THE ARCHIVE
They reached the final room just before the men entered the chapel.
Mary inserted the key.
The lock clicked.
Inside was a small metal cabinet.
She opened it.
There were hundreds of documents.
Photographs.
Bank transfers.
Medical reports.
Letters.
Names.
Dates.
And recordings.
Marcus picked up the first folder.
His hands began to tremble.
The records showed that several women had died under suspicious circumstances.
But their deaths had been recorded as accidents.
Some had supposedly suffered heart attacks.
Others had supposedly fallen down stairs.
One had been declared missing.
But the evidence suggested otherwise.
Daniel found another file.
“This woman was reported to have left the convent voluntarily.”
Mary shook her head.
“She never left.”
“Where is she?”
Mary pointed toward the floor.
“Her name is in the cemetery records.”
Marcus opened another folder.
Then stopped.
A photograph fell from his hands.
It showed a respected businessman.
A major donor to the convent.
Marcus knew him.
Everyone in the city knew him.
Daniel whispered:
“That’s impossible.”
Mary looked at him.
“He paid them.”
“For what?”
“To keep quiet.”
Marcus felt his stomach tighten.
Then he found something even worse.
A list of payments.
At the top were names of wealthy families.
Politicians.
Business owners.
Officials.
People who had donated money to Saint Clare’s.
People who had influence.
People who had something to lose.
And beneath them were the names of women.
Victims.
Mary had spent years collecting the evidence.
But then Daniel found one final folder.
It contained documents from eleven years earlier.
Mary’s first year at the convent.
There was a photograph of a young woman.
Marcus looked at it.
Then at Mary.
“Who is this?”
Mary’s face changed.
“My sister.”
Daniel stared.
“You said she died before you entered the convent.”
“She did.”
Marcus looked at the file.
The date was wrong.
The death certificate had been altered.
Mary’s sister hadn’t died in an accident.
She had been one of the women who discovered the truth.
Mary had entered the convent afterward to find out what happened.
And now she finally knew.
The woman who had supposedly been responsible for her sister’s death…
was still alive.
And her name was written on the final page.
Mary closed her eyes.
Marcus read the name.
Then looked at her.
“You know this person.”
Mary nodded.
“I’ve known her my entire life.”
The door behind them suddenly opened.
Someone stepped inside.
And Mary whispered:
“Mother Superior.”
Continue to Page 10…
