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Katie actually smiled at Reverend McCamy, showing him lots of teeth, and waved her bandaged hand in a shooing motion. “Do invite us in, Reverend McCamy. And I think a cup of coffee would be nice too. It’s been a hard night.”

“No, I’m not letting either of you in my house until you tell me what’s going on. You both look filthy.”

“Well, that’s true,” Katie said. “Naturally, since I’ve had my house burned down and we’ve been running around in the rain, I guess you’d have to expect that.”

Still, he didn’t move. “Your house caught on fire? I’m sorry about that, Sheriff, but it doesn’t have anything to do with us. I don’t want to give you any coffee. I want you both to leave.”

Katie paused a moment. “Well, there’s something else, Reverend, something you should know.” She waited, letting this soak in, then said, looking straight into those mad prophet’s eyes, “As a result of your hiring incompetent help, Sam is in the hospital with severe injuries.”

Miles didn’t blink.

Reverend McCamy’s mouth worked, but nothing came out.

Elsbeth cried out, “What do you mean Sam is in the hospital? What’s wrong with him?”

Reverend McCamy whispered, “No, this can’t happen. Tell me he will be all right.”

“We don’t know yet.”

“I’m a minister, I will go to him,” said Reverend McCamy and turned on his heel. “I’ll be ready in just a moment.”

Katie called out after him, “You’re not going to the hospital, Reverend McCamy. Sam’s in surgery. There’s nothing you can do. Best to stay here and tell us why you want Sam so much.”

Elsbeth said, “You’re being ridiculous, Sheriff. We had nothing to do with this. What hospital is Sam in?”

Miles said, “Do you honestly believe we’d tell you where he is? My God, you’d probably set the hospital on fire to get to him.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Reverend McCamy said, but he was backing up, one step at a time. He was pale, markedly so, and it wasn’t that he was afraid of getting caught. It was because he was afraid Sam would die. His eyes, Katie thought, his eyes were quite fixed, no light in them at all.

And Elsbeth? Did she realize her husband was mad? Maybe she didn’t want to admit it, but she had to know, just as she had to be involved in all the efforts to get hold of Sam.

“My boy isn’t expected to live,” Miles said, his voice filled with rage. “Because of you, you fanatic bastard, my boy is probably going to die. Do you understand that, you moron? A six-year-old boy is going to die because of you! No one else, just you.”

He walked toward Reverend McCamy, one step at a time, staring into those mad eyes of his until he had him backed up against the wall. He put his face right into his, grabbed his robe lapels, and shook him. He screamed in his face, “And you call yourself a man of God?” Miles yanked him close again, shaking him so hard his head lolled on his neck.

Reverend McCamy tried to pull Miles’s hands away, but he couldn’t. He yelled, “You fool, you conceited buffoon! Sam doesn’t belong to you!”

Miles felt the man’s spittle on his cheek. He pressed closer and yelled back, “He sure in hell doesn’t belong to you!”

Reverend McCamy was shaking his head wildly, back and forth. “No! He belongs to God! And God won’t let him die, he won’t! I must go to the hospital, don’t you understand? I must go. I’m the only one who can save him!”

Katie said, “Why won’t God let him die, Reverend McCamy?”

Elsbeth said, “No, Reverend McCamy, don’t let them fluster you.”

Reverend McCamy slipped out of Miles’s grasp and dashed past him. Miles let him go. He watched him stumble over a Victorian umbrella stand, sending it crashing onto its side and splitting it open. Two umbrellas rolled out. Reverend McCamy took off running down the long hallway.

Elsbeth stood there in her sexy pink robe, staring after her husband. Katie and Miles ignored her, and turned to run after Reverend McCamy. He tried to slam the library door in their faces, but Miles shoved it back against him. He retreated back across the room where he did his couples counseling. There were