Bad Habit (3 page)

Teri straightened. “You can’t help me. I just needed
to see you before I leave.”

Bernie felt her chest constrict. The pain was purely
selfish because she was losing the last remnant of her pre-convent
life. “Where are you going?”

“
I don’t know yet. The men who
killed Colin saw me. If they find me, I’m dead.” She sighed. “I
wish I could hide out with you at the convent in
Ireland.”

Bernie clapped her hands, joy surging in her heart.
“San Antonio! You can go to San Antonio and be me at St. Pius.”

Teri laughed, seeming to forget for a moment all her
misery. “I couldn’t be you on my best day.”

“
Sure you can. I’m easy. It’s hard
to be Teri Slaughter. It’s a snap to be me. You can become Sister
Bernie.”

“
I don’t understand.” Teri shook her
head.

“
I’ve been praying about a
decision. Perhaps this is the reason I wasn’t able to choose.”
Bernie squeezed Teri’s hand. “I’ve been offered a transfer to our
sister convent in San Antonio. They have a beautiful campus and I
could teach all art classes. We have fewer students here and I have
to teach freshman English as well, but this is a much smaller
convent and we’re all very close.”

Teri wrinkled her brow. “What are you thinking?”

“
In a few days, I’ll go to Ireland
and when I return I’ll come back here. You go straight to San
Antonio now and pretend to be me.”

“
And how could I do that?” Teri bit
her lip as she always did when she was scared.

“
We look so much alike,” Bernie
said. “Take off your make-up and cut your hair. St. Pius will be
thrilled that Sister Bernie transferred and they won’t guess that
you’re not me. Call the Mother Superior at St. Pius and tell her
you’re coming. How could you be safer than behind convent
walls?”

Teri gazed at Bernie in awe. She
looked like the same little girl who’d grown up idolizing her big
sister. “Won’t you get in trouble, Bernie?”

“
Not a problem. I can be reprimanded
but it’s difficult for a nun to get fired.” Bernie hugged Teri and
laughed. “Not for protecting my baby sis. I think this is God’s way
of letting me off the hook. Maybe He had this in mind for you all
along.”

Teri had made a scoffing noise in the back of her
throat. “Somehow, I find it difficult to believe that God would
kill my boyfriend just to make me a better person.”

Bernie gasped in shock. “I don’t
believe that was what happened. God knows all things. Perhaps He
provided this means for protecting you until the murderers can be
brought to justice.”

“
Justice,” Teri echoed.

The plan was hatched. Bernie would go to Ireland and
quietly return to Maine for the school term and Teri would go to
San Antonio and hide among the good sisters of St Pius School and
Convent.

#

Angel Garcia checked into a nearby
motel. He always returned to visit his family at Christmas but
never in the summertime. He didn’t remember the San Antonio from
his childhood being so hot. In late August, it was humid and he
might as well have been in the tropics for all the heat. He cranked
the air conditioning down and hung his damp New York City suit in
the closet.

Opening his briefcase, he spread
the case files on the king-size bed, arranging them in
chronological order.

Colin Dowd, young ad agency
executive had been shot to death. His office and apartment had been
turned upside down and the girlfriend, Teri Slaughter, was
missing.

No signs of foul play at her place.
Everything was in apple pie order. Her suitcases were stacked in
her dressing room, still packed from the trip.

Colin had apparently dropped her
off and gone by his office. A bad decision, as it turned
out.

The cleaning crew discovered his
body at approximately seven-fifteen that evening, narrowing the
time of death to a two hour window of opportunity. Security tapes
showed several people getting off the elevator on Colin’s floor
after hours.

Teri Slaughter entered the elevator
close to six and came back down thirty minutes later, carrying a
dark zipper bag on both trips. The difference in Teri’s demeanor in
the two sequences was monumental. When she rode up she looked
almost gleeful but on the trip down, she appeared to be in a daze.
Either her boyfriend was dead when she got there and she hung
around for thirty minutes before leaving or they got into a fight
and she killed him.

The recovered bullet showed
evidence that a silencer had been used, making it premeditated.
Teri might have brought the gun in the bag and carried it out the
same way.

Angel rubbed the back of his neck.
If Teri Slaughter didn’t kill Colin Dowd, then why hadn’t she
called the police? What was she afraid of?

Her car was located at the airport
with a bullet hole in the door. The bullet had been matched to the
one recovered from Colin Dowd’s head, silencer markings and
all.

But Teri hadn’t boarded any
commercial airline. She just disappeared.
Has she been abducted?
Was she
forced onto a private plane?

Angel had searched her apartment
and talked to her neighbors. He sifted through a mountain of
photographs, admiring a beautiful young woman who appeared to be on
top of the world. He noted the labels in her clothes. She was a
rich girl who liked expensive things. He couldn’t understand why
she would kill her lover, abandon her successful life and
disappear?

He held a color photograph taken of her at the helm
of her boyfriend’s sailboat. Her hair was blowing in the wind and
she was grinning. Her slim tanned body was encased in a sleek white
bathing suit. Teri’s cheekbones were more pronounced than her
sister’s but it might be because she was thinner. The hair was the
same color, just much longer. And the eyes were the same, almost an
aquamarine color with a darker ring around the iris. Sister
Bernadette was also a beauty, though not a glamour girl like
Teri.

Angel replaced the photos and
reports in his briefcase. He was no closer to a solution than he’d
been in New York. He’d thought that keeping tabs on Sister
Bernadette might bring him closer to Teri Slaughter. She was his
only lead.

He’d readily accepted the
assignment. Angel had a lot of family in San Antonio and he thought
he might get a chance to visit them if he could wrap this case
quickly.

He had no local back-up nor
technical support. He was way out of his league, but he could
hardly admit it when the trail led him home and to the convent of
the enigmatic Sister Bernie.

#

Being around the students was a
delight. Some of the girls had real talent though most were taking
Art as an easy elective. Teri followed the curriculum and figured
out how to write lesson plans. Her education and artistic abilities
gave her the basis to slide into Bernie’s persona. Thankfully, most
of the girls were highly motivated and Teri only had to introduce a
new medium for them to take off with it.

Teri looked up from the computer
she shared with her apartment mates. She had been completely
engrossed in writing her lesson plans and hadn’t heard the door
open.

Sister Clement placed a large
cookie on a paper napkin beside her.

“
Clemmie!” Teri shouted in delight.
“You really shouldn’t have. I’m way too fat and my clothes don’t
fit.”

“
You’re all bones,” Clemmie said.
“Sister Paul made a fresh batch and I snagged some for us.” She bit
into a cookie and smiled. “They’re still warm.”

“
You’re the best, Clem.” Teri bit
into the fragrant cookie.

“
Are you about finished with your
lesson plans?” Clem kept her naturally curly ginger-colored hair
swept back in a pony tail in a valiant effort to control
it.

“
Just about,” Teri said. “This is
my least favorite task. Mother Immaculata wants them turned in
every Friday. I’m usually late so I thought I’d try to get done
early for a change.”

Clem crinkled her freckle dappled
nose at her. “That’s the spirit! It’s best to tackle the job you
like least and get it over with.”

Teri had always believed that. At
the agency she took on the worst accounts and made them love her.
She had the reputation for making their lemons into something
beyond lemonade. More like lemon cream pie.

“
How come you don’t have to struggle
with lesson plans, Clemmie?”

“
I’ve taught the same classes for
the past three years. History is history. It doesn’t change. I have
lesson plans all written out for two semesters of American history
and two semesters of World history. I change the date on the
computer and print out a fresh copy for each week.” Clemmie smiled
and brushed the cookie crumbs from her slight mustache. “Don’t
worry. Next year you can recycle all your work from this
year.”

Teri looked back at the computer
screen. Surely she wouldn’t have to be here next year. Surely she
would be able to go back to her real life soon.

Perhaps this Angel Garcia wasn’t
associated with the killer cop and would honestly look at some
other clue besides the missing Teri Slaughter. She sighed
heavily.
I have to trust someone
sometime
.

#

CHAPTER THREE

When Angel’s cell phone rang he recognized the
caller as local. He answered quickly.

“
Detective Garcia?” She sounded
fearful.

“
Sister Bernadette, this is a
surprise.” Angel recognized her voice immediately. “Have you heard
from your sister?”

“
No, Detective,” Teri said. “I do
have some information for you. I’d prefer to discuss it with you in
person.”

“
Of course,” he said. “Do you want
me to come to the convent?”

“
No. There’s a small café a couple
of blocks from the convent. It’s on Martin Street at Fifteenth. Can
you meet me?”

“
Of course, Sister,” he said. “When
can you be there?”

“
It will take me about ten
minutes.”

“
I’ll meet you in ten.” Angel
grinned. At last this case was going to break. He’d known she was
holding something back.

True to her word she walked into
the Riviera Café ten minutes after she hung up the
phone.

Angel stood up as she neared,
experiencing a clutch in his chest as he took in her appearance.
She looked trim and attractive in jeans and a knit shirt. She
flashed him a grin, startling him with its resemblance to the
famous Teri Slaughter smile. All the white teeth and a quick spark
of dimples.

“
Detective,” she breathed. She held
out her hand and he clasped it warmly before pulling out a chair
for her. She was relaxed and self possessed, not like she’d been
earlier. She must have talked to Teri.

“
I could have picked you up,” he
said. “I didn’t realize you had to walk. It’s almost
nine-thirty.”

“
I like walking.” She dropped into
the chair and lifted her chin to gaze at him.

“
It’s dark outside, Sister.” Angel
pulled out the adjacent chair and sat down beside her. “It’s
dangerous for a woman to walk alone at night.”

“
I’m not a woman,” she laughed. “I’m
a nun.”

“
The person attacking you might not
know that.”

“
You’re right. I didn’t think.” Her
wide innocent gaze stirred some deeply hidden desire to protect
her. He reminded himself that this woman was way off
limits.

A waitress approached and offered
menus.

“
I’ll just have iced tea,” she
said.

“
Make it two.” He stared at her
encouragingly.

“
I may have mislead you,
Detective,” she said.

He grinned.
Knew it! Come to Daddy
.

“
It was a sin of omission.” She
looked down at her hands with a shy expression. “I knew about the
murder. My sister contacted me just after Colin was killed. She’s
been hiding since then.”

“
For God’s sake!” He bit off his
words. “I’m sorry, Sister, I mean, please go on.”

“
Call me Bernie.” She flashed the
smile again.

Angel raked his fingers through his hair. “Okay,
Bernie. Tell me what happened.”

“
Colin was dead when Teri found
him. She hid in the closet when the killers returned.”

Angel’s heart rate increased, but
he tried to keep his expression neutral. “You’re telling me she can
identify the killers?”

The waitress set large glasses of
iced tea in front of them.

She squeezed her lemon in no
apparent hurry. The spoon tinkling against her glass sounded
unnaturally loud as it echoed against the hard surfaces in the
confined space.

“
Go on, Bernie,” he urged,
struggling to keep his cool.

She leaned forward in a
conspiratorial manner. “Apparently, one of the men killed Colin
over money. Then, in the parking garage, the killer shot at her.
They know who she is. She’s terrified.”

He frowned at her. “Your sister
found the body and saw the killers?”