Matt looked hopefully at Sister Margaret. "The boy we're looking for, and one other, disappeared from the convent's care around the same time the mother superior left without a word. You remember it, don't you, Sister?"
"Of course I do. Our life here is unvarying. Those few weeks were…an upheaval." She lifted the basket into her arms and clutched it to her chest. "It was a disconcerting time, what with Sister Francesca leaving too. She didn't disappear, just decided the convent life wasn't for her. She renounced her vows and went to live out in the world." She shook her head, as if this event was far more serious than the disappearances. "Silly thing, she was, but she'd been a kind friend to me when we were postulants and novices together."
"Sister Margaret," hissed the Irish nun. "Her leaving is no one else's affair."
Sister Margaret dipped her head and hurried after her colleague.
"Shall I come back this afternoon to look at the roof?" Matt called after them.
"That is for the Reverend Mother to decide," said Sister Bernadette.
We watched them disappear in the direction of the school then climbed into our carriage. "I'm sorry we didn't get any answers," I said as we drove off. "It seems as if we've hit another dead end."
"Not at all. Where is your optimism, India? We learned more than I expected to, and even better, we learned that Phineas Millroy's records are not where they should be."
"I fail to see how that is of benefit. We still don't know where his records are or, more importantly, where he is." I regretted pointing out our failure as soon as the words left my mouth. Matt looked enthused, not disappointed, and I preferred him that way.
"I didn't expect information on his whereabouts to be handed over to us today," he said. "At least now I know it will be futile to break in and search the filing cabinets."
He had been planning on breaking in after all. I swallowed down my gasp of surprise.
"You look shocked," he said, his crooked smile in evidence.
"Am I that easy to read?"
"To me, yes." His smile vanished. "I wouldn't have harmed anyone."
"I know that."
"And, if it helps, I'd feel guilty about it."
"I know that too. Pity you're not Catholic or you could have confessed and assuaged your guilt afterward with a few Hail Marys."
He laughed softly but it quickly died. He suddenly lunged forward, nudging me aside to peer through the rear window. "Stop!" He thumped on the roof. "Stop the carriage!"
The coach swerved to the curb and Matt jumped out before it stopped completely. He ran back the way we'd come, dodging pedestrians and traffic, and disappeared around a corner. I waited three minutes before I got out too—any longer and my nerves would have been shredded to pieces. He reappeared at the corner before I could go after him, however, and jogged back.
"What was it?" I asked as I climbed back inside.
"I think someone was following us in a hack, but I'm not certain." He climbed in too and thumped the roof for the coachman to continue.
"So what do we do now?"
Matt kept his gaze on the rear window as he answered. "We see what we can find out about the disappearance of the mother superior twenty-seven years ago. I think it's linked to the disappearance of Phineas Millroy. The timing is too coincidental for it not to be."
"Do you suppose she left to raise him and the other child?"
He simply shrugged.
"And what of the nun who renounced her vows?" I asked. "Sister Francesca. I wonder if she knows anything."
"It's worth questioning her. I suspect she'll be more willing to speak to us if she's left the convent life and its rules behind."
"True," I said. "She won't have the cadaverous Mother Frances glaring at her. But how do we find her? We don't even know her name."
Matt smiled. "First things first."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning we fix the convent's leaking roof."
* * *
Duke was the first to return for luncheon, followed by Cyclops and Willie. I could tell from their long faces that they hadn't had any success. Matt didn't even ask how their search for Payne had gone; instead he immediately launched into what he termed "our success" at the convent and his plan to fix their roof.
"I want you both to go," he said to Cyclops and Duke. "The roof is steep and one of you will need to hold a rope attached to the other."
I expected Willie to protest that she was being left out but she said nothing.
"Tell the nuns I sent you," Matt went on, stretching his long legs under the desk in his study. "They'll be suspicious anyway because of your American accents and the fact that Sister Bernadette mentioned the roof to me only this morning. There's no point pretending we're strangers to one another."
"I weren't going to lie," Cyclops said, crossing his arms.
"Ask subtle questions," I told them. "Nothing too direct."
"Them two? Subtle?" Willie snorted.
Duke rolled his eyes at her. "What'll you do while we're working, Willie? Gallivanting off to the hospital again?"
"Depends if Matt needs me or not."
"I don't," Matt said, rising. "India and I are going shopping."
"We are?" I asked, also standing. "What are we buying?"
"A new watch."
Eddie Hardacre, also known as Jack Sweet, had crushed Matt's watch only days ago. It had been an ordinary timepiece, not his magical one, thank God. My insides recoiled as they did every time I thought about my former fiancé and how he'd duped my father and me for so long, and how he'd tried to kill Matt.
"Very well, we'll visit the Masons," I said. "But only after you rest."
"Of course."
Duke, Willie and Cyclops followed me into the corridor. "You got any messages for India to give to Miss Mason?" Duke asked Cyclops with a sly smile.
"You're begging for a hiding?" Cyclops shot back.
Duke chuckled, earning him a thump on the right shoulder from Cyclops. Willie, on Duke's other side, punched his left shoulder. "Ow!"
"Leave Cyclops alone," she said.
"You sure you want me to? If I leave him alone, then I might just ask you some awkward questions about your romance instead. You want me to do that, Willemina Johnson?"
Willie thrust her hands on her hips. "You're asking for trouble, Duke."
"Sure is," Cyclops said, his lips curving into a smile. "You want to go first, Willie, or will I?" He cracked his knuckles.
Duke raced down the stairs, his pounding footsteps echoing through the house long after he'd disappeared.
Cyclops laughed a deep, rumbling laugh. Willie grinned and put her arm around the big man's waist. "We got to get him a woman too before he drives us do-lally with his badgering," she said.
* * *