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CHAPTER 3

Kevin O'Kelly was sitting at his school desk anxiously awaiting the day to be over. After todays exams he would be finished with school for the summer. This was the first year that Algebra had been taught to his grade. Normally the complex subject was reserved for those in the higher grades. Mrs O'Rourke their Algebra teacher couldn't be at school to tell her students to have a good summer. She had given birth to a little girl just the night before.Their substitute teacher was none other than Brendan Kearney. Kevin wasn't sure what he knew about Algebra, but he was ready for the days test. Or so he thought.

Brendan gathered papers on the teachers desk, and began to ruffle through them. He had no problem with the students names, as they were all in his own class 3 hours later. Brendan looked at the tests that he had made and a small grin formed on his face. He walked to the back of the room and began to pass out the tests. Laying each test face down he told the class, " And to prevent cheating on the test each of you have a different question to solve. So peeking at your neighbors answer will only ensure that you flunk your test. You may turn your test over and you have til the end of class to finish.

Kevin O"kelly look at the test that had just been handed to him. He wasn't prepared for what he saw. The test that Brendan Kearney , their substitute Algebra teacher had just given them had only one question on it. And He had no idea on how to solve it.  He looked up from the test and watched as the schoolroom clock 's minute hand clicked over to the number 5. Making the time now 10:05 in the morning.

Kevin looked down at the test and said softly, "Was I absent when we learned this?"

A young girl sitting nearby overheard and started to giggle.

Brendan looked up from his desk at the sound of her voice. Once again the room was silent and the class started to all scratch their heads in unison.

Meanwhile across town Brian Quigley drove away from the small house that he and Peter Clifford had been calling home for the last few weeks. Since Peter had left the small house seemed so much smaller to him now. He had enjoyed the younger priests company. Probably because of the boost it gave to his reputation.

The small car Brian was driving made him miss his blazer all the more. He thought to himself, "I'll be back on top. And I'll get a newer range rover to boot!"

Losing that range rover was in many ways more painful that losing his large mansion. The small car didn't do much for the image he strove to project. He then said outloud, "Today will be different. Today will be the day that he would finish plans that would allow him to get it all back. The house... range rover .... the money!"

There was still the problem he had in paying Donal and Liam. Two weeks ago they had finished enough work for him to pay off all the old debts they owed him. Now the pair were fully expecting to be paid. Paid with money that he still didn't have. That would all soon change.

He drove past Hendley's and had no way of knowing about the drama that was unfolding inside.

Inside Hendley's, Siobhan was becoming more and more upset. Her Land Rover was as beneficial to her vetinary practise as all the years she had spent at college .She thought to herself, "This couldn't have came at a more inopurtune time. What will I do?"

She sat down in one of Kathleen's chairs as a wave of emotion came over her. She began to cry.

Kathleen didn't know what to do or say. She wasn't the comforting type.

Just as Kathleen was moving forward to make a attempt at comforting Siobhan, Ambrose Egan stepped through the doorway.

"Now now," Ambrose said. "What's this about your landrover being stolen?"

Siobhan wiped her eyes with her left shirt sleeve, and tried to tell Ambrose what little she knew about what had happened.

Crime was virtually non existant in Ballykissangel. The most exciting thing that Ambrose Egan had run across in the past had been a undercover assgnment in Cilldargen. Other than that an occasional case of spousal abuse was about all the action he had seen in recent months.

"..... and I then parked it in fron of Kathleen's and that was the last time I saw it." Siobhan said.

"Are you sure you parked it in front Siobhan?" Ambrose almost hated to ask that question. He got the response he was expecting.

"No Ambrose .. I walked all the way here from my house! Where else would I have parked?"

Siobhan's shock at the theft of her vehicle was now turning to anger that was indirectly aimed at Ambrose and his investigation.

"You'd think that you could be out investigating ... or something useful. " Siobhan said this with some venom in her voice. She wasn't thinking of what she was saying as Ambrose had just been made aware of the theft and had rushed over as quickly as he could.

Ambrose was silent for a moment allowing Siobhan to vent her frustration. Then he asked, "Did you leave your keys in the vehicle?"

She didn't say a word she only held up her keys to answer his question.

What followed next was Ambrose asking Siobhan all the textbook questions that he had learned in the academy. Upon getting all the information he needed from her he told Siobhan, "I'll get back to you if I find anything out on your landrover."

Siobhan stared at him and then pointed at her two sacks of groceries, "What do you want me to do now? Walk home with these." A bit of her earlier anger was coming back as it was apparent that Ambrose hadn't intended on taking her home.

Ambrose shook his head and said, "Of course not! I'll give you a ride home." Ambrose smiled as he picked Siobhans sacks of groceries of the floor. With the groceries safely loaded in his car they were soon making there way to her home.

As soon as Siobhan was inside her home she put away her groceries. Then she picked up her phone to make the one call that she had hoped she wouldn't ever have to make.

The small little car shuddered and then started to overheat. Soon it was dead on the side of the road. "The car probably died to show me it knew he had been thinking of replacing it." Brian said outloud as he walked away from the side of the road where he had left the car. It's windows wide open and no chance of being stolen as even most car thieves had no interest in a worn out vehicle like his small car.

As he continued walking the daily bus from Cilldargen passed by him. The driver Gerard Lenihan put the bus in reverse and began to slowly drive back toward him.

Brian Quigley couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Can it get any worse?" He said with disgust in his voice.

As th bus opened it's doors Brian quickened his pace hopefully sending Gerard the message that he didn't need a ride.

When the bus faded away into the distance Brian knew Gerard had gotten the message loud and clear.

Luckily no other passersby saw him walking on the side of the road. He was only minutes away from a site that Liam and Donal were working at. They were clearing away a burned out house that would soon be rebuilt by Quigley construction. Or at least that's what Liam and Donal thought. Brian smiled and whispered to himself, "I know differently."

Quigley was soon walking up behind his two employees and made every effort to not be heard. They were to engrossed in their conversation so they didnt notice him. When he was about 5 feet away from them he heard Donal say, "He'll find out! I know He'll find out ...... He always finds out." Donal still wasnt aware he was directly behind him. But Liam was painfully aware and struggled to find some way of alerting Donal of Quigleys precense. When Liam's hand motions didn't work, he coughed and pointed directly at Quigley.As Donal slowly turned to see his boss it was a moment before a word was said. Donal struggled to remember all that he had just said so that he might make up some excuse.

Quigley finally spoke, "What will I find out? Please tell me more."

Donal sputtered and barely managed a insane explanation that Brian Quigley laughed silently at. He didn't realize that Donal had indeed told him the truth. "Well whatver you're doing make sure you look busy", Quigley told them.

"Ahhhh Mr Quigley, we were wondering ....... our pay .... will you be paying us soon?" Liam asked this almost knowing what the answer was going to be.

"Deduct my expenses from that wild plan of yours and consider that partial payment." Quigley smiled and was glad at how the money issue had been so easily resolved.

Back at the classroom Kevin felt a cold chill wash over him.For a moment he thought he saw a wraithlike figure floating up through the schoolroom ceiling. When no one else seemed to notice he looked at the clock in their classroom and it read 10:55. He didn't know where the time had gone. He hadn't even put pencil to paper to start the test and it was almost the end of the class.

Kevin glanced down at the test and was amazed to see that he had been handed one that had already been worked. It must have been, because it wasn't his handwriting. The handwriting was familiar though, it looked very elegant..... he had seen it somewhere before and it would continue to bother him, but not to the point of not turning in the test.

He wiped his forehead and even though the classroom was nice and cool, he was drenched in sweat. Not knowing what else to do Kevin signed the test. As he was taking his pencil away from the paper the school bell rang announcing the end of the class.

Kevin's fellow students rushed past him turning in their tests as they ran through the doorway.

Kevin had a habit of talking to Brendan as he left the classroom, but today would be different he didn't say a word as he handed his test to him.

Brendan stared at Kevin's test and began to speak, but when he saw that he was now all alone he shrugged and placed Kevin's test to the side. Then began grading the tests. As the classroom fell silent and Brendan was just starting to enjoy the silence. A student aid from the school office came into the room.

"Mr Kearney, " the girl said in a almost inaudible voice, "You have a phone call in the office."

Brendan slowly got up from his desk and then made his way along with the student to the school office. Moments later in the office he picked up the phone and was surprised at who was on the line. The voice on the phone seemed upset, "Brendan ..... I need your help." He recognized the voice as Siobhan immediately. Before she could finish speaking he asked her, "Is it the ..." then in a voice so silent that no one in the office would overhear, "the baby? Is the baby alright?"

She answered quickly, "No It's not that." Her voice seemed to be getting stronger as Brendan spoke to her. "It's my landrover ... someone has stolen it."

"Do you have insurance?" he almost hated to ask such a obvious question.

The line fell silent for a moment then Brendan said, "Siobhan are you there?"

"Of course I have insurance! I'm no Kathleen Hendley. I just didn't have anyone to confide in what with the baby and all."

Brendan knew that she was refering to a earlier mishap that had happened to Kathleen when her place had burned.

"Maybe I can come over after school and we'll get this all figured out." When he offered to do this he was actually hoping to hear her rebuff his offer. To his surprise she said, "Okay I'll have dinner ready for both of us."

Before Brendan could say anything else she'd hung up the phone. He mumbled to himself, "Brendan Kearney what've I got myself into?" He sighed , then readied himself for his next class.

Hours later the final school bell for the year brought joy to the entire school, including Kevin O'Kelly and even Brendan Kearney. Kevin would find out later if he had passed all the exams he had taken.

Kevin's dog had waited very patiently by the school. When finn saw him he barked at Kevin.

"Let's go home boy, " Kevin told the dog.

The dog then raced away from him and he realized too late what he had said. Finn was racing straight for Fitzgeralds. He was going to his home. Kevin raced behind behind him.

Kevin caught up to the dog, and then led him away from the pub. The walk home was over before it began. Or at least that was the way it seemed to Kevin.

From the outside of the garage kevin heard the sounds of his father working. The tell tale sounds of hammers against metal was hard for kevin not to miss.

He looked in and told his father that he was home from school. But his father only grunted a acknoledgement.

He hoped on his bike and began to peddle as fast as he could.

Siobhan had dinner waiting for him. And if all he'd have to fo for it was advise her how to handle the loss of her land rover, that was okay with him. After all it had been along time since he had a home cooked meal waiting for him when he got off from work.

20 minutes later He was at her doorstep.

Brendan only had to stand outside for a moment until she let him inside. Immediately smelling what she had prepared brendan said, "You shouldn't have went to all the trouble." But at the same time inside a small voice inside Brendan was telling Brendan to be careful, He didn't want to hurt Siobhan's feelings when he was so unsure of his own for her.

He gave her a hug as he entered the living room, for the first time Brendan actually noticed the perfume Siobhan was wearing. And she smelled pretty good. Then that voice inside him roared up again telling him to be careful.

Siobhan shook her head as she drew away from Brendan. Then she told him, " Today was a awful day! Ambrose still hasn't called with any news."

He loosed his tie and began to wonder what he had gotten into. Then again that small voice inside his head spoke up and told him that he was way too late to worry about that, 6 months too late. So tell me about your insurance," Brendan asked her.

While Brendan was talking to Siobhan a huge truck pulled up outside her house. A man clad only in black, with a black ski mask jumped out from the passenger side of the truck. He looked around and made sure that no one was looking. Then he slowly made his way into Siobhan's yard. He delicately started to roll Brendan's bike to the back of the truck. With a heave he tossed the bike up into the back of it. It wasn't alone, alongside it was a familiar land rover that coincidently was being discussed inside her house this very moment.

Then moments later the man was gone and Brendan and Siobhan were none the wiser.

"Well, " Siobhan said, "My insurance will cover a temporary vehicle fora week and then if it's not found it will pay off the balance of what I owe on it." Enough of that though, the dinner is getting cold.

After their Dinner Brendan noticed as he began to leave that his bike was gone. What would he do, it was too late to walking outside. Plus it would take him over a hour to walk home. Then his problem was solved when Siobhan told him, "Well you can stay over night here and report it to Ambrose in the morning."

The voice in Brendan's head couldn't believe it when it heard him say, "Thanks Siobhan. I believe I will. "

Hours later after talking the night away Brendan started to walk into Siobhan's bedroom until he heard her say, "Your bed will be right here Brendan."

He turned and smiled when he saw her pointing at the couch that he had just got off of.

Later that night kevin in bed has another nightmare. This time it continued and Kevin was drawn even further into the mysterious dream world that he had first entered days previously. A desolate figure floats up to kevin and he immediately recognizes it to be Assumpta Fitzgerald. She moves even closer, as she draws near kevin realizes he can see right through her. In the far distant back ground a lone owl again starts hooting, desperately trying to send out a message to him. A message that now had a ghostlike messenger to deliver it personally.

She moved closer to Kevin, and whispered in his ear. Then she kissed him on the cheek. She moved away from him, kevin bolted upright and then said out loud, "Man what a dream..." then he drifted back to sleep.

That next morning Kevin arose early to fix his father's breakfast. This was his routine for as long as he could remember. His dad would soon be up. First he would hear him make some animal like noises right when he awoke. Then as his father dragged himself out of bed he would usually bump into anything in his path. He would then stumble into the nearby shower and run the water over him until he was fully awake. And when he stepped out of the shower thirty minutes later he always expected his breakfast to be waiting for him.

As Padraig walked into the room he took one look at Kevin's face. And then asked him, "You get lucky last night son?" He was referring to the lipstick mark that obviously came from him being kissed.

Kevin grabbed a nearby mirror and held it up to his face. All he could say was, "It wasn't a dream!"

end chapter three