Blue
Page 22
“So, here we are,” Monsignor Cavaretti said, smiling at both of them after the young priest who was his assistant offered them all coffee, tea, or cold drinks, which they had declined. “What are we going to do about this unfortunate matter?” he said pleasantly. He had taken control of the meeting as soon as they walked in, with his friendly reminiscences of Rome with Andrew, his jocular comments, and his high praise for him. “We have the future of a young priest at stake here, not only in the church, but in the eyes of the world. There’s no question, this case will destroy him, his career, and his faith in himself if it goes to court, or worse if he goes to prison.”
Ginny couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but neither she nor Andrew said a word.
“We also have to consider, on our side, what accusations like this do to the church, how they undermine us. Yet we must also respect the law. This case is about people, not just a church, but it’s about our concern for our parishioners as well.” He looked calm and benevolent as he said it. “Father Ted Graham is much loved, both at his last church and at his current one.”
“Is that why you moved him to Chicago, instead of dealing with it here?” Andrew asked quietly. He had fired his first shot across their bow, and he could see in the old priest’s eyes that he had scored. But Cavaretti was much too smart to be surprised by Andrew’s comment and knew him too well. He was prepared.
“It was time for him to move to another parish. You know that, Andrew. We don’t want anyone getting too attached to one place and losing his objectivity and perspective. There was an opening in Chicago at the right time, and he was badly needed there. He has been extremely well liked and an exemplary pastor everywhere he’s been.”
“Was it the ‘right time’ because someone complained—an altar boy’s parents who actually believed their son?” They both knew that was rare. Parents were more likely to put their faith in their priest than in their sons, out of habit and respect for the church, no matter how unfounded. Andrew knew better and believed the child every time. He had never yet had a case where the child was lying, but always the erring priest, and Cavaretti knew that, too. “Or did one of the other priests see something that worried you? Apparently all his parishioners in New York were crazy about him—he was a beloved parish priest. So why move him to Chicago?”
“The pastor at St. Anne’s had died suddenly a month before, and we had no one else at the time.” The shrewd old priest met Andrew’s eyes fearlessly. The church had covered all its bases with where it had moved him. “The transfer was justified.”
“I wish I could say that I believed that,” Andrew said cynically, as he challenged him. “There is always someone else, particularly if you have a parish priest who is doing well where he is and is so well liked. You almost never move him in that case. And it’s interesting that we now have fifteen cases, in addition to Blue’s, at both St. Francis’s and St. Anne’s. Monsignor, I think you have a serious problem, and you know it.” Andrew was respectful, but tough. And Cavaretti’s face gave away nothing. The other two monsignors hadn’t spoken since they were introduced, and Andrew was sure they had been told not to. He expected Cavaretti would do all the talking. He was the senior man in the room and knew Andrew well, which was an advantage.
Ginny was fascinated by what she was hearing and the style of the two men, Andrew and the monsignor, as they fenced elegantly with each other. It was almost like a dance, and hard to say at this point which one would win. She was betting on Andrew, for Blue’s sake. But the monsignor was highly skilled at what he did, too.
“I think we all need to think of the damage that will be caused here, if the case proceeds,” Monsignor Cavaretti said seriously. “The lives that will be destroyed, not only Father Graham’s, but the boy’s. Would it really serve him well to expose this, even if his story is true, which I don’t believe? I think he’s a frightened boy, who perhaps tried to seduce a priest, then thought better of it and tried to turn it around to his advantage. We’re not going to pay him a cent for lying,” Cavaretti said, his eyes boring into Andrew’s and then taking in Ginny, who looked shocked at what he’d said.
“This isn’t about money,” Andrew said clearly, as Ginny almost jumped out of her chair but controlled herself, “nor the alleged seduction of a man in his forties by a nine-year-old boy. That’s a clever theory, Monsignor, but it won’t work here. My client is the innocent victim, not Father Graham. And the church will pay whatever the courts decide, for impacting his life forever. You know the toll these incidents take, and so do I. We’re talking about a crime, Monsignor. A serious crime, committed on a child. Ted Graham belongs in prison, not moved to a different parish, to do it again.
“If this goes to court, and it will, the world will be looking at you and asking why you moved him and didn’t stop him from doing it to someone else. This is a grave crime, committed against my client. You all bear responsibility for it, for not stopping the perpetrator, and for transferring him to another city. You know me well enough to know that I will be relentless in my pursuit of justice here, both moral and material, as a demonstration of your remorse and good will.”
And with that, the lawyer and the priest exchanged a long silent look, and Andrew stood up and signaled to Ginny to do the same. She watched Cavaretti in amazement, and saw him purse his lips. He didn’t like the position Andrew was taking or his unwillingness to drop the case or to be intimidated by the older man. He had hoped the meeting with Andrew would go better than it had. But for now at least, Andrew wasn’t budging an inch.
The old monsignor looked at Ginny then. “I urge you to talk to the boy, and think of the lives he will destroy here, most especially his own. This case will get ugly and hurt everyone involved, even Blue himself. We leave no stone unturned.” It was a direct threat, but Andrew cut him off before she could respond. She didn’t know what to say, other than that she believed Blue, who was the victim here, and that their priest was a liar and a pervert, and that the police were gathering testimony and evidence to prove it, from his other victims as well. This was not going to be a small matter for Father Teddy Graham or the church, especially once it hit the news.
“Thank you, gentlemen, for your time,” Andrew said politely, then turned to Cavaretti again. “Good to see you, Monsignor. Have a nice day.” And with that he propelled Ginny out of the room by her elbow, signaled to her not to speak, and found their own way downstairs and back out to the street. His eyes were icy, and there was a look of steel on his face when he spoke to her as they walked away. “He’s a cunning old devil. I knew he’d try to scare you off by threatening Blue. And there’s no question, it will be a tough case—they always are when you go up against a mammoth institution like the Catholic Church. But goodness and truth are on our side, not theirs, and they know it. And when we start rolling out teenage witnesses with stories similar to Blue’s, they’re going to be begging for mercy. This won’t be a pretty case, for them. And it will be costly for everyone. So if they can scare you off, they will. Are you still in?” Andrew looked at Ginny with concern, but she was much tougher than he knew, and furious at what she’d heard.
“What a slimy thing to do, and it’s so wrong!” she said, with a look of outrage in her eyes. “They should be crawling on their knees over what happened!”
“This is just posturing in the beginning. They can’t just give in to us immediately—they have to play the game. But they will pay in the end. Sometimes a lot. They pay huge damages and settlements in these cases. It won’t change what happened, but it could give Blue a better life than he might have otherwise, and some security for his future. That could be very important for him.” All Andrew could do now to help him was convince the church to pay a handsome settlement. And he wasn’t going to rest until that was achieved.
“What was that meeting about? I thought we were going to have a serious conversation about what to do. All they wanted to do was terrorize us.” Ginny was angry, but Andrew knew the dance had only just begun.
“Do you think they will cave?” she asked, looking worried, and relieved they hadn’t wanted to see Blue at the meeting. She wouldn’t have brought him, even if they did. If Blue had been there, Cavaretti would have tried to pressure Blue and make him recant and confuse him about what had actually happened.
“They really have no choice here, if Blue sticks to his story.”
“It’s not a story, it’s the truth,” Ginny said hotly.
“That’s why I’m here,” Andrew said quietly. “Try not to let them get to you this early. We have a long road ahead of us. Which reminds me—once you have guardianship, I want you to take him to the psychologist whose name I gave you. I want some kind of assessment of his mental state, and the extent of the psychological damage, in a doctor’s opinion.” He had requested temporary guardianship for her, pending the hearing, and saw no reason why she wouldn’t get it.
“Will she use hypnosis, or just talk to him?” Ginny asked, concerned.
“It depends on what she thinks. She might use hypnosis if she thinks he was sodomized and doesn’t remember it, but testimony based on hypnosis can be sketchy and unreliable, and some judges won’t accept it. I’d rather rely on her assessment, and what Blue says himself.”
Ginny nodded in agreement—she just wanted to warn Blue of what would happen when he saw the therapist. She had already told him he would probably have to see one for an evaluation, and he had no objection. He was like an open book.
“Well, try to do something more pleasant for the rest of the day,” Andrew suggested as he left her at the corner. Nothing that had happened in the meeting had surprised him, but Ginny was upset and shaken.
Andrew had a busy afternoon ahead of him. He was meeting a new client in a similar case, although in that case the boy had been sodomized and had shown signs of psychosis ever since, and had just been released from a psychiatric hospital after attempting suicide. He saw many worse cases than Blue’s, but his was important as well, and Andrew took it very seriously, as he did all of them. There were fragile young lives at stake that would be impacted forever, in obvious and subtle ways. He wanted to achieve retribution for them by putting all the perpetrators in prison.
He smiled at Ginny, wishing he could make this easier for her and Blue.
“If you don’t mind, sign a release for the therapist so I can discuss the case with her, and I’ll be in touch. I’m waiting to hear from Jane Sanders about when this will go to the grand jury. From what she said yesterday, I think they’re almost ready to submit it, and we’ll be off and running after that,” Andrew said, and Ginny nodded. He was efficient and on top of all the details, as well as extremely competent at sparring with old priests. She had been very impressed by his performance in the meeting. He was the classic iron hand in the velvet glove, and much tougher than she’d thought. And somehow it helped that he had been a priest. He was like a secret agent who had defected from the other side, and he knew all the private ins and outs of the church. Andrew O’Connor was no slouch. She was intrigued, too, by the old monsignor being so convinced Andrew would go back, particularly since he knew him so well. “I’ll call you,” he promised. “Say hi to Blue for me.” He waved and got into a cab, and she took the subway back uptown.
—
Blue asked about the meeting as soon as she walked into the apartment, but she didn’t want to worry him.
“What did they say?” He looked concerned, and had been lying on the couch, watching TV. He was still pale after his surgery.
“Not much,” she said honestly. It had been basically bluster and veiled threats when you got right down to it, and a few elegant flourishes and jabs from Andrew’s side. She liked his style. “Mostly, they wanted to know if we were serious about the case. Andrew said we are, in so many words. He threatened them a little, and then we left.” She had summarized it succinctly, without the twists and turns and blackmail of the monsignor’s words. “Andrew knew the monsignor, which doesn’t hurt. I think the archdiocese will get more serious after this. I think they were hoping we’d drop it before it goes to the grand jury, but we won’t.” She changed into jeans, a T-shirt, and sandals then, and felt more relaxed, and then she called the therapist Andrew had referred her to. She made an appointment for the following week and told Blue about it.
Andrew called to check on Blue that night. Ginny thought he sounded tired, and he admitted he’d had a long day.
“How’s the patient doing?” he asked in a friendly tone.
“Getting restless, I think. He wants to go to the beach tomorrow. I think we should wait a few days.”
“What if I bring dinner tomorrow night?” Andrew suggested, and Ginny was touched.
“He’s desperate for a Big Mac,” she said, laughing.
“I think we can do better than that. My apartment is near Zabar’s. I’ll bring a picnic over tomorrow after work,” he offered generously. “And don’t forget our Yankees game.” It was going to be on Blue’s birthday. Ginny wondered if he was this attentive to all his clients. He seemed to have a soft spot for Blue. “See you tomorrow night,” Andrew said, after chatting with her for a few minutes, and she reported to Blue that Andrew was coming to dinner the following night.
“He likes you,” Blue said with a goofy grin.
“He likes you,” she corrected him, and the following night Andrew showed up at their apartment with flowers for her and a sumptuous meal. There were several kinds of pasta, roast chicken, salads, a number of good French cheeses, a bottle of excellent French wine for him and Ginny, and a mountain of desserts. The three of them spread it out on their dining table and shared a delicious meal. He and Blue talked baseball and music, and after Blue went to bed, he and Ginny talked about her travels, and he reminisced about how much he had loved Rome.
“It’s the most romantic city in the world,” he said nostalgically, and it seemed like an odd comment from an ex-priest, and he grinned, aware of that himself. “I only figured that out after I left the church. I’d love to go back one day. It was very exciting being at the Vatican, although I worked fifteen hours a day. I used to go for long walks at night when I finished. It’s an exquisite city. You should go there with Blue one day.” He treated her as a friend more than a woman, and it was nice being able to share her concerns about Blue with him, and her hopes.
“There are a lot of places I’d like to travel with him, although not the countries where I work. Maybe I can take some time off and go to Europe with him next year.”
“It sounds like you’ve earned it.”
“I was thinking about taking him away for a few days before he starts school.”
“You should go to Maine. I spent my summers there as a kid.” And then his face lit up as he thought of something. “Do you like to sail?”
“I haven’t in years. I used to love it.”
“I keep a ridiculously small sailboat at Chelsea Piers. It’s my pride and joy. I take it out on weekends, when I’m not buried in work. We should take Blue out on it some weekend.” Like Ginny, he wanted to introduce him to some of the joys in life, and it sounded like fun to her.
They chatted for a while, about his summers in Maine, and hers in California, while they finished the wine. It was a nice, relaxing, family-style evening, and she thanked him for the delicious meal. And before he left, he promised to call her about going out on his boat.
Ginny heard from Ellen Warberg at SOS/HR the next day, and she said they had an assignment in India that they were considering her for. It was at a shelter for young girls who had been used as sex slaves, and the
human rights workers were rescuing or buying them back one by one. There were more than a hundred girls in the camp, and it sounded interesting to Ginny, but she had so much going on at home now.
“When do you need me to leave?” she asked, sounding worried.
“Our main worker who’s running it now has to be back in the States on September tenth, so I think the latest we can send you is around September fifth, so she can brief you before she leaves. At least it’s not a hardship post, and you won’t get shot at for a change.”
But the date she had mentioned was the day Blue started school at LaGuardia Arts, and it was only three weeks away. She didn’t want him staying at the shelter on his first day at such an exciting new school. She wanted to be there to support him, but didn’t know if her superior at SOS would understand. Ellen had no kids and had never been married, and her concern for children was more political and on a much broader scale than one teenage boy on the first day of school. Ginny thought about it quickly before she spoke.
“I’ve never done this before, but I honestly can’t get there on that date. I’ve got a lot going on here right now,” she said, thinking of the grand jury hearing, possibly Father Teddy’s arraignment immediately afterward, Blue starting at a new school, and the ongoing investigation to unearth additional victims. She didn’t see how she could be in India in early September, and not be around to support Blue with a new school and an impending criminal case.
“When do you think you could go?” Ellen asked her, sounding tense. She had to fill the post rapidly, but she was also well aware that Ginny had accepted every assignment, no matter how terrible, without complaint, for more than three years. She had a right to pass one up now.