CHAPTER 1

The Story of Sarah Beaux according to Joseph Kelly:

First there was noise.

Where am I? What's that noise? How can I make it stop?

There are two bars located on the pedestrian mall on Washington Street in Cape May. I work hard at one and I drink hard at the other. Last night I spent an equal amount of time at both. The noise I heard was my house phone ringing. I grabbed it as much to silence it as I did to answer it.
"Yeah?" My head hurt.

"Father Kelly, Please?" A male voice with an accent.

I was able to open one eye and look at the number on the phone ID. I never saw it before. Maybe it was from overseas? "Well, you got the wrong Kelly. I'm not a priest. You want the Kelly at the Catholic Church here in Cape May."

"Do you have the telephone number for him, please?" He asked.

It was 8:10 a.m. on a Sunday morning, so I decided to be helpful. "He's saying mass right now, so he probably won't answer the phone."

"We need to speak to him. Can you tell him, please?"

"No, sorry buddy. We don't speak to each other. At least not for the last few years anyway." It wasn't his business that the priest was my uncle and that we were known to argue passionately about Church doctrine in the past. A few years ago we got tired of arguing so now we just stay away from each other.

I decided that I was finished talking to whoever it was on the telephone, because it hurt my head. I hung up. The phone rang again and my headache kicked up a notch. It was the same strange phone number. I didn't even have a chance to say hell-o this time.

"Please don't hang up, sir. I must talk to you, please."

"Sure," I mumbled,. "What do you want?"

"Thank you, sir. I am looking for the man who did the Inquisition of a young girl along the Atlantic coast area in Canada about six years ago. Are you that Joseph Kelly?"

He has to be kidding me. I said, "Yes." I quickly sat up on the edge of the bed. My head was pounding. "How did you find me?"

He said, "Are you the correct Mister Joseph Kelly?"

"Yeah, you have the right person."

"What can you tell us about her?" He asked, "The girl who was the subject of your Inquisition, what can you tell us about her, please?"

"First of all you better not call it an Inquisition." I had to stop talking for a second to hold my pounding head. "The Vatican was pretty clear about that. It was never an official inquisition. The bishop was told that he should call it a special inquiry, or diocesan investigation, if he had to call it anything."

He said, "Yes, I understand, but can you tell me anything about the girl?"

"You can read the reports I wrote. It's all part of the official record. I submitted two reports to the bishop's office and I'm sure they're still available online."

I had a nasty taste in my mouth and my skull was thumping in time to my heart from my teeth to the top of my head.

He said, "We read your reports. That is why we're calling you."

"I think I should ask. Who are you?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Kelly, I am Father Pablo Kirsch. I am assisting Father Raul Lopez, who is the assistant to the Arch Bishop of Quito, Ecuador."

"Well, they pulled the plug on me," I said flatly.

"They did what?"
"They pulled the plug on me, Father."
"I don't understand, please, sir."
His accent reminded me that he speaks Spanish, so I made it clear to him exactly what had happened. "The Church ordered me to stop."

Then I asked him, "Why are you calling me anyway?"

His answer made me stand up from the bed. He said, "We think the girl you were investigating six years ago is here in Ecuador."

I followed a trail of miraculous healing for over three years and all that time I only met the girl once for just a few minutes on a beach right here in Cape May and now she's in South America?
"You're right, Father," I said, "We need to talk."

He asked, "The Church told you to stop investigating the girl?"

"Yes. The Church ordered me to stop."

"Can you please explain why they did that?"

I said, "I was told to put all my personal stuff in a trash bag and I had to leave my keys on the office desk. I wasn't allowed to take my files or anything. The Church told me to stop immediately."

He said, "The two reports you wrote indicated the girl healed people." He spoke faster. "You investigated three separate cures for the first report you submitted then there were nine more cures investigated in the second report you did. Is it true the girl healed twelve people?"
"Yes, it's all there in the reports."

"Why then did the Church stop you?"

"The government announced they were going to involuntarily commit the girl's mother for a ten day mental evaluation, because they said she was delusional and for child endangerment. They also threatened to charge the girl as an adult for practicing medicine without a license."

My voice became sarcastic. "But they changed their minds after somebody told them the girl was only ten years old and she was reported to be mute."

The priest was surprised. "The Church stopped you just because of that?"

I hesitated. "Well, no, Father, there was a rumor of one other problem, too."

The priest asked, "What problem was that?"

I said, "The Church found out the girl could speak."

The priest said, "Why was that a problem?"

I said, "She told them they had it all wrong about God."