Devil’s Claw

Even without Frank saying it aloud, Joa

“What are you proposing, Frank?” she asked.

“That we give Rich Davis a call and have him bring Woodworth in right away to take a look at this stuff. That’s all.”

“If the parolee works with us on this, won’t he be breaking the terms of his probation and ru

“The Feds weren’t above using his computer talents when it suited their purposes,” Frank replied. “And I believe the operant word here is ”unsupervised.“ We’ll have him look at the disk right here in the department on one of our own computers. Before he even touches the keyboard, I’ll take the computer off-line and out of our intranet. He won’t be able to do anything we don’t let him do.”

“Call Rich,” Joa

Nodding, Frank left the office. Once again, Joa

“Excuse me?”

“The last time I talked to you, you weren’t willing to give me the time of day,” Joa

“I talked to a friend of mine,” Sister Celeste answered. “He spoke very highly of you.”

“And his name is?” Joa

“Please,” Sister Celeste said. “Don’t ask me that right now. First let’s see what’s on the disk. I’d really like to wait that long, if you don’t mind. If it turns out to be what I think it is, I’ll tell you everything I know.”

“Including where to find Lucy Ridder?”

She nodded. “Most likely,” she said.

Although Sister Celeste seemed prepared to sit quietly with her hands folded and wait indefinitely, Joa

“Would you like anything?” Joa

“No,” Sister Celeste returned. “Nothing. I’m fine. In fact, I’m glad to have the opportunity to chat with you for a few minutes. I remember when you were elected, Sheriff Brady,” she added after a time. “It was all over the news up in Tucson. All the nuns at the convent were quite proud of you.”

“Really. How could they be proud of me? They don’t even know me.”

Sister Celeste smiled. “Maybe not, but what they were seeing was someone knock down another male-only barrier. Some of our more liberal sisters see every change as a step in the right direction. They’re convinced that as one job after another is made available to women, that it’s inevitable the priesthood will eventually follow.”

“What do you think?” Joa

“I’ve been a nun for more than thirty-five years,” Sister Celeste responded ruefully. “I’m lucky to have worked my way up to be principal at the school where I’ve taught for twenty of those thirty-five years. It’s progress, I suppose, but very slow progress. I’m afraid, when it comes to something as deeply entrenched as the priesthood, I don’t see that kind of fundamental change happening in my lifetime. You’re much younger than I, and it probably won’t happen in your lifetime, either.”

Joa

“You told Rich what we needed?” Joa

“Yes.”

“What did he say?”

“Just what I thought. As long as it’s done under supervision, he doesn’t think having Fred use one of our computers will be a problem.”

“And what about Woodworth himself? Does Rich think he’ll go along with the idea?”

Frank laughed. “He says Freddy Boy misses his computers so much that he’ll be thrilled to do anything in order to lay hands on a keyboard again. That’s how the FBI talked him into working for them earlier, when he was locked up at Club Fed.”

Sister Celeste stood up as soon as Frank got off the phone. “Look,” she said, “I can see you have work to do, and this could take time. Why don’t I go outside and wait until your deputy’s pet hacker gets here.”

“Thanks,” Joa

It was another forty-five minutes before Kristin called in over the intercom once more to a

“Put them in the conference room, Kristin,” Joa

Joa

Woodworth barely glanced at the people ranged around the conference room table as they were introduced to him. Instead, he stared greedily-almost hungrily-at the laptop computer Frank had set down on the table nearby.

“Has Mr. Davis explained the situation to you?” Joa

Fred nodded, but said nothing.

“You do know that even though you’re cooperating with us in this instance, we have no power to change the terms of your parole?” Joa

Fred nodded again. “Rich told me that. But, hey. What the hell? I’m glad to help.” He glanced in Sister Celeste’s direction. “Sorry about that, Sister,” he said. “Please excuse my French.”

She smiled. “That’s all right,” she told him.

“So can we get started?”

Frank switched on the computer and passed it to Fred. Frank did it so carefully, so gingerly, that he might have been a nervous first-time mother passing the care and keeping of her precious newborn into the hands of a baby-sitter she didn’t quite trust. As for Fred Woodworth, when he put his fingers on the keys and began making a series of rapid-fire typed commands, the rapt look on his face was almost sexual in nature.

After several minutes, Fred asked if he could download a program from the Internet. Frank plugged in a PCI modem and plugged the other end into a wall receptacle. Then, with Frank logging on and doing the keyboarding, they took ten minutes to download a file. Only then, when the computer was disco

For Joa