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“Question is – what do we do now?”
“I think we sit on it,” said Kate.“If we start pandering to his every whim, it tells him he’s got the upper hand.We don’t even want him to be certain we’vefoundthe message.We could easily not have found it.”
“But there’s bound to be a lot of media interest, given who the victim was.Winters was only holding off so we could confirm the ID and decipher any messages.”
“Then we make it clear at the press briefing thatwe’renot calling him anything.That as far as we’re concerned, he’s a dangerous killer, not an action hero.”
“He might not like that.”
“Good.”
She reached the end of the scan, where there was a photograph of Whitman and a few lines of biography.In the photograph, Whitman was wearing a chunky fisherman’s sweater, and just behind him was part of a yacht sail.
“He looks like he’s modeling the winter collection.”
“Or advertising a cosmetic dentist.Look at that smile.”
“Both guys: good looking, a hit with the Fräuleins.”
“Could inspire jealousy, revenge.”
“But only one of them goading the extremists.”
Kate was in the midst of swallowing a mouthful of cold coffee, and she almost choked.
“What’s the matter with you?”
Reminded by something, she typedCove Troveinto the search engine.
“I just remembered.Mand, the priest’s housekeeper, told me something about the local newspaper.A bit of trouble the Father caused.”
The online presence of theCove Trovewas charmingly awful, with a plethora of clashing fonts, visible chunks of code and queasy colors.It was, however, quite easy to navigate, and for Kate to find “The Christmas Letter” penned by Father Thomas for the publication, almost three years ago.
She read it out loud.
Extremes of faith are the same as any other extreme: toxic and to be avoided.Whether it’s the priest or pastor interpreting the Bible too literally, or the fanatic driving a van into a crowd of partygoers, extremism represents a complete shutdown of what is, in fact, the greatest gift God has given us: our reason.
“She said he ruffled a few feathers.Got in a bit of trouble.”
“With that?”
The real trouble began in the first week of January where, in the midst of jokes about dieting and earnest lamentations regarding the commercialization of Christmas, people had started to express strong opinions and comments about Father Thomas’s message.
“Stick to baptizing babies,” Kate read aloud.
“Insulting to those with faith, and those with none,” Marcus added.
“Worryingly out of step with his community.”
“How dare he compare a Bible Christian with a terrorist?”
The row continued, with the language becoming more Old Testament in tone and intention, until, in the second week of February, the editor had declared the subject closed.
“It seems to have been a theme with Father Tom,” Kate said.“He wasn’t quite what people wanted from a priest.And when he tried to be, it backfired.”
“This is all pretty mild stuff, though,” Marcus argued.“’Worryingly out of step.’”
“But that’s what got published on the website.Maybe people said worse things, I’m sure, that the editor didn’t put up there.”
