Winter Prey

priests?”
    “Your being a priest doesn’t cut any ice with me,” Lucas said. “You’ve seen all the scandals these last few years. That stuff was out there for years and you guys hid it. There were a half a dozen gay brothers at my school and everybody knew it. And they affected more than a few kids.”
    Bergen stared at him for a moment, then half-turned and shook his head.
    “Was Frank LaCourt wearing outdoor clothing or look like he was getting ready to go outside?” Lucas asked, returning to the questions.
    “No.” Bergen was subdued now, his voice gone dark.
    “Did you see anyone else there?”
    “No.”
    “Did Frank have a pair of snowshoes around?” Lucas asked.
    “Not that I saw.”
    “Did you see any snowshoe tracks outside the door?”
    “No.” Bergen shook his head. “I didn’t. But it was snowing.”
    “Did you pass any cars on the way out?”
    “No. How far is it from the corner by the firehouse back to LaCourts’?”
    “One-point-one miles,” Lucas said.
    Bergen shook his head. “I’m a careful driver. I said it took a minute or two to get out to the corner, but two minutes would be thirty miles an hour. I wasn’t doing thirty. I was probably going a lot slower than that. And I was pulling my trailer.”
    “Snowmobile?”
    “Yes, I’d been out with the club, the Grant Scramblers, you can check with them.”
    Carr came back: “They’re looking,” he said. “They’ll call back.”
    Lucas looked at Carr. “If we have somebody waiting for Father Bergen to leave, and if he lures Frank LaCourt outside somehow, right away, kills him, then kills the other two, burns the place immediately and gets out, in a frenzy, and if you build a little extra time in between the firemen’sarrival at the place and finding the bodies—we could almost make it.”
    Carr looked at Bergen, who seemed to ponder what Lucas had said. He’d chosen Lucas as the enemy, but now Lucas had changed direction.
    “Okay,” Carr said, nodding. To Bergen: “I hated to hit you with it, Phil, but there did seem to be a problem. We can probably figure it out. When you were there, what were you talking about? I mean, it’s not confessional stuff, is it? I . . .”
    “Actually, we were talking about the Tuesday services and the concept of an exchange with Home Baptist. I wanted to get some ground rules straight.”
    “Oh.” Now Carr looked uncomfortable. “Well, we can figure that out later.”
    “What’s all this about?” Lucas asked.
    “Church stuff, an argument that’s going around,” Carr said.
    “Could somebody get killed over it?”
    Bergen was startled. “Good grief, no! You might not get invited to a party, but you wouldn’t get killed.”
    Carr glanced at him, frowned. The phone rang down the hallway, and the priest said, “Let me get that.” A moment later he returned with a portable handset and passed it to Carr. “For you.”
    Carr took it, said, “This is the sheriff,” then, “Yeah.” He listened for a moment, said, “Okay, okay, and I’ll see you out there in a bit . . . okay.” He pushed the clear button and turned to Lucas: “There was a bowl in the sink that could have been used to make frosting. No frosting in it, but it was the right kind of bowl.”
    “Like I told you,” said Bergen.
    “Okay,” Lucas said.
    “If we’re done here, I’m going back out to the LaCourt place,” Carr said. He picked up his snowmobile suit and began pulling it over his feet. “I’m sorry we bothered you, Phil, but we had to ask.”
    “These killings are . . . grotesque,” the priest said, shaking his head. “Obscene. I’ll start thinking about a funeralservice, something to say to the town.”
    “That’ll be a while yet. We’ll have to send them down to Milwaukee for autopsies,” Carr said. “I’ll stay in touch.”

    When they were outside again, Carr asked, “Are you coming back out to LaCourts’?”
    Lucas shook his head. “Nah. There’s nothing there for me. I’d suggest you button the place up. Post some deputies to keep out the curiosity-seekers and coyotes, and wait for the Madison guys.”
    “I’ll do that. Actually, I could do it from here, but . . . politics.” He was apologetic. “I gotta be out there a lot the next couple of days.”
    Lucas nodded. “Same way in the Cities.”
    “How about Phil? What do you think?”
    “I don’t know,” Lucas said. Far away, somebody started a chain saw. They both turned to look up the street