Sinner or Saint

by Brenda Donelan

  “But he said…” Kelsey wailed. “He said all would be forgiven after I did this one thing for him.”

  “That’s a pretty common tactic people like him use to get people to do what they want. You’re young and cute. Nobody is going to suspect you of smuggling emeralds. Since you got the jewels here once, he’ll force you to keep smuggling for him,” Hector said, knowing all too well how the game worked.

  Kelsey looked at Hector, beaming from ear to ear. “You think I’m cute?”

  Before he could respond, a rustling sound outside the closed office door drew their attention. Marlee stood and opened the door to find her colleague, Della Halter. The whooshing sound came from her baby blue nylon athletic pants rubbing together. Della’s pants were tucked into brown snow boots and topped off by a green-and-white striped sweatshirt with the words FIFTY-FIVE & AND THAT’S NO JIVE emblazoned on the front in gold lettering.

  “Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Della drawled. Her gaze settled on Hector, and then she looked at Marlee. “Are you back together? I thought you two were over after he knocked up that gal from the sheriff’s office.”

  “Della, we’re in the middle of a meeting here,” Hector interjected, not paying any attention to her questions.

  “Actually, Della might be able to give us some insight into what’s going on,” Marlee said, realizing she forgot to tell Hector about Della being at Conrad Thayer’s house when Kelsey dropped off the pipe. She gave a quick overview to bring Hector up to speed and watched Della looking for a sign pointing to guilt or innocence.

  “Hey, I don’t know anything. I was just visiting my boyfriend when this little tart shows up,” she motioned to Kelsey with a toss of her head. “Conrad’s a collector. He tries to tell me about his collections and his newest acquisitions, but it bores the shit out of me. So, if you’re looking for information from me, I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

  “What about the emeralds inside the antique pipe Kelsey delivered to Thayer? I know you saw them,” Marlee said pointedly.

  “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. There weren’t any emeralds, just an old pipe. Looked like something my grandpa would’ve smoked during the depression,” Della snorted.

  “Did you know that Kelsey brought the antique pipe to Elmwood to deliver to Conrad? And that Conrad and a loan shark from Dublin met online and set up the deal for the antique pipe?” Marlee asked.

  “Do you have cotton in your ears?” Della snapped. “Either you do, or you weren’t listening when I told you Conrad’s collection talk bores me. If he mentioned anything about the pipe or this girl, I probably wasn’t paying attention.”

  “But what about emeralds?” Hector asked.

  “Oh, I’d remember them if Conrad had said anything about emeralds. But he didn’t. That’s why it’s too far-fetched to even consider,” Della said, finally lowering her voice to a normal tone.

  “But I saw Mr. Thayer dump the emeralds out of the pipe right in front of you. Then you said they were the answer to your problems,” Kelsey countered, staying true to the story she told Marlee.

  “You’re either high or you’re crazy,” Della bellowed waving her hand in dismissal at Kelsey.

  “It’s strange that you’d suggest Kelsey was high. Why would you assume she was high but not drunk?” Marlee asked, wondering if Della and Conrad had some knowledge of Kelsey’s pill popping. It was entirely possible that Mr. X was well aware of Kelsey’s drug use and had communicated that to Conrad Thayer. Marlee hadn’t suspected Conrad was under the influence of anything other than massive amounts of alcohol, but nothing with him would surprise her.

  “Maybe she was drunk! How would I know? She wasn’t staggering around, and I couldn’t smell anything on her, so I never had reason to think the Irish lass was drinking. Conrad offered her alcohol when she arrived, and I don’t remember her taking anything.” Della, no longer content to stand in the hallway, shoved her way inside the office and sat in Marlee’s office chair behind her desk. “What’s all this about anyway?” She leaned back in the chair and put her feet up on Marlee’s desk.

  Marlee walked over and swatted Della’s feet down. “Don’t bullshit me, Della! You saw the emeralds, and I want to know how you’re involved in this. Hector’s looking into it and the whole thing could very well turn into an official criminal investigation, maybe one involving the FBI and Irish law enforcement.”

  Della, not one to be confronted, stood from the chair and looked at Marlee with her ice-cold eyes. “I told you what I know, and I’m not saying anything else. As usual, you’ve gotten involved in somebody else’s business because you don’t have much of a life of your own. You’d be better off spending more time on your research instead of chasing men around all over the world and stirring up trouble for other people! Did you tell your boyfriend about your engagement in India last month?” With a huff, Della marched out of the room, slamming the door behind her for effect.

  Marlee rolled her eyes as she looked at Hector. She didn’t know if he’d heard about her marriage proposals last month when she was in India. Initially, she thought she could keep the information from people back in Elmwood, but a member of the sociology department at Delhi University had taken it upon herself to call Marlee’s department and ask to speak to the most senior member of the department. That person was Della, and she received an earful from the professor in Delhi about Marlee receiving multiple marriage proposals and causing a rift in the sociology department. Della was more than happy to listen to any gossip on Marlee and wasn’t overly concerned with the truthfulness of the information.

  “You’re engaged?” Kelsey asked, looking around the room.

  “No, I’m not engaged! And that’s not what we need to focus on right now.” Marlee walked to the window and looked at the snow-covered lawn and barren trees. She really wasn’t interested in what was going on outside but was stalling for time and hoping to avoid further questions about marriage proposals from two men while in India.

  Hector stood and faced Kelsey. “I need to know the name of Mr. X. You said he’s threatened to hurt you and your family, but I can guarantee you that staying silent isn’t going to keep you safe. He’ll hold this over your head and use it to his advantage for the rest of your life if you let him. I’ve worked in law enforcement for a long time, and I’ve seen this same type of thing happen over and over again.”

  She bit her lip as she looked at Hector then Marlee. “But it’s too big of a risk. If I tell you his name, he’ll know right away I spilt the beans when the coppers come to talk to him.”

  “What if the cops come to talk to him about something else? He might assume you were the one who gave them his name. He could take out his rage on you and your family even if you didn’t disclose his name.” Hector let that sink in with Kelsey, the gears in her brain almost making an audible sound as they turned.

  “Criminals aren’t known for sticking to their word,” Marlee chimed in. “I bet within a short time, Mr. X is going to contact you again either to say that some part of your parents’ debt hasn’t been paid or to use some information against you to continue working for him.”

  “You told Marlee the loan shark was connected to a high-powered politician in Ireland, right?” Hector asked. When Kelsey nodded, he continued. “And you wanted to seek asylum here in the U.S. to keep yourself safe from him and others in the Irish government?”

  A dark, red blush colored Kelsey’s cheeks as she looked away. “I said that, but it’s not really true.”

  Marlee wanted to strangle this girl. “What part isn’t true?”

  “There’s no connection to the Irish government. I thought if I said that, I’d get to stay here under the protection of your government,” Kelsey said softly, her eyes still on the floor.

  “Well, who is he?” Marlee snapped, throwing up her hands. Kelsey’s drama and lies were getting on her last nerve.

  “Mr. X is Ian O’Sullivan, and he’s a guy from our neighborhood. He’s i
nvolved in all sorts of illegal activity, including making loans to people who couldn’t get them at banks. When Ma and Da had money trouble they went to him, and he gave them a loan. They knew there’d be interest and thought they could pay it along with the loan, but business was slow at the B&B. Business was slow all over Ireland. They worked hard but couldn’t make the payments.”

  “The whole seeking asylum thing was just a ruse? There’s no truth to him being connected to someone in politics?” Marlee asked, knowing damned well she was going to Google Ian O’Sullivan in a few minutes. Kelsey had shown herself to be untrustworthy more than once, and Marlee intended on verifying all of her claims from now on.

  “No, he’s not. And I’m sorry for misleading you.”

  Marlee snorted. “You didn’t mislead me, Kelsey. You outright lied! There’s a difference, a big difference. Did you honestly believe you’d trick the U.S. government into believing you were being persecuted by a high-ranking official in the Irish Parliament? You could’ve been arrested and thrown in jail for making a false claim, and I would’ve been charged for helping you. What the hell were you thinking?”

  Kelsey’s contrition turned to anger. “What was I thinking? I was thinking I would keep myself alive. I was thinking I would help my parents get out from under the thumb of an evil man back home. Ian O’Sullivan might not be connected to the Irish government, but he’s a very dangerous person. I was thinking I could get away from the B&B and live my own life!”

  The conversation came to a head with Marlee and Kelsey both ready to argue their positions into the ground. “Let’s take a break and cool off,” Hector said, moving between the two women.

  “Great idea. I’m walking back to your house,” Kelsey said tossing her head in Marlee’s direction.

  “The door’s locked, and you don’t have a key,” Marlee said. Ordinarily, she provided her guests with their own key so they could come and go as they wished. But there was no way she was allowing the pill popping, emerald smuggling, lying Kelsey to have free run of her house. “I’ll meet you back there in about fifteen minutes.”

  Kelsey stomped away, leaving Marlee and Hector in the office. “What am I going to do with that girl?” Marlee asked. “I want to help her, but I don’t know what to do. And if she keeps lying to me, I’m done.”

  “There’s no easy answer. I’ll go back to the office and see if I can drum up someone with a contact in Dublin. Maybe they can shed some light on this Ian O’Sullivan guy and how big of a threat he really is. He may be acting like a thug to scare Kelsey. She seems fairly sheltered to me, so I don’t think it would take much to scare her.”

  Marlee nodded, pulling on her coat. “I think while you work on that angle, I’m going to talk to Conrad Thayer again to see if he can give me any useful information.”

  “Be careful around him. I don’t trust that guy,” Hector warned.

  “I don’t trust him either, but he’s a big dough ball, and I’m sure I could beat him up if he tried to hurt me.”

  “He’s a collector, and his collection might include guns, so watch out.”

  Marlee nodded, both pleased that Hector was concerned for her safety and irritated that he thought she needed a warning.

  The two walked out of the building in silence, both lost in their own thoughts. As Hector was turning toward the parking lot, he touched Marlee’s arm. “What’s this about you being engaged?”

  I was warned about him, but nothing could have prepared me for the reality.

  Chapter 15

  A nervous giggle started in Marlee’s throat but came out more of a combined cough and hiccup. “I’m not engaged. Della was just being an ass as usual.”

  Hector narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing Marlee and her last statement. “Of all the things she could’ve said, why would she claim that you’re engaged? That seems like a peculiar thing to say about someone.”

  A group of her criminology students walked toward the entrance of the building. “Hey Dr. McCabe! You’re back!” She made pleasantries with her students, giving them a brief update on her prison research in Ireland and how much she missed teaching her classes this semester.

  When the students walked in the door, Hector resumed their conversation. “I can think of a lot of insults to hurl at people, but saying they’re engaged isn’t one of them.”

  Marlee shifted from one foot to the other, putting her hands in her coat pockets and then taking them out. “A man in Delhi proposed to me. Well, actually, two men proposed, but the first one was just trying to get out of the country. He really didn’t want to get married. Or at least he didn’t intend to stay married once he got to the U.S. The second man really wanted to marry me and thought I would move to India and work there. I declined both proposals. End of story.”

  “So, are they both back in India still pining for you?” Hector asked.

  “The first guy is dead, and the second guy is already dating another professor, so I don’t think there’s any pining going on,” Marlee replied. At least not in India, she thought as she looked into Hector’s eyes and remembered the good times they had and the promise of what could have been.

  He held her gaze, his hand again on her arm. There was no denying the connection they had, but Marlee knew she could never trust him again. She pulled her arm free and waved over her shoulder as she walked toward home.

  After Marlee unlocked the door, Kelsey stomped past her into the kitchen and returned with a Diet Pepsi and a sandwich on a paper plate. She glared in Marlee’s direction but didn’t say a word as she kicked the bedroom door shut behind her.

  Marlee fixed herself a lunch of leftover pizza and cracked open a Bud Light. It was way too early to start drinking, but her interactions with Hector had left her feeling unhinged. He’d cheated on her and lied to her and now he was being helpful and flirty. She couldn’t fall for him again. It had been too painful and took months to get over last time.

  She grabbed the laptop MSU provided her while on sabbatical and Googled Ian O’Sullivan. His name appeared in multiple hits; amateur rugby team, school sports, and mentioned as a best man in a wedding featured in the online newspaper. Of course, Ian O’Sullivan was a common name in Ireland, and there could be a few dozen of them in the Dublin area. That was based on the likelihood that Kelsey was telling the truth, and Ian O’Sullivan really was the person who threatened her and her family.

  As she was gnawing on the crust end of a pizza slice, Marlee had a thought which caused her to smack herself in the forehead. She didn’t need to wait for Hector to rustle up some law enforcement connections in Dublin. The whole month of February she spent in Dublin talking to wardens at prisons. Surely one of them could help her find out what she needed to know about Ian O’Sullivan.

  She sifted through piles of papers and online files until she located the telephone number for the governor at the Mountjoy Prison in Dublin. The governor carried out the same duties as a warden in the U.S; overseeing the care and custody of prisoners. After consulting with the telephone book on making international calls, Marlee used her landline phone to call Ireland. She went through three transfers within the prison before finally reaching Governor Crawley.

  “Ah, hello Marlee McCabe. Yes, I remember you well,” the warden boomed.

  After giving a brief overview of her need for the information, Marlee asked the governor what he knew of Ian O’Sullivan.

  “Never heard of him, myself.” She heard the clacking of a keyboard as the governor spoke. “We’ve never had him here at Mountjoy. I’d give Heath Kilburn at the Store Street Garda Station a call. He’s a Crime Prevention Officer, and if anyone knows about this Ian O’Sullivan fellow, it’d be Kilburn.” Governor Crawley gave Marlee the number for Sergeant Kilburn and wished her well after enquiring about her journey back to Elmwood, her health, and the health of her family.

  “Oh, yes. We’re well acquainted with Mr. O’Sullivan,” Kilburn said. “He’s a loan shark and book maker, and he’s done some stints in jail, but nothi
ng lengthy. He runs a strip club, and we’ve heard rumblings about illegal gambling there but haven’t been able to prove it yet.”

  “Do you think he’d carry out a threat to kill someone or their loved ones who didn’t pay him back?” Marlee asked, wondering if Kelsey’s assertion that Ian would kill her or her family if she disclosed his name to anyone.

  “He might rough somebody up, but Ian hasn’t got the stomach for killing. Besides, if he killed the person who owed the debt, he’d never get his money back, so that doesn’t make much sense.”

  “Is Ian well known around the area? Would anyone be surprised to find out about his strip club or loan sharking or anything else he’s into?” Marlee asked.

  Kilburn laughed. “Everyone around the neighborhood knows who he is and what he does.”

  “Ever suspected him of being involved in smuggling? We’ve heard something here about him smuggling an antique pipe and possibly emeralds to the United States,” Marlee said.

  “Haven’t heard anything like that, but I’ll ask around to see if there’s anything new,” Kilburn said before ending the conversation.

  After working on her research project for a few hours, Marlee thought about what she should do next. She was a doer, and waiting was not in her game plan. She listened at Kelsey’s door and could hear her softly snoring. This was the time to set the stage for her next move.

  It was approaching 5:00 p.m., and Della was usually home by now. In fact, Della had probably been home since her last class ended at 2:00. Unless she had an axe to grind or an ass to kick, Della wasn’t one to hang around campus. Not that Marlee could blame her. She usually fled campus as soon as possible too. Some professors thrived amid all the hubbub of campus life, but Marlee needed peace and quiet and preferred to work at home. She doubted that it was tranquility Della required. More likely, she sought solace in a bottle. Della no longer enjoyed teaching and was counting the days until she could afford to retire.