The Embassy Suites
Omaha, Nebraska

Nick actually looked forward to the evening. After some persuasion, he had gotten Christine to agree that Timmy could spend the night with him in his suite. He had even gotten Christine to call Mrs. McCutty and convince her that Gibson could spend the night, too. Of course, it hadn’t been easy. At first Christine didn’t like the idea.

“I can’t believe you want to reward them for skipping school,” she yelled at him over the phone. “You know how much I spent on that Explorers class?”

When he told her about Brother Sebastian coming to the house, looking for the two boys, she went silent.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Nick told her, “but you have to admit, this Sebastian guy is pretty creepy.”

“He’s the archbishop’s henchman,” Christine said. “If there’s something going on it involves Archbishop Armstrong. You don’t think he’s trying to get at Timmy because I’ve been working on this article, do you?”

“Are you kidding?” Sometimes he couldn’t believe how naive his big sister could be. “You’re trying to pin a cover-up on him and you don’t think he might try to stop you?”

“Maybe it would be a good idea for the boys to be someplace else. I’ll call Mrs. McCutty and tell her.”

His powers of persuasion worked on Jill, too, though he hated to admit there was little persuading. Jill seemed more than willing to forfeit an evening with him for another opportunity to check out flower arrangements, and oh by the way, the caterer was bringing by some samples so if he wasn’t going to be around she’d invite her bridesmaids over.

He was beginning to wonder if she was more excited about the getting-married part than she was about marrying him. What was it about wedding planning that seemed to turn an intelligent, sophisticated, professional woman into a magazine-flipping, mall-hunting, shop-till-you-drop addict? Even when they did manage to get together their conversation invariably turned to mini-quiches versus miniature watercress sandwiches and whether or not one groom’s cake would be sufficient. Surely they had talked about other things once upon a time, though at the moment he couldn’t remember a regular conversation in quite a while.

Right now he didn’t want to think about any of that. He just wanted to enjoy watching Timmy and Gibson gawk at everything in the hotel as if they were traveling through some futuristic world. They had stopped at Target on the way with the intention of buying Gibson a change of clothes, especially after the kid visibly cringed at the thought of stopping at his own house. Although they had bought pretty much only the basics, their miniature shopping spree ended up being a lot of fun. He hadn’t laughed that hard in a very long time. Of course, it wasn’t anything quite as elaborate as Jill and her friends would consider, but the boys seemed pleased and insisted on keeping their new shades on even as they walked the lobby and hallways of the hotel.

“Can we go to Ted and Wally’s for ice cream later?” Timmy wanted to know.

“I think we’d better stay in tonight and stick to room service,” Nick told him. “I don’t think your new friend would think to look here or in the Old Market for you, but let’s not take any chances, okay?”

But Gibson and Timmy were smiling at each other about the room service and already forgetting about their fear of Brother Sebastian. Nick was glad he could make them feel safe, but in the back of his mind he kept remembering what Tony had said about Brother Sebastian, that the man would do anything for Archbishop Armstrong. Already the guy had ransacked Monsignor O’Sullivan’s office, roughed up Gibson in the school hallway and lied to the boy’s mother, making up a story about him selling drugs. Nick was beginning to wonder what else Brother Sebastian was capable of. Did it include murder?

Timmy and Gibson weren’t telling him everything either. First Tony and now these two. They knew something but remained tight-lipped every time he asked. He’d ply them with junk food and try again later. His first priority tonight was to keep them safe from the archbishop’s henchman, as Christine had called him.

Nick was so focused on looking for Brother Sebastian that he didn’t notice another tall man watching from one of the sofas in the hotel lobby.