Cloaked in Blood by LS Sygnet Page A

yours?  Helen’s pretty vocal
about her lack of belief in God.”
    “Who do you think taught her to be
rational?” Wendell grinned.  “Or were you under the misguided
belief that I’m qualified to wear this thing?”  He tugged at
the collar and twisted it off.  “But she loves Johnny, and she
is pregnant with his sons.”
    “Twins,” Datello said.  “This just
keeps getting better.”
    “You have no idea what’s going on in her
life right now, but I have a niggling hunch that everything that’s
happened since Helen came here is related.  This is why the
three of us are going to make an unstoppable team, Danny.  You
do trust me, don’t you?”
    “Hell, it’s hard not to.  You’ve got as
much to lose as I do.”
    “And,” Wendell waved one hand in a sweeping
gesture, “I have offered you absolute sanctuary here at Saint
Agnes.  Time, however, is not on our side.  It’s only a
matter of time before the feds are crawling all over Darkwater Bay
looking for you.  We have to act fast to bring this issue to
resolution, Danny.”
    He nodded.  “At the same time, they
can’t openly scour the city for me without letting everyone,
including Uncle Sully know that I’m still alive, still the trump
card they plan to play when they charge him with at least a hundred
more murders.”
    “There will be nothing overt in their
search, I promise you.  It will be so subtle, we probably
won’t even know they’re here.  Who was the agent working with
you again?”
    “Joel Soule.  He knows Helen.”
    “Good.”
    “Is it?”
    Wendell nodded.  “The last thing he’ll
want is for Helen to know he’s here, because if he knows her at
all, he’s got to realize that she’ll start asking the right
questions about why he’s here.  Do you know how he knows
her?”
    Datello nodded.  Guilt leeched into his
dark eyes.  “He’s the one that took over the case against my
uncle after Mark Seleeby got kicked to the curb.”
    “Does he think she murdered Rick?”
    “Not officially, but I’m afraid after the
anesthesia wore off, I gave him an earful of my suspicions.”
    “Hmm,” Wendell said.  “That does
complicate matters.  Do you still believe Helen murdered
him?”
    Datello nodded.  “I knew my
cousin.  At least, I knew him well enough to know he’d never
commit suicide.  He was terrified of Sully, that he’d be
caught passing information back to me.  He insisted that we
tell my uncle up front who he was to me.”
    Wendell’s eyes widened.  “You mean
Sully didn’t already know that Rick was your cousin?”
    “It’s not like we grew up together,” Danny
snapped.  “My father’s youngest sister got into trouble. 
Her son was put up for adoption.  It took me years to find
him.  See, she was sent out here when my grandmother realized
she was pregnant.  I was excited to have another kid
around.  I was only six when he was born, so it was pretty
devastating when he was there, and then gone.”
    “Good Christ,” Wendell sighed heavily. 
“This would’ve been much easier if Sully had never learned the
truth.  And no wonder the FBI never learned this bit of
information when they vetted Helen for service.”
    “The adoption was sealed.  At least
until he died.”
    Wendell nodded.  “That’s probably how
Orion discovered the truth so easily.”
    “Johnny knew?”
    “Oh yes,” Wendell said.  “He learned a
great deal about my daughter’s circumstances before they… well, her
reticence raised questions.”
    “She came out here to kill me, didn’t
she?”
    “I don’t know,” Wendell answered
honestly.  “I’d imagine it’s safe to assume that your feelings
for her weren’t exactly unrequited, Danny.  It’s all in the
past now.  She’s very reasonable.  She’ll see that you
were used as a scapegoat because of your connection to Sully
Marcos, if she hasn’t figured it out already.”
    “Why don’t you just call her and get this
meeting over with?  If time is