“What the fuck?” Hawkins all but shouted.
Cat nodded. “Its public name is the Abbett of Saint Jude. That was where I was sent when I recovered from being blind after the accident. It’s an actual abbey for nuns but part of the facilities was set up as an orphanage for less fortunate kids.” She shuddered. “Apparently, the state never thought to check on the kids they put there. That place was the pits.”
“I got put there two years after Cat, when Dennis was arrested,” Luna told them. “I don’t believe it proved to be any better over the years and I will tell you right now, I did not miss that place when I left.”
Hawkins looked around the room. “Ok, so why would Isobel go there then?”
“I have no idea.” Cat shook her head. “Maybe she knows someone there.”
Luna snorted. “She’d have to be really good friends with someone in order to get in there and stay hidden because if I remember correctly, Mother Superior didn’t allow just anyone to walk in there.”
Cat nodded in agreement. “That’s true enough. That old woman is one tough bitch.” She turned to Luna. “But who would she know inside the Abbey? I don’t recall her ever being inside when we were there.”
Luna thought for a moment then said, “I-I think…” She rubbed her temples. “I think I remember her being there.” Her eyes rounded as she remembered. “… YES!” she shouted. “…It was while you were locked in your room. Remember that day you had the feeling in your belly, the same one you had the other night she came here to burn us out. You kept warning the nuns that something bad was coming, that you could feel it. The nuns thought you were being possessed by a demon and they locked you in your room for like three or four days during that time.”
Cat closed her eyes as she brought up those memories and nodded. “I remember that time. I wasn’t sure what was coming but I knew something was. It was like a black cloud surrounding us all.”
Tatum shivered. “You are describing your mother aren’t you? How can you say she is a black cloud? At least, you know her.”
Brute snorted. “Honey, you have no idea what her mother is capable of. The woman you saw the other night, well that was Isobel. She was the red headed woman that left a man behind so she could get away.”
Tatum looked over at Cat. “She’s your mother?”
“Yep, she’s a dear old mom,” Cat sadly replied. “Unfortunately, she also wants me dead as well as the men here.”
Hawkins ran his hand over the back of his head and glared at Cat and Luna. “So where is this Abbey place?”
Luna answered this, “It’s halfway between Odessa and Eau Claire. But you’ll never get past the front gate. Mother Superior and the Headmaster will never let you in.”
“Why not?” Hawkins frowned.
“The Abbey is the home for those Nuns,” Luna explained. “And only a portion of it is the orphanage part. She won’t risk men being there. Even the families that come for the children aren’t allowed past a certain point. The children are brought out to them.”
Titan thought for a moment and asked, “Is there any one of those Nuns from the time you spent there, that would or could be friends with Isobel?”
Luna looked over at Cat and saw her go pale. She realized then who it had to be. “Sister Patrice.”
“Why her?” Kota wanted to know. “And who is this woman?”
“She was the one person who avoided Cat and I the whole time we were living there,” Luna stated. “If she saw us coming, she would turn and walk the other way. She would never meet our eyes the whole time if she had to speak to us, she was the one most of the kids loved.”
Cat agreed with her. “I always had a feeling she was hiding something, remember when the accidents started happening? Every time I saw her, my stomach churned. I never said anything about it but there was just something about her that didn’t meet the standards of the other nuns, you know? Always something just a little off in her mannerisms but not enough that other people saw it.” She shrugged. “Maybe I was the only one who felt it, but then she changed after she got so sick.”
“What accidents?” Hawkins asked.
“There were three that we knew about,” Luna told them.
Cat shivered as she added, “Shortly after I noticed the red haired woman staring at me from a distance on the other side of the fence that separated the Abbey from the rest of the world, strange accidents began to happen. The day I first saw her, I only noticed her because as she stood there, I could almost feel the hate emanating from her. I was alone and she kept glaring at me. I slowly backed away then left the playground and went inside.” Cat looked over at Luna and whispered, “I’ve never felt anything like that before and it scared me. I could feel a dark cloud coming for me, surrounding me, suffocating me.”
Luna took her hand to comfort her.
Cat tried to shake the feeling off. “Anyway, later that afternoon we got a new kid and Mother Superior made me bunk with Luna and she gave the new girl, Lily, my room until they could find another place for her. The next morning, Lily didn’t wake up. Mother Superior went into my room along with the Headmaster and found her dead. The Medical Examiner said she was smothered in her sleep. No one knew why or even what happened but the Abbey went on lock down. No one was allowed in or out and everyone was scared.”
Luna nodded. “I remember that time.” Then her eyes widened and she looked at Cat. “I also remember overhearing Mother Superior commenting to a few of the nuns on the fact that Lily might have been mistaken for you, as you both had the same color hair and she was in your room.”
Cat paled. Titan wrapped his arm around her and just held her while she shivered. Laying her head on his chest, she whispered. “I forgot about that.”
Hawkins shook his head. “What other accidents occurred?”
“Well, it was a few weeks later when Sister Patrice almost died,” Luna told them as she stared at Cat. “We went to lunch but Cat wasn’t feeling well. Her tummy had that churning going on again and she just wanted to hide until it went away. We were sitting over in the corner of the lunch room and I had already been given my tray. When Cat’s tray was sat down in front of her, Cat pushed the tray away at first but the nun pushed it back and told her to eat. She told her that there were children starving in the world out there that would love a tray of food to eat and she should be grateful for the food. Cat was sick to her stomach and told the sister that she just couldn’t eat anything. Sister Patrice snatched the tray and told her she was a selfish and unworthy child, being so blessed.” Luna paused. “We saw her sit down with the tray meant for Cat… the cafeteria was almost emptied out. Sister Patrice ate Cat’s food and then she got up and walked out. As punishment for not eating, Cat and I got put on clean up and we had to clean the tables and take out the trash.”
“Later that afternoon,” Cat took up the story. “We saw an ambulance come in and then we saw a gurney taking someone out the door. We found out later it was Sister Patrice and she was very sick. She spent three days in the hospital and we later found out she’d been poisoned. No one knew how or why but she almost died.”
The room went silent for a moment.
Luna now realized that Cat would have died if she’d eaten the food on her tray. She had tears running down her face as she said, “Mother Superior blamed Cat for the poisoning. She said Sister Patrice told her she ate Cat’s tray before she got so sick. She demanded to know where Cat got the poison but Cat didn’t do anything wrong. Mother Superior put Cat in solitary for a month and when she let her out, no one would speak to her except me. Both of us were outcasts for over a year.”
Hawkins hands were curled into fists as he listened to their story.
Kota asked, “You said there were three accidents, what was the last one?”
Cat got to her feet, walked over to the window and looked outside. “As Luna said, we were outcasts for over a year. During that time, we were banned from the lunchroom until everyone else was gone. Mother Superior told us that it was so we couldn’t taint anyone else’s food. What we had left to eat was everyone else’s leftovers. Food no one else had eaten became our lunch and suppers. Some days, the food had been left out all day.” She paused and stopped talking.
Luna spoke up, “Tell them what happened next. You tell them or I will. You know it as well as I do what and why she was doing it.”
Cat laid her forehead on the glass of the window and her voice was barely above a whisper, “There was this one group of older boys, they were fifteen and sixteen to our twelve and they considered it their job to pick on us. They would trip us as we walked into class or throw rocks at us outside. The Sister’s always claimed they didn’t see anything when we told them about it. Mother Superior told us we were making stories up just to get the other kids in trouble. It seemed everyone turned their backs on us after that. The bullying got worse. That was when the Headmaster got involved. He was trying to keep a rein on the older kids and he finally saw one of the boys throw a rock that hit Luna. He finally got caught and the Headmaster reamed him a good one. Only problem was he did it in front of everyone which Mother Superior didn’t appreciate. She blamed me again, because he got in trouble. The boys are separated from the girls by locked doors at night, but two nights later, that door was left unlocked. Luna and I were staying together in a different room since Lily died and that night, our room was broken into. We don’t know how many older boys got in as it was dark but they beat us up. We were hit and kicked and they hurt us badly. We were only twelve years old and those boys didn’t stop.” Cat’s voice faded away as she remained at the window with her back to the room.
Luna spoke up again, “They put pillow cases over our heads, but I could still hear them hurting Cat. I tried to get to her but they held me in place punching me whenever I tried to get away from their grasp. I couldn’t help her but her screams from that night—sometimes they still haunt me.”
Cat stared out the window shuddering as she finished the story, “At some point, Mother Superior finally heard the noise and came to stop it. The boys left but then so did she. She just closed our door and locked us in. She didn’t send any help until the next morning. By then it was almost too late. But we got the message she was trying to send. Luna and I were on our own. Luna had a broken arm and we were both covered in bruises. One of the boys had stomped on my head and I spent the next few hours thinking I was going to die. When the Headmaster saw us, he called the police in. He wasn’t going to just stand by and allow this to happen. As soon as the police showed up, the Abbey got a visit from the church. The local Cardinal reigned in Mother Superior and the abuse stopped. But she made the next five years miserable for both of us. I was almost eighteen, so I knew I would be aged out in just two days. I came back three days later for Luna but I couldn’t find her. I finally asked about her and the kids told me she was in solitary.” Cat shook her head. “I knew I couldn’t get her out of there but I also knew I couldn’t stay. It broke my heart but I had to leave without her.”
Hawkins turned to Luna and growled, “What was that old witch trying to do to you girls?”
Luna glared at him then answered, “She was trying to break us, Cat especially. She knew she couldn’t control her and so she set out to break her by hurting both of us. If Cat had been alone, she could have gotten through it but with me? There was no way she could break me as long as Cat was there to protect me.”
“How long did she hold you in solitary?” Kota wanted to know.
“Six months and as soon as I got out, I grabbed my paperwork and I was gone. I tried to find Cat but I had no clue where to start looking.” She looked over at Cat. “I didn’t find her until I got here.”
Titan walked over to the window, wrapped his arms around Cat and he held her tight, then he asked, “What else happened that night, Cat? I can tell there’s something you are holding back, what is it?”
Cat trembled and kept shaking her head.
Titan turned her around and tipped her face up. “We need to hear it all, baby. The good, the bad, and the ugly.”
Cat swallowed heavily and whispered so only he could hear her, “Oh, it is ugly… so ugly…” Silent tears rolled down her cheeks.
Titan took her hands in his and stared into her soulful eyes.
She let out a long breath and kept her voice to a low whisper, “The boys held me down and one of them tore my underwear off and then… he raped me.”
Titan closed his eyes and he could barely breathe while he again was amazed at her strength. “Did you tell anyone what they did?” he whispered back.
Cat shook her head. “I couldn’t. I didn’t see his face. I don’t know who did it and they would have called me a liar.” She planted her face in his chest and begged him while still whispering, “Please don’t tell anyone else. It isn’t going to change the facts and they don’t need to know. Please?”
Titan held her and didn’t say a word as she sobbed in his arms. He looked over at a concerned looking Hawkins. Rage burned inside him as he held Cat tightly to him.
