A flurry of competing emotions rushed through Kate at that admission.Triumph that she had finally gotten Marcus on her side, fear that she was once more on the hunt for a man who had gotten the best of her as often as the other way around, worry that they were starting too late and Cox could be on his way to kill someone else or to flee across the continent while they picked at old scabs.
In the end, she only said, “How did you find out?”
Marcus sighed.“Father Holbrook described a Father Raymond Glover from the Diocese of Richmond.Tall, thin, silver hair and unusually piercing blue eyes.He said Glover had the sort of will that would make you want to bare your soul to him.”
Another flurry of emotions ran through Kate.“That’s Cox.”
“Yeah,” Marcus said, clearly less happy than she was.“Almost certainly.”
“Why was he here?I mean officially.”
"Well, he was here three weeks ago, taking confessions for two days while Father Holbrook was laid up after hip surgery."
“Confessions… That’s how he did it.He got Warren to confess to theft and killed him for it.”
Marcus nodded.“That makes sense.”
“And he was only here for two days?”
“Yes.I feel obligated to say that it could be someone else, so we shouldn’t beabsolutelycertain, but… yeah, it’s probably him.”
Kate frowned.“If so, then he came back to kill Schulz.”
“Yep.”
Kate’s frown deepened.“Why are you so upset?This is what you wanted.This is our chance to catch him.That’s what you’ve been working on for the past two months straight.”
“Yeah, I know.You’re right, this is a good thing.”He looked around and frowned.“Where’s French?”
“He’s dropping evidence off at the crime lab, then he’s going to take us to a rental car agency.”
“Yeah, we should have grabbed one when we got here.I’m going to see if there’s one within walking distance.Otherwise, maybe we can catch a rideshare instead of waiting for French.”
“And go where?”
Marcus shrugged.“I don’t know.I guess we’re kind of done here, aren’t we?”
Kate got the impression Marcus just needed something to do, so she gave him something.“Call the Diocese of Richmond.See if they’ve ever heard of this Father Glover.I’ll call Winters and update her.It might be worthwhile to broadcast another public service message letting people know that he’s posing as a priest.”
Marcus stared moodily at Schulz’s house.“Well, we already gave people his description.We put a news bulletin out to the whole country the day after he escaped.Schulz still let him inside his home.”
He pulled his phone out and looked up the number for the Richmond diocese, leaving Kate to ruminate over that observation while she called their boss.
Winters answered on the first ring and, as usual, got straight to business.“What do you have for me, Kate?”
“We have a description from the local parish priest matching Cox.It appears he was in the area a few weeks ago hearing confessions.”
Winters cursed.“Shit.What do you think?Is this him or a lookalike?”
“I can’t see how it could be a lookalike, ma’am.”
“Did you find a cipher?”
“No,” Kate admitted, “but I believe the objects are the cipher.”
“The objects?”
Kate gave Winters a brief overview of the misplaced objects in the crime scene photos and her belief that Cox positioned those objects intentionally to send a message.Winters asked similar clarifying questions as Marcus, though without the same emotional content and without suggesting that Kate was obsessing.That was an encouraging sign.If Winters was worried about Kate’s involvement, she wouldn’t be reluctant to say so.
