He stared at that text for a long moment.Why would he tell Kate this?What was he hoping from her in return?Support?Congratulations?A request for a date now that Cheryl was completely out of their way?
I just want us to have a chance at love.Real love.No hiding, no avoiding, no complication.I want to know that I’m not crazy and that she and I really do have something real.
He erased the text without sending it and sat on the edge of a planter in the courtyard of the civic center adjacent to the courthouse.Kate sent him a thumbs-up and a three-word messageon my way.
He waited, looking up at the pastel blue sky while lawyers and petitioners filed in and out of the courthouse and minor functionaries flitted from the civic center to the various other buildings in Knoxville's administrative complex.The breeze continued to blow, but the cold Marcus felt had nothing to do with the wind.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Friday, December 4th
Kate reviewed Paul Delaney’s juvenile record on the flight to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to look at the Ruth Osgood scene.Marcus had been in a foul mood since returning from the courthouse, and since Kate wanted to travel to Harrisburg anyway to hopefully find another clue that could lead them to Cox, she kept her earlier speculation to herself.
Now that she was reading Delaney’s file, she decided Marcus would have to get over his mood.
As she suspected, Delaney was unrepentant of that crime.Even arrogant.When asked straight up why he stole the seemingly random items, Paul said, “Because nothing feels as good as making something yours when other people say you can’t have it.”
Paul had such little remorse that the detective felt compelled to note that Paul exhibited “sociopathic tendencies which will certainly manifest in violence later in life.”
“We need to look for a reformed kleptomaniac,” she told Marcus.
“Well, yeah,” Marcus replied.“It’s obvious that all the victims are compulsive thieves.”
“Yes, but it’s not just that.Cox is telling a story here.He’s illustrating the path to repentance.”
Marcus’s brow furrowed.“The path to repentance?”
“Yes.You read Paul Delaney’s father.He flaunted his crime.”
“Yeah, but his crime was committed when he was a child.”
“True, but there’s no indication he ever repented of it.No indication he stopped stealing either.”
“We can’t just assume he was still stealing.”
“Just listen,” Kate snapped.“The cufflinks are in the key bowl where car keys stay.Ready to grab and take outside in front of the world.Ruth Osgood loved her sin, but not enough to flaunt it anymore.She kept her love private, in her bedroom.”
Marcus nodded slowly.“Okay, I follow so far.”
“Then you have Jordan Prescott with the watch in the kitchen.Jordan didn’t love stealing anymore, but he needed it.It was sustenance.”
“You can love food.”
“What do you love more, food or sex?”
Marcus grimaced.“Do we think Cox is being that blunt with his metaphor?We said before that he’s not crass.”
“He would consider the bedroom sacred, and if people chose to make itnotsacred, then it was the people who were the problem.”
"Okay, fair enough.So the music box on the windowsill is shame.No longer loving or feeding off of it, but wanting the rest of the world not to know.Maybe a closet alcoholic or drug addict kind of thing?"
“I don’t think substance abuse is an intentional correlation,” Kate said, “but I suppose so.”
“So then Gloria Prentiss is starting to repent, and Warren Schulz isalmostcompletely repenting but having trouble letting go of that one thing,” Marcus said, arriving at her conclusion.
“Exactly,” Kate said, “and what’s next after that?”
“Completely repenting.”He grinned.“A reformed kleptomaniac.”
