“Did you keep that puppet?” Merrin countered. “You must be pretty good at it by now. Pulling strings, I mean.”
“My good man, I have no idea—”
“So what are you?” Merrin interrupted. “Bishop? Cardinal? Abbot?”
“Fisher,” Semelier said with an airy smile.
“Don’t give me that bunk,” Merrin returned. “Someone at the Vatican wanted me at that site, and you were sent to persuade me. You knew I wouldn’t go if a representative of the Church asked me directly, so you pretended to be a black market dealer of antiquities. Francis said the Church knew the history of the site, and Nairobi has a cardinal, for heaven’s sake. Any number of powerful people could have gone. Why go through the trouble of tricking me?”
“Ask them.” Semelier gestured at the distant domes of the Holy See.
“I’m asking you.”
Semelier sighed. “After all you have been through, Merrin, do you still think that evil is the only force in the universe that acts through men? Only one person could do what needed to be done at Derati. You yourself decided that the events in Hellendoorn may have happened in part to bring you there.”
“How did you know that?” Merrin whispered, thunderstruck.
“You are angry because you believe the Church manipulated you,” Semelier said, taking another sip of coffee. “So let me ask you something else: Why did you stay in Derati?”
The question caught Merrin off guard. “Stay? I…I had no choice.”
“Oh? What power made you stay? You could have walked away any time you chose. Any number of other men would have. Why didn’t you?”
“I couldn’t leave Joseph in the hands of that creature,” Merrin said simply.
“Let me ask you another question. If you could turn back the clock, would you still go to Derati?”
“Yes,” Merrin replied without hesitation. Then a chagrined smile flickered across his face. “Yes, I would. My choice. But I still want to know who you—”
Semelier leaned across the table and pressed a finger to Merrin’s mouth. It brushed his lips, light as a feather, but it halted his speech. “Don’t worry about Joseph. He will be fine with Father Gionetti in Nairobi. In the meantime, I am sure you can find a mission or poorhouse somewhere that could use the contents of that envelope. Good day to you…Father Merrin.”
Before Merrin could react, Semelier rose from the table and disappeared into the crowd of passers-by. After a long time, Merrin left the café and headed up the street in the opposite direction. As he walked, his coat fell open, revealing a new black-and-white Roman collar.
Father Lankester Merrin paused to raise his head to the Roman sun. Then he smiled and walked with firm steps toward the domes and spires of the Vatican.
Exorcist Page 19