Free ABSOLUTION (A Frank Renzi novel) by Susan A Fleet Page B

down a spoonful of gumbo and smiled at the woman he loved more than anything in the world.
    “ Aurora, you’re the best cook in Louisiana, I swear.”

CHAPTER 7
     
     
    Wednesday 6:30 A.M.
     
     
    “ What the fuck are you doing, Renzi? You think you can nose around, find some off-the-wall witness and blow my investigation?”
    Frank stood by his bed, dripping wet from the shower. Just what he needed to start his day: a phone call from Norris, screaming at him. “Good morning to you too, Burke. Mind telling me what you’re talking about?”
    “ The column that black bitch wrote for the Clarion-Call , that’s what. Christ, I got every media outlet in the country calling me.”
    “ I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” he said, hoping to prevent Norris from transforming a brushfire into a raging inferno.
    On the way to headquarters he stopped at a convenience store to buy a copy of the Clarion-Call . Rona’s column was on the front page, WOMAN FOILS TONGUE KILLER , alongside Monica’s sketch. A sick feeling invaded his gut. He scanned the first two paragraphs, an abbreviated version of Kitty’s story about the john trying to cut her tongue that ended with a jibe at Norris for failing to catch the Tongue Killer. The third paragraph was the kicker.
 
NOPD Detective Frank Renzi listened to her story and deemed it credible. The woman hopes it will help the police capture the killer. But will it? When asked about suspects at a recent press briefing, Norris refused to rule anyone out: “During the Baton Rouge serial killer investigation, FBI profilers pegged the killer as a white male, but a black man was later convicted of the crimes.”
 
    He stared at the words, unable to believe Rona had put his name in her column, but there it was on page one, front and center. Seething with fury, he read the rest of the column.
     
All the victims are white, and police believe the killer sexually assaults them. By promoting his black-killer theory, Norris taps into an ugly racial stereotype: black men attack white women. This rubs salt in old wounds. Norris has already held three black men overnight for questioning, but, lacking evidence to charge them with any crime, he was forced to release them. Must every black man in the area look over his shoulder, fearing the police will arrest him?
The woman described her attacker as a young white male, and she believes he may have been a priest. A sketch artist helped her produce his likeness. [See graphic] Find the man in the sketch, Agent Norris, and arrest him. Only then will the women in this city feel safe.
 
    He flung the paper on the passenger seat in disgust. Rona had used his name to lend credence to a sensational story, a story that advanced her racial agenda. Worse, she had published the sketch. The one positive: she hadn’t named Kitty. He dialed Rona’s extension at the Clarion-Call . Shunted onto voice mail, he left a terse message: “Frank Renzi. Call my cellphone ASAP.”
    A headache pounded his temples. Now he had to go and placate Norris, if indeed that was possible, a delightful encounter, sort of like dancing with killer bees. Maybe if he was really careful, he wouldn’t get stung.
    _____
     
    After the early Mass the sinner escaped a tedious conversation with an elderly parishioner and returned to the rectory. The moment he stepped inside he heard Monsignor Goretti and Father Cronin in the parlor. It wasn’t difficult. Both men were hard of hearing and tended to shout even in normal conversation. And this was no normal conversation.
    “ How dare they?” the Monsignor shouted in an angry voice. ”Ever since The Scandal they accuse us priests of everything under the sun!”
    Monsignor Goretti always referred to the pedophile priest litigation that had recently rocked the Catholic Church as The Scandal.
    “ Exactly!” Father Cronin said. “It’s preposterous! Printing that sketch in the newspaper and saying the Tongue Killer is a priest!”
    A sketch? In