The Mother's Day Murder Read Online Free PDF Page A

stay alone or is there something you’d like to do?”
    “I think I’d like to be alone. Is that all right with you?”
    “It’s fine. I’ll be leaving within the hour. I can leave you a can of tuna for your lunch. There’s celery and mayonnaise in the refrigerator, milk, juice, coffee—whatever you’d like. Do you think you’ll be going out?”
    “What do you mean? Like for a walk?”
    “Yes.”
    “I don’t know. Do I need a key?”
    “Not if you stay close to home.” Actually, we lived in a pretty safe area but I’m married to a policeman and he has great concerns about security, especially where his family is involved.
    “I might go out back, if that’s all right with you. I just want to think in quiet.”
    “Out back is fine. There are chairs to sit on and no one will see you.”
    “Good. I’ll do that.”
    My plans for the day were to drop off Eddie at my babysitter, Elsie Rivers, who is a kind of surrogate grandmother for Eddie, having been my mother’s dearest friend when I was a child. I was then going into New York to see if I could talk to Sister Jane Anthony. Before I woke Tina, I had found a J. A. Cirillo in the phone book for Manhattan. The address was in the West Village. I had called thenumber and a woman had answered on the second ring. I made up my mind, not with the most complete information, that she probably didn’t go off to work or she would have left by the time of my call. I might well be wrong but if she wasn’t there, I had time to kill and I could talk to the superintendent of her building or the doorman, as the case might be.
    “Chris?”
    I was slightly startled from my thinking. “Can I get you something?”
    “Are you going to see Sister Joseph today?”
    “No, I’m not. I told you I wouldn’t till you decided what you want to do.”
    “Thank you.” She smiled a quick smile. “I guess you have other things in your life besides my problems.”
    I smiled back without answering. She was right; I did. But not today, and I didn’t want to tell her that.

4
    When I left the house, Tina was dressed, her bed was made, and the sun was shining. On the way to the car, I showed her where the outdoor chairs were and helped her set one up on the grass. She assured me she would be fine and I had the feeling she was relieved that I wasn’t going to be around. I got Eddie into his carseat, and we took off.
    It was after eleven when I got to the address for J. A. Cirillo. The building was old and large. I rang her bell but there was no answer. A man came out of the lobby as I stood outside waiting and he held the door for me, but I refused to go in. If she wasn’t home, I would ring the super’s bell and see what I could find out from him. I pressed her bell once more and started looking for the super’s bell when the buzzer sounded. I dashed over, pushed the door open, and went inside.
    Like many old buildings, it was dark inside. I found the elevator and took it upstairs. In contrast to the rest of the building, it was new and practically sailed up the shaft. I got off on five and found her apartment. She hadn’t asked who was ringing when I was downstairs so I didn’t know what to expect. A moment later she opened the door and I knew I had found the right person.
    She frowned. “Who are you? I was expecting someone else.”
    “I was Sister Edward Frances at St. Stephen’s. I’d like to talk to you.”
    She nodded slowly. “That’s weird. Yes, I remember you, the little girl who came in from the cold. Come in. I don’t know how long I can talk to you. Who gave you my address?”
    “I found it in the phone book.” I walked into her living room, which looked as though my son had used it and forgotten to put away his toys. But there was a chair to sit on and Jane Anthony sat on the sofa and lit a cigarette.
    “I gather you’re not at St. Stephen’s anymore either.”
    “I left a few years ago.”
    “I remember you very well. You came to us on a dark and stormy