Barry Field near the altar—”

“Field?”

“He was in the church, Your Eminence. You saw him there.”

“I didn’t see him near the altar.”

“I didn’t, either. That’s what I told Demarkian. When he started asking questions about Black Rock Park I—”

“Panicked?” The Cardinal smiled.

“I’m sorry, Your Eminence. I didn’t know what to do. I made an excuse and got out of there. I went back to the rectory wing. I forgot all about hearing Confessions.”

“That’s all right. Don’t worry about it. I’ve been putting you under much too much pressure lately. And as for Black Rock Park—”

“Yes?”

“You did the right thing nineteen years ago. You told me all about it. You don’t know how often I’ve blessed you for that, since this craziness with the poisonings started.”

“It may all come out anyway, Your Eminence.”

“I doubt it. If it does, it won’t hurt me and it won’t hurt you. Let’s go back to the rectory, Father. You’re tired. I’m tired. It’s been a very long day.”

“Yes.”

Tom stood up. Sitting down had helped, a little. His vision was better. He wasn’t seeing things underwater any more. The Cardinal went out of the lounge into the corridor and Tom followed him.

“Funny,” the Cardinal said, “twenty years ago, I looked at a lot of police photographs of slaughtered animals and thought I was looking at the worst thing that would ever happen to me in my life. It just goes to show you how we get spoiled.”