Page 69 of Dead to Rites

Still looking grim, Jude said, “That fits.”

“So we have it,” I replied.

“Yes, we have it. But we still don’t have any proof.”

And that was the uncomfortable truth at the heart of this whole mess. We had a good theory, but we definitely didn’t have any kind of evidence that would hold up in court. Father Frank was only visible to me, so it wasn’t as if he could function as a useful witness. And although Hal’s input had been invaluable, it would still be hearsay…fifty-year-old, drunken hearsay…that would never be admissible as evidence.

I needed confirmation from someone in the Lindley family.

To put a pin in it, I needed to give Meg the chance to confess.

“I want to talk to Meg,” I said. “And it needs to be alone, without Diane running interference. I need to give Meg the chance to do what Father Frank wanted her to do. If I can get her to come forward, then the secret stops being a secret. And once it’s out, Wes has no reason to come after anyone else who might know.”

Including me, I thought, but I left that part off. I had a feeling Jude knew that as well as I did.

But he didn’t reply right away. He had that distant look on his face again, and I knew he was thinking.

So I waited.

“Lorelei,” he said at last, “that’s a kind thing for you to do — but it’s also dangerous. If Diane gets to Wes before you have a chance to talk to Meg — or if Diane is at the house, which she often is — then Wes will know within minutes that you’re closing in.”

Which definitely wasn’t what I wanted to happen.

“Then I’ll go without any warning,” I told him. “I’ll show up unannounced.”

“And what if Wes is there?”

I had to hope that he’d be out working on one project or another, but if he wasn’t….

“Then I’ll leave and try again,” I said simply.

“What if he won’t let you leave?”

An uncomfortable reality I would prefer not to face. But….

“I don’t think he’d hurt me,” I said, and hoped that wasn’t just wishful thinking. “He killed Frank because he had to silence him about a fifty-year-old crime. He’d have no reason to hurt me unless I already made it clear what I knew.”

Jude gave me a very direct look. “Which you will, if you’re trying to talk to Meg about it.”

“I have to talk to her, Jude,” I said, sidestepping his comment. “I think tomorrow will be the best time to get her alone. It’s Halloween, and that means both Wes and Diane will be busy helping with the trunk-or-treat in the Sacred Heart parking lot. That will give me the perfect window to see her when the rest of the family is busy elsewhere.”

And I had to utter a silent thank-you to Marco for putting up a flyer for the event on the little bulletin board in the hallway where the bar’s bathrooms were located. I’d noted the trunk-or-treat in passing, but now it might be my best chance of getting Meg alone.

Jude frowned. “I don’t like it.”

“You don’t have to like it,” I told him. “You just have to accept that this is my best chance to talk to her.”

A pause, and then he said, “I’m coming with you.”

A noble impulse, but the wrong one. “Then she won’t talk,” I replied. “She’s not going to disclose what she did in front of a former priest from her own parish. It’s going to feel too much like Father Frank getting on her case.”

Jude didn’t reply right away, and I got the feeling he was weighing my words and feeling the truth of them, even if he didn’t like them very much.

“Okay,” he said. “But I’ll be nearby, waiting at the end of the street. I’ll have my phone. If anything goes wrong, you can call me. I’ll be less than a minute away.”

That sounded like a reasonable compromise. I wasn’t a superhero, after all. I was just a woman trying to get at the truth, and that meant I would be all too happy to have Jude come charging to my rescue if things went sideways.

“All right,” I replied, and smiled at him. “So it sounds like we have a plan.”