put it that way, it certainly did sound like a possibility. "But you told me that the murders looked like the work of an assassin."
"Which is what some of these Internet games allow for, right? I mean, in a way, don't they allow the players to become executioners or assassins?"
"I don't know enough about the games. Look, I suppose it's possible. Anything's possible. To tell you the truth I was beginning to think it might be more than one person, but a kid... I just can't wrap my brain around that one."
"One thing I've learned, Detective Pakula, in almost ten years of chasing killers is never to underestimate who is capable of murder."
"You mean like four years ago in Platte City?" It had taken Pakula a while to remember the details of the case, but when he did he also remembered the rumors, "Didn't you make a statement someplace that you thought the wrong men were being convicted? If I remember correctly, the FBI profiler in that case __ you __ believed a young Catholic priest was responsible."
"I still do believe that," she said, looking out her side window at the little shops and restaurants in Dundee along Underwood Avenue.
"Why didn't you pursue it?"
"I did." This time she shot him a look and he caught a glimpse of her anger before she could control it and go back to studying the cityscape outside her window. "Everyone in Platte City, including Sheriff Nick Morrelli seemed content to believe they had the killer, or rather, killers. Timmy Hamilton escaped and was rescued. I suppose everyone thought it was a nice wrap-up."
"But if the kid got away couldn't he identify the guy?"
"No, Timmy said the man always wore a Halloween mask, a Richard Nixon Halloween mask. I certainly could understand that people wanted to put the case behind them. They thought they had the killers in custody and why wouldn't they think that? The kidnappings and murders stopped."
"Makes sense," Pakula agreed.
"Yes, but what no one seemed to notice or care about was that Father Michael Keller had suddenly disappeared. He left the country. Not even the Omaha Archdiocese knew why or where he had gone. They claimed there was no reassignment. It wasn't like he had taken a leave of absence. He just disappeared."
She paused and Pakula glanced at her. She stared out the windshield now, but seemed to be somewhere else, her hands in her lap, her ringers nagging at a loose thread on her jacket. She continued as if she needed to explain, "I tracked him for a while as best I could even though I had absolutely no jurisdiction to do so. He wasn't implicated in the case in any way and he had left the country. All I had to go on were rumors. He fit the description of an American-speaking priest who suddenly showed up at a small parish in a poor village outside of Chiuchin, Chile. No sooner did I think I'd found him and he was gone again, on to some other little village."
"How could he do that without the Catholic Church keeping track of him? What did he do, just show up and pretend to be the new priest?"
"From what I could find out, yes, I think that's exactly what he was doing, probably what he's still doing. Many of these poor villages haven't had a priest for years. The people have to travel miles just to take part in a mass. Can you imagine a priest just coming into their village? They might not question it at all. They'd simply be glad to have him. They'd probably do anything and everything in order to keep him. Maybe even keep his presence secret."
"Unfortunately, it wouldn't be the first time the bad guy got away." Pakula flexed his shoulders. He'd wondered if he'd overdone it with the punching bag this morning.
"Maybe he hasn't gotten away, after all."
"Whadya mean?"
"That's who called me right before we went into the school," Maggie said.
"Holy crap! You've got to be kidding." Then he remembered. "You said something about the list. He's on it?"
"Yes," she said, only now she was smiling.
"What the hell did he want?"
"Protection. And medical attention. He thinks the killer poisoned him."
Pakula couldn't believe it. "Why the hell does he think we'd protect him?"
"For one thing, he can tell us who else is on the list."
"He has the list?"
"That's what he says."
"And you believe him?"
Maggie nodded. "He says Daniel Ellison is on it."
Pakula stared at her until he realized