Exeunt Murderers by Anthony Boucher

Author:Anthony Boucher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road Media
Published: 2019-04-25T16:00:00+00:00

PART II

Conundrums for the Cloister

Coffin Corner

The young man stood tall and straight, but his voice was rising shakily with his emotion.

“So you can see, Father, why I’ve got to learn the answer. They look at the record and what do they see? I was arrested once for murder. Sure, I was released, never tried, but that murder is still on the books as unsolved. And until I’m completely in the clear I’d hate to bet on my chances for an air commission.”

“He’s right, Father,” the older man put in. He was old only by comparison with the dark youth beside him. In fact, he was in his early thirties, as tall and well-built as the boy, and at the moment even more anxious. “Before now it didn’t matter so much that the mess never got cleared up. No one who knew Jim ever seriously suspected him. But these Government investigators … they don’t know him.”

“It isn’t pride, Father,” the boy went on. “Being a buck private would be O.K. with me. But I’m a good flier, and I’d be more use to my country up there. I can’t let an unsolved murder stand between me and a Jap carrier.”

“I understand,” the priest said. “But what can I do? If the police have failed …”

“We thought …” the boy began. “Well, you might maybe—”

“We aren’t used to crime,” the older man explained. “Private detectives and that sort of thing scare us. We thought you might know who was honest and capable. I guess it’s just that every graduate of this university, Father, always leaves it thinking that you can answer any problem.”

“I’m afraid,” the priest smiled, “I’m better on economic or theological problems than I am on murder. I really don’t know …” He paused, and the smile deepened. “Just a minute. ‘Economic problems’ reminds me: do you know the Sisters of Martha of Bethany?”

The older man nodded. “They do good work.”

“They’ve asked me to lend them one of my economics professors to give a brief lecture course on inflation. Through their baby clinic and such works they have so much contact with the New Rich that Mother Flanner thought it would be a good idea to have some formal grounding in their problems.”

The two laymen exchanged looks of puzzlement. “But what …?”

“I know it’s hardly Christian to request favors in return for favors. But in exchange for my economist, Jim, I’m going to try to get the answer to your problem.”

The young man gaped. “From a nun?”

Father Pearson smiled. “You don’t know this nun, Jim. Want to come with me?”

Jim Echeverri frowned. “I couldn’t. I mean I’d feel so… Going up to a nun and saying, ‘Sister, will you sleuth for me …?’”

“You will though, Bob? Good. Between us I think we can tell her the whole story. And I hope, Jim, that she’ll keep you flying.”

Father Hubert Pearson, S.J., explained his inspiration to Bob Cassidy as they waited in the convent of Martha of Bethany. The early spring air was crisp, but sun brightened the adobe walls of the patio.

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