Chapter 5
Ronan
An hour later, Ronan still couldn’t believe what happened at the cemetery.
He, Ten, and Jude sat in the conference room at West Side Magick waiting for Fitzgibbon and Cisco Jackson.
Fitz was at a dentist appointment, while Cisco said he’d be there as soon as possible, which, as Ronan well knew, could be any time from right this second, until Christmas.
“Thorry I’m late,” Fitz mumbled as he came into the waiting room. “Damn Novocain hathn’t worn off yet. I can’t feel my tongue or my thin.” Fitz took a seat, pulled out his phone and started poking his chin in the reverse camera. “Howth Everly?”
“She was a little rattled when she realized none of the St. Agnes graves had people in them.” Ronan had never seen his daughter look so perplexed in her short life. “The empty graves felt like a cosmic shift for her. For me too.”
“I always knew you were a space cadet, Ronan!” Cisco chuckled as he came into the room and shut the door.
“It’s not every day I get a message that my detectives have stumbled onto a case of such epic proportions that it could rock the foundation of medicine and the Catholic Church.
” Cisco rolled his eyes. “Did I quote that correctly?”
“Rock the founda-than of meda-thin?” Fitzgibbon asked.
“What the hell is wrong with you, Fitz?” Cisco asked.
“Dentist appointment,” Ronan said.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but let Ronan do the talking until the Novocain wears off.” Cisco shook his head. “It’s a world gone mad. Spill it, Ronan.”
“Actually, it’s Ten who should start.” Ronan winked at his husband.
“I had a reading with a woman on Monday who had been sent to St. Agnes House in 1972 to have her baby,” Ten began.
“St. Agnes House? Shit, that’s a name I haven’t heard in years. We went to that church when I was a kid. By the time I was a teenager, the house was used as a cautionary tale for girls and what happens to them if they don’t save themselves for marriage.”
“What a bunch of bullshit,” Ronan said. “Everyone needs that talk. Birth control is a man’s responsibility too.”
“I can’t wait to hear you change your tune when Everly is old enough to go on her first car date.” Jude snorted.
“My child will not need birth control because she’s not leaving the house from the time she turns thirteen until she turns thirty.” Ronan folded his arms over his chest, as if his decree was the final word on the matter.
“Anyway,” Ten continued. “It had been Natalie’s plan to stay in Salem and raise her baby after it was born.
She went into labor and was drugged unconscious.
When she woke up, she was told that the baby was dead.
I can’t even imagine what that must have felt like.
Natalie asked to hold her daughter and the nurse nun told her the baby’s remains had already been sent to the funeral home.
Two days later, she watched her daughter’s tiny casket be lowered into the ground. ”
“That’s a very sad story, Ten, but what does that have to do with Ronan’s claim that this case will shake the very foundation our society is built on?” Cisco looked ready to launch into a tirade.
“Let him finish, Cisco. I promise the long story is worth the payoff,” Ronan said, hoping to calm the chief down.
“Natalie came to me to connect with her lost daughter. The problem was, I couldn’t reach the spirit. The mother had the blanket the baby had been wrapped in and even when I held it, I still couldn’t reach the spirit.”
Cisco wore a thoughtful look. “Not exactly the money shot I was waiting for, Ten.”
Looking undeterred by Cisco’s sarcasm, Ten continued, “This has only ever happened to me twice before. In each of those instances I couldn’t connect with the spirit because the person was still alive.” Ten paused, studying the chief.
“Alive?” Cisco nearly fell over backward in his chair. You think this woman’s child is still alive fifty plus years later?”
Ten nodded. “My advice to Natalie was to take a DNA test and upload it to the public databases. I’m hoping she’ll find her long lost daughter or perhaps grandchildren.
We went to Angel of Mercy this morning to check out Amanda’s grave, that’s the name Natalie planned on giving to her daughter.
Everly came with us and found that the grave was empty. ”
Cisco’s eyes widened. “Empty? There’s nothing buried there at all?”
“Just the casket, which I imagine was the one Natalie saw buried days after her child died.” Ten paused, nibbling his bottom lip.
“Is that all, one empty grave?” Cisco was on full alert now, his eyes darting back and forth between Ronan and Tennyson.
Ronan shook his head. “There were fifty-seven grave markers in the St. Agnes House portion of the cemetery. All of them were empty.”
“You’re certain?” Cisco asked, sounding as stunned as he looked.
“Everly’s sure and that’s good enough for me. She suggested that Ten tell Natalie and ask to have the grave exhumed to prove it was empty. We could also bring in ground penetrating radar and search for bodies that way.”
“That kind of radar can’t see through caskets. All it will tell you is that there’s a disturbance in the soil. It might be able to see the casket, but wouldn’t be able to identify adult bones, never mind baby bones,” Fitz said, sounding more like himself.
Cisco nodded when Fitz finished speaking. “You were right, Ronan. This is the kind of case that could cause a lot of upheaval in the church and with the mothers of these babies.”
“Mark this in your calendar, Cisco said I was right.” Ronan crowed, but quickly sobered. “How do you want us to handle this?”
“Carefully,” Cisco said, looking contemplative.
“You need to gather as much information about this situation as possible without alerting the church or the media about what’s going on.
Do research on St. Agnes House. See if there are any nurses or priests left alive who were affiliated with it.
We’ll wait for the results of Natalie’s DNA test before making our next move. ”
“I agree with all of that,” Fitz said. “Do you want us to try to find and reach out to other women who lost children at St. Agnes House?”
“No, not yet. Let’s just gather information for now.
Newspaper archives and social media might be a good place to start.
See if there are pages for St. Agnes House and the women who lived there.
Same goes for the church, parish, and the Archdiocese of Boston.
If memory serves, it covers all of eastern Massachusetts. ”
“We’ll get right on it.”
“Just remember to keep this between us. The last thing I want is for this story to leak out before we have relevant facts to present. This isn’t just a Salem or a Massachusetts story, it will go worldwide.
I want it to break the right way.” Cisco headed for the door.
“Thank Everly for all her hard work, Ten.”
“I will.” Ten walked Cisco to the door and shut it behind him. “Where do we start?”
“We’re gonna do what Cisco said. I want you and Ronan working on the social media angle looking for groups that have to do with St. Agnes Catholic Church, the St. Agnes House, and any groups for Catholic adoptions from the 1950s through the 1970s.
Jude, I want you on the history of the St. Agnes House.
If you can find priests or nuns who worked at the house, that’s even better.
Also, see if you can dig anything up on the doctor who delivered Natalie’s baby. ”
“His name is Savini,” Ten said. “I’m sure I could get more information about him from Natalie.”
“Let’s hold off on that for the time being.” Fitz jotted notes on his pad before looking up at Ten. “I want to wait until she gets the results of her DNA test before we contact her again.”
“Understood, but what if she contacts me?” Ten asked. “Natalie knew we were going to pay Angel of Mercy Cemetery a visit to see if Amanda’s grave was empty.”
“If that’s the case, let her know what you discovered and that we’re on the case.
” Fitz tapped his pen a few times on his pad.
“Get in touch with Angel of Mercy. Find out what the procedure is for exhuming the St. Agnes House graves. Yes, each of the graves has a number, but are those numbers registered to the mothers of the babies who were allegedly buried there? Keep your calls as far on the downlow as possible. We don’t want to stir anything up until we have to. ”
“I’ll just say I’m calling because one of the mothers wants their child moved to a family plot.”
“Yeah, that works,” Fitz agreed. “Let’s get together later this afternoon to discuss the results. I’m gonna spend the rest of the afternoon working from home. I’m still feeling groggy from the anesthesia and sore from the procedure.”
“I’ll drive you home,” Jude said. “I wouldn’t mind working from home too. The house is so quiet when Ronan isn’t there.”
“Asshole,” Ronan muttered. “Let’s grab some lunch first. I could go for some spicy enchiladas!”
Ten rolled his eyes. “If that’s the case, you can go work with Jude. The two of you can annihilate each other with your Mexican food farts and leave me to breathe in peace.”
“Fitz, you in the mood to get lunch or do you just want to go home?” Jude asked.
“Lunch sounds great. I didn’t eat anything before my procedure, but maybe not Mexican.” Fitz grimaced. “How about Thai instead?”
“Works for me!” Jude said.
“Me too,” Ten agreed.
Fitz grabbed his notebook and stuffed it into his briefcase. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there with you guys this morning.”
“It’s okay, Fitz. There wasn’t anything for you to do.
To be honest, Everly did all the work.” Ronan knew how important it was to his daughter to feel like she was making a difference with her gift, but he hoped visiting the cemetery was the end of her involvement in this case.
But the little voice in the back of his head was telling him this was only the beginning.