Doppelgangster - Laura Resnick [124]
“Crafty,” I said.
“Father Gabriel no doubt also underestimated your commitment to confronting Evil. He may have hoped that telling you something disturbing was enough to make you abandon your quest. It would be a common reaction, after all.”
“He pretended to help me look for my wrap after he had filched it, and he used his minutes alone with me to mislead me. And I fell for it.” I folded my arms. “Lopez was right. I’m naive.”
“But since we know that the Widow Giacalona is not the killer, you can rest assured now that your talking to her about Detective Lopez is not what led to his being duplicated.”
“I still may be the cause of that, Max. The widow was being courted by Buonarotti. Maybe she told him what I said to her.”
I remembered that Buonarotti recognized me easily the night of the sit-down despite my disguise as a mob girl. Had the widow told him about my presence in the church? Or had Father Gabriel told him after he left the crypt and I remained down there alone for a few minutes? Had the priest and the don been meeting somewhere in the church before I arrived? If they were conspirators, it seemed likely.
I also remembered how the priest had encouraged the Widow Giacalona to accept Buonarotti’s company that evening. Perhaps he had done it to keep Buonarotti happy, but perhaps he also wanted Buonarotti to get a full account of what Elena and I had discussed. “Besides, she’s a devout woman who’s always at church. Father Gabriel has influence over her, and she no doubt confides in him.”
“We confided in him, too.” Max’s expression was heavy with self-reproach.
I nodded. “At the sit-down.” We hadn’t questioned the priest’s presence there as peacekeeper. “He found out exactly how much we knew.”
“And, being well practiced at deceit, he convincingly pretended to find our theories absurd. He also encouraged Lucky to believe that, despite their denials, the Corvinos were indeed murdering Gambellos.”
With a sinking heart, I recalled, “Today he urged me to go straight home and rest my knee when I pretended that I had hurt myself as an excuse to leave quickly. At the time, he seemed so nice, so concerned. Now . . .”
“Now you’re wondering if he was trying to arrange a meeting between you and your doppelgangster by directing you to go home?” Max said. “I think it very likely, my dear.”
“I wonder if he knew I had deliberately cut Elena, that I was checking to see whether she was real?”
“If he suspected, then he will likely escalate his activities, realizing that we’re getting closer to unmasking him.”
I reviewed the encounter, then shook my head. “I don’t know if he suspected. I just don’t know. But it’s certainly possible. Because if we’re right about him, then he’s a very good actor.” I looked sadly at Max. “Damn. I really liked him.”
“That’s precisely why he has been so successful in his bold scheme. He is tremendously skilled at concealing his true nature and at presenting a likeable and trustworthy persona to the world.”
“Well, I never would have suspected him,” I admitted, recalling that I had previously thought Father Gabriel seemed like someone who’d be good to turn to in a crisis.
“I’m still puzzled, though, by how he came into possession of Detective Lopez’s telephone.”
“Oh, my God, I know how!” I said, realizing. “Father Gabriel went to the scene of the crime!”
Max’s eyes widened. “Ah, yes. Lucky called him to Danny’s side after the murder.”
“Because that’s what you do when a guy dies,” I said slowly, “even a guy like Danny. You call his priest.”
“And Detective Lopez, a normally efficient and alert young man, was distracted by the discovery that you and I were involved with the brutally murdered Corvino capo whose death he was investigating.”
“So the lurking Father Gabriel,” I said with a scowl, “found an opportunity to steal his phone.” Maybe Lopez had set down the phone and turned his back on it. Or maybe he had put it in an outer pocket of his jacket and never realized the kindly priest at the scene of the crime was a skilled pickpocket.
Max met my gaze. “Opportunity.”
“He’s not just evil,