people after him and that he came to Chicago to leave his past behind. He wanted to change. He wanted to do some good.”
“Did you, perhaps, ask him to elaborate about his violent past?” Zoe said, her voice sharp.
“He said he wasn’t ready to talk about it, and I respected his privacy.”
Zoe opened her mouth to answer back. Tatum shot her a warning glance. She shut her mouth, her jaw clenched tight.
“Do you know where to find him? Do you have a phone number for him?” Tatum asked.
“No.”
There was a loud squawk, and the three of them turned around. Albert’s dog stood at the corner of the room with a large rubber ball in his mouth. He shifted the thing in his mouth, and the ball squawked again. He approached Albert expectantly, but the pastor didn’t move.
“Can you tell us who he was friends with?” Tatum asked.
“He was friendly with everyone.”
“Anyone in particular?”
“Not that I know of, but I wasn’t keeping track.”
The dog dropped the ball at Albert’s feet and whined. Both Albert and the dog stared at the ball for a few seconds without moving. Tatum fought the urge to pick it up and toss it for the dog to catch.
“So you just let this man into your congregation? Into your community?” Zoe asked abruptly. “A man you knew had a shady past? And you didn’t even bother to keep track of him?”
Tatum cleared his throat, raising an eyebrow at her. Whatever went on in Zoe’s mind clouded her judgment. He hoped she would shut up and let him carry on with the interview.
Albert glanced at Zoe. “I am not running a business or a school. I run a church. If I shut the door when the people who needed it most came—”
“Rod Glover was not one of those people.”
“You think he had anything to do with Catherine’s death?”
“We can’t divulge any information about the investigation,” Tatum said.
“Well, if you think so, you are mistaken.”
“How do you know?” Tatum asked.
“I’ve talked to him several times. I’ve seen him help the needy, play with children, support people in the community. This man would never do what was done to my daughter.”
Zoe opened her mouth again, and Tatum raised his finger and glared her into silence. He waited a few seconds, looking at the dog, who faced Albert with wide glum eyes, his tail between his legs. Finally the dog padded away to the corner of the room and slumped on the floor, his ears drooped.
“If he’s innocent, he has nothing to worry about from us,” Tatum said. “We just want to ask him some questions. If you know where we can find him—”
“Like I said, I don’t,” Albert said wearily. “He left two months ago. A family emergency. He said he didn’t know when he’d be back.”
“We have reason to believe he had a good friend in your community,” Tatum said. “Any idea who?”
“Not that I can think of.”
“What about this picture?” Tatum asked, taking out his phone, finding the photo with Glover’s blurry face in the corner. “Do you remember who he’s talking to?”
Albert took the phone from him as if it were a delicate porcelain doll. Tatum doubted he could even see anyone else in the image, with Catherine sitting in the center. “I remember that day,” he said. “Catherine organized this picnic with Leonor. I wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea. It was supposed to rain, and it sounded like a hassle. But those two could make anything happen. It turned out to be a perfect day. Catherine made apple pie that kept attracting bees.”
“Who else was at that picnic?” Zoe asked.
Albert shook his head. “I don’t know. Dozens of congregation members. Where did you see this picture?”
“It’s on the memorial wall in your church,” Zoe said. “Haven’t you seen it?”
“Oh. No, I haven’t. I’ve been meaning to go, but . . .” He put the phone down. “I’ve been tired.”
“You don’t remember who he spoke to? You seem to recall that day so vividly, and he sat just a few feet away from you.”
“I remember Catherine.” Albert shook his head, as if the presence of Catherine at the picnic dimmed any other detail of that day in his memory.
There was something eerie about the man, something fragmented. Tatum got the feeling that Albert Lamb was a man used to giving big speeches, full of booming, colorful phrases and powerful body language. A man who spoke in the vast space of his church and made sure everyone could