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

months. She was teaching at the college and they got a replacement for her, so she must have been gone at least a semester.”
    That made sense. If she had been gone a few weeks or even a month or so, they might have parceled out her teaching among other nuns and not bothered hiring someone new. “I wish I knew where she’d gone,” I said. “If you remember, I’d appreciate your calling me. I’ll give you my number.” I started writing it down.
    “Don’t expect me to spend much time thinking about this. I was glad to get away from there and it doesn’t occupy my thoughts very much. Never did.”
    “Can you tell me why you left?”
    “Why I left is easy. It’s why I went there in the first place that I could never figure out. It was an idea that captured my imagination and hung on to me for a long time. I didn’t know I’d made a mistake till a long time after. I was sorry about leaving, even if the nuns wouldn’t believe it, but I was very relieved to be gone.”
    “You left so precipitously,” I said. “Did something happen to trigger it?”
    The doorbell rang at that moment and Jane jumped up and dashed to the kitchen to buzz in her friend. I knew I wouldn’t get an answer now, not that she owed me any.
    “I guess time’s up,” she said, coming back to the living room. “I’ll be going out now. Any quick questions?”
    “I’ve left my phone number on the coffee table. If you think of where Sister Joseph went, please give me a call. You can call collect, if you like.”
    She laughed. “If I had to pick a place, I’d say Ohio. How’s that?”
    “Not bad.” I picked up my bag and she opened the door for me. The elevator was just stopping and as I said good-bye, a woman got out. She was about Jane’s age, I guessed, quite nice looking, and dressed much more elegantly than Jane, who had been wearing a skirt and blouse with comfortable shoes. This woman was wearing heels with a suit and was carrying what looked to be a fine leather handbag on her shoulder. It was hard to believe they were going to the same place.
    “Hi, sweetie,” she called as she breezed past me, her perfume wafting through the air. “You’re actually ready.”
    I stepped into the elevator and pushed the L button. The door closed on their conversation and I went down to get my car.

5
    It was the Ohio that got me, of course. What were the chances that she would pick the state that Tina had told me Sister Joseph had gone to? Not much better than one in fifty. I now believed that Joseph had taken a leave from St. Stephen’s before I arrived there and that she had stayed away for several months. Considering when I had arrived, the leave must have been twenty years ago or more.
    It was chilling to think about. I didn’t have to believe that what Tina accused Joseph of was true, but I was now convinced that there was some foundation for her story. It was not unusual for nuns to take a leave from a convent. I myself have known several who did it. People are fond of talking about finding themselves. Well, nuns are no different. Nuns have crises of conscience and belief just as the general population does, and one way to come to terms is to change their environment. They may go home and tend a sick parent or sibling, or they may go somewhere to work at a secular job with all that that entails. When the leave is over, many, perhaps most, return to their convent. Some do not.
    In my own case, I had a somewhat irregular arrangement that was made to suit my unusual circumstances.My cousin Gene lived, and still lives, in Greenwillow, a home for retarded adults, and I wanted to make sure our relationship survived. There was no other family member who could care for Gene besides me when my aunt passed on. As it turned out, my leaving St. Stephen’s and my aunt’s death happened in the same year. Greenwillow is now in Oakwood and I see Gene frequently, much more often than the monthly visits I made when I was a nun.
    To my surprise, I