Page 197 - LEIBY

Chapter 25 197

The doctor nodded. “Well, there is just one more possibility,” he
replied thoughtfully. “It’s not technically a hospital, but there
is a hospice for terminally ill patients run by nuns. It may be
worth our while to look there too.”

The hospice was a gray, dreary institution, run by sour-faced
nuns and inhabited by desperately ill people lying on their
deathbeds.

“Has an injured man arrived here lately?” The doctor asked.

“Yes, a critically injured man was brought here a few days ago,”
one of the nuns stunned them with the long-awaited reply.
“Initially, we didn’t want to admit him here; he was so badly
injured and seemed to be more dead than alive. We couldn’t
understand why he was brought here and not to a hospital, but
in the end, we agreed to give him a bed here.” She blushed a
deep red, obviously hiding something.

“Was he a Nazi?”

The nun’s eyes opened wide in surprise. “How do you know?
We didn’t realize at first,” she explained uneasily. “Only when
we took off his blood-drenched clothing and dressed him in
one the hospice nightshirts we saw the eagle symbol tattooed
under his arm.”

“And where’s he now?”

“He left… a few hours ago. He was afraid that we’d inform on
him to the police.” The nun spoke apathetically, but it was clear
that she was rooting for the poor Nazi. Evidently she felt some
Christian brotherly love.

“Was he dressed like a Chassidic Jew?” The doctor inquired.

The nun was no longer surprised by his knowledge of the facts.
“Yes, he was,” she replied simply.

“And did he have a young girl with him?”

“Oh no, of course not,” the nun shrugged. “He was critically