“If you believe the philosophy taught by chaplains can cause patients to kill themselves, then it seems reasonable that the world would be a better place without them,” Faith replied.
Pierce laughed without mirth.“I didn’t kill Hayes or Cruz.I didn’t even know Cruz personally.I only referenced a case in which he was involved where a patient experienced a crisis and had to be talked down from a suicidal situation.”
Faith’s ears perked up.“What’s the name of that patient?”
“I won’t release that.”
“Of course you won’t,” Jessica muttered.
Pierce switched the cross of her legs.“I understand that you two are focused entirely on finding the killer.That is your one goal.All other considerations fall to the wayside in your determined drive to find and stop this murderer.It’s an admirable goal.You must understand that others can’t so easily set aside the tenets of their jobs to further your goal.”
“Murder’s pretty permanent,” Jessica said.“It’s hard for me to make room for other goals when someone’s out there strangling people to death.”
“That’s fair,” Pierce replied.
“Can you confirm your whereabouts this morning between… say four and six?”Faith asked.“The day before?”
“I wake at six every morning.My home has security.I can send you the camera footage which will show me leaving my house at eight-thirty.I have cameras covering the front door, back door, the garage, and the side windows.If anything enters or leaves the premises, those cameras will pick them up.They should show menotleaving my house beforehand or entering mysteriously between six and eight-thirty.Will that suffice?”
Faith nodded.“That’ll work.”She thought for a moment, then said, “Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
“Put me in the mind of the killer for a minute.What’s the difference between you, someone who will so violently advocate for the murder of these individuals that you frighten a friend of yours into ending your relationship but won’t actually kill them, and someone who will actually take that step and do so in such a ‘garish’ fashion?”
Pierce smiled thinly.“I am connected with reality.I understand that murder is morally wrong and furthermore serves no practical purpose.I know that I won’t cause any positive changes by killing people.The killer is either disconnected from reality and believes that he actually will accomplish something good by murdering these victims, or he is so convinced that no positive outcome is possible in his life that he no longer cares about the consequences of his actions.”
“So, he’s deluded or hopeless,” Jessica summarized.
“So many people are.”
Faith nodded.She reached into her pocket and handed Pierce a business card.“There’s an email on that card where you can send the security footage.I suggest you take care of that tonight.”
“I’ll do it right now.I can access the footage from my computer.”
“Even better.”
They waited while Dr.Pierce pulled up the security footage.She sent it to them, and Faith forwarded it to Jessica so they could both review it.
Faith nodded again.“Thank you, doctor.We’ll take a look at this and call you back.”
She spun on her heel and left the office.Turk and Jessica followed, Jessica frowning, Turk still watching Pierce warily.He seemed more suspicious of her than any of their suspects so far.
But Turk’s misgivings only suggested a propensity to violence.If that security footage could clear her, then Faith had no grounds to arrest her.
Still, a part of her wondered if one day Pierce would succumb to delusion or hopelessness.Sometimes Faith wondered just how thin that line really was.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Lieutenant Sarah Brennan stood on the porch of the chapel and prayed silently.Her thoughts were troubled, and she didn’t want to tackle the traffic-laden drive home with troubled thoughts.
Two of her fellow servants of God had been murdered over the past two days.She had known Daniel Cruz personally.While their beliefs differed in some areas of doctrine, the core of their belief was the same.Faith in God, salvation through His grace, kindness and goodwill toward others, and upright living.Sometimes Sarah wished that people would just ignore everything else and focus on the basics.She rarely shared that opinion with her father, an old-school Southern Baptist who strongly held to the traditions of that sect.
Not that he was wasting time on those differences now.He was as devastated by the loss of Hayes and Cruz as she was, and Hayes was a Catholic.
You’re still focusing on the differences.That’s why you’re troubled.Do you believe that they are both in the arms of God?
“Yes,” she replied without hesitation.
