Green Tea Read online

  We started with a stack of white cardboard. We folded and stacked while we talked and laughed and teased Morgan about Liam mercilessly.

  All the little boxes were assembled for the guests, filled with a bell wrapped in tissue paper. We then tied a lace ribbon around each little box and tucked in a scroll with directions for any non-Irish guests, and traditional Irish wedding vows printed on the other side.

  We stacked all the little boxes in a couple of big baskets, to be handed out before the ceremony.

  I walked up to my mother and asked the question I thought was obvious, and might get me the mother look. “There is an awful lot of Irish going on here, but Morgan isn’t Irish, is she? Perhaps she would like to honor her culture as well?”

  “Love, of course we have talked about that, Morgan’s family has never been strongly pulled to any one part of her ancestry. They are a family rich in many cultures, but they do not follow the traditions of any one culture. Morgan and her family are happy to allow Liam his traditions, as they are not in contradiction with their own.”

  “That’s great. Is there anything else I can do?”

  “I hate to bring it up, but I’m well aware that there is paperwork that you are supposed to be handing out to each of us. Do you intend to do that tonight, Love, or would you be more comfortable leaving it with me, and your father and I will distribute it tomorrow, and not complicate this celebration.”

  “I’m guessing I’m going with the tomorrow plan.”

  “Thank you Love. AJ was quite adamant that we were not to let you out of our sight. He said that he would come back here to escort you home.”

  “But he’ll miss the bachelor party for adults. That isn’t fair.”

  “You are welcome to come home with your father and me, Love.”

  “I hate this.”

  “Well, that’s a fine thing to say about a visit with those that brought you into this world to begin with.”

  “I’m sorry Mom, you know I didn’t mean that. I’ve missed you and Daddy more than I can say. I have been so out of myself for so long, I’m not sure how to find my way back again. I’ll have you know, I’ve not truly scrubbed anything clean in days, and my evening rituals that everybody used to make fun of, are a thing of the past.”

  “I have no bad feelings about this Cara. I’m sure, in all of me, that this will be fine. Be patient, Love.”

  “Oh, yeah, we O’Flynns are really good at that.”

  “Patience is a virtue.”

  “Remember when I was in about seventh grade, my friend Jeanette bought me that t-shirt with the two buzzards on it that said something about, patience my arse, I’m gonna kill something.”

  “Yes, that was far from appropriate for display on the chest of a young woman.”

  “Perhaps, but it pretty much sums up my approach to most things in life.”

  “We don’t want to advertise that Love.”

  “I’m gonna text AJ and explain to him that I appreciate the concern, but he needs to back off.”

  “Cara, do you not learn anything from those before you? Think about what Morgan and her mother went through. Can you imagine how AJ would feel if he were at a bachelor party and you came to an unhappy end?”

  “That’s one way to put it. Thanks Mom.”

  “I’ll not think that it is a possibility and put it out in the universe. Be kind to the young man Cara, it is his love for you that drives him to these actions. That is never a bad thing.”

  “Yes ma’am. You’re right.”

  “I’ll make a note of that, it is rare for you to mention.”

  “Funny. I’ll text AJ anyway. I really don’t want to get in the habit of letting him run my life or have me followed around.”

  “Be patient Love. Your father and I were not always so well in tune. It takes time. Respect yourself, and Himself, and your relationship, enough to give it the time it needs to mature.”

  “Wow, you’re right again. That’s two in one day!”

  “Yes Love, it would appear you are growing up.”

  How does she do that? She can turn anything around on you.

  I texted AJ. He wouldn’t give in, but we found a compromise.

  I would contact my neighbor, ask him to babysit me, since he likes this kind of bodyguard stuff, and AJ could stay with the guys at the party.

  We got everything at the studio finished, organized, and out of the way in case they had a walk-in client in the next 48 hours.

  Teagan and Troya followed me home and waited in the parking lot till I gave them the all clear. My apartment was actually empty.

  My neighbor came in and did a proper search within minutes.

  He didn’t say a word about all my eveningwear hanging in the closet. I didn’t even think of that. It’s been so long since I thought about my beautiful nightgowns and sheer little chemises; I should really be worried for my mental health.

  We played a couple of games of Wii bowling. I lost. By a bunch. Archery. I lost. Swords. Kicked my butt.

  I gave up.

  We turned off the TV, he ate the last of the Sin, and I started a list of things I need to do before the wedding.

  The apartment went from near silence, to chaos. Within seconds my phone rang, his phone rang, my house phone rang and someone started pounding on the front door.

  He answered his phone as he went to the door to look out the peephole.

  Mom was on my cell. Sinead was on the house phone. Mom trumps sister. “Hello?”

  “Turn on the TV, Love.”

  “Okay.”

  Mom disconnected.

  “Hello?”

  “Turn on the TV! Quick!”

  “I am, thanks.”

  We disconnected.

  Teagan rushed in the door. “Steph called. She told me to watch the news. I was close. What’s going on?”

  “Don’t know, everyone just called at once. Why the hell did Steph call you and not call me?”

  My neighbor piped in, “That was the chief. He said to watch the news.”

  We’d missed the teaser, and the news wasn’t going to start for a few minutes.

  I put the kettle on. Teagan tried to control herself when she found out all of the Sin was gone. She’d have to settle for day old donuts. I warmed them up in the microwave; on defrost, with a little butter on top.

  We were sitting on the couch when the announcer said, “We begin tonight’s broadcast with devastating news…” behind her head, to her right, was a picture of Jerkface with his name and the year he joined the force. The whole presentation was very dramatic, entertainment more than journalism, everyone assumed from the tone of the announcer and the graphic with his name displayed under his photograph, that an officer had been killed in the line of duty, but just before that message could sink in, bam, something came out of left field. The announcer continued, “A number of young women, brutally murdered, unclaimed, and the most shocking aspect of this story, the involvement of a local policeman, a hero of our community. A spokesperson for the police department has only this statement…”

  They switched from the anchor to a pretty woman in a blazer and blouse, “We are in the beginning stages of a very complex, tragic and long investigation. We will not be commenting at this time.”

  Back to the news anchor, “But our team has been able to piece together parts of the story. We warn you, the images you are about to see are disturbing and may not be appropriate for some viewers.”

  Girls with their legs akimbo.

  It was horrendous.

  I’m guessing they were images from the memory cards.

  The news story was short, but basically said that Jerkface and his sister were in custody. They were asking if anyone recognized the girls in the photos, asking for the public’s help. They said that the investigation was ongoing. They said that the woman arrested was Jerkface’s stepsister.

  Teagan’s eyebrows went up, “Stepsister? I thought Steph said she was his sister.”

  “Shhh!”
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  The news anchor said the family split up when she was 10 and he was 12, due to sexual abuse allegations. Said Jerkface continued to live with his father; it was unclear in the report which kid was related to which adult. I’d normally assume that Jerkface stayed with his biological father and his sister left with her mother, Jerkface’s father’s wife, but nothing seems to be normal with this group.

  They said that Jerkface had a great record with the police, and listed off several awards and commendations. They had a brief video of him when he was interviewed about a robbery he interrupted off duty, taking the bad guy into custody without incident.

  They said they would have more on the story when information became available.

  Teagan spoke first, “You would think that if he had a sexual abuse charge against him, even as a minor, they wouldn’t let him be a cop. Must have been the father. Wonder what went on in that house once he was stuck with his father and no responsible adult to look out for him. That’s a scary thought.”

  My phone rang. “Hello?”

  “Love, did you see?”

  “Yes, we saw it. Teagan’s here with me, so is my neighbor, protecting us. I guess that isn’t necessary anymore.”

  “Well, I’m sure it will all be worked out in the end. The pictures of those poor girls, a terrible sight. We will say a prayer.”

  “We will. I’ll talk to you tomorrow Mom. Good night.”

  “Good night, Love. Will you be to the rehearsal and dinner?”

  “Wouldn’t miss it.”

  “We are to be at the ballroom at 5:30 sharp. Dinner will be here at the house following.”

  “Do you need any help?”

  “We weren’t sure you would be available, Love. You take one more day to calm your nerves and spend some time with that young man of yours. Your sisters and I have it all taken care of.”

  “Thanks Mom. Love you.”

  And she was gone.

  Teagan was on her phone checking out the local news, “They’re being held on multiple counts of first-degree murder as well as a stunning number of other crimes. The report just says that they go before a judge soon. I’m sure they’ll have the orange jumpsuit in a pew scene like they always do. I hate that. Always looks like they’re in church instead of in jail. You’d think they would use benches that look a little less like pews. I thought the whole point was that it’s done remotely, all on camera. You’d think they could just schlep the camera from cell to cell.”

  She put her phone in her purse and continued with one of her favorite rants, “I’m shocked that lawyers don’t say it’s prejudicial to the potential jury, everyone in jumpsuits. Anyway, they’ll probably list all the charges then, and we’ll have a better idea of where we stand. This is amazing.”

  The good news is that they’re in custody. Almost of equal importance, at least to me personally, they didn’t say a word about anything O’Flynn, and although I’m not stupid enough to believe that I’m not gonna be smack dab in the middle of this mess at some point, that point should be after the wedding this weekend. That’s very good news.

  I turned to my neighbor, “Good news, you’re off babysitting duty.”

  He smiled. “Was no problem, but I gotta wonder, are they gonna be out on bail? When? Was there anybody else involved? And, if there was someone else involved, just how pissed are they gonna be at getting caught? Or how desperate not to get caught?”

  “Great. Just when I was starting to feel comfortable again.”

  Teagan was encouraging, “You know, I’ve done a lot of reading on serial killings lately. Morbid, I know. From everything I’ve read, serial murderers just don’t work in groups. Probably because they would end up killing each other off. There have been some that kill in twos, but threes? More? I can’t imagine that.”

  “That’s the problem. There’s a first time for everything, and no one sees it coming, ‘cause they’ve never seen it before.”

  “You really think so?”

  “Not really, I just don’t want you to let your guard down. It would be a big mistake for you to think that now that these two are out of the picture, at least as far as walking up on you, that doesn’t mean you’re completely out of the woods.”

  “Got it. Thanks again for everything you’ve done.”

  “I’m goin’ Cara.” He smiled. “But I’m right across the hall and if you need anything at all you call me. I’m gonna check with some of my buddies and make sure there isn’t something going on we should know about.”

  “Thanks.”

  I followed him to the door and put the maid lock on.

  Teagan hissed, “Big help his buddies were before! What makes him think they have any more information now?”

  “That isn’t fair. He stopped Jerkface out in the parking lot, that was very spy-guy-like and he caught Jerkface right here in my living room. We don’t have any idea what would have happened if he hadn’t come in the door and saved my butt. Give the guy a break. This is real life Teagan, problems aren’t as quickly solved or neatly packaged. It’s not like on TV.”

  “True, but then, we don’t have to deal with commercials, so it all equals out.”

  “Teagan, I have a question.”

  “I’ll bet you do.”

  “So, what the heck happened with Steph and the fingerprints and Jessie? What did she mean - of course they have Jessie’s fingerprints. Is there something about him I should know?”

  “Why do you ask that? AJ’s fingerprints were on file and you didn’t freak-out about that.”

  “True, but she explained why they were on file and taking pictures of little kids in a school isn’t really all that intimidating. Jessie’s fingerprints weren’t explained and he intimidated a lawyer without even raising his voice or writing anything down. That’s a whole lot different.”

  “He’s a computer guy Cara. He’s a pretty big time computer guy, and some of their contracts are with pretty powerful people.” She shrugged, “Probably the real fear is that he can put stuff out there on the Internet that never goes away.”

  “Yeah, right. If you don’t want to tell me, just tell me to shut up, but don’t treat me like I’m stupid.”

  “You say it yourself all the damn time Cara; sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Sometimes there’s no more to the story. You’re just being paranoid.”

  “I think that major paranoia is an underreaction. Think about it, one day I’m just buzzing through life like a normal person, the next day the family priest asks me to clean something, all of the sudden I’m rubbing elbows with crazy people and putting everyone in the family in danger. Paranoia is a smart reaction.”

  “Cara, you have never been a normal person and you have always rubbed elbows with crazy people. Think Liam for goodness sake. You don’t have to worry anymore, anyway, because you have officially used up your statistical chances for drama.”

  “Oh, crap, there goes the lottery.”

  “I didn’t say that, I said for drama.”

  “So you don’t think it would be dramatic for me to win the lottery?”

  “Huge amounts of money won’t change a person, it will only magnify who they have always been. You have never been the drama type. That would be Sinead. You would just have a very very clean family compound.”

  “I’d like that. Everyone in one place.”

  “Yeah. I’ll come visit often.”

  “You wouldn’t want to live in the family compound?”

  “Of course I would, I’m just not sure I want the family to live there with me.”

  “So do you think he was right?”

  “He who?”

  “My neighbor! You think there are other people out there waiting to get at us?”

  “Not a chance.”

  “So I can relax? Spend time with the family? Go back to normal?”

  “I think you’re fine Cara. There’s no way they’re going to get out of jail. They have multiple counts of murder against them and every kind of charge they can think of includ
ing failure to clean the kitchen sink. Jerkface also made the cops look bad, so they’re gonna be waiting for him. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”