Nancy Clue Mysteries 1 - The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse (24 page)

When she awoke a few hours later, Cherry found herself lying on a small cot with a cold compress on her head. An elderly nun was bending over her. "How do you feel, dear?" she asked, taking Cherry's hand in her small, soft one. Cherry tried to focus. "I'm all right," she said weakly, trying to get her dizzy thoughts together. The last thing she remembered was the sight of Nurse Marstad in a nun's habit.

"Is everyone a nun?" she wondered.

Aunt Gert appeared at the door. She had shed her habit for more casual attire.

"Are you strong enough to join us for dinner, dear, or should I bring a tray to your bed?" she asked.

"I think I can make it," Cherry replied, getting to her feet. "I feel fine now," she said, "only I'm still so confused. But I can't possibly dine in this outfit." She looked ruefully at her rumpled skirt.

Aunt Gert had to laugh at her neat niece. "You look fine," she said heartily. "Why, look at me."

Cherry did, as if for the first time. Aunt Gert was wearing a simple slacks and sweater outfit, with only a gold ring for adornment. Cherry smiled. "I guess it's come as you are," she said gaily.

"That's the spirit," Aunt Gert said. "You come and have a nice dinner, and afterward we'll explain everything to you."

Aunt Gert led her to a banquet room, with old tapestries on the wall and fine china set out on the table. Cherry admired the smiling faces of the women and children seated around the enormous oak table. She waved at Nurse Marstad, who was seated at the far end of the table, next to Jackie. They seemed to be engrossed in conversation. Cherry noticed Nurse Marstad looked all aglow. Was it the wine, she wondered? Jackie seemed particularly animated, too.

"It's nice to see two people I like getting along so well," she thought, noting that Nurse Marstad looked particularly fetching in her snug coral cashmere sweater. Why, Cherry had never seen her looking quite so lovely!

Cherry settled shyly in the seat next to Nancy. "I'm so glad you're okay," Nancy whispered, squeezing her hand. Cherry just blushed.

Aunt Gert settled at one end of the long table; Lana was at the other. "We've already had our soup, but we saved the blessing for you," Gert said, bowing her head. They all joined hands.

Each woman in turn said what she was grateful for. When it was Cherry's turn, she was almost too overwhelmed to speak. "Why, I have so much to be thankful for!" she finally blurted out. "There's Midge and Velma, Aunt Gert and," a special tone crept into her voice, "and you, Nancy."

"Oh, don't go and get mushy on us, Cherry," Lauren broke in. "I'm starving. Let's eat." Everyone laughed, and dinner began.

"Is this what they call vegetarian?" Cherry wondered, surprised that vegetables could be so good. She made a mental note to pass on her mother's delicious green bean and potato chip casserole recipe to the chef.

"Gee, a family dinner with no fighting," Midge whispered to Velma. "Imagine that."

Velma placed her hand on Midge's thigh and squeezed. "Don't eat too much, honey," she said. "I don't want you to get too sleepy."

Midge grinned. "There's no way I'm going to fall asleep tonight," she promised.

Cherry saw the look that passed between the two girls. The sight of Velma and Midge together again warmed her heart. Tears of happiness welled up in her eyes. She knew her makeup would run, but she didn't care.

The meal continued, with dish after delicious dish being brought out from the kitchen by nuns wearing starched aprons over their tidy habits.

"Every nun's got her job here," Aunt Gert explained. "Sister Catherine MacCaffry, who you know as Lana, is the Mother Superior of this gang."

Cherry giggled at that. "Imagine calling an order of nuns a gang!" she thought.

"Sister Honey plans all our delicious meals. Her real name's Sister Edwina Ennis, but years ago some novice nun nicknamed her Honey, and it's stuck." Everyone said hello to the rubenesque nun wearing the stiff chef's hat.

Aunt Gert quickly introduced all the dinner guests. Cherry was surprised to find the convent had a Physical Education nun, as well as a nun whose single duty it was to train the convent's collies.

She was interrupted by a shy nun who whispered in her ear.

"The police are here," Lana said. "Will you excuse me for a moment?"

When she returned, she was all smiles. "Everything has been taken care of," she announced. "The deacons have been removed for good by our friend on the force. Officer Hillary Hinton sends her regards. She says not to worry about a thing."

After everyone had eaten their fill, Aunt Gert asked the girls to join her in her sitting room.

"Our visitors and I haven't had a moment to talk. Will you excuse us from chores this one time?" she asked the others at the table. Everyone nodded.

Cherry was so excited she could hardly keep still one minute longer. "I've just got to know everything. I've been trying to figure it all out in my head, but nothing makes sense!" she cried as she followed the others into the comfortable sitting room, attractively furnished with overstuffed chairs and flowered chintz curtains.

"Lana ...I mean, Mother Superior, how did you get to my hospital? And, Aunt Gert, how do you know Lana ...er, Mother Superior? Oh golly, my head's all dizzy!" she cried, collapsing onto a chair. Her face was flushed with excitement.

Aunt Gert went over to her befuddled niece and smoothed her short curly hair, so much like her own. Just as she was about to speak, there was a knock at the door. It was Sister Kimi, the dessert nun. "I thought you'd all like some sweets," said the adorable nun, pushing a tray filled with mouth-watering cookies and cakes. Cherry noticed she was wearing a habit that came to well above her shapely knees.

"We've got a lot to explain to Cherry. Let's all get com fortable first." Aunt Gert cut thick slices of scrumptious-looking coconut cake and passed them around. Midge licked the icing from her fingers. In fact, she licked Velma's fingers, too!

The Mother Superior cuddled up on the couch next to Aunt Gert, balanced her china cup on her knee, and smiled shyly at Cherry.

"Yes, Cherry, I'm your mysterious amnesia victim. In fact everyone calls me Lana now.

She continued. "This property belongs to me. It's been in my family for generations, but since I'm the last one in my line, when I die the church stands to inherit it.

"Years ago, I decided to join this order because of all the good they do for women and children. My aunt was the Mother Superior then, and she's the one who put the secret underground tunnels to use, helping women and children in trouble run away to better lives."

"That's what those are used for! What a great idea!" Cherry cried.

Lana continued her story. "Ten years ago I secretly drew up another will, leaving everything to Gert. We went on with our lives as usual, growing grapes for wine, teaching at the girls' school in town, faking passports and birth certificates for the women and children who depend on us to help them escape their brutal husbands."

"Wow!" Cherry cried. "And I thought I had a busy life!"

"We could use a nurse," Aunt Gert joked. "Ever thought about becoming a nun?"

"I think it's too late for that," Cherry blushed, glancing at Nancy.

Lana went on with her story. "A few months ago, several attempts were made on my life. At first I thought it was just a series of mishaps, but when the brakes on my car went out for a third time, I knew someone was after me!"

"When I heard through the grapevine that Father Helms had been instructed by Bishop Clarence to take away our land and build a retirement home for priests on it, I knew he was behind all the accidents. I've always known that man was ruthless, but I had no idea he would actually murder to get what he wanted! " she shuddered.

"I told him the Church was no longer in my will. The accidents stopped.

"I thought I had managed to stave him off, but then the day of the All Saint's Carnival, held every year on the convent grounds, I read a newspaper story announcing that ground would be broken soon for the new retirement home for priests--and at the site of the former Sisters of Mercy convent!

"When I confronted Father Helms, he waved a piece of paper in my face and laughed. He had broken into my safe and stolen my map of the tunnel. He laughed as he taunted me with it. He said the tunnels would make great bowling alleys," she shivered.

"I thought all was lost," she admitted. "We've broken a lot of laws over the years. Transporting minors across state lines, falsifying identification paper, things like that.

"He demanded that we turn the land over to him or we'd all be put in jail. I pretended to go along with him. I told him that we'd pack and leave in the morning. But in the back of my mind, I was planning a murder!

"I had decided that no matter what, I would save this place. Even if I had to drive a stake through his heart !" she said forcefully.

"That night the carnival happened as scheduled. The clean-up crew was comprised entirely of women who were going underground that night. We prepared their quarters and were busy putting the finishing touches on their paperwork when a novice nun, Sister Darlene, came running in. She announced that she had something very important for me to see!

"You see, Sister Darlene and Sister Drew were in charge of the photo booth. For a dollar, parishioners have their picture taken with a statue of the Madonna. It's very popular with our older ladies," she added.

"Well, these young nuns had taken a break and were fooling around out in the fields way beyond the convent proper. Sister Darlene was taking nature studies of Sister Drew when she happened upon a ghastly sight!

"Father Helms was dragging a dead man through the woods. She quickly snapped a photograph of it, hid behind a rock and watched as he buried the corpse. When the priest left, they unearthed it, and discovered it was Mr. Harry Harms, head of the Men's Catholic Club, the group in charge of the carnival. It was common knowledge that Father Helms had been siphoning funds from the group for years. People let him do it; he was a powerful figure in this community.

"I guess he got a little too greedy. Mr. Harms must have confronted him, and paid for it with his life!

"When the sisters told me they had evidence linking the priest to the murder, I knew I had some leverage with him. But before I told him, we dug up the body and hid it, to keep him from doing away with it."

"So that's the body we found in the chapel," Lauren gasped. "The one I bumped into."

"That's when the priest caught us," Midge added.

"You found a dead body?" Cherry shrieked.

Lana continued. "I told Father Helms that at six a.m. mass the next day, he'd get what was his.

"You should have seen the grin on his face. He thought I meant I was turning over the convent," Lana giggled. "Boy, was he surprised the next morning when he saw photographic evidence of his crime.

"You see, we have a complete darkroom here," she added, "so we made a print of the negative and slipped into the chapel late that night and placed it in his hymnal.

"I didn't count on what happened next. He became so enraged he left the chapel right then and there and raced to his car. He was screaming that he would blow up the convent and be rid of us for good! I had hidden the negative in a book for safekeeping. I ran to my study and grabbed it, making sure he saw me leave. I knew he'd follow me; that's how I planned it.

"What I didn't plan on was getting kidnapped from the ward at Seattle General. Father Helms's righthand man, Deacon McCarthy, snuck in, dressed as a nun. He had a gun and said he would shoot anyone who got in his way unless I came with him. When I left the ward, Father Helms was waiting for me in the hallway. When I saw they were driving Gert's car, I was terrified that his plans to blow up the convent had been carried out. They worked me over pretty good, but they couldn't find the negative."

"Because I had it all along," Cherry cried, finally beginning to make sense of the puzzle.

Lana nodded. "I never meant to put you and your friends in any danger, Cherry. All I know is, I was drugged and put in the trunk of Gert's car. When I awoke I was here.

"I was relieved to see Gert and all my sisters were still alive, but we were trapped in the underground dormitory, locked in by the deacons!"

"And those evil men were following me the entire time." Cherry put two and two together. "All because I had the book containing the negative. Nurse Marstad, how did you know to send it to Midge, though? You and Midge must know each other!" she guessed. "But how?"

Midge quickly filled Cherry in on her true identity.

"I read about you in one of my dad's detective magazines," Nancy chimed in. "I remember he said he felt lucky to have such a good girl for a daughter," she recalled.

"Let me get this right," Cherry said, a befuddled look on her face. "Nurse Marstad's not really Nurse Marstad, and you're not really Midge. And you're an escaped convict! Midge, you told me you met Velma in a library!" she cried.

"I did. It was a prison library," Midge grinned. "I spent five long miserable years in jail. Then one day I met this beautiful English teacher who had volunteered to teach composition to inmates."