by Richard Wren
CHAPTER 32
She directed her attention to Les and Casey. “Now you two.” Her face changed from kindly and caring to stern and serious. “We apologize for the treatment you received, and our doctor will tend to your wounds.” Her statement was abrupt and business like. “And you may have an audience with Sister Agnes, but not alone. It will be here in this room at that table.” She pointed to the nun’s table, adding, “And they will be present at all times. Sister Beatrice, see to it.”
She turned away from the room and pointedly immersed herself in a large ledger sheet. Obviously, she was done with the whole problem and accustomed to delegation.
A gray-haired nun rose from the table and approached them.
“I’m Doctor Beatrice. Come with me.”
Casey was focused on meeting Agnes and was ignoring the pain his nose was causing.
“What about the meeting with Sister Agnes?”
“First thing first,” She said sternly. “Both of you come with me to the dispensary.” She led them out of the cavernous meeting room, down a corridor, and into a small room that was antiseptically spotless.
“Sit and lean back,” she directed. “This may hurt a little.”
She poked and prodded, and Casey gritted his teeth and suppressed the urge to cry out.
Talking to herself, the doctor said, “Hmmm, septum’s in place, bleeding’s subsided, and no drainage.”
To Casey, she said, “It’s not broken, but it’s really swollen and the cartilage is bent. It’s going to be painful for several days, but the swelling will gradually go down.” She reached into a cabinet behind her and handed him a small tin. “Take as many of these as you need for a day or two, and don’t try to blow your nose.” She turned to Les to clean and bandage the several superficial cuts on his elbows and arms, commentating, “Wine is not a bad disinfectant for superficial cuts if you must use a broken bottle.”
Les said, “Thanks. I’ll try to remember that for the next time.”
Casey, in a hurry to meet with the sister asked, “Are we done? Can you take us back to meet with her?” He was beginning to feel anxious about calling Josie and Smitty. Since landing at the airport, hiring a taxi to get here, and then being tied up and thrown into the dungeon, so much had happened, and now it was going on five o’clock. A full day without hearing from them? He knew Josie would be worried.
“What about our cell phones? I need to call my wife and tell her I’m okay.”
“We’ll see,” she answered.
Back in the Abbess’s office, seated at the long table together with three nuns, including the doctor, Casey again asked for the return of their cell phones. At a nod from the doctor, one of the nuns left and shortly returned with all their personal items. Casey tested his cell phone; it was still charged. He looked at the doctor questioningly as he hit speed dial. She didn’t object and the call was answered after only one ring.
Josie ran for the phone and answered it after only one ring. “Casey?” Josie shouted. “Where the hell’ve you been? We’ve been worried sick about you and Les.” Turning, she shouted, “Dad, its Casey.” Then back into the phone, “Are you okay?”
“Sure we’re okay, just ran into a little trouble finding and meeting with Sister Agnes, but we found her and are about to meet with her.”
Smitty jumped onto another extension and heard his answer. “Who’s Sister Agnes?” he asked.
“It’s a long story, but we’re in a nunnery, and the lady in question is now a nun.”
Josie felt relieved. They couldn’t be in any danger if they were in a nunnery. “So how soon will you be coming back,” she asked.
There was a pause as he talked to someone at his end. “Should be tomorrow if we can catch a flight. The nuns have offered their hospitality for the night.”
Smitty jumped in. “We’ll get the reservations and call you with the details. Late mid-afternoon about right?”
“Sounds good. What’s going on with Gus?”
Josie and Smitty exchanged glances. “Nothing to worry about.” Smitty said, and then added, “I’m gonna get started on the reservations right now. Call us if you run into any roadblocks.”
“Anything else?” Josie asked.
“Yeah. What does nothing to worry about mean?”
“It means nothing to worry about. We can bring you up to date when you’re home. Just get Sister what’s her name up here if you can and hurry home.”
Josie waited through a moment of silence before Casey spoke again. “I really miss you.”
“I do too, hon. Hurry home.”
Reluctantly, Casey turned off his cell phone.
Josie turned and looked at her dad as he silently returned her look and then resignedly shrugged his shoulders.
“No use bothering him with more until he gets back.” Smitty said.
Josie stood up and started pacing. “I don’t understand why Gordon’s being so damned obstructive.”
“It’s been what, five days? And he hasn’t filed criminal charges yet? Maybe he’s not as sure of the case as he said he was.”
“No, that’s not it. He says they need more time to review the case, and then they tried to get me fired as defense attorney? Luckily the defendant’s got the last word on that.”
“And what’s that about more time to review the case? I thought he said he had an open and shut case.”
“They’re stalling for some reason. Their office can hold off on the actual charge while they claim they’re reviewing all the old reports and records, witness statements, and even the suspect’s prior criminal or traffic records. I asked Marilyn to ask some of her old buddies in the office to find out what’s really going on.”
She called out to Marilyn, “Any luck on that call?”
Marilyn left the makeshift office and walked into the dining room where Josie and Smitty were sitting. “Maybe kinda.” She advanced.
“What the hell does that mean?” Smitty impatiently asked.
Sharply, Marilyn answered. “Just what I said. Maybe I found out something that kinda answers the question. My friend says that all of a sudden, the D.A.’s being very secretive about stuff.”
Josie quietly asked, “What kind of stuff?”
“Well for one thing, he’s been in touch with the local FBI office several times recently.”
“Anyone know why?”
“Not for sure, but the scuttlebutt is that he sent the bloodstained shirt to the FBI lab.”
“Why would he do that? I thought they already had a positive DNA ID.”
“She said it’s like it’s the most important case ever, and he wants to leave no possible holes open.”
“She say anything about him trying to get me off the case?”
“Not exactly, except that you’re an ungrateful so and so.”
“Anything else?”
“Nothing else beyond what you already know. The D.A.’s calling it a felony case and insisting on no bail.”
Josie thought for a minute. “You know, Dad, it’s almost like it’s personal. Like he has it in for you and me.”
“Or Gus.” Smitty added.
“Or Gus.” She agreed, then added, “I’m worried for Gus. If it’s something personal between Gordon and you or me, then it’s gonna be doubly hard to give Gus a good defense.”
Smitty sat silently for a minute. “A felony? That puts a death sentence on the table, doesn’t it?” He banged a fist on the table in frustration. "I feel so god damned helpless.” He put his head in his hands resting on the table and ruffled his hair. “Jesus, we really need that gal up from Mexico.” He raised his head. “Josie, get back on the phone and tell Casey we really have to have her up here, no matter the price. Tell him it’s a must, and Gus’s life may depend on it.”
CHAPTER 33
Casey and Les sat at the long table across from the two nuns as he ended the call to Josie.
One of them, sensitive that it had been difficult for Casey to talk to his wife in their presence sai
d, “Just tell her you love her.”
He digested her counsel for a moment and then said, “You’re right I should have. Next time for sure.” The four of them sat in silence for a few minutes. Then Casey asked, “How soon will she be coming?”
“It might be a while. Nothing’s been said about you two to her until just now. She’ll need time to digest all this and reflect on whether she even wants to see you or not.”
“Good God,” Casey burst out, and then immediately apologized to the nuns. “Sorry.”
“Nothing to apologize about. He is a good God.”
“What I meant was my friend’s life is being threatened, and we really need her information. Can’t someone convince her how important this is?”
“We’re sure it will all work out alright for you. In the meantime, about the rooms the Abbess offered you for tonight. We presume you will want separate rooms?”
Casey pictured the cell that they had been imprisoned in. “Maybe we should stay in town tonight?”
“Nonsense. We often have overnight guests, and you will find the accommodations more than adequate.” The other nun chipped in as she eyed Casey and Les’s height, “Supper and breakfast are at seven sharp, and while they’re plain and simple, you can go back for seconds if you wish.”
Once again, an uncomfortable silence engulfed the table then a single nun appeared from the hallway and approached them. She was entirely clothed in a habit, and her headdress covered most of her head, leaving only her face exposed. Casey glanced back and forth between her and the two nuns sitting across from him whose heads were completely uncovered.
Les whispered into his ear. “The head dress signifies the order she’s in. Possibly a little more strict than others.”
She appeared to be gliding toward them as her habit reached to the ground and she moved so effortlessly. Casey knew she had to be at least in her fifties and was amazed at how young her face looked. The word “serene” crossed his mind.
“You must be the two young men from the States?” she asked as she sat. Casey immediately felt as if he was back in grammar school as she took command of the situation.
In a somewhat challenging tone, she continued the questioning. “All the way from Oakland to question me? Why?”
Casey had been casting around in his mind for a way to begin the explanation for their needing her. In one sentence, she had made it easy for him. He glanced at his watch. Five thirty.
He decided to plunge in. “We don’t like to dredge up old memories or embarrass you, but the facts are that what happened to you before you came here and the way you got here have emerged. We have a pretty good idea who caused all your troubles and need your help to prosecute him.”
She looked him in the eye and calmly said, “Young man, all that is generations behind me and I’ve forgiven everyone involved.”
Casey glanced at Les and his heart sank. Did that mean that she would not be interested in righting the wrongs committed long ago? Did it mean that she would not be interested in helping Gus? He had to convince her. He was mindful of the callback he’d received from Josie.
“Good,” He surprisingly said. “Because we’re not trying to be vindictive. We’re trying to save a life.” He proceeded to tell her the whole story starting with the almost lifelong friendship between Smitty and Gus and ending with the DNA and the resulting murder charge. He ended with, “So in reality, what we need you for is to save Gus’s life. Unless the truth comes out, he’s probably going to be unjustly charged with murder.”
Displaying that her years of cloistered life had not dimmed her mental faculties, she asked a pertinent question. “But what about the so called smoking gun. The DNA evidence on the shirt?”
Taken aback by her question, Casey stammered, “We don’t know about that. It just has to be a mistake. Look, my wife’s so convinced that Gus’s innocent she quit the D.A.’s office to defend him and we’re spending our own money.”
She sat back on her chair and studied Casey and then Les for a long time. Casey studied her face for clues as to what she was thinking. She had deep blue eyes and laugh crinkles around them. Even with a complete lack of makeup, she was striking.
“Exactly what is it you want of me?”
Casey was ready with an answer. “The absolute best way you could help us would be to come to Oakland for a short time and help us with the investigation--” He was interrupted by a commotion at the office door as the young nun they had met in the garden burst through the doors loudly crying, “They wouldn’t stop. I couldn’t stop them.”
She was closely followed by two men dressed in jeans and shirts. Both were tall and strong-looking, and both were obviously American.
“Who’s in charge here?” one of them belligerently asked.
“You must leave!” the young nun insisted, grabbing at the speaker’s arm.
He casually shook her off. “Anyone in charge here?”
The abbess stood and rather majestically said, “Sir, this is a nunnery, and I’m the Abbess in charge. What’s the meaning of this?”
He walked up directly in front her and said, “Not that it’s any of your business, but we’re looking for a lady that came here some thirty-seven years ago.”
CHAPTER 34
“Sir, every woman here is a nun. Now why don’t you go.”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass if she’s the Pope; we ain’t leaving without her.”
The Abbess was getting upset. He had a hunch that she had leaped to the same conclusion he had. They must be the men that Sister Agnes had warned about in her letter. He wondered how in hell they had found her.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” the abbess continued.
“Look, lady. We know she’s here, and we’ll tear the place down if necessary. Now you gonna produce her or do we gotta get rough?”
To Casey they looked like they could back up their threats. The speaker was craggy-faced and had a bent nose that had obviously been broken and not set correctly in the past. He looked to be in his forties and very fit with a lot of rough experience. His partner was less imposing, but still scary.
She made a quick decision. “There’s no need for that. Do you know the nun’s name you’re looking for?”
“Just her first name, Jeannine.”
Sister Agnes flinched.
Without a pause the Abbess continued. “I’m sure you realize sir that all women that become nuns take a different name upon entering. We have about thirty nuns here, and I only know them by their chosen names and many of them have been here thirty years or longer. I shall have to consult the records to determine who it is you are looking for.”
“That’s a load of crap. Just bring ‘em all in and let me ask them.”
Clearly nettled, but holding her temper in check she replied, “Not possible, Sir. A good many of them are gone each day at jobs and are only here later in the evening.”
With a warning look he replied, “We’ll wait,” and they headed for the table where Casey and Sister Agnes were sitting.”
“Just a minute,” the Abbess ordered. The men stopped.
“Now what?” the tall one asked in a surly tone.
“Sir, our tradition for ages has been one of hospitality to strangers. I don’t agree with your aggressive attitude, but there’s no reason that we can’t treat you with hospitality while you’re waiting. I don’t want you sitting with our nuns so we shall provide you with a table and chairs and a light repast while you wait. If you don’t mind.” She added sarcastically.
The sarcasm was completely lost on the two.
“What the Hell, why not?” the second one agreed.
The Abbess clapped her hands. “Sister Ann!” she ordered. The young nun that had tried to stop the two stood to attention. “Have those two waiting for me in the chapel fetch a table and two chairs for our guests.” she commanded.
Clearly confused, the young nun hesitated. The Abbess continued. “You heard me. Now hurry up, and while you’re a
t it, tell those two that I want these two treated exactly the way they treated the last guests we had. No exceptions, exactly the same way. Understand?”
The light dawned in her eyes. “Oh yes, Mother. You want them to treat these two as well as they treated our last guests. I’ll hurry.”
“Now. In keeping with our hospitality heritage, would you care for a taste of our very own wine?” the Abbess asked in a tone of asperity.
Casey was impressed by the Abbesses acting ability. She was offering them obvious grudging hospitality and not arousing any suspicion in either of them.
“Maria. Wine for our guests,” she ordered.
One of the two sisters sitting across from Casey and Les stood up and hurried off. Casey and Les were sitting with their backs to the two intruders and hunched down as much as possible to keep from being noticed.
“Where are you from?” the Abbess asked.
Good, Casey thought. She’s keeping them occupied while they stand in the middle of the room waiting for a table and chairs.
“San Francisco,” the tall one replied. “Is it always this hot here?”
“Not always, but you’re blessed. Here in the nunnery it’s at least ten degrees cooler than outside. I’ve heard that it’s always cold in San Francisco. Correct?”
Before he could answer, the room door opened, and the two guards backed through wheeling a round table and two kitchen type chairs. They were keeping their eyes down and not confronting the two guests, playing the part of ignorant peons perfectly.
Casey noticed they now had discarded their belts and had replaced them with lengths of rope. The two eyed the table disdainfully and the tall one said, “I thought you were going to research your files.”
“One of our nuns has already started the process. You have to realize our records are all on paper, and it might take some time even though we have the approximate date.”
“Approximate hell. It was either 1978 or ‘79. That should hurry it up.” He looked at his partner with satisfaction.
“Good. That will help.” She directed the young nun to take that information to the archives, then directed her two helpers to wheel the table off to one side of the room.
