8
“Books should be used with care.”
Alain de Botton, The Consolations of Philosophy
*
I was now sitting on the steps outside the Augustinian church. A faint hint of sun was in the sky, and I felt I should acknowledge it. A Romanian woman, two kids in tow, asked me,
“Is this church Catholic?”
“It is.”
And they walked away, not looking back. On the wall beside me was a huge glass case. Our Mother of Perpetual Help used to reside there. Someone stole her.
Terence had given me a fat envelope stashed with cash. His stepmother’s name was Kirsten, and she lived at the family home in Taylor’s Hill. The father had been found dead in bed of a heart attack. I said,
“Nothing suspicious there.”
Terence had sighed, answered,
“Speed, speed would have accelerated it. He had a history of coronar
