Read Online Chianti Classico by Coralie Hughes Jensen - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Coralie Hughes Jensen
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Angela.
“Again, I want to apologize for being late. I took the time to bathe and change my habit before we came. I washed it out, but it’s difficult to clear out all the dust in that little room.”
Mother Faustine handed a coffee to Sister Daniela before sitting in one of the free chairs. “Please, what made you try to go into that dirty crawlspace to begin with?”
“I noticed when I came into work in the basement the morning following Pia’s disappearance that the back door was unlocked. I was alone and went looking for my students. They were lined up along the walls on the ground floor. I found out Pia was missing then. We decided the children who may have seen Pia’s departure should come down to class and draw pictures of what they witnessed. While my older students supervised the art lesson, I stepped out and locked the back door. Then Evelina and I decided to check the laundry room at the end of the hall. It was empty, though it’s usually in use most of the week.”
“What made you think of the laundry room?”
“I don’t know. I guess we should’ve left it to the police, but the police weren’t accustomed to seeing it on a daily basis. We went in and discovered that the grate on a vent in the back corner looked as if someone had tampered with it. Today I decided to have Detective Sergeant Sacco accompany me to the laundry room so we could check it out further.”
“I don’t understand,” said Sister Liona. “You said the door to the outside was unlocked when you came in. I would assume the kidnapper entered and exited through the back door.”
“Perhaps. One of the children saw a nun in the vineyard next door that night. The old nun could easily have entered through the back door after she walked to the gate near the road and then hiked to the basement door in the rear of the orphanage. But where did she come from before that?”
“I’m not sure that helps us,” said Sister Liona
“It’s just that I had a feeling there was more. The detective sergeant and I soon discovered there wasn’t a duct in the wall behind the grate.”
“Could the nun and Pia have crawled through the space?” asked Mother Faustine.
“Probably not. It was too tiny. But when I turned off the ceiling bulb, there was light shining through the hole. That wall’s in the middle of the house. Where was the light coming from? We went outside and noticed windows along the far wall. They weren’t big and half of them had soil pushed against them from the hill rising to the front of the house. Even though Elmo tried to convince me it was just crawlspace below that part of the house, I decided there had to be another entrance. I scoured the cleaning closet, removing most of the supplies. When I didn’t find anything, I left them on the floor and moved to the cloak closet. I confess I have to clean up the supply closet tomorrow morning before class. The cloak closet was neat but not perfect. I noticed that boots lined up against the back wall were pulled forward. I moved the jackets and found that I could open a door by pulling on the rack.”
“Why didn’t we know about this?” asked Mother Faustine.
“It wasn’t in the plans,” said Sister Natalia. “We’ve tugged on the rack dozens of times, at least twice a year, depending on the season. Nothing ever opened up for me.”
“Perhaps nothing opened because it was well sealed before that night. I could feel air brushing my cheek. That meant the secret door wasn’t really shut tight when I entered.”
“What did you find?” asked Mother Faustine.
“The room wasn’t as bright as I thought, though some light was shining in through two of the small windows. The second the door opened, a cloud of dust and dirt rose like a tornado. If the culprit was in there, she must not have been inside long because it would’ve been difficult to breathe. I struggled to get a window open to let out the dust. All the panes were stuck except the one at the back wall.
“Again, I want to apologize for being late. I took the time to bathe and change my habit before we came. I washed it out, but it’s difficult to clear out all the dust in that little room.”
Mother Faustine handed a coffee to Sister Daniela before sitting in one of the free chairs. “Please, what made you try to go into that dirty crawlspace to begin with?”
“I noticed when I came into work in the basement the morning following Pia’s disappearance that the back door was unlocked. I was alone and went looking for my students. They were lined up along the walls on the ground floor. I found out Pia was missing then. We decided the children who may have seen Pia’s departure should come down to class and draw pictures of what they witnessed. While my older students supervised the art lesson, I stepped out and locked the back door. Then Evelina and I decided to check the laundry room at the end of the hall. It was empty, though it’s usually in use most of the week.”
“What made you think of the laundry room?”
“I don’t know. I guess we should’ve left it to the police, but the police weren’t accustomed to seeing it on a daily basis. We went in and discovered that the grate on a vent in the back corner looked as if someone had tampered with it. Today I decided to have Detective Sergeant Sacco accompany me to the laundry room so we could check it out further.”
“I don’t understand,” said Sister Liona. “You said the door to the outside was unlocked when you came in. I would assume the kidnapper entered and exited through the back door.”
“Perhaps. One of the children saw a nun in the vineyard next door that night. The old nun could easily have entered through the back door after she walked to the gate near the road and then hiked to the basement door in the rear of the orphanage. But where did she come from before that?”
“I’m not sure that helps us,” said Sister Liona
“It’s just that I had a feeling there was more. The detective sergeant and I soon discovered there wasn’t a duct in the wall behind the grate.”
“Could the nun and Pia have crawled through the space?” asked Mother Faustine.
“Probably not. It was too tiny. But when I turned off the ceiling bulb, there was light shining through the hole. That wall’s in the middle of the house. Where was the light coming from? We went outside and noticed windows along the far wall. They weren’t big and half of them had soil pushed against them from the hill rising to the front of the house. Even though Elmo tried to convince me it was just crawlspace below that part of the house, I decided there had to be another entrance. I scoured the cleaning closet, removing most of the supplies. When I didn’t find anything, I left them on the floor and moved to the cloak closet. I confess I have to clean up the supply closet tomorrow morning before class. The cloak closet was neat but not perfect. I noticed that boots lined up against the back wall were pulled forward. I moved the jackets and found that I could open a door by pulling on the rack.”
“Why didn’t we know about this?” asked Mother Faustine.
“It wasn’t in the plans,” said Sister Natalia. “We’ve tugged on the rack dozens of times, at least twice a year, depending on the season. Nothing ever opened up for me.”
“Perhaps nothing opened because it was well sealed before that night. I could feel air brushing my cheek. That meant the secret door wasn’t really shut tight when I entered.”
“What did you find?” asked Mother Faustine.
“The room wasn’t as bright as I thought, though some light was shining in through two of the small windows. The second the door opened, a cloud of dust and dirt rose like a tornado. If the culprit was in there, she must not have been inside long because it would’ve been difficult to breathe. I struggled to get a window open to let out the dust. All the panes were stuck except the one at the back wall.
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