Sinner or Saint

by Brenda Donelan

  “I just need to pop into your restroom,” Marlee said as she made her way out of the living room. Della gave a quick absent-minded nod, continuing with her monologue on dogs.

  She ran up the stairs, initially taking them two at a time, but soon realizing her short legs and fat body could barely handle one step at a time. A light was shining under one door, and Marlee knocked quietly.

  “Come in,” Kelsey said, her eyes widening as Marlee entered the room and closed the door behind her.

  “Your dad is here in Elmwood, and he’s looking for you. And Ian is with him.”

  “Jaysus, what should I do?” Kelsey jumped from the bed and began to pace around the cluttered room.

  “Why do you think they’re here?”

  “They’ve come to take me back to Dublin, of course. And they’ll probably force me to work at the B&B during the day and the strip club at night,” Kelsey wailed.

  “Grab your things. You’re coming home with me. I’ll let Hector know they’re here terrorizing you. He can keep an eye on them. Maybe even lock them up,” Marlee said, grabbing the suitcase from the floor.

  They tiptoed down the staircase to hear Della still yammering on about dogs with an occasional “uh huh” by Bridget. Marlee opened the front door and shooed Kelsey outside and then peeped around the corner to urge Bridget to end the conversation.

  “Della, you’ve been so helpful. If I have any other questions, I’ll give you a call. We have to be on our way now,” Bridget stood and gave Della a big grin.

  “Yes, we really have to go now. Tell Kelsey we were here and hope she’s doing well,” Marlee said as she flew out the door, Bridget on her heels.

  Once all three women were in the car, Kelsey spoke up. “Do you really think my Da and Ian will force me on a plane back to Dublin? I mean, can someone force another person at the airport? What if I scream bloody murder?”

  “I’m hoping it doesn’t get to that point,” Marlee said, peeling out of Della’s driveway and back to her house.

  After parking in the garage, Marlee and Bridget left Kelsey in the car while they checked out the house. For all they knew, Patrick and Ian were inside again. Marlee knew damned well she didn’t leave the back door open earlier. She used to do this, but Hector had ranted about it so many times that she stopped. As soon as she closed either the front or the back door to her house, she made sure it was locked. A string of burglaries in her area of town helped solidify this new practice, especially when her next-door neighbor was a victim.

  Finding no one in the house and Pippa in good spirits, Bridget summoned Kelsey who wheeled her suitcase into the guest room. After she was settled, she moved into the living room where Marlee and Bridget were sitting, drinking beer.

  “If you’re going to stay here, you need to be honest with us,” Marlee said in a no-nonsense tone. “My life continues as usual regardless of what happens to you, so you need to stay on my good side. And part of that means coming clean about your father, Ian, and Conrad Thayer.”

  “Yeah, spill it,” Bridget piped in. “We know you’ve lied about some things. You need to tell us everything, or Marlee’s going to throw you out on the street. She’s too nice to say it, but I will.”

  Marlee glanced at her cousin, irritated and thankful at the same time. “Just tell us. We want to help you. If we didn’t, you’d be in jail or on a plane back home by now.”

  “Okay, I’ll tell you. But you can’t let them take me back to Dublin. Promise?” The desperate look in Kelsey’s eyes suggested she was being honest for one of the first times since coming to Elmwood.

  “I promise,” Marlee said and Bridget nodded. Both put a high value on their word, and they meant it.

  “We were in a terrible situation. No one was staying at our B&B even though we had lower rates than the other inns around us. We were on beans and toast for weeks at a time. Finally, Ma and Da had to get money from Ian, and then they couldn’t pay it back. It wasn’t their fault. They’re hard workers. They don’t gamble, they rarely buy anything except for necessities for us kids, and they seldom drink anything stronger than tea. I honestly don’t know what they could’ve done any differently to keep from going to Ian.”

  “What happened when they couldn’t repay the loan?” Bridget enquired.

  “At first, Ian let it slide. He knew our family from the neighborhood. He had a respect for my family since we’ve run the B&B for generations. His grandparents were friends with mine.”

  “And then your parents couldn’t repay the loan they took with Ian.” Marlee let the statement stand, waiting for Kelsey to expand on the story.

  “He was charging sky-high interest. Ma and Da couldn’t afford the original loan amount, let alone the interest that was added every week. Da went to Ian to see what they could do to make a deal. Ian said he wanted me to dance at his club. Da said he wouldn’t allow it, but Ian put on the pressure. He said he’d take over the B&B if Da didn’t go along, so Da sent me over to talk to Ian. I think Da thought I could talk some sense into Ian since his little sister and I were school mates. He was several years older, but I knew who he was. As it ended up, I stripped in Ian’s club. Da never told me to do it. I only said it, so you’d help me,” Kelsey confessed, tears in her eyes.

  “Kelsey, your story is bad enough without adding to it,” Bridget said, kindly chastising the young Irish woman. “We would’ve helped you just based on Ian’s involvement.”

  Tears poured down Kelsey’s cheeks. She used her sweater to wipe them away as she continued her story. “I thought you’d be more sympathetic if you thought my parents were against me. The truth is that Da never wanted me to strip at Ian’s club. He sent me to talk sense into him, but never to do anything other than talk. Da was devastated when he found out Ian started me on Oxy. I really think Da would’ve killed him if he could figure out a way to do it and not get caught.”

  “How did Ian get your father to come to Elmwood?” Marlee felt like there were still some unanswered questions about Patrick Rafferty’s involvement.

  “Da probably volunteered to come just so Ian wouldn’t hurt me or force me to do anything worse than stripping,” Kelsey said.

  “And the emeralds?” Bridget interjected.

  “I really did see them. I wasn’t lying when I said I saw the emeralds and that Della said they would solve all her problems.” Kelsey looked earnestly into Marlee’s eyes, begging to be believed.

  “Who’s your drug connection in Elmwood? And I’m not just talking about where you met him. Who is he, and how did you connect with him?” Marlee asked.

  “He goes by Stan. Probably not his real name. I found him on Craigslist. You can find anything there if you’re looking. He sold me pills the first day I was here, before I came to your house. After that, he wouldn’t meet with me because he thought I was a narc. He even thought I was an undercover drug agent. The second guy who sold me Oxy went by the name of Streetz. I don’t know anything about him either. That’s the way the drug drops are set up on Craigslist. It’s to protect both the seller and the buyer.”

  “Getting back to the emeralds, what do you think Della meant when she said they would solve her problems?” Marlee asked.

  “Before I saw the emeralds, I heard her talking to Conrad about money she owed to a lawyer. It sounded like she was in trouble at university and needed legal help. Is that true?” Kelsey asked.

  Marlee made a face, knowing all too well that faculty members were targeted for a variety of offenses for which they needed legal representation. Some of these allegations were true, but much of the time the professor had fallen in disfavor with the administration. Marlee had seen it time and time again where an untenured professor’s contract was not renewed. Occasionally, a professor with tenure left for unexplained reasons, but everyone on campus was led to believe it was due to sexual misconduct or illegal behavior. In reality, the administration wore down the professor until they couldn’t take it any longer and resigned.

  “Della’s had s
ome problems, some her own fault, and other times because she’s been a target in the department. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was in hot water over something she said or did in her classes. Della’s very blunt and crass, which students can see as aggressive. She means well but doesn’t always go about it in the right way. I’ve wanted to slug her several times over things she’s said to me. She either did something stupid in class or during a meeting with an advisee or somebody in administration wants her out,” Marlee said, remembering all too well when everyone in her department, except herself, agreed to write a letter to the vice president calling for Della’s termination.

  “So, if she had the emeralds and sold them, they could pay for her attorney?” Kelsey asked.

  “Sure, but I have a hard time believing Della would know how to sell smuggled jewels,” Marlee said.

  “But Conrad does,” Bridget said. “He was able to get an antique pipe smuggled here from Dublin, and I bet he has contacts all over the world.”

  Marlee nodded. “You’re right. And since Della and Conrad are hot and heavy, he’d do anything for her, including having emeralds smuggled internationally in his antique pipe. What I don’t get is why go through all of the hassle of smuggling when Conrad could’ve easily given Della a loan.” They all looked at each other and shrugged, none of them making sense of it.

  “Did Conrad give you any drugs while you were there? Or money for drugs?” Bridget asked.

  Kelsey stood and retrieved a dark metal horse sculpture from her backpack. “No, but I took this from his house. It looks expensive, and I thought I could pawn it.” She held the tarnished, six-inch high sculpture in her hand, turning it one way and then the other.

  Marlee looked at Kelsey, realizing she was talking coherently and making a good deal of sense. This was unlike most of her interactions with the young Irish woman since she arrived in Elmwood. “When’s the last time you used?”

  “I had one pill and took it at Mr. Thayer’s house right before I left to go to Della’s. It’s starting to wear off, and I’ll need more soon,” Kelsey said.

  “We’re not helping you get Oxy. I know you’re addicted, and it has to be horrible to go without it, but there’s no way we’re helping you get drugs. Bridget and I want to help, but our help is limited to getting you into drug rehab,” Marlee said.

  “How can I get into rehab? I don’t even live here.”

  “I don’t know how to make it work. Hector’s looking into it,” Marlee reported.

  “Can you trust him?” Kelsey asked.

  “Of course, I can trust him.” Marlee furrowed her brow wondering why Kelsey would question Hector’s involvement in finding out her treatment options in Elmwood. “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “I overheard you talking, and you said you didn’t trust him.”

  “That was about something else, not his dedication to his work,” Marlee insisted.

  “You don’t trust him because he cheated on you, right?” Kelsey asked.

  “That’s true, but I’m not even friends with him anymore. I needed someone in law enforcement to help me with your situation, so I called him because he’s a great detective. Simple as that,” Marlee said.

  “If you say so,” Kelsey said, a smile forming at the corners of her mouth.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “He loves you, and you love him. That’s obvious to anybody who’s been around you. It’s not if you get back together, but when,” Kelsey predicted.

  Marlee snorted. “If he hadn’t cheated on me, I’d say you were probably correct. But after his betrayal, how could I ever forgive him? I would never be able to trust him again. Anytime he came home late or talked to another woman for more than a minute, I’d think he was being unfaithful to me. Once a cheater always a cheater.”

  Bridget, quiet on the subject up to this time, interjected her thoughts. “But you weren’t officially dating when he hooked up with Trish, right?”

  “Not officially, but…”

  “You were taking your time deciding if you were going to stay with your old boyfriend or start something new with Hector, right?” Bridget continued.

  “Right, but…”

  “So, while you were at an in-between stage, he had a fling. You weren’t officially dating and, as far as he knew, you might decide to go back to Vince,” Bridget said.

  Marlee frowned. Bridget was twisting the facts, and Marlee didn’t appreciate it. “True, but Hector and I’d gotten back together, and he was moving in.”

  “But the fling happened before you got back together. It just so happened that Trish got pregnant. And now, it just so happens that the baby isn’t Hector’s.”

  “Since when did you become president of the Hector Ramos fan club?” Marlee snarled at her cousin. Bridget knew what actually happened and had been more than supportive the past year. Now, she was acting as if Marlee was the villain and Hector was the victim.

  “I’m not taking his side, but the story is a little clearer now. Hector wasn’t sure of the status of your relationship because you were still deciding between him and Vince. Some other lady shows him some interest, and he falls into bed with her. Hector probably thought you were sleeping with Vince while you were deciding between the two of them. In his mind, he thought you were both doing the same thing.”

  “I wasn’t sleeping with Vince, and Hector knew that!” Marlee shouted, incredulous that her cousin had defected to Team Hector.

  “But you were sleeping with Hector before you decided on a relationship with him. You can see how it might be a bit confusing for him,” Bridget argued.

  “You can leave right now if you’re going to argue for Hector. If you think he’s so awesome, why don’t you ask him out? I hear he’s single now,” Marlee spat, the most furious she’d been with her cousin since they were kids.

  “Maybe I will,” Bridget said with a smirk, gathering up her belongings and walking out the door.

  When I first met Marlee, I thought she was a pain in the arse, always giving me advice like I was an idiot. Now that I know her better, I kind of like her. She and Bridget are sort of fun, for older ladies. I wish I could tell them the truth before I leave.

  Chapter 22

  It was her worst night of sleep yet since returning from Ireland. Marlee tossed and turned all night, waking up frequently with rage in her heart. Her fury had many targets; Hector for wanting to resume their relationship; Bridget for taking Hector’s side; and Kelsey for upsetting her life and bringing about all this mess. And now, Bridget was interested in Hector! On top of that, Marlee jumped every time she heard a noise, expecting Ian and Patrick to break in again.

  Marlee slugged her pillow a few times, hoping to release some of her rage. All it did was wind her up even more. And it upset Pippa, who jumped from her position on the other pillow and began pacing on the bed. She threw back the quilt and begrudgingly got out of bed at 4:00 a.m., which was becoming her new wake-up time.

  After her first cup of coffee, she began to think with a clearer head. Looking outside at the darkened skies through her dining room sliding glass door, Marlee decided to put her issues with Hector and Bridget behind her for now. Nothing could be settled with them in the next few days. They’d probably start dating and live happily ever after, and she’d cut both of them out of her life. For now, she needed to focus on Kelsey.

  The previous night, Kelsey had shown her a tarnished horse figurine she’d stolen from Conrad’s house. She needed to return it, preferably without him knowing it was stolen in the first place. But the most important thing Marlee needed to accomplish was to neutralize Ian and Patrick. They needed to be sent home to Ireland as soon as possible or detained by the authorities. The problem was that she didn’t know how to do either of those things. Legally, they could remain in the country for ninety days. Ian was reportedly a thug back in Dublin, but if he didn’t have a criminal record in the U.S., then it would be difficult to have him removed unless Irish officials sought extradition. They’d
broken into her home, but they’d both deny it. Other than that, neither Patrick nor Ian had done anything illegal in Elmwood thus far, so they couldn’t be detained. The wheels in her brain turned and churned as she thought of ways to protect Kelsey and get rid of Patrick and Ian.

  When the pot of coffee was drained, Marlee turned to Diet Pepsi to satisfy her caffeine fix. This can’t be good for my system. I’ll cut back once the Kelsey situation is taken care of, Marlee thought as she opened her second can of pop.

  By the time Kelsey rolled out at 10 o’clock, Marlee had consumed an entire pot of coffee, three cans of Diet Pepsi, and four Pop-Tarts. “Ready for some breakfast?” she called out to her guest. Together, they ate six eggs, a package of pre-cooked bacon, and four toasted English muffins dripping in butter.

  “We need to go back to Conrad’s house today, so you can replace that ugly little statue you stole,” Marlee said.

  “Can’t I just leave it on his step?” Kelsey asked.

  “No, it needs to be returned. If he doesn’t say anything about it when we go to his house, then I’ll distract him while you put it back where you found it. Then nobody will be the wiser,” Marlee said. “And you can feel better about yourself as a person for righting a wrong.”

  An hour later, the duo arrived at Conrad Thayer’s home, the Dobermans running up the SUV to greet them. “Hi, boys!” Marlee chirped, bending to pet both of the dogs and scratch them under the chin. They lapped up the attention from their new friends, trotting alongside Marlee as she approached the front door.

  “Ms. McCabe, I feel like I should be charging you rent,” Conrad said as he opened the door. “Excuse me, it’s ‘Doctor.’ I don’t know why I keep forgetting that.” He smirked as he opened the door to let them in.

  Because you’re a dick, Marlee thought, but kept it to herself. “Kelsey was worried that things might be tense between you and Della because of her, and she wanted to come here and make sure everything is okay. I’m her ride.”