EPISODE NINETEEN

'the prayer'

LETTING THAT SINK  in was like trying to swallow hardtack.

"Then that means... Dominic..."

But we didn't have time to fully digest it, nor could I finish the thought that I didn't even know if I wanted to — because the doctor groaned awake, suit shuffling against the leather couch. Every head conspiring turned, James standing, our silence deafening.

"W-where — "

He turned his head, five figures blinked at him.

I steadied myself, studied a character, one akin to what lured him here — someone kind and sympathetic, someone who can pull out truths through flatter, but Leon beat me to it.

He was moving, twisting around us in long strides I didn't realise were in anger until the two other men who could see his expression tried to stop him.

Leon twisted out of Dr. Hamel's grasp, but James hauled him by the upper arm, steadily  the stronger man with a firmer expression. That didn't stop Leon.

"The human trafficking, what was your role?" At the vicious stab of each pointed word, the doctor uncomfortably retreated on the sofa, wide-eyed as if he was facing an actual caged animal. Only the cage was a human man.

There was confusion in that fear, almost fascination. Until Leon bellowed, louder, angrier. "ANSWER ME!"

"I-I — "

Dr. Hamel stepped forward, voice of concern and reason, before I stopped him. He frowned at me. He was too tall, even in comparison to my height in heels. But I kept his stare.

"Let him." Panicky fear could also be a motivator, and the confusion from the drug could be an added bonus.

Leon twisted his arm out of James' hold and took the doctor by the lapels of his suit. "I said..." His voice was calm, a spine-chilling note tacked at the end. "Answer me."

"I-I don't know anything about any of t-that," the doctor said, swallowing.

His eyes darted toward us as if we could save him from the cold wrath fuelling Leon. We stared back at him, impassive. Quinn fluttered her fingers, a slight smirk on her face.

He swallowed again. Then turned back to the monster in front of him. "This is about Dominic, isn't it? Matteo warned me, but — I've known Dominic for years and he's not part of any human trafficking syndicate. He's a good person."

A collection of blinks. Quinn turned to me.

"Wha —"

"Shh." I stepped forward. "Then why were you invited to that party? The day Dominic died."

"I — " His eyes narrowed, a strong sense of resolution behind them. "What comes before the amen?"

"The — what?" James was so befuddled it was almost hilarious.

"He's lost his marbles," Quinn muttered, amazed.

But his eyes were to me, hard and daring. "What comes before the amen?"

"The holy spirit," Leon answered, eyes widening. "The Holy Spirit. The Body. Dominic's body."

Something caught in my throat. "You're — "

"I recognise your face," he said, his eyes to me. Then raised his eyebrows at Leon. "Will you be so kind as to let me go?" Leon's fingers slackened until the doctor pried his hands off and sat back down, breathing hard. "Well, your description. Dominic was very vague. You're Wendy Cain, aren't you? I can't believe I didn't see it the first time." At the reminder of how we met, his cheeks tinged pink. "You look like my wife."

"Dominic, he..." I swallowed. "He told you about me? No, he described me?"

The doctor ran his hands through his hair, plucking out his glasses to rub his face. I walked forward, taking Leon's hand before sitting the two of us in front of the suspect. Or... not.

When he looked up, his eyes were light and weary. "I only know so much. Dominic never told all his secrets to one person, isn't that how the system works? He said a Wendy Cain with your precise description was someone I could trust. I could tell the truth. He said you're the Prayer."

I turned to Leon. He was ashen. Numbed. I kept his hand in between mine under the folds of my dress. I turned back to the doctor, straightening. "Tell me."

Dr. Westley straightened. "That night, I was in charge of the drugs in the tea. Something I personally developed after he had requested it. A concentrated amount of THC and... well, other bits. Enough to perform a short dose of amnesia. He showed me a... drug of the like, a slower, 30% less concentrated one. He said it was something he found in the possession of Ms. Bernault. Young Cassie's mother."

My throat hitched, Leon's grip on my hand tightened. He was right. Cassandra's mother was drugging her. Slowly. Trying to make her forget something. Dominic's secret, something she had found out somehow. The suspect wasn't Cassandra then, but her mother.

"You drank the tea too," I said. Not a question but a statement.

He nodded. "He told me I had to. That it was better that way. What I remember about that night was hazy, the clearest thing is that we were all at the dinning, Dominic was saying something. Enzo — Lorenzo Moretti was furious. There was blood... in his mouth. Dominic was... he was laughing through his bloodied mouth." The doctor closed his eyes, either willing the memories to surface back or to disappear. "But I'm not sure if that was a memory or a nightmare."

"He said you blame him for the death of your wife and daughters," James said, freezing the doctor to a still. "He said all the people invited to that dinner were people who wanted to kill him, a bout of suspects for us to go through. How can we trust whatever you say?"

"That's... fair. But I never blamed Dom." A sad, weakened smile was on his face. "I was the one who failed them, who was greedy. Dom... the Moretti family, you must know, they're not... they're not innocent people. Their export business isn't just of the legal casuals and the people they know... Their reputation is a farce; inside of it was the one that mattered. For people like them, they were one of the top tiers.

"I approached them first, my license was suspended after a miscalculation on my part. I was turned away with a laugh - they already had better doctors working for them. But Dominic found me and agreed to fund me in exchange for making drugs. I made him a variety per his request then he would send them to his people and triple the amount by the minute. He was doing business outside of the family, making money for... he kept saying for a good cause. For a good ending. I don't know what happened to the money or anything else about his business.

"But I do know his family still doesn't know. Enzo was the one who picked me up after the party - how I got home, I don't know, but he insisted I was safer under their protection, that the police was eyeing too much about Dom's death, therefore eyeing too much into their family. They said it was for the better that I was under their watch and Dom said... Dom said I could help him by remembering your face, Ms. Cain. Or rather your description. That I could help him by helping you. He said you were going to find me regardless. All I had to do was ask if they understood that phrase."

What comes before the amen?

Dominic, for all intents and purposes, was a grade A dramatic bastard.

"Hate to destroy such a momentous occasion but Cordelia just messaged." Quinn waved a phone from behind her high desktops. "She said we should go back to the party. All of us except the doctor, he can excuse that he came here to breathe after feeling sick inside the party. Copper come here and help me hide my shit. Behind the bookcase are my luggage."

As the three, tacked with Dr. Hamel who wordlessly followed and helped Quinn and James haul about three bags of luggage with Quinn making the orders.

I turned to the doctor with a sigh. "Is there anything else we should know?"

Dr. Westley stared at me, at us. Leon who was deadly quiet, stewing in his emotions, and me who was tired, holding his hand in a tight grip. Leon was floating in his head and I was trying my best to anchor him. He needed a rest out of all of us, the emotional toll was slowly taking over his mind.

"Whatever it is that Dom wanted, Dom did, I know he never meant to hurt any of you. That he cared despite it at all and that he never showed he had any secrets in the first place, much less tell about them. That he trusted all of you for a reason."

Leon's responding laugh was stale and jagged. Sharp and a bark. It squeezed at my heart. "It's so easy to just dismiss all the horrible things one person has done when they're dead, isn't it? Ingrained in us is the notion to pity those who have died, who no longer breathe and have more years to live. But what about us that's left in their wake? What about us that's been pulled and tugged and forced to go through these secret mysteries and lies and truths of who they are? What about us who has to live through their death?"

"It will never be easy," Dr. Westley answered, his eyes sincere and his voice hollow. "The pain and hurt of losing a loved one will never be easy. Even when you're thinking through your best, most loved memories of them, it always leaves a heartache when you have to remember that they're not there anymore. That you have to go through and live this life without them.

"I can't tell you it gets better. It doesn't. But it's up to us to live, carrying their memories and never forgetting that once in our lifetime we had them in our lives. That they existed, no matter how brief. Because no one else will remember them the way we do. It's up to us to move on with their legacy."

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NEXT

EPISODE 20

BLESS THE DEAD BODIES

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Shorter than the last few chapters, but I still hope it's substantial!

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