A Great Day for the Deadly(49)

“You mean you don’t have any idea where anybody was last night,” Gregor sighed. “I was afraid of that.”

“I mean nothing of the sort,” Reverend Mother General said. “What I’m trying to get at is why I think you must be wrong. I don’t think Mr. Don Bollander could have gotten into this convent last night. I don’t think he could have gotten into it until this morning—”

“Reverend Mother, rigor mortis—”

“Hear me out,” Reverend Mother General said. They had gotten to the end of the corridor, to a point nearly underneath the crucifix. Reverend Mother General turned to her left, looked through her keys, and fitted one into the lock of the door. When the door opened she put her hand around and flicked a light switch. Gregor saw fluorescents flicker and then beam into a strong glow. Underneath them and over Reverend Mother General’s shoulder he saw what looked like a room full of drafting tables.

“Come in here,” Reverend Mother General told him. “This is the plans room. I don’t know what it was planned for originally, but a couple of years ago we had to have some rewiring done and it was empty, so I had our blueprints and floor plans set up here. Come and take a look at this one in the middle. It’s the easiest one to read.”

Gregor stepped into the room and up to the large drafting table set up in its center. He looked down on what seemed to be a gigantic cross with a square shaped hole cut out of its middle where the sections overlapped.

Reverend Mother pointed to the short end—the head—and said, “That’s the front door. It faces the front gate and Delaney Street.” She pointed to the short arm to its right. “That’s where we are now, or near enough. The crucifix we were just looking at is at this end, and as you undoubtedly noticed, the door is underneath it. That is a door to the outside. There is one in a similar position in the other arm and the foot.”

“Are they kept locked?” Gregor asked.

“Oh, yes,” Reverend Mother said. “They’re plugged into an automatic security system, too. That’s why we had the house rewired. If you try to open one of those doors, or even to unlock it, without neutralizing the security system first, you will set off the alarms.”

“Is the security system ever off?” Gregor asked her. “Are those doors ever unlocked?”

“During the daytime, yes, Mr. Demarkian. But we lock up here at six o’clock. Before six o’clock, this house is a very busy place indeed. Do you really think Mr. Bollander could have come in through one of these four doors and wandered around for I don’t know how long—or even just walked down one of these corridors. These are the main arteries of the house. Before six o’clock they would have been full of people.”

“This one isn’t full of people,” Gregor pointed out. “Not now.”

Reverend Mother General made a short jabbing gesture with her hand, impatient. “That’s because I’ve got everybody up front, trying to keep them busy enough so they don’t brood. On a normal day the room across the hall from this one would have had Raphael and John Damascene in it, packaging catechisms to be sent out to our outreach missions. And three doors down you would have had Sister Clare, answering letters about the beatification and sending out brochures to girls who have expressed interest in joining the order.”

“What about the other doors?” Gregor asked. “There was a door off that hall that led outside.”

“Yes, there was. And there are four of them, too, in the corners on the outside perimeter of the center of the cross. And yes, they’re unlocked and not connected to the alarms in the daytime. But it is the daytime, Mr. Demarkian. And those doors are locked just like everything else at six. They’re on a central switch. That switch is in my office.”

“Someone could have gotten into your office.”

“True,” Reverend Mother General said. “They could have walked in any time they liked. That is never locked. They couldn’t have tampered with the switch, however, because to work it you have to have the key, and the only key there is in this house is right here on my key ring. It was there when I locked up last night. It was there when I unlocked this morning. It was hanging on my belt in my cell all last night and I know that perfectly well because I am a very light sleeper. Of course, there is an override.”

“An override?”

“On the front door there is a special lock that takes a special key that overrides the system, for emergencies. That key is also on my key ring. It has not left it.”