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Sean didn’t say anything. The women in the back seat were frozen as solid as a couple of chicken breasts hidden in the freezer behind the frozen vegetables that nobody wanted. He just smiled and flipped up his wallet that showed his state police badge and his identification. With the practice of years of shocking surprised suspects and witnesses, Sean held his badge and picture-ID next to his smiling face.
There could be no mistake. He was a cop. And not just a cop, Sean Patrick Flynn was a state police detective.
“What the fuck?” Amanda and Joy mouthed to each other silently.
“Well, said, ladies, well said,” Sean said with a laugh. His partner in the front turned to his right so he could see the shock on the faces of their passengers.
“It seems we’ve been after the same person,” Sean said, closing his ID.
“Could we see your ID, again?” Joy said.
Sean smiled and handed his wallet to them.
“Good God,” Amanda said. “Sean Patrick Flynn, you’re not a professor from Dublin.”
“Are you even Irish?” Joy whispered.
“Well, Irish-American. My family came over in the 1800s, so there is some connection to Ireland, but I was born and bred in the suburbs of Detroit,” Sean said. “And as for being a professor, hell, I hardly made it through four years at Wayne State and then the state police academy.”
“But, Sean...” Amanda said.
“Why don’t you just call me, detective,” Sean said. “I mean, just so we all know who is in charge here, okay?”
What could Amanda and Joy do except shrug and nod their agreement? Who were they to complain. Their story had just gotten even better.
Amanda had an idea.
“Okay, Sean,” Amanda said, dragging out his name until she ran out of breath.
“So you’re an undercover cop, or you were until your cover just got blown,” Joy said.
“What’s next?” said Amanda.
Joy didn’t chime in with her voice. She just lifted her eyebrows and waited.
“How did you find her? Was it luck, or are you just that fucking good?” said Amanda
“A little of both,” said Sean. He could have shared his story of how he found Mary Eileen’s new home, her faux boyfriend and how he convinced the pitiful excuse for a male to rat out his chick. But he chose not too. There would be plenty of time for that tale in court. Sean didn’t have a minute to spare talking to reporters. He and his three-man squad of state police heavies were all on the clock. And their suspect had shown she could vanish in an instant.
It was time to bring Mary Eileen Sullivan home to St. Isidore.
“Stay here,” Sean said.
Joy just about jumped out of her seat.
“No fucking way! This is our story,” she said.
“Story? Who gives a flying fuck about your story?” said Sean’s partner behind the SUV’s steering wheel.
“Come on,” said Amanda, “this could be excellent for you and the department. It’s a great story to tell.”
Sean laughed.
“No fucking way, who?”
“I meant, ‘No way, detective.’”
He paused for a moment if only to insert his authority back into the conversation.
“Stay here,” said Sean using a tone of voice that left no doubt there were plenty of handcuffs to go around if either Amanda or Joy should choose not to obey a direct order from a state police detective.
Again, Sean paused. This time he wanted to be sure the order had sunk in with both women. The last thing he needed was to have them go rogue on him while his men were bringing in a double-murderer.
Sean would have liked to have waited until Mary Eileen got off work and was walking home. But Joy and Amanda didn’t leave him any choice. Well, there was a choice. If they waited like good cops should until Mary Eileen was free of any civilians who might get caught in an ugly crossfire, they would be stuck with two reporters in the back seat. Nearly a fate worse than death, Sean decided.
Besides, as dangerous as Mary Eileen might be, he was pretty confident that the element of surprise — Sean could hardly wait to see her face when he walked into Bean There — would give him all the advantage he would need.
Was he happy to bring this to a close? Yeah, Sean was pleased It was tough doing the undercover role of a literature professor making a play for a beautiful Irish girl, a real Colleen, who he wanted in actual life, not in his undercover life. No ruse, no fooling, just hot, hard lust and then love. Sean was head over heels in love with Mary Eileen Sullivan.
But he had always been a cop first. And so Sean was today. He was a cop who had to make an arrest. And, it was an arrest that would look good, damn good, on his record. So as he got out of the SUV and signaled to his men that it was time to go, Sean understood the meaning of the word ‘bittersweet.’ He could almost hear Michael Douglas defining the word in “Wall Street,” as being “like watching your mother-in-law go off a cliff in your brand new Maserati.”
His team, three of the sharpest, toughest uniforms on the street were standing with him. He had a great squad. They had brought in some significant cases, and this arrest would be right up there with the cream of that crop.
“Let’s go,” he said.
Two of the cops went into the coffee bar, first, while Sean and the trooper who had been behind the driver’s wheel waited outside, out of sight. Once they got a table, they had to hold on, the place was packed, they chilled.
“Do you see here?” said Cop #1
“Yeah, she’s right there,” said his partner with a nod toward the serving station where the waitresses placed their orders.
Coming this way, #1 texted to Sean who was waiting by the SUV.
It was the best of both worlds for this arrest. Not only was Mary Eileen coming their way, she was also going to walk to the table occupied by two of the best state cops in the business.
They smiled. Mary Eileen smiled. Everyone was happy. But not for long.
Once Sean got the text from his men inside, he and his partner quickly walked to the front door.
Come in now, read the next text.
And that is just what they did. Sean moved behind Mary Eileen. He hesitated. Sean wanted to remember Mary Eileen as a free woman, before she became a criminal suspect on her way to jail, a woman on trial, and then a woman serving a double life sentence for two murders.
He wanted to remember the Mary Eileen that he had fallen in love with, not Mary Eileen the criminal.
She looked over her shoulder, almost with a sense of dread, almost knowing that the something she sensed would go wrong this morning was about to happen.
Mary Eileen saw Sean’s eyes first. Then she registered the rest of his face. He was smiling. But it was a stiff, tense smile, not the smile of a lover who had found the one he loved, ready to begin a new life together.
No, Mary Eileen sensed Sean wasn’t waiting for a latte. She knew he was there to tell her that it would soon be time for her to reinvent herself one more time. But this time, she would do it behind the walls of a prison.
Sean was just as handsome as she remembered him. Oh hell, it hadn’t been that long since Mary Eileen had run away from St. Isidore. Still, it seemed like a lifetime. And in a way it was. Every time she reinvented herself, Mary Eileen felt like she started a new life.
Oh, how she had wanted to start a new life with this man, this Sean Patrick Flynn.
But it was not to be. Mary Eileen felt like she was outside her body watching all of this play out on a TV screen.
He showed her his badge. The men at the table got up behind her. Another man appeared at Sean’s shoulder. Mary Eileen knew they were all cops. She knew that one way or another it was time to pay for every mistake she had made, every crime she had committed.
Sean read Mary Eileen her rights. He Mirandized her as they would say on the TV crime shows that had taught Mary Eileen so much about her craft. She saw his lips moving, but even though she nodded her head to indicate she understood, Mary Eileen hadn’t heard what Sean had said.
The cops behind her grabbed her arms and put them behind her so they could put the handcuffs on her wrists. Sean moved to her side, took her by the arm and prepared to lead Mary Eileen out the door and to the SUV that was waiting to take her to jail.
Mary Eileen held firm. She didn’t budge. Mary Eileen didn’t take a step. Sean moved to face her.
“When did you know?” she said.
“I always knew.”
“And still you fell in love with me?”
“It is time to go.”
“I’m pregnant.”