A Predatory Mission by Judith Campbell

Author:Judith Campbell [Campbell, Judith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mainly Murder Press
Published: 2013-04-22T00:00:00+00:00

Seventeen

While Olympia was presenting her thoughts to Yolanda and Julia, Frederick was upstairs telling Jim Sawicki what was happening at Olympia’s church and, to the best of his ability, outlining her ideas on what to do about it.

Jim’s initial response was a low moan of resignation followed by, “She does know she’s playing with fire, does she not?” After a suitable pause he added, “And what does she want us to do while she chases after this particular flaming windmill?”

“I know, Jim, here she goes again; but if you think about it, she has a point. She’s got two women who have told her almost identical stories of sexual abuse and intimidation at the hands of this man. We both know he’ll keep on repeating the pattern until someone catches him and puts an end to it.”

“God knows, as a Catholic priest I understand more than most about how sexual predators operate and the shroud of silence and denial that allows them to continue. And now that I am thinking about it, Olympia may just be the right person to see that he’s stopped. What exactly does our dear girl have in mind?”

“I don’t think she’s actually come up with anything specific yet. I know she’s downstairs right now, talking to the two women she knows who have been abused. She asked me to ask you to use your police connections to see if you can find out anything more about him. Oh, yes, and I made her promise she wouldn’t do any kind of actual confrontation without one or both of us within shouting distance.”

His voice was incredulous. “She agreed to that?”

“Wonder of wonders, she did.”

“Well, that’s something, and if it does get ugly, I can play pretty good defense. When I was a kid, I learned a lot on the streets of the West End. I haven’t had to use those particular skills in years, but it’s like riding a bicycle. It comes right back.”

“I hope we won’t need it, Jim, but it’s good to know it’s there. She’s still in the information gathering stage. That’s why I called you. But now that I’ve delivered my message, I want to know how you are doing? How’s your sub-let working out? How’s your health? When are we going to see you again?”

Jim laughed. It was a good, strong laugh, one Frederick had not heard in far too long.

“One question at a time, brother. The apartment is great. I’m loving being on Beacon Hill. Remember, I grew up less than a mile from here, only it was a working class mile. Who’d ever have thought I’d be living up here with the titled and privileged beans and cod Bostonians?”

Now it was Frederick’s turn to chuckle. He was pleased that Jim sounded so positive.

“To continue, my health is holding. I feel good, and my stress level is dropping, and the doctors are encouraged, which means I’m encouraged. To the last point, when I’ll come down and see you may depend on Olympia and what she has in mind.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.