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Cathedral. Perhaps there was a purpose to our meeting after all.”
    “Who are you?”
    “My name is Father Eliam. I have a place for you to stay, for a little while. Come with me. Maybe the officers will tire of banging their fists on our front door. Sometimes I just wish this city could fall asleep.”
    The priest guided him through the back of the old church, to a dimly lit room filled with habits and candles and costumes for altar boys. Growing up, Jude had always thought the altar boys were like queer superheroes. They put on cheesy outfits and lit candles in churches, but they never went out to change the world or blind darkness. Instead, the lot of them hid in rooms and cathedrals like these.
    Like him.

    ***

    The hum of police cruisers and sirens called him out of the past. The flicker of lights wanted to distract him from the mess of the body less than six feet away, but their luminance could not. Forensic personnel were already attempting to make proper analyses about what actually occurred, even though they’d get all that and more in his report.
    “What a night.” The frustrated tone came from Chief Michael Harrison. “Jude Foster. Magnificent work.” The chief’s sarcasm was only one of his many charms. “Do you ever use this thing between your ears? What, what, what is it called again? I can’t ever seem to rem—right, your brain. This is sloppy.”
    “Look, Chief—”
    “Don’t. Not tonight. What happened?”
    “He had a hostage at gunpoint,” Jude shot back.
    “Not what happened here. What happened to you? You know, you used to be…better than this.”
    “Sir, I…”
    “Yeah? I’m waiting. I’m waiting for anything, Foster. Give me a reason to believe that your best years on the force aren’t behind you. Give me a reason to bite my tongue because this, all of this—” Mike pointed angrily at the blood and the body getting zipped up “—this isn’t putting my mind at ease. At all. Look, look at me. Do you see my face? This is my pissed-off face. Re-learn it, get used to it.” Mike rubbed his eyes. “I just want one week without chaos.”
    “I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. I lost my cool, I guess.”
    “Lost your cool? This kid’s got three new holes in his chest, and all you can offer up in defense is that you lost your cool? I swear, if you’re cutting those sessions, I’m dropping you off—”
    “I’m not, sir. I have a few left, and then I’m done.”
    “Maybe. With good behavior. Not, not with this. You ain’t ready. You ain’t ready to be back. Why don’t you go home, work out whatever’s in your head?”
    “I’m not crazy. Maybe, maybe I slipped up, all right? For a millisecond, but that’s it. Geez, the runner had a gun, and he was about ready to off a hostage.”
    “Yeah, another low-life with a piece. They all say that. But it ain’t enough. I don’t want kids getting shot on my streets by cops! I mean, this isn’t some whack-job free-for-all. That’s not how I run my department, or don’t you get that yet?”
    Jude nodded.
    “Well, it doesn’t look like it.” Mike’s voice splintered into short, angry tones. Then he got quiet for a moment. “Between the two of us, I’m not crying that another one of these street thugs is outta the picture. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to be the poor bastard who cashes his check, but the way I see it, that’s one less headache I have to deal with. But this isn’t how it’s supposed to work. Now, I don’t want to hear your side of the story. I don’t want to hear how you lost your cool . I want to erase it from my mind, like it never happened. Savvy?”
    “Okay.”
    “Okay,” Mike answered, exhaling. “The press is gonna love this, by the way.” The chief massaged his temples. “Let’s be straight for a minute. You know better than anyone that I’ve put my career on the line for you. I believed in you when my superiors said I was out of my mind. Was I