Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 93482 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93482 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
“As always, I wait for God’s divine messages to tell me where I’m needed, but I am in New York for the foreseeable future.”
“What brought you back to the city?”
“Assignment,” I said, picking up my teacup like I was actually going to take a sip of this vile liquid.
Then I leaned forward like I had a secret, and of course Mary Quinn leaned forward as well, hanging on my every word. “From what I hear, the cardinal of the area is worried about certain members of his church having gone astray. He had the idea of bringing in a priest who knew the area, the congregation, and all their dirty little secrets. He felt I might be better able to relate and find out why so many of his flock seemed more hung up on the constant indiscretions coming from certain houses than they are on the word of God.”
“Well, now that you mention it, I have heard rumors of the Dubois family having some skeletons in their closet that they should atone for.”
“Yes, I believe many, many families have skeletons they would like to rid themselves of. Perhaps it is the Duboises. The cardinal didn’t name names to me, but he did mention a specific family getting into bed with the Irish mafia to kidnap a young girl. Apparently, that same family was involved in some sordid tale of taking advantage of a young man in crisis. Instead of leading him into the Lord’s light, they manipulated him into almost destroying another family’s business and then kidnapping their oldest daughter. Can you believe the scandal?”
“No, I can’t.” She sat back, her lips turning down enough that there was almost a wrinkle showing through the plastic surgery.
“Oh yes, it is quite the scandal. There are other things, of course; broken vows, children that are products of adultery, allegations of a particular woman — I don’t know who, of course—actually trying to manipulate stock trades by servicing heads of the companies. Apparently, she likes to do it under their desks while they speak to their wives on the telephone. The worst part is, the cardinal wasn’t relaying information that he had heard in the sacred confines of confession— he would never. These are things he’s hearing whispered in the pews of the church.”
“Oh, that is quite scandalous,” she said, her face turning a little pale.
“I know. It’s a complete mess. I mean, for one sheep to go astray and be led by the devil himself, well, as tragic as that is, it happens. The cardinal wasn’t even surprised at the actions of this woman. After the rumors of her beating her staff and even coercing them to have intercourse with her, it’s truly shameful, but it happens. What’s worse is that the entire congregation feels the need to speak out of turn against this poor soul instead of helping them come back to the light.”
The cardinal, of course, said absolutely none of this to me. He wouldn’t. That decrepit old man did not know what was going on in congregations around New York. I knew this because I was still a Manwarring, and the first skill we were taught was how much money to put into the right hands.
I was sure I had more dirt on Mary Quinn than even my father did.
“You’re right, that is terrible. I will correct those wagging tongues and send them to the confessional should I hear it.”
“That is so comforting to hear. After all, you are such a leader in this community. I know so many families look up to you. The pressure to never let them down must be... excruciating.”
“It can be.” She smiled. “Much like I’d imagine being the black sheep of the family would be.”
“I would hardly call myself the black sheep of the family. I may not have gone into trading stocks or running the family business, and my work with the church may have taken me from home for quite a while. But I am back now, and I intend to reconnect with my family, and make sure that I am in touch with my roots and be a beacon for the community that I left behind. I mean, I left a scared teenage boy, not sure what I wanted to do with my life. But I have returned a man who has found his mission.” I left the unsaid threat hanging, but the slight wrinkles forming around her eyes told me she picked up on it. Or maybe she just had a gut feeling there was more to what I was saying.
“Yes, since you brought up when you left, I wanted to make sure that our little misunderstanding in the past is just that. In the past. I would hate for rumors of misconstrued deeds to resurface. Such altercations should be left in the past, don’t you agree?”