Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Vol. 101, Nos. 3 & 4. Whole Nos. 610 & 611, March 1993

But now, speaking to Regina Fastnekker, Emtee Dempsey seemed to be suggesting that she herself sought always to tell the whole truth. If they were alone, Kim might have called her on this. But at the moment, she watched with fascination the alertness with which Regina listened to the old nun. In her articles, Katherine had described the ingénue expression Regina wore when she pronounced her nihilistic doctrines. Her beliefs might have changed, but her expression had not. Now she looked out at the world with the innocence of one who had been saved by religious conversion, but nonetheless, however much she had changed, Regina Fastnekker was still on the side of the saved.

“What I have come to tell you is that I did not blow up your car, and I have no intention to harm you.”

“I am glad to hear that.”

“I tell you because it would be reasonable to think I had, given my sinful past. I am still a sinner, of course, but I have chosen Jesus for my personal savior and have with the help of His grace put behind me such deeds.”

“You have been blessed.”

“So have you. If I had not been converted I might very well have conceived such a scheme and put it into operation.”

“And killed me?”

“The loved ones of those who put me in prison.”

“A dreadful thought.”

Regina said nothing for a moment, and when she spoke it was with great deliberateness. “I have never killed anyone. I do not say this to make myself seem less terrible than I was. But I never took another’s life.”

“I had thought someone died when an explosion occurred in your apartment.”

“That is true.”

“And you were the cause of that explosion.”

“No. It was an accident.”

“You express yourself with a great deal of precision.”

“Praise the Lord.”

Seldom had the phrase been spoken with less intonation. Regina put her hands on her knees and then rose in an almost stately manner.

“I challenge you to accept the Lord as your savior.”

“My dear young lady, I took the vows of religion nearly fifty years ago. I took Jesus as my spiritual spouse, promising poverty, chastity, and obedience. But I take your suggestion in good grace and shall endeavor to follow your advice.”

Regina Fastnekker, apparently having no truth, however trivial, to utter, said nothing. She bowed and Kim took her to the door.

“Thank you for visiting us.”

“Did you too take those vows?”

“Yes. But not fifty years ago.”

Regina Fastnekker’s smile was all the more brilliant for being so rare. Her laughter had a pure soprano quality. Lithe, long-limbed, her full skirt lending a peculiar dignity to her passage, she went across the porch, descended the steps, and disappeared up the walk.

6

Two days later, in the Northwestern University library, Kim looked up from the book she was reading to find Janet Layton smiling down on her.

“Can we talk?” she whispered.

Kim, startled to see the sister where she had had such a dramatic encounter with the brother, got up immediately. Outside, Janet lit up a cigarette.

“There is something I should have told you the other day and didn’t. In fact I lied to you. I have known all along that Mike was still alive.”

“You did!”

“He telephoned me in my dorm room within a month of his disappearance. The first thing he said was that he did not want my parents to know of the call.”

“And you agreed?”

“I didn’t tell them. I don’t think I would have in any case. You would have to know how terribly they took Mike’s disappearance, particularly at the beginning. If I had told them, they would have wanted proof. There was none I could give. And of course I had no idea then that it would turn into a permanent disappearance. I don’t know that he himself thought so at the time.”

“What did he want?”

“He wanted some computer disks from his room.”

She had complied, putting the disks in a plastic bag and the bag in a trash container on a downtown Chicago corner. She walked away, as she had been instructed, but with the idea of hiding and watching the container. She took up her station inside a bookstore and watched the container. Clerks asked if they could be of help and she shook her head, her eyes never leaving the container. After an hour, the manager came and she moved to a drugstore, certain her eyes had never left the container. After four hours of vigil, she was out of patience. She decided to take the disks from the container and wait for another phone call from her brother. The plastic bag containing the disks was gone.

“I felt like a bag lady, rummaging around in that trash, people turning to look at me. But it was definitely gone. Someone must have taken it within minutes of my putting it there, while I was walking away.”

“And your brother called again?”

“Months later. I asked him if he got the disks. He said yes. That was all. His manner made me glad I’d done what I had.”

Before leaving the disks in the container, Janet had made copies of them. She opened her purse and took out a package.

“Would you give these to Sister Mary Teresa?”

“You should give them to the police.”