After It's Over (18 page)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“Kade Sorenson! It’s been a long while since I’ve seen the whites of your eyes in my church,” Father John said. He clasped his age-spotted hands together and smiled.

The last time Kade had been to church, the priest had been a spry man in his early fifties. Father John had been known for his tireless devotion to the community. His energy and enthusiasm was boundless. Originally a carpenter, he’d built homes for those that had none. But time had not been kind to him. The priest’s back was stooped, he limped as he walked and his slight Irish accent had become more of a slur than a lilt.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, his beloved church, was battered and worn. The wooden pews were scuffed, the carpet was threadbare in places and the walls were in dire need of a fresh coat of paint.

This place could use some renovating.

“I’ve never been much for sermons,” Kade replied. He stepped into a pew so the last of the parishioners could make their way down the aisle and out of the chapel. His phone rang in his pocket.

“You’ll have to turn that off in here,” Father John said. His smile was gone. “Stupid cellphones. They’ve killed Christianity.”

Blake’s calling. He must know who owns that corporation.
I should get this.

“Is there something on your mind, son?”

“Yeah, there is.”

Kade turned off his phone and took a deep breath. “There’s something I was hoping to talk to you about.”

Father John’s thick eyebrows came together in a thoughtful frown; he nodded as if he understood.

“I wondered if this day might come,” the priest said.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

I should have dug deeper into the Birches’ deaths a long time ago. Why did I waste so much time?

“The older I get, the more the past is with me. ‘Tis a terrible thing to be haunted by what I could have done differently.” Father John scooped up an armful of hymnbooks and walked toward the front of the chapel. “Do you know what that feels like?”

Kade nodded and trailed behind the priest. “I know a little something about that. That’s why I’m here, Father. Do you remember Mrs. Birch, Paige’s mother?”

Father John’s face fell. He grasped the side of the pew. “I suppose it was too much to hope that time would heal the wounds of that tragedy.” He sighed. “You and Paige were so in love. I always believed you two would end up getting married here one day.”

“She got married…to someone else.” Kade rubbed his head.

What am I doing this for? She’s gone. There’s no getting her back now.

“I know. She would not listen to a word of reason.” Father John hung his head. A few of the hymnbooks slipped from his grasp and fell to the floor at his feet.

“I’ll get those.”

Kade crouched down and picked up the books. He took the ones in the priest’s hands and piled them on an empty pew. He sat down across the aisle from Father John. The older man wiped his eyes.

“Why have you come here now, Kade?”

“My father said Mrs. Birch was terminally ill when she shot her husband. Paige didn’t know anything about that or she would have told me. But you knew, didn’t you?”

Father John’s light blue eyes were rimmed with red and bloodshot. “Yes, I knew.”

“Did her diagnosis have anything to do with her killing her husband?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because she told my father she didn’t want to leave her children with her husband. He was an extremely abusive man. I’m sure she was concerned about what might have happened to Paige if she were left alone with him.”

The priest looked away and wrung his hands. “Do you know how many people knew that Tom Birch beat his wife?”

Kade clenched his teeth and inhaled sharply. “A lot. A lot of people knew and did nothing. Myself included.”

“You were a boy. No one could fault you, but the rest of us…I’m afraid that is a different story. As a community, we failed Paige and Drew. I failed them.”

“Why didn’t you do something? Anything?”

“Marie asked me not to. That’s the easy answer, but the truth is that Tom Birch threatened to make my life a living hell if I intervened in his marriage and I believed him. He was quite the powerful man back then. Few would dare cross him.” Father John stared off.

“Yeah, I know. Doesn’t change the fact that he should have been held accountable for his actions. But there’s more to this story, isn’t there, Father?” Kade felt like the priest was on the verge of giving him answers that could change everything.

Father John nodded. “I can’t tell you what was said in confession. You know that.” He rubbed his eyes.

“I’m not asking you to break the rules; however, Mrs. Birch has been dead a very long time.” Kade’s knee shook. He stood up and gripped the back of a pew.

“Even in death, I will not break her confidence.”

“So, I’m wasting my time. Fine. Have a nice day, Father.” Kade shook his head, pulled out his phone and walked several feet before the old man called out to him.

“I won’t tell you what she said in the confessional, but I can tell you what she said outside of it.”

Kade turned around. Father John stood up and stepped into the aisle.

“What did she say?”

“She said that she would do whatever it took to protect Paige. She was quite certain that when she died, Paige’s father would begin beating her. He was an evil man after all.”

“He was a sick man that should have been treated.”

“There’s a line between being sick and being evil. I dare say you have seen enough to know the difference at this point in your career. Some men cannot be saved. Mrs. Birch knew her husband was one of them.”

“She planned to kill him, didn’t she?”

It was never about the pregnancy. It was always about protecting Paige. Would it make her feel any better to know that?

“I can’t answer that. When I heard what happened I was quite certain though that had Mrs. Birch not been terminally ill, she would not have shot her husband.”

“No, he probably would have shot her instead.”

“Perhaps.” The elderly priest stared at his hands. “Mine is a sin of omission. I’ve carried the guilt for so many years and nothing has eased my burden. I talked the sisters in to opening up the convent to women fleeing abusive relationships. We’ve helped at least a hundred women and children and yet, the guilt stays with me.”

Kade frowned; he didn’t understand Catholic guilt. He turned his phone on; it beeped several times. Blake had messaged him again.

9-1-1. Get to the station right away.

“Thank you, Father. I have to go.”

“Don’t thank me.” The priest put his head in hands and mumbled in Latin.

Kade opened his mouth to speak; he wanted to offer up words of comfort, but nothing came to mind. He hurried out of the chapel to his truck.

I have to find Paige. I have to tell her. But first, I’ve got to get to work.

***

A news van was parked directly in front of the police station and blocked his parking spot. As Kade approached, a reporter emerged.

“Sheriff, do you have any comment about the charges brought against Mayor Caulfield?” She shoved a microphone in his face.

Kade didn’t respond. He just shook his head and pushed open the double doors to the building. He stepped inside to find everyone staring at their computer monitors.

“What the hell is going on?” he demanded.

Blake stood up behind his desk. “I tried to reach you as soon as I heard, sheriff. I think that search I did might have set off an alarm.”

“Why do you think that?” Kade frowned. “Why is everyone staring at their computers and not doing their jobs?”

A couple of deputies exchanged knowing looks. Joan stared at her screen while she sipped her coffee.

“I got a call from the FEDS. They wanted to know why I was checking into that company.” Blake chewed his nails, his eyes returned to his computer screen.

“Huh?”

“Take a look for yourself,” Blake replied.

Kade walked over to Joan’s desk and stood behind her.

“It’s that darn social media. That stuff is going to be the end of civilization. Now a man can’t even get arrested in peace,” Joan said, pointing to the screen.

Men dressed in jackets that read F.BI. gathered on the front lawn outside the Mayor’s house. One of them knocked on the door. The scene cut to a reporter with big hair and too much lipstick.

“If you’re just tuning in, Mayor Caulfield had called a press conference for this afternoon via Twitter. Our sources say that it was a bold move on his part to try and get ahead of the forthcoming indictment; however, he was too late. As you can see, he’s about to be arrested.”

The reporter stepped aside and the camera panned back to the front door of the Mayor’s home. The door opened, an F.B.I. agent stepped inside, and the door immediately swung close. The remaining agents pounded on the door.

“Did he just take a hostage?” Joan asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out,” Kade said.

I need to call Marie and find out if she’s safe.

Kade ran out of the station with his phone in hand.

“Sheriff, what do you say to the latest turn of events?” The reporter appeared again. She shoved a microphone in his face and blocked his path.

“No comment. Please move.”

“Are you upset that you weren’t included in the F.B.I’s plan to charge the mayor? How does it impact your ability to do your job?”

Kade’s drew a breath to tell the reporter that she was a gnat in his cereal just as his phone rang.

It’s Marie. This can’t be good.

“Marie?”

“Is that the Mayor’s wife?” the reporter asked.

“Listen honey, either you get out of my way, or I put your arrest record from college up on a billboard,” Kade replied.

The reporter pulled her microphone back and covered it with her hand. Her expression was a mixture of fear and awe. “You know about that?”

“That and a whole lot more, so run along.” He pulled his keys out of his pocket and dropped them.

“Marie? Marie?”

Kade couldn’t hear anyone on the other end of the line as he scrambled to pick up his keys.

“Kade? You have to come! He’s been drinking again! He has a gun!” Marie’s voice bordered on hysterical.

“I don’t understand. The FEDS are there. Aren’t they doing anything?”

“He shot the first officer that came through the door and the rest have pulled back. They keep calling and trying to get him to negotiate, but he says he won’t let them take either of us alive,” Marie whimpered.

Kade’s mind raced. He jumped in his truck and tore out of the parking lot. “Where are you in the house?”

“I’m hiding in the bathroom,” she whispered. “Oh no! He’s found me. He’s trying to get in. Kade, you must come!”

“Marie! Marie!” He looked at his phone; she’d hung up.

How is this happening? I thought I’d have more time before this situation came to head. Did me looking into that company set this all in motion?

Kade’s teeth were clenched. He drove with one hand and pounded on the dashboard with the other. He turned the siren on and raced toward the freeway. No one was going to get in his way.

***

The scene outside the mayor’s home reminded Kade of the day Paige’s parents died. Yellow tape marked off the yard near the street. Cops patrolled the sidewalks, urging onlookers to stay back. News vans were parked half-haphazardly and reporters yelled questions at the army of officers gathered on the front lawn. A SWAT van was parked in the driveway.

This is a three-ring circus. How am I going to get inside? Maybe they’re so busy negotiating, they won’t notice me slip inside. I bet there’s an unlocked window somewhere.

“You! What are you doing here?” a female voice demanded.

Kade turned to see the exotic-looking woman he had seen outside the mayor’s house on Sunday. The woman was dressed in an F.B.I. jacket, she wore no make up and her hair was pulled into a tight bun. Scowling, she stomped towards him.

Well, she certainly isn’t much to look at up close.

“Who are you?” Kade asked.

“I’m Agent Smith and you need to get the hell out of here,” she replied, encroaching on his person space.

“Excuse me?” He took a large step backwards.

“Thanks to your little ‘detective work’, I had to serve the indictment before I was ready. Do you see this three-ring circus?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Of course, you don’t. That’s because you think that one little domestic situation warrants a stake out and an investigation. Hasn’t anyone ever told you not to go poking around above your pay grade?”

Agent Smith looked at him expectantly; Kade opened his mouth to tell her where to go and how to get there when a shot rang out from inside the house. The sound of a gun being fired made his blood run cold and his heart jumped in his chest. Fear filled his heart for poor, frail Marie.