“Angry?Well, I suppose they appeared disappointed but I don’t know that I saw anger.Then again, my eyes aren’t what they used to be.”
“Have they tried to contact you, Sister?” asked Eric.
“Oh, heavens no.I suppose they’re far too busy to worry about me.”
“One more question, Sister.Was the orphanage compensated in any way for the children that were sent to the hospital?Even a donation?” asked Luke.
“I wouldn’t know that,” she said.“The Mother Superior would have handled that.”
“How do we reach her?” asked Hex.
“Through God, I suppose,” she smiled.“She died of a heart attack about four months ago, a few months after the fire.Strange though.She ran marathons for fun.She was known as the Speeding Sister.I can’t see how she would have had a bad heart.”
The men all stared at one another and then back at Sister Gladys.Luke nodded at her.
“Yes.That does seem odd.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The men were quiet leaving Houma and Sister Gladys.They asked the young man at the front desk to promise to call them should anyone suspicious come to speak with her.No one questioned Eric when he turned off toward the now burned down orphanage.
As they pulled up to the shell of a, no doubt, once beautiful building, they could still smell the charred embers.The outside was brick but the windows, doors, and everything else were damaged beyond repair.They weren’t looking forward to entering this building, the last building associated with this case leaving enough nightmares for a lifetime.
But this time they needed to look for something specific, something that could tell them what happened that night.
“Be careful,” said Hex standing at the open front door.They made their way through the deserted building, finding their way to the old kitchen.
Eric kneeled down, rubbing the ashes between his fingers and then holding them to his nose.
“Ace?What did the fire investigation report say?” asked Eric.
“What I told you.Paper towels too close to the burner.”
“No.No, that’s a lie.It’s been months and I can still smell the kerosene and gasoline.This was intentionally set with the kids inside.Who was the fire investigator?”
“I’ll look into it and let you know.”
“They were trying to kill her and anyone else in this building,” said Cam.“I’m going to bet that the Mother Superior was here that night as well.Maybe Sister Gladys wasn’t the target at all.They needed to cover their tracks.”
“Let’s see if we can find anything that would tell us about why they kept coming back to this place,” said Luke.
It was hours of searching before they all looked at their watches and realized they’d been gone longer than expected.In spite of smelling like smoke and ash, they raced home to have dinner with the family.
The children were still enjoying their new instruments and Sutton was seated with the old guard, laughing and talking about all the animals she saw.
“Well, you look a lot happier than the last time I saw you,” smiled Luke.
“You smell funny,” she said with a wrinkled nose.“But yes, I’m happy.The animals were so cool!I touched a giraffe and a snake!A big snake!”
“That is pretty cool,” smiled Eric.“Maybe one day you’ll want to be an animal doctor, a veterinarian.”
“I think her calling may be elsewhere,” smirked Ian.“Seems our little Sutton here is quite a strategist.She was able to figure out which restaurants, grocery stores, and gas stations were in the radius of wherever they were staying, the times they opened and closed, and the best time to take leftovers or dumpster dive.She worked them in a clockwise pattern, never visiting the same place twice in the same two-week period, and always worked her way outward.”
“That’s impressive,” smiled Hex.“It takes men in the military years to figure out how to do things like that.”She smiled up at him, blushing and looked at Ghost.
“Mister Ghost said I might be able to go to college one day.”
“I think Mister Ghost is right,” said Luke.“Everyone gets that chance here at Belle Fleur.”
