One of the black robes pulled out a cell phone and walked some feet away, dialing a number.
“You said an exorcism wasn’t an execution.” Raven turned accusing eyes on Father Kavanaugh. “You said he’d be alive!”
She struck him with her fists even as the medic continued to work a few feet away. The great Duomo echoed with her anguished cries and the sound of urgent prayers.
Chapter Fifty-Five
“APPARENTLY, SHE WASN’T POSSESSED. We had to sedate her, but the sedative will wear off in a few hours.”
“After that?”
“We will leave it to you to adjust her memories. The body is at the morgue. We’re waiting for it to be released.”
Raven sat in a small bedroom, staring at a crucifix on the wall.#p#分页标题#e#
Since she awoke, she’d been waiting for her mind to clear. Slowly, very slowly, her memories returned, along with scraps of conversation she must have overheard.
She remembered being taken by the black robes to the Jesuit safe house. She remembered Father Kavanaugh telling her William was dead. He’d been rushed to the hospital, but was dead on arrival.
She’d attacked the priest in a fury, screaming that he was a murderer. Black robes had restrained her while another plunged a needle into her vein.
She didn’t remember anything after that.
She’d awoken in a narrow bed, disoriented and feeling strangely subdued. The sedative had numbed her. She couldn’t cry or feel anger, even as her heart wept blood.
Raven sat quietly, waiting for her equilibrium to return, and took stock of her surroundings—a narrow bed, a chair, and a desk. A short bookcase that held a few books, all theological, stood next to the desk. A crucifix hung on the wall next to a brass rendering of the symbol of the Society of Jesus. A small window revealed the night sky and the barest sliver of moonlight.
She stretched her legs and stood, leaning against the bed. The sedative must have numbed her leg because she didn’t feel any discomfort.
She walked slowly to the door. It was locked.
Father Kavanaugh was no longer the benevolent man she’d thought he was. While he and the others truly seemed shocked that William had died, they couldn’t have been ignorant of the possibility. They’d shackled him and placed him in an incredibly stressful situation. Perhaps it was the power of suggestion, along with the stress, that killed him.
Raven didn’t believe in demons. She didn’t have a scientific explanation for the strange whirlwind or the disembodied voice, but she knew William had not been possessed.
She’d begged Father over and over again to free William. He could have intervened. He could have put a stop to the entire bizarre ritual. But he hadn’t. He and all the other black robes had simply stood and watched William die.
Murderers.
Father Kavanaugh and the Curia were now her enemies. They’d been duplicitous in their negotiations for peace and treacherous in their actions. The fact that the priest, who she’d trusted with William’s life, had betrayed them cut her deeply.
Listlessly, she returned to the bed and sat down. The window was too small to crawl out of, and she appeared to be on the second floor.
Perhaps an opportunity to escape would present itself before the Curia attempted to wipe away her memories.
She hugged her pillow, noticing that her gold bracelet was gone. The Curia must have taken it from her. The Curia had taken everything away from her.
She closed her eyes, trying with all her might to catalogue every moment, every word she’d exchanged with William, hoping some of the memories could be hidden from the Curia amongst the memories of her childhood and its own betrayals.
Raven awoke with a start.
The room was dark except for the moonlight that spilled onto the floor from the small window.
She’d been dreaming. She and William were walking in his garden, hand and hand, in bright sunlight. She’d broken down when she saw him, hardly able to say the words that expressed how relieved she was that he wasn’t dead.
He’d smiled at her gravely and opened his mouth to explain.
Something moved, making the sound of a broom sweeping across a floor.
The room was empty, save for the furniture. As she sat up in bed, she saw something.
She slid her legs over the side of the bed and unsteadily crossed to the door, bending to retrieve a piece of paper.
#p#分页标题#e#
She held it up in the moonlight.
Open the door and walk to the end of the hall. Take the staircase to the ground floor. Someone will be waiting for you.
-Sarah
Raven read the handwritten message twice before the words penetrated her foggy mind.
The paper was too solid in her hand to be a figment of imagination. She wondered if someone was manipulating her or if the letter had truly been written by the Sarah William had wanted her to find.