The Abduction of Margaret O’Shea
A Kenneth Hall Mystery
by: Hankster
© 2018 by the author
The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the
author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...
hankster@tickiestories.us
Chapter 3
On the Tuesday evening before Thanksgiving, Tom and George came bounding into the house. The frigid weather had not abated. They were so bundled up, they looked like Arctic explorers. They dropped their knapsacks and parkas in the front hall and saw their fathers running to greet them. The four men kissed on the lips, and hugged each other so strongly, they almost lost their breaths.
“How come you’re so cold?” Ken asked.
“The heater in the car seems to be on the fritz,” Tom said.
Joe gave Ken a knowing look.
“Are you hungry?” Ken asked. “Mattie made a snack for you guys before she went home.”
“Fantastic,” George said. “I’m starving.”
“Me too,” Tom echoed.
“Into the kitchen then,” Ken said.
While they were eating hot pastrami sandwiches with cokes, George asked, “Did anything new and exciting happen since we spoke to you last?”
Ken and Joe smiled at each other. Ken removed Maggie’s letter from his pocket, and handed it to Tom, who was nearest at hand.
“Here,” he said, “read this out loud.” Ken and Joe did not know what kind of a reaction to expect, so they were open to anything.
“This is so great,” George screamed. “We have a sister, Tom.”
“I can’t wait to meet her,” Tom yelled louder than George.
“We’ve met her,” Ken said, “and I’m sure of her sincerity, but your other dad, doubting Thomas here, thinks she’s trying to extort us.”
“You’ll meet her Thursday afternoon,” Joe said. “She’s coming for our holiday dinner. We were going to go to The Club, but we decided on home cooking when she accepted our invitation. Excuse me, Ken’s invitation. Mattie is cooking the whole dinner, and she’ll join us at the table.”
“We’ll help her serve,” Tom said, speaking for George as well.
“You’ll see that Maggie’s for real,” Ken said adamantly. “I ran a background check on her and her mother, and everything agreed with what Maggie told me. Iris lives on the upper west side, and Maggie lives in Little Italy.
“You’ll see that she’s a scam artist,” Joe said.
“This is going to be one hell of an interesting dinner,” Tom said.
Everything grew quiet for a minute, and then George said, “Tom and I are bushed. We’re going to turn in.”
“What’s the rush?” Joe asked. “Don’t you get enough hanky-panky now that you have your own apartment?”
George kissed Tom on the cheek. “We never get enough,” he said.
Once in their room, Tom and George undressed rapidly and headed for the shower. They played with each other way too long, until they looked like prunes. When they were finally in bed, they were too tired for further activity. They hunkered up to each other and fondled each other’s cocks.
“What do you think of this Maggie O’Shea business?” Tom asked.
“We owe it to Ken to protect him. I’d like to do a little investigating on my own tomorrow.” George said.
“What can we do? Maggie’s mother is in Florida, and Maggie will probably be at work.”
“Foolish man,” George said to Tom in his most facetious tone of voice. “Did you learn nothing from living with a cop? I’ve seen Ken access his office computer dozens of times from home. I know the code. If we can get into his computer, I can access The Division of Motor Vehicles. I can get a picture of Maggie’s driver’s license. Ditto her mother.”
“What good will that do?” Tom wondered.
“Not much, but at least we’ll know if we’re dealing with a real Margaret O’Shea or an imposter.”
“So what are we waiting for? Let’s go.”
The two young men jumped out of bed and George booted up his computer. Try as hard as he could to access Ken’s police computer, his screen kept saying, ACCESS DENIED.
“Ken must have changed his access code,” George lamented. “We’ll just have to go up to his office on Friday, and ask him point blank to use his computer.”
“He’ll ask why. What should we tell him?”
“The truth,” George said. “It’s for his own protection.”
“Maybe it won’t be necessary to use his computer,” Tom said. “Maybe we’ll learn the truth at dinner on Thursday.”
Maggie may have won Ken’s heart while Joe and his sons remained skeptical, but she charmed the hell out of Mattie. Mattie fell in love with her immediately upon her arrival. She felt Cupid’s final arrow when Maggie insisted on helping her clean up after dinner. Neither of the two ladies threw in the towel until the kitchen and dining room were sparkling clean. When she was satisfied with the condition of the house, Mattie went home.
On the other hand, Maggie seemed to want to linger all night, perhaps to get an invitation to sleep over. Joe was becoming annoyed. He wanted her gone so that he could discuss any vibes Tom and George might have gotten. Finally, Joe started to yawn. His sons picked up the signal, and they did the same. Ken was too happy to notice anything. He should have been fired from his job as an investigator.
At long last Maggie asked Ken to get her a cab. Everyone volunteered to drive her home, but she insisted on taking a cab. Maggie’s adamant insistence on taking a cab finally bothered Ken a little. Why was she so afraid of them seeing and knowing where she lived?
None of this was lost on Tom and George either. Each of the boys renewed their determination to investigate Maggie as best they could.
As soon as Maggie was gone, Ken asked, “Well did you guys change your minds?”
“No,” they answered in unison. “Well, fuck you all,” Ken screamed loudly. He ran upstairs to his bedroom, and Joe ran after him. He was not going to let Ken go to sleep still angry at him.
Ken undressed and climbed right into bed.. He didn’t even take his nightly pre-sex shower. Joe got naked and crawled in after him. He used every trick in the book to arouse Ken, but Ken was having none of it. He kept turning away from his husband.
Joe kept whispering, “I love you,” until he broke Ken down at last. Ken started to giggle, and he turned to Joe. They kissed, and began to make love like two hormonal high school kids.
When it was over, Ken fell into a post orgasmic-sleep, but Joe couldn’t sleep at all. He wondered if the DNA tests were completed. He decided to call the lab in the morning after Ken went to work.
Tom and George couldn’t sleep either and they couldn’t make love. They were lost in conjecturing whether Maggie was the real thing or a scam artist.
“I’ve made up my mind,” George said. “I’m going to go to work with Ken tomorrow and I’m going to search DMV records. I’m going to tell Ken the truth of why I’m searching. That girl was just too goody, goody for my taste. I never trusted people who gushed like that. It’s not natural.”
“How right you are,” Tom agreed. “I think I’ll go to the precinct with you.”
Nobody went anywhere the next day. At 6 AM, the phone rang shrilly. It completely woke Joe up from a very fitful sleep.
Barely awake and certainly not yet functioning, Joe heard a heavily disguised, gruff voice.
Listen you rich piece of shit. We captured your precious little daughter when she got out of the cab last night. Right now, she’s safe and sound, but not for long. Her ransom will be hefty so be prepared. You will receive instructions on where to bring the money and how much. If you bring your cop friends the girl is dead. Do exactly as you are instructed.
Joe could hear Maggie yelling in the background. “Help me, Daddy. Don’t let them hurt me.”
As Joe listened to the message, he tried to nudge Ken awake. It didn’t matter. The kidnapper hung up before Ken could wake up.
The ringing telephone also woke their two sons. They came running into their parents’ bedroom. Because of the ungodly hour, they expected to hear horrible news, and of course, they did.
The three men finally brought Ken to full consciousness and filled him in.
“Relax, Ken,” Tom said. “I knew she was a con artist. The whole thing is a scam.”
“I agree totally,” Joe said. “I wouldn’t give her one red cent.”
“But what if it isn’t a scam?” Ken said. “We have no evidence that it is. I’ve got to help her.”
To be continued...
Posted: 11/16/18