Jessica blinked at Faith, a little taken aback at her vehemence.Welling, as Faith hoped, looked at her with something approaching trust, or at least the beginning of trust.“Yeah.That’s a good way to put it.”He sighed.“Are you religious?”
“No,” Faith replied.
“Lapsed Catholic,” Jessica said.
Welling nodded.“Episcopalian.You familiar?”
“I believe that is the name of the American Anglican Church,” Faith replied.
Welling chuckled.“Well, yeah, I guess.Point is, I believe in God.Or I did.Now… Well, He might exist, but if He does, He’s a prick.”
Faith planned her response carefully.She didn’t want to get into a theological argument with Welling, especially since she had no skin in that game.His response was more evidence of his anger, though, and that pertained to her case.
“I understand that during your argument with Chaplain Hayes, you called him a liar and a false prophet.”
“Yep.”
“May I ask why?”
Welling laughed again.Faith got the impression it was a defense mechanism rather than an expression of amusement.He ran his hand through his hair and Faith noticed a long, thick scar running down his neck on the right side.
“He said that God would protect us.We had mass that morning before we went to fight.Episcopalians are supposed to attend communion, not mass, but we didn’t have an Episcopalian chaplain, so I usually sat in with the Catholics.I talked to Hayes, told him that I was leading a squad in the assault on the Taliban village.He told me to trust in God.I trusted in God.He led us to an ambush and killed ten of my squad.Left me with a thick cut down my right side.”
He looked at the picture on the wall and thrust his chin at it.“That’s Vanya.She was nineteen.She was going to be a dentist.She signed up for the Corps to earn money and grants for school.Her family couldn’t afford to send her without them.She was a good kid.A Taliban fighter cut her throat open and pulled her head back, then cut her again.He was trying to decapitate her.Almost did.”
His left foot began tapping repeatedly on the floor.His hands clenched on his lap, and his lips thinned until they were nearly bloodless.“Fucking prick.He’s a fucking Goddamned prick.He said we were gonna be protected.”
His fingers tightened.The knuckles turned white.His lips pulled back from his teeth.Turk growled low in his throat, and Welling blinked and looked at him.He relaxed a little.Just a little.
“Am I under arrest?”
“I’d like to keep talking.It’s clear you held a lot of—”
“Am I under arrest?”
Faith took a deep breath, and as she exhaled, she admitted, “No.”
“Then we’re done here.If you end up arresting me, you can talk to my lawyer.Otherwise, fuck off.”
Jessica and Faith shared one more look with each other.Jessica’s face made it clear she didn’t want this conversation to end, but Welling was getting dangerously close to getting a lawyer involved, and that would make this much more difficult and complicated.Better for them to back off for now and find more evidence linking him to the crime.Then they could come back and talk to him from a position of strength.
“Have a nice day, Mr.Welling,” Faith said.“If you think of anything else, please give us a call.”
She left her business card on his coffee table, then led her partner and her K9 unit out of the apartment.When they were outside, Jessica said, “I’m going to call Arlington and have them put units on this complex.I would do it myself, but I’m tired as hell.I didn’t sleep at all last night.”
“That’s fine,” Faith said.“We’ll hang out until the locals get here, then grab a hotel room and get some shuteye.”
“So, you’re staying here tonight?”Jessica said.“You don’t want to head back home?”
Faith considered then shook her head.If she went home, she would get caught up in David’s case.She needed to be committed to this case.Her husband was alive, and a lot of people were working to make sure he stayed that way.Hayes was dead.She needed to work to make sure he received justice.
It wasn’t Hayes that stuck in Faith’s mind as she joined Jessica in her car, though.It was Vanya, the aspiring dentist with the beautiful smile.Welling had seen her throat slit in an ambush that he believed God would preserve her from.Some might scoff at that, but Faith knew how powerful belief could be, and how critical it could be for those facing the greatest challenges people could possibly face.Welling was angry and violent and possibly a murderer, but she sympathized with him.
Just like Robert Hayes would have.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Lisa Canton breathed deeply of the crisp morning air as she rounded the corner of the Reflecting Pool and jogged into the courtyard of the World War Two Memorial.Her great grandfather had fought in World War Two, and growing up, her parents had taken her here every year to pay respects.Now that she lived here, the place didn’t have the same aura as before, but she still made sure to say a brief prayer every time she ran through.
