The Abduction of Margaret O’Shea - 6. Chapter 6

The Sunday after Thanksgiving was a very busy day. At about 2 PM Tom and George started their drive back to Binghamton. They were fortunate that the weather had moderated considerably, and they didn’t miss the auto’s defunct heating system.

On the previous Saturday morning Chief Morton ordered a stakeout of Sharon’s apartment. He had a search warrant, and he wanted to pounce on them before they knew what hit them. At 4 PM, Morton was informed that Sharon and Marco had just returned home. He, Ken, and a couple of big cops knocked on the door, and when it was opened, they barged right in.

Sharon and Ken recognized each other upon sight.

“Oh, no,” Sharon whined.

“Oh, yes, Maggie, or should I say Sharon,” Ken answered with spite in his voice.

They didn’t spend a lot of time searching the apartment. Chief Morton found what he was looking for in the top drawer of a desk in the bedroom. It was a list of five men, Ken included, and their addresses at the time they donated sperm.”

Ken glanced at the list. “Are you pulling this scam on all these guys or just me?” he asked Sharon.

She didn’t answer.

“You might as well tell me. It’ll go better for you then if I have to call these men myself.”

“You’re the only one,” she mumbled.

“Why me?”

“Because you’re the only one with serious money.”

“Well, you’re wrong. The one with the money is my husband, and he’s been telling me since day one that you were a scam artist. He might not have come up with the money, leaving you holding an empty bag, so to speak.”

“Well, I didn’t know that.”

“Besides, I don’t believe I’m the only one. I know I’m not your biological father, but one of the other four men is.”

“How do you know it isn’t you?”

“Because my clever husband lifted your DNA from the wine glass you drank from at Vincent’s Copper Kettle. I told you he didn’t trust you. I made an ass of myself. I’m a trained detective. Not only should I have known, but I should have trusted Joe.”

“I don’t believe her either,” Morton said. “I’m going to contact each one to find out if she’s scamming them also, and what phony name she’s using. I need to know how many other identities she’s stolen. I can’t force them, but I’ll also ask each one to submit to DNA testing so that we can establish who the father is.”

“Frankly, Chief,” Ken said. “I wouldn’t want to know if this con artist is my daughter, but feel free to ask them.” He directed his attention back to Sharon.

“How did you happen to pick on The O’Shea’s to steal their identity?” he asked.

“I can save you time,” Sharon said. “Maggie came into the agency one day. She told us that she was dating a man seriously, but he often contradicted himself. She was getting uneasy vibes about him. She engaged us to do a background check on him. In so doing I learned a lot about Maggie also. I knew so much about her, I just decided to be her when I contacted all the men on the list.”

“Hey Chief,” one of the cops called out, “I found a deposit slip in the desk. They made a deposit of a hundred thousand dollars last Wednesday.”

“Well, I didn’t pay them, so it must be one of the other guys,” Ken said.

“Wow, they were collecting from everyone on the list. Can you imagine what a bundle of moolah they would have collected?” Morton remarked.

When they were certain that they had collected all the evidence, Ken instructed the cops to cuff the suspects, read them their rights, bring them back to the station, and book them for identity theft and conspiracy to defraud.

“I wish we didn’t have to read them their rights,” Ken said to nobody in particular.

On her way out, Sharon gave Ken a dirty look.

He responded by telling her that he felt sorry for her mother. “She’s a real nice lady, and your arrest is going to cause her terrible grief.”

He had no intention of arresting Rose for illegally stealing sperm over twenty-five years ago.

By the time the cops booked Sharon and Marco, it was quite late. Ken ran home. He was certain that Mattie had prepared a delicious dinner for him. He also knew that Joe would be in a funk, because both their sons went back to school. He believed that it was his job to raise Joe’s spirits, and the best way he knew how was to give him lots and lots of love.

Ken’s analysis of how he would find Joe was right on the money. Joe usually ran to greet Ken as he came through the door. This day he called from his library which was off the front hall.

“I’m back here,” he said.

Ken found Joe sitting on a high back chair nursing a cocktail. He pointed to a small table next to the chair. “Here’s your cocktail,” he said. “How was your day?”

“Well, you were right, of course. Maggie, nee Sharon, was the con artist you always said she was. She was pulling the same scheme on the other four guys, and one of them actually gave her a hundred thousand dollars.”

“I’ll have to call the boys, and tell them all that,” Joe said. “They’ve only been gone a few hours, and I miss them already.”

“Cheer up, Honey,” Ken advised. “They’ll call as soon as they get into their apartment, which should be any minute now if they left at 2. Christmas is right around the corner, and we’ll have them all during winter break.”

“Don’t be so sure. They were giving me a lot of flak about going down to South Beach for winter break. When I told them how much we would miss them, they invited us to join them.

“That’s not a bad idea. I have loads of vacation time coming. How would you feel about it, Honey?”

“It’s beginning to sound like a plan.

“The idea is sounding better and better,” Ken said. “Imagine two whole weeks with no crime to worry about, and no scurvy perps to make me feel grungy.”

“Bullshit,” Joe hissed. “Crime has a way of following you around no matter where you are.”

“Well, maybe. But I have no jurisdiction down in Florida.”

“You’ll work around it.”

“What’s for dinner?” Ken asked. “I’m starving.”

“Mattie left just before you came home, so she left everything in the oven. All we have to do is heat it up.”

“We’re alone in the house, and I suddenly don’t feel so hungry anymore,” Ken said. “What would you say about playing with me a little before dinner? We can eat later.”

“That’s okay with me,” Joe said, “but you have to promise to send me to Paradise.”

“Have I ever failed you?”

A few minutes later, Ken was fucking Joe. With every thrust of his body, Joe went higher and higher into the stratosphere. He came before Ken did. Ken was holding back for as long as he could. When Joe came Ken couldn’t constrain himself any longer, and he shot his load.

“I love you so much,” they yelled in unison.

“I’m in Paradise,” Joe said.

“I’m right there with you,” Ken said, trying to one-up his husband.