Perfect Grave

Chapter Fifty-Three

T he Rusted Anchor was an all-night sanctuary for cops and the like who worked 24/7 downtown.

Tucked down a side street near an abandoned warehouse and the waterfront, the narrow building was webbed with vines. Its battered metal door, punctured with several bullet holes, gave newcomers pause.

Even during sunny days, the Anchor remained dim inside. The darkness calmed frayed nerves and eased troubled minds, offering tranquillity and beer as cold as an embittered ex-wife. Low-watt lights hung low over the dark high-backed booths that were evocative of church pews. Jason spotted Grace Garner alone in a corner, poking the ice in her Coke with her straw.

The neon clock on the wall gave him a little over two hours until his deadline.

He sat down and ordered a ginger ale from a bored man in a dirty white apron who had three days’ worth of white whiskered growth on his face. They waited in awkward silence until Jason’s drink arrived.

“Okay, Wade, I made a mistake. Can we move on?”

Jason held up two fingers.

“Two mistakes: You dumped me. And you went out with Special Agent Asshole.”

“How did you know?”

“You’re not the only paid investigator at this table.”

She looked away.

“Grace, what happened? Just tell me what happened?”

“I got scared.”

“Of what?”

“It felt so right with you. We were moving fast, but it felt so right I caught myself thinking long-term, even though I realized it ain’t going to happen.”

“You don’t know that. You got to take things one step at a time.”

“Okay, I messed up. Can we move on?”

He looked into her eyes until all the hostility between them subsided. After a few moments, Grace drank from her glass and said, “You said you may have something.”

“The paper got a tip on Sister Anne that led to Canada. I went there to follow it up and just got back.”

“Canada? What sort of tip did you get?”

“We received some information about her life before she entered the Order.”

“And?”

“Sister Anne may have lied to the nuns about her past before joining their Order and it involves her family and a lot of money.”

“How much money?”

“Enough to put in a Swiss bank.”

“How much?”

“About a million dollars. She gave it to the nuns. I interviewed the nun who screened her into the order. Sister Marie. She lives alone in the Canadian Rockies. The old nun told me that the money came to the Order by way of a Swiss bank account. She said that Anne Braxton had told the nuns that it was part of her inheritance after her parents were killed in a car crash when she was a teen.”

“And?”

“None of the information checks out, so far. We’ve been digging into it. The names of her parents don’t exist. There’s no record of a car accident. The private school she claimed to have attended does not exist, according to Swiss authorities.”

“What do you think?”

“She also kept a diary in which she agonizes over sins she’s committed and begs for forgiveness.”

“What kind of sins?”

“She never says. She supposedly told another nun that she’d ‘destroyed lives.’ Her journal has no details. It’s all vague, with a lot of Scripture.”

“Who has this diary?”

“I’ll share it with you after our story runs in tomorrow’s paper.”

“Why do you think she lied? What did she do? What was she hiding?”

“That’s what I want to find out. Are you interested in this stuff?”

“I’d like to see your information.”

“We’ll work that out. Now, I’ve got a question for you.”

“Make it quick.”

“Is there a new lead in the case?”

“What are you hearing?”

“I’m hearing there’s a new lead, come on.”

“Maybe.”

“Come on, Grace. I just gave you my exclusive.”

“We’re looking hard at the possibility that the person who murdered Sister Anne may have murdered another woman.”

“What? Before or after Sister Anne?”

“Before.”

“Based upon…?”

“New information.”

“How are they linked? Have you got a serial killer?”

“Way too soon to speculate on that but I don’t think it’s going that way.”

“Is the earlier case in Seattle?”

“Yes.”

“How far back does it go?”

“We’re not disclosing that at this time.”

“Can you tell me who the victim is? How the two cases are linked?”

“We’re not releasing anything.”

“I want to use this. Does anyone else have this?”

“It’s all yours. Just keep my name out of the paper. I have to go.”

“Me, too. Listen, I was wondering-”

She looked at him.

“Yes?” she said.

“That we keep in touch.”

“Keep in touch?”

“On the case.”

“Sure.”

Driving back to the paper, Jason had just under two hours before the first edition deadline; he called Eldon Reep to alert him to the exclusive news of the second homicide.

“I think we can line this on the front page. This is good,” Reep said. “We’ll use it as a page-one hit to key to your Canadian secret past and diary story.”

After he finished the call Jason’s cell phone rang.

“Wade.”

“Jay, it’s me, son.”

“Dad. Oh, man, I am so sorry. I’ve been out of town on this nun murder and-”

“I really need to see you. I need your help.”

“Dad, I don’t know if I can get away. It’s a bad time right now.”

“Jay, I’ve got to take care of something. If you help me with what I have to do, it’ll put an end to everything.”

“Okay, okay…I’ll try to steal a couple of hours in the morning.”