Free Raney & Levine by J. A. Schneider Page B

interviewed him while I
     was with that breech and you were doing Jenna’s surgery.” She stopped for a
     second. “What was that call?”
    David was frowning back toward Jenna’s room. “Something
     Holloway’s gonna take,” he said low. “I don’t like the sound of brother Brian.
     They should have a police guard-”
    He stopped as they saw a figure rushing toward them. A young
     nun in modern habit, looking bereft. Feet away, she stopped to check the
     patient’s I.D. plaque and room number.
    “Ah, Sister?” David said.
    She turned with tearful eyes to them. They explained who
     they were.
    “You know Jenna?” Jill asked.
    The young nun said yes, she was an old friend of Jenna’s,
     and asked worriedly about her condition.
    David gently told her.
    She put her hands to her face, half-turned away, and burst
     into muffled tears. “I’m Cathy Riley,” she managed, turning back, pulling
     tissues from her pocket and scrubbing her face. “Now Sister Catherine, please
     call me Cathy. I’m…oh, I just can’t
believe
this,” she said in a high,
     tremulous whisper. Her words rushed. She needed to talk. “Jenna’s been my
     lifelong friend. I’m four years older. I used to
babysit
for her, then
     she grew up and…we volunteered at charities, chopped veggies for soup kitchens,
     laughed and giggled a lot...”
    David said, “Sister-”
    “Cathy, Cathy.”
    “Okay, Cathy. Maybe have a seat before you go in?”
    On a bench just down from Jenna’s room, they sat her between
     them and told her about the attack - including Brian’s reported hostility but
     leaving out the snake. Listening, she went from sitting slack-jawed and frozen
     to rocking forward with her face in her hands.
    “Brian…do
tha
t? Kicking and punching her belly?” she
     said in a muffled voice. “I can’t believe it. I know he’s a pain and…” She
     floundered.
    “Obsessed with the Church?” Jill said as delicately as she
     could.
    Cathy raised her chin. “In the past few years, yes. But he’s
mean
about it. Drives people away, actually.”
    “But you don’t think he could have done this?” David asked
     quietly.
    Sister Cathy straightened, her strained face slack. Finally
     she said, “I
can’t
think that. I mean, Brian yells, he’s got a
     temper…but this?”
    She mopped more tears. “He’s mean but not crazy. Anyone who
     uses his religion as a pretext to harm is just plain nuts. Psycho.
No
priest would condone harming anyone. It
can’t
be Brian
...”
    Her voice trailed as if she were re-thinking it, troubled.
     She shook her head helplessly.
    Jill asked, “Did you know Brian as well as you did Jenna?”
    A swallow. “Not since childhood.” A frown. “Actually, even
     then he was a hard kid to know. Always in his room studying, or just avoiding
     people if you ask me. He got good marks, but Jenna used to say he studied by
memorizing
,
     not understanding.”
    “Do you know his wife?” David asked.
    “Barely. Saw her at the wedding four years ago and maybe
     twice since. She isn’t gregarious either. Jenna said they’d been fighting
     lately, and she apparently finds her only comfort in the Church. Brags and
brags
how she’s never missed a Mass. Even I’d want to say, Enough already.”
    Cathy’s eyes turned suddenly alarmed. “Not Brian…I can’t
     believe... There must be some maniac out there.”
    They told her the police were on it.
    “Working as we speak,” Jill said; and David said, “The
     surrogate couple is in there now with Jenna. Grieving for their lost child, but
     also worried about her. Staying with her.”
    “That’s so kind,” Cathy murmured.
    “You must have known about Jenna’s surrogacy?” Jill asked -
     again, delicately.
    “Yes.” Sister Cathy pulled in a shaky breath. “I wasn’t in
     favor of it, but her mind was made up. I’ve never met the Sutters but she said
     she loved them, felt so bad about the type 1 diabetes. Truthfully, I didn’t
     know
how
I