The Bishop's Man
Page 34
I just stared back. “Who was the witness?”
“That doctor. She’s with the guy who owns the boat behind yours. That writer from New York. She was the blonde, declared the guy dead at the scene.”
“And what about her husband … the writer? … Did he know anything?”
“Not a thing. He wasn’t there. But he confirms old Willie was pretty out of it, talking a lot of foolishness earlier on.”
As he prepared to leave, the policeman told me I didn’t have a thing to worry about.
“Maybe you have time for a coffee,” I said.
“All the time in the world.” And he walked back into the room and sat.
I studied the nameplate on his jacket. Cpl. L. Roberts.
“What does the L stand for?” I asked.
“Leo.”
“I’m guessing you’re a Catholic.”
“Good guess. Though not a very good Catholic.”
“I suppose you know your prayers. The act of contrition.”
“I know that one,” he said, smiling. “What’s this all about, anyway?”
“I had a friend once, a priest, who used to say that the act of contrition was just a bunch of words. Good words, of course. But not an act of anything. He was a big believer in action, my friend.”
“I suppose saying I’m sorry and meaning it is an act of sorts. Speaking as a lapsed Catholic.”
“That’s exactly what I would tell him. But he was stubborn. The only real act of contrition is a deed that involves some kind of sacrifice.”
“That’s pretty extreme,” Leo said, lifting his coffee cup.
“My friend would say contrition is supposed to lead to changed behaviour. And nothing changes without action, sometimes violent action.”
“Pretty radical,” he said, shaking his head sadly. “Where’s your friend now? Or maybe I shouldn’t ask.” He smiled.
“It’s a long story,” I said, remembering my father’s favourite evasion.
The box of journals was between us. I hesitated for just a moment. Then I shoved them toward him.
“I don’t think I’ll have any further use for these.”
† † †
The bishop phoned moments after he received my letter.
“I’m not buying any of this crap. It’s all stress related. You need a complete sabbatical. Take a year. Go to the Holy Land. Study. We’ll send you to Rome. Or just do nothing for a while.”
I thanked him. Said I’d think about it.
“Anyway, just so you know. I’m tearing this letter into little pieces. It never happened. You hear me?”
“I hear you.”
“I know the whole story. I have my sources. Blessings sometimes come in strange disguises.”
Stella walked across the field, came in the back way.
“This is private,” she said. “But you have to know. I’m confident it won’t go anywhere from here.”
I nodded.
Only she and her sister knew about it. “Danny Ban must never know.”
“Willie blamed the boy,” I said.
“The boy was nine, for God’s sake,” she said.
Stella was the first to come to terms with what had happened. She took a professional position, persuaded her sister that it had to be their secret, for Aunt Peggy’s sake.
“I’m sure you understand,” she said. What would have happened to Aunt Peggy if they’d turned Willie in? Even if he avoided prison, Danny Ban would have killed him. So they agreed on silence, for Peggy’s sake. Nobody would ever know, just Stella, Jessie and, of course, young Danny. “This is not uncommon in close families,” she said.
I agreed. All families have secrets. But why, so many years later, did the boy do this?
She shrugged. “He became friends with a young priest from Newfoundland. They talked a lot. Then rumours started. Probably related to the scandals over there, where he was from. You know the way that people are. I know the rumours bothered Danny. I think he felt, somehow, threatened by them.”
“Where do you think the rumours came from?”
“It’s anybody’s guess.” She was silent then. “I guess that’s all there is to say. I thought you should know, for your own peace of mind.”
“Thank you,” I said. “That’s a big secret to carry around … you and Jessie.”
She smiled. “I’m sure you know all about the burden of big secrets.”
“Once, you mentioned a place in the Dominican Republic.”
“Yes,” she said.
“Maybe I’ll take you up on that.”
“Just say the word.”
I hesitated. “Maybe you’ll come too.”
“Maybe. And then again.”
“Then again what?”
She placed a cool hand on my cheek. “I make a poor substitute. I learned that, long ago, the hard way.”
“Substitute for what?” I said weakly.
“I think you know.”
I could only nod, silently.
“I’ll drop off the keys to Puerto Plata, and the name of the woman who takes care of it for me.”
“Okay.”
Danny Ban was crossing the parking lot at the mall in town when he spotted me. I hoped he wouldn’t. There was too much to explain. Too much to suppress. But he was moving slowly in my direction, using two canes now.
“Hey,” he said. “I was half expecting to get a call Sunday morning. Then they prayed for poor Willie at Mass. I figured you’d be too busy for boating.”
“One of these days,” I said.
“I hear you’re going away for a while.”
“Yes. I was just picking up a few supplies.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll be gone at least a month.” I told him that I had a lot to think about. Maybe it was time for a major change of direction in my life.
“That’d be a shame,” he said.
“Nothing is decided.”
“You’ll be back, though?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t worry about the boat. I’ll look after her for you. I’ve got good memories with that boat.”
I thanked him.
His face was suddenly very sad. “What do you think goes through their minds?” he asked.
“We can never know. We can only assume. That there was a moment at the end … some kind of peace.”
He nodded. “It’s a shame, you going. Priesthood needs more down-to-earth people like yourself.”
I laughed.
“I’m serious,” he said. “People say that.”
“No matter what else I’ll be, I’ll still be a priest. You know what they say: once a priest, always a priest.”
“But you know what I mean. I’m not talking about … theoretical.”
“You can think of me the same as now. I don’t plan to change much.”
He nodded.
“Just don’t call me Father anymore.”
“That’ll be hard,” he said. “I’m kind of old-fashioned that way.” And he suddenly gathered both canes in his large left hand and extended his right for a farewell handshake. “Just in case I don’t run into you again.”
Impulsively, I stepped forward and put both arms around his sagging shoulders, and my head alongside his where he wouldn’t see my eyes.
I remember standing like that for a long time, hanging on to his great weakened frame as he gently patted my back, the way you would a frightened child.
And I remember the people going about their weekend shopping and glancing uneasily at two grown men hugging in a parking lot. Wondering what might be going on.
{ACKNOWLEDGMENTS}
I’m grateful to many friends and colleagues for feedback and advice as this story evolved. I owe special thanks to my agents, Don Sedgwick and Shaun Bradley, for sticking with the project for several years, and especially to Don, who read the manuscript and offered valuable criticism through many drafts. My wife, Carol Off, gave crucial encouragement and guidance throughout the process, and our friend
Scott Sellers of Random House of Canada saw merit in the nearly final project when even I was dubious. My editor and publisher, Anne Collins, brought to the story the tender insights and editorial discipline it needed to transcend my many literary weaknesses.
LINDEN MACINTYRE is the co-host of the fifth estate and the winner of nine Gemini Awards for broadcast journalism. He is the author of the bestselling novel The Long Stretch, nominated for a CBA Libris Award. His most recent book, a boyhood memoir called Causeway: A Passage from Innocence, was a Globe and Mail Best Book of 2006, and won both the Edna Staebler Award for Non-Fiction and the Evelyn Richardson Prize.
Copyright © 2009 Linden MacIntyre
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Published in 2009 by Random House Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Distributed in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited.
www.randomhouse.ca
Random House Canada and colophon are trademarks
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
MacIntyre, Linden
The bishop’s man / Linden MacIntyre.
eISBN: 978-0-307-37285-7
I. Title.
PS8575.I655B57 2009 C813′.54 C2009-901658-3
v3.0