Sister Eve and the Blue Nun (27 page)

She guessed that the vice superior would have likely fasted and prayed throughout the two nights since the body of Kelly Middlesworth was found in her guest room and that he continued to lament over what was unfolding in his community with this homicide and what had occurred regarding the nuns.

As she came near the gates of the monastery, Eve spotted the white truck just ahead of her. John Barr was less than a mile ahead. Eve pressed on the gas pedal and sped past the community and through the little village of Pecos. Barr had not stopped at the monastery. He was not lodging a complaint with Father Oliver, and she was not going to be able to stop and tell anyone what was going on; she was not going to be able to call the Captain or speak to one of the detectives. She was on her own, following Barr wherever he was leading her.

He was still traveling south, and as they drove Eve wasn't sure if he would pick up Highway 25 and go in the direction of the state capital of Santa Fe or north to Rowe and Las Vegas, maybe even Colorado. She followed, uncertain of where he was going but trying to stay far enough behind him that Barr wouldn't know he had a tail.

As she drove past the monastery gates, she tried to see if police cars were still in the lot or if she could spot one of the detectives walking the grounds. She was driving fast and was able to get only a glimpse, but she saw nothing that drew her attention to the community buildings. There was no black-and-white police car, no Daniel standing near the front gates, no news van, no Texas professors that she could see, and no Detective Lujan. And again, as she thought of the man partnered with her father's old friend, she felt a slight flutter in her chest and a sense of confusion about what she was feeling.

Sister Eve shook her head, recalling her embarrassment when the Captain told Daniel that he believed she had a crush on the police officer. And she recalled the vehement denial she had made. She had changed the subject as quickly as she could, diverting the attention away from the subject of her “crush” and back to the issue at hand, namely, the murder that Daniel had come to investigate.

“I do not have a crush,” she said out loud, as if she were having a conversation with the Captain. “I am following a crazy man,” she added and pressed her foot on the gas, creeping a little closer to the white truck as it exited the state highway and headed south on the interstate.

FORTY-TWO

Barr hurried past all four of the exits off Interstate 25 leading into the city of Santa Fe, merging in and out of the lanes. He never slowed, never showed any signs of going to the state capital. As he moved past St. Francis Street, the Rail Runner Express station, and the relief route going around the city, Eve knew they were getting closer to Highway 14. She knew it was an unlikely possibility, but she was a bit hopeful that perhaps Barr would head in the direction of her hometown of Madrid. If he did, she was certain that she could stop by and pick up the Captain. She knew every side road and shortcut around the Cerrillos Hills and was sure that she could swing by the house, get her father, and still not lose Barr.

However, as they drove past the exit near La Cienega, past the turnoff to the Santa Fe Downs horse track, and across the highway to the state penitentiary, it didn't appear to Eve that he was going to Madrid. He maintained a southern direction, staying on
the interstate while she remained close, trying not to capture his unwanted attention by keeping a safe distance between them.

Where are you going, John Barr?
she wondered, following him as they both kept to the speed limit of seventy-five miles per hour, traveling toward Albuquerque, never slowing or stopping.

They headed up La Bajada, the incline south of Santa Fe that was often the reason for a closure of the interstate because of frequent ice and snow in the area during the winter months, and past the Cochiti Pueblo. He hurried beyond the village of Budaghers and the Pueblo of San Felipe before finally taking the exit at Bernalillo.

Eve followed, driving past the service station where he stopped. She watched in her rearview mirror as he pulled up next to a pump. She drove to the next intersection and did a quick U-turn, deciding to stop at a coffee shop across the street from the station where Barr had stopped. She pulled in, backed into a parking spot, and then quickly jumped out to ask to use a phone, but the coffee shop was no longer in business and there was no one else around. She got back in the truck.

She watched as he filled his tank and then went into the small store. A few minutes later he came out with two paper bags that Eve assumed contained food or drinks, perhaps supplies for what appeared to be a longer trip. She glanced down at her own gas gauge and was hopeful that the three-quarters of a tank would get her to wherever he was going. She also looked over at her supplies down on the floorboard and up on the passenger's seat, remembering all that the Captain had left in the truck when he took her
motorcycle. There were granola bars and fruit, a couple of sandwiches, and several small bags of chips.

“I guess you know best again,” she said out loud, glad for the extra food and hoping her father wasn't too worried about her and hadn't sent out a posse to try to find her. She suddenly thought of what else had been placed in the truck, the revolver beneath her seat, and wondered if that would also be something she would eventually be glad that he had left her.

Eve was hopeful that would not happen. She hoped she would never have to display it. One thing was sure about this quick decision she had made to follow Barr: she didn't want to use a gun.

She directed her attention back to what was happening in front of her and noticed that the white truck was sitting at the entrance to the gas station. When Eve realized that he was facing in her direction, getting a clear shot of her across the street, she ducked down, hoping that he hadn't recognized the truck and that he hadn't seen her sitting in the driver's seat. When she sat up he was gone, having pulled out from the driveway across the road, merging into the far right lane and turning onto the interstate once again, still heading south.

Eve waited a few seconds and then pulled out to follow him. She turned on her signal and took the ramp outside the bustling town of Bernalillo, moving in the direction of Albuquerque. They drove for ten or fifteen minutes before arriving in Duke City.

Traffic remained light in the biggest city in New Mexico as they traveled through town a few hours before rush hour. The lanes grew from two to four as they made their way to the Big I, the intersection of Highway 25, which they were traveling heading north to south, and Highway 40, which ran east to west, coast-to-coast.

She dropped back a bit as they sped past the downtown exits, past the hospitals and hotels, the airport and the university. They made their way past the routes to the south valley. Barr was apparently making no stops, and Eve began to wonder if he was fleeing the state, trying to get to the border of Mexico and leave the country altogether.

That doesn't make any sense
, she thought as the speed limit returned to seventy-five miles per hour and the landscape changed from a highly developed city to a more rural area. She noticed the exit to the Isleta Pueblo and remembered that this was the place where Anthony had discovered the holy writings of Sister Maria. This was the place where everything began. This was the starting location of unfolding events that eventually led to theft and murder. She wondered if the people in the pueblo knew what had happened at the Pecos monastery and if they knew their holy writings had been taken.

She recalled the recent visit of the Isleta priest and several men from the pueblo, how adamant they were to find Anthony. It was clear that some of the people in Isleta knew what had happened, but she didn't know if everyone had been told. She didn't know if they were all searching for the young monk who was working on the restoration of the church.

She watched as the white truck slowed at the exit for the casino and the campground, the exit that would lead to the plaza of the pueblo where the mission church had been for hundreds of years. She recalled as she dropped back to observe Barr's movements that the Isleta church was named for Anthony of Padua and was built in 1629 on the north edge of the main plaza and then later rebuilt
after it was decimated during the Pueblo Revolt. Eve also recalled that it was Isleta where the Jumano Indians traveled, guided by Sister Maria, in search of a priest to come back to their village and baptize them. It only made sense to her that the writings would be there, since the Jumano Indians were no longer a recognized tribe. They had dispersed sometime following their Christianization, and as far as Eve knew, there were no Native Americans who identified with this group.

She wondered if Barr had not only the blue cape but also the writings and was returning them to Isleta, perhaps in response to a request made by Anthony. Or, she thought, maybe Anthony was somewhere on the pueblo, hiding out at Isleta, waiting for the supplies Barr had just purchased.

Nothing was making much sense to Eve; nothing was clear. She still didn't know if Barr was a protector of Anthony, who was, in fact, a fugitive running from murder charges, or if Barr was the only perpetrator and the murderer of two siblings.

She watched as the white truck sped up, not taking the exit to Isleta but still traveling south. She drove on in hopes that her questions would soon be answered.

FORTY-THREE

The two trucks had traveled well south of Albuquerque before Eve finally understood their destination. Traffic was sparse on that Friday. Few travelers were on the interstate with them heading in either direction. There were a few trucks, a motor home or camper now and then, several sedans and sport-utility vehicles, but the farther south they got, the fewer cars and trucks they encountered.

Even with the sparcity of vehicles traveling near them, Eve had managed to keep a safe distance from Barr, still able to keep the truck ahead of her in sight, but far enough behind it that she was confident Barr hadn't seen her. She kept up with him, glad that the Captain had left her the truck, knowing that the trip she was taking would have been less comfortable if she were driving her motorcycle.

The sun was setting, the pink and red colors trailing across the western sky, as the minutes ticked to hours and she realized she had been traveling from Tererro for most of the day. She had
already eaten a granola bar and drunk half a bottle of water and was munching on an apple when Barr finally slowed, turning on his blinker to head in a different direction.

Eve watched as he took the exit just out of Belen that led to State Highway 47, which she knew connected with Highway 60 a few miles from the Abo Pass. She had not traveled to this section of New Mexico all that often, but she knew where she was and she had an idea of where he was going. When he turned east on the narrow highway, moving in the direction of the little town of Mountainair beyond the Manzano Mountains, Eve remembered the map she had seen in his house and knew for certain the strange man's destination.

Although there had been no specific site established as the place of Sister Maria's bilocation from her convent in Agreda, Spain, there were a number of educated guesses. Eve knew that most religion scholars who studied the nun and author of
The Mystical City of God
agreed that the Lady in Blue appeared to the tribe of the Jumano Indians and to the Tejas tribe somewhere east of Isleta. According to the journals and historical collections from the Franciscan movement during the time of her travels, it was said that the Indians, because of her guidance, had traveled to the pueblo along the Rio Grande River seeking a priest to come to them and offer them baptism.

It was further believed, based on the diaries of those missionaries sent to them, that she had visited the Indians somewhere in a place that took the travelers out of Isleta through the Mescalero Apache lands, across the Manzano Mountain range, and along the banks of a river. This river, which Eve knew was no longer known,
was described as a channel whose waters were said to be filled with pink pearls. This was the place of a great baptism of many Indians, most of whom described the nun's visits to them as being made by a young woman dressed in a blue cape who led them to the pueblo church.