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A young agent named McCo

The fact that McCo

Je

Je

Je

Dr. John Francis lived in an old brick house on the edge of Long Beach, two blocks west of Los Alamitos. She knew that he was a widower with doctorates in both psychology and philosophy who’d lived in the same house for twenty-three years. Other than that all she knew was that he had taken Kevin under his wing at the seminary. And that he liked to drive fast, judging by the black Porsche 911 in his driveway.

Five minutes after pulling up to his house, Je

“How well do you know Kevin?” she asked.

“Quite well as far as students go. But you must understand, that doesn’t qualify me to pass any judgment on his past.”

“His past. We’ll come back to that. This may sound like a simple case of revenge based on what the media is pumping over the air, but I think it’s more complicated than that. I think whoever’s after Kevin sees his life as it is now and takes exception to it. That’s where you come in. It appears that Kevin’s a quiet man. Not a lot of friends. In fact, he evidently considers you his best. Maybe his only, other than Sam.”

“Sam? You mean his childhood friend, Samantha? Yes, he’s spoken of her. He seems quite taken with her.”

“Tell me about him.”

“You’re looking for something in his life today that might elicit anger in someone from his past?”

She smiled. The psychologist in him was speaking. “Exactly.”

“Unless Kevin comes forward with his confession, which he did, the man will extract a price.”

“That’s the basic story.”

“But the confession missed the mark. So now you dig deeper, in search of that which so offends this Slater.”

She nodded. Dr. Francis was a quick study. She decided to deal straight with the man. “On the surface it seems obvious. We have a student pursuing a holy vocation. As it turns out, his past is filled with mystery and murder. Someone takes exception to that dichotomy.”

“We all have pasts filled with mystery and murder,” Dr. Francis said.

Interesting way to put it.

“In fact, it’s one of the aspects of the human condition Kevin and I have discussed before.”

“Oh?”

“It’s one of the first things an intelligent man like Kevin, who comes to the church later in life, notices. There is a pervasive incongruity between the church’s theology and the way most of us in the church live.”

“Hypocrisy.”

“One of its faces, yes. Hypocrisy. Saying one thing but doing another. Studying to be a priest while hiding a small cocaine addiction, for example. The world flushes this out and cries scandal. But the more ominous face isn’t nearly so obvious. This is what interested Kevin the most. He was quite astute, really.”

“I’m not sure I follow. What’s not so obvious?”

“The evil that lies in all of us,” the professor said. “Not blatant hypocrisy, but deception. Not even realizing that the sin we regularly commit is sin at all. Going about life honestly believing that we are pure when all along we are riddled with sin.”

She looked at his gentle smile, taken by the simplicity of his words.

“A preacher stands against the immorality of adultery, but all the while he harbors anger toward the third parishioner from the left because the parishioner challenged one of his teachings three months ago. Is anger not as evil as adultery? Or a woman who scorns the man across the aisle for alcoholic indiscretions, while she routinely gossips about him after services. Is gossip not as evil as any vice? What’s especially damaging in both cases is that neither the man who harbors anger nor the woman who gossips seriously considers the evil of their own actions. Their sins remain hidden. This is the true cancer in the church.”

“Sounds like the same cancer that eats away at the rest of society.”

“Exactly. Although in the church it makes every attempt to remain hidden, where it is left alone to grow in the dark. You ever wonder why incidences of divorce and gluttony and virtually all of evil’s fruits are as high in the church as in society at large?”

“Actually, I didn’t know that.”

“Though being freed from sin, most remain slaves, blinded and gagged by their own deception. ‘The good that I would, that I do not do and that which I would not, that I do.’ Welcome to the church in America.”

“And you’re saying you’ve discussed this with Kevin?”

“I discuss this with every class I teach on the subject. Kevin, more than most students, understood it.”

“Based on what you’re saying, what Slater’s doing isn’t so different from what every old lady in the church does when she gossips?” And killing Roy was no different either,she almost said.

“Assuming that old ladies have a proclivity for gossip, a false assumption, actually. On the other hand, Saint Paul drew a distinction between some sins and others. Although he did place gossip in the most vile category.”

Je

“Now you’re out of my league, I’m afraid.”

“You’re pushing theory way beyond what feels reasonable, Doctor. My brother was murdered. I hardly see any similarities between his killer and an old lady in a church.”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.” His compassion appeared thoroughly genuine.

“Even naysayers accept the brilliance of the teachings of Jesus,” he said. “You do know what he said on the matter?”

“Tell me.”

“That to hate a man is the same as killing him. Perhaps the gossipers are murderers after all.”

The notion struck her as absurd. Je

“Who’s to say how a demented mind works?” The professor smiled. “Really, it’s beyond me how anyone could do this to another man, especially a man like Kevin. Regardless of his past sins, Kevin is a walking testimony of God’s grace. You’d think he’s been through his share of difficulties. To have become the man he is today is nothing short of amazing.”