“We don’t need a history lesson, young man,” Father Fernando called out from the lectern where he’d been standing quietly. “We all know the outcome of my meeting with Sunshine. You’re wasting our time here when we should be mourning the man in the casket behind you.”

“Where could you possibly come up with that amount of money?” Jack asked, ignoring Father Fernando and keeping eye contact with the crowd. “And then I started doing deeper background checks and discovered Maria Stein had spent several weeks on the mainland last year.”

He paused to look at Maria who was seated on the front pew. Her children and grandchildren surrounded her, and though her back was stiff as a board there was a smile of satisfaction on her face. I couldn’t say I blamed her.

“At first I thought it was because she’d suffered from pneumonia and she was being treated. But come to find out she’d found papers from a bank she didn’t recognize and a key. And the law here gives you the right as his wife to have access to Leon’s personal accounts and storage units even if your name isn’t on them.”

“Get to the good stuff, boy,” she called out. “I’m ready to wake my husband.”

“You’ve waited a long time for him to die, huh?” Jack asked. “You should’ve conspired to have him killed much sooner.”

Her children gasped in outrage, but her gaze stayed steady on Jack’s.

“What did you find in the storage unit your husband had rented?” he asked her.

“Paintings, letters, photographs,” she said. “Horror. Cruelty. Brutality.”

“But you already knew who he was. Had known since the moment he’d forced you the first time.”

Her lips pursed together and tears filled her eyes. She nodded her head and didn’t waver. “He delighted in telling me. And when my girls came of age I sent them to boarding school until they were too old for him to have any interest in. He deserved to die.” She said the last words on a whisper.

Jack nodded and I could see the compassion and respect in his gaze for this woman. A woman who’d shown years of patience and had sacrificed her own life and happiness for something better for her children and the place she loved. All because she’d had the misfortune of being married to a monster.

There were sniffles in the audience and I saw more than one person dab their eyes at her words. These were the people who loved her. Loved her enough to sin against the church that was their foundation and ask forgiveness later.

“How did you find out about the reward money?”

“He never told me his real name,” she said. “I knew what he did and where he was and the acts he committed. But never his name. And when I walked inside that locked storage room it was like a shrine to the man he was. He had newspaper clippings and flyers and letters written by government officials trying to find him. His reward was higher than all the others because he killed the most.” She shook her head and looked away. “Do you know how it sickens me that I shared a home and a bed with that monster for more than seventy years?”

“You did what you had to do to survive,” Jack said. “No one blames you for that. It was a clever plan. And I would’ve never figured it out if anything else had made sense. But everything was too perfect. Everyone’s alibi’s and stories were the same. And I kept thinking that one of your priests might be dirty. It was the only thing that made sense. That he might forsake everything and lie, or commit the crime himself. But not all three would condemn their souls to hell.

“So there was only one other alternative. You all devised a plan to get rid of Leon. You did it for Maria, so she would be vindicated after all these years and know peace in her last years. And you did it for your entire community. Because the reward money from killing and turning in Friedrich Durst would keep your island yours and the way it’s always been. You protected your priests from compromising their vows.

“I couldn’t believe how many people came to Mass on a Saturday afternoon. And then I started checking the attendance of prior Saturdays. Service was well attended, but never that well attended. And then I remembered pieces of conversation about confession. Everyone was irritated in their statements that Leon took so long in his confession, because the lines were long that day. Because you all knew Leon was going to die and needed to confess the knowledge.”

Jack looked at Father Fernando, and the old man had taken a seat by Maria. He took her hand and patted it gently.

“And your priests were bound by the rules of confession. Your secret was safe with them. And when they found Leon’s body they could say truthfully that they didn’t see anyone in the courtyard or know who killed him. Because the killer didn’t go to confession that day. Isn’t that right, Doctor Hizumi?”

I’d only seen a picture of Lee Hizumi, but he looked very much like his son, Will. He sat a couple rows back from Maria next to a pretty woman I assumed was Joe’s sister.

“Who would know better how to kill?” Jack asked. “Than the man’s own doctor. You knew he’d had open-heart surgery. And you knew the best way to deliver the blow. Maria had taken the officer’s dagger from the storage unit, so it was symbolic to use it.

“And Leon never left the church on his bicycle, despite the statements some of you gave to the contrary. The timeline was just too tight for what had to be accomplished. He was ushered right out the back doors and directly into the courtyard where he was told to meet someone. You killed him and left.

“He never even rode his bike to services that day. He played dominoes every day at the café. He’d leave his bike there and walk to Mass. And then he’d walk back to the café for more dominoes until it was time to leave for dinner. The only thing you didn’t anticipate was that Father DeCosta would be so quick to call Joe before you could tell him. And you sure didn’t plan on Joe bringing us in on the matter.”

“So what?” Will asked, sitting next to his father. “What can you do?”

“Not a thing,” Jack asked. “You’ll probably be overrun with several government officials from several countries wanting to verify Leon’s identity. And if all goes according to plan, you’ll get the reward money and be able to pay off Sunshine, Inc. This isn’t my battle to fight. It’s not me Leon or any of you have to answer to.

“A life was taken. And I don’t care whose life it was, how horrible he was, or if he deserved it. Taking a life is something that weighs on the soul forever. And no amount of prayers or confessions will make you forget it. Now if you’ll excuse me, my wife and I are going to salvage what’s left of our trip.”

Epilogue

It was a bittersweet exit from the island. Sometimes the bad guys did get away with it. And sometimes the really bad guys got what they deserved. Jack and I agreed on both accounts.

We watched the island get smaller as the boat took us toward the mainland so we could catch an early flight. It was still dark and the water was choppy. Jack sat still and silent next to me. He hadn’t said much of anything since the gathering at the church the day before, but he took my hand and squeezed it.

“Some honeymoon, huh?” I said over the engine.

“Very memorable. What do you say we extend it for another couple of weeks?”

“You can do that?”

“Honey, I have so much vacation time saved up we could honeymoon until you walked like John Wayne.”

“Very romantic, Lawson.”

“Thank you. The department is in good hands, and I’m not quite ready to share you with everyone once we get back home. We didn’t get the relaxing vacation we’d hoped for.”

“Parts of it were very relaxing,” I said, winking. “You don’t owe me anything, Jack. I didn’t miss out on anything. And with the exception of the dead man and the dozens of people that conspired to kill him, it was the most perfect trip I’ve ever had.”