Prey for a Miracle (19 page)

The words said during Morning Prayers came back to her now. “Lord visit this house…may your holy angels dwell here and keep us in peace…” Somehow that prayer had never seemed more appropriate.

S
ISTER AGATHA RELUCTANTLY WALKED TO REVEREND
Mother’s office. She had no desire to add another burden to the weight the abbess already shouldered, but there was no way to avoid it.

Sitting across from Mother’s simple desk, she presented her with all the facts about Carlisle and their roofing contractor, Del Martinez. Since the workers were at the other end of the building now, there was no need to shout.

“If Mr. Martinez is arrested and his company shuts down, all those men outside may be left without jobs right before the holidays,” Reverend Mother said. “And we’ll be left the problem of finding someone who’ll complete the work at a price we can afford.”

“There’s only the metal trim and crown to complete, Mother. Maybe Grayson Construction will take care of them and us,” Sister Agatha answered.

“I’ll tell the sisters to begin praying for an equitable solution for all,” Reverend Mother said. “And I’ll reread our roofing contract.”

“There’s more, Mother.” She saw the lines on Reverend Mother’s face deepen. “It’s about our Cloister Clusters,” she said, and explained what the Dexters were doing. “It should have occurred to me before to get a patent, formulation, copyright, or whatever they call it, for our recipe. But since we haven’t, I think we should, and as quickly as possible.”

“We’re extremely short of cash, child.”

“I may be able to get around that, Mother. Let me see what I can do.”

Sister Agatha left for town a short time later with Pax. She’d go talk to Maria Fuentes, and with luck enlist the attorney’s help.

As Sister Agatha drove past Bountiful Bakery, the Dexters’ shop, she saw a group of women picketing out front. Surprised, she pulled up and heard the picketers chanting, “Cloister Clusters can’t be beat—Coconut Clones are the devil’s treat!”

As she and Pax walked up to the picket line, one of the women came up to her. The young brunette’s ponytail bobbed up and down as she walked.

“I’m Melodie Robles, Sister. Our parish group is going to protest outside the bakery until they stop making Coconut Clones. The Dexters are practically taking food out of the mouths of the sisters.”

Unsure of what to say, Sister Agatha paused for several moments. “Maybe there’s another way to work this out. Reason can work wonders sometimes and if—” Sister Agatha got cut off suddenly by an explosive backfire that rocked the air. She flinched, and Pax let out a bark of surprise.

Turning her head, she saw Sister Bernarda pulling up in the sputtering Antichrysler. Sister Agatha hurried to join her. “What’s happening at the monastery? Did you come looking for me?”

“Yes. We’ve had a bit of a problem.” Sister Bernarda lowered her voice. “Sister de Lourdes was taking care of the parlor. Natalie was in her room reading with the door closed, so Sister began doing the Little Office of Mary at her desk. When the doorbell rang, she went to answer it, and Andrew, our Parcel Express delivery man, came in. He saw Gracie in the parlor chair where Natalie had left it.”

Sister Agatha cringed. “What did Sister say?”

“That it was a donation for St. Francis’s pantry. But unfortunately that doll is very distinctive. Reverend Mother thought that, under the circumstances, you should tell the sheriff. None of us know if Andrew can be trusted.”

“I’ll go there next.”

While Sister Bernarda headed back to the monastery, Sister Agatha drove directly to the station, leaving the problem with the picketers to the Dexters. As soon as she walked in, two deputies stopped her. “Put us down for two boxes of Cloister Clusters each,” they said, before heading out to their squad cars.

“Me, too,” Millie piped in.

Tom came out of his office. Seeing Sister Agatha, he gestured silently for her to follow him.

“I’ve got bad news,” Sister Agatha warned as soon as he’d closed the door to his office. She told him what had happened at the monastery with Natalie’s doll, Gracie. “We don’t know what—if anything—we should do next. If we say anything to Andrew, it would only confirm where Natalie is.”

“We’ll need to find a backup hiding place for Natalie soon. Leave that to me.”

“I have to pay Maria Fuentes a visit, but on my way back I can stop and see what you’ve come up with.”

“Good idea.”

Sister Agatha sat down in Maria’s office and the attorney offered her some crackers and cheese from a plate on her desk. Sister took one, and continued, “I needed to ask you a question,” she said. “How much would it cost us to take out a patent on Sister Clothilde’s cookies?”

“It’s mostly paperwork, but with a recipe it’s probably not the best solution. You should trademark the name ‘Cloister Clusters.’ That’s simple, but legal mechanisms like patents lead to full disclosure, which is why the big corporations won’t go that route. They prefer to keep their recipes to themselves, trusting their employees not to give out their formulations and secret ingredients. Of course, they have employee rules and confidentiality agreements to back them up. But that shouldn’t be a concern at the monastery, right?”

“Of course.”

“I know you’re worried about the competition, but I doubt the local bakery has the resources to get your cookies analyzed, and even if they approximate your recipe they’ll still have problems beating your costs without substituting cheaper ingredients. Remember, they have to pay for their labor. In the long run, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. I’ll take care of the paperwork and give you a call when it’s ready.”

Sister Agatha thanked her and left for Tom’s office. She found him on the telephone as she reached his open door. Tom waved for her to come in, and hung up a few seconds later.

“I’ve come up with a really good idea, but successfully pulling this off will require planning and perfect timing.”

“I’m all ears.”

Sister Agatha was in the parlor talking to Natalie when Andrew, the Parcel Express driver, came by to make a scheduled late afternoon pickup of Cloister Clusters for shipment. Sister Agatha closed the door to Natalie’s room and borrowed Gracie, keeping it with her.

“Hello again, Sister Agatha,” he greeted pleasantly. “You still haven’t taken that doll over to the toy box at St. Francis’s Pantry, I see. I don’t blame you. It’ll probably scare the other dolls.”

Sister Agatha smiled. “We’ve already found a recipient for the doll. Sister Gertrude’s niece has been visiting this afternoon and will be heading home shortly. We’ve decided to give her the doll when she leaves as a present. It apparently caught her eye.”

“Kids have really weird tastes, but it’s nice to have them around,” he said pleasantly. “They really light up a room, don’t they?”

“Do you have any children?” she asked casually.

“A daughter,” Andrew said with a nod. “She’s a great kid, but I don’t get to spend as much time with her as I should. I’m always working nowadays.”

“You’re doing a fine job for Parcel Express,” she said. She noted he was the same general height and body type as the man with the tan pickup. But the description would fit one man in four, probably. She’d also observed that Andrew seemed tired every time she’d seen him. He obviously worked very hard at his job, and she wondered if he’d have the energy reserves to run as fast as the intruder she’d seen trying to escape Father Mahoney.

Once the deliveryman left, Reverend Mother gave her okay to put the plan into motion. Sister Agatha, Natalie beside her, waited by the door for Sister Bernarda to bring the Antichrysler around. Natalie was wearing a bright yellow dress over rolled up jeans and a T-shirt, and black dress shoes on loan from St. Francis’s Pantry.

“You’ll be taken from the monastery by Sister Bernarda,” Sister Agatha said. “Halfway down the road Sister Bernarda will pull behind some cover. You’ll slip out of the dress and black shoes and get out wearing your jeans, T-shirt, and sneakers, with your hair tucked up into a baseball cap. The daughter of one of the deputies will get into the car. You’ll go with the sheriff and pass yourself off as one of his sons. The other girl, your same size, will be wearing the dress and the black shoes and continue to the bus station. She’ll go on a ride to Santa Fe with her mom. Hopefully that’ll confuse Andrew or anyone else who might suspect that you’ve been hiding here with us. We expect Sister Bernarda will be followed, so the switch will have to be made fast and in a spot not easily observed, but those are details the sheriff has already worked out.”

Natalie looked inside the purse she’d been given which contained the baseball cap and sneakers. “This is exciting!”

A minute later as they hurried out to the car, Sister Agatha could see that at least two of the roofers had seen them. So far it was going according to plan.

“What’s going on, Sister?” Justin Clark, Del Martinez’s foreman asked. “You’ve added babysitting to your fund-raising projects?”

She laughed. “No, our guest is the niece of one of our sisters. She’s been allowed to visit and see the monastery but now it’s time for her to go home. Sister Bernarda will give her a ride to the bus station.”

As soon as the construction foreman walked away, Sister Agatha went back to the parlor. Sister de Lourdes was already there at the desk, her eyes filled with tears.

“This is my fault. If anything happens to her…” Her voice almost broke, and she seemed reluctant to make eye contact.

“You were praying fervently at the time and God rewards devotion. Hold to that.”

“That’s almost what Natalie said to me. She said that the angel had a message for me. ‘We know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good.’”

“Romans eight, verse twenty-eight. That was part of today’s Office…and very appropriate.”

Sister Agatha, accompanied by Pax in the sidecar, drove out of the gated area. There was enough daylight left for everyone to have seen the girl in the dress leave.

By the time she passed Sister Bernarda on the road, the switch had been made. Trusting Tom and his deputies, Sister Agatha drove to the sheriff’s station to wait there. A while later, Tom hurried in through the back door, Natalie in tow.

“That was really fun!” Natalie said. “We made the switch with the girl pretending to be me. She was almost my size, and her hair was the same color, too. Then the sheriff and I sneaked away through the trees. After that we ran to his squad car then drove around real fast making sure nobody was following us. It was so
Spy Kids
!”

Sister Agatha smiled. Natalie was a bright girl, but a child nonetheless. The danger hadn’t registered.

Natalie smiled brightly at Tom. “How do we get back to the monastery? Can I see Mom first?”

“I’ll sneak you back into the monastery, but we can’t go back to the hospital, not yet. We don’t want
anyone
to know where you really are, Natalie.”

“I wouldn’t stay long,” she said, but then saw that his expression was set, and sighed.

“Millie?” Tom called out.

The sergeant came over from where she’d been working and took Natalie with her into the lunchroom.

“One of my deputies reported that Sister Bernarda had at least two people following her all the way to the bus station,” Tom said, as soon as they were alone. “Then they saw our double, Meredith, realized they’d been set up, and left.”

“Where’d they go?”

“One’s staking out the monastery right now,” he said. “The other one slipped away.”

“You
lost
him?”

“We’re not certain it was a tail, but, yes, we lost him,” he said, biting off each syllable.

“Do you know who’s watching the monastery?”

“Yeah. It’s Springer, the reporter from the
Inquisitor.
A real diehard.”

“If he’s watching everyone who comes in, how are you going to get Natalie back to us? Our original plan won’t work now.”

“It will, but I’m going to need your help. Go confront Springer face-to-face and take Pax with you. Convince him that you’re just as interested in finding Natalie as he is. Maybe you can say that Sister Gertrude’s health is failing and talking to an angel would give her peace.”

“Where will you be?”

“I’ll take Natalie back in an unmarked car. Unless Springer changes location, I’ll drop her off about thirty yards from the back wall, inside the bosque. Sister Bernarda can meet her and lead her back to the monastery. It should be a piece of cake for her. Didn’t she used to be a Marine?”

“That was a while back.”

He grinned. “Once a Marine, always a Marine.”

D
ANGER WAS PRESSING IN. IF THEY DIDN’T GET NATALIE
back unseen, they’d be leading a potential kidnapper right to the monastery’s door.

“What you’ve got in mind will require Reverend Mother’s permission and Sister Bernarda’s consent. Mother won’t force this on her,” Sister Agatha said.

“I’ll leave that to you while I take care of the other details.”

As Tom left her alone in his office, Sister Agatha called the monastery and spoke to Sister Bernarda. She detailed Tom’s revised plan, then added, “If you’re willing to do this, we’ll need to talk to Reverend Mother.”

“Can do on all counts. I’ll go talk to Mother right now.”

“Call me back as soon as you can.”

Permission was granted and the plan set in motion less than fifteen minutes later.

“Make sure that you’ve got Springer’s undivided attention for at least five minutes—more, if possible,” Tom said.

“Count on it. But what about the other guy who followed Sister Bernarda, the one still unaccounted for? Do you think it might have been Del Martinez, or someone working with him?”

“To what end? I’ve got every officer in three counties watching for Del. He’s not leaving this area easily.”

“My point exactly. Getting hold of Natalie might give him the leverage he thinks he needs.”

“Anything’s possible, but I don’t think he’ll be focused on Natalie. The finder’s fee he might get from the
Inquisitor
wouldn’t be of much use to him now. In either case, we’ll have to play this out with the cards we’re holding. I’ll have people watching your back—and mine.”

Tom gave Sister Agatha precise directions to the spot where Springer had set up his surveillance. “If you get into trouble, bend down as if you’re brushing something off the hem of your skirt. We’ll move in.”

Sister Agatha signalled Pax, who’d fallen asleep by Tom’s desk, and hurried outside with the suddenly alert animal. Pax jumped into the sidecar and sat bolt upright, now as tense as she felt.

They got underway, and before long she drew close to the spot where Tom had told her Springer would be. With the brightness of a full moon she spotted his car easily, parked just beneath an old cottonwood. Anyone crouching low beside the tree would have a clear, unobstructed view of the monastery.

She turned off the engine, letting the motorcycle coast to a wide spot in the road out of sight from Springer. The Harley made a distinctive sound, but she’d been moving quite slow, and fortunately the breeze had carried most of the noise away from the reporter.

She took Pax on his leash, silently cutting across a field and approaching Springer from behind. Had she remained on the road the man would have seen her coming at least a hundred yards away. Moving quietly, something that was practically second nature to her, she came up within fifteen feet of him, still undetected. “Can I help you?” she asked, clearly and distinctly.

Springer, who’d been using the hood of the car as a support for his camera, jumped and spun around. The camera slid halfway off the car before he managed to grab it, cursing.

“You trying to give me a heart attack, Sister?” He placed the camera back on the trunk of the car, making sure it was secure. “I’m Jack Springer from
The National Inquisitor.
I’m on public property, and photographs are legal from here.”

She remained in the same position, forcing him to look at her rather than at the monastery, now at his back. “Exactly what are you after, Mr. Springer? An exposé of the monastery after dark? I assure you, it’s not going to be much of a story, unless your readers want to see nuns in a chapel.”

Springer, a lean man of average height in jeans and a sports coat, with tightly cropped hair and a single gold earring, gave her a mirthless grin. “I’m just a journalist trying to do my job. My readers are inspired by photos of special people—like Natalie Tannen.”

Looking down, she noted that the left heel of his sneaker left a track with a diagonal slash across it. Springer had been their nun. Too bad she couldn’t prove it.

“I don’t see what that has to do with us,” she argued, remembering a time when she’d been the one working on a story, pressing for information, and struggling with an impending deadline. But it was hard to be sympathetic with methods that pushed the limits when children were involved.

“You know why I’m here. All my leads point to you—an extern nun who often works with the police
and
has connections with the family.
You
’re
hiding the kid who sees angels. And that’s not right. Think of all the people who desperately need to have their religious faith supported by hard evidence. That girl’s ability is a real gift. One way or another, I’m going to get photos and an interview with Natalie Tannen.”

“You’re obviously on a mission. Maybe we should join forces.”

“We should what?” he narrowed his eyes.

“You’ve been wasting your time hanging around here. In spite of my connection to the family and the parish, we don’t have her. The girl who visited the monastery wasn’t Natalie.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“Because I need to find Natalie even more than you do. One of our nuns is ill. If the angel said to be accompanying that child can comfort our sister in any way, or, even better, intercede on her behalf, then Natalie needs to pay a visit to our monastery as soon as possible.”

“So you’re telling me they’ve sent you to track down Natalie Tannen?”

“Not ‘sent.’ I’m doing this on my own because I know it’s the right thing to do,” she said flatly.

“If Natalie Tannen isn’t at your monastery, where is she?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I’d like to make a deal with you. If you find Natalie before I do, let
me
know where she is. I can take our sister to her, and you can take photos of the meeting—and whatever else happens at that time. You’d have an exclusive,” she said, then added, “you can’t lose—and neither could we.”

“Sister, quit snowing me. You know
exactly
where Natalie is. I’ve read up on how you’ve worked with the sheriff before. I’m guessing you had a hand in this from the beginning.”

“Mr. Springer, if you’ve really done your homework, you know that Our Lady of Hope is a
contemplative
order. We spend our lives in prayer and we need solitude and quiet to do that effectively. Does that sound like a place we could stick an eight-year-old girl? Kids are seldom silent. If we had her, someone would have heard her by now, don’t you think?” she demanded, hoping he wouldn’t stop to consider the noise the roofers made.

He said nothing for a long time then finally spoke. “An
exclusive,
right? With photos?”

“Yes. You probably know I was a journalist before entering the order so I understand your position completely. You can’t go back to your editor empty-handed or wait for table scraps after someone else breaks the story. I’m sure you don’t want to end up cranking out alien abduction stories the rest of your life,” she said, playing on his need to deliver to
his
boss.

“Okay. You’ve got yourself a deal. But I need your help to root out the kid. You grew up around here. Where do I start looking?”

“I’m assuming you have access to good resources, so you might want to find out if social services was contacted and which foster homes are open and able to take in another child on short notice. Look into church retreats and residences for clergy in this area, too. Maybe a deal was cut with another denomination just to throw off the press. Natalie could be living in a Methodist minister’s rectory, for instance.”

“That’s a possibility. What else?”

“You might want to check for cabins or weekend retreats owned by local law enforcement people, like the sheriff or retired deputies. They could have made arrangements to sock her away someplace like that.”

“If you’re conning me, Sister,
your
photo is going to make the front page.” He brought up his camera and snapped a shot, the flash blinding her for a second.

Pax growled and stepped forward, positioning himself in front of her.

Sister Agatha grabbed his collar. “He’s getting crabby,” she said. “I better take him home and feed him dinner before he decides to gnaw on a camera—or your arm.”

“Good idea, Sister,” he said, backing away from her very slowly.

Sister Agatha and Pax hiked back to the Harley, then returned to the monastery. She’d just finished parking when her cell phone rang. Reluctant to interrupt the Great Silence, she stayed outside as she answered.

“Yes?”

“It’s Tom. Natalie’s already inside the grounds. Your timing was perfect. And whatever you said to Springer worked. He stowed his camera and is now headed back to Bernalillo.”

“Thanks for the update.”

Sister Agatha hurried through the building and out the back door, then waited there in the darkness. After a few minutes, she saw Sister Bernarda and Natalie putting away the ladder they’d used to climb over the monastery wall.

“Ran into a problem,” Sister Bernarda said, ushering Natalie inside.

Sister Agatha locked the doors behind them. “What happened?” she whispered quickly.

“Let’s go to Natalie’s quarters and get her squared away first, then I’ll fill you in,” Sister Bernarda said.

“Sister saw a coyote! Isn’t that cool?” Natalie whispered, her words coming out in a rush. “I wanted to stay and try to get closer, but she wouldn’t let me. We had to get over the wall quickly so nobody could see us.”

As soon as they reached the parlor, Sister Agatha gestured to Natalie. “Go get ready for bed,” she said softly.

Natalie nodded wordlessly, well acquainted with the Great Silence by now, and went across the hall into her room, closing the door behind her.

The moment Natalie was out of earshot, Sister Bernarda pulled Sister Agatha aside. “We need to call the sheriff. Just about the time he sent Natalie through the trees toward the wall, I
felt
someone watching us, and not a coyote. I kept out of sight and scanned the perimeter. Just below the crest of that high levee to the west I saw a brief glint of light. As a Marine, I would suspect a sniper, but it was probably just someone with binoculars or a telephoto lens. In either case…”

Sister Agatha didn’t wait. She reached for her cell phone, called Tom, and relayed what Sister Bernarda had just told her.

“Sharp eyes,” he said. “Sister Bernarda probably saw one of my deputies. John was in that area watching for activity. Hang on.” He put her on hold for a few minutes, then finally returned. “John says that he wasn’t below the levee, but maybe Sister Bernarda’s directions were a little off or she just saw a reflection from a broken beer bottle tossed off the levee. We’re going to check the area just in case. I’ll let you know tomorrow if we find anything.”

Sister Agatha gave Sister Bernarda the gist of what Tom had said, then went to tuck Natalie into bed.

Natalie smiled as Sister Agatha came into the room. “Don’t worry, Sister. From now on, I’ll take Gracie with me everywhere. I won’t let her out of my sight again.”

“Good. I’ll hold you to that.”

Sister Agatha turned off the light, then walked back to the parlor.

“I’ll stay here tonight,” Sister Bernarda said. “And Sister de Lourdes will take over for me at daybreak.”

Sister Agatha walked silently down the hall. She’d missed Vespers, Compline, and Reverend Mother’s
Noctem Quietam
blessing before bedtime. The Liturgical Hours and the customary of the monastery weren’t duties to be followed blindly. They were threads that, woven together, formed the fabric of a life devoted to God alone. Without the wellspring of support that gave her, she felt cut off.

Being an extern was a privilege, but it was also the hardest duty of all.