Chapter 31
Alice
It seems to me like we’ve been parked in front of the Cole house for ages, even though it’s only been about half an hour.
The family was having dinner when we arrived.
Mom, dad, little Kate and her slightly older brother.
The rest of the house was dark, but the light in the street-facing dining room was bright, sparkling even.
I didn’t want to ruin their meal, so I made us wait to go in. But now they’re clearing the table and I still don’t want to go in.
Nico takes my hand and squeezes. I enjoy the warmth that passes into me through his touch, because I’ve been very cold for the whole day, and it’s only getting worse. “We should go do this now.”
He’s speaking in a soft, warm, calming tone. The kind you’d use to comfort a frightened child or something. But I’m not a frightened child. I’m a grown woman. The Sarge of a biker club.
“You don’t think this is a good idea?” I ask, before even deciding to do it.
“I think this is your show and you’re the one calling the shots,” he says. “But I think we should be ready for Kate’s dad to chase us out of the house with a shotgun. He looks like the type who’d do that if he doesn’t like what he’s hearing.”
He’s not wrong. Mr. Cole is a big man and in my experience men with that much muscle on them prefer to let their fists and their strength do the talking. But he could lean the other way, be a total softy at heart too.
I open the car door before I change my mind. “I’m going to ring the doorbell.”
I don’t wait for his reply before stepping out of the car and slamming the door shut. I don’t even look back to see if he’s following as I make my way to the front door. But I know he is. I can feel him trailing me.
Nancy Cole opens the door and little Kate is just behind her as she does. I still absolutely do not want to spoil their lovely family evening with what I’m about to tell them. But I don’t see a way around it.
“Ah, it’s you two,” Nancy says. “Trent and Alice, right? What can I do for you?”
“We’ve been looking at houses around here and wanted to pick your brain about the neighborhood,” Nico says.
“And there’s something else we wanted to talk to you about,” I add before he can get any deeper into the lie and the false pretenses. We don’t actually have time for that. Not if I’m gonna make good on my threat to expose Gael tonight, one way or another.
“What’s that?” Nancy asks, suspicion creeping into her voice. She must’ve picked up on something in my tone.
I keep my eyes on Kate as I say. “It’s about your priest, Father Gael. We have reason to believe he’s behaving inappropriately with the children. With the girls.”
Nancy gasps in shock and Kate looks down at the floor, her whole tiny body shivering.
“That’s quite an accusation, Alice. Father Gael has been nothing but kind to everyone here,” Nancy says angrily. “What kind of proof do you have?”
Behind her, Kate is shivering worse and worse.
I probably should’ve let Nico lead with the false pretenses for the visit, at least until we were inside the house. But I’ve never been any good at delivering news softly.
“I’m sorry,” I say and I’m speaking to Kate. “I was one of his victims a long time ago and I’ve been trying to bring him to justice ever since. I have proof now.”
Nancy is looking at me like she can’t believe what she’s hearing. Kate is also looking at me now, a mixture of fear and relief in her eyes. Hope even. Hope that I’m here to put a stop to her suffering.
“I’ve come here to stop him, and I will,” I answer her silent question.
Nancy follows my gaze to Kate, sees her daughter shivering, tears rolling down her face, but the brightness of hope in her eyes. It takes her about half a second to put two and two together.
“Has Father Gael been hurting you?” Nancy asks her daughter.
Her shrill tone brings the husband and brother into the hall.
“What’s going on here?” the dad asks.
“Yes,” Kate says in a quiet voice, finally answering her mother’s question.
“Yes what?” the dad asks.
But now Nancy is crying too, kneeling beside her daughter and holding her very tightly.
“You’ll make him stop?” Kate asks me.
“I will.”
“Stop who?” the dad asks. “Doing what?”
He’s getting more and more agitated because no one is answering his questions.
Nancy stands up, keeping a protective hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “I think you better come in and tell us everything.”
And we do. I even let the parents listen to the recording and tell them I have told Father Gael to turn himself in tonight. And that if Kate reported him too, he’d be locked up for sure.
“No,” Kate’s dad bellowed at that, slamming his hands against the dining table where we’ve been discussing all this. A glass of half-finished orange juice topples and spills, filling the room with its pleasant scent. No one moves to wipe up the spill.
“The priest should be dealt with the old-fashioned way,” the dad—Clyde—goes on. “An eye for an eye and all that bullshit.”
Nancy is nodding along with bright, determined, slightly deranged eyes.
“That’s what I’ve been saying all along,” Nico says.
I squeeze Nancy’s hand and stand up. “We will handle it, I promise you.”
Clyde gets up too. “I’m coming too. It’s my little girl we’re talking about.”
Nico gives me a warning look, trying to say I need to diffuse this situation and convince the dad to stay home, so we can do what we gotta do.
“What you need to do is be with your daughter right now, Clyde,” I say. “You as a family must decide how to proceed from here. But I promise you that Gael will be punished. One way or another. I’ll come by in the morning to see if you have decided to report him.”
Nico and I stand up and for a few moments it looks like Clyde will argue. But then he looks at his wife.
“How did we let this happen, Nancy?”
She hiccups, tears welling in her eyes, and doesn’t answer.
“He’s a master manipulator,” I tell them. “Don’t blame yourself. Talk to your daughter, comfort her and make sure she knows the worst is over.”
There is no point reporting Gael, I see that now. No point dragging Kate through that ordeal.
I will deal with Gael. And after tonight, no one will ever have to deal with him ever again.