The Second Coming (28 page)

“Maybe so, but if you add that to the fact that he has these ‘dreams’ and knows about the symbol, you have to admit it is quite a coincidence.”

Kate frowned and let out a sigh.

“What’s the problem?” Mike whispered in disbelief as he rubbed his knit hat.

“I don’t think he did it.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. It’s just a hunch. There’s something too trustworthy about him. I don’t think he could commit these crimes.”

“So you think he is actually having dreams where he sees the murders as they happen through the eyes of the killer?” Mike asked incredulously. “Is that what you’re telling me?”

“Not necessarily,” Kate replied shaking her head with a disturbed frown.

“What then? Do you think he is making this up for some reason?”

“I don’t know…it’s the only logical explanation.”

“How do you explain him knowing about the symbol then?”

“He must have heard about it.”

“If the results of the test are positive, will you be willing to admit that he has multiple personality disorder?” Mike asked frustrated.

“Even if he scores high on the Dissociative Scale Test that doesn’t mean that he has Dissociative Identity Disorder,” she explained cautiously as she peered into his eyes. “It only means that there is a higher probability that he has the disorder. It is only a screening mechanism. We would need to do more testing and psychoanalysis.”

“Which means there is a higher probability that he has a split personality that is the Sterling Killer,” Mike pointed out succinctly.

Kate shifted her weight to her long, right leg and reluctantly relented. “You know the results of the test are confidential and I can’t give them to you without the Father’s consent.”

“Why wouldn’t the Father consent? He thinks he’s innocent and has nothing to hide. He’s been nothing but forthcoming so far. As a matter of fact, I’ll bet you dinner he consents willingly.”

Kate crossed her arms over her blouse and tilted her head. “I don’t think that is such a good idea,” she said reluctantly.

“Why not?” Mike quipped with raised eyebrows as he stuck his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

“I don’t like to mix my personal life with my professional life.”

“I promise to keep it on a professional level. I just want to pick your brain.”

Kate tilted her head and leered at him skeptically. “I better check on the Father and see if he’s done with the test.”

“Alright, but promise me you’ll think about my offer.”

“I’ll think about it,” she said as she spun around on her high heels and strolled back to the door all the while peering at Mike over her shoulder with glowing eyes.

chapter
49

T
HE DOOR OPENED
and Kate gracefully entered the room. Father John watched her with the interest of a dog watching a bird in flight.

“How did it go?” she asked enthusiastically as she sat down.

“No offense, but the detective is wasting his time.”

Kate let out a deep breath. “From his point of view there are only a few ways that you could know about the symbol and only a few reasons you would be claiming to have dreams about the murders. He’s just going through the process of elimination. If you would just tell us how you know about the symbol, we could save ourselves a lot of trouble.”

“I’m not surprised by the detective’s lack of faith, but I am disappointed that you are not more open to what I am telling you. Don’t you believe in God anymore?”

Kate didn’t want to be rude, but she had a habit of speaking the truth no matter how confrontational it was.

“No offense Father, but I believe there is a low probability that there is a supernatural creator. There just isn’t any evidence to support that belief.”

“What do you believe?”

“I believe in physics, evolution and natural selection, which can all be quantified.”

“So you believe that science has all of the answers as to how we got here?”

“I believe that the universe started with the big bang and has evolved through the process of natural selection and will continue to evolve. There is scientific evidence that proves the theories as a high probability of being true.”

“Scientists have been talking about their theories and truths for years, but every decade or so there is new evidence that comes out that makes scientists change their theories.”

“Our theories evolve when we find new evidence that leads us to new truths, but we are always interested in searching for the truth.”

“If there is no God and therefore no afterlife, what is the meaning of life?”

Kate calmly smiled. “I think that the meaning of life is a personal thing and each individual needs to figure out what their purpose is. I’m happy enough in this life that I don’t need religion to tell me that if I live my life according to their rules, I will be rewarded in my next life,” she explained pointedly. “It’s because I know my life is finite and will end one day and that it is my only life that I appreciate and enjoy it. I don’t need another life at the end of this one to give me a purpose.”

The father’s face glowered with disappointment. “Do you not think that religion provides moral guidance and comfort to those who follow it?”

“I’m not interested in things that provide comfort; I’m interested in the truth. If religion gives people comfort, that’s great, but it seems to me that it’s a false sense of comfort. The only moral guidance we need is to treat others with respect instead of concerning ourselves with their sexual preference.”

The father stood from his chair, quietly contemplating. “Why do so many people believe in God? Are the majority wrong and the minority right?”

Kate responded patiently. “Religious beliefs are passed on from generation to generation. You believe a version of what you’re father believed and his father before him,” she explained carefully. “The child of a suicide bomber believes their religion is the true and right one just as you believe your religion is the true and right one. You can’t rationally expect the child to believe anything else. He has been raised to believe that Christians are the infidels and that Muslims become martyrs by killing them. All religions have killed many in God’s name going back before the crusades. If we don’t hold religion accountable, how can we blame the people carrying out the acts in God’s name? Belief without evidence is convenient because it gives religion justification for their actions.”

Father John looked at Kate with astonishment. “You scientists mock God as a delusion, some sort of mythology and yet your explanation of how things came to be is a big bang that came out of nowhere and multiplied
from nothing into this large universe, yet you do not stop and ask yourself where the big bang came from. Did it appear out of nowhere? Who made the universe and the elements that caused the big bang? You scientists don’t have an answer for that, do you?”

Kate sat back in her chair with a furrow of concern on her brow. She could see that Father John was beginning to get upset.

“You mock religion for causing wars yet scientists create the weapons that are used in those wars to kill thousands of people, including the nuclear bomb. Religion does not condone violence, we condone peace. We cannot be responsible for fanatics that kidnap the name of religion for their own gain.”

“I respect your right to your opinion Father, just as I hope you will respect my right to my opinion. I don’t think there is anything that I can say to make you change your mind just as there is nothing you can say to make me change my mind.”

“Haven’t you ever had something happen to you that you couldn’t reasonably explain?”

Kate’s mind flashed back on a near drowning experience she had when she was a child.

“Just because there is no reasonable explanation for how something happened doesn’t mean there is a God.”

“I think you say that you don’t believe in God because you are afraid your peers in the scientific community will mock you, but deep down there is a part of you that still believes.”

It was true. There still was a part of her that questioned how she had been saved. There wasn’t anyone who took the credit for saving them and she remembered feeling as though she had been levitated out of the pool by a mysterious force, but her scientific side wouldn’t allow her to fully accept that.

“I believe in natural selection more than I believe in intelligent design.”

“I’m sorry that you lost your faith. Maybe something will happen to restore it before it is too late.”

Just then the door to the interrogation room opened and Mike stuck his head. “Is everything alright in here?” he asked in friendly tone.

“Yes Detective. Everything is fine,” Father John assured him. “We were just having a spirited discussion on the merits of science and religion.”

“Are you all done with the test Father?” Mike asked eagerly.

“Yes I am Detective. Is alright if I leave now?”

“Yes Father. I’ll be in touch with you,” he told him as he offered him his hand. “One last thing Father; does Dr. Wilson have your permission to show me the results of your test?”

“She does indeed Detective. I have nothing to hide. Remember it is I who came to you. I am simply following the path that God has laid out before me.”

Mike shot Kate a smug smirk and gently tipped his knit covered head with a wink. Kate stood in the corner with her arms crossed with a rigid smile.

“Thank you Father,” Kate said politely as she offered him her hand.

Father John grasped it with both of his tender hands and looked her compassionately in the eyes. “God bless you both,” he said solemnly as he stepped through the door and disappeared down the hallway.

“It looks like you owe me dinner,” Mike said proudly.

“You’re incorrigible, you know that?” she said as she sat down and began to calculate the score of the questionnaire. Mike paced the room, occasionally trying to sneak a peek over her shoulder. When she was done she sat back in her chair and exhaled with a frown on her face.

“What’s the matter?” Mike asked.

Kate shook her head. “He scored higher on the test than I thought he would.”

“What does that mean?” Mike asked eagerly.

“It means that we need to do more psychoanalysis to determine if he really does have Dissociative Identity Disorder,” she replied in a disturbed tone. “But it certainly makes him a person of interest.”

“That’s what I thought,” Mike said emphatically. “I better have Axe keep a tail on him until you can get a psychoanalysis done.”

“I guess I owe you dinner,” Kate said as she got up from the table and placed her files in her briefcase.

“Don’t sound so excited,” Mike said sarcastically. “I promise to be on my best behavior.”

Kate looked at him with a flirtatious grin. She had dated his type before. The clever and ever so confident risk taker that made her mind throw up red flags, but he was also the rugged, physical type of man that made her want to take a chance. Could she keep up with him? Could she tame him?
These were the challenges that she failed at in the past that she now wanted to succeed in. She looked at him with a cunning grin as she pulled a business card and pen from the side pocket of her briefcase and wrote her home address on the back of it.

“Pick me up at 7:00,” she told him as she handed him her card with her long, elegant fingers.

“I look forward to it,” Mike told her politely as he slipped the card into his shirt pocket and showed her to the door. “Thank you for coming in today. It was a pleasure to meet you and I appreciate your time and help.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied as she turned and sauntered down the hall with the swagger of a runway model.

Mike removed his knit cap and rubbed his hand over his stubble in wonderment. Ever since he came out of his coma and stopped living the life of excess, things were going his way; first Father John and now Kate. Maybe he needed the coma to get sober and maybe he needed to get sober to see things more clearly and to be able to solve the case and start a meaningful relationship with Kate. Maybe the Sterling Killer did him a favor when he hit him over the head? Mike pulled his hat on. It was now up to him to keep his shit together.

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