The Priest's Graveyard Read online

“I love you,” I said.

  “And I love you, Renee.”

  His answer never changes. Danny is my rock and I will cling to him always. If that’s only two more months, then those months will last me a lifetime.

  Confession

  FATHER ANDRO STOPPED in front of his bookcase where he’d been pacing, finger on his chin, bound to my every word as I finished the story. His head turned toward me.

  “And that’s it?”

  “That’s not enough?”

  He crossed to his desk. “Forgive me, of course. Yes, of course it’s enough. Dear God.”

  It had taken me three long evenings to tell him everything and with each passing hour I felt my burden lift, if only because another person in a position of some authority had heard me without so much as judging either me or Danny once through the many hours. He said it was enough, but I actually think he was a little disappointed that it was all over. It’s not often one hears such a gripping and true tale, not even in Bosnia.

  “What do you think?” I asked.

  Father Andro eased down into his chair, picked up his teacup which was long ago dry, and absently set it back down. He lifted his bushy eyebrows.

  “As a priest?”

  I shrugged. “As a man.”

  “I think that your Danny has finally learned what he set out to learn. I think he would now make an excellent priest.”

  “Hmm…Can a prisoner on death row function as a priest?”

  “Yes, there is that.”

  “And what about me, Father?”

  He studied me for a long time, then leaned back in his chair.

  “Honestly?”

  “Honestly.”

  “I think Danny is a fortunate man to have learned such a hard lesson with such a wonderful person as you,” he said with a gentle smile.

  “Hmm…Seriously?”

  Father Andro nodded once. “A very fortunate man indeed.”

  About the Author

  Ted Dekker is a New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty novels. He is known for stories that combine adrenaline-laced plots with incredible confrontations between good and evil. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and children.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Confession

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  27

  28

  29

  30

  31

  32

  33

  34

  35

  36

  Confession

  About the Author

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2011 by Ted Dekker

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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  First eBook Edition: April 2011

  ISBN: 978-1-609-41866-3