The Crossroads

Early Wednesday, Judy sat in the breakfast nook with a cup of coffee and not much else.

She needed to hit the grocery store. Soon. She saw the checkbook sitting next to the empty fruit bowl. It was too early to go outside and wake the boys. Besides, she had nothing to serve them for breakfast. Maybe she could run out to the store and grab some doughnuts, cereal, and fruit. They’d be okay for fifteen minutes.

She opened the checkbook to rip out what she assumed would be check 001.

It was 003. George must’ve written two checks. She looked at the stub flaps. Check 001 went to Mandica and Son for the tree work. Check 002 was made out to Billy O’Claire. The plumber.

So that’s his name. O’Claire. Just like—

Judy put down the checkbook, went to the small kitchen office, and found the clasp envelope where she kept all the notes and clippings she’d been collecting. She pulled out the Miracle Mary newspaper story and raced down to the last paragraph:

Miracle Mary is survived by one grandson, William O’Claire, a plumber who still works in the North Chester area.

He still works here, all right—right here in this house. Judy remembered something else from that story. Some kind of connection between O’Claire and her husband’s family. She skimmed up a few paragraphs to the part about Mary’s son.

In 1983, at the age of 25, Thomas (Tommy) O’Claire and his wife, Alice, were gunned down by Sheriff James Jennings in what was described as the “tragic and fatal conclusion to a bungled blackmail scheme.” The shootings took place outside Spratling Manor.

Zack’s grandpa had killed the plumber’s father and mother. Did the plumber know that George was the sheriff’s son? He certainly now knew that George was a Jennings. He had to. It was written in the upper left-hand corner of the check.

Was the plumber’s working at their house merely coincidence or part of some clever scheme for revenge?

Judy felt a sudden pang.

Maternal instinct? Do stepmothers get that, too?

She didn’t know where it came from. All she knew was she had to go check on Zack and Davy in the backyard and she had to do it now!