Righteous Obsession (50 page)

Alethea wasn’t sure whom he meant his comment for,
Father Michaels or Jeff, but she chose not to reply.

Amanda still in her nightgown and robe walked into the
kitchen the next morning as Colin and Alethea were eating breakfast.  She
slumped tiredly into a chair.

“Mom, do you feel okay?” 
Colin asked worriedly.  “You look beat!”

“I’ll fix you some breakfast,” Alethea volunteered.

Colin poured his mother a glass of orange juice and a
cup of coffee.  Alethea was back in short order with a plate of bacon, eggs,
and toast.  She placed it in front of Amanda and Colin joked, “I want to see
you eat every bite of this, too!”

“Thank you,” Amanda replied, starting to eat.

Colin waited until she’d finished eating before he
asked, “Was it Deb we heard scream last night?”

She nodded.  “Yes.  She had a nightmare about Father
Michaels attempting to kill her.”  She sat back in her chair.  “She was very
frightened so I stayed with her until she felt safe enough to go back to
sleep.  Your father and I had a long talk about Deb afterwards.”

“What about?”

“We’re going to discuss it with Deb first, but if she
agrees, we’re going to have ourselves appointed her legal guardians.”  She held
up her hands.  “I know what you’re going to say.  Deb will be eighteen soon so
this isn’t necessary, but we think it will help her feel more secure.  We want
her to know we really care about her and we’re not just taking her into our
home as a favor to you.”

“I think it’s a great idea, Mom.”

“Maybe, you should talk to her about therapy, too.”
Alethea suggested soberly.  “She’s obviously having trouble dealing with what
happened to her.”

“Peter and I talked about that also.  We decided to
discuss it with Deb, but leave the decision up to her.”  The doorbell rang and
Amanda rose to answer it.

“I’ll get it,” Alethea said.

“It’s probably McGregor, but don’t open the door
without checking first,” Colin cautioned her.

Alethea nodded and disappeared into the other room. 
She was back in a few minutes with McGregor.

“Good morning, Buck,” Amanda greeted him.

“Morning, Amanda.”

“Can I get you some breakfast, Buck?”  Alethea asked.

“Thanks, Alethea, but I already ate.”

“I guess we’d better go – if you’re ready?”  Colin
asked, looking at Alethea.

“I just have to get my bag.”  She went upstairs and
returned in a few minutes.

Colin gave his mother a kiss.  “Mom, do me a favor and
go back to bed?”

“I will,” she promised him.

Alethea gave her a hug.  “Goodbye, Amanda.  Call us if
you need anything.”

“Tell Dad and Liam goodbye for us?  I’ll call you
later this week.”

“Will you call us after you have the MRI scan?” 
Amanda asked.

“I will,” He promised.  He got into his Patriot and
sighed.  “God!  I hope I haven’t dumped too much into their laps by asking them
to take in Deb!”

Caitlin and her father had just finished eating lunch
when the phone rang.  Caitlin got up to answer it.  “Hello?”

“Caitlin, dear, how are you?”

“Hi, Grandma!  Is grandpa there, too?”

“Right here, Cait,” Luke responded.

“Is Jeff at home or is he working today?” Nora asked. 
She knew Jeff was working a lot of extra hours so he didn’t have time to dwell
on Dave’s tragedy or his conflict with Colin.

“No, Grandma, he’s home today.  Just a minute and I’ll
get him.”  She put them on hold and went into the kitchen.  “Daddy, grandma and
grandpa are on the phone.”  She put the call on the speaker so she and her
father could both talk.

“Hi, Mom and Dad!  Is everything okay?”

“We met Colin yesterday, but the visit was more
Amanda’s idea than Colin’s,” Nora said.

“Huh!”  Jeff snorted.  “I’m surprised Amanda let you
near him!”

“Amanda felt terrible about keeping Colin from us and
she offered us a very sincere apology.”

“Well, she hasn’t been the least understanding about
what happened with Dave!”

“I didn’t get that impression, Jeff,” Luke spoke. 
“She didn’t say anything to us that would indicate she was glad about the
situation between you and Colin.”

“Apparently, she’s never conveyed that opinion to our
son!”  Jeff replied bitterly.

“How was Colin when you saw him?”  Caitlin asked
quickly jumping in and changing the subject.  “Was Alethea with him?”

“He looked good, but still having some pain,” Luke
replied.  “He was very quiet and hardly said anything.

“Alethea wasn’t with him this time,” Nora added. 

“I suppose he didn’t ask about me,” Jeff remarked.

“No, dear.  I’m sorry, but he didn’t. As your father
said; he was very quiet and hardly spoke.”

“Is there any news about Dave, Jeff?”  Luke asked.

“None, Dad!  It’s as if he’s vanished from the face of
the earth!”

“What about Kathleen?  Is there a chance she’ll be
released?”

“I’m afraid not.  The judge made it very clear that
her release is dependent on her telling the court where Dave is.”

“They already know he’s in Italy somewhere!” Nora
protested.  “What purpose will it serve keeping Kathleen in jail?”

“It will prove she can’t flaunt the judge’s authority
and get away with it, Mom.”

“How long is her sentence?”  Luke asked.

“That depends on Kate, Dad.  She could be out tomorrow
if she’d tell the judge where Dave went, but she’s been sentenced to three
months.”

“There has been a lot of demonstrations in support of
mom staged by the more conservative religious groups here.  They say she being
punished by a liberal judge because of her religious beliefs,” Caitlin
explained.

“I haven’t quite figured out how they define contempt
of court as a religious belief,” Jeff remarked dryly.

“I’m so sorry about the way things have worked out for
you, Jeff,” Nora said sincerely.

“Will you and Caitlin be coming out for a visit
soon?”  Luke asked.  “We’d love it if you could and I think it would be good
for you both to get away for a while.”

“I don’t think so, Dad.  I wouldn’t be good company,
but Cait can go, if she wants.”

“I’ll wait until we can go together, Daddy.”

“We’d better let you go, dear.  Please, don’t give up,
Jeff.  I know things look grim right now, but I know they’re going to get
better,” Nora said firmly.

“Thanks for calling, Mom, Dad.  I’ll talk to you
soon.”

After her father had left the room, Caitlin continued
to talk with her grandparents.

“Jeff sounds so bitter and depressed,” Nora said in
concerned.  “Is he?”

“Yes, Grandma, he is.  He’s been that way on and off
since that argument with Colin.  I did write Alethea, asking if she and I could
work together to get daddy and Colin back on speaking terms.  She said she’d do
what she could, but didn’t want to risk making it an issue between she and
Colin.”

“Well, I can certainly understand her concern,” Nora
replied.

“Let us know right away if anything happens with your
mother or Dave,” Luke urged.

“I will, Grandpa.  Love you both!  Goodbye.”

“We love you, too, dear.  Goodbye.”

After hanging up, Caitlin went to retrieve that day’s
mail.  She came back with a handful and began to sort it, but stopped suddenly
as she came across a letter addressed to her mother.  It had a foreign postmark
and familiar handwriting.  She hurried over to the closed door of her father’s
study and rapped on it.  “Daddy?”

“Yes, Cait?”

“There’s a letter here I think you should read.”

Jeff came out of his study.  “Is it another
threatening letter?”  They had received several of those over the past couple
of weeks as well as some nasty phone calls.

“No.  This is from Dave and it’s addressed to mom,”
Caitlin replied, giving him the letter.

They went into his study.  Jeff slit open the envelope
and took out the letter.  He quickly scanned its contents.  It was a short
letter and it only took him a few minutes to read it.

“Does Dave say where he is?”  Caitlin asked anxiously.

“No.  That information is noticeably absent.”

“What does he say?”

“He writes he arrived in Rome without incident and he’s
very happy because he’s doing what God intended him to do.”

“Does that mean he’s still saying Mass and hearing
Confession after he tried to murder two people?” Caitlin asked in disbelief.

“So it would seem.  Dave apparently doesn’t think he
did anything more serious than disposing of some unwanted trash.  I guess by
his reckoning he’s still in a state of grace.”

“What else does he say, Daddy?”

“He says he hopes it took Colin a long time to die and
he hopes he suffered tremendously before he died.”  Jeff took a deep breath
before he continued, “He says he takes great satisfaction in the thought of
Colin burning in hell.”

“That’s sick!”  Caitlin exclaimed.  The revulsion was
obvious in her voice.  “I guess he hasn’t found out yet that not only is Colin
alive, but he’s recovered completely.”

“He writes he hopes your mother didn’t have to suffer
at my hands when I found out she helped him leave.”  Jeff looked up in
disgust.  “Did he think I was going to beat her?”

“Is that all?”

“No.  He closes saying he’ll pray for your mother’s
continuing moral strength and for you in hopes you’ll eventually see what a
wicked and unworthy role model I am.”

“That self-righteous prick!” Caitlin exploded.  “How
dare he!”  She glanced at Jeff, looking suddenly chagrined.  “Sorry about my
language, Daddy.”

Jeff shook his head.  “It’s okay, Cait, it’s an ugly
letter.”

“What should we do with it?”

 “Well, my first impulse is to rip it up and flush it
down the toilet!  However, I did promise Detective Madison I’d let him know
immediately if Dave contacted us.  I’ll call him right now.”

“Another thing for mom to hold against us,” Caitlin
remarked gloomily.

Jeff called Madison to tell him about the letter and
he replied that he’d be over within the hour.  He quickly scanned the letter after
he arrived, but found nothing in it that could help the police.

“I don’t suppose the postmark is much help,” Jeff
remarked.

“Given the size of Rome, probably not.  It sounds as
if he’s being very careful not to divulge any exact information.”

“What will you do now?”  Caitlin asked.

“Well, we’ll contact the Italian authorities and give
them the one clue this letter does provide.”

“Which is?”  Jeff asked.

“That Father Michaels is either in Rome somewhere or
he’s near enough to it to be able to post a letter from there.  I’ll also call
Detective Wickersham and bring her up to speed on this latest development.”

“Do you think Dave will try to come back here?” 
Caitlin questioned.

“My feeling is he won’t as long as he thinks Colin is
dead.”

“He’s eventually going to find out Colin isn’t dead,”
Jeff remarked.  “They have CNN in Europe, too.”

“Yes.  My feeling is when he does find out, he’s going
to desperate enough to rectify what he believes is his failure to carry out
God’s will and he’ll risk coming back.”  Noticing Jeff’s and Caitlin’s
horrified expressions, Madison attempted to comfort them.  “I’m sure we’ll have
him in custody long before that happens.”

“I hope it’s very soon,” Jeff said fervently.  “I
don’t want to see him hurt another person or be hurt himself!”

Madison nodded.  “I know.  I’m a father, too.  I’ll
keep you posted on any information I receive about your son.”

“We’d appreciate that, Detective, and I promise to do
the same.”

When Madison left, Jeff headed back into his study
when Caitlin called to him, “Daddy?”

He turned.  “Yes, Cait?”

“I want to say something, but you have to promise not
to get mad.”

Jeff knew what Caitlin wanted to say – that she didn’t
like his attitude towards his former wife.  He wasn’t in the mood to hear a
lecture, but he nodded and said, “I’ll try.”

Caitlin took a deep breath then said, “Daddy, you’ve
got to stop being so bitter about Colin’s mother or you’ll never be able to
make peace with him!”

“I’m sorry, Cait, I can’t help but feel that Amanda is
feeding the estrangement between us.”

“Daddy, if Amanda is bitter, can you really blame
her?  You did walk out on her when she was pregnant.  She was a year younger
than I am and she must have been scared to death not knowing what was going to
happen to her or the baby!”

“She certainly didn’t waste anytime marrying Peter
Matthews!”  Jeff snorted.  “I don’t think Colin was even six months old yet!”

“Well, was she supposed to wait around forever, hoping
you’d come back to her?”  Caitlin put her hands on her hips and glared at her
father.  “You know, Daddy, sometimes I think you’re madder that she was able to
go on without you than you are at the role you think she’s playing in this
conflict with Colin!”

“That’s ridiculous!”  Jeff snapped.

“Is it?”  Caitlin challenged him.

“Yes!  I told you any feelings we had for one another
died along time ago!  Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s a lot of work on my
desk that needs my attention.”

“Daddy…”

“Caitlin, I don’t want to hear anymore about this
subject.”  Jeff went into his study and closed the door.

“Damn it!”  Caitlin swore.  She stamped into the
kitchen and began clearing up the remains of their lunch.  She knew her father
wasn’t telling the truth about his feelings for Amanda.  Who could blame him
after suddenly seeing her again, he found he still had feelings for her. 
Amanda was a very attractive woman and her own mother, she suspected, hadn’t
shown any interest in her husband in quite awhile which probably made Amanda
all the more desirable.  She sighed as she was loading the dishwasher.  Well,
she couldn’t do anything about her father’s feeling for Amanda.  Maybe, she
could help him mend his fence with his son.  While the dishwasher ran through
its cycles, Caitlin busied herself writing a letter to Colin.  “The trouble
with Daddy and Colin is they’re both so bullheaded they can’t see what’s right
in front of their faces!”  She muttered as she put the letter in an envelope,
sealed and addressed it.  She left the house to mail it before she lost her
nerve.

Alethea was waiting for Colin when he came out after
having his MRI scan.  He sat down beside her.  She reached out and squeezed his
hand.  “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.  I just feel kind of weird – like I just came
back from another dimension or something.”

“Dr. Edwards said he’d be out to talk to us after they
finishes looking at your scan.”

“Great!  We ought to be out of here by six at least!” 
Colin grumbled.

“Shh…” Alethea nudged him as she saw Doctor Edwards
coming towards them.

“Colin, Alethea, would you please come with me?”  He
led them into an empty examining room and motioned to two chairs.  “Please, sit
down.”

They looked at each other uneasily, but sat down. 
Colin cleared his throat.  “So, what’s the verdict?”

“I’ve had the chief of radiology and the chief of
cardiovascular surgery look at your scan and we all agree everything looks in
really good shape.  Doctor Trumbull did an excellent job!”

Colin exhaled in relief.  “Well, that’s certainly a
load off my mind!”

“Mine, too!”  Alethea added.

“Did you talk to that psychiatrist?”  Colin asked.

“Doctor Hughes?  Yes, and I gave her a brief synopsis
of your problem.”