THE TRUTH ABOUT SISTER MARY
Marcus couldn’t speak.
Daniel finally asked:
“Who is ‘they’?”
Father Gabriel didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he walked toward Room Seventeen and locked the door behind them.
“There are people inside the convent who have been doing this for years.”
“Doing what?”
“Covering up deaths.”
Marcus stared at him.
Gabriel continued.
“Women came to the convent seeking protection. Some were running from abusive families. Some were carrying secrets. Some knew things powerful people wanted forgotten.”
Daniel frowned.
“And the convent hid them?”
“Not always.”
Gabriel looked at the old records.
“Sometimes the convent became their prison.”
Marcus looked at Sister Mary’s name.
“What did she discover?”
“She found the records.”
“About the dead women?”
Gabriel nodded.
“And she discovered that several deaths had been deliberately misreported.”
Marcus felt sick.
“So Sister Mary was killed because she found the truth.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“No.”
He lowered his voice.
“She volunteered to disappear.”
Marcus stared at him.
“Why?”
“To expose them.”
Gabriel explained that Sister Mary had discovered a network involving a former administrator, several wealthy donors, and people inside the convent who had been falsifying records for years.
Women who died under suspicious circumstances were sometimes listed as natural deaths.
Women who tried to leave disappeared from the records.
Families were told different stories.
And whenever anyone asked questions…
the files vanished.
Mary had spent months collecting evidence.
Then someone discovered what she was doing.
She knew they were coming for her.
So she created a plan.
She would appear to die.
Her body would be taken to the morgue.
The message would stop the autopsy.
And someone inside the hospital would secretly remove her.
Marcus stared at Gabriel.
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t know who I could trust.”
“You signed her death certificate.”
Gabriel looked ashamed.
“I was forced.”
Suddenly, Daniel noticed something.
“Wait.”
He pointed toward the hallway.
“We’re not alone.”
They heard several footsteps.
Gabriel’s face changed.
“They found us.”
The lights went out again.
Then a door slammed.
Someone shouted:
“Search every room!”
Marcus grabbed the evidence files.
Daniel grabbed the photograph.
Father Gabriel whispered:
“There’s another way out.”
And they ran.
Continue to Page 8…
