Dramatis Personae:

• Sean Macmahan ( a private investigator with the IDA)
• Father Michael Macmahan ( His brother, a Catholic priest, the unofficial chaplan for IDA)
• Elaine Meriweather ( Sean's secretary...who is not exactly what she appears)
• Barney Murphy ( an IDA pilot and good friend of Sean.)
• Reverend Buck Justice ( a bent preacher with startling mental powers)
• Vito Stefano ( a mob killing machine )
• Red Shaugnessy ( a speakeasy owner caught between a rock and a hard place.)
• And...Maurice the Wonder Mutt (a superintelligent Jack Russel terrier)

The shutter clunked open

"Bless me father for I have sinned. It's been 2 weeks since my last confession..." The woman's words came in the usual low rush that most parishioners used. Michael usually used this time to orient himself to the fact that someone had entered his confessional. The woman speaking was an older woman and sounded like one of the regulars.

"Father....My heart is filled with anger."

"Why is this my child?" Michael replied. There was a certain rhythym to this kind of counselling and you had to stick with it.

"My grandson has recently passed away. He was taken in the prime of his life."

"Ah." This would be Katherine Bailley. He tried not to remember voices in the confessional.He tried not to put 2 and 2 together too often, but sometimes these things just leaped to mind. He had actually presided at the young man's funeral. A good looking young man...fairly smart...just got a scholarship before his untimely death.

"He was unfairly taken..."

"God called him home for his own reasons, I'm sure."

"No. God had nothing to do with this." The woman said with a vehemence that suprised him. "Do you know how Thomas died?"

"I'm sorry i don't. I know he was ill beforehand..."

"No Father. He wasn't ill. He was poisoned."

"What? Are you sure?"

"The medical examiner performed an autopsy at my insistence. He had gone blind and had been acting erratic before he died and i wanted to know why. Turns out he had died from lead poisoning."

"How did that happen?"

"He and some friends went to a speakeasy to celebrate his scholarship." She said the "Speakeasy" like another person would say "venomous snake". "Apparently, he drank quiet a lot of champagne that night. When he woke up in the morning...He was blind."

"Have you told the police?"

"The speakeasy was in Cicero county" she said with a certain sadness.

Michael understood. Cicero county while still technically within the Chicago police jurisdiction, was practically owned lock, stock, and barrel by various factions of the Chicago Mob. In terms of law enforcement, this might as well have happened on the other side of the moon. "I see your dilemma."

"Do you Father? God says that vengeance is his...All I'm asking for is justice and i'm told to forget it...According to my faith, I'm not even allowed to pray for the destruction of the men who ended my grandson's life. I have nowhere to turn...and my heart is sick with hatred...."

"That's not true....You can allways turn to God for comfort. Know that your boy was a good boy and is now in the arms of the lord. And as for justice...Well...I might know somebody who can get that for you."

There was a long silence. "What do i have to do?" she said with a grim determination.

"Just come into the rectory office with me Katherine and let me call my brother."

"Allright...Father, what about my penance."

"We'll talk about that later.Penance should be reserved for the guilty."

The shutter clunked shut.

Chapter 2 ( A short flight gone horribly wrong)

Chapter 3 (On the ground in Harlan County.)

Chapter 4 ( Cold Mountain.)