Unholyverse

~Part 3~

The Cardinal nodded. "Father Way's body was removed and transported immediately to the airport, where it was loaded onto a private plane that took off within minutes. On arrival in Rome, Father Way's body was brought straight here, where it was scheduled for immediate examination."

Frank really wished the Cardinal would stop referring to Gerard as a body, as 'it'. He hated the thought of it, Gerard cold and all alone, locked in a coffin, getting carted around like a piece of meat. It made it seem like – like he was really dead.

"At no point," the Cardinal was saying, "was the body attended by anyone other than Howard and his colleagues."

"If you've brought us here just to brag about your awesome dead-body transportation," Bob began, shutting up when Brian threw him a sharp glance.

"What I am trying to tell you," the Cardinal went on, "is that Father Way's body was never left alone. Not for one second between Chicago and the Vatican. However, when the capsule was opened up so the examination could begin, it was found to be empty."

Frank blinked and looked at Mikey, who was staring with giant eyes.

"It would seem," the Cardinal finished, "that Father Way's body has disappeared."

There was a silence. Eventually Bob said, "What the fuck?"

"Yes," said the Cardinal. "Quite."

Frank sat back in his chair, stunned. He turned to see the other guys doing the same, and they just stared helplessly at each other for a minute. For all the what-ifs they'd thrown at each other over the last twenty-four hours, this particular scenario had somehow never come up.

The Cardinal pressed a button on his phone, and a second later the door opened and a young woman entered, carrying a tray of what smelled like really awesome coffee.

"Grazie, Cesca," said the Cardinal, and the young woman nodded before slipping out of the room. The Cardinal rose up from his seat and pushed the plunger on the cafetière. "I know that your grief is still raw," he said quietly, not looking at any of them. "And it is not my wish to upset any of you further. But I hoped you might be able to help us solve this mystery."

"What can we do?" Mikey said immediately.

The Cardinal started pouring coffee into the cups on the tray. Ray leaned forward to help him pass them out. "You can tell me everything you know about Father Way's last days. The case in Chicago, the people involved. Anything he might have said to you, any events in his personal life, anything at all. We were able to piece together most of the information from a notebook Howard removed from Father Way's pocket at the scene, but obviously we're missing something."

"Wait a minute," said Ray, frowning. "You think we know what happened to Gerard's body? With all due respect, Sir, we're not the ones who're stingy with the information."

"That's as may be," the Cardinal allowed, setting a jug of cream and a bowl of sugar lumps out on his desk, like the world's weirdest tea party. "But I believe in this instance you may hold the key without realizing it. So will you help us?"

"Of course," Brian answered for all of them. "Anything we can do to help the Father, we will."

The Cardinal settled back in his chair. "Thank you," he said, stirring some sugar into his coffee. He brought it up to his face and sipped, delicately. "In your own time."

Frank was starting to panic a little bit. He wanted to help, he did, but were they really going to tell the Cardinal everything? The events in Gerard's personal life leading up to his death were pretty much Frank, and while Frank might not be on board with the Vatican's whole Team Homophobia thing, he also wasn't about to go posthumously outing Gerard to his boss.