Lost and Found in Prague by Kelly Jones Page B

note a dozen times now, but her heart still jumped at every word.
Need your help
? Dana’s help? Who needed her help? The nuns? Were they in danger? Or the police? Did
they
need her help?
    Why did Caroline believe Sister Claire—obviously the old nun being buried this week—had been murdered? Her words concerning the Infant puzzled Dana, as she’d seen the small statue in the church that very morning. It appeared to be authentic, though the glass box sat on such a high perch it was difficult to know for sure.
    She took a swallow of lemonade. Looking out to the square, she attempted to remain calm, trying to determine what to do now. Hundreds of tourists strolled about the Easter market. Carved wooden Easter eggs hung on pastel ribbons from the booths. Real eggs, hollowed out and painted with intricate designs, filled wicker baskets. A pair of live, fluffy ducklings nuzzled inside a wire fence.
    Again she stared down at the note. Why couldn’t Caroline, or the prioress, or Father Ruffino, do something? Dana envisioned Caroline’s nervous, guarded glances toward the main altar and wondered if the priest was somehow involved, if he posed a threat to the nuns. The same priest who had spoken so kindly to Dana.
    She needed to go back to the convent and speak with Caroline again, yet Dana wondered if she could even get inside. She’d received no confirmation to reschedule their lunch for Sunday, other than a guarded nod from Caroline when Dana whispered, “Sunday?” as they stood at the votive candles.
    She considered returning to the church. Because of her uneasiness about the priest, she should probably stay away from the church until she knew more.
    The note contained very little useful information; most likely Caroline had written it in a hurry. Perhaps someone inside the convent was watching over the nuns’ every move.
    Surely, if the Infant of Prague had been taken this information would have gone out to crime units around the world. An Interpol report would have—
should have
—shot out of that office. Maybe no one would care about an old nun’s passing, but there would be serious concern if one of the most famous religious icons of the Catholic Church had been stolen. She hadn’t read a newspaper, and had barely glanced at an English-language newscast in her hotel since leaving home, but surely a nun’s murder, the theft of a valuable religious icon, would have been reported in the press.
    Maybe she
should
go to the police. She wasn’t sure what Caroline meant by her accusation that the police were not doing a proper investigation
.
Did this refer to corruption or incompetence?
    She stood, made her way around the other tables, and walked out into the square, threading her way through the crowd. Hand-carved puppets—trolls and fairies—perhaps too sinister for children, hung from lines strung along the front of one of the booths. The vendor, who appeared to have been created by the same artist as his trolls, grinned at Dana. “Is the missy in need of a little magic?” Returning his smile, she shook her head and moved along. She skirted the outside of the market and stopped at a newsstand to pick up an English-language Czech paper. Standing in front of the news kiosk, she skimmed over the headlines on the front page. An article about the European Union, the tug-of-war going on between the prime minister and Senate in adopting the Lisbon Treaty. A story on the worldwide banking crisis, another on the global financial markets. The newspaper appeared to be printed weekly and was dated just the previous day, so anything that had taken place over the weekend would likely be covered in this edition.
    On the second page, she found an article about the influx of visitors to Prague during the Easter holidays, which were generally considered the beginning of spring and the tourist season. The gist of the article appeared to be that Prague was a very safe city with little crime, though the story offered a number of