FICTION: New CEO of Christian Sex Assault Solutions served 8 years for murder

*

(Fiction by Kay Ebeling segueing 
from journalism to fiction; 
this is still in editing)

*

When she strides into the offices of Christian Sex Assault Solutions in Euphoria, Kansas, Sally Birdwell calls out to busy workers based on their clothes: "You, red sweater, empty this trash can" or by their appearance- "Hey bald spot, shouldn't you be wearing a jacket" even though many of these "underlings" have worked for the non profit since long before she came in as CEO six months ago.  

Sally Birdwell built her career on sex, crime, and a very public recovery, so her arrival in Euphoria came with great fanfare and news crews from CNN and Fox News and several media outlets not often seen in Kansas. Birdwell first became famous while serving an eight-year prison term for a crime lifted from the plot of Strangers on a Train. She murdered her husband's wife while he murdered her husband, while keeping their own affair secret, an almost perfect crime. 
Within weeks of arriving at women's correctional Birdwell endeared herself to prison staff by identifying herself as a pedophile "survivor" and announcing that everything she did wrong in her life was a result of being molested at age six by a Catholic priest. 
She started a weekly Bible study and her transition from sinner to saint raised eyebrows.  Those freewheeling scripture classes segued into Christian self improvement courses for the lady convicts.  Birdwell also earned a degree in non profit business management and as her release date approached, she started sending out resumes.

So ten years after the murder of two innocent persons at her behest, Sally Birdwell now runs Christian Sex Assault Solutions in Euphoria Kansas.  

When you meet the new CEO, you think she has a motor running under her skin instead of a heart.  She announces her arrival in a room with loud catcalls to whoever is present and sweeping gestures.  She dresses in bright flashy colors, loud, like her voice. Since she was a little girl she'd used this technique of bowling someone over as they approached her, so no one ever gets too close.

Sally's initial effect on men was palpable. One could often see electric sparks of sexual attraction between Sally and a particular kind of human of the male sex who became her focus.

Clergymen. If Sally encountered a clergy man, her focus became so intense, the man of the cloth could barely resist.  

You see, Sally's first sexual experience was at age six at the fingertips of a Catholic priest, in the woods outside her home near Chicago in the 1970s.  The priest aroused the little girl, then left her lying in the leaves feeling an overwhelming need for him to continue.  The priest had scampered back to the party her parents were throwing in their backyard and Sally went through the rest of her life trying to find someone to finish what he started. She did not consciously remember why, but whenever she met a man of the cloth, she could not keep herself from seducing him.

So as soon as Sally Birdwell wandered into St. Boniface Church of the Rapture in Interruptus Kansas and saw Reverend Thomas Horne, she knew she had to have him. Her endorphins at first encounter with him were so demanding that when Pastor Tom first looked at her face, he was lost as well. It was a power greater than both of them.

Under the influence of Sally, this prayerful man who had spent his entire life studying scripture and preparing for a career in ministry ended up murdering Sally's husband so he could be with Sally Birdwell, a murder so sloppy and emotional, he got caught.  Sally on the other hand planned her murder of his wife with such precision, it was determined to be an accident, and since it involved a pastor's wife in Kansas, no law enforcement agency wanted to stir up local fundamentalist Christian anger by investigating.

Soon after his wife's death, but before his arrest, Pastor Tom was spending the night with Sally Birdwell who had a mysterious suitcase full of hundred dollar bills in bundles in her closet. She explained it belonged to the husband Tom had just killed but did not explain where her dead husband had gotten such a fortune. Sally kept the suitcase nearby, dipping into it for expenses, and Tom noticed the stacks of bills were getting low fast. 

Suddenly Sally agreed to marry Pastor Tom. Just as suddenly, she took out an insurance policy on his life, enough time in advance of his demise to not raise alarms, she thought. But a few neighbors in their Kansas town noticed. The insurance check arrived just as new questions rose about the death of Tom's wife. Just as Sally was moving out of the country, she was arrested for the murder of Pastor Tom Horne ahd conspiracy in the murder of his wife, a taxi pulled up to take her to the airport at the same time as the sheriff. Her rapid planned relocation to Spain helped convince the jury she was guilty. 

While Sally was in prison, a blogger from Los Angeles showed up to interview her. So Sally's story ended up on a blog that covered pedophile priest crimes around the world.  The post went viral and soon several news groups came to interview Sally Birdwell as a "victim" of child sex assault in the Catholic Church. A law firm took on her appeal pro bono arguing that if she had not been sexually molested as a child by a priest, Sally Birdwell would never have committed the crimes that landed her in prison.  The convicted murderer Birdwell became a kind of cause celebre.

So upon her release, several advocates for women's rights and child sex assault survivors lobbied non profits to hire the paroled felon.

Last week Christian Sex Assault Solutions of Interruptus Kansas decided Sally Birdwell, with her miraculous transformation in prison and as a child sex abuse victim at the hands of a Catholic priest, was the ideal candidate for CEO of this non profit that helps survivors of child sex abuse find recovery through Jesus and active membership in a fundamentalist church, including unpaid internships.

Within days the Board of Directors wondered if they made a mistake in hiring the somewhat abrasive and empowered siren convict, but news outlets across the world had run with her story. So in spite of the strange actions Birdwell has taken since coming in as executive director- putting children in prison like rooms instead of daycare, ending clothing subsidies and instead forcing the clients to purchase clothes she "designed"-  they kept her on the job, repairing damage she did with behind the scenes settlements and placations.

So for six months things ran smoothly at Christian Sex Assault Solutions, until Sally Birdwell met the Mayor of Euphoria Kansas, a former Catholic priest who had left the clergy to become a politician, attaching himself to Donald Trump and the political movement that took place in the United States along with his presidency. 

The electricity between the Sally and the Mayor was enough to start small fires.

She looked at him and felt sexual arousal like she'd never known existed. Her entire being emanated longing.  It was the first time she'd experienced raw power in a man. She knew the limitless erotica one could milk out of a sexual encounter in a church, she'd been doing that since she was a teenager. The connection between God and sex had led her through compulsions and criminal behavior for years.

Now this charisma in front of her in the Mayor was something she'd never before witnessed. Not only did this clergyman / politician carry the energy of God's power, he also put out a raw political / spiritual force that was why he won elections.  Like many in the USA, the Mayor of Euphoria Kansas embraced the Ayn Rand philosophy of selfishness, libertarianism, and the "Prosperity Gospel."  Now approaching Sally Birdwell in a campaign receiving line, the mayor of Euphoria Kansas emanated all the political and spiritual dynamism that kept him winning elections.

Sally caught his eye, and the Mayor rarely looked away again.  Soon he told reporters and friends he was divorcing his third wife because the only thing that had been missing in his life all these years was Sally. 

"Now we can start fires together," he proclaimed. And they did.