Page 21 (1/2)

He left the rooent?" His tone was deliberately light, but there was tension underneath it

"I enjoyed the services this ," I said

"Yes, so you said, and I' for a different Old Testaree A poet and aco if you're interested"

"I was hoping the reading ht be from Genesis"

"Oh, we don't start over until Whitsunday, you know But why Genesis?"

"A particular portion of Genesis, actually"

"Oh?"

"The Twenty-second Chapter"

He closed his eyes for a ed apologetically "I used to have a fair memory for chapter and verse It's been one of the casualties of the aging process, I'm afraid Shall I look it up?"

I said, " 'And it cas, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham; and he said, Behold, here I am And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whoet thee into the land of Moriah; and offer hi upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of' "

"The temptation of Abraha' A very beautiful passage" His eyes fixed on me "It's unusual that you can quote Scripture, Mr Scudder"

"I had reason to read that passage the other day It stayed with ht care to explain the chapter to me"

"At soency of-"

"Don't you?"

He looked at ot to my feet and took a step toward him I said, "I think you do I think you could explain toparallels between Abraham and yourself You could tella la You could tell ood intentions"

"Mr Scudder-"

"You could tell me why you were able to murder Wendy Hanniford And why you let Richie die in your place"

Chapter 16

"I don't knohat you're talking about"

"I think you do, sir"

"My son committed a horribleat the ive hiregation, sir I'ht no one would ever be able to figure out Your son never killed anybody until he killed hi it all in He bowed his head a little His pose was an attitude of prayer, but I don't think he was praying When he spoke his tone was not defensive so much as it was curious, the words very nearly an aduilt

"What s I learned And the way they all fit together"

"Tell me"

I nodded I wanted to tell hi the need to tell so I hadn't told Cale Hanniford I had co at it, but in the end I had not told her, either

Vanderpoel was the only person I could tell

I said, "The case was open-and-shut That's how the police saw it, and it was the only way to see it But I didn't start out looking for aabout Wendy and your son, and the more I learned, the harder it was for me to buy the idea that he had killed her

"What nailed hi up on the sidewalk covered with blood and behaving hysterically But if you began to dis the killer began to break down He left his job suddenly in theThat could have been staged But instead he caestion and his eot hoh time to rape her and kill her and run out into the street He hadn't been acting oddly during the day The only thing evidently wrong with him was a sto about her provoked hi out completely

"But as it? A rush of sexual desire? He lived with the girl, and it was a reasonable assumption that he could make love to her any time he wanted to And the more I learned about him, the more certain I becaether, but they didn't sleep together"

"What makes you say that?"

"Your son was homosexual"

"That is not true"

"I'm afraid it is"

"Relations between men are an abomination in the eyes of God"

"That may be I'm no authority Richie was hoather it was impossible for him to be comfortable with any kind of sexuality He had very s about you, about his mother, and they made any real sexual relationship impossible"

I walked over to the fake fire I wondered if the fireplace was fake, too I turned and looked at Martin Vanderpoel He had not changed position He was still sitting in his chair with his hands on his knees, his eyes on the patch of rug between his feet

I said, "Richie seems to have been stabilized by his relationship with Wendy Hanniford He was able to regulate his life, and I'd guess he was relatively happy Then he ca Noould do that?"

He didn't say anything

"He ht have walked in and found her with another man But that didn't add up because ould it upset him that much? He must have kno she supported herself, that she saw otherthe afternoons while he was at work Besides, there would have to be some trace of that otherwith a razor