Page 66 of Girl, Accused

‘Doing what?’

'He runs his support group there. They used to meet at St. Augustine's Community Center, but the place got shut down.'

A distant memory surfaced. One that felt years’ old but had only lodged in her memory bank yesterday. ‘Support group? Not… Baptism of Fire?’

‘Yeah. How’d you know?’

The connection snapped into place. Ella remembered what Jeremy Caldwell had said.

‘There was a man. At a support group I attended...Very charismatic... He could talk the hind legs off a donkey, but there was something about him. Something off... He called himself Lazarus.’

And Ella was convinced she’d just found this mysterious Lazarus.

‘And you don’t know Thomas Walsh’s address?’

'No. Sorry. I think it's near Leominster, but I can't be sure. Sister Mary probably knows though.'

‘Right. You said she lives behind the church?’

‘Yes. There’s a converted outbuilding across the way. She rents it.’

Ella was at the door in two steps. Father Thomas Walsh. Ella needed to find him, and if she made it in time, maybe she could get the truth out there.

But before she left, she turned and said, ‘Adam. The seven deadly sins.’

‘What about them?’

‘What might B stand for?’

‘B? There’s no deadly sin beginning with B.’

‘Alright. Just figured I’d ask.’ Ella turned to run, but then –

‘Unless…’

She stopped, turned back. ‘Unless what?’

‘Unless you go by the Latin translation.’

‘Explain.’

‘The Bible was translated to Latin around 400 A.D. The translation was different in there. Instead of Gluttony, it was Blasphemy. Or Blasphemia.’

Blasphemy, Ella thought. A plastic surgeon, giving the middle finger to God by sculpting human flesh.

It fit.

‘Thank you, Adam. Sit tight. I’ll be back.’

CHAPTER THIRTY

The database spat Thomas Walsh's face onto Ella's screen. He had the same unremarkable features worn by ten thousand other men. The kind of face designed to dissolve in memory the moment it left your line of sight. Walsh’s record matched his appearance: insubstantial, forgettable, barely enough to warrant ink on paper.

The results weren’t empty, which was something.

Thomas Walsh. DOB: 06/17/1974. Height: 5'11’. Weight: 196 lbs.

Criminal convictions:

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