Bonnie

And Da

She moved swiftly toward the desk. “Stay out of this, Father. This is between Da

But Father Barnabas’s muscles were bunching, tensing.

And she couldn’t let him attack Da

She was too far from Da

The priest was going to make his move. He started to turn on Da

“No!” She leaped forward and snatched up the paperweight on the desk. She brought it down on the priest’s head, then moved to get between him and Da

The priest staggered and fell against the desk.

The edge of Da

Da

“But you threatened him,” she said. “What did you expect? He’s a man who would try to guard and protect. It’s his vocation.”

“I know, I know. But he should take care of himself. He made me do it.” He glanced at the granite paperweight still in her hand. “Drop that and come along. Or you might force me to reconsider my feelings about Father Barnabas.”

She hesitated. It was her only weapon.

But it had only been effective because she’d had the advantage of surprise. She released the paperweight, and it fell to the floor. “You said something before.” She moistened her lips. “You said ‘she’s waiting. The little girl.’ What did you mean? Why do you want me to go with you?”

“Because she wants you to go.” He gestured with the knife. “We have to leave now. Someone might come.”

She didn’t move. “She?”

He opened the door to the garden. “I keep telling you, the little girl.”

She inhaled sharply. “What do you—”

He shook his head. “No more talk. It can’t happen here. It’s not the right place. Come on.”

She stared at him, her heart pounding. What was the right place?

Because she wants you to go.

The words of a madman?

Or a message from Bo

“Why are you being stubborn?” He was frowning. “You have no choice.”

She had a choice, but if she made the wrong one, he might kill her right now, and Bo

And wasn’t this what she had wanted? To find Ted Da

She moved toward him. “I’m coming.”

“I thought you would once I got rid of the priest.” He stepped aside to let her precede him. “I knew everything was going to come out all right for me. I should have relied on myself in the begi

*   *   *

THERE WAS A POLICE CAR parked in front of the cathedral, its lights blinking.

“Oh, shit.” Gallo pulled up behind the police car and jumped out of the car. A TV news truck pulled in right behind him, and techs and reporters were right behind Gallo as he took the steps two at a time and burst through the front entrance of the cathedral. Father Barnabas and Father Dominic were sitting in a pew talking to two men dressed in dark suits, and there was a uniformed officer beside the altar.

Gallo stopped short as the media crews poured down the aisle on either side of him and ran toward the priests and police.

Not good.

No Eve.

Father Barnabas looked up and saw him and fought his way through the ring of reporters and strode toward him down the aisle. “I’m sorry,” he said gently. “I tried to stop him.”

“My uncle?” Gallo said jerkily. “Eve? What the hell happened? I thought she was safe. I was gone less than two hours. Did he hurt her?”

The priest shook his head. “I don’t think so. He wanted her to go with him. He threatened me to make her do it.” He smiled ruefully as he rubbed his temple. “As I said, I tried to stop him. Eve Duncan hit me on the head to keep me from rushing him. I wasn’t expecting that. She was evidently trying to protect me.”

“Yes, Eve can be unpredictable,” Gallo said absently. Unpredictable and brave and strong. Dammit, he should never have left her. “Did he give you any idea where he was going to take her?”

Father Barnabas shook his head. “When I woke up, they were gone, and Father Dominic was standing over me.”

“He didn’t say anything?”

“He said that he knew Eve wasn’t a demon.”

Gallo muttered a curse. “Is that supposed to be good?”

“Yes, Da

Gallo felt a chill. But what if his uncle changed his mind? “Then why did he want her to go with him?”

Father Barnabas hesitated, then said, “He said the little girl was waiting for her.”

The little girl.

Shit. The chill he was feeling became pure ice.

“You believe he was speaking of Bo

“Yes.”

“And that would mean he’s going to—”

“It doesn’t mean anything. Maybe he knows who killed Bo

“I don’t know. If I did, I’d tell you.” He met Gallo’s eyes. “I’m not a fool. I know that she’s in danger. Da

“You know him as some kind of sicko. That wasn’t the man I knew while I was growing up.”

“Then we’ll have a complete picture, won’t we? But I never considered Da

“Did you tell the police who I was?”

“Of course, I wouldn’t lie to them. I skimmed over your co

The last thing he needed was to have the police interested in him, Gallo thought in frustration. He was still wanted in Wisconsin for questioning, and there was no way he could waste time being grilled by the local police when he had to find Eve.

“I have to get out of here.”

The priest nodded. “I thought you would. Go on. You’d better be very quick. As I said, I won’t lie to them.” His lips tightened. “But I believe that the people who know Da

“Or what he wanted with her. I can’t believe he wants to kill her.”

The priest didn’t answer as he moved slowly down the aisle.

Gallo whirled and ran out of the church and down the steps. In seconds, he was behind the wheel of his car and tearing away from the curb and down the street. Get away. Put some distance between him and the police.