'But before you begin piling on more conditions, ma'am,' Lucas said, 'I want you to know what we have. Fact, a twenty-eight-year-old young woman, abducted and brutally murdered, her head severed with an ax, two'-he held up his fingers-'two whacks with a dull blade, and some fiend sent her head in a UPS box to us. If one of your girls can give us a description of the man who she acted for, then we may stop this satanic individual from harming his next victim, who quite possibly could be one of your girls, if she's spending time with him.'
Meredyth added, 'The Lourdes woman's family deserves some closure, Mother Superior. Surely, you can understand our need to act quickly before another part of this woman is mailed to someone, perhaps her mother and father.'
The mother superior relaxed her gaze and relented. 'Well…I suspect our Mr. Carver has enough on his plate. All right. I'll have the trustworthy girls we allow to interface with the community called up to my office, and you may speak with them, but I must be present during any…inquisitioning.'
'In-what?' asked Lucas.
'During interrogations, Lucas,' explained Meredyth.
'Your presence could make them hesitant to talk freely,' Lucas pointed out.
'Those are my terms. Take them or…or we call in Mr. Carver, and you can deal with him.'
'No, no. Your being present actually may spur the truth from your girls, I suspect,' said Lucas.
'Are there any other girls who you suspect capable of finding their way off the grounds other than your trustees?' asked Meredyth.
'None. We run a very taut ship here. Now, I'll have Sister Audrey call each of the girls to come out of their classes. There's a room to your left where you can question each.'
'I'd also like to examine your records,' added Meredyth, who had stiffened somewhat in her seat, her eyes roaming about the convent office. 'I'm particularly interested in newborns turned over to your care in 1984.'
'And the significance of that year has to do with your case?' she asked, her forehead creasing below the line of her habit.
'A third connection to the convent orphanage. Mother Superior,' said Lucas.
'I was involved as an intern at the time with Child and Family Protective Services-it was called then, placing children in the care of various orphanages in and around Harris County and Houston, including yours.' Meredyth took a deep breath. 'We may be far off here, but there may be some connection between the killer's interest in your convent and my short association with your orphanage, Mother Elizabeth.'
'That was some twenty years ago, and I was not here in 1984,' she thoughtfully replied, 'and those records will be difficult to access.'
'But you have them?' asked Lucas.
'In the basement, yes. Along with anything and everything stored there since before my time here.' She made a tsk-tsk noise with her dentures, her wrinkled face puckering. Lucas guessed her age at somewhere between sixty- nine and seven-five.
Mother Elizabeth then pressed the button on what appeared an ancient intercom system, spoke to her aide, Sister Audrey, and asked her to round up the six girls she had in mind. 'Anyone else you know who may have had any dealings outside the gates in the past week, send them along as well, Sister Audrey, dear.'
A voice like a clanging cowbell came back over the intercom, 'But Mother Superior, that will disrupt a number of classes.'
'Just arrange it, Sister.'
'Right away, Mother Superior.'
'Would you care for coffee and a roll while you wait?' asked Mother Elizabeth, pointing to an um beside which lay an array of pastries, cups, saucers, and napkins. 'All prepared here on the premises. I have made the school here completely self-sufficient, save for a few necessities we require. You must stay long enough to inspect our gardens in the courtyard, our dining facilities, the sleeping quarters, and the classrooms. We teach all the subjects, including the arts, music, Latin, and Greek, but we also teach self- sufficiency-self-reliance as well as a reliance on God.'
'I'm not sure we have that much time this trip out,' said Meredyth, 'but perhaps next visit.'
From somewhere in one of the buildings, the sound of stringed instruments wafted up to them, muffled with the occasional strident chord.
'Detective,' said Mother Elizabeth to Lucas, 'do help yourself to coffee and a pastry, and I'll have mine with cream and a cinnamon roll. Dr. Sanger?'
'Just coffee, black, Lucas, thanks.'
Lucas played host for the elderly nun and Meredyth as they continued to talk. 'How good is your success rate for placing children, Mother Elizabeth?' asked Meredyth.
'We pride ourselves on an eighty-five-percent rate, but that does leave fifteen percent behind, but even these girls have a better start in life than they might otherwise have had. The ones who grow up here, once they reach eighteen years of age, can decide on remaining or going out into the world.'
'Finally given choice, hey?' muttered Lucas from the coffee urn.
'At age twenty-one, I'm afraid we must push them from the nest altogether. Church policy.'
'Then actually they have no choice at twenty-one, only at eighteen,' Lucas replied, serving Elizabeth's coffee and roll, and drawing a disapproving look from Meredyth, whose eyes clearly reminded him of what she had warned- don't challenge the old girl.
'We'd like a list of young women who've left this year, both the twenty-one-year-olds and the eighteen-year- olds who've opted out,' replied Meredyth. 'Is that possible?'
'I'm quite sure Sister Audrey can provide you with both lists, yes, before you leave today. I suppose one of our graduates could be your courier. Much likelier than one of the girls you'll meet today.'
Meredyth and Lucas exchanged a glance as he placed her hot coffee between the two women. He sat back down with his own coffee and roll, not hungry but forcing it down out of an attempt to keep Mother Elizabeth happy. As in Cherokee custom, it felt true here that an offering of food should not be turned down. That it was an insult to do so.
Mother Elizabeth thanked Lucas and added, 'You must tell us what you think of the girls' cooking. The children do all the food preparation themselves.'
Lucas sampled the offerings. 'Delicious,' he declared.
'Has this work ethic of raising crops, food preparation, and doing other in-house jobs always been in place here?' asked Meredyth.
'I'm afraid not. I began slowly making Our Lady work as a self-sufficient entity with the children being the principal workforce when I came here in 1994. It took some doing to move the chore list out of the hands of the sisters of the convent and into the hands of the children, I can tell you, but it has paid off handsomely for the well- being of all.'
'It makes good sense to me,' said Lucas. 'Keep them busy. Idle hands…devil's playground, all that.'
'I'm just guessing, but did you grow up on a reservation, Lieutenant? You are Native American, aren't you?'
'Yes to both questions,' he replied.
'Then you know the importance of a self-sustaining village. The Church was at one time planning to close down Our Lady altogether, but miraculously and with a lot of determination and everyone's effort, we returned it to a viable and healthy institution.'
'What you mean is that the orphanage was no longer losing money. Is that right?' asked Meredyth.
'We must operate under a budget like any other institution, yes.'
'You're paid so much for each child you take in each year they remain with you, correct?'
'Correct.'
'Then what incentive have you to find them homes?'
Lucas wondered when Meredyth had decided to challenge the matriarch of this fortress.
'The incentive of the heart, Dr. Sanger.' Mother Elizabeth's eyes penetrated through Meredyth now like ice picks. 'The cost-saving measures I have implemented here do not include sabotaging legitimate foster care and/or adoptions. We are still quite aggressive in finding suitable families for our girls, and I resent any implication to the contrary, Doctor. I'm not so sure you're not still with Child and Family Welfare, Doctor, sent here by that terrible woman, Allison Talmadge, who has, for a year now, attempted to have our license to act as an orphanage and
