Shamrocks and Secrets

by Cayce Poponea

  Patrick seemed to sense my panic and wrapped his arms around me, settling me on his left arm, his chin resting on the top of my head. “He’s sitting in Hell, right alongside Douce, Jimmy, and Sophia.”

  Closing my eyes in relief, I let sleep take over.

  Over the next two days, several things occurred. First, Dr. Bradshaw removed all the IVs and had me start eating. You would think I would have just dived in and ate till I was full, but that wasn’t what happened. We started small and I filled up quite quickly. Nora brought homemade chicken broth and had me sip it. It warmed me from my head to my toes. She told me it was an old family recipe that she would share once I got home. It did wonders for me.

  Second, Dr. Bradshaw insisted I speak with a therapist. Dr. Nancy Green was about my age, she had also been a victim of a kidnapping. She told me some of the feelings and emotions she expected I might feel. She explained that she thought it would be a good idea to meet in her office a couple of times a week and I quickly agreed.

  After eight days in the hospital, I was finally released. I had gained four pounds and could handle solid foods.

  Nora and Patrick insisted that I stay at Nora and Thomas’s house; I chose not to argue as I did tire easily. Patrick and I agreed to continue planning the wedding that was scheduled in just over a week. Nora assured Patrick that she would do the majority of the work and make me rest.

  True to her word, that was exactly what she did.

  Patrick needed to handle some neglected business decisions and I insisted that he go and take care of them. Nora had me resting in an overstuffed chaise lounge, with the softest throw I had ever felt. It was heaven.

  “I’m just a phone call away if you need me,” Patrick told me for the hundredth time, kissing every part of my face he could find.

  “Patrick, I know, I’ll be fine. Maggie is coming over later and all I have planned is to sit here and be spoiled by your mother.”

  “Son, I have plenty of experience taking care of sick children,” Nora said sternly from her place in the doorway.

  “I know, Ma. I just don’t want to be away from…”

  “But Caleb has been very patient and he needs you, now go…she’ll be fine.”

  I watched as he walked across the carpet, stopping to kiss Nora’s cheek as he left the room.

  “This was hell for him, too, Christi. Not to the extent of your hell, but hell nonetheless.”

  “I know, Nora, I’m just so glad this is finally behind us.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  I sat in my car for at least fifteen minutes. Every fiber of my being was begging me not to leave her there, to go back in that house and curl protectively around my Christi.

  My business head finally kicked in as I started my car and headed to my condo. Twenty minutes later, I was standing in my elevator, replaying memories of the conversations that had followed Christi’s awakening. Holding her hand as she told her father that Anthony had killed Morgan, how he had played on the other’s weaknesses for his gain. Hell was far too good for Anthony.

  One mystery that still remained for me was who had been driving Morgan the day of Paige’s wedding. All fingers pointed to Anthony, but until I had solid proof, I would always worry. I would find out who was driving that car.

  The ding of the door opening brought me out of my memories.

  I walked the distance to my office, rounding the corner to find both Shamus and Caleb sitting around my desk. Shamus was already busy typing away on the keyboard as Caleb was talking in whispers on his phone.

  “Morning, Boss. How is Ms. O'Rourke?” Shamus questioned in nearly perfect English.

  I smiled as I took my seat behind my desk. “She’s doing much better. Chased me out of the house today, which is a good sign.”

  He smiled and began typing away again on his keyboard. Caleb quickly finished his phone call, leaning back in his chair.

  “Sorry, that was my father.” The look on his face was a mixture of confusion and anger.

  “Everything okay?”

  “Yes, just family drama.”

  I didn’t pry, this was clearly another sore subject, and the look I got from him at the hospital came back to mind.

  “No Angus today?” Caleb questioned.

  “He’s taking Maggie to the doctor, she’s been very ill the last few days,” I informed.

  No one questioned the reason for the illness. He would tell us if he thought we needed to know, although I knew Angus would be thrilled if Maggie was indeed pregnant.

  “Caleb, I had Shamus come today just in case we needed to get into any systems and have a look around.” Caleb gave me a puzzled look. “Shamus hasn’t found a firewall that he can’t break.”

  Caleb only nodded in understanding. He leaned forward and placed three large file folders on my desk as he began. “When I took over for my father, I had our accountant give me a current financial overview. I changed all the passwords and encryption as you’d recommended.” Caleb began to open the files and arrange them. “Then I began doing random audits on the accounts as you’d suggested.”

  He took a deep breath and then sat back in his chair as he continued. “Everything was fine for months,” he sighed and crossed his left leg over his right, his ankle resting on his knee. “When I got back from our honeymoon, the first thing I did was run an audit report. It was fine.”

  His phone began to ring, but he silenced it.

  “The next night, I was suffering from jet lag and was restless. Since I was up, I decided to run another audit; this one was less than twenty-four hours later, but as you can see, the numbers are hugely different.”

  I began scanning over the paperwork, seeing that he was correct. On all three accounts, the numbers were thousands of dollars different.

  “Shamus, run these accounts.” I gave him the numbers and his fingers began to fly across the keys. “Caleb, are these the only accounts that show these large withdrawals?”

  He pondered for less than a second, “No, my Visa card had an unusual charge on it, too, but it was taken care of by the company.”

  “Sorry for interrupting, Boss,” Shamus said getting our attention, “Mr. Montgomery, who you know in Montepulciano, Italy?” he questioned again in broken English.

  Caleb rose from his chair and made his way to the desk that Shamus sat at. “Montepulciano is the place my mother always travels to when she visits Italy. She’s been going there for years.”

  Where had I heard that name before?

  “She actually just got back from there.”

  I remembered Sherman saying Eileen was away and how I wondered why he would have chosen to let her vacation alone.

  “Does she always go alone?”

  I was not certain why I questioned this, something just wasn’t adding up here.

  “No, she usually takes Mia with her, like she did this time.”

  I looked to Shamus who was looking intently at his computer screen.

  “Has she ever taken you or Sherman with her?”

  Caleb went into deep thought, “No, she’s only ever taken Mia. My dad never had time and she never wanted me to go. She always just took my sister.”

  My gut was screaming at me. What woman didn’t take both of her children along when she went away on vacation? I could see it happening once in a while, but according to Caleb, this was a regular occurrence.

  “How often does she go away?”

  Before Caleb could answer, Shamus began to speak.

  “Three hundred and twelve times, always on Virgin Airlines. The first time she took Mia with her there was an issue with her birth certificate matching her passport.”

  Caleb and I quickly turned to Shamus.

  “The note here says that the flight attendant questioned the validity of the documents and so the state of Mississippi had to verify the authenticity of the record.”

  I looked to Caleb who was staring slack-jawed at Shamus.

  “I told you, there isn’t a firewall that Shamus can�
��t get past.”

  Caleb turned his attention to me, the look of shock written clear as day.

  “She was born premature and my father was concerned about letting her travel, or at least that’s the story I’ve always heard,” Caleb said as Shamus continued to click away. Before Caleb could go any further, Shamus interrupted again.

  “How can a baby be premature when the birth weight is over ten pounds?” Shamus was still clicking on his keyboard. He was clearly thinking out loud.

  This time Caleb moved around to the computer screen, peering over Shamus’s shoulder.

  I watched as Caleb’s eyes looked over the screen wildly.

  “You see, right there, ten pounds three ounces,” Shamus looked to Caleb.

  I watched Caleb’s face closely as it roamed the screen over and over. “This can’t be right. She was a preemie, my mom always said so. I’ve kidded Mia all of her life that she was always in a hurry to do things.”

  I was still pondering who I knew in Montepulciano.

  “Could it be that your parents had to get married?” I questioned Caleb. “Maybe the ‘premature’ thing was a ruse to cover up an unwed pregnancy.”

  “Malloy, I got the same speech from my mother as you did yours, that she was a virgin when she went to her marital bed. They knew each other for ten days before he returned and took her to the courthouse.”

  So clearly it wasn’t a case of “oops, we’re pregnant” here.

  “It doesn’t make any sense, Caleb, why would she lie about the baby being premature?”

  Then it hit me like a Mack truck.

  “Mia isn’t Sherman’s.”

  Caleb’s head quickly snapped up. He said nothing and his eyes became emotionless as he pondered my statement.

  I continued to watch as his face reflected memories flowing through his mind. “Shamus, check the dates of Eileen’s trips to Italy against the dates the money went missing,” I instructed.

  Shamus began to quickly type and his brow furrowed.

  “Her name is Mia,” Caleb whispered.

  I looked back to Caleb, he too,was thinking out loud.

  “Her birth name is Mia. Not Shannon or Megan, or Claire, something that would reflect her Irish heritage. My dad might not be Ireland born, but his grandparents were.”

  This time Shamus looked away from his computer screen, his eyes meeting mine.

  “Caleb, what the hell are you talking about?” I asked as Caleb’s face never changed as he continued to stare blankly at the wall.

  “That doesn’t prove anything. Your wife’s name is Paige, which is English.” Apparently, Shamus wasn’t following what Caleb was thinking.

  “Paige’s name is actually Padraige,” I added before Caleb could respond.

  The room grew deathly silent as all three of us looked at each other.

  “Mom has insisted that all of our children are given proper Irish names. She said it would be a disgrace to the family if we didn’t choose Irish names to honor the family heritage,” Caleb thought aloud.

  My eyes became huge as the memory of Anthony’s last words returned to me. “If you kill me, you’ll never know…” I finished his declaration in my head. ‘The truth.’

  “Boss,” Shamus’s voice brought me back to the present. “Your on to something. Every time Eileen go to Italy, a large amount of money was transferred to a new account. I’m almost through the last firewall and we’ll know who…”

  Shamus’s eyes became huge as he stared at the screen, “Cac Naofa.” (holy shit)

  I sprang from my chair and crossed the space between us. Nothing could have prepared me for the name that was written on the computer screen.

  “Caleb, where is your mother today?”

  Caleb looked at me as he began to retrieve his cell from his pocket. “She heard about Christi and insisted on visiting her today.”

  Dialing Christi as quickly as I could, I began to run out of the office. Her phone rang and rang before it went to voicemail. I then tried my ma’s phone, but got the same. Next, I tried the house phone, but it only rang and rang, as well.

  Finally, after reaching the last step, I threw open the door and ran to my car, Caleb and Shamus hot on my heels.

  “Shamus, get all the men to my parent’s house. Tell them not to stop for anything, just get the fuck over there.”

  How could I have been so stupid? My eagerness to make Christi safe had clouded my judgment once again. I began to pray that I wasn’t too late. I should have taken his words with an ounce of warning. Anthony had not been man enough to pull off something like this alone. He would have had to have had help, like in everything else he did. Velenci didn’t need Chicago. He had New York and Miami, not to mention Italy, so why was he doing this?

  My speedometer read ninety as I rounded the ramp to get onto the highway. Traffic was heavy as I began to wind around vehicles and then drove on the shoulder when I noticed traffic had stopped.

  Hitting the speed dial on my phone, I had to get someone over to the house. I could just feel it in my bones that something was very wrong.

  “Patrick,” my father’s voice filled my car.

  “Da!” I shouted into the microphone above my head.

  “What’s wrong, Patrick?” He asked his voice full of concern.

  “Where are you right now?”

  “I’m having lunch with Sherman, why?”

  I pounded my fist into my steering wheel, as I again changed lanes onto the shoulder.

  “Excuse yourself, I need your help and I need it now, but you can’t let Sherman know something’s up. I don’t know if he can be trusted right now.”

  I glanced over to Caleb, who was holding on for dear life as I increased my speed.

  “Well, I think that’s a nice thank-you gift.”

  God, I loved my da. He was quick on his feet when he needed to be.

  “I don’t have all the facts yet, but I think Anthony was acting for someone and I think it was Velenci.”

  Traffic seemed to clear suddenly, and I pushed my foot further to the floor, my speed now at one hundred thirty.

  “Your Mother is always telling me the latest gossip she’s heard and I think you may be right.”

  “Da, I have all my men headed there now, I can’t get Ma or Christi to pick up the phone.”

  “I’ll drop by Matthew’s house and see if he has any we can borrow.”

  I watched as Shamus picked up his cell and began dialing what I knew to be Matthew’s number. Seconds later, it was confirmed when I heard him speaking in Gaelic, telling Matthew what we already knew and what we were doing.

  “Da, if this is true you know what I’ll have to do.”

  “Patrick, I thought that horse was dead. Quit beating it.”

  “I’m nearly there, Da, hurry and get here.”

  I didn’t wait for a response, I knew my da would make up an excuse and Sherman would be none the wiser.

  I began to pound on the gate remote as soon as it came into sight. I didn’t care if it wasn’t open enough for my car, I would crash it. The gate was open, but not quite enough as I heard my side mirrors being ripped off. Slamming on the brakes, I could hear my tires protesting the sudden demand. Shamus was a little faster, he didn’t wait for the car to stop or bother trying the door knob. His body seemed to go through the door like a cartoon character. The house was too quiet as I entered, shouting for Christi. When I received no response, I began taking the stairs two at a time.

  I was nearly to the top when I heard the distinct sound of a gunshot.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  “So, what flavor will it be this morning?”

  Since I had been home from the hospital, Nora had served me ice cream with nearly every meal. She was trying everything to help me gain my weight back.

  “Surprise me,” I chuckled.

  Nora had placed a tray of hot tea on the side table when she first came in the room. I had begged her to show me how to make a proper cup of tea. She told me to get ba
ck to my previous weight and she would show me her secret.

  “I do have a confession.”

  I looked to Nora as she poured the tea, “Okay?”

  “Makenna phoned me this morning. She’s having an issue with some paperwork a client has given her and since it’s entirely in Gaelic, she’s asked for my help.”

  I sighed slightly. “Don’t worry about it, Nora. She’s still a friend of yours.”

  “No, she’s not, but the client she’s working for is...” Before she could say anything more, the doorbell sounded. “Speak of the devil.”

  Nora gently patted my knee, turned, and left the room. Grasping the handle of the cup, I slowly brought it to my lips. I closed my eyes as I allowed the warm, sweet goodness to flow down my throat. Lord, she could make a good cup of tea.

  I could faintly hear the front door opening and I had to snicker as I thought of Makenna walking through the massive foyer. She had to have been desperate and swallowed a lot of crow to pluck up the courage to face Nora again. Grateful, I wouldn’t have to deal with her for my wedding.

  Maggie was due to join us later. She hadn’t been feeling very well lately. Nora came right out and asked if she could be pregnant. Maggie denied the possibility. She swore up and down that she would be going to her wedding bed as a virgin, but the way she and Angus were around each other had me skeptical. She was going to the doctor today at the insistence of Angus.

  I had just poured my second cup of tea when I heard the doorbell again. It must have been later than I thought as I was certain that was Maggie. Taking in the warmth of the tea, I continued to relax into the chair.

  “Christi?” Nora’s voice sounded from the hall and I looked to the doorway as she entered the room, with a look of disgust on her face, “I’m sorry to do this to you, Lass,” her voice was low yet emotionless. “Eileen is here to see you. She heard what happened and she says she wants to make certain you’re all right.”

  I smiled at Nora, “It’s all right. She’s technically family and we do have to treat her as such.”

  Nora again placed her warm hand on my knee, “You have the heart of a lion and the touch of a lamb.”