Doppelgangster - Laura Resnick [111]
Since Lucky timed his own visits to St. Monica’s specifically to see Elena, he knew her schedule for prayer and church activities. She was a member of the women’s auxiliary club, and they were meeting at St. Monica’s that afternoon to discuss fundraising. The church was over one hundred years old, and portions of it were in dire need of update and repair.
The stairs to the bell tower and to the courtyard were dangerous. There was faulty electrical wiring in the church sanctuary. The floor in the choir gallery needed to be renovated or replaced; the tiles were so chipped and uneven, several choir members had tripped and fallen lately. The church organ needed tuning and cleaning. The old dormitories above this meeting room should be renovated and put to good use. The bathrooms for the congregation needed refurbishment. All of this necessary work would require a great deal of money.
I learned all this because I attended the women’s auxiliary club meeting to keep an eye on the Widow Giacalona while Lucky and Max searched her apartment. She lived on Mulberry Street, only three blocks away from St. Monica’s, in the opposite direction from Bella Stella’s. My job was to call Lucky when Elena left St. Monica’s, ensuring that he and Max had enough time to leave her apartment before she got home.
Today’s gathering, I realized after I got there, was a social event as much as it was a business meeting. There was plenty of coffee, food, and gossip, and no one seemed in a hurry to call the meeting to order. This gave me plenty of time to read the secretary’s report that summarized which renovation projects and fundraising efforts the group would be discussing today.
Elena had noticed me when I entered this meeting room in the east wing of St. Monica’s, but it had obviously taken her a couple of additional glances to remember who I was. Then her expression grew cold and she didn’t deign to meet my eyes again. Which was just as well. I was tense and afraid of arousing her suspicion.
Her outfit was even more austere than usual, just a simple dark dress with a modest V-neck. No scarf or jewelry, and her hair was scraped back severely from her face. Her settled expression of resigned unhappiness made her look mysterious and vaguely tragic, rather than sour and embittered even though, in reality, I believed it had turned her into a devious and demented killer.
The rest of the women here were well-dressed, well-coiffed, wearing makeup, and gaily accessorized . . . and yet it was Elena’s stark, still beauty that attracted the eye in this chatting, giggling, fluttering throng. The good light in this meeting room made her true age—early to mid-fifties, I assumed—more readily apparent to me than it had been the first time I met her. The naked skin of her throat and the creased corners of her eyes revealed her years today. But she still wore time very well.
I checked my watch. Lucky and Max should be in her apartment right now. I counted on Max to convince Lucky that the evidence they found there was damning and the widow must be stopped.
“Esther?”
“Huh!” I jumped.
“Did I startle you?” Father Gabriel asked. “I’m sorry.”
“Oh! Uh, no.” I pulled myself together and met the priest’s luminous brown gaze. “I was lost in thought, that’s all. How are you, Father?”
“I’m delighted to welcome you to St. Monica’s once again.” He smiled warmly as he shook my hand.
I had showered and tidied up at Max’s before coming to the church, but I was still wearing my black knit dress from yesterday, and it was the worse for wear by now. I saw the priest’s nostrils quiver slightly as he got a good whiff of Nelli.
“Sorry,” I said. “I was, uh, playing with a friend’s dog before I came here.”
“I’m more of a cat person.” He smiled and added, “It’s wonderful to see you taking such an interest in our crumbling old church! Is your interest in this meeting architectural? Or dare I hope that our congregation holds some spiritual attraction for you?”
“I . . .”
I thought my mother’s soul would abandon her body