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I leaned hard against the sanctuary door to brace it When I disen­gaged the lock, the bolt ainst a strop

Had Robertson been poised to burst in uponfroht be less of a hothead andthan he had appeared to be when he’d stood in the graveyard, flipping us the finger

Perhaps he suspected that I edging the door shut with my body and that I would snap the lock in place the instant that he tried to

shove into the sacristy Insane as he ht be, he would nonetheless have some intuition of his own

The Bob Robertson who left his kitchen streith dirty dishes, banana peels, and cruist The Robertson who kept the neat study and maintained the meticulous files in those cabinets of dread was, however, a differentrooazines and well-read paperback roht be, at this lanced at Storet on with it" or "up yours"

Leaning against the door with undiminished purpose, I turned the knob all the way to the left It squeaked I would have been aht and let the door ease open half an inch… an inch… and all the way

If Robertson waited at either entrance to the sacristy, he was out­side in the churchyard Standing in the ruddy reduction of the last red light, he ran­ite headstone

Storether we quickly re­turned to the sanctuary froo

The ain Christ see incense sency and the votive flaency of arte­rial aneurysms about to burst

Down the aate in the co at us froure in my mind that I would not have been surprised if he had dropped upon us fros, a furious dark angel with death upon his breath

We were in the lass shook away the churchly silence behind us We spun, we looked, but sareckage

The sacristy had been less, and there’d been no glass in the door to the churchyard Nevertheless, that chamber, which we’d just left, seemed to be the source of these sounds of destruction They rose again, louder than before

I heard what ainst the vest, heard the silver chalice and other sacred vessels ricocheting off walls and cabinets with a reverberant metallic clatter

In our haste to escape, we had left the light on in that rooh the open door, secondhandshadows and flares of shi, and I didn’t intend to return to the sacristy for a look Holding Stor the center aisle, the length of the nave, and through a door into the narthex

Out of the church, down the steps, we fled into a twilight that had nearly bled to death, had little red left to give, and had begun to pull purple shrouds over the streets of Pico Mundo

For a ni­tion Stor weren’t already my in­tention, and finally the keya significant offering of rubber in front of St Bart’s, we

traveled a block and a half on s tires, so fast that we almost seemed to have teleported, before I had the breath to say, "Call the chief"

She had a cell phone of her own, and she entered Wyatt Porter’s ho, said, "Chief, it’s Stormy," listened, and said, "Yeah, it does sound like a weather report, doesn’t it Odd needs to speak to you"

I took the phone and blurted, "Sir, if you send a car to St Bart’s real quick, youthe sacristy, maybe more than the sacristy, maybe the whole church"

He put me on hold and made a call on another line

Three blocks fro off the street, into a Mexican fast-food franchise

"Dinner?" I asked Stored "The entire rest of our lives will be after all that in the church Personally, I intend to eat again, and the sooner the better"

"It’s not going to be the equal of my tower feast"

"What could be?"

"I a with one hand as if that were still legal, I swung the Mustang into the line of vehicles waiting to get to the drive-up service

When Chief Porter ca St Bart’s?"

"Don’t have a clue, sir He tried to trapin the belfry?"

"Having a picnic, sir"

"I suppose that makes sense to you"

"Yes, sir It’s nice We have dinner up there a couple ti dinner on the court­house flagpole"

"Maybe just hors d’oeuvres, sir, but never dinner"

"If you want to co Elvis"

"I left him at the Baptist church, sir I’m with Stormy - in line to have some tacos, but thanks just the sa his house in Caone horaveyard, saw us up in the belfry He gave us the rude number one with lots of emphasis and then came af­ter us"

"You think he knows you were in his house?" the chief asked

"If he hasn’t been home since I was there, I don’t see how he could know, but he must Excuse me a second, sir"

We had reached the menu board

"Swordfish tacos with extra salsa, fried corn fritters, and a large Coke, please," I told the so donkey that holds the or­der microphone in its mouth I looked at Stor"

‘Are you at Mexicali Rose?" the chief asked

"Yes, sir"

"They have fantastic churros You should try some"

I took his advice and placed a double order with the donkey, which, as before, thanked irl

As the line of cars crept forward, I said, "When we gave Robertson the slip in the church, he ry But why he decided to take it out on the building, I don’t know"

"Two cars are on the way to St Bart’s, no sirens They ht even

be there now But vandalis to commit"