Il Pane Della Vita (19 page)

“This must be pretty boring for you, Sister.
We have a week’s worth of video with visuals from several cameras.”

“Bo
ring for me? You’ve already watched most of it, haven’t you?”

“My men have seen it, not me. Weren’t you
concerned about the back perimeter gate? What are we looking for?”

“Someone trying to come
in or go out of the gate. Most likely, the culprit used this gate rather than any of the others. You know, it would go faster if you sat at one of the other desks and put on another video. I could tell you what I think you should look for, but don’t let me discourage you from investigating other ideas.”

“I’ll scan the tape of the back door to the administrative building. Don’t forget that the staff might have been involved too.”

“I agree. It could have been anyone.”

An hour passed in silence.

“Nothing,” said the nun. “So this video has the whole week on it? It’s crazy that no one came or went through that gate in that length of time. Can you get me the stream from the camera at the courtyard gate?”

“There’s nothing here either. Yes there’s the morning and evening cr
owd, but I recognize all of the workers who came and went to work.”

“They’
re all workers? There were no brethren?”

“Wait, there was an occasional brother. I don’t know if he was an
eremita
or a monk from below. Did they sometimes come in this way? I thought they all had keys.”

“Yes, they had keys to that particular door. When the
y didn’t have a key, they buzzed security from inside the chapel.”

“Then you had better look at this
video and identify the brothers who entered. I’ll set up the other perimeter camera for you right now.”

The nun did not get up. She stared at the screen, asking for
more espresso halfway through. “I remember you telling me that we wouldn’t be able to see the front of Father Pietro’s cottage, Monte, but it doesn’t even show us the path to the gate. If someone entered through the gate or if Father Pietro walked to the gate to let someone in or to leave the premises himself, we wouldn’t see anything.”

“
Don’t get me going on the security company. All the exceptions to their security rules make the rules useless..”

“You mean letting people in without really knowing who they are? They also didn’t keep records of the comings and goings of family members.”

“Yes. The person who visited Brother Pietro more often was supposedly a niece. She’s our prime suspect, and we have no idea who she really is.”

“That reminds me. Have you had any hits on the drawing?”

“No. I suppose she’s no longer in the vicinity. Disappearing would have been the first thing I would have done if I’d murdered someone.”

“Do you and Dr. Zaza agree that the assailant could have been a woman?”

“We haven’t ruled that out, though she would have to have been pretty athletic because she would have to hike to that spot and still have enough strength to stab him from the front.”

“
So we have decided the murder took place at the waterfall.”

“Yes. There was a lot of blood
at the site. We found no blood around that area.”

“So technically, he was lured there, though we see no evidence th
at he left the hermitage after Compline. Wait!”

“What?”

“Let me rewind.”

The chief detective sat down beside her.

“We are looking away from Father Pietro’s cottage here toward the woods. Keep watching. The date and time indicates that people have recessed from Compline, but the explosion hasn’t happened. There. That right there. Some bush branches moved. Did you see it?”

“It could have been the wind.”

“Except I saw no wind near the gate. We have to go back to the same date and time stamp on the other tape and see if they match. If it was a wind gust while this camera was going, then that gust would have shown up about the same time on the other tape.”

“What about
if it were some kind of animal? It could easily have been an owl or a wolf. Those are common night creatures in our mountains.”

“
That’s true, but look. It happened again a bit closer to the edge of the screen. I know it’s not strong evidence, but would a wolf be heading for the gate?”

After a quick lunch delivered by a local restaurant,
the two scanned some more video.

An hour or so after that,
Morena asked. “Why haven’t we heard from Draco and Brother Salvatore?”

“Because it took a half hour to get back to the monastery and then an hour or so for Brother Alonzo to feed them. The hike up and down the mountain would take a couple of hours, and then there’s
their search for the weapon. They’ll get back to us.”

“But they haven’t called.”

“Because there’s no cell service on the mountain. It would have been faster for them to drive to the hermitage and walk down. But then they would have to go back up for the car and drive back down before they could get phone service so I suspect they took the first route.”

“
Brother Alonzo’s cooking is why they made the first choice.”

“Actually, someone in the kitchen would probably make them something because Brother Alonzo has to sleep. I don’t remember who
makes lunch.” She glanced up. Did you see this? It is from a camera on the front perimeter gate. At the time noted, the hermits were recessing out of the church and through the gate.”

“Okay. It’s an
eremita
walking up the path,” said Morena.

“Up the path that also takes him to Brother Pietro
’s cottage. If we rewind a short distance, we see Brother Donato, Brother Pietro’s direct neighbor walking up the hill. The time on the video is 12:07 am. Brother Donato said it he would have been on the way back about five minutes after the recessional so that fits. He also said he heard footsteps, which he identified as belonging to Brother Pietro. Brother Donato said he helped open the gate for Brother Pietro, but we see Brother Donato ten steps beyond the gate, and Brother Pietro isn’t there. Either his memory failed him, or Brother Pietro turned back immediately. I don’t know why. He didn’t turn around or actually see Brother Pietro behind him, but Brother Pietro would be the only other person coming up that final path.”

“Okay, but the second hermit could have turned off.”

“Less than thirty seconds after we see Brother Donato trekking up the path, we see this unnamed brother walking in the same direction. If we continue to watch, we can see in the distance that he is turning onto the same path that Brother Donato took. Then a new figure comes through the gate.”

“So how do we know that the first monk isn’t Brother Pietro?”

“Because when he passes the first garden wall there, we can determine his height. This figure is too short to be Brother Pietro. The victim was over two meters tall and thin. The hermit here is an average build. Then there’s the fact that this one is looking around. It is my understanding that Brother Pietro concentrates on prayer and looks at no one when he is returning from Compline.”

“Then our culprit has to be one of the
eremiti.
”

“Or one o
f the monks from below. They wear white robes too.”

“Or it could be anyone who was able to obtain a robe and slip into the recessional. I understand what you’re saying, Sister.”

“Detective Loria and Brother Salvatore seem to be running late. I’m going to have to find a way to get back to the monastery. But before I go, I would like you to get me a court order so I can get some information from the power company in Avalle.”

“The one that provided gas to the
eremo
?” Morena ask, picking up the phone. “I’ll have them deliver it to the monastery in the morning, Sister. Then I’ll drive you back up the hill. I want to be there when the boys come down from the mountain.”

“What seems to be the problem?” asked Brother Salvatore.

Loria took a few more steps and then doubled over in pain. “Maybe you should go ahead. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It couldn’t have been the roll Sister Angela gave me, could it?”

“We never get sick from Brother Alonzo’s food. It’s more likely something you ate last night.”

“Or drank. I went to a
pub with friends.” He stood and started up the trail once more. “Sorry we’re running so late.”

“That’s okay. It’s nearly summer, and the sun is staying up longer. I just hope your boss doesn’t worry abo
ut us. Sister Angela knows we won’t be able to call them. She took just as long when we went up here yesterday, and she didn’t even have a stomach problem.”

“How far now?”

“Only about fifteen minutes if we run.”

The nun and detective decided to stop in
Collinaterra for bread. But Morena chose to drive a few minutes farther and park at the power company.

“Let’
s see if he still wants that court order.” He opened the door. “Hello, Vito, is your boss in?”

“
Inspector, what brings you here,” Vito said, standing to shake his hand.

“
Vito, this is Sister Angela. She’s the detective working on this case. Now where’s Gilberto?”

“He’s in his office here. Just knock before you go in.”

Morena did as instructed. They found Lippi face down on his desk. Morena walked in and slapped the desk. “Hey, Gilberto, I have someone to introduce to you.”

Lippi
jumped up.

“This is Sister Angela, the detective working on the case involving the gas explosion on the mountain.”

Lippi wiped his hand and offered it to the nun. “I heard it was a murder—that we weren’t involved.”

“I didn’t say you were involved. Sister Angela has to interview whoever worked up there, though. We’re tying up loose ends.”

“But we didn’t cause the explosion so we have nothing to do with the incident at all.”

“Are you saying none of your men were here to install the pipes or fix the pipes that were aging in the walls of the cottages?”

“Well, perhaps we did do some work more recently.”

“We’ll need to talk to the people who did the work, and I
would like copies of the invoices for materials used. Is there anything else, Sister?”

“It would help if I had the list of employees over the last twenty years.”

“That would be overkill, Sister,” said Lippi.”

“Someone with knowledge of how these cottages were set up to use gas was probably the culprit rigged on
e of them to explode,” said Morena. “If you had a trained employee who might have left here angry or with something menacing on his mind, it would be nice to question him first.”

“I don’t think…”

“You’re probably right, but only after I eliminate your employees can I go farther afield with the investigation.”

The two walked back to Nico’s Bakery, Sister Angela telling the chief detective about his bread. “It’s the best bread I’ve had,” she said. “He bakes for the monastery and the hermitage too, you know. And the pastries are excellent.”

He held the door open for her.

“Good afternoon, Sister Angela,” said Nico. “What can I get you?”

“Nico, this is Chief Detective Morena from Avalle. Would you like some coffee, Monte?”

“Yes, and a pastry. The
panettone
looks delicious. I’ll have some of that.”

“And I’ll have a
Sfogliatelle
. Is Gina in the back?”

“No, Sister Angela. S
he’s visiting relatives near Roma.”

“
Who’s helping you?”

‘I have an assist
ant, a boy who wants to open a bakery. He had to promise me he would not open one here.”

“Who’
s that?” the nun asked, pointing beyond him.

Nico looked over his shoulder at a framed picture on a shelf above the cash register. “That’s Gina.”

“That woman doesn’t look like your wife at all, Nico.”

Nico smiled broadly. “No, that’
s her mother. Gina’s the one in the stroller. She had blond golden curls when she was a baby. Then her hair gradually got darker. Many babies start out blond, Sister. You knew that, didn’t you?”

“Yes, Nico. I have nieces and nephews wh
o are now grown with dark hair too.” She screwed up her eyes to examine the picture on the shelf more carefully. “Where was that picture taken?”

“I assume it was in Roma since that’s where she’s from.” He took the picture and gazed at it more closely. “That’s San
ta Maria in Vincoli, see? Yes, it has arches. That must be Santa Maria in Vincoli in the background.”

“You’re probably right. Monte and I are going to sit over there. You can
deliver our orders to our table.”