Il Pane Della Vita (35 page)

In the office again, the nun pushed Brother Pascal aside as she grabbed the receiver. She dialed the number. “Monte, please pick up this message before you’re out of range. Go immediately to the hermitage and climb from there down to the waterfall. Brother Salvatore is in great danger. He doesn’t know it yet, but he’s about to become another victim.”

Sister Angela put down the receiver and began to run out the door.

“Sister,” said Brother Pascal, moving
over to open the abbot’s door. “Where are you going?”

“I have to catch Brother Salvatore. He’s in trouble.”

The door slowly closed after the nun’s sudden departure.“

Father Rafaello stood and emerged from his office. “Where’s she going?”

“She’s running up the trail to try and save Brother Salvatore. He’s evidently in grave trouble. She came in here and called the police, instructing them to drive to the top and descend on the trail by the
eremo
.”

“Run and get two water bottles from Brother Alonzo. I’m going after her,” Father Rafaello said, pulling his robe over his head to reveal a linen shirt and jeans. “While you’re getting the bottles, I’ll get my sneakers. Sandals tend to slow me down when I go uphill.”

Brother Pascal was back in a flash handed him a backpack with a water bottle in each side pouch. “There’s a knife in the center pouch,” the monk explained. “I—I wasn’t sure you would want to use it, but there’s a brother and a nun under your care. We want to see all of you come back.”

The abbot stood for a half second, dumfounded. “I’ll pray for your soul, Brother,” he said as he disappeared out the office door.

He would not hear Brother Pascal’s “thank you” as he ran out onto the front portico. With a steady jog, he ran up the road and turned off at the beginning of the track that would eventually lead to the hermitage.

Sister Angela was not that far
up the trail. She had to slow down and climb the hill at a steady pace. She heard him coming and turned to glimpse a handsome middle-age man approaching her. When he was beside her, he handed her a bottle of water.

The nun smiled. “You act
ually look healthier in your street clothes.”

“I’m a better abbot when my charges think that I’m on my way out of this world. They actually see me as wise. At least you have your sneakers on, Sister.”

“And the fact that you’re winded makes you a king among monks. I put my sneakers on because I was waiting for the police, and in my capacity as a detective, I have to at least look the part a little.”

“It’s good that we’re in a forest, Sister. We ar
e both so winded that we are filling the trees with our carbon dioxide. What’s the plan? I’m afraid I’m not up to speed.”

“Brother Salvatore wasn’
t at the monastery when I rose for breakfast. Had he been there, I would have told him about a visitor I had in my room last night. We needed to prove who the green-eyed monk at the
eremo
was.”

“Do we have any green-eyed monks?”

“You tell me. Brother Pietro had a guest come a few times a week over the last few months of his life. The doormen at the
hermitage told me she was his niece, and they didn’t have to monitor the comings and goings of relatives. She was actually his daughter who was born before he went to seminary,” she added quickly. “When I went to Roma, I visited the daughter, Gina. She said she recognized a monk, in a robe that looked more like one of yours than the ones the hermits wear, walking by when she was being entertained in Brother Pietro’s yard.” Sister Angela took another sip of water. “She recognized him as an employee of Busto Sistemi, her grandfather’s company. That’s the company that Brother Pietro came from before he was ordained.”

“I don’t see how you put the clues together, but I assume what’s happening now has something to do with these relationships.”

“We discovered that Brother Valente was in possession of the weapon that killed Brother Pietro. Brother Bruno installed new software on Brother Valente’s computer, and when Brother Valente’s back was turned, he stole the knife. Oh, don’t worry. I’m sure it was pirated, and you won’t get an invoice for it.”

“
Does Brother Bruno have green eyes?”

“That’s good, Father. You remembered. No, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”

“Ah, I guess you can explain that one later.”

“So, I came home from talking to Gina and asking Busto Sistemi
to send me information on a middle-aged man with green eyes who used to work at Busto Sistemi. I got onto my laptop and found that the file containing all my notes was missing. I called Brother Bruno and asked him to come find it on my hard drive. He couldn’t find it so I told him never mind. I had notes on the case in my red-striped bag. I pointed to a bag on the floor propped up against the couch. During the night I was awakened by the wind blowing into my room. I got up and shut the window and went back to bed. Before I fell back to sleep, I heard the keycard in the door.”

“Why didn’t you call using your phone?”

“The phone is in the sitting room near the laptop. I wanted the visitor to steal the bag. I’d already taken my notes out of it and replaced it with blank paper, which I suppose he saw before suggesting he accompany Brother Salvatore to the waterfall. After he left, I felt more at ease and went back to sleep. When I awoke, I planned to tell Brother Salvatore that Brother Bruno was our murderer, but alas, Brother Salvatore and Brother Bruno had already left.”

The two hikers slowed
their pace, and Sister Angela leaned against a tree trunk to catch her breath.

“I can go on ahead, Sister. I think I can go faster than you can. If the police did get your message, they may already be there. It’s not so far from the top.”

“Yes I may be holding you back. Please go as fast as you can, but don’t be surprised if you find me passing you.” She pushed off the trunk and picked up her pace.

Brother Salvatore and Brother Bruno had taken their time climbing the mountain and had arrived at the waterfall just an hour earlier.

“What are we looking for?”

“A note of some
sort,” said Brother Salvatore. “I thought you said you had seen something.”

“Did I?
Did you look behind the waterfall? Isn’t that where you found the weapon?”

Brother Salvatore’s left eyebrow went up. “I didn’t say where I’d found the weapon.”

“Ah, Sister Angela told me last night when she couldn’t find the file that she had accidently deleted. She was so embarrassed. She explained that you would have to go up today to find the note from Gina asking Brother Pietro to meet her at the waterfall because you missed it when you found the knife.”

“Yes, the note. I just don’t know where to look. I’ll take
this side of the pond, and you look around the far side.”

The two separated and began to scour the bushes,
searching under rocks and leaves.

“Man, this is impossible,”
said Brother Bruno, squatting on the edge of the pond and splashing water on his head and neck. “Hey, I left my backpack on that side. Can you lob it to me?”

“Sure,” said Brother Salvatore, tossing the bag over the pond behind Brother Bruno. “Do you have water in that thing?”

“No, I’m out too.”

“So Gina wrote a note for
him.”

“Yes,” said Brother Bruno.
“That’s what Sister Angela told me. She said Gina wrote a note to lure him down here. She was going to ask you to find it. That would prove that Gina killed Brother Pietro. I heard that she had a temper. A few of the
eremiti
used to whisper that they heard her screaming at Brother Pietro. One of the times she got angry, she threw a glass of red wine at him. There was glass and wine on the carpet, and a big old stain on his curtains.”

“Did the
eremiti
tell Father Rafaello? If not, why not?”

“Probably not. More likely they told Brother Francisco. They knew he wouldn’t talk because it was in confession.”