Twenty-Nine
HELEN CALLS THE STATE police and asks them to go to Our Lady of the Mount to detain Father Leonard.
“I want to talk to him,” I say.
“Tom, this is a police matter. Besides, what makes you think he’ll say anything to you now? He’s either not spoken or lied this whole time.”
“Because he’s carrying a tremendous burden,” I say. “He has to be getting tired. He needs to tell someone. Besides, I need to know why.”
“He can tell me when I arrest him.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
We look at each other. “If you hear his confession,” Helen says slowly, “you won’t be able to tell me what he said.”
I nod. “That’s true. I’ll try to get him to agree to confess to you for his crimes, but there are no guarantees.” I pause. “But he’s at the end of his rope. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have left S
