The Shadows Fall: Chapter 42

Jessica walked through the garden and back, around the familiar places, the game room, the solarium, under the trees where they had just made love the night before.  He was nowhere to be found.  Crushed, she went to Sister Rebecca Katherine, who was in the solarium praying, and quietly tapped her.  "Sister, I am sorry to interrupt you."

"Oh, that's all right dear.  It's getting on in the day, and we have big doings here today!  What can I do for ya?"

"Have you seen Devon?"

The nun thought carefully, and said, "Can't say that I have, not since he made his way back into the building late last night.  Ya might say he was covered in grass a bit."  She reached to the side of Jessica's hair and extracted a small twig.  Handing it to the younger woman, she said, "Haven't seen him since."

Jessica slumped to the chair, and put her ear onto her palm, resting her elbow on the table to prop her head up.  "Told you."

"What did you tell me, lass?  My memory seems to be failing me these days."

"I told you that I was afraid of ... falling for someone again.  He didn't say good-bye, nothing."

"Ah, that.  Well, let's not jump over the rainbow yet.  I'll go and check his room, will that be all right with you?"

"Yes, thank you."  Jessica stayed as the sister went to see if Devon was there.  She gazed back in her memory to the moments the night before, their time alone in the grove, him moving over her, and she trembled a little at the memory of his touch.  Sister Rebecca Katherine reappeared, not her jovial self.  

"He's gone.  There's not a trace of him.  Do you want to tell me what happened?"

Jessica began to cry, "I can't believe he left me.  He told me he loved me last night, and now..."

"There, there, dear.  Stop crying now.  You can't cry over spilled milk, they say, and you definitely can't cry over spilled whiskey."

Jessica looked at her quizzically.  "Huh?"

"Don't get yourself all upset over this.  Maybe he had to go, for some reason, and he'll contact you and let you know?"

Jessica sighed, "Maybe.  I feel foolish."

The nun said, "Love makes fools of people, it's just the way it is.  Now, let's get you some breakfast, because our guests are arriving soon and we all have to be ready for the celebratory rosary and mass."

***

Todd looked at Blair and she back at him.  "You always did make a great nun,"  he said.

"So did you, and it's not worn off either.  Glad you shaved, that never would have worked.  I like this outfit, you can't see my huge belly as much."

"Are you ready for this?"  he asked.

"Yep!  We get in, we get her, and we get out."

"Review the plan."

"Okay, we go in, we participate in the ceremony stuff, watching the Jessica carefully to make sure she's not approached by any guests.  Then, when the mass is over, we get her and just take her off with us to safety.  Does that sound right?"

"When the mass has ended, we go in peace,"  he said.

"Do you think this is going to work?"

"The very least it will do is get us in there to warn her and keep her safe."

"Devon's going to be with us, right?"

"Yeah, he said he'd meet us here.  Where the heck is he?"

At that moment, there was a knock on the penthouse door.  Todd opened it.  In his long hair and the skirts and scapular, Todd made Devon do a double take.  "Hi, I guess.  I really feel stupid in this."  Devon also had the traditional black habit of priests, with white accents and collar, which he carried in his hand.  "People must think I'm crazy.  Not sure I can do it."

"They don't think you're crazy, they think you're a priest.  Now put on the collar, and let's get out of here."  Todd said.  "I think it's better if you drive my SUV, in the limo, we'd be a spectacle."

"In the limo we'd be a spectacle?  How does it look for two nuns, one of which is pregnant, and a priest, to drive up on St. Anne's?  I mean, nothing against you two, but how can you really think you can get into there this way."

"Uh, trust me kid, we know.  Let's go.  Blair?"

"Right here, I was just getting a snack," she said, eating a chicken leg.  She threw away the remnants and wiped her hands and mouth.  "All right, let's go."

In the car, they solidified the details of the plan.  Devon would stick close to Jessica, and Todd and Blair would observe her from a bit of a distance.  All of them would keep her in their sights, careful not to draw attention to themselves as strangers.

When Devon pulled the car up in front of St. Anne's, the parking lot was overflowing with guests.  Nuns, priests, visitors, relatives, and friends roamed the area.  It was a sunny, cool spring day, just in time for The May Crowning.

"I can't believe we're doing this.  You said it worked before?"  Devon asked them, turning his head to them in the back seat.

"Yeah, and take those earphones out, before you give everything away,"  Todd said.

Devon looked in the mirror, "You're a man, dressed as a nun, and you're worried about my earphones?  Maybe, you should have just left your goatee and mustache and gone as Jesus."

Todd sneered at him, and said, "Look, we're old hats at this, what's your excuse?  Follow our lead.  Look how many nuns and fathers there are!  You'll fit right in.  Come up with a name, and act the part."

"I don't know, Father John?"

"Fine.  Pretend you can't speak English, it goes further."

After disembarking the vehicle, they went their separate ways.  Todd and Blair casually drifted among the swarms of nuns and guests, and without warning were approached by a jolly-looking sister in glasses, habit and headpiece.  "Ah, nice to see some more new faces, my dears, I'm Sister Rebecca Katherine.  Welcome to St. Anne's."

Todd changed his voice, and said, "I"m Sister Elizabeth Arden, and this is..."

"Sister Clinique," Blair responded, without thinking.  He elbowed her, and she smiled.

Todd said, "She doesn't speak much English, she's from the Holy Order of the French Quarter."

"I see, well, welcome, both of you, we'll be starting the rosary soon, just take your places in the pews."

Todd looked at Blair, "Sister Clinique?"  he whispered.

"How is that any worse than Sister Elizabeth Arden?"  she whispered back.

"At least I have two names!"

"We're going in to do the rosary now, Todd, you have to follow my lead."  She took rosary beads from her pocket and handed him a strand, which he started to put on as a necklace.

"No, you use them for praying!"  She whispered, frantic.  "God!"

"What?  I'm not doing anything."

"Just follow exactly what I do.  I know this church stuff more than you do.  One of my foster families was Catholic."

"All right.  Fine.  There's Jessica."  He spotted her across the church.  They took their seats in the final pew.  Todd noticed Devon, close behind Jessica, wearing the mustache and wig they had gotten for him.  "There's that lying..."

Blair said, "Shhhhh.  We're in a church, now remember, do what I do."

He quieted down.  As the group began to assemble for the rosary to begin, he noticed a very tall, very strong and very black man approaching Jessica also from behind.  Devon was between the two of them, and Todd recognized him immediately, and whispered to Blair, "Finn's assistant.  Right there."

Devon, who was feigning reading the Bible, turned to look on all sides, spotting Todd and Blair, both gave him a nod to the right, at which he turned, scanning all of the people, before resting on the man behind him, and turning back to his book.  

Todd said, "He recognized him."

Blair said, "Quiet."

Without warning, Sister Rebecca Katherine moved into the same pew and pushed Todd and Blair over with a bump of her ample hips.  "Goodness, I can't see a thing.  I've totally lost my glasses, or misplaced them!  I have to be cordial to my fellow Europeans, you know.  I'm from Ireland."

Todd, not in a whisper, said, "Oh great."  Blair elbowed him in the ribs, and he said, "So glad to have your company," in his nun-voice.

When the ceremony started, Blair and the nun took the beads and began to follow, all three were on their knees, and Todd was doing what Blair was doing.  She took her beads into her hand, he did the same.  She touched a specific bead, he did the same.  She knelt, he did.  She stood, he did.  All the while, he had his eyes on the new visitor near Jessica and Devon, as well.

***

John was on the walkie talkie with Bo, who had been called in for extra assistance.  "It's bad, Bo, they can't account for all of the prisoners.  At last count, about ten were missing."

"What about Hesser?"

"He's here.  So far, nothing.  I think we can safely say that this riot has developed into a break."

Bo said, "I'll get right on this, have the local papers report it with accuracy, so the citizens know what's happening.  I think we ought to ask for assistance from the FBI, John."

"I'm on it.  Already called my contacts."  They ended their talk.  John turned to several other policemen.  "Keep strong tabs on the entrances and exits.  We have to try not to let any more prisoners get past us.  Llanview won't know what hit them."

"Another three dead,"  Natalie approached John, "guards, not prisoners.  LPD just called, possible hostage situation back in Llanview.  One of the prisoners escaped and perpetrated a home invasion."

John's ire was up.  "It's getting out of hand, here, people.  Until the FBI gets here, let's try and keep it status quo."  He feared the break was going to spiral further out of control.  At this point, Hesser was where he should be; that was one relief.  He had not seen the list of missing prisoners, but would check on it as soon as the tension let up.  Right now, he needed to prevent more from getting past them and down into Llanview.

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