Part 48 (2/2)
I stared at him blankly.
Then from behind me, Max answered, ”You were very talented.”
The priest turned and dove over the balcony railing.
I choked on a startled scream and lunged forward reflexively as the body crashed into the wooden pews below the balcony. The doppelgangster was startled enough to release its grip on me.
I got to the railing and looked down. It was a long drop, but survivable. The priest, however, had thrown himself head first into a bank of pews. He lay at a horrid angle, his neck evidently broken and blood pouring from his shattered skull.
Lopez ran to the body and then leaned over to press his fingers against the neck, checking for a pulse.
”Is he dead?” Lucky called from the other side of the church.
”Yes,” Lopez said after a moment. ”Dead.” His voice was grim.
I made a choked sound. Lopez looked up and saw me.
”Esther! Get out of there!” He quickly raised his gun to aim it at something on my left.
I realized that the wounded Buonarotti, standing to my left, was also looking over the railing and that I was much closer to him than was wise. I turned to flee, then stumbled and halted. The doppelgangster was in my path. But only for a moment. Max swung the b.l.o.o.d.y hand ax-the one that Gabriel had used this evening to kill a chicken-and decapitated it.
Buonarotti starting laughing as if the funniest thing in the world had just occurred to him. Within moments, he fell clumsily to the floor and just sat there, rocking back and forth, laughing, and saying over and over, ”I'm a dead man! I'm a dead man!” His bleeding arm didn't seem to bother him.
Behind Max, I saw an unconscious cop in uniform.
Max followed my gaze, then said, ”I was afraid the doppelgangster would harm him. It seemed best to remove him from the equation.”
Nelli stood over the cop, holding her injured foot gingerly in the air. She snuffled the fallen man with concern. When the policeman groaned, her tail wagged with relief.
Lopez's running footsteps carried him up to the choir gallery via the long spiral staircase we had climbed in the dark earlier tonight. When he reached us, instead of covering the hysterically laughing Buonarotti with his gun, he pointed it at Max.
”Put the ax down down, Max,” he said.
”Pardon? Oh!” Realizing that his holding a b.l.o.o.d.y ax had been misinterpreted as a hostile gesture, Max set it down. ”I hope I didn't alarm you.”
”What the h.e.l.l happened to McDevitt?” Lopez snapped.
”Who?” I said.
”The cop lying on the floor behind Max!”
”Oh! That's my fault entirely, I'm afraid,” Max said. ”I hit him with the ax handle.”
”Why, Max?”
”I believed him to be Don Michael. Who was threatening to kill Esther.” Max added helpfully, ”It was very dark, you know.”
”Yes, I know,” Lopez said. ”And the blood blood on the ax would be from what, exactly?” on the ax would be from what, exactly?”
”A chicken,” I blurted.
”A what?”
”A chicken. Um, I guess that's where all these feathers came from.” I kicked a pile of doppelgangster detritus with my foot. ”The chicken.”
”Father Gabriel killed it with the ax.” Max shook his head sadly. ”He also threatened us us with the ax. I'm afraid he was involved in some most unsavory activities. The Church wouldn't approve at all.” with the ax. I'm afraid he was involved in some most unsavory activities. The Church wouldn't approve at all.”
”He was in league with Buonarotti!” I said.
”I know.” Lopez glanced at the wounded mobster. The arm had only been nicked; it was bleeding, but didn't look serious.
I said, ”Buonarotti's been committing these murders!”
”I know,” Lopez said.
”You do? do?”
”Are you all right?” Lopez asked me.
”Yes.”
”Are you sure?”
”Yes.”
”What are you doing here?” he asked me.
”Don't you know?”
”How would I know?” he said in exasperation.
”Well, what are you you doing here then?” doing here then?”
”I asked the local patrolman to keep an eye on the church and let me know if anything unusual happened. So when he saw a woman, two men, and a huge dog entering furtively around midnight tonight, he called me. And since I had a feeling I knew who he was describing, I told him to stand by, and I came here. By the time I arrived, he thought he'd heard shots fired.”
”Oh.” I frowned. ”Wait a minute. It's just the two of you?”
”At the moment, thanks to Max a.s.saulting a police officer,” Lopez said, ”it's just the one of me.”
”Who turned on the lights?”
”What?”
”Who got the lights working again?” I asked.
Lopez shrugged and looked at me and Max. We looked at each other.
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