Read Online Stained Glass by Ralph McInerny - Free Book Online

“Good idea not to.” She added, “Who knows when the lab people will be done.”
    â€œYou could stay in a hotel,” Emil said. “Or call a friend?”
    Amy thought about it. “I’ll call Susan Devere.”

2
    Menteur summoned Tetzel from the pressroom in the courthouse to give him the assignment.
    â€œThat’s religious news,” he protested. “Give it to the religion editor.”
    â€œThen you haven’t heard?”
    â€œHeard what?”
    â€œBipple insists that the charges are false. He says it is retaliation.”
    â€œWhat charges?”
    Bipple in the past had been an assistant Scout leader, and now many years later some of his troop, since grown old, were remembering odd activities around the campfire and in the tents. No journalist had been more zealous than Bipple in publicizing the misdeeds of some of the Catholic clergy. His series in the Fox River Tribune had been called “Suffer Little Children” and had been reprinted far and wide. Bipple had always been a pain in the ass, but he became insufferable with fame. Tetzel settled in a chair across the desk from Menteur and wanted to hear all about it. He shook his head and tried not to smile.
    â€œI never put much stock in the rumors myself,” Tetzel said with a virtuous look.

    â€œAbout the Boy Scouts?”
    â€œMenteur, I never made it to Tenderfoot. I couldn’t tie the knots. No, I meant here.” He lifted his brows significantly.
    â€œHere!”
    Tetzel cleared his throat. “The men’s room. Should I write it up?”
    â€œOver my dead body.”
    â€œI’ll keep your name out of it.”
    Despite himself, Menteur laughed. “I almost hope the charges are true. We could use a new religion editor.”
    â€œDon’t look at me.”
    â€œI’m thinking of you for obituaries.”
    This was the most congenial conversation Tetzel had had with Menteur in months. He was almost cheerful about being assigned to look into the closing of St. Hilary’s. “What’s going on?”
    Menteur chewed his gum and glared at Tetzel. “If I already knew, why would I send you? Rebecca’s story on the seniors drew a lot of letters.”
    Going down in the elevator, Tetzel was thankful that Menteur, sitting there in his smoke-free office, had gotten over his obsession with the fact that they could still light up in the courthouse pressroom. Or was that the motive behind this freak assignment? Was it a subtle revenge? Then Tetzel thought of Bipple and chuckled, somewhat to the alarm of his fellow passengers in the elevator. Before exiting, he took a cigarette from his pack and put it unlit in his mouth. If chuckling got attention, the sight of a man with a cigarette in his mouth filled observers with shock and horror, some perhaps with envy. Tetzel strolled through the revolving doors and outside to freedom. He lit up.
    The funny thing about the assignment was that every time Tetzel had heard St. Hilary’s mentioned it was as a booming operation. He might ask Rebecca about it, but he feared she would laugh at the
thought of Tetzel being assigned to religious news. Besides, she was trying to find a way to write about what had shocked her when she had been traveling in Europe. Female attendants in men’s rooms! Sitting there at little tables just inside, dispensing towels, a dish for tips before them.
    â€œHow’d you find out about it?” Tetzel asked.
    She glared at him. “It is common knowledge.”
    â€œMaybe they have boys in the ladies’ rooms.”
    Rebecca turned away in disgust and fumbled in her drawer, perhaps to find her Tetzel doll so she could stick a few pins in it. She huddled over, using her back as a shield against Tetzel, then after some moments settled back, kicking the drawer shut. She lifted a glass and tossed it off. Say what you would about Rebecca, at least she smoked and drank. Nonetheless,