Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Vol. 101, Nos. 3 & 4. Whole Nos. 610 & 611, March 1993

“Does it matter? We’re taking it seriously.”

“But his wife and kids are the ones you should be looking after.”

“We are.”

“Nobody is going to harm me.”

“I hope you’re right. The reason I’ve been so obvious about following you is to let anyone who might try anything know that I’m around.”

It seemed churlish to object to this and silly to ask how long it would continue.

“You didn’t tell me your name.”

“That’s right.” His grin was like a schoolboy’s. Well, nuns brought out the boy in men, Kim had long been aware of that. Despite her age, she was often addressed as if she were the nun who had once rapped the knuckles of a now middle-aged man. It wasn’t necessary that she know her guardian’s name, not if she couldn’t call Richard and verify that he was a policeman.

After she knew why he was always around, his presence was more distracting rather than less. She felt self-conscious taking notes, every expression was one that might be observed. Within fifteen minutes, she closed her notebook and gathered up her things. All the way out to the Volkswagen bug and on the drive home to Walton Street, she assumed he was just behind her. Now that she knew he was following her, she couldn’t find him. But at least she could tell Emtee Dempsey and Joyce what was going on.

“Oh, that’s a relief,” Joyce said sarcastically. “There’s only a threat on your life and all along we thought it was something serious like a persistent Don Juan.”

“He said Richard doesn’t know?” Emtee Dempsey asked.

“That’s right.”

“But why wouldn’t he be told? Why don’t you call him?”

“What if our phone is tapped?”

Emtee Dempsey tried to look outraged but was actually delighted at the thought of such goings-on. “And if we invite Richard to come over, the young man will of course assume you are going to tell him.”

But Richard stopped by the next day unasked. He was ebullient and cheerful, turned down a beer twice before accepting one, sat in the study and looked around expansively.

“It’s nice to stop by here when you’re not interfering in my work.”

“Richard, I have never interfered in your work,” Sister Mary Teresa said primly.

His mouth opened in feigned shock and he looked apprehensively toward the ceiling. “I am waiting for a flash of lightning.”

“I do not need dramatic divine confirmations of what I say.”

“That isn’t what I meant.”

“What are you working on now?”

He shook his head. “Nothing important, but I would still rather not let you know.”

“Very well. And how is your lovely family?”

“I think Agatha, my oldest, has a vocation.”

“Really! What makes you think so?”

“No one can tell her a thing, she already knows it all.”

“Richard!” Kim said.

He grinned. “Maybe it’s just a stage she’s going through.”

“It must be very difficult for a child to have a father in the police force,” the old nun said.

Richard’s smile faded. “Why do you say that?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Your work takes you among such unsavory elements. It must sometimes be difficult to protect your family from all that.”

Kim gave Sister Mary Teresa a warning glance.

“I never bring my work home.”

“Does it ever follow you there?”

“How do you mean?”

“Oh, I think of all the malefactors you have brought to justice. I imagine not all of them are grateful to you.”

He laughed. “Sister, there are even some who resent it.”

“That’s my point.”

“What is?”

Sister Mary Teresa hesitated. She had promised Kim she would not tell Richard that he and his family were being provided protection by his colleagues. She had come within an eyelash of saying it already, and she was obviously trying to think what further she could say without breaking her promise.

“Who are some of your victims who might seek revenge?”

“Sister, if I worried about things like that I’d have entered a monastery rather than the department.”

“Of course you wouldn’t worry about it. I don’t suggest that for a moment. Certainly not worry about your own safety. But just for the sake of conversation, if you had to pick someone who is in jail because of your efforts, blames you, and might want to avenge himself, who would it be?”

Richard adopted the attitude of the man of the world telling a house of recluses what was going on outside their walls. Emtee Dempsey was fully prepared to play the naive innocent in order to keep Richard talking.

“The difficulty would be ruling anyone out,” he said. “It’s fairly routine for a crook after the verdict is in to turn and threaten any and every cop who was in the investigation. This is especially true if you appear in court during the trial. Some even send letters once they’re settled in at Joliet.”

“Threats?”

“Kid stuff.”

“But that’s another crime, isn’t it?”

“Sister, if we brought charges for every crime that’s committed I wouldn’t be able to drop by for a social visit like this.”

“You are a very evasive man, Richard.”

“Thank you.”

“You have managed not to name one single criminal who might actually seek to do you harm because you were instrumental in his arrest.”

“I’ll give you one.”

“Good.”

“Regina Fastnekker.”

“The terrorist!”

“Miss Butterfingers.”