Suicidal Tendencies

He looks out his kitchen window and sees Justene’s car in front of her house. Being the middle of the day, he thinks it’s safe to visit. But when he knocks on the door, Justene’s husband Vince answers. Luke feigns a need to borrow a drill and is invited in by a strangely preoccupied Vince, who then disappears into the basement. While waiting in the den, Luke notices crumpled pieces of paper strewn about the floor. The one he picks up “Maybe you’ll love me more after I’m dead.” When he hears Vince climbing the stairs, Luke shoves the note into his pocket. Later, he will think this was the act that doomed him. But it was more than that. It was even more than thinking his surreptitious favor for the celebrated politician was justified by some greater cause. What doomed him, the priest tells Luke during their courthouse meeting, was his complete rejection of the past.