Sinner or Saint Page 5

  “I’m not making any promises because I still don’t know if I’m getting the whole story. Besides, I don’t want to be involved in anything criminal. After we meet with Thayer tonight, I’ll have a much better idea as to how I’ll handle the matter. I’ll do my best to keep you out of it, Kelsey, but I can’t make any promises. Not right now.” Marlee felt it was best to be straightforward with her house guest even though telling a lie would have been much easier. Just agreeing with Kelsey and then doing what Marlee felt was best would have been the easiest, but in Marlee’s mind, not the most honest or ethical. She’d learned the hard way that doing what allowed her to sleep at night was usually the best choice.

  “So, I guess we’ll talk about it more after the meeting tonight?”

  Like most teenagers, Kelsey was becoming stir crazy from being cooped up in the house, even though the past several hours were spent sleeping. “I think I’ll bundle up and take a walk around the neighborhood. I want to see your town and your university.”

  After pointing her in the direction of the MSU campus and a nearby coffee shop, Marlee sent the Irish guest on her way. As soon as she left, Marlee locked the front door and went into Kelsey’s room. A quick toss of her suitcase didn’t reveal anything other than an assortment of clothes and shoes. She ran her hand under the mattress and found nothing, not even the antique pipe. She noticed Kelsey’s backpack was missing and assumed she took it when she left to go on her exploration of the town. I’ll have a look through the backpack when she’s in the bathroom later, Marlee thought.

  Two hours later, a red-cheeked Kelsey pounded on the locked front door. “Sorry, I lock the doors after I come inside or anyone leaves. It’s a habit,” Marlee said, and it was the truth. Even though Elmwood was a small town, she recently realized she needed to take extra precautions to ensure her safety. Rarely did she enter the home without locking the doors behind her.

  “Why is it so bloody cold here?” Kelsey shouted, rubbing her mittened hands together, not ready to take off her coat.

  “It’s cold here for up to six months of the year, but not always this cold. We have really hot summers in Elmwood and about a week of fall and a week of spring. One of my friends says the awful winters here keep out the riff-raff.”

  “Thankfully you directed me to the coffee shop. That’s where I spent the better part of the time I was away. I had a lovely cup of tea there and met some interesting people. One was a friend of yours,” Kelsey said, making her way toward the kitchen. “Mind if I make myself something warm to drink?”

  “Not at all, help yourself. Who was the friend you met?” Marlee wondered who Kelsey had bumped into from campus. Marlee had several friends, but there were also a number of people on campus who would not admit knowing or befriending anyone until it was assured that the relationship would be beneficial to them.

  “His name is Teo. I didn’t catch his last name.”

  Marlee nodded. “Teo has taken a couple classes with me and works at the place where I order pizza. He’s a nice kid.”

  “I think he’s fetching,” Kelsey said with a flirty smile. “Do you know if he’s single?”

  “I don’t know much about my students’ personal lives. You could just ask him. I think most people in the U.S. are fairly open about their relationship status, although you’ll find the occasional lout that will lie just for their own benefit.”

  “I know, I’ve had boyfriends before. I know what arseholes they can be. But Teo seems different.”

  Marlee shrugged. “I really can’t tell you much about him other than he was always pleasant to me and was prepared in class. Obviously, I can’t tell you anything about his grades.”

  “He gave me his number, so I’ll text him. Maybe I’ll just ask him straight away if he’s with another girl.” Kelsey stared out the window with a faint smile, no doubt mentally planning her wedding.

  “Did you meet anyone else?” Marlee asked, afraid Kelsey would fall for the first guy she met. As far as she knew, Teo was a good guy, but her interactions with him were limited to a few classes and pizza delivery.

  “I sat with some students from Marymount College for a bit. A fun bunch, they were. They mentioned that you had a cousin who teaches at Marymount.”

  “Ah, yes. Bridget has been at Marymount for a couple years now. She’s my first cousin on my dad’s side. She teaches Film Studies among other things. A few years ago, she got caught up in a scheme involving Conrad Thayer and his sister. She got out of trouble, but I still have my suspicions about Thayer.”

  “Why? What did he do?” Kelsey enquired.

  “He’s a creep, for one thing. I don’t trust him any further than I can throw him. He’s a collector of everything. His house looks like a damn rummage sale, but with some organization. Conrad Thayer has a lot of money at his disposal and will spend whatever it takes to satisfy his whims. He’s a nutcase, and I wouldn’t put anything past him. That’s why I want to go with you when you meet him,” Marlee said, taking on the role of protector with her house guest.

  “I’m glad you’re going with me to meet Mr. Thayer. I should be hearing from him shortly as to our location. I’ll let you know when I have news.” Kelsey walked back to her room and shut the door.

  There’s nothing like a nap to help you catch up on much needed rest, and that’s exactly what Marlee did. She had plenty of things to do; unpack from her month-long trip to Ireland, catch up on work news and gossip from Midwestern State University, do laundry and housework, and pay attention to the long-neglected Pippa. When she awoke four hours later, her cat was stretched out on the edge of the blanket covering her feet. The easily irritated cat growled when Marlee rose from the bed, jostling the blanket on which Pippa was lounging.

  Kelsey’s door was shut, most likely taking a nap as well as she adjusted to the time change. Marlee tinkered around the house, pulling things from her suitcase and putting them away. She hauled the dirty clothes downstairs and started a load of darks. Then she went through her souvenirs, mentally assigning names of recipients to the refrigerator magnets, key chains, and other doodads she procured in remembrance of her trip to Ireland. Finally, she made a list of the things she needed from the grocery store. She was out of everything perishable, but still had some frozen food and canned goods on hand, as does every Midwesterner in preparation for blizzards lasting for days at a time.

  By 5:00 p.m., Kelsey still hadn’t come out of her room. Marlee knocked on the door hoping her guest would be ready for an early supper since they hadn’t eaten lunch. “I can make some soup, or we can go out to eat before we meet with Thayer,” she said through the closed door.

  When she received no answer, Marlee finally pushed open the door to the guest room. The sofa sleeper was made up as if no one had slept in it. Such is the habit of a person who grew up in a B&B, always straightening up after others. On the bed was a folded piece of paper. It read: Meeting with Mr. Thayer. He wanted me to come alone. Don’t be mad.

  Mad? Hell, yes, she was mad! Marlee grabbed her coat and slipped on her snow boots. She didn’t know for sure where Kelsey was meeting Conrad Thayer, but she knew where she was going… to the Thayer house.

  When I first agreed to this, I had one condition: no one dies.

  Chapter 9

  Parked outside the Thayer mansion, Marlee debated whether to ring the doorbell or seek entrance through less-than-legal means. Although she didn’t have her special tools with her, she was fairly skilled at picking locks and felt confident she could gain entrance to the home. It was dusk, and she waited a few more minutes until it was dark before she made her final decision.

  The Thayer home was in the elite Summerset area of Elmwood, characterized by enormous houses with multiple peaks on the roofs. Conrad made his home in the ritzy subdivision inhabited by bankers, those with murky criminal connections, and others in the top financial tier of the town. Marlee drove around the subdivision and parked a block away but within view of the Thayer home.

  She left
her car parked on a side street and walked to the Thayer residence. From previous experience, she knew that at least two Doberman Pincers protected the grounds. Marlee was a cat person but knew dogs could easily be bribed with food. Before driving to Conrad Thayer’s house, she made a quick stop at a grocery store and picked up four of the largest and cheapest steaks packed for quick sale, listing the next day as the “sell by” date. She removed the steaks from the Styrofoam-covered packaging and placed them in a flat Rubbermaid container she brought from home. As she gently walked toward the house, she moved her right hand into her pocket to feel for her pepper spray. It was the back-up plan, and she hoped she didn’t have to use it. Most times in the past when she’d used pepper spray it backfired and caused her more grief than relief.

  A slow, guttural growl greeted Marlee as she set foot on the Thayer property. Two sleek, black Dobermans appeared from the darkness, teeth bared.

  “Good boys,” Marlee cooed, attempting to put them at ease. “I have something for you.” Removing the lid from the container, she threw a steak at the dog closest to her, and he caught it in mid-air. She flung another steak at the second dog as she jogged toward the house. The dogs were distracted as they gnashed at the fresh meat, working to free it from the bone.

  Marlee snuck closer, noticing the first floor of the house was illuminated. She proceeded to the windows in the sitting room and peered in. This is where she and both of her ex-boyfriends, Vince Chipperton and Hector Ramos, had been received when they visited the mansion. A thick row of shrubbery outlined the house, but Marlee fought her way through it to the closest window. Inside, she saw Conrad Thayer dressed in one of his usual hideous outfits. Moving to the smaller window to the side, Marlee could also see Kelsey and the foot of a third unidentified person.

  She moved to the front door, and before she was able to ring the bell, the two Dobermans were back, growling at her. Apparently, they had no loyalty to those who bribed them. She took her last two steaks and flung them far over the dogs’ heads, hoping for enough time to gain entrance to the house. Marlee hadn’t planned for her escape. If no one let her inside the home or if she was kicked out, how would she get back to her car without the dogs sinking their fangs into her flesh?

  On the third impatiently timed ring, Conrad Thayer answered the door. As usual, he was half in the bag since he drank scotch on the rocks like most people drank water. He was dressed in iridescent blue leggings, a matching tank top, and a black cape. Knee-high black fashion boots completed the ensemble. Atop his head was a mass of blonde hair, parted on the side and held in place by a bobby pin.

  “Marlee McCabe,” he said, with an edge to his voice. “How did I know that you’d have a hand in this mess?” Conrad stepped aside to let her in the house and motioned her toward the sitting room, already occupied by Kelsey Rafferty and someone Marlee knew all too well from her work at Midwestern State University. Della Halter, her colleague in the Criminology Department, sat on a gold-toned loveseat with embossed leaves.

  Not often at a loss for words, Marlee looked at Della, wondering if her eyes were deceiving her. Regaining her composure, she said, “Della, what are you doing here? How do you know Conrad?”

  Della smirked, all five-foot-one of her rising from the love seat. As she stood, she smoothed her teal sweat suit around her belly. “What? The great detective, Marlee McCabe, didn’t know that Conrad Thayer is my boyfriend? I know you’ve been out of the country, but I thought you kept up on the happenings at MSU while you were away.”

  Boyfriend seemed like such a juvenile term for whatever Della and Conrad had going on. Both were in their mid-fifties, so referring to them as boyfriend and girlfriend was beyond ridiculous. Yet, the more Marlee looked at the two of them, the more the relationship made sense. They were both super-intelligent oddballs who had not been found guilty of any crimes in the past but who were morally ambiguous and capable of anything. They were also loose cannons who dedicated quite a bit of time to excessive drinking.

  Marlee decided that rather than play submissive to Della’s overbearing personality as she had in the past, she would stand up to the loud-mouthed coworker. “Boyfriend, huh? I hadn’t heard anything about it, but it doesn’t surprise me much. You two seem suited for each other.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Conrad staggered over with two highball glasses filled over halfway full of a brown liquid, handing one to Della.

  “No insult intended,” Marlee said, although she totally meant to diss both her colleague and Thayer. “I just meant that you two have a lot of similarities and that you’re individuals, not people who will follow the crowd just to fit in.” Della and Conrad looked at each other and smiled, appeased by Marlee’s half-assed attempt to cover her real emotions.

  “But what I’m really here to talk about is the antique pipe that Kelsey brought with her.” Marlee motioned toward her house guest standing in the corner, trying to appear invisible. “I found your note and figured you might be here.”

  Kelsey looked at Marlee with a pleading look, torn between her friend and the man who could help free her family from an insurmountable debt. “I didn’t know what to do!” She twirled her already curly hair around a finger as she spoke. “What should I have done? You wanted to come with me, but Mr. Thayer said I should come alone.”

  “How did you get here?” Marlee asked. As far as she knew, Kelsey didn’t know anyone well enough to ask for a ride.

  “When Mr. Thayer texted saying he’d send a car to pick me up, you were asleep, so I left a note. I know you wanted to come along, but I really needed this to go without a hitch. My parents’ livelihood depended on it, so I left without you. All I needed to do was drop this off.” Kelsey took the antique pipe from her jacket pocket and unwrapped it from a green tartan woolen scarf. “This is what all the fuss is about. By dropping this off today, I’ve unburdened my Ma and Da from their debt. I’m not proud of what I’ve done, but it was necessary, and I’d do it all over again.” She stood upright, giving a fierce look to anyone who met her gaze.

  “Della, what’s your involvement in this, besides being Conrad’s girlfriend?” Marlee asked. She fought back a giggle as her imagination ran wild at the thought of the relationship between the eccentric Thayer and her department colleague from the Deep South who had a mouth like a sailor on shore leave.

  “Hey, Conrad’s business is his own. He stays out of my affairs, and I stay out of his.”

  “That’s exactly right. I don’t go snooping around in Della’s college business, and she doesn’t interfere in what I’ve got going on. Not that it’s any of your concern.” Conrad tried to glare at Marlee, but his focus wavered between Marlee’s torso and the head of a wild boar mounted above her.

  “Conrad, do you realize that Kelsey could get into a lot of trouble by bringing this old pipe to you? Do you even care? You could all be in trouble if the authorities find out about it.”

  “For your information, this is not some random old pipe. It is an antique. Any number of collectors would love to get their hands on it. And I doubt Ms. Rafferty has suffered any from bringing it to me. As I understand it, she was looking for a chance to come to America anyway.” Conrad threw the cape over his right shoulder as he reached to pour more alcohol in his glass. “Besides, this is how transactions in the art world are frequently done. Not that you would know much about the finer things in life, like antique collectibles.”

  Not knowing what approach to take with the eccentric collector and his equally eccentric girlfriend, Marlee burst into laughter. All eyes were upon her as she thought what to say. “You’re a big joke. I can have the cops here in a matter of minutes if you don’t tell me what’s really going on. I can see it’s much more than just Kelsey bringing you an antique pipe,” she said as she motioned toward Conrad Thayer.

  “And what would you tell the police? No one has done anything illegal. Why is this any concern of yours? You’re of no importance to me. You’re just a lowly employee of the state.”<
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  “Careful, Conrad. Your girlfriend and I work in the same department. A slam against me is a slam against her. What I really want to know is the name of the person you’re transferring money to for the pipe.” Marlee knew from her past dealings with Thayer that she couldn’t give him an inch. Every time he took a jab at her, she needed to come back with a punch and a kick.

  All eyes turned toward Conrad, holding his drink glass near his mouth as he decided on his next move. He walked behind a large mahogany table as he pointed a wavering finger at Marlee. “You have no business in this. Do everyone a favor and stay out of it.” He punctuated his statement with a toss of his head, bringing a burly man in a dark suit into the room.

  “Ralph, please see my guest to the door,” Conrad stated, turning his back on Marlee as the muscled security guard grabbed her by the arm, dragging her toward the front entrance. “And Marlee, don’t be tempted to involve yourself in this matter any further. Any interference by you will be met with swift and severe countermeasures. Good night!”

  By the time Ralph tossed Marlee out the front door, she was steaming with rage at Conrad, Della, and also a little bit at Kelsey. The behaviors from Conrad and Della were typical for each of them, and together they provided a united front of bullshit. Kelsey, on the other hand, wanted to play all sides so that she could end her parents’ debt and at the same time, stay with Marlee until she could secure her place in the U.S.

  The Dobermans were waiting outside the door, again growling and baring their teeth. She had no more food to use as a bribe, so she walked confidently toward them, avoiding eye contact. Her soothing voice and slow walk, in addition to the previous bribes of steak, made the dogs more amenable to Marlee’s departure than normal. By the time she reached the edge of the property, she knew she was safe. As her ex-boyfriend, Vince, had pointed out in a past visit, the dogs were kept from roaming the neighborhood by an invisible fence.