揟he police shot her.?
Anger grabbed her. 揧ou were warned.?
揟hat I was. By you. Of which I do not require a reminder.?
She bit her tongue and stayed quiet.
揥e have to look at the larger picture,?the abbess said. 揇etermining Rachel抯 identity will be difficult, but not impossible for the police. Of course, their searching our convent in Ghent provides quite the arrow pointed straight to here. Do you have any idea how that man located you??
She shook her head. 揑 slipped away in the boat and quietly made it back to the convent. I was unaware of being followed.?
揃ut followed you were.?
The words bit into her. On purpose.
揧ou blame me for Rachel抯 death,?the older woman said. 揃ut you have exposed us all. The man who followed you is an investigator from the United Nations named Nicholas Lee. Thankfully, your prompt action in sanitizing the convent and leaving helped when the police returned to search the premises. There was nothing to find. It was Lee抯 word against ours.?
But she still felt the barb. Sharp. Deep.
The abbess was not noted for niceties. She was a small, sparrow-sized woman, brutally honest, a no-nonsense Italian who抎 led the order for the past fifteen years. Practical and pragmatic, attuned to the slightest change in moods. Up until a few weeks ago they抎 never had a cross word, which explained Claire抯 rise to Vestal, only one step removed from the abbess herself, essentially the second in overall command. But all that changed when the Just Judges reappeared. The abbess had one course. Claire another. But she抎 pushed her objections aside and done her duty.
With unthinkable results.
揧our failures could be devastating,?the older woman said. 揊or us all.?
揟here would have been no failures if we had simply left things alone.?And she meant it. Then, she wanted to know, 揑s there confirmation that the panel was destroyed??
揟he press reported that it was a total loss. But curiously they continue to speak only of it being a copy. Not a mention of the original that lay beneath. But that could change at any moment. I am told that the press conference that was coming in a week or so will most likely be moved up. Sister Deal抯 electronic images still exist for the world to see. Which could be worse than the original, in their detail. So the problem has not changed. Only now there is a spotlight shining right on us.?
They stood in the abbess?office, located in the abbey抯 extreme northern wing, which afforded them privacy. A magnificent view of the adjoining peaks was provided through the open windows, a straight drop down outside about a hundred yards to a river gorge below.
She抎 fled Ghent, correctly surmising that the police would come to the convent. If not during the night, surely by morning. Prior to leaving, all vestiges of their presence had been removed, including the boat she抎 used and a dinghy that had been found tied to the dock. The two remaining sisters, Isabel and Ellen, had stayed on, finding rooms in a downtown hotel, ready to act once their course was set.
揟he convent was searched??Claire asked.
揓ust the room you occupied. Signore Lee led them straight there. Sister Deal was also present and accused the mother superior of being a liar. Which, of course, she was.?
The abbess was right. Her failures had placed everyone in a tough situation.
揂ll of this must be addressed with the collective,?the abbess said.
Claire agreed.
She trusted the maidens as they trusted her. Each leaned on the other in good times and bad. Her own personal journey to here had started out of a sense of loss. Her mother and father had both died within an hour of each other, after fifty-four years of marriage. They抎 been inseparable in life and so it would be in death. As their only child she抎 buried them near the bayou and tried to understand why they抎 been taken. By then she抎 been a teacher for several years, and it wasn抰 six months later that Sister Anne appeared at Christ the King Catholic Church. She抎 never really considered joining a convent. But the more she thought about the idea, the more a religious life had appealed to her. Of course, at that time she had no thoughts of what was to come.
She was not just a nun.
She was les Vautours.
The abbess?eyes began to soften. The scolding might be over. For all her rigidity this woman, flush with life, was also known for compassion. She presided over the maidens like a queen bee, but always with politeness and etiquette. Today抯 anger was unusual. The maidens had unanimously chosen her as their leader in one vote after another. All abbesses had to stand for selection every two years, and could be removed anytime from the position by a unanimous vote. Who led the order was just as important as the maidens themselves. That person made all tactical decisions, judging any threatening situation, assessing the risks, and dispatching eyes and ears to deal with problems. Good judgment was essential. Recklessness could be fatal. The collective depended on a responsible, mature, competent woman to lead them. There抎 been bad choices in the past, but those were rectified by a swift removal. The current abbess was known for her competence. But her time was coming to an end.