True Believers(104)

“You never said it,” Peter Rose said. Then she turned to Gregor again. “It’s true, you know. I am a flake, at least a little bit. I should have realized she was up to something. Even Thomasetta noticed there was something very odd. It just never occurred to me.”

“Thomasetta?” Gregor said.

“You met her last night,” Garry said. “Older nun. She was on duty in the main office when Sister Harriet first came looking for Sister Scholastica.”

“I remember,” Gregor said.

“The thing is,” Sister Peter Rose said, “it didn’t make sense, not really. I mean, Sister Harriet never came looking for Sister Scholastica. She phoned up and demanded that Sister come visit her. If you know what I mean. She was just so—she thought that we were all terrible for wearing habits, that was one thing. And she wanted everybody to know she had an important position in the parish, as parish coordinator, and that she wasn’t just another parochial-school nun. Although what’s more important in the life of a parish than running the school, I don’t know. Oh. Except for celebrating the Eucharist, of course.”

“Of course,” Gregor said. “And you—you work in the office?”

“Oh, no, not usually,” Sister Peter Rose said. “I teach second grade. And I serve as vice principal, you know, which means I’m supposed to mete out the discipline when it’s necessary, but I’m not very good at that—”

“She’s a marshmallow,” Sister Scholastica said.

Sister Peter Rose blushed. “I’m a marshmallow. It’s true. And most of the kids who get sent to me are just boys who have too much energy, and they’re bored. It’s terrible what we do to boys, trying to make them sit still in a classroom for six hours a day.”

“But you were in the office yesterday,” Gregor said.

“Yes,” Peter Rose agreed. “I was. It’s First Communion  , you see. They’re all going to make their First Communion  s right after Easter. And they had practice—”

“Practice?” Gregor said.

“How to walk in lines and how to kneel the right way and that kind of thing,” Peter Rose said. “And, you know, singing. Only, Mrs. Giametti was doing the practice. She’s the head of our CCD—”

“CCD?” Gregor asked.

“Confraternity of Christian Doctrine,” Scholastica said. “A fancy name for catechism for children in public schools.”

“The public-school children and the St. Anselm’s children are all going to make their First Holy Communion  s together,” Peter Rose said, “and Angelina—Mrs. Giametti—wanted to drill our children so that she was sure they’d all be in sync when the time came. So I sent them over to the church with her, and I came over to my office to get some paperwork done. Did I tell you that the vice principal has an office?”

“I think he would have expected that,” Scholastica said.

“Yes, well.” Peter Rose blushed. “Anyway, I was there. When she came in. And she was looking for Scholastica.”

“She told you she was looking for Scholastica?” Gregor asked.

“No, she didn’t tell me anything at all. I don’t think she ever saw me. She went right past my door without saying hello.”

“Then how do you know she was looking for Scholastica?”

“She asked Thomasetta,” Sister Peter Rose said. “Thomasetta didn’t like her much. And she didn’t like Thomasetta much. You know how it is. But she asked Thomasetta, and Thomasetta told her that Scholastica was out.”

“This was when?” Gregor asked.

“About ten-thirty.”

“What did she do then?” Gregor asked. “Did she leave? Did she ask questions?”

“Thomasetta said something about where Scholastica was and where she had been, and then Sister Harriet walked down the hall and passed me again. And then she must have gone into Scholastica’s office—”

“Must have?” Gregor shook his head. “You mean you didn’t see her?”

“No,” Peter Rose admitted, “but I didn’t really have to see her. There are only two places to be down on that end of the hall. Either she went into Scholastica’s office, or she went out the fire door and down the stairs.”

“Why are you so sure she didn’t go out the fire door?”

“Because it screams like a banshee,” Scholastica said. “We have it oiled and oiled, but nothing seems to work. The hinge probably ought to be replaced.”

“So, the hinge didn’t scream,” Gregor said. “How do you know she didn’t just stand in the hall for a while?”