CHAPTER FOURTEEN
As the four men stepped inside the office with Ace, he led them to their data and comms center where Hiro, Tanner, and AJ were working on something for the Shadow team.
“What do you have, Ace?” asked Hex.
“It might be nothing but I was just trying to search anything and everything to figure out if someone out there had an interest in musical savants.”
“What did you find?” asked Cam.
“More than I wanted. There is a great deal of interest in them, mostly to exploit them. A whole chat room willing to pay outrageous prices to put your kid on a stage to perform for people and show their odd skills. It’s like those old-time side shows that exploited people for their weight or excessive body hair.
It’s so sick it makes me want to kill them all. ”
Luke watched their old friend taking in deep breaths and reached out, placing a soft, gentle hand on his shoulder.
“I’m good. I’m good,” he said repeatedly. “Anyway, most of the chats were like that, until I found this one.”
Musical savants – blind, mute, deaf or all – wanted. Fair price.
“Fair price? What the fuck does that mean? Are you fucking with me?” asked Eric.
“I wish I were,” said Ace. “Interested parties were supposed to click on the link and it takes them to a response page but the link no longer works. I’m trying to get through the back door of the site and see if I can find something to tell me who posted it or at the very least fix their damn link long enough that I can respond to it. ”
“Well, it’s not much but it’s a start,” said Cam.
“That’s not all,” said Ace. “Dr. Paul Jericho, renowned audiologist who possesses two medical degrees. One in ear, nose and throat specialty and one in pediatric neurosurgery. He gave a lecture in Prague about four years ago claiming that musical savants brains were wired differently than our own and that it could be replicated.”
“Replicated? Like manipulate a fetus?” asked Hex.
“No. Like study it and replicate it in non-savant children. Cut them open and rewire their brains to make them savants.” Ace stared at the wide-mouthed men staring back at him.
“Tell me that’s not true,” whispered Eric. “We’ve all encountered some fucked up people but who would do that? Who would allow someone to do that to their normal child?”
“Maybe no one,” said Hex. “But if they were orphans, no one to advocate for them, who would care? Or if the kids were born deaf but showed no signs of Savantism, maybe they’re making them that way with surgery.
But they could be kids who are lost, orphans, or just plain don’t have anyone who cares. ”
“We do,” said Eric practically growling low in his chest.
“Brother, we know that. We all care and we will figure this out. We need to find that woman, what was her name? Miss Farmer. She ran the orphanage where Sutton and Pip were being held. Maybe she was working a deal with them.”
“I’m way ahead of you, as usual,” smirked Ace. “After the orphanage burned to the ground, she became disabled trying to get the kids out. She’s now living at Sterling Senior Care Center in Houma.”
“You’re fucking awesome, Ace,” said Luke. “We’ll be back for dinner.”
“Hey, Luke? Be careful. This might be an old woman, disabled, but she could have something to hide. I don’t know that yet.” Luke nodded at Ace as they left the property, headed north to Houma.
While they drove, Cam read the information that Ace had on the orphanage fire. It had been set in the vicinity of the kitchen, probably paper towels too close to the burners. Miss Farmer was often the only staff member there at night.
According to reports, she raced back in more than a dozen times to carry children out safely. She was badly burned on her legs, arms, and back.
“That doesn’t sound like a woman who wanted the kids dead,” said Luke.
“No, it doesn’t,” said Cam. “But how did she know these people at the hospital?”
“That’s what we’re going to ask her.”
The outside of Sterling Senior Care Center looked warm and inviting. Hanging baskets of flowers waved in the breeze along the porch where rocking chairs were waiting for their residents. Inside, the place smelled clean, the air-conditioning blowing cool.
“Hello,” said a young man at the front desk. “Can I help you?”
“We’re looking for Miss Farmer,” said Cam. “We believe her first name is Gladys.”
“Oh, yes. Miss Farmer is a favorite of the staff. She’s a brave woman. Never complains, never asks for more. Are you family?”
“No. We wanted to ask her some questions about the orphanage where she worked,” said Eric.
“Of course. But, she’s often plagued with nightmares about that. Please don’t upset her,” he said. “She’s in room 189. Down the hall on the left.”
“I promise we won’t upset her,” said Hex.
As they walked down the long hallway, they were relieved to see that the rooms appeared clean, well-cared for, and the entire place smelled like homecooked meatloaf.
At the entrance to room 189, Eric knocked on the door.
“Come in,” said the small voice. The four men entered and a sweet older woman looked at them from her recliner in the corner. “Hello. Do I know you?”
“No, ma’am,” said Luke, “but we need to speak with you about the orphanage. Not about the fire. Before then.”
“Before?” she frowned. “Nothing remarkable happened before then. We’d been running the orphanage for nearly sixteen years.”
“We?” asked Cam.
“The Sisters of the Blessed Mother.”
“You’re a nun?” asked Hex with surprise.
“Yes,” she laughed. “Is that surprising to you?”
“We just weren’t aware of that,” said Luke. “Sister Gladys, there were two children in your care for about six to eight months. Sutton and Pippen.”
“Oh, yes! Wonderful children. Pip was such a delight, so very talented and yet couldn’t hear anything. It was truly one of God’s miracles. Sutton, she wouldn’t leave his side. Promised her parents she would watch over him and she sure did.”
“Yes, ma’am. They were sent to a hospital. Why?” asked Luke.
“Well, this hospital had taken a few other children we had that were possible savants. They’d been working with these children to help them refine their gifts and give them better lives, possibly even get their hearing back, although I never heard of one that was successful for that procedure.
“Sutton, she just wouldn’t be separated from Pip. She kept running away and they’d bring her back, telling us to lock her up. That’s not something we do. Finally, we agreed she should just stay with them.”
Gladys stared at the men, their frowning, handsome faces telling her that something was not right.
“Are the children okay?” she asked. “Is something wrong?”
“Sister Gladys, the children at the hospital were operated on unnecessarily. To the point of torture,” said Eric. The old woman gasped, her hands beginning to shake as tears filled her old, cloudy eyes.
“Sutton ran away from the hospital with Pip and four other children about a year ago. She kept them safe, stole food for them, and survived all this time because those people at the hospital were going to open their skulls.”
“Oh, dear God in heaven,” she said wringing her hands together and then making the sign of the cross. “I trusted them. I trusted what they said, so did the other sisters. We believed in the work they were doing and wanted the children to be able to use their gifts. How? How could this evil happen?”
“We’re not sure, ma’am. Who did you speak to at the hospital?” asked Luke.
“Two people. Dr. Paul Jericho and a woman, Judy something or other. I didn’t get her last name. Honestly, I’m not sure if she was a doctor or not. She didn’t seem very comfortable around the children. I should have known something was wrong.”
“It’s hard to know when something is wrong, ma’am. Was there anything else that you found odd or that you thought was suspicious?” asked Eric.
“Nothing. I promise you there was nothing I found strange. If I had, I would never have allowed those children to be taken from the orphanage. Are they okay? Are they alive?” she asked hopefully.
“Yes, ma’am. They’re all doing well and they are safe,” said Eric, not willing to provide any further information.
Sister Gladys closed her eyes, nodding as she whispered a prayer, holding the crucifix at her neck. The men all noticed the leathery, wrinkled skin caused by burns. It must have been very painful for her.
“Sister, did they ever find out exactly what happened the night of the fire?” asked Eric.
“No,” she said shaking her head. “Someone said I must have left the paper towels too close to the burner with my tea kettle but I can assure you, the burner was off and the paper towels were on their holder.”
“Sister, was Paul or Judy there that night? Had they been there that night?” asked Hex.
“Y-yes,” she whispered in despair. “They’d come earlier to see a child that I thought they could help but before they got there, the child’s aunt and uncle came to take him home.
We’d been trying to reunite them for months but couldn’t get through to them.
They’re missionaries and travel the world.
When they found out the child was now an orphan, they got back as quickly as they could. ”
“And the child is well?” asked Luke.
“Oh, yes. I get letters and photos from them all the time. They travel with the child, and she’s doing beautifully, learning, improving her ASL skills, and she continues to play music wherever she is.”
“I see. And were Paul and Judy angry when they learned the child was gone?” asked Hex.
“Angry? Well, I suppose they appeared disappointed but I don’t know that I saw anger. Then again, my eyes aren’t what they used to be.”
“Have they tried to contact you, Sister?” asked Eric.
“Oh, heavens no. I suppose they’re far too busy to worry about me.”
“One more question, Sister. Was the orphanage compensated in any way for the children that were sent to the hospital? Even a donation?” asked Luke.
“I wouldn’t know that,” she said. “The Mother Superior would have handled that.”
“How do we reach her?” asked Hex.
“Through God, I suppose,” she smiled. “She died of a heart attack about four months ago, a few months after the fire. Strange though. She ran marathons for fun. She was known as the Speeding Sister. I can’t see how she would have had a bad heart.”
The men all stared at one another and then back at Sister Gladys. Luke nodded at her.
“Yes. That does seem odd.”