Chapter 13
Hester, clearly a woman with a mission, solemnly handed Trooper Jonas two plastic baggies. One baggie contained a copy of the Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales found “at the scene” as the novice detective put it. The other baggie held an empty cellophane bag, which had contained Cheez Twists snack food before someone or something had eaten them all. The Cheez Twists bag tugged at Hester’s heart a little. She had bittersweet memories of that snack food.
“I’m certain I found the spot where Brother Matthew was last Saturday evening. That book in your hand is foundational to the spirit of this monastery and it also has ‘Salesian Monastery’ written in it.” Detective Hester continued by reiterating what she had only recently learned from Brother Matthew, “Members of monastic communities own nothing in their own right. Everything is there for their use only, and is to be shared. Normally, books would have the name of the monastery written in it rather than an individual member’s name. Sometimes an individual will put his or her own name in it if that were more prudent, due to the possibility of it getting lost outside of the building, something like that. This book had the traditional wording of the monastery in it so they could not specifically state that Brother Matthew had this book with him at Beltzville Lake, but it certainly pointed in that direction.”
“Good work, Hester.” This woman should have been a lawyer. “We will check on this to make sure it was not left there by another community member, but it does give us a little more information. The empty Cheez Twists bag leaves me a little confused, however,” stated the trooper.
Hester got huffy. “Well, Trooper Jonas, it is crystal clear to me. That empty bag was found in the brush near where the book was found. Brother Matthew was either eating Cheez Twists or whoever took him away left this bag behind.”
“That bag could be from anyone, Hester. It’s a real long shot that it belonged to someone who may have kidnapped Brother Matthew. Anything could have happened to that young man. Isn’t he about to take his simple vows or first vows, or whatever they call it, very soon?”
“That’s right, Trooper Jonas. You aren’t suggesting that he got ‘cold feet’ are you?”
“Well, that is a possibility. People do that with marriages all the time. My fiancée did that to me some years ago. Left me waiting at the altar—tux, carnation, rings, and everything.” Trooper Jonas caught himself and stopped pouring out his soul to Hester and the group. He was not sure just what triggered his bout of self-disclosure. That was very unlike him, especially while on duty.
“His abbot taught him to be a lot more forthright than that, Trooper. If he were considering putting off his vowed commitment, he would have discussed it with someone, and not just run away. Also, I don’t think he would have been eating yesterday. Brother Matthew fasts periodically and he was at Beltzville Lake on a hermit day and was probably fasting there as well. That leaves either the perpetrator, if there was one, or just visitors to the park. Visitors at Beltzville are few at this time of year, but the bag look very new, and there are still some fresh golden crumbs inside.”
“You have very fine logical skills, Hester. You’ve convinced me. I will send both of these items to the lab for analysis, fingerprints, that sort of thing. We need to bring a detective in on this because it’s getting complicated and our barracks here has lots of other cases to deal with also.”
“I understand, Trooper Jonas. Just don’t desert us. Your level-headed presence has been invaluable thus far.” As Hester heard these words coming out of her, she felt herself blush. It had been many years since Hester Von Kiel blushed—except for the mauve blotches on her neck when she was anxious.
“Please forgive me if I sounded a little high and mighty. Brother Matthew has encouraged me to lighten up and I have. It has been wonderful indeed. I’m afraid that I regressed a little just now. Trooper Jonas, I do hope that I have not offended you.”
“Not at all Hester.” Then he heard himself say something completely out of character: “I like a woman who fights back.” Now it was his turn to blush.
Unconsciously gripping the pen in his hand as if his hand were frozen mid-stream, the trooper found himself staring into the eyes of this deceptively simple woman. All at once he caught himself and put down the pen, coughed, rearranged some papers, and told her that he would certainly stay in touch. He also mentioned that he hoped they would meet again soon. Was Freud right? Is life composed of two major instincts--eros and thanatos? Life and death seemed to be the two major struggles. Living and dying, cycled through over and over again, they were indeed the Paschal Mystery. Then again, just plain love in bloom might be fun too.