Page 38 of Dead to Rites

“But you didn’t get the chance.”

Jude’s tone was even enough, but I could still tell what it had cost him to say those words. “No,” I replied. “He said there was something he wanted to share with me. He seemed preoccupied. Did he say anything to you about being troubled these past few weeks?”

I didn’t get an answer right away, and I wondered if Jude was going to tell me that none of this was my business.

Except it was, because a good man had been killed in my bar.

Then he said, “Yes, he’d been troubled about something. He didn’t tell me what, though. I assumed it was probably something parish-related and that he’d talk about it when he was ready. But he did say something a few weeks ago that stuck with me.”

I waited, Flannery gently head-butting me when I stopped ruffling her ears.

Then Jude went on, “He said, ‘Sometimes people unburden themselves for their own peace, and that peace comes at someone else’s cost.’ I didn’t ask him what he meant, though. I probably should have.”

I thought of what Hazel had written, what I’d read aloud earlier that day.

Some confidences should be kept. But other things…if they hurt the living…must come into the light.

What had been brought into the light? What had been so terrible that someone had thought it worthy of murder?

I didn’t know, but I hoped I might be able to figure it out at some point.

“Thank you for telling me that,” I said.

His shoulders lifted. “It doesn’t explain anything.”

“Maybe not,” I allowed. “Or at least, not yet.”

There was a clock on the wall behind the counter, and I could see it was now almost ten minutes to four. I needed to go back, but I wished I could stay here and talk. Odd as it was, considering I’d been fearing a confrontation when I walked in here, I liked being in Jude’s shop. It was warm and homey and quiet.

But Happy Hour waited for no man — or woman — so I told him I needed to get back to the bar, and he only nodded and thanked me for dropping by. He didn’t tell me to come back any time, but something in his expression told me he’d probably be okay with that.

And the bar was pretty busy for a Monday evening. Happy Hour blended into dinner and more charcuterie boards than I’d been planning to make, and before I knew it, the hour had moved around to nine o’clock, and it was time to close everything down and head for home.

Hazel met me at the door.

“Mack said Father Frank had been kind of jumpy and preoccupied for about six months before he died,” I announced as I set down my purse on a side table. “And that he came in more and stayed later.”

“That’s right, he did.” She reached up to rub the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger, and I wondered if she was annoyed with herself for forgetting that important detail. “It had slipped my mind.” A rueful smile followed that statement, although her gray eyes were still serious enough. “Death seems to have played havoc with my memory.”

I wanted to tell her it was all right, but I knew she didn’t want any empty reassurances from me. Hazel Cosgrove didn’t operate that way.

“Well, at least now I know a few more things,” I said. “Whatever Father Frank heard and whoever talked to him, it started happening months ago, and it was obviously some heavy stuff, heavy enough that he began actively staying away from the rectory. I have to believe that someone who works there would have noticed, too. So now I just need to find out who he was talking to.”

Hazel stared at me for a moment, gaze steady. Both hands now lay quietly in her lap. “You need to be careful, Lorelei. Whoever did this murdered a priest in a public place to keep him from talking. Whatever they’re protecting, they’re willing to kill to protect it.”

“I know,” I said calmly. Another of those frissons of fear shivered down my spine, but I ignored it.

I had more important things to focus on.

Chapter 10

Them’s the Breaks

Tuesday was my day off, but that didn’t stop me from going to the bar that morning. Roz would be there early, and I needed to pick her brain before Copper State Cellars opened and she was distracted by customers.

Still, I took Chauncey on a nice, lengthy walk before I left, and I scratched his ears and told him I shouldn’t be gone too long. He wagged his tail, looking hopeful.

And Hazel caught my eye as I went back out the front door, as if she knew exactly where I was going and what I was doing.