I dressed in some old clothes, and drove to the garage where I'd kept my trucks and my disguises and my other materials for some two or three years. For two hours, carefully gloved and gowned, I destroyed things.

Now, I had never brewed my poisonous concoctions from so-called "controlled substances." Just about every lethal c.o.c.ktail I'd ever devised had been from over-the-counter drugs or flowers and herbs available everywhere. I'd used micro-syringes any diabetic can buy without difficulty. Nevertheless the a.s.semblage of items in the garage const.i.tuted a kind of evidence and I felt much better when every last bottle had been emptied and every last package burned. Ashes went down the drains. And a great deal of water went after them.

I wiped down the trucks very carefully, and then drove them to different areas of downtown Los Angeles where I left them with the keys in the ignition. The licenses and registration were a dead end, so I had no fears there. I walked for about six blocks after leaving the last truck, speculating that all of them might have already been stolen, and I took a cab back to the vicinity of the garage.

The place was now empty. I left the doors opened and unlocked.

Within a matter of hours homeless people would come into this place, seeking shelter or whatever valuables they might find. Their personal belongings, their fingerprints and their DNA would soon be everywhere, and that was a fitting end, as it had been in the past, for any such garage that Lucky the Fox had used.

I drove home feeling a little more safe, and feeling that Liona and Toby were a little more safe. I couldn't be sure of anything, really. But I was doing what I could to protect Lucky the Fox from harming them.

The anxiety I felt was considerable and inevitable. I realized that no matter what happened with me and Malchiah and Shmarya, I was becoming Toby O'Dare in the world, and Toby O'Dare had never really existed before as he did now. I felt naked and vulnerable, and I didn't like it. In fact, I was surprised how much I didn't like it.

That night I took a plane to New York.

And the next day, I did the same things in the garage that I kept there. It had been almost a year since I'd been in that particular way station, and I didn't like going back there at all. New York had too many shocking memories for me, and I felt especially sensitive to them now. But I knew this had to be done. I dumped the vehicles in areas where they would most certainly be stolen, and left the garage finally as I had done the other one, open to whoever might wander in.

I wanted to leave New York then, but there was something else I wanted badly to do. I had to think about it a great deal before executing my little plan. I spent the evening and the next morning doing just that. I was very glad that the angels weren't visibly with me. I understood now why they were not. And the terms of my new existence were making a little more sense to me.

When afternoon came, I left my hotel and went out walking to find a Catholic church.

I must have walked for hours before coming upon a church that looked and felt the way that I wanted it to feel; and this was all purely feelings, as I had no thoughts on the matter at all.

I knew only that I was somewhere in Midtown when I rang the bell at the rectory and told the woman who answered that I wanted to go to confession. She stared at my hands. It was warm and I was wearing gloves.

"Can you ask the oldest priest in the house?" I asked her.

I wasn't sure she heard or understood. She showed me into a small spa.r.s.ely furnished parlor with a table and several upright wooden chairs. There was a small window with dusty curtains revealing part of a yard paved in asphalt. A large old-fashioned crucifix hung on the wall. I sat very still, and I prayed.

It seemed I waited half an hour before a very elderly priest came in. Had it been a young priest, I would probably have left a donation and gone out without a word. As it was, this man was ancient, somewhat shrunken, with an extremely large squarish head, and with wire-rimmed gla.s.ses that he took off and set on the table to his right.

He took out his requisite purple stole, a long thin strip of silk required for the hearing of confessions, and he put it around his neck. His gray hair was thick and messy. He sat back in his wooden chair and closed his eyes.

"Bless me, Father, for I have sinned," I said. "It has been over ten years since my last confession and I have been too far from the Lord. For ten years I've committed terrible sins more numerous than I can mention, and I can only estimate how many times I have done any one bad thing."

There was no change in his demeanor whatsoever.

"I took life willfully and deliberately," I said. "I told myself I was killing men who were bad, but in fact I destroyed the lives of innocent persons, especially in the beginning, and I cannot now name how many there were. After those first and most terrible crimes, I went to work for an agency which used me to kill others, and I obeyed their orders without question, annihilating about three persons on average a year for ten years. This agency told me we were The Good Guys. And I think you understand why I can tell you no more about this than what I've said so far. I cannot tell you who these people were, nor for whom specifically I did these things. I can only tell you that I am sorry for them, and I have vowed on my knees never to take life again. I have repented with my whole heart. I have also resolved to walk a path of reparation, to make up in my remaining years for what I did in these last ten. I have a spiritual director who knows the full extent of what I have done and is directing me to reparation. I am confident G.o.d has forgiven me but I have come for absolution to you."

"Why?" he asked. He had a deep sonorous baritone voice. He did not move or open his eyes.

"Because I want to go back to Communion," I said. "I want to be in my church with others who believe in G.o.d as I do, and I want to go to the banquet table of the Lord once again."

He remained as before.

"This spiritual director?" he asked. "Why doesn't he give you absolution?" He said the last word with force, his deep voice almost a rumble in his chest.

"He's not a Roman Catholic priest," I said. "He's a person of impeccable credentials and judgment, and his advice has guided my repentance. But I'm a Catholic man, and that's why I've come to you." I went on to explain that I'd committed other sins, sins of l.u.s.t and sins of greed and sins of pedestrian unkindness. I listed everything that I could think of. Of course I had missed Ma.s.s on Sundays. I had missed Holy Days of Obligation. I had not kept feast days such as Christmas or Easter. I had lived away from G.o.d. I went on and on. I told him that as the result of my early indiscretions, I had a child, and I had now made contact with that child, and that almost all the money I had earned from my past actions was being set aside for the child and the mother of the child. I would keep what I required to sustain me, but I would never kill again.

"I beg you to give me absolution," I said, finally.

A silence fell between us. "You realize some innocent person might be charged with the crimes you've committed?" he ventured. His baritone voice quavered slightly.

"It's never happened to my knowledge. Well, except for my blundering actions in the beginning, everything I did for hire was covert. But even in the case of those early murders, to my knowledge, no one was ever charged. And I did have some knowledge, and no, no one was ever charged."

"If someone is charged you have to come forward," he said. He sighed but he didn't open his eyes.

"I will."

"And you will not kill again even for these people who call themselves The Good Guys," he murmured.

"Correct. Never. No matter what happens I will not."

He sat quiet for a moment. "This spiritual director," he started.

"I ask that you not press me on his ident.i.ty, any more than you would press me on the ident.i.ty of those for whom I did the killing. I ask that you trust me that I am telling you the truth. I've come here for no other reason."

He reflected. The deep voice rolled out of him once more. "You know that to lie in the confessional is sacrilege."

"I have left out nothing. I have lied about nothing. And I thank you for your compa.s.sion in not pressing me for further details."

He didn't respond. One gnarly wrinkled hand came down uneasily on the surface of the table.

"Father," I said, "it's hard for a man like me to be a responsible person in the world. It's impossible for me to confide my history to anyone. It's impossible for me ever to bridge the gap between me and those innocent human beings who have never done the awful things that I have done. I am consecrated now to G.o.d. I will work for Him and for Him only. But I am a man in this world, and I want to go to my church in this world with other men and women, and I want to hear Ma.s.s with them, and I want to reach out and hold their hands as we say the Lord's Prayer together under G.o.d's roof. I want to approach Holy Communion with them and receive it with them. I want to be part of my church in this world in which I live."

He took a deep rattling breath.

"Say your Act of Contrition," he said.

Sudden panic. This was the only part of this I hadn't gone over in detail in my mind. I couldn't remember the whole prayer.

I put everything out of my thoughts except that I was talking to the Maker.

"'O my G.o.d, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I despise all my sins because they have separated me from Thee, and though I fear the loss of Heaven and the pains of h.e.l.l, I am sorry for my sins because of that separation, and because of the terrible harm I have done to the souls whose journeys I have interrupted, and I know that I can never undo those wrongs done them no matter what I do. Please, Dear G.o.d, affirm my repentance and give me the grace to live it day in and day out. Let me be your child. Let my remaining years be years of serving you.'"

Without ever opening his eyes, he raised his hand and gave me the absolution.

"Penance, Father?" I asked.

"Do what this spiritual director tells you," he said.

He opened his eyes, took off the stole, folded it and put it back in his pocket. He was about to leave without ever once looking at me.

I took an envelope out of my pocket. It was stuffed with big bills, all of which had been wiped completely clean of prints. I gave it to him.

"For you or for the church or whatever you want, my donation," I said.

"Not required, young man, you know that," he said. He glanced at me once with large watery eyes and then away.

"I know that, Father. I want to give you this donation."

He took the envelope and he left the room.

I walked outside, felt the spring air warm around me and caressing and soothing, and then I started to walk back towards my hotel. The light was sweet and gentle, and I felt an overwhelming love for the many random people I pa.s.sed. Even the cacophony of the city comforted me, the roar and clatter of the traffic like the breath of a being, or the beat of a heart.

When I came to St. Patrick's Cathedral, I went in and sat down in a pew and waited until the evening Ma.s.s.

This vast beautiful s.p.a.ce was as comforting to me as it had ever been. I'd come here often both before and after I'd begun my life for The Right Man. I'd often stared at the distant high altar for hours, or walked up and down the side aisles of the church inspecting the magnificent art, and the various shrines. This for me was the quintessential Catholic church, with its soaring arches and its unapologetic grandeur. I was painfully glad that I was here now, painfully glad of all that had recently happened to me.

A good crowd gathered just as it was getting dusk outside. I went up closer to the altar. I wanted to hear the Ma.s.s and to see it. At the moment of the Consecration of the bread and wine, I bowed my head and I wept. I didn't care who noticed this. Didn't matter. When we stood to say the Lord's Prayer, I took off my gloves and reached out to those on either side of me as we said the words.

When I went to Communion, I could not disguise the tears. But it didn't matter. If anybody noticed, I did not notice that person. I was as alone as I'd ever been, comfortable in my anonymity and in this ritual. And yet I was connected with all here, I was part of this place and this moment, and this felt very simply glorious.

And you can perfectly well cry when you go to Communion in a Catholic church.

There was a moment afterwards when I knelt in the pew with my head bowed, thinking about how the world, the great real world about me, might view what I was doing here. The modern world so detests rituals.

What did rituals mean to me? Everything, because they were the patterns that reflected my deepest feelings and commitments.

I had been visited by angels. I had followed their loving advice. But that was one miracle. And this, the Miracle of the True Presence of Our Blessed Lord in the bread and the wine, was another. And this miracle is what mattered to me now.

I didn't care what the great world thought. I didn't care about points of theology or logic. Yes, G.o.d is everywhere, yes, G.o.d pervades everything in the universe, and G.o.d is also here. G.o.d is here now in this way, within me. This ritual has brought me to G.o.d and G.o.d to me. I let my understanding of this pa.s.s out of words and into a silent acceptance.

"G.o.d, please protect Liona and Toby from Lucky the Fox and all that he has done, please. Let me live to serve Malchiah; let me live for Liona and my son."

I said many other prayers-I prayed for my family; I prayed for each and every soul whom I had ushered into eternity; I prayed for Lodovico; I prayed for The Right Man; I prayed for the nameless and the innumerable whose lives had been disrupted by the evils I had done. And then I gave way to the Prayer of Quiet, only listening for the voice of G.o.d.

Ma.s.s had been over for about half an hour. I left the pew, genuflecting as in the old days, and went down the aisle, feeling a marvelous sense of peace and pure happiness.

As I reached the back of the church, I saw that the side door on the left was open, but not the main doors, so I went that way towards the street.

There was a man standing just inside the door with his back to the light and something struck me about him, which caused me to glance at him directly.

It was the young man from the Mission Inn. He wore the same brown corduroy jacket, with a white shirt open at the neck under a sweater vest. He stared right at me. He looked emotional, as if he was about to speak. But he didn't.

My heart thudded in my ears. What the h.e.l.l was he doing here? I walked past him and outside and started down the street away from my hotel. I was trembling. I tried to run through all the possibilities that might explain this strange sighting but in truth there weren't very many. Either this was a coincidence or he was following me. And if he was following me then he might have seen me go to the garage in Los Angeles and the garage in New York! This was absolutely insupportable.

Never in all my years as Lucky the Fox had I ever been aware of anyone following me. Again, I cursed the day I'd told The Right Man my real name, but I couldn't fit this strangely vulnerable-looking young man into any scenario involving The Right Man. So who was he?

The longer I walked up Fifth Avenue, the more certain I was that this guy was right behind me. I could feel him. We were approaching Central Park. The traffic moving downtown was thick and noisy, the harsh sound of the car horns striking at my nerves, the exhaust fumes making my eyes water. Yet I was thankful we were here, in New York, amid the early evening crowds, with people on all sides of us.

But what the h.e.l.l was I going to do about this guy? What could I do? And it occurred to me with utter finality that I absolutely couldn't do what Lucky the Fox might have done. I couldn't do him violence. No matter what he knew that was no longer an option. I was suddenly maddened by that fact. I felt trapped by it.

I wanted to look back to see if I could spot him and as I stepped off the curb to cross the street I glanced uneasily over my shoulder.

Suddenly two firm hands grabbed me by the arms and pulled me sharply back. My ankle caught on the curb. I stumbled but I stumbled backwards. A taxicab roared past me and across Fifth, against the light, inciting shouts from all sides. The cab had almost run me down.

I was badly shaken.

Of course I thought it was Malchiah or Shmarya who had saved me from this. But when I turned to see who it was, there was the young man standing there, inches from me.

"That car could have killed you," he said. He backed up. His voice was an educated voice, in no way familiar to me.

The taxicab slammed into something or someone on the other side of Fifth. The noise was horrific.

People were going around us now and letting us know in no uncertain terms that we were blocking the sidewalk.

But I wanted a good look at this person, so I didn't move, and he stood just a few feet from me looking into my eyes in much the same way that he had in the cathedral.

He really was young, early twenties at most. He seemed somehow to be imploring me.

I turned and walked over to the nearest wall and stood there. He came with me. This was exactly what I expected. I was bristling with hostility. I was angry, angry that he'd followed me, angry that he'd saved me from the cab. I was angry he wasn't more afraid of me, that he dared come this close to me, that he had let himself be seen so fearlessly.

I was in a perfect fury.

"How long have you been following me?" I demanded. I was trying not to grit my teeth, I was so angry.

He didn't respond. He was badly shaken himself. I could see all the little signals in his face, the way his lips moved without forming words, the way his pupils danced as he looked at me.

"What do you want from me?" I demanded.

"Lucky the Fox," he said in a low intimate voice. "I want you to talk to me. I want you to tell me who sent you to kill my father."

The End

January 29, 2010

Author's Note

SONGS OF THE S SERAPHIM ARE WORKS OF FICTION. HOWEVER, real events and real persons inspire some of what takes place in these books. And every effort has been made to present the historical milieu of the novels with full accuracy.

The tragic maiming and subsequent mutilation of a Jewish boy in Florence in 1493 is described in detail in Public Life in Renaissance Florence Public Life in Renaissance Florence by Richard G. Trexler, published by Cornell University Press. However, nothing is noted in any source that I found as to the ident.i.ty of the young man, his relatives or his ultimate fate. I have used these sources to create a fictional version of the incident in this novel. by Richard G. Trexler, published by Cornell University Press. However, nothing is noted in any source that I found as to the ident.i.ty of the young man, his relatives or his ultimate fate. I have used these sources to create a fictional version of the incident in this novel.

The flower called "the Purple Death" is fictional. For obvious reasons I did not want to include details regarding a real poison in this book.

My princ.i.p.al sources for this novel were two books by Cecil Roth, one very large work ent.i.tled The History of the Jews of Italy The History of the Jews of Italy and a shorter but no less informative work, and a shorter but no less informative work, The Jews of the Renaissance The Jews of the Renaissance, both published by the Jewish Publication Society of America. Also of tremendous help was part of Jewish Community Series and translated by Moses Hadas and also published by the Jewish Publication Society of America. I was also helped by Jewish Life in Renaissance Italy Jewish Life in Renaissance Italy by Robert Bonfil, translated by Anthony Oldcorn and published by the University of Chicago Press. by Robert Bonfil, translated by Anthony Oldcorn and published by the University of Chicago Press. The Renaissance Popes The Renaissance Popes by Gerard Noel was also helpful, and I am indebted to Noel for the fact that Pope Julius II dined on caviar every day at lunch. by Gerard Noel was also helpful, and I am indebted to Noel for the fact that Pope Julius II dined on caviar every day at lunch.