Sister Eve and the Blue Nun (33 page)

As she moved away from the cabin, she looked around again, still able to see with only her right eye, and something caught her attention just on the edge of her vision, just to the right, the east, she thought, since the sun was lowering on the opposite side of the horizon. A tiny smudge of blue showed itself emerging from the brown earth. Not knowing what it was and recognizing it as an unusual splash of color in the otherwise drab desert, Eve hobbled over to it. When she got closer to it, she could see that it was a small clump of blue flowers, a clump of flowers that were somewhat atypical for the southwestern land in late winter.

She leaned down to pluck one of the blooms, and as she held it in her fingers, she could see that it was the delicate petals of a bluebonnet, the state flower of Texas.

“Wait a minute,” Eve said, standing erect. She immediately understood the meaning of the flower. She needed no divine explanation about the azure blooms. She knew that the bluebonnets were said to be the sign that the Blue Nun had visited the Jumano Indians in eastern New Mexico and in its neighboring state of Texas. She recalled learning of the legend when she listened to a Franciscan friar speak about the Spanish nun's gifts of bilocation. It was her way, the speaker had reported, to remind the native people that she had been there, that she had been present with them.

Eve realized that she was being given another sign, another means of assistance, because as she peered ahead from where she stood, she could see the small clumps of flowers marking a way
east, denoting a path that she knew she should follow. Just like the pebbles and the tiny pieces of bread that Hansel used to help him and his sister, Gretel, find their way home in the fairy tale, the wildflowers, Eve understood, were marking the path she should take.

She leaned on the walking stick, following the small clusters of bluebonnets, moving farther and farther away from the cabin and Brother Anthony.

She soon grew thirsty and wished she hadn't drank the entire bottle of water when she found it. Perhaps she should have taken the other one instead of leaving it for Anthony. She limped along, following the bluebonnets, glancing up from time to time to see if there was a sign of anyone on the horizon.

The sun was fading, and Eve was becoming more tired when she noticed there were no more blue flowers to follow. It was as if they had just stopped. Eve peered ahead, and for some reason she could not explain, she knew where she was. The path, the open gate, the road that led to the national monument where she remembered meeting the park ranger; she knew she was at the right place. It was exactly the spot where she had been hit by another vehicle. She limped over to where she knew the wreck had occurred and noticed that it appeared to have been cleaned up; her father's truck was gone, but shards of glass were strewn on the ground. She was certain that she knew where she was. She turned to face a northerly direction, where she could see the outline of the Sandia Mountains miles ahead, and continued to walk.

She had gone less than half a mile when she saw the clouds of dust moving toward her. She stopped, swallowed hard, and prayed another prayer.

FIFTY-TWO

Eve was at a loss. She was completely unsure of who the driver behind the wheel of the approaching vehicle might be. If she remained standing in the middle of the road and waved the driver down and it was John Barr, that could be disastrous. But if she tried to hide, counting on it being John Barr, she might easily miss the only opportunity she had to get a ride to the park ranger's station or borrow a phone.

She glanced around the immediate area where she stood and realized, however, that even if she chose the second option, she would not likely find a hiding place. There was not a piñon pine tree or juniper bush anywhere close. She figured that she could climb through the barbed-wire fence that marked off the ranches and move as quickly away from the road as she could, thinking that if it were John Barr, he wouldn't be able to chase her in his truck since there was no open gate that she could see. He could certainly outrun her, though; she knew that. And she also knew
that one shot from a rifle would make it to her even more quickly than a man running after her.

She remembered her ankle. She was in no position to run a footrace. Her entire foot was swollen, and even though she wanted desperately to take off her hiking boot, she knew that if she removed it, she would not be able to put it back on. The swelling would expand and the shoe would no longer fit. The pain and discomfort, however, were growing more and more intense.

She wasn't sure how many miles she had to go to return to the intersection of Highway 55, a more likely place to get a ride or some help, or to Salinas, but feeling the way she did, she wasn't sure she could go another three or four miles. She knew her only choice was to hope for the best, to stand by the road and gain the attention of whoever the driver might be. She made the sign of the cross on her chest, bowed, and waited. When she looked up, the vehicle was close enough to recognize, the dust pouring out behind it, the driver traveling way too fast on such a rough desert road. Eve started to cry.

It was a new BMW M3 sedan, Yas Marina Blue Metallic, TwinPower Turbo inline six-cylinder engine, delivering 431 horsepower and managing up to 406 foot-pounds of torque. It had a carbon fiber reinforced plastic construction and M carbon ceramic brakes. It had a state-of-the-art navigation system, Bluetooth mobile office, surround-sound system, and satellite radio. It was everything an automobile connoisseur could ask for. A person could use it for luxury drives to faraway destinations or for in-town business. Doctors drove it. Lawyers drove it. Successful CEOs drove it. And so did one police officer from the Santa Fe Police Department, and
she knew this because she had been with him when he picked it out from the lot in Albuquerque.

Detective Daniel Hively was driving right toward her.

Eve dropped down onto the side of the road, the walking stick falling from her hand and rolling away, and she just kept crying. Even when the car braked in front of her, skidding and fishtailing past her a couple of hundred feet, all four doors opening, Eve could not stop sobbing.

“Evangeline, Holy Mother, Evangeline . . .” It was the Captain who was calling and who was having the hardest time exiting Daniel's new car. “Holy Mother . . . would somebody please help me out of this ridiculous car?”

Eve's weeping then turned to laughter as she watched her father pushing and pulling out of the passenger's side. One of the men from the backseat who was walking in her direction turned around and walked back to assist.

“What on earth?” It was Daniel kneeling beside her. “You look terrible. You look like you've been in a train wreck.” He placed his finger beneath her chin and turned her face so that he could see her injuries better. He pulled down the collar of her shirt and made a terrible face. He placed himself right in front of her and stared into her right eye. “Can you see me?”

She cried and laughed and nodded, unable to form the words to answer.

“What on earth?” The Captain had finally made his way next to her, asking the same question as Daniel had asked. “Mother . . .” He leaned in. “Who did this to you?” he asked. “Who beat you
like this?” And then he stood up and looked around. “Where's my truck?”

Eve tried to catch her breath and was soon given a bottle of water by one of the car's passengers, the detective from Taos, Lujan. She took a few sips.

She could overhear a call on a scanner being made by the other detective somewhere out of sight. He was asking for an ambulance, giving directions to their location. She heard him describe her condition, and even though she wanted to say that she had been this way for some time, that she had managed for hours, maybe days, he said it was an emergency and she let the assessment stand.

“What day is it?” she asked the men standing in front of her. “How long have I been gone?”

“It's Sunday,” her father answered. “You left the monastery early Friday morning. Not a peep from you since then.” He shook his head. “You worried me to death, you know that?” He rubbed his chin. “And where the heck is my truck?”

Detective Lujan took off his jacket and gently placed it around her shoulders. “Give me your coat,” he said to Officer Bootskievely, and the other officer, finished with his call, took off his police windbreaker and handed it to him. Lujan placed it on her lap. “Take a few more sips of water,” he said, handing her the bottle. “But not too much.”

She did as she was instructed and started to feel a little better.

“Can you tell us what happened?” he asked, kneeling on the other side of her from Daniel.

“I was T-boned, just up the road,” she said and gestured with
her chin. “I don't know when,” she added. “I was hit on the passenger's side and I guess when the impact happened, I slammed into the door and window.” She glanced down. “I think I've dislocated my shoulder and my hip is pretty shot.”

“Anything else?” He was checking her for broken bones, touching various parts of her body. When he reached her right ankle, she gasped. He rolled up her pants leg to get a better view and shook his head. “Looks broken,” he said.

He turned to his partner. “Where's the unit coming from?”

“Socorro,” came the answer. “Should be here in thirty or forty minutes,” he added. “Unless they got somebody driving like Mr. Indy 500 here.” He threw out his thumb in Daniel's direction, getting a smile from Eve.

“How did you know where I was?” Eve finally thought to ask. “How did you know to come out here?”

“Found your cell signal in Terrero. So we started there,” Daniel answered.

“Then a park ranger from up here at the monument called me this morning,” the Captain added. “She said you were out at the site night before last, and she waited a few hours but never saw you come back that way. She got concerned, she said, and the next day followed the dirt road she had seen you take. Saw signs of a wreck, she thought, but no cars. So she looked you up in Madrid, remembering your name and residence, found me, and well, that was that.”

“Have you been here all this time?” Daniel asked.

“I was taken down to some cabin.” She pointed behind her. “I woke up and . . .” Suddenly she remembered her friend. “Anthony's there,” she said. “Anthony was in the cabin I was taken to and he's
sick. He's been poisoned or drugged. You have to go down there to get him.”

Daniel turned to the other detectives and headed for the car. “You stay here,” he said to the Captain, who nodded in response.

“It's Barr, right?” the Captain asked Eve. “He's the one behind all of this? We found some pretty weird stuff in his house when we found your cell phone, and he seemed very strange when we talked to him this morning. He's the killer, isn't he?”

Eve was about to answer when they all noticed another vehicle flying down the road toward them. It was a white truck, one they all seemed to recognize. She heard Detective Bootskievely shout out, “It's him!” and all three of the officers drew their weapons on the approaching vehicle. The Captain quickly jumped in front of her, blocking her vision.

She moved to see around him, and although Eve knew the truck was Barr's, she noticed something else that was very surprising. She grabbed ahold of her father's coat, pulling herself up from the ground, and started to yell, “Don't shoot! Wait!”

FIFTY-THREE

Somehow Eve was able to get up from her resting place on the side of the road and push her way in front of the Captain. She was standing almost in the middle of the road when Barr slammed on his brakes. He skidded to a stop just a few feet from her.

Daniel and the other detectives were screaming at her to get out of the way as they stood behind the BMW with their guns pointed at the driver in the white truck. Eve reached out with her right hand, touching the hood of the truck and leaning on it, guiding herself as quickly as she could until she stopped right at the driver's-side door.