Perfect Grave

Chapter Sixteen

S ister Anne’s blood churned and bubbled like liquid rust in the cleaning bucket. There was so much, Sister Denise thought, wringing her sponge.

It was as if the floor had been painted with it.

This room would never be the same. It no longer held the fragrance of fresh linen and soap. It smelled of the ammonia she’d mixed in the cold water, haunting her as she scrubbed over the mosaic of smeared, bloodied shoe prints.

Some of them belonged to the killer, the detectives had told her.

After the forensic analysts had finished processing Sister Anne’s apartment, they’d released it to the nuns, urging the sisters to let a private company that specialized in cleaning crime scenes “restore” the apartment for them.

“It would be less traumatic,” one concerned officer, a former altar boy, said as they were leaving.

“Thank you, officer,” Sister Vivian turned to Sister Denise and said, “but Sister Denise will take care of it for us.”

Surprise stung Denise’s face and the young officer pretended not to notice.

How could Sister Vivian do something like that without first discussing it with me? Denise thought later. Because Vivian had a reputation for being an arrogant tyrant, that’s why.

As she scrubbed, Denise grappled with anger and anguish. She abhorred the way Vivian was dominating people, especially given this horrible time. But Anne had been Denise’s friend, and, in some way, by washing the blood from her room, she was honoring her memory.

Like Anne and the others, Denise lived in the town house. She was a nurse at the shelter and was regarded by the sisters to be the toughest in the group because she was raised in New York. Her mother had been an emergency nurse; her father had been a New York City cop.

Growing up in a rough Brooklyn neighborhood, Denise had seen some unforgettable things, but washing her friend’s blood from the floor where she had been murdered was one of the hardest moments she’d ever faced in her life. She struggled with her tears each time she poured a bucket of reddish water down the sink.

She was alone with her grim work, contemplating life, death, and God’s plan, when a shadow rose on the wall. Denise turned to see that Sister Paula, the most timid of the women who lived here, had ventured into the apartment.

Paula didn’t speak as she cast a glance round, absorbing the eerie aura of death, gazing at the pasty, reddish streaks for a long moment. Then gently, she touched the walls, the counter, the light switch, the things Anne had touched, as if caressing a memory, or feeling the last of her presence.

This was a brave step for her, Denise thought. Paula was born in a small town near Omaha, Nebraska, the daughter of an insurance salesman. She was soft-spoken and meek.

“I’m sorry for interrupting, Den,” she said. “But I had to see that it really happened.” She twisted a tissue in her hands. “I mean, Vivian tells us to be strong. To go beyond being the humble bride-of-Christ thing, be progressive urban warriors of light. But how do we do that knowing that Anne was murdered right here in our home? And her killer’s still out there. I really don’t think I can handle this.”

Denise washed her hands quickly, then put her arms around Paula to comfort her.

“I’m so sorry,” Paula said, “I’ll try to be strong like you and the others.”

“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for, it’s okay. It’s perfectly fine to feel the way you feel. Be angry. Be afraid. Be confused. Be human. That’s how God made us.”

“Please forgive me.”

“For what? You’re like Thomas, you have to see and touch the wounds before you believe. So you can carry on in faith.”

“I suppose I am. I just don’t understand how she can be gone.”

“She’s not, Paula, her good work will live on.”

“But her killer is still out there.”

“The lock on the front door’s been reinforced. The windows, too.”

“I know, but he’s still out there.”

Downstairs, the doorbell of the town house was sounded by another visitor, part of the continuing stream of neighbors, local politicians, and Sister Anne’s guests from the street. They arrived to offer their condolences, flowers, home-baked cakes, cash donations, casseroles, or colorful cards in crayon scrawl made by the children from the day care. People also phoned or e-mailed with heart-warming messages of sympathy and support.

After taking a call on the town house phone, Sister Ruth approached Sister Vivian, who was on her cell phone instructing the order’s lawyer to help her volunteer the order’s staff and client lists to Detectives Garner and Perelli.

“Excuse me, Vivian, the Archdiocese is calling. They’re offering Saint James Cathedral for the funeral.”

“The Cathedral? Thank them. Tell them we’ll consider it and get back to them.”

Nearby, in the cramped office of the townhouse, Sister Monique’s eyes widened at the computer monitor when she saw an e-mail with the “. va” extension. The Vatican, she whispered to herself before reading the short message. It was from the cardinal who was secretary of state, who reported directly to the Holy Father on all actions of the Church outside of Rome.

Sister Monique printed the e-mail and hurried from the computer to read it to Sister Vivian: “The cardinal conveys personal condolences from the Supreme Pontiff, who has dispatched an Emissary from the Holy See in Washington, D.C., to represent the Holy Father at the funeral, or for any requirements of the order at this difficult time.”

Sister Vivian did not share Sister Monique’s awe. As she removed her glasses to weigh matters, she said, “It appears the boys, who’ve always been wary of progressive nuns, now want to ride in the slipstream of Sister Anne’s good work.”

The younger nun’s face flushed.

“Monique, surely you’re aware that most men in the upper ranks of the old guard want us to remain socially isolated in convents, making jams and candles.”

Sister Monique didn’t speak and Vivian suddenly cut herself off and waved her hand to silence the subject.

She was exhausted.

The night before, she’d slept on a couch in the living room. Well, she lay there, at least, grieving and looking at Anne’s file and photos of her, remembering her friend’s overwhelming capacity for forgiveness.

Through the years, they’d worked together in so many places around the world. But when it came to Anne Braxton’s family background and her life before she became a nun, Vivian knew nothing. Unfortunately, it was exactly as Detective Garner had said, it was like Anne had “just dropped out of the sky.”

It saddened Vivian.

No family to contact. No mother, father, brothers, or sisters. No one listed in her personal file. Nothing. Information on her biography was arriving in small pieces from the missions where she’d served, and the former mother houses in Paris and Washington, D.C. But nothing that preceded her call to a religious life.

Vivian was trying to locate the nun who’d first advised Anne when she was accepted as a postulant. And there was belief in some circles that the old nun was responsible for screening Anne in Paris, and had retired somewhere in Africa or Canada.

One thing Vivian knew for certain about Anne was that in life she was happiest in her sweatshirts and jeans, helping those who felt they were beyond it, offering grace to those who felt undeserving of it.

Anne Braxton would abhor any pomp imposed upon her in death.

“Excuse me, Sister Vivian?” Sister Ruth appeared and pulled her from her thoughts. “What should I tell the Archdiocese? They require an answer. It seems a number of weddings are also taking place in the next few days.”

“Tell them no thank you. We’ll have her funeral-a celebration of her life-in the shelter she helped found. In the very dining room where she gave so much of herself.” Vivian slipped on her glasses “Let the Vatican’s emissary pull up to it in his luxury sedan. Should be a nice juxtaposition for the news cameras.”

Vivian tapped the printout of the Vatican e-mail to her chin, returning to her pondering about the old nun who had screened Anne, wondering if she was still alive and considering ways to locate her.

“Where’s Denise? Is she done with the room yet? I’d like to lay down for a bit and I’ve got another job for her.”

Upstairs, Sister Denise was alone again and almost finished cleaning Sister Anne’s apartment.

Upon making a final inspection, she noticed that some blood had spilled into the hall closet next to the bathroom. A slender thread had meandered along the floor, like a tributary on a map, pointing to a secret destination. Denise freshened her bucket with cold water and ammonia, then used a soft-headed tooth-brush to scrub dried blood from the seams between the floor boards.

That’s strange.

The gap between two boards-as thin as the edge of a credit card-had widened ever so slightly. A loose board. It appeared that with the proper manipulation, the board could be completely lifted from the row covering the closet floor.

Curious, Denise found a pair of manicure scissors in the bathroom, opened them, and used a blade to pry the loose board out. Two adjacent boards were also loose. Denise pried them out as well.

Something was under the floor.

Something rectangular.

Denise opened the closet door wider to allow more light on the hole before she reached in to get the mysterious object hidden under the floor.

It was a cardboard box.