CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The men were quiet leaving Houma and Sister Gladys. They asked the young man at the front desk to promise to call them should anyone suspicious come to speak with her. No one questioned Eric when he turned off toward the now burned down orphanage.
As they pulled up to the shell of a, no doubt, once beautiful building, they could still smell the charred embers.
The outside was brick but the windows, doors, and everything else were damaged beyond repair.
They weren’t looking forward to entering this building, the last building associated with this case leaving enough nightmares for a lifetime.
But this time they needed to look for something specific, something that could tell them what happened that night.
“Be careful,” said Hex standing at the open front door. They made their way through the deserted building, finding their way to the old kitchen.
Eric kneeled down, rubbing the ashes between his fingers and then holding them to his nose.
“Ace? What did the fire investigation report say?” asked Eric.
“What I told you. Paper towels too close to the burner.”
“No. No, that’s a lie. It’s been months and I can still smell the kerosene and gasoline. This was intentionally set with the kids inside. Who was the fire investigator?”
“I’ll look into it and let you know.”
“They were trying to kill her and anyone else in this building,” said Cam. “I’m going to bet that the Mother Superior was here that night as well. Maybe Sister Gladys wasn’t the target at all. They needed to cover their tracks.”
“Let’s see if we can find anything that would tell us about why they kept coming back to this place,” said Luke.
It was hours of searching before they all looked at their watches and realized they’d been gone longer than expected. In spite of smelling like smoke and ash, they raced home to have dinner with the family.
The children were still enjoying their new instruments and Sutton was seated with the old guard, laughing and talking about all the animals she saw.
“Well, you look a lot happier than the last time I saw you,” smiled Luke.
“You smell funny,” she said with a wrinkled nose. “But yes, I’m happy. The animals were so cool! I touched a giraffe and a snake! A big snake!”
“That is pretty cool,” smiled Eric. “Maybe one day you’ll want to be an animal doctor, a veterinarian.”
“I think her calling may be elsewhere,” smirked Ian.
“Seems our little Sutton here is quite a strategist. She was able to figure out which restaurants, grocery stores, and gas stations were in the radius of wherever they were staying, the times they opened and closed, and the best time to take leftovers or dumpster dive. She worked them in a clockwise pattern, never visiting the same place twice in the same two-week period, and always worked her way outward.”
“That’s impressive,” smiled Hex. “It takes men in the military years to figure out how to do things like that.” She smiled up at him, blushing and looked at Ghost.
“Mister Ghost said I might be able to go to college one day.”
“I think Mister Ghost is right,” said Luke. “Everyone gets that chance here at Belle Fleur.”
“If I go, I mean, when I get bigger if I go, will someone watch out for Pip?”
“We’ll all watch out for Pip and the others,” said Eric. “Sutton, we saw Miss Farmer today. She said to tell you hello. We didn’t know she was a nun.”
“Oh, yeah. I thought everyone knew. They were really nice to us. Can I go see Pip now?”
“Of course, you can,” smiled Eric. Sutton ran off, then ran back to the group, hugging each of the men, giving extra hugs to the seniors.
“That kid is something else,” said Gaspar. “She reminds me of you, Luke.”
“Funny, I said the same thing to her when we spoke earlier,” he smirked. “She was incredibly brave taking all those kids on by herself.”
“Did you find out anything with the old woman?” asked Ian.
“Not a lot. The doctor and a woman were there the night the place caught on fire. So was the Mother Superior, who, as it happens, is now dead. I think they were giving sizeable donations to the orphanage to be able to take the kids,” said Luke.
Ghost nodded, biting his lower lip, beard and all. He looked back at Sutton, laughing and playing, finally being the kid she needed to be.
“If you want hunting partners, give us a call. This is one I want in on.”
For the remainder of the evening, the cafeteria was filled with music and childhood excitement. The kids were learning ASL faster than anyone expected, although with their genius, they shouldn’t have been surprised. It was clear that the hospital had not spent time teaching them such things.
Later in the evening, a group of men walked all the kids to their dorm rooms, they showered, got into clean pajamas, brushed their teeth, and snuggled in, almost instantly falling asleep.
Luke, Cam, Hex, and Eric stood at the door of the boys dorm, signing goodnight to them.
The children smiled, confidently returning the sign.
They walked next door to the girls’ dormitory and did the same.
Samantha and Eden waved goodnight but it was Sutton, already fast asleep that made the men smile.
“That’s probably the first time that kid has been able to sleep without fear or worry in over a year,” said Hex.
“Well,” said Eric, “the good news is it won’t be the last time.”
They walked down the hallway and at the end, where the steps took them downstairs to the school, they noticed Grip, Jonathan, Nathan, and Eagle Feather.
“Why are you guys here? Is something wrong?” asked Hex.
“Nothing wrong. And we will keep it that way. We may be ghosts but we can still do some damage should we need to,” smiled Grip.
“Amen to that, brother,” laughed Hex. “Amen to that.”