Kin
He stood tall in his new vestments and surveyed the rogue’s gallery from his
elevated position on the high alter. The usual smell of damp and old wood was heavily
disguised by the lingering fragrance from the flower arrangements decorating the old
church. He gave his two delinquent alter boys the evil eye and left their behaviour
to be monitored by his other server father Stephen. The twin boys were part of
today’s event and members of the parker dynasty.
Father Benedict waited for his presence to be noticed and the whispering hush died
down died down. He was about to begin the service, when the clattering of heels
announced a mini skirted teenager. She was working her way to the front of the
church, and excusing herself into one of the front pews followed by three burley
young brothers. The priest’ immediate thought was Jailbait! Portrayed in the
innocence of beauty and youth. Every red -blooded male in the congregation noticed,
he even felt a momentary stirring himself. Thankfully her three brothers ensured
nobody’s eyes lingered too long.
“We are gathered here today to celebrate an exceptional event, fifty years of
marriage between, Daisy Jane parker and Joseph George Parker who were childhood
sweethearts. Nearly every person in this congregation has a family connection to this
remarkable couple, whether it is direct of indirect descendant, or part of the many
extended families amongst you all. So would you all please turn to the back and
welcome Mr and Mrs Parker who are here to start their celebrations with the churches
blessings.”
Everyone turned to witness the sprightly seventy year olds walk down the aisle, as
the organ began to play “Daisy, Daisy give me your answer do.” The couple
smiled and nodded as they passed and surveyed their gathered clan, the king and queen
of all the family. They now headed a multimillion-pound empire. Daisy had stated she
wanted their own eight children seated at the front, then their partners and children
behind. Other relatives could sit wherever they wanted.
Father Benedict knew the brothers and sisters did not always see eye-to-eye, because
one of the sisters was a good catholic and very often confessed many of the
disagreements to him as she asked for absolution, She was Mary O’Brien (nee
parker) the eldest daughter and the only, still practicing catholic. She was also the
one who suggested that her parents go for the church blessing; she was instrumental
in organising this family gathering. She had confessed that she was worried there
would be arguments, once the alcohol is part of the equation.
Father Benedict made the sign of the cross and said; “Let us pray” Mary
O’Brien blessed herself, fell to her knees and lowered her head. “Holy
Mary Mother of God, please don’t let Patrick get drunk and don’t let him
kick off and ruin Mummy and Daddy’s big day. I promise to donate a thousand
pounds to the African babies fund, if you’ll just let it be a good day. Glory
be to the father.” She blessed herself again, and then did it once more for
luck. “Amen.”
There was a very loud cracking sound from the back of the church, the door was wide
open, sun streamed into the dimly lit church and Mary noticed a figure running down
the path away from the building and out into the crowded street.
“Mother of God” shouted father Benedict and fell forward over the alter.
A red stain was seeping out over the white alter cloth.
Daisy drew closer to Joseph, who put his arm around her; they were frozen to the
spot. The mini skirted teenager was the first to take action.
“Well don’t all just stand there you old dotes, do something can’t
you!” she took out her mobile phone and dialled 999.
“There’s been a shooting at the holy cross church, it’s the priest,
and yes he might be dead, I don’t know. He needs an ambulance and you had
better get the Old bill round here, these old idiots seem to be rooted to the
spot.”
“And we’ll have less cheek from you young madam,” Said Mary
O’Brien, you pay respect to you elders and betters or I’ll skin the hide
off you and no mistake.”
“Oh shut you face, you old slag.” Said the girl, who was feeling very
important since she was the one to alert the authorities.
“Now we’ll have no more of that kind of talk in God’s house,
that’s for sure.”
People had now started to move around, father Stephen surprised himself with his
authority. The police will be here in a moment and no one must leave the building,
the priest needs all the peace and quiet he can get. Father Stephen was leaning over
the recumbent form of Father Benedict Whose blood was spreading over the alter.
“I knew there’d be trouble if this lot got together” Whispered
Shaun O’Brien, “But I didn’t think they would bloody well kill the
priest.” He wanted a cigarette, he had not wanted to come to the service, he
was feeling irritable, and he wanted to get down to the pub.
“It’s a load of hypocrisy, if you ask me” Said Shaun to his wife
that morning.
“Well no one is asking you, so shut up and do what is expected of you, get
your coat on and behave; I don’t want any trouble from you once you get the
drink inside you.”
Shaun knew that his wife’s word was law and said no more.
“This is my mothers big day – she didn’t get Joseph down the aisle
the first time, so she needs a second chance.” Said Mary in her most serious
voice.
“What in heavens name do you mean woman? Didn’t get him down the aisle
the first time! What are you saying?”
“What I mean Shaun, don’t you ever breath a word of this to a living
soul; or I’ll personally fix it so you burn in hell; What I mean is, on her
wedding day, it wasn’t Joseph waiting for her at the alter, it was his friend
Declan. Joseph had got a drink too many inside him the night before; he was too drunk
the next morning to be at the church. In fact he was still sleeping it off in a hedge
on his wedding day.”
“So are you telling me Daisy never married Joseph-is that what you are telling
me?
“Well yes, he meant to be there but he wasn’t, he sort of had a deputy,
stand in like. Only at he alter that is, he got along later for the reception, but no
one noticed the difference by then.”
“So if that’s the way of it then you’re not legally a rich heiress
then are you?”
“Well now you put it like that” Said Mary, “I guess I’m
not.”
“Shit what a bloody mess” Said Shaun
Suddenly father benedict moved his arm. People began to cross themselves and pray.
Mary O’Brien, once again fell to her knees. One woman began to scream,
“It’s a miracle”
At that moment the paramedics arrived and gave the priest oxygen. He was placed on a
stetcher and then sped away from the church in an ambulance. The policemen came into
the church. One approached father Stephen and said “Did you see anything
father?”
“No Sir, I did not,” Said the befuddled Stephen.
“I did” Shouted Mary, “I saw someone run out of the church, just as
we had begun to pray and just after father Benedict was shot”
Detective sergeant Patrick Candy was a distinguished looking man. His mysterious dark
brown eyes glistened in the sunlight that radiated through the stain glass window.
The beams of light cast speckles of translucent colour on his navy blue pinstripe
suit. He was slow to approach the crime scene as he absorbed every detail in the
church. He removed his glasses from his top pocket and placed them on his face.
“Can we ask these people to not touch anything and gather on the far side of
the nave.” He whispered this into the ear of the nearby PC. “As they
could disturb vital evidence and it would be a bloody nightmare.”
The PC cleared his throat and announced that although no one was to leave, could they
all congregate on the right hand side of the church. That seemed to do it.
People’s names and address’s were taken one by one and then they were
aloud to leave.
Patrick while pacing up and down the aisle began to talk to his colleagues about the
case. Why would some one want to hurt a priest, a man of the cloth, it was beyond all
reason but how many criminals have reason he thought.
“Sergeant, can you let me know when we can start cleaning up this good
unfortunate mess, as I have mass to prepare for and I don’t want the
parishioners to be seeing all this”
“Well I’m sorry father…” Patrick raised his eyebrows.
“Father Stephen”
“Well I’m sorry Father Stephen, but there will be no mass here tonight,
forensics need to give this whole place a good going over before you can resume you
normal duties. I’m sorry but that’s just the way it is.” As father
Stephen turned and began to walk away Patrick called to him. “Father”
father Stephen spun around. “Where exactly where you when the shot was
fired?”
“I was walking out of the vestry there on the left, I heard a loud cracking
sound the last thing I thought it was, was a shot!”
“So you were in direct line with the door and you didn’t even see the
back of the person?”
“No sergeant I would have said” Father Stephen began walking away just as
the forensic team arrived at the door.
Back at the house, the family began to tuck into a ready prepared buffet of smoke
salmon, sandwiches and nibbles and the conversation was naturally about the days
events. Large glasses of brandy had been poured and offered around for shock, which
most people had taken the host up on. Mary opened the front door. “Come in
father, you must be in shock, let me pour you a drink”
“No thank you Mary I’ve come to see my brother, is he here?” Father
Stephen began looking around the already crowded room.
“Shaun, Shaun your brother, oh sorry, father Stephen is here to see you.”
Mary began walking towards the kitchen where the brandy was kept; she knew Shaun
would be there.
“Stephen come in, have a drink.” Shaun was well on his way by now.
“Shaun, will you listen, Father benedict’s died about half an hour
ago.” Shaun’s face lost all colour and his mouth fell wide open. “I
just thought you should know, the police are now looking for a murderer. Can you
break the news to the rest of the family as I have to make arrangements.”
A hush fell over the gathering as Stephen cleared his throat.
“I’m devastated to have to tell you, that father Benedict is now with
God” he gestured to the ceiling “If you can remember anything about the
shooting then you can contact the police directly” His eyes fell on mark and
Matthew, the twin alter boys “Anonymously, if you wish”
Stephen coughed as though he might add something, before stepping down. Mary rushed
over. With rosary beads clutched in her hand, she began to comfort Stephen. Shaun
stood in the corner; his eyes were narrowing before he turned away.
As the whisky flowed, no one noticed the day slip into night, or the twins slip out
the back door.
“Stephen knows something” Mark smoothed a hand over his spiked brown
hair. “He knows something did you see the way he looked at us?”
Matthew shrugged “you mean he suspects. We’re always being suspected,
innocent or not. You should know that by now.” He stopped pulling the wooden
chest and stood up straight. “This is an effort,” He grunted.
The tree’s rustled overhead and an owl hooted. Mark jumped. Matthew laughed
insanely over the wind.
“You’re such a wimp!” he cackled, “Honestly, I try and sort
out your mess and all you can do is panic and worry. That’s how you get
caught.”
He bent back down to the chest. It was solid cherry wood, polished to a dull sheen.
The carving of the moon and scythe on the lid had dust settled into the grooves. The
twins fell silent. For now, all that could be heard was the gentle sliding of the
wood across the leaves.
By the time everyone had left, Shaun was dangerously drunk. Mary was beginning to
annoy him, clutching her rosary, repeating again and again like she had most of the
afternoon, “holy mother of god, who would do such a thing.” A big man, he
was suprisely light on his feet and in seconds crossed the kitchen, almost lifting
her from the ground as his hand gripped her neck. “You know full well who would
do such a thing you stupid whore, what I want to know is who you’ve
told.” His red face was close to hers, flecks of spittle spraying onto her
frightened face. She looked away and he knew, “You’ve told Stephen
haven’t you? We agreed, no one must know, not ever, not even Joseph.”
Mary sank into a chair, white faced now it was in confession Shaun, I couldn’t
keep that secrete. Stephens your brother as well as a priest, he would never repeat
it”
“He might repeat it to another priest though, you didn’t think of that
did you? I ne3ed to speak to Joseph please god there is time to stop this before it
gets worse.”
Thankful for the tablets that had finally soothed daisy into a dreamless sleep,
Joseph finally leaned back, his fingers drumming a rhythm on the arm of the scuffed
old chair, a habit of his when he was deep in thought. Like many Irish men, he was
spare fleshed and dark eyed, the miss-shaped nose and scars testimony to the harsh
background of his youth. Where he came from a man had to be able to fight and Joseph
had been more able than most. He rose quickly through the ranks and the cash
he’d saved in the old wooden box had been the start of what was now an empire.
He thought back over the day, trying to remember the face he’d seen in the
crowd outside the church as he’d helped daisy from the car. Looking back at the
crowd the man had vanished, leaving just a sense of foreboding. Jo couldn’t
place it and it was niggling him. His wealth hadn’t been built easily and
enemies had been made but he couldn’t think of any reason why a priest would
have been shot. He couldn’t understand an attempt on his own life, but not the
priest’s. The only option left was one that made him cold with anger. Someone
was working outside the firm and that made them all venerable.
One by one he brought each child into his mind. All of there lives fighting and
squabbling. He’d mostly left Daisy to deal with the children and she’d
ruled them with a rod of iron, instilling her strong catholic ideals into unwilling
minds. If she’d known half the things they’d got up to that he’d
sorted out there’d have been a murder long before this. If she had known half
the things he’d done to get them where they were now, she’d not have
slept so easy over the years. He smiled to himself, still fit and strong for his age,
the one saving grace he and his offspring had was that they were loyal to each other
until now. He knew Shaun would phone and he sat patiently in his chair.
Evening had settled round Joseph before the phone rang. His steady gaze gave no hint
of his feelings as he listened to what Shaun was saying; only a close observer would
have noticed the muscles across his belly tense, his knuckles grow white as he
gripped the receiver.
“The police haven’t got a clue.”Shauns voice was soft and
steady.
“And what about your brother?” Joseph asked quietly. “He must know
what’s been going on”
“I don’t think so, but even if he does he wouldn’t denounce the
family.”
“Not even to god?”
“God won’t tell.” Shaun said with conviction.
Joseph put down the phone and sipped his whisky.
Next morning it was the appearance of Detective sergeant Candy at the door that
stirred the family into action.
“Could we have a few words?” he asked Joseph, who nodded and showed him
and his accompanying PC into the sitting room.
“I do hope your wife’s feeling better” Candy said taking a
seat.
“Yes thank you, but she’s taken it very badly, the good father was almost
part of the family.”
“Of course, I understand” The two policemen took coffees that appeared
seemingly uncalled for, the normal hospitality of the house.
“I have to admit Joseph, at this stage we have no leads at all; no one seems to
have seen more that a silhouette leaving the church after the shooting. To get to the
bottom of this I need a motive-just who would want to see father Benedict
dead?”
Joseph sipped his coffee thoughtfully.
“To be honest my friend, I can’t believe there was a soul, certainly not
in this community. Father was a real saint and loved by everyone.”
“I’m afraid we’re going to have to talk to all your staff and
family and many of the parishioners before we get an answer to what’s behind
all this. I hope you and your good lady will bear with us and we will try our best
not to be intrusive, but who knows that skeletons will be dug up, this sort of case
could take some time.”
“Whatever is necessary Patrick,” Joseph said as he put his empty cup and
saucer on the tray and collected the others.
“You have a job to do, and the sooner it’s over, the sooner we can all
get on with our lives again. You’d better set up office in the library and Ryan
here will make sure you have everything you need.”
Ryan had appeared in answer to a servant pull by the fireplace; the second son of
Bernard, the butler and Kate the housekeeper, who had been with the parkers for over
forty years. He was now in his early twenties and chauffeured as well as being under
butler to his father. There was not much that went on that was missed by his eagle
eye.
They followed the man into the library and settled themselves in for the long list of
interviews they needed to do. Ryan emerged ten minutes later on his way to collect
members of staff on the list. As he passed the open door to the sitting room Joseph
called him.
“You’ll keep me informed of their progress?” Ryan nodded and showed
him the list in his hand. Joseph gestured him on towards the kitchen and made his way
upstairs to see how Daisy was.
Not finding her in the bedroom he tried the bathroom and finally resorted to calling
her name, alerting the household as it became clear she has disappeared.
The sound of the phone penetrated the general hubbub, heralding a sudden hush
throughout the house. Joseph picked up the nearest phone on the nearby landing. It
was father Stephens voice, quiet but urgent.
“I think you had better get over here tight away.”
The urgency in Father Stephen’s voice had convinced Joseph of the need to get
over to the church quickly. It also took his mind off Daisy and her disappearing act.
Still, she’d done it before in the past and she usually turned up.
Not knowing what to expect, he decided that he’d drive himself. As much as he
trusted Ryan, there was no need to let him know everything. Besides he thought, the
way things were going, who could be trusted anyway?
When he got to the vicarage he found Father Stephen in a state of deep shock.
‘It’s Mark,’ the priest had stuttered, ‘your grandson, one of
the twins. I found him hanging from a tree at the back of the garden, you know, where
the path leads to the church. He’s dead Joseph. There’s nothing we can
do. He’s cold and stiff so he must have done it some time ago. I thought at
first it was a return to the old days, you know an assassination, but he clearly
intended to take his own life. Here’s the letter he left’
Joseph looked at the body hanging there and then at the letter. A surge of sadness
ran through his veins. In the conflict, there had been few that had seen more death
than he had but when it was one of your own it hurt, however immune you thought you
were.
‘Who have you told father,’ asked Joseph.
‘Nobody’ said the Priest. ‘In view of recent events I thought
I’d better speak to you first.’
‘You did well, ‘ said Joseph. ‘Do me one more favour. Give me a
couple of hours then phone the police.’
Outside the churchyard, Joseph sat in his car. Despite his granite emotions, a tear
began to roll down his cheek. The twins had been sixteen last month. Nobody should
die at that age he thought. As he sat in the car composing himself, he thought about
his conversation with the priest. What was the word Stephen had used? Ah yes, it was
assassination. Now, recalling the face that he’d seen in the crowd yesterday,
he realised who it was. It was Largo, a hired assassin that they’d used in the
past when a professional killer was needed. It must have been twenty years since
they’d last used him.
He phoned home to check on Daisy. She was O.K.
Joseph started the car. It was time, he thought, that he and Shaun had a little chat.
**** **** ****
Despite what he had drunk the night before, Shaun had woken early. The argument with
Mary had confirmed what he had already known. She had told everything to Stephen.
Religion, he thought to himself, was a treacherous thing. Still, he was on top of the
situation. Patrick Candy was a useless policeman and had been known to turn a blind
eye to things in the past. But it was unlikely that he’d turn a blind eye to
the events of the last few weeks.
Shaun had been deeply committed to the liberation movement. Under Joseph, in the
disguise of raising funds for the movement, the Parker dynasty had been involved with
arms dealing, drugs, armed robbery, protection and anything else that could be
described as general gangsterism. It had been a good life. The movement had prospered
and so had the Parkers. But the ceasefire had put paid to all that. Joseph Parker, in
the pursuit of respectability had put some of his money into building and
construction and a freight business. Slowly, through his many contacts, these
businesses flourished.
For Shaun, the ceasefire was like losing a life. He carried on working for Joseph,
but respectability and operating within the law lacked any attraction for him. There
was no excitement. There were no rich rewards.
The answer for Shaun was to start up his own ‘sidelines’ as he called
them. The hot thing to get into was prostitution and pornography. This had been
relatively easy to do. Ironically, it was facilitated with the aid of the Parker
Freight Company. Lorries coming back from Eastern Europe would very often have an
extra consignment in the form of Eastern European girls lured to the Emerald Isle by
the promise of a better life. Little did they suspect it was working in a massage
parlour. Likewise, pornographic videos and DVD’s from Scandinavia and elsewhere
were imported in the same way.
Within several years, Shaun had a string of massage parlours around the county. He
treated the girls well and many stayed with him after they had paid off their loan
for the travel costs. Mary eventually found out about the business and turned a blind
eye. The money was phenomenal and it maintained a lifestyle to which they had become
accustomed. She had even suspected that Shaun was ‘test driving’ the
goods but she had no real proof.
The turning point and the key to the current situation had been Father Benedict. It
was well known in the parish that Father B had an eye for a pretty girl and rumours
about him abounded. It was no real surprise therefore, when Shaun was told that
Father B was visiting one of Shaun’s parlours some thirty miles away, in
disguise. He even had a favourite girl called Nadia. At first, Shaun had been
worried, but father B’s visits remained unknown to his congregation and
probably to the Catholic Church as well.
Closer to Shaun more trouble had erupted. On their sixteenth birthday, the twins,
urged on by some of their older friends and inspired by Dutch courage, visited the
same massage parlour as frequented by Father B. Initially Mark had been reluctant to
go. Not to go would have made him an even bigger coward in the eyes of his brother
Matthew, the dominant one. Fortunately for Mark, his girl was kind and treated him
like an adult and with respect.. Her name was Nadia and for the first time in his
life he was in love.
A few days later, Shaun got to hear of the twin’s activities and decided to say
nothing. After all, boys will boys and it was a great relief to know that they were
normal, particularly Mark. Three days later, Nadia was found dead in her room. Her
last client had been Father B.
When Shaun had heard about the incident, his first instinct was to involve the
police, but there was too much at stake. No one knew that the girl was in the
country; she was unregistered. Therefore it was easy to maintain secrecy and dispose
of the body.
It had not been so easy to maintain secrecy however. Shaun had collected the body
from the parlour unseen and transported it in a wooden chest in his car. It was when
he had been putting the chest in the garage that Mary had caught him. That night
he’d told Mary everything. At first she couldn’t believe it, but, with
what there was to lose, agreed to keep quiet about it. Despite his faults, deep down
inside her, she thought she still loved Shaun.
It was on the night of Father Benedict’s death that the facts were
inadvertently broadcast to others. During the argument between Shaun and Mary, Mark
had heard what was said about Nadia. He was devastated.
**** **** ****
Joseph drove quickly to his daughter’s house, relieved that Daisy was fine. He
went up the drive to the house and parked at the imposing front door. Entering,
Joseph called out for Shaun and walked through to the study where Shaun was.
‘The police have no idea about the shooting of Father B,’ said Shaun
smirking.
Joseph, taking in a deep breath replied, ‘Shaun, forget about Father B.
It’s Mark I’ve come to see you about, he’s dead. He hung himself a
while ago. He left a note explaining why he did it and also giving details about your
other activities. Is it true?’
‘I’m afraid so,’ said Shaun, ‘call it branching out if you
like. It gave me the excitement I needed.’ Then, with the realisation that Mark
was dead Shaun’s face whitened and he sat down and began to weep.
‘We haven’t got time for that,’ shouted Joseph. ‘I’ve
only managed to stall the police for a couple of hours. Your brother is taking care
of that. Is there anything you need to sort out before they get here?’
‘There’s nothing left to sort out,’ said Mary. ‘I have taken
care of everything except a couple of things.’ Neither of them had heard or
seen her enter the room. In her hand was a .44 Magnum. ‘Sit down dad and for
once in your life listen.’
Joseph sat down in an armchair, mystified as to what was going on. ‘Mary,
you’re my daughter, what’s happening here.’
Mary began to laugh. ‘You’ve both been blind.’ she said.
‘Both of you have betrayed the family. It was me that had Father B killed for
betraying the church and his priestly vows in Shaun’s den of filth. You, my
husband, betrayed me with the tarts that you employed, and you dad, betrayed my
mother. You couldn’t even be bothered to turn up for your own wedding fifty
years ago. And, if you Shaun hadn’t been tempted by greed maybe my son Mark
would still be alive.’
‘We can sort all this out,’ said Shaun pleadingly. Mary slowly raised the
gun and fired. ’Farewell Shaun, there are no whores in heaven. I hope you
manage.’ Turning to Joseph, she again raised the gun and fired. ‘Farewell
dad, I love you but the world will be a better place without you.’
Mary put the gun down on the desk and telephoned the police. Slowly she walked
through to the hall and sat on the bottom step of the stairs. Religion solved
everything she thought and smiled to herself.
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