Nun But The Brave (A Giulia Driscoll Mystery Book 3)

by Alice Loweecey

  A vivid flashback of the weeks before she left the convent seared Giulia’s brain. She shook it off. “You left everything?”

  “I didn’t have much, but yeah. I wasn’t going to carry my giant water purifier or my stock of dried beans and granola. I took my bug-out bag and hit the road.” She slumped again. That was a miserable trip. It took me four days to walk to Louis’ place.”

  “Why him and not Diane or Kurt or Eddie?”

  Joanne’s lip trembled but she got hold of herself. “Louis once tried to join Alex’s community, but Louis doesn’t play well in groups. I figured he’d understand and give me a beer and a sympathetic shoulder.” She glared at the back of Van Horne’s head like he was a surrogate for her hate. “Is that the pinnacle of stupid, or what? When I showed up at Louis’s door, I cried about how Alex had made me feel special and equal and how I planned to stay in his community forever and how depressed I was because I couldn’t hack it.”

  “And he locked you in his cellar?”

  “Bingo. He slipped me a roofie and I woke up in that padded cave.” Joanne sat back against the seat after she completed her story, but she didn’t relax. She stared at people in passing cars and on street corners as though Larabee would appear from behind them and snatch her out of the car and back into his cellar prison.

  At last Frank said, “Five minutes to the precinct.”

  Joanne looked down at herself. “They’re going to think I’ve been dumpster diving. I’m a professional.” A sad half-smile. “I used to be a professional.”

  Giulia squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry about them. We have your back.”

  When Joanne climbed out of the car she stood still for a moment and raised her face to the sky.

  Giulia nudged her. “We should get inside.”

  The receptionist, impeccable in peach silk, wrinkled her nose as they passed. Frank led Giulia and Joanne into one of the waiting rooms and went to find Jimmy. Nash detoured into the crowded detectives’ office.

  “I’ll send someone out for new clothes,” Giulia said. “What size are you?”

  “I have no idea. I was a fourteen when I left Alex’s community.” Acid infused Joanne’s voice. “Louis said he wanted me to slim down before we resumed our relationship. He fed me a cheese omelet every morning and venison with a hunk of lettuce every night. I wasn’t getting skinny; I was building muscle so I could kick his ass. And if I could have found a knife, I would have cut his dick off and shoved it down his throat.”

  The door opened on her last sentence. “Giulia, you never fail me,” Jimmy said.

  Giulia performed introductions. “Jane, you’re better at this than I am. What size would you guess Joanne wears?”

  Jane didn’t react to the stench at all. “Hi. I used to work for Giulia. Okay if I put my hands on your hips and shoulders and legs?”

  Joanne stretched out her arms and stood in place. Giulia saw her flinch, but Jane was all business and Joanne kept her skittishness under control.

  Jane stepped back. “Ten and small.” She looked at Jimmy, who was talking with Giulia in a low voice. “Can she use our employee shower?”

  “Certainly. Ms. Philbey, my assistant will take you back there and fix you up with everything you need.”

  Joanne showed the first hint of her taut body relaxing. “A shower. Oh my God.”

  Giulia picked up her messenger bag. “I’ll bring back clothes. Jane, do you have toothbrushes and paste back there?”

  “We’ve got it all.”

  Giulia called Diane from the Nunmobile. Diane shrieked, apologized, and repeated the news at the top of her voice. Several different voices cheered at the other end.

  “You are the best private eye in the state. Where is she? Is she okay?”

  Giulia explained the next steps in the process. Diane promised not to descend on them until Giulia called with permission. Giulia hoped she meant it.

  She returned to the precinct twenty minutes later with a bright blue cotton shirt, a pair of white capris, a few choices of underthings, and flip-flops. The receptionist gave her directions to the employee area, and she found Joanne wrapped in one towel and drying her hair with another.

  Giulia handed her the bag. “I called Diane. She’ll pick you up when we’re through here. One of the Dollar Stores was the only place nearby I could find. I’m sorry.”

  Joanne snatched it, her trembling down to a minimum now. “Clean clothes. You are a godsend.” She vanished into a toilet stall and returned five minutes later. “I feel human for the first time in two months. Okay, Private Eye, it’s time to make a statement, right? Let’s go.”

  Forty-Seven

  Joanne’s repeated story took most of an hour. Giulia supplemented the gaps. When Giulia spread out the photos of the drawer of Polaroids, Joanne stared at them without speaking for a long minute.

  “He took pictures of us afterward?” Her voice trembled again, but not with imminent tears. “He kept them under his bed?” Foul language worthy of her twin sister spewed from Joanne’s mouth. “Give me a minute, please.”

  She shoved back her chair and walked out into the detectives’ room. No one paid attention to her. After two circuits of the room, she returned to Jimmy’s office.

  “I apologize. What do you need me to do?”

  Jimmy said, “Can you identify any of the women in these pictures?”

  With a set jaw and a firm hand she scanned the faces and gave them names of several of the women. “Sherry’s under eighteen, I remember. So are Tessa and Ashlyn.”

  Jimmy brought out photos of the girls from the park and the convenience store. Joanne lost all color in her already washed-out face. “Ashlyn and Tessa. I thought they were sneaking extras from Alex’s opium and morning glory storage. Damn them for being young and stupid. Damn Alex.”

  She signed her statement and Frank went with Nash for arrest warrants for Larabee and Alex. The receptionist appeared with a large pepperoni pizza and a six-pack of Coke. Joanne’s face at the first bite was comical.

  “It’s after six thirty,” Giulia said when the food was gone. “Frank and Nash should have caught Louis at work by now.“

  “The cops won’t hold him.” Joanne tensed up again. “He’s devious and paranoid and an experienced hunter. He’ll disappear the minute he sees them coming. He used to boast he could spot a cop even if the cop was wearing swim trunks on a beach.”

  “I don’t like to brag, but my husband is half the arresting team.”

  Joanne shook her head. “Sorry, but everyone underestimates Louis. I sure did.” She shuddered, the wave running from hair to feet.

  Frank’s specific ring tone came from inside Giulia’s messenger bag. Giulia put the call on speaker.

  Anger and disgust fought for dominance in Frank’s voice. “Bastard got away.”

  Giulia considered cursing for a millisecond.

  “Either someone in the warehouse saw us and warned him or he has a sixth sense for cops.”

  Joanne said in a tight voice, “You’re not the first. Louis likes to brag about how he’s smarter than any cop or drill sergeant.”

  From the phone: “Is Jimmy still there?”

  “Right here,” Frank’s boss said.

  “We’re heading to his house next.”

  “No,” Joanne said, the shaking back in her voice. “He’ll think I went back to Alex’s compound.”

  “Why?” from the phone and Giulia.

  “When he first locked me up I begged him to let me go. I promised I’d go back to Alex’s and never tell anyone what happened. He knew I’d wiped my old life clean and I tried to convince him no one would come looking for me.” She turned a helpless gaze on Giulia. “He’ll come for what he thinks belongs to him.”

  Frank said, “Jimmy, what do you think?”
/>   Jimmy said, “Make sure you catch ’em both at the same place.”

  “On our way.” Frank ended the call.

  Giulia took Joanne by the arm. “We’re heading out.”

  “We are?” Joanne stood. “All right. Thank you for the food and the shower.” She shook Jimmy’s hand. “Throw away the key when you lock them up, will you?”

  In the parking lot, Joanne stood on the asphalt and inhaled a huge breath. “Fresh air and exhaust fumes. It’s wonderful. Listen to those car horns. Look at that sky. I’m going to re-start my cake business with a line of four seasons themed baked goods.” She glanced at Giulia. “Are you impressed at how normal I sound? Don’t believe it.”

  Giulia opened the Nunmobile’s passenger door. “Let me drive you to Diane’s house.”

  Joanne buckled herself in. “Your cops know the community will barricade themselves in and shoot to kill, right?”

  Giulia tapped the keys on the steering wheel. “I should’ve thought. We can’t have that happen.”

  Joanne’s yoga-sculpted muscles flexed. “I don’t want Alex to die as a martyr to the anti-technology revolution. I want him to rot in jail.”

  “So do I.” Giulia inserted the key into the ignition but didn’t start the car. “We need a distraction for when the police arrive.”

  “Why do you look like that? I think it’s a good idea.”

  “You know that feeling you get in your stomach when you drop from the highest point of a roller coaster?”

  “Ugh, yeah. I hate roller coasters. Diane dragged me onto a ton of them when we were kids.”

  “The perfect distraction is giving me that feeling.” She took out her cell phone. Hesitated another few seconds. “Use the tools at hand.” She made a face. “Now I sound like a cheesy motivational poster.”

  The number was last on her extensive “recents” list. She punched it.

  “You’ve reached The Scoop. We want to know all the details! Leave us a message with your story and our investigative team will turn over every rock.”

  Giulia rolled her eyes. “Ken Kanning, it’s Giulia Driscoll. Pick up.”

  Forty-Eight

  Kanning must have been eating a late supper, because his first word sounded like “Frs-kll?” A cough. A gulping noise. “Did hell freeze over?”

  “Good evening. Would you care to act professional while discussing a possible news story or shall I hang up?”

  “What? Hell, yes.” Another cough and gulp. “I mean, Hello, Ms. Driscoll. Thank you for calling The Scoop.”

  Joanne hissed at Giulia. “What are you doing?”

  Giulia made push-back motions at her. “Mr. Kanning, I’m calling in regard to your abortive attempts to infiltrate a Doomsday Prepper compound up by Beaver Falls.”

  Kanning indulged in language Sister Mary Regina Coelis would never have allowed from any of her students.

  “Mr. Kanning, I am quite willing to call the Keystone Action team from one of the network affiliates. I believe their ratings topped yours in the midsummer sweeps.”

  A sound like Kanning was choking on a fish bone preceded a moment of silence.

  “Ms. Driscoll, I’m pleased you keep up with The Scoop. We’re still trying to gain access to that particular den of thugs.”

  “I thought as much.” Go big or go home, she reminded herself. “I’m driving up there as soon as we complete this phone call. Do you recall the teenage girls who were found dead in the park and behind a convenience store a few weeks ago?”

  He was salivating. She heard it in his quickened breathing. She scowled at Joanne, who alternated between extravagant facial expressions at Giulia and scanning the parking lot for—probably—Louis coming after them with a rifle.

  “Yes,” was all Kanning said.

  The man could learn. “The drugs they overdosed on came from the Prepper compound. I can get you in there.”

  “Holy shit, I’ll sleep with you if you can do that. Hell, we’ll both sleep with you.”

  Or not. Giulia hung up.

  “It’s a waste of energy,” she said to Joanne, “but I hate that man with a passion.”

  “Why are you calling that pair of leeches? They’re as low as the scum in a garbage disposal.” Joanne kept checking the parking lot.

  Giulia’s phone rang.

  “Can you think of anyone else who’d drop everything to meet me at Alex’s compound and is guaranteed to create instant pandemonium?”

  She answered the call.

  “Ms. Driscoll, please accept my apology for my unprofessional outburst.” Kanning turned up the charm. “The Scoop would be indebted to you for your assistance in cracking the wall of secrecy around that particular enclosure.”

  “In this one instance we can be of use to each other,” Giulia said. “Meet us in the parking lot in front of the tennis courts at Bradys Run park. I’m leaving now.”

  She ended that call and dialed Frank. “I’m driving Joanne to her sister’s and then I’m meeting Ken Kanning at Bradys Run.”

  “You’re what?” Frank’s voice cracked.

  “I’m using The Scoop as misdirection for when you and Nash get to the Prepper compound. I’ll call you back when we have a detailed plan.”

  Giulia ended that conversation and held her phone out to Joanne.“It’s less than ten minutes to your sister’s. Want to give her a call?”

  Joanne took the phone but didn’t dial. “Why didn’t you say ‘we’ were going to Alex’s?”

  “Because you’ve been through a horrible experience and I’m not about to drag you into potential danger.” She started the car.

  “Stop.” Joanne’s fingers kneaded themselves again. “I don’t need protecting. Don’t look at me like that. I can help.” More kneading. “I’m not scared of Alex because he’ll have a bunch of his flock there for dinner, he always does. He’ll be all benevolent and forgiving in front of them. Besides, don’t they think you’re coming back?”

  “They do, which is why I’m not concerned about their reaction when they see me.”

  “Louis will recognize you when he shows. You don’t want to make him mad. He’s unpredictable.” A brittle laugh. “That’s the understatement of the year. He’ll barge in there with guns and he won’t believe them when they say I’m not there.” She bent over herself and began rocking back and forth in the seat. “Damn, damn, damn, I don’t want to do this.”

  Giulia put a gentle hand on her back, but Joanne flinched anyway. A moment later she sat up.

  “I don’t want any of them to get hurt because of me. If Louis sees me, he’ll waste time humiliating me.” Her hands grasped Giulia’s. “Your cops will be there to take him out, right? It won’t last long, right?”

  “Yes and yes. They know what they’re doing.”

  Joanne’s hands squeezed Giulia’s. “All right then. I’m going with you.” Her firm voice slipped. “Could we please start moving before I chicken out?”

  The Scoop’s white creeper van was waiting for them at the rendezvous point. Giulia had never truly understood the old Biblical phrase “girding one’s loins” until now.

  “Let me talk to them,” she said to Joanne.

  Joanne had regained control of herself on the ride. “You’re the professional, but if he shoves his microphone in my face I won’t guarantee the outcome.”

  Giulia opened her door. This new Joanne was going to startle some of her old friends.

  Kanning jumped over the running board onto the asphalt, hand outstretched. “Ms. Driscoll, thank you again for contacting The Scoop. I don’t remember if you’ve been formally introduced to my cameraman and associate producer.”

  The bald cameraman with his bird’s-nest beard came out to meet them. Giulia had never seen him without the gigantic multi-part TV camera attached
to his shoulder, that was certain.

  “Pit Bull, meet Giulia Driscoll, Private Investigator. Ms. Driscoll, Pit Bull.”

  The cameraman’s massive hand shook Giulia’s in a firm business manner. The Eye of Sauron tattoo on the back of his hand with “Eye See You” above it undermined the businesslike effect.

  Giulia checked the weather app on her phone. “Gentlemen, we’re on a schedule. Sunset is at eight twenty-five, but the compound is covered with trees which will block out the light sooner. I will lead you to a secluded place to park at the far end of the compound. My passenger and I will go around to the owner’s driveway and use the hidden entrance to the central compound area.”

  Pit Bull made a move for the van.

  “Sir, please do not videotape me.”

  Kanning gestured him back.

  “Thank you. My passenger has been held captive by an ex-boyfriend, Louis Larabee. He eluded the police at his place of business and we have reason to believe he will try to recapture her at the compound.”

  Kanning’s fingers twitched. For the sake of cooperation, Giulia relented. “Mr. Kanning, please feel free to make notes.”

  “Yes,” he hissed under his breath. He took out an Android phone. His thumbs moved over the keypad at supersonic speed.

  Giulia allowed him two minutes. “You’re going to be our misdirection. The police are also on the way to the compound. Larabee is a skilled hunter and he’s angry and desperate. The members of the compound know me and my passenger.”

  “They’re all great shots,” Pit Bull said.

  “You think they’ll circle the wagons for you,” Kanning said. “You want to stop a good old-fashioned shootout.”

  “Correct. The arrival of the police might make the compound members think they’re being raided.” She held up a hand. “They are, but only a fool advertises it. They’re supplying home-grown hallucinogens and alcohol to minors. The runaway teenagers found in Cottonwood died because of them.”