Bishop as Pawn Page 0,111

There seemed to be a ground swell in support of Father Carleson. Kleimer was beginning to doubt he could get a conviction with no more than the circumstantial evidence he had. There were unexplained doubts. And a jury cannot convict when there is a shadow of doubt.”

“Williams’s hunch that Maryknoll headquarters was covering up something didn’t pan out,” Tully said.

“Williams is a good detective,” Koznicki said. “But, with one thing and another, his Maryknoll theory might very well have been proven groundless. For Kleimer, time was running out. The perfect ploy was to frame Father Carleson for a murder. No victim would be more tailormade than Herbert Demers. Demers was dying anyway. But his lifetime was growing very short. If Kleimer had not acted when he did, there might well have been no other opportunity to implicate Father in a murder.”

“I agree,” Tully said. “But once we got onto his trail, it was pretty easy to tie up the loose ends. Mary, the clerk at Fuchs religious goods store, picked Kleimer out of a bunch of photos as the guy who bought a clerical shirt the day of Demers’s murder.

“Then there was Michigan Bell. They found that a call had been placed from a neighborhood pay phone to Carleson’s number at 11:15 on the eighth of February. Which proved that Carleson really got the call he said he did. The healthy presumption is that Kleimer made that call. He called from a nearby pay phone so he could check and make certain that Carleson took the bait. If Kleimer had called from a private phone, Ma Bell would not have had the record. Chalk up a couple for the good guys.”

They chuckled.

“But Father” —Koznicki grew serious—” this all began with your suspicion that Brad Kleimer had killed Herbert Demers. I can understand why you were reluctant to believe Father Carleson was guilty of either murder. But what made you suspect Kleimer?”

Father Koesler, in turn, was serious. “I didn’t, at first. Of course I couldn’t bring myself to believe that Don had murdered the bishop. And nothing in the evidence that was found shook my belief. But I must admit that when Don was charged with the Demers killing I had my first serious doubts. It seemed so logical that if he had killed Demers—and that likelihood I had to admit was strong—why could he not have killed the bishop?

“Then, something that Lieutenant Tully said pricked my curiosity. You said, Lieutenant, something to the effect of, ‘If only he hadn’t done it.’ If only he hadn’t murdered Demers, there wouldn’t have been such renewed belief that he had committed the prior murder.

“So the only remaining supposition had to be: What if he, indeed, hadn’t? What if he hadn’t killed Demers? How could someone else do it while implicating Don?

“And, who would, or could, do such a thing?”

“Well, impersonating a priest was not all that difficult. No one in the hospital got a really good look at the ‘priest’ who was seen—from afar—entering the hospital, and then seen almost out of the corner of her eye by the floor nurse.

“Everybody—with good reason, I’m sure—assumed it was Father Carleson.

“Who might have done it? Several people came to mind. Father Bell—to remove himself from any suspicion in the bishop’s murder. He would have the added advantage of being a priest and not having to impersonate one. Honestly—and I’m a bit ashamed to admit it—he was my prime candidate.

“Then there was Michael Shell, another suspect and possible killer.”

“He had an alibi,” Koznicki interjected.

“See? I didn’t even know that,” Koesler said. “Then there was—almost for lack of any other suspects—Lieutenant Quirt. Or, perhaps, one of those crazy movie people trying to steer the story their way.

“Or, it could’ve been almost anybody. One of the hospital personnel intent on a mercy killing. A relative of Mr. Demers trying to hurry nature along. But none of those candidates seemed a logical choice.

“Then came Brad Kleimer. As I said a while ago, he fit the bill physically. Of course, a lot of people could qualify in that category—especially with the brief glimpse he gave the hospital personnel.

“The ultimate reason why I zeroed in on Brad Kleimer was his motive—or what I suspected his motive to be.

“You see, granting that Father Carleson did not do it, whoever killed Demers did it to reinforce the charge that Father Carleson killed Bishop Diego. So I thought, in this scenario, whoever killed Demers didn’t really care one way or the other about Demers’s