Nun of That (A Deadly Habit Cozy Mystery, Book 1)

by Morgana Best

  I was taken aback by the grandeur of the cathedral. For one thing, it was huge, significantly bigger than any church I had ever entered. The long, center aisle featured the most beautiful and intricate mosaic, and was flanked by rich, red carpet, which seemed to be reflected in the mellow tones of the magnificent, wooden pews. The stained glass windows were breathtaking.

  The roof was high, and lined with wood, contrasting with the white and gray stone archways. It was a building I would have expected to see in Europe rather than in Australia.

  The time sped by, and soon we were in the parish hall, standing in front of the priest. After Adam had introduced us, he said, “We’ve been to see Sister Maria of St. Leonard. I was surprised to hear that Sister Bertrand left Australia so suddenly; none of the locals knew anything about it.”

  The priest smiled, both at Adam and one of the ladies who had just brought him a cup of tea. The priest opened his mouth to speak, but the lady got in first. “Oh yes, Sister Bertrand was so excited that her order was sending her on the pilgrimage.” With that, she hurried away.

  “I must say, I myself was surprised when I received a letter from the Australian Provincial Office telling me that the Order of the Sisters of Temperance was going to send Sister Bertrand on a pilgrimage,” the priest said, “and that Sister Maria of St. Leonard was coming with a group of novice nuns on retreat.”

  This was not what I had expected. The letter from the Australian Provincial Office had to be fake.

  “Do the Sisters of Temperance have their headquarters in Rome?” Adam asked the priest.

  He nodded. “Yes, and provincial offices in each country.”

  Adam shot a look at me before turning to the priest. “I didn’t think any nuns wore traditional garb these days.”

  The priest nodded, and sipped his tea. “After the second Vatican Council, many of the religious orders chose to wear what they wanted. It’s so lovely to see the nuns in more traditional habit. The novices with Sister Maria, as part of the retreat and preparation for taking Holy Orders, are adopting the practices of early nuns with their austere traditions, so they can see what life was like back then. They’re leaving their life of sin in the city, and so they’re taking on the austerity of the nuns in older times.”

  “Sin in the city?” I repeated. I wondered what type of sins people could possibly indulge in before they became nuns. Or did he simply mean that everyone is a sinner?

  The priest chuckled. “Sister Maria really has her work cut out for her. She’s brought those novices with her to get them away from the temptation of the city. She tells me that they’re finding it hard to adjust to their new way of life.”

  “Is that usual?” I asked.

  “Many of our nuns have sought solace from the world,” the priest said. “The Sisters of Temperance are an order for those who have found their religious calling later in life, particularly those who have come out of a life of drugs, heavy drinking, and err, other unsavory things.”

  I took a deep breath. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I thought. “I was the one who found the body of Dave the pawnbroker,” I said.

  “May he rest in peace.” The priest made the sign of the Cross.

  I pressed on. “And then I saw a nun in full traditional habit running up the street, away from Dave’s pawnbroker shop,” I said.

  “Oh dear.” The priest shook his head. “Sister Maria did say that she’s caught some of the novices sneaking out to play poker in town at night. No doubt the nun you saw was in a hurry to get back to the convent, so the townspeople didn’t see her.”

  I exchanged a glance with Adam. This was going nowhere. “A friend of mine saw one of the nuns smoking.”

  The priest was not at all surprised. “Oh yes. The nuns have not taken their final vows. Once a year they have to drink and smoke to relive the life they have left behind. Your friend would’ve seen the sister on one of those days. Excuse me.” The priest left to talk to two elderly women who had been standing close to us, trying to catch his eye.

  Adam took my arm, and we walked back to the car. “I must say, I’m discouraged, to say the least,” I said, as soon as we were out of earshot.

  Adam agreed. “Sister Maria has certainly done her ground work with the priest.”

  “What are we going to do now? The cops don’t believe us, and the priest is one hundred percent convinced that the nuns are legitimate.” I climbed into the passenger seat, and Adam started the engine.

  “You know, I think we just have to resign ourselves to the fact that this will be a long, slow process. We’re not going to out those nuns overnight, sorry to say.”

  I was disappointed. “What do we do next? You’re not giving up, are you?”

  Adam chuckled. “Not on your life. How about you come back to my place and I’ll make you lunch? I’ll print out photos of the men in the Shadow Gang. If we familiarize ourselves with their faces, that’s gotta help us.”

  “I thought you were living at the Thunderbolt Hotel?” I said, confused.

  Adam shook his head. “I was, but I’ve rented a little cottage one street behind the highway. It’s clear that I’m going to need to stay in town for a few months. Besides, I’m beginning to like it.” He turned and winked at me.

  My heart fluttered, and I tried to quell my feelings. Don’t read anything into what he just said, I thought. And this isn’t a date; it’s just a business lunch. Still, I found Adam quite attractive, and we had chemistry. Well, I thought there was chemistry, but in fact, I had no idea what he thought, and therein lay the problem.

  Chapter Sixteen.

  Adam and I were staking out the convent again, for the second afternoon in a row. Over our lunch two days ago, we had decided that we would not be discouraged by our slow progress. We had resigned ourselves to the fact that bringing down the Shadow Gang might take a long time.

  Our purpose in staking out the convent this time was to follow the convent car. We had parked under the trees down the side lane for two hours the previous afternoon, and that effort had proven fruitless. Still, Adam kept telling me it was a numbers game, and that, given the law of averages, sooner or later the convent car would leave the building.

  The afternoon was passing by without a single sign of the nuns or their vehicle. Adam seemed to be growing restless, but neither of us wanted to give up just yet. “It’s already getting late,” I said. “A couple more hours and it’ll be pitch-black out here.”

  “Yeah, it’s frustrating me too,” replied Adam. “Maybe if we don’t see any activity from them soon, we can just come back again tomorrow. A little bit earlier would probably be helpful, if you can leave work earlier,” he added.

  Just as we were ready to call it quits for the night, the headlights of a car coming our way changed the game plan. “Saved by the lights,” Adam said.

  I shot him a quick glance and smiled. I appreciated the way he always managed to lighten up the mood and make me smile, no matter the situation in which we found ourselves.

  After the convent car had driven by, I cautiously drove down the road and pulled onto the road running from the convent to town.

  “It’ll be dark soon,” Adam said. “Try not to lose them.” As soon as the words left his mouth, the convent car pulled over to the side of the road. A nun holding a large bag jumped out of the driver seat, and sprinted into the bushes. “Rose, quick! Pull over. We don’t want to get too close or pass them; let’s just see what’s going on from back here.”

  I pulled over behind a clump of trees. We could see the vehicle, nicely illuminated by the setting sun, at the crest of the hill, but the nun was nowhere to be seen. “Why did he run into the bushes?” I said.

  Just then, a man exited the bushes and ran back to the car, but there was no bag in sight this time. “What on earth?” Adam blurted out. “We need to get that bag!”

  Once the convent car pulled away, I drove forward slowly until I reached the bushes. I’d barely come to a stop when Adam leaped from the car. He
disappeared into the bushes, but soon popped out again, carrying the large bag.

  Adam jumped back in the car and opened the bag. There was a full nun’s habit inside. I gasped. “He’s going somewhere out of uniform! Why would he hide his disguise? Where do you think he’s going?”

  Adam was still looking through the contents of the bag. “I don’t have a clue, but we need to stay with him. This guy might be leading us right to his own downfall. Then, the rest of his gang will soon follow suit.”

  “Let’s hope that’s how this plays out,” I said, not feeling overly optimistic.

  We followed the car at a distance. The sky grew darker, but I did not want to turn on my lights. The nun might not notice a car behind him, but he would certainly notice a car with headlights. I could see the road well enough by moonlight; my main concern was kangaroos. Kangaroos always came out on dusk, and often hopped in front of cars at speed, giving the cars no time to stop. People in country towns rarely drove at dusk for this very reason.

  I followed the car into town, where it pulled off the road into the parking area behind the Royal Motel. I sped up and followed it in, selecting a parking spot under a big tree on the opposite side of the parking area. I cut the lights, and Adam and I peered at the nun’s car.

  The eerie atmosphere made me shiver. The parking area was big, part of it being tarmac and part being dirt. Dust swirled, illuminated by the lights on the motel roof. The impression was one of a horror movie. I had a strange sense of premonition, as if something were about to happen. I shivered.

  The car door opened, and the man stepped out. Adam and I slithered down in our seats, as the man spun around to check the area. He must have been satisfied that he wasn’t being followed, as he took off across the parking area.

  The man walked in our direction, and for a moment I was afraid that he had seen us and was heading for us. To my relief, he turned, and then knocked at a door that had the number 107 affixed to it in metal numbers.

  When the door swung open, both of us gasped in surprise. A slender woman with long, blonde hair greeted the thug at the door, hugging him the second she laid eyes on him. The light inside the motel room shone on the man’s face, more so as he once again checked over his shoulder.

  Adam gasped. “It’s Big Ted!”

  I squinted hard, and tried to remember the photos we had so recently studied. I was sure Adam was right; the man sure did look like Big Ted, one of the Shadow Gang members.

  I continued watching as the man and woman finished their brief hug and then disappeared into the motel room. “Do we call the police? What do we say?”

  Adam shrugged. “We have to call them; it’s our only option.”

  I pulled out my iPhone and called the police station. I winced when Sergeant Barnes answered, and I set it on loud so Adam could hear. “Sergeant Barnes, this is Rose Taylor. I’m calling about the gang of bank robbers,” I said.

  “Not again,” he said. “Ms. Tyler, you’ve been warned -”

  I cut him off. “It’s Taylor. Sergeant, Adam Bowen and I are outside the Royal Motel, and we’ve just seen Big Ted, one of the Shadow Gang members. He’s just gone into Room 107, and a woman met him at the door.”

  “Really, Ms. Tyler, you need to stop seeing criminals everywhere. This is a waste of police time.”

  Adam held out his hand and gestured for the phone. I handed it to him right away. “Sergeant Barnes, this is Adam Bowen. As I’ve told you previously, I’m a journalist writing a book on the Shadow Gang. I understand your apprehension, but I’ve been studying these guys for months, and I’m one hundred percent positive that I just watched Big Ted walk into a motel room.”

  The police officer seemed to be at a loss for words. “He met a woman at Room 107,” Adam continued. “I’m guessing it’s his wife, since he’s the only married member of the gang.”

  Sergeant Barnes sighed loudly. “All right. I’m not sure about this whole ordeal, but I’ll take a look into it.”

  Adam hung up, and we smiled at each other. Finally, we were going to get some action. However, after sitting in the car a further twenty minutes, there was still no sign of the police.

  “Do you think they’re not really coming?” I asked Adam.

  He shrugged. “It isn’t looking too good, and who knows how long Big Ted will stay in that room? We have to do something before he leaves. Maybe I should go and just listen at the door, or try to record some audio on my phone.”

  I gasped. “You can’t be serious! That’s way too dangerous.”

  Adam was already half out of the car. “I’ll be fine. Just stay here, no matter what.”

  “What do you mean, no matter what?”

  “Rose, just promise me that you won’t get out of this car.”

  I shook my head. “No. I’m sorry; I can’t promise that. I don’t think you should go. Please, just wait a little longer for the cops.”

  My pleading fell on deaf ears. Adam sighed. “Look, I’m just going to try to get an audio clip or something. Worst case scenario, I can at least listen in and get some more information about this guy, and what his gang’s doing here.”

  I watched Adam creep over to the door. My stomach muscles were clenched so hard that they hurt. I felt ill. My heart was in my mouth as I watched Adam creep ever closer to the motel room.

  Adam crawled over and put his ear against the door. He stood there listening for a few moments. I shook my head at his foolhardiness; surely that wasn’t safe.

  Just then, the door swung open, and two large, muscular arms yanked Adam inside the room.

  The door slammed shut.

  Chapter Seventeen.

  I was panic-stricken. In the blink of an eye, Adam had vanished, seized by the thug we had been pursuing.

  Now what? Apprehension and blind fear assaulted me from every direction, making clear thinking an impossible feat.

  I came to my senses and reached for my phone.

  “Sergeant Barnes,” the voice barked.

  “Sergeant, it’s Rose Taylor again. Big Ted just attacked Adam and pulled him into the motel room.”

  The sergeant sighed. “Oh, it’s you again. False alarms are not tolerated at this station.”

  “This isn’t a fake call,” I yelled. “Even if you don’t believe us about the nuns, that’s fine, but Adam’s in real trouble right now! They might kill him! The man just pulled him into his motel room. You have to come, right now!” My voice rose to a high pitch.

  “Okay, if you’re saying your friend is in genuine trouble, we’ll be on the scene shortly.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying!” I said, but Sergeant Barnes had already hung up.

  I waited, and then waited some more. Time seemed to me to be passing slowly, and there was no sign of the police or any other help. I had to take matters into my own hands.

  I looked around the car for inspiration, when my eyes fell upon the bag of nun’s clothing. I smiled. Now I knew exactly what I would do.

  I threw the habit over my clothes easily enough, but had trouble with the wimple. I wasn’t sure that the habit was on correctly, but it would have to do; there was no time to waste.

  I took a deep breath, and then hurried over to Room 107. I banged on the door. No response. I banged on it again, and saw movement in the window from the corner of my eye. Someone was peeping out; I quickly turned my back to them.

  “Who are you? What do you want?” asked a woman’s voice.

  “Sister Maria sent me,” I said in the most firm voice I could manage.

  It was the man’s voice that answered. “What do you mean that she sent you? Right now, there are zero women working for her.”

  I thought quickly, so quickly in fact that I could almost picture my synapses rapidly processing. “Excuse me? The Reverend Mother doesn’t tell you everything. She’s in charge, not you, and some things are better left unknown.” I was aiming for a belligerent tone, but I heard my voice come out as a squeak.

  There was no response, and
the time stretched on unbearably. Finally, after a long pause, the door opened up just a crack, with the chain still in place. I could see a thin sliver of a man’s face through the opening.

  “What does she want, then?” he said, and I could tell he was somewhat shaken.

  Again, I had to think fast. Adam had said that the woman met by Big Ted was his wife.

  “What does she want?” I parroted. “She is furious that you risked everything just to visit your wife. She’s already angry with you for committing crimes without her permission.”

  I heard him gasp. “What crimes did I do without her permission?”

  “For starters, I just watched you kidnap a man that was standing by this door as I was walking up to it. I’m fairly sure she wouldn’t be pleased to hear such a thing.”

  “Oh, you saw that? Well, he was snooping around, so I had to do something. She’ll understand that,” he assured me.

  I adjusted the wimple. “She probably would understand this incident, if you hadn’t already stirred up trouble in town before. She hasn’t forgotten about Dave’s death, you know.”

  “Listen, Dave deserved what he got. He was trying to blackmail us. I know she’s mad that we didn’t go through her, but the rest of the guys agreed that I should do it. That’s not just on me.”

  Aha, so he was the one who had murdered Dave. I didn’t know whether to be pleased with the fact that he had admitted it, or to be worried that Adam was currently in the motel room. “It doesn’t matter who agreed to it,” I said in a stern tone. I was emboldened by the fact that Big Ted obviously thought I was for real. I pressed on. “The fact of the matter is that you didn’t consult Sister Maria; she never signed off on it.”

  I paused for a moment to draw breath. “She’s furious about the pawnbroker’s death, because it drew so much unwanted attention to this little town,” I explained. “If we want to remain safe here, we need to stop with the needless killing. All it does is shine spotlights right on Sister Maria and the convent. The man you’re holding - give him to me and I’ll clean up this mess for you.”