Besides praying, members of the Benedictine Order also had assigned individual work. Those with strength dug the earth and grew vegetables; those with a craft or skill made handicrafts; everyone took turns working in the kitchen.
Communal life was given an order. Everyone had fixed times for liturgy, reading holy scriptures, and work. This was also the way of life practiced by Christians in the early Church, and it had remained so for fifteen hundred years.
When they found the retired priest, he was picking tomatoes in the greenhouse behind the building. There was a chicken coop beside it, and a somewhat younger monk was gathering eggs.
At first glance, there was nothing special about the white-haired old man. Yet when he sensed someone there and turned his gaze toward them, she still jumped in fright.
She instinctively hid behind Severus, then felt that, being older, she could not hide behind someone younger than herself. She gathered her courage and stood beside him instead. The old priest kept staring at him with a smile at the corner of his lips, and she felt mocked.
"Father Stein..."
"I am no longer a priest." The old man interrupted the secretary-general. "I am only an ordinary monk now."
"There is something we need your help with," the secretary-general said. "A young man went to Poveglia Island and encountered something strange. Someone threw powder in his face, causing him to hallucinate."
"He went to the hospital?" Monk Stein asked.
"Yes."
"Then did the doctors at the hospital collect evidence?"
The secretary-general did not answer.
"A doctor's purpose is to save people. They usually do not inspect every trace on a corpse in search of clues the way forensic examiners do." The old monk continued picking tomatoes. "I do not think I can help you."