Page 24

“Hey, Jenna?” called Sly walking into the cafeteria. “You’ve had a couple of voicemails on your cell phone from a Sister Frances. She says she needs to speak with you.”

“I don’t really want to speak with her,” she said shaking her head.

“Then you don’t have to,” said Nash.

“Just knowing what she did, what she was trying to do to me makes me feel terrible. Although,” she hesitated, “she could be calling to apologize.”

“I’d like to believe that’s the truth, honey, but I’m not sure that’s why she’s calling. It could be but she didn’t really seem remorseful for what she’d done,” said Matthew.

“Can I think about calling her back?” asked Jenna.

“Of course you can,” said Nash. “When you want to return her call, we can all be there to hear what she has to say. Just to be certain she’s not trying to do anything strange.”

“Strange?”

“Well, she could be trying to locate you,” said Nine. “If she knew where you were staying, she could attempt to come here.”

“I don’t want to see her. I’m going to pray on this for a while,” she said standing from the table where the group was seated. They all nodded at her as she moved toward Bree and Ashley, obviously needing to speak with them.

“Matthew, I know you’re a praying man,” said Nash, “but that woman means nothing good by calling her. I can feel it in my bones.”

“I’m afraid I would agree with you. She’s truly hoping for that man to turn out to be a good person and to come back for her. Poor woman is delusional and eventually might harm herself or others,” said Matthew.

“Should we let the convent know?” asked Nine.

“I feel as if they might already know. From what I heard, she’s not allowed to leave the convent grounds any longer.”

Alec, Tailor, Angel, and Gabe walked in, nodding at the table. They took their seats, grabbing pieces of cornbread from the basket on the table.

“They found Bolchek’s body in a ditch,” said Gabe. “He was shot twice in the head. My guess is that Killer didn’t like what he had to say to him when he asked where we were located.”

“He’s got no one and that’s going to make him desperate and dangerous,” said Gaspar. “Where is he now?”

“That, we don’t know,” said Alec. “The building was vacant, nothing left inside except some elephant and bison shit. Other than that, nothing. It looks like all of the men have left. No one that was Abilene continued this way. They all went their separate ways. Whatever Valentina did to them, worked.”

“She’s good at what she does,” smiled Nash.

“And what is it exactly that she does?” asked Tailor.

“She can feel peoples hate and love and manipulate it. She has the ability to turn hate into love and love to hate. It’s been very handy on occasion forcing in-fighting with groups that were coming for us. Her only challenge is that she has to be much closer than most of the rest of us.”

“Let’s keep a tight hold on that,” said Gaspar. “I don’t want her risking her neck for anyone. We’ve dealt with a lot of hate in our time. It’s not going away any time soon.”

“I know he’ll come for me,” she whispered to herself. “I’ve paid my penance for my sins and God will look after me. He’ll be here. He loves me, I know he loves me.”

“Sister Frances? Are you alright?” asked the Novice.

“Yes. Yes, I’m fine child. Just talking to myself,” she laughed. The young woman smiled, nodding at her and continued to walk toward her own rooms. The gates were locked, the church closed for the night but for some reason she wasn’t able to sleep.

“Psst! Hey, over here,” said the voice.

Frances stared off into the darkness trying to see if there was anyone there or if she were imagining things.

“Sweetheart, it’s me. I know you remember me,” he smiled from the fence.

Frances stood and started to walk toward him, not believing her eyes. The last time he was here was to ensure that she helped him to prevent Jenna from speaking to the police. He was angry when she couldn’t do it.

“Harry? Harry is that you?” she cried. He cringed at the use of his Christian name but nodded at her.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s me baby,” he cooed.

“I knew you would come for me,” she said. The sounds of the young novices walking along the covered path toward their rooms made her turn and crouch down so as to not be seen.

“Who are they?” he asked.

“They’re all young women about to become nuns.”

“Is that right?” he smiled. “How many do you have here?”

“Twenty-three right now. Sometimes we have more. Why do you ask that? Aren’t you here for me?” she asked with big sad eyes.

“Of course I am, sweetheart,” he said reaching through the bars, stroking her face. “Frances, our son was murdered.”

“I know,” she said nodding her head.

“How did you find out?” he frowned.

“A man, a very strange man came to tell me. He seemed to know everything even that I was his mother.”

“What did you tell him?” he growled gripping her wrist.

“I didn’t tell him anything! I swear,” she cried out. “He knew it all. He knew everything about us, me and you and our son.”

Killer stared at the woman, shaking his head. She was nothing really to look at. Plain, slightly plump, obviously no make-up and nothing done to her hair. He’d enjoyed her body but he never intended it to go any further than that.

“Where is she, Frances? Where did Sister Agatha go?” he asked.

“She doesn’t go by that any longer. She left the convent and the order like you wanted. She’s with some people somewhere else, but I don’t know where. I’ve tried calling her but she doesn’t return my calls.”

“I get it. I’ve been trying to find her and not having much luck.” Three more novices walked toward their rooms and Killer felt his dick stir. These women were perfect for what he needed to present to Ferdinand. More than what he’d promised, all virgins. Truly fresh meat.

“Where’s the Mother Superior?” he asked.

“She isn’t here. She had to visit another convent further north. She’ll be back in a few days.”

He looked behind her once again, then turned to ensure that no one was watching him. Taking her hand, he held it to his chest, then kissed the back of her fingers.

“I’ve missed you so much, Frances. We should have married,” he smiled.

“We should have,” she gasped nodding at him with tears in her eyes.

“I think we should run away. We should make a family of our own somewhere else.”

“I-I’m not sure I can have children any longer,” she said in a sad, child-like voice.

“We can always find children, baby. Do you trust me?”

She stared at him, for the first time unsure of how she should respond to that. Did she trust him? She thought she did but he’d always let her down.

“Frances?”

“Y-yes. I trust you.”

“Good girl. Because I’ve got a plan that’s going to make both of us very, very happy and quite possibly very rich.”

“Will I have to hurt anyone?” she asked.

“Baby, I would never ask you to hurt anyone. That’s what I’m for. Are you with me, Frances?”

“Yes. I’m with you.”