Chapter 32
Ifor watched Mr. Kelly. The manwas starting to suspect something—he was sure of it. And so close to town, too.
“So, what part of Ireland do you come from, Mr. Kelly?” Timothy asked.
Good. He was trying to distract him—pull his focus onto something else to put him at ease.
“Dublin.”
“My cousin married a man from Queenstown,” Timothy stated.
Was his ruse working?
“Ah, yes?” Mr. Kelly said, looking as though he neither heard nor cared for a word of it.“Susan, maybe you and me should go and sort a few things out back at the house.”
Ifor glanced at Susan, willing her to be strong.
“We can’t get into the house, Da. We checked. We’ll have to go to the hotel and see where all the people who’ve lost their homes are supposed to go. Come on, sure.”
After a tense moment, Mr. Kelly started walking with them again.
Nearly there.
As they turned onto the main street, Ifor was surprised to see the crowd of people queuing outside the hotel to see the doctor had doubled.
The sheriff’s office was two doors away from the hotel. They were so close.
Mr. Kelly stopped walking as he noticed the sheriff’s office.
“Come on, Mr. Kelly—the hotel’s just down here.”
“No, no, no. Iknow what yous are up to,” he said, looking from Ifor to Timothy. Then he fixed his gaze on Susan. “But, my wee Susan... I never thought you’d have it in you. How could ye?”
“Da...”
“No!” Mr. Kelly turned and started sprinting. He was surprisingly sprightly for a man of his age—especially one that was three sheets to the wind. Immediately, Ifor and Timothy sprang after the man.
“Easy, Timothy,” he cautioned. But Timothy had already launched himself at Mr. Kelly, tackling the man to the ground.
“Oh!” Susan exclaimed.
Ifor moved closer to her. “Susan, go and get the sheriff. Now,” he whispered.
She stared for a moment at her father, then turned and hurried away.
Timothy had pinned Mr. Kellyto the ground, his heavy-set frame coming in very useful in this instance.
“Let me go! Get off me, ye brute!” Mr. Kelly yelled, writhing and kicking.
Ifor approached the two men. “Mr.Kelly, please—be calm.”
Timothy pulled Mr. Kelly up to a stand, his enormous hands fastened around the man’s arms.
“Let go of me! Let go of me!”
Susan approached them, the sheriff close behind her.
“Ah, now, my wee Susan. How could you do something like this to yer oul da? Your own wee daddy?”
Ifor studied Susan, praying she wouldn’t be hurt by the man’s nefarious manipulations.
“This is him, sir,” Susan said, addressing the sheriff. “He killed a man named John Murphy last night, as I told you inside.”
The sheriff nodded. “We’ll take it from here, Miss Kelly.” He motioned to another man, who promptly stepped in and took Mr. Kelly off Timothy’s hands. He marched Mr. Kelly forward to the sheriff’s office.
Timothy bade them farewell, then made his way toward the hotel.
Ifor stepped closer to Susan. But before he could ask her if she was all right, she stepped forward and addressed the sheriff again.
“Sir? I need to turn myself in, too.”
Ifor frowned, his stomach tight. What?
“And why would that be, miss?” the sheriff asked, confusion evident on his brow.
“Because it’s my fault he’s dead. They wanted me to help them steal from the post office. I told them no, but John Murphy was full of threats. He’s the one who hurt me. He knocked me out because I wouldn’t give him the key to the post office. I refused him and refused him and he was trying to kill me. And that’s why my Da ended up killing him—he was trying to get him to stop hurting me. So, you see?” She shook her head slowly.“It’s all my fault.”
The sheriff’s brow twitched with sympathy. “Miss Kelly, I appreciate your honesty. And I appreciate your commitment to refusing to participate in criminal activity. But as you have committed no crime, there’s absolutely no reason for me to charge you or arrest you. You’re free to go.”
“I’m so sorry, sir.” Her voice held grief-stricken desperation.“I was terrified of that man, I truly was, but I feel so guilty that he died and it was because of me.”
The sheriff thought for a moment. “This earthquake—the thing that really caused it—do you know what they call it?”
Susan shook her head.
“A fault line,” the sheriff said. “It runs through the earth, unseen, until one day it all gives way. The ground shifts, and nothing can be as it was before—the whole face of the earth has altered. So it is with the hearts of mankind. A fault line, unseen, runs through each of our hearts. Until one day, our lives are shaken, and the whole face of what we once knew has all been altered. And, as in this earthquake, the shaking and ground-shifting leads only to destruction and chaos. But then...” He raised his finger.“We must scoop away the rubble and rebuild. But if the foundation upon which we choose to rebuild is not a firm, fixed one, then we are only accruing more rocks and rubble that will fall upon us during the next shifting.” He paused. “Do you understand?”
Susan nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Go and rebuild, Miss Kelly. Not only your house, but your life. Your heart.” He gave a serene smile, then turned and walked away, headed for the sheriff’s office.
Ifor prayed silently as he reflected on the sheriff’s words. He needed to take the same advice. He’d been hoarding up rocks of bitterness and mistrust. But all that rubble needed to be cleared away. The firm foundation he needed to build on was Jesus. He thanked God for this valuable lesson—and for the rather unlikely source from which it had come.
Susan turned to face him, her countenance slightly more peaceful.
“I think the sheriff should take a turn at preaching on a Sunday, what do you think?”Ifor asked her.
She smiled—the truest smile he’d seen on her face since before the earthquake. “I think he should!”
Ifor took her hands in his. “I’m sorry, Susan. I shouldn’t have been bitter toward you like I was.”
Susan shook her head. “You had every right not to trust me—or even like me.”
“Well, I do like you. And trust you. And I’m sorry for how I behaved.”
Susan sighed. “How you behaved? Ifor, I’m so sorry for everything I did. And for hurting you. I...I would never want to hurt you. Ever.”
Ifor smiled. “Nor I you.” He drew a deep breath. “Susan, I love you.”
Her eyes, though still melancholy, lit up with gladness. “I love you, too.”
They wrapped their arms around one another and held each other tight. Everything had shifted irrevocably all around them. Some things would never be the same.
But they each had the firm foundation of faith in Jesus upon which to build the rest of their lives.
Together.