The Redwood Bar & Grill was bustling with law-enforcement officers. The ones on duty had their beepers securely clipped onto their belts. The ones off duty had beer bottles and whiskey glasses in their hands.

Hunter and Garcia had spent the entire day at the Seven Saints Catholic Church and its neighborhood. But the house-to-house turned up nothing but scared and distressed people. Hunter’s mind was overflowing with questions, and he knew the answers would take time.

‘Believe it or not, they have a ten-year-old bottle of Macallan behind the bar,’ Garcia said, coming up to Hunter with two half-full whiskey tumblers.

Single-malt Scotch whiskey was Hunter’s biggest passion. But unlike most people, he knew how to appreciate it instead of simply getting drunk on it.

‘To Captain Bolter.’ He raised his glass. Garcia did the same. ‘Where’s Anna?’ Hunter asked, looking around.

Anna Preston had been Garcia’s high school sweetheart and they’d married straight after graduation.

‘She’s at the bar chatting to some of the other wives.’ Garcia made a silly face. ‘We ain’t staying long.’

‘Me neither,’ Hunter agreed.

‘Are you gonna go back to the church?’

‘Roberrrrrt,’ Detective Kyle Byrne interrupted, grabbing Hunter by the arm and raising the bottle of Bud in his hand. ‘A toassst to Captain Bolterrr.’

Hunter smiled and touched his glass against Kyle’s bottle.

‘Where’re you going?’ Kyle asked as Hunter started towards the bar. ‘’ave a drink wizz us,’ he slurred, pointing towards a table where a handful of detectives sat drinking. They all looked wasted.

Hunter nodded to everyone at the table. ‘I’ll come back in a minute, Kyle. I just gotta say hello to a few people, but Carlos here can hang around with you boys for a while.’ He patted Garcia on the back, who gave him a ‘you didn’t just do that to me?’ look.

‘Carlosss. Come and ’ave a drink.’ Kyle dragged Garcia towards the table.

A firm hand grabbed Hunter by the shoulder before he reached the bar. He turned around ready to raise a new toast.

‘So you finally decided to show up.’

Captain Bolter was an impressive-looking man. Tall and built like a rhinoceros. Despite being in his late sixties, he still had a full head of silvery hair. His thick mustache had been his trademark for the past twenty years. His menacing figure demanded respect.

‘Captain,’ Hunter replied with a pleased smile. ‘Did you actually think I wouldn’t turn up?’

Captain Bolter placed his right arm around Hunter’s shoulders. ‘Let’s step outside, shall we? I can’t bear to raise another toast to myself.’

Thirteen

Clear skies made the night feel even colder. Hunter zipped up his leather jacket while Captain Bolter pulled a Felipe Power cigar from his jacket pocket. ‘Want one?’ he offered.

‘No, thanks.’

‘C’mon, it’s my leaving do. You should try one.’

‘I’ll stick with Scotch.’ Hunter raised his glass. ‘Those things make me dizzy.’

‘You sound like a big girl.’

Hunter laughed. ‘A girl who kicked your ass in the shooting range.’

Captain Bolter’s turn to laugh. ‘You know that I let you win on Friday, don’t you?’

‘Of course you did.’

‘I’ll take one of those.’

Hunter and the captain turned to face the man standing behind them. In his early sixties, Doctor Jonathan Winston, the Los Angeles Chief Medical Examiner, was dressed in an expensive-looking dark Italian suit with a white shirt and a conservative blue tie.

‘Jonathan!’ Captain Bolter said, already retrieving another cigar and handing it to the doctor.

‘You look like you just came from church, doc,’ Hunter said with a smile.

Doctor Winston lit up his cigar, took a long drag and blew the smoke out slowly. ‘From what I’ve heard, so have you.’

Hunter’s smile faded fast.

‘I’ve heard about this morning,’ the captain said in a more ominous tone. ‘By the look on your face, I can tell you don’t think this was a random killing, do you?’

Robert shook his head.

‘Religious hate?’

‘We don’t know yet, captain. There are some clues that point to a religious motive, or a religious psycho, but it’s too early to say.’

‘What do you have?’

‘At this point the only thing we know for sure is that the killer was extremely brutal, probably ritualistic.’

Hunter’s split-second hesitation was quickly picked up by Captain Bolter. ‘C’mon, Robert, I know you. There’s something else bothering you.’

Hunter sipped his Scotch and breathed in sharply. ‘They talked.’

‘Who talked? The priest and the killer?’

Hunter nodded.

‘How do you know that?’ the doctor asked.

‘The body was found a few feet from the confessional. Both doors were open and so was the small window on the partition that separates the two small cubicles.’ He paused for a second. ‘In the Catholic Church when a confessor is done confessing his sins and is given his penance, the priest always closes the partition window. Something about symbolizing that the door has been shut on those sins and the person’s been forgiven.’

‘Are you Catholic?’ Doctor Winston asked.

‘No, I just read a lot.’

Captain Bolter moved his cigar to the right edge of his mouth. ‘So you think the killer confessed before . . .’ He shook his head, giving Hunter a chance to fill in the blank.

‘Dragging the priest out of his cubicle and decapitating him.’

The captain closed his eyes, threw his head back and let out a slow and heartfelt sigh. ‘Forgive me, father, for I’ll rip your head off.’

‘Something like that.’

‘We all know what that means,’ the doctor said, taking another puff on his cigar.

‘That this is just the beginning,’ Captain Bolter said. ‘And if we don’t catch up with this killer soon, he’ll claim another victim.’

Fourteen

The wind had strengthened, and Doctor Winston pulled the collar of his suit blazer tighter around his neck before cocking a questioning eyebrow at the captain. ‘We?’

‘He’s right, captain.’ Hunter smiled. ‘From midnight tonight, you’re a retired man. You don’t have to worry anymore.’

‘Your work here is done, my son,’ Doctor Winston said in a low, Darth Vader-like voice.

‘It’s gotta feel good, hasn’t it?’

The captain gave Hunter an unconvincing smile. ‘Force of habit, I guess. I’ve given fifty years of my life to law-enforcement agencies in this city. It’s not something I can drop overnight, but I’ll get there.’

Hunter saw straight through the captain’s brave face. He was sad to be leaving.

‘So what’re you gonna do with your life now that you don’t have to worry about catching criminals anymore?’ Doctor Winston asked.

‘Beth wants to move.’

‘Really? Where to?’

‘Somewhere far away from here. She’s had enough of this city and I don’t blame her. LA has gotten too violent.’

‘I can vouch for that,’ Doctor Winston agreed. ‘As the years go by, what we see down at the morgue just gets more gruesome and sadistic. It’s like there’s no respect for life anymore. And the numbers are rising. We can barely keep up with our daily workload.’

Hunter quickly saw the need for a change of subject. ‘Maybe you won’t miss LA.’ He turned towards Captain Bolter. ‘But I know you’re gonna miss us.’

‘Like a hole in the head,’ he replied, puffing on his cigar.

They all laughed.

‘At least the new captain is a lot better looking than I am.’