“What did Swailes have to say?” Pepper asked. “Actually, wait. Let’s take this inside; it’s getting chilly.” She gathered up the plates and glasses from the supper they shared and carried them inside. He and Kelly followed her in and the three of them stood at the counter in the small galley kitchen.
“Not what I expected, but it kind of fits,” Antelope said.
“He’s a liar,” Kelly warned.
“He claims it was Todd Bellamy with Connor at the motel.” Kelly put both hands over her mouth and gasped. “Oh my God, Max was right!”
“We don’t know for sure,” Pepper reminded her. “Remember, this is Swailes, who has a lot to gain from trading information with law enforcement.”
“That’s the card he played. He’ll lose any advantage and be in a worse situation if he lied. I’m sure his lawyer advised him of that. It’s time to talk to Connor.”
Antelope handed Kelly her phone.
“Take a look at this. Fifteen phone calls and texts in the last twenty-four hours. Connor’s running scared. Call him and see what he wants. Tell him you want to talk in person and get him to come here.”
“Will you be here?” Kelly’s voice trembled.
“Doc, let’s switch out the cars, hide mine in the garage so he won’t get scared off. I’ll be out of sight but ready to move in if there’s trouble.”
Kelly looked at Pepper.
“Call Connor,” Pepper said. “It’s the next thing to do. We need to know what’s got him so wound up.”
Kelly reached for the phone and hesitated, looked at it like it was an unknown, possibly dangerous, object.
“Put it on speaker,” Antelope said.
She pressed the call button.
Connor answered on the first ring. “Jesus, Kelly, where’ve you been? Are you all right?”
“Hey, I’m sorry, I’ve been sort of out of it and sleeping a lot.”
“Where are you, though? I’ve been to your house. It looks like a ghost town. I thought something happened to you.”
“Someone broke into my house last night. I didn’t want to stay alone. I’m staying with a friend.”
“Listen, I need to see you. There’s something you need to know.”
“Okay. You sound strange.”
“That was me the other night at your house. I’m sorry I scared you. I needed to see you and I know it was stupid, but I thought I’d wait inside for you. Then, when I heard a car, I panicked.”
“I don’t understand. You broke into my house?”
“The window in your bedroom was open. You should close and lock it. It’s not safe.”
“Connor what’s going on? You’re freaking me out.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m staying with Dr. Hunt, Max’s therapist. Can you come here?”
“Are you alone?”
“No, she’s here. But we can talk alone.”
“Maybe it’s better if she hears what I have to say too. What’s the address?”
“She’s on Hilltop Drive, number 200, the little brown house at the end.”
“I’m on my way.”
Kelly dropped the phone on the counter, got up, and began to pace. She grabbed her cigarettes and went out on the deck. Antelope went out after her. She had to hold it together for a while longer. He had the feeling Connor was about to tell them something that could bring the case to a close.
“It’s almost over, Kelly,” he said. “You have to hold on a little bit longer.”
“He killed her, didn’t he?” she demanded, her voice rising. “And now he’s coming here to kill me too.”
“I won’t let that happen.”
“You’ll be in the bedroom. It doesn’t take long to strangle someone. You won’t hear it.”
He kept his voice level and calm. “You have to trust me.”
“Why? Why should I trust you? I trusted Stacey and she stole Jack from me. I trusted Max and he killed himself and left me alone with our kid. I trusted Connor and he broke into my goddamn house. Now you want me to trust you when you’re using me for bait to catch a killer. Leave me alone.”
“He’s running scared and I don’t know why,” Antelope said. “Follow the conversation wherever it goes. And don’t worry, you’ll do fine. You have great instincts and people skills. Connor has a sexual relationship with Bellamy. We’re going with that. We don’t know when it started or how active it is. We know about this one time Swailes saw them together. It’s information we didn’t have before, and it’s somehow connected to Stacey’s murder. Get him to talk about it.”
“Did you hear a word I just said?”
“Your life put you here in the middle of this. You have to see it through.”
“You’re using me, just like all the other men in my life,” she spat.
“I’m asking for your help and I’m trusting you to come through. It’s not the same.”
He’d said the right thing. She looked at him and nodded just as a car turned into the driveway and parked outside, catching her white, frightened face in the slow sweep of its headlights.
CHAPTER 61
Pepper let Connor into her house then disappeared into her study, where Detective Antelope waited. Kelly refused to talk to Connor without smoking. The house was cool with the door to the deck wide open.
When he walked in, goose bumps came up on her arms and she wanted to run right past him out the front door and never stop. She lit up and the smoke disappeared behind her. The room had a weird wind tunnel effect from the currents of air coming up from the canyon below the house.
She sat up straight with her back against the cushions of the leather sofa, legs crossed in a yoga position. Connor sat on the edge of a straightback chair he’d pulled over from the dining table and set at a diagonal to the arm of the sofa.
He leaned forward, his arms resting on his thighs, closer than she wanted him to be, close enough to touch her, large hands hanging down, loose and inert. Did those hands strangle Stacey?
“You’re going to think I’m crazy, but hear me out,” he said. “We both lost two people we loved this week. I don’t want to lose you, too. That’s why I went your house last night.”
“Connor what’s going on? I know you saw Max the night he killed himself.”
“There’s so much you don’t know.”
“Tell me.”
“He remembered the day Tim died. He said his death was no accident. I didn’t want to listen. Why dredge that up after all this time? For ten years I put it out of my mind. But if he’s right, and it wasn’t an accident, then Tim was murdered.”
Kelly couldn’t help it; she was terrified, and she knew her eyes showed it.
“Don’t look at me like that!” Connor said.
Kelly jumped up and ran toward the open door. “Oh my God, you killed them both!”
Connor went after her and grabbed her by both arms. “No, no, it’s not like that!”
She screamed and Antelope was there in an instant. He pulled Connor away and pushed him onto the sofa, pinned his arms behind his back. “Get a hold of yourself,” he said.
Pepper put her arms around Kelly, who cried softly into her shoulder.
Antelope glared at Connor. “Do I need to cuff you or can you keep your hands to yourself?”
“I came here to save her life,” Connor said. “I’m not going to hurt her.”
“Sit back down over there and finish your story.”
Antelope stood in view of Connor, his arms crossed. Pepper positioned herself on the couch between Kelly and Connor.
“I didn’t plan to make an official statement to law enforcement.”
“Your choice—speak up or I’m arresting you for obstruction of justice.”
Connor inhaled a shaky breath, then exhaled. “All right, here it is. Beginning at age fourteen, I willingly engaged in a sexual relationship with Father Bellamy. He didn’t coerce me, and I knew what I was doing. The relationship continued throughout high school. At the end of our se
nior year, Tim and Max learned about it. They wanted to report him to the Bishop in Cheyenne. When we were altar boys, the three of us were molested by Father Kroll. That was abuse. We were little kids who wanted no part of a sick old man who forced us.”
Connor closed his eyes and pressed on his eyelids. A few tears escaped and he struggled to hold himself together.
“Tim and Max were my best friends. They believed Todd had abused and manipulated me. They said he was taking advantage of me and my vulnerability from the prior abuse. I couldn’t convince them otherwise. I didn’t want Todd transferred to another parish and I didn’t want him in jail. The man was good to me. I didn’t have a father, and he stepped in and filled that role. It was more than sex, but they didn’t believe me.”
Kelly held her hands to her face. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“I didn’t know what to do, so I told him Max and Tim planned to go to Cheyenne to meet with the Bishop after graduation. I don’t know what I expected him to do—talk them out of it, I guess, show them he wasn’t like Kroll; it was just the opposite, he cared about me. Then everything went to hell. Tim died and Max got hurt. I never thought it was anything but an accident. Why would I?”
Connor looked at Kelly. The room was silent. He shook his head.
“He was my priest. I was a teenager, a sexually experienced teenager. Now, in this moment, as an adult, a member of the bar, I understand that his actions meet a criminal standard. But back then, I swear to you, it didn’t feel sick or wrong to me.” He slumped his shoulders. “After things died down, nothing changed with me and Todd. I needed his support more than ever. Then Stacey and I got close. We were both hurting over Tim and Max. I kept the two relationships going for years—ten years. It seemed normal to me; it was the only life I knew.”
“And then?” Antelope prompted.
“And then someone told Stacey I cheated on her. I denied it. How could I possibly tell her the truth? She’d leave me for sure. She wanted to believe me. She went to the church to get some guidance from her priest, the one person she still trusted. But instead, she found me and Todd together, having sex in the vestry.”
Kelly’s stomach clutched. Poor Stacey.
“I thought I’d lose my mind. She told me she didn’t want to marry me and tried to give back the ring, but I wouldn’t take it. I couldn’t say anything. She was right. She walked out the door and left me.” Connor’s voice trembled. “I broke down and cried like a baby and Todd said he would take care of it and make everything right. He told me to go home and let him handle it. I did what he said, like I always do. The next morning, she was dead. My first thought was Jack Swailes killed her. He was after her and I told her get rid of him. It made sense at the time. It also blinded me to what I couldn’t see, didn’t want to see.” He looked straight at Kelly. “I see it now. Todd killed them both, Max and Stacey.”
“That’s an interesting story, Counselor,” Antelope said without emotion. “The only problem is, it could easily have been you who killed them. You also had a lot to lose.”
Connor’s phone buzzed in his pocket. Seconds later, Pepper’s phone vibrated on the counter.
“Check your phones. It might be important,” Antelope said.
Pepper and Connor showed their screens to the group. The texts were from Bellamy, and they were identical:
It ends at Pagan Cave.
CHAPTER 62
For all we knew we would find a dead priest at Pagan Cave, his body crushed at the bottom of a sheer rock wall. Or the text was a setup, an ambush.
Antelope drove my Jeep and the four of us set off for Flaming Gorge. The idea was that Connor and I would talk to Bellamy and attempt to get him to confess and voluntarily turn himself in. Kelly and Antelope would wait within hearing distance, and Antelope would intervene if things got violent. It wasn’t a perfect plan, but Kelly was too frightened to wait alone in the Jeep. I had my Beretta, too, and was prepared to use it if Bellamy made any moves on me or Connor.
Antelope had decided that his presence would be problematic for a few reasons. Bellamy hadn’t texted him, and he was a man who needed control. If Antelope showed up, he might see it as a direct challenge, and we might not get the confession we were angling for.
When we turned south onto Highway 191, the weather changed. The stars disappeared behind steel wool clouds riding on the back of a loud, fierce wind out of the southwest. A blinding darkness clamped down, black and impenetrable, a desolate, suffocating void. The vehicle shuddered and swayed when the wind slammed into it, first one side and then the other.
Antelope gripped the steering wheel to keep us on the road, his eyes straight ahead, fixed on our target. Kelly and Connor were silent in the backseat.
When the GPS announced one mile to our destination, Antelope turned off the headlights.
As we got closer, I began to feel afraid. I’d hoped a plan would emerge at some point on the drive down, but no one had said a word the whole time. None of us knew for certain what we’d find.
Antelope cut the engine. Outside, the wind wailed as it spun through the canyon.
Antelope put his hand on mine, warm and steady, and I was grateful for this small human comfort.
We were in an unknown wilderness in the pitch dark with a rogue summer storm ready to strike, on the lookout for a killer.
Thunder boomed and reverberated, bouncing off the canyon walls, and I shivered.
“Once we start walking, stay right behind me,” Antelope told us. “It’s a straight shot to the base of the climb. When we get there, we’ll switch places: Pepper, you and Connor go on ahead, and Kelly and I will hang back.”
“It’s pitch dark,” I protested. “How will you see the trail?”
“Stay close and trust me.”
We got out of the car and started to walk. The sound of the doors closing might have alerted Bellamy, but he didn’t leap out of the bushes and attack us.
I followed inches behind Antelope, my index finger hooked into his belt loop.
From our right came a low rumble, the slurp and gurgle sound of fast water sliding past the rock walls of the steep canyon.
The first raindrops came down slow, like snowflakes adrift on invisible currents. A minute later, they shapeshifted into hard-as-nails hail that hurt every place it hit. The chips of ice hit the earth with the sound of gravel.
We walked for at least a quarter of a mile. I was chilled to the bone; my teeth chattered. Then the rain and hail slowed down and stopped. Above us, the clouds parted and revealed a huge white moon and, below it, the looming mass of Pagan Cave.
And there he was, standing on a boulder high above us. Even from a distance, it was clear from his stance—arms crossed on his chest, head held high—that Todd Bellamy relished the scene he set in place. He’d summoned us to him, and he knew we’d come.
He had yet to notice us on the trail. Antelope took the opportunity to make himself scarce.
“All right,” he said, “this is where we split up.”
My heart sank. The thought of going on without him filled me with dread. But there was no turning back.
Connor took the lead and I followed him slowly over the wet rocks, thankful for the moonlight, which lit up every crevice with an eerie, incandescent glow.
Bellamy waited until we were a stone’s throw from him to speak. He smiled as we made our way across the top of the boulder toward him. “It’s good to see you, Connor. Thank you for coming.”
“Why did you bring us here?” Connor said.
“I would think that’s obvious. Such an important place in our history. That was quite a storm wasn’t it? Just like the last time we were here together.”
Connor scowled. “Are you finally ready to talk about what really happened that day?”
“We both know what happened. I did what I had to do. You trusted me to take care of the problem, and I did.”
“I had no idea what you were planning to do.”
Bellamy’s gaze shi
fted to me. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out to meet at the church, Dr. Hunt. I made other plans for tonight. I have a date with destiny that can’t be interrupted.”
“If I had to guess, I’d say you plan to take your own life,” I said.
“This is your area of expertise. And I understand you have an ethical obligation to try and change my mind. But that won’t happen. I’ve been moving toward this moment for a long time.”
“This is about your relationship with Connor, isn’t it?”
“Everything has been about Connor from the moment I set eyes on him. It’s always that way with love, isn’t it?”
“Have you thought about what it will do to Connor if you kill yourself?” I asked.
He looked down at Connor. “I’m sorry to say this, my boy, but you have always been weak. It’s time for you to deal with life on your own.”
“Is that how you managed to keep Connor under your control all these years? Feeding him a story about how he needed you and couldn’t make it on his own?”
“He had no father, no male role model. He needed a man to give him guidance. I came into his life at the right time. He was grateful, as he should have been. There was never a right time to break his dependence.”
“You seduced him into a sexual relationship when he was a young teen. Is that your idea of guidance?”
“You know what happened. Those boys were sexually abused in the most exploitive way by my predecessor. Connor seduced me. It wasn’t the other way around.”
“You’re delusional and a liar,” Connor shouted. “That’s not what happened.”
“That’s your story?” I demanded. “A thirteen-year-old boy had the power to pull a thirty-year-old priest into an unhealthy sexual liaison? You were an adult. You could have stopped what you knew to be wrong.”
“Go on, judge me; I expected nothing else. The world judges what it doesn’t understand.”
“This is the place where Tim Ryan died and Max Hart was injured, isn’t it?” I asked.
“It is indeed.” Bellamy sounded almost smug. “I came back to complete the circle.”
“You made it look like an accident, but you planned on both of them dying. Why did you do it?”
On a Quiet Street Page 23