by C.P. Murphy
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Henry was in his store selling a remedy to one villager when he had first heard that Patrick Buchanan had return to Millersport. The villager had told him that many people were standing along the street clapping and welcoming him back with laughter and smiles. Henry kept his comments to himself but didn’t see the big deal with Patrick’s return. To him, no matter how much publicity Buchanan had received about being a war hero, Patrick was still a threat to society. He had come to terms that Patrick didn’t kill his beloved daughter but thought there would be no way for the two men to be friendly towards each other. At least, he didn’t want to try. A part of Henry was jealous of the love Buchanan received from Amelia before she died; in those days when she loved him less.
After the villager left, Henry wasn’t happy to see his next visitor, none other than Buchanan. For a long minute he stared at the man he despised so much but then asked, “Are you ailing from something? What is it you need?”
Patrick knew that coming to Henry’s store, things could be awkward, but he was out to do what he had promised and that was to find a killer; even if that meant making amends with Henry Samuels. “I’m not ailing from anything but a broken heart and I’m sure you can’t do anything about that,” he informed the apothecary. “I came here to ask you what you’ve been doing to solve Amelia’s case.”
“That isn’t any of your concern,” Henry spoke back. He felt guilty because he knew that he had done nothing but leave it to the authorities and didn’t want to admit it to the man. “If you must know, perhaps you should go see the constable.”
“From what I’ve heard, he’s given up long ago,” Patrick said. The way he figured, too much time had gone by and the sooner he began his own investigation the better.
Henry lowered his head, knowing that what Patrick had said was true. He had too much faith in the local constable. “Well, he’ll solve it in time,” he said to avoid getting into it with Patrick. The man didn’t seem happy with his answers and Henry didn’t like having him there so he continued; “Now again, do you need anything because I’m very busy here and have to get back to work?”
“What I need is your help,” Patrick answered. He had learned to let go of the treatment he received after the death but still had resentment towards Henry. He wasn’t thrilled to go to him for help in the first place but he could feel Amelia telling him it was the right thing to do. She seemed to have a lot of confidence in her father and Patrick thought that maybe he should too.
Annoyed with Patrick’s presence, Henry responded, “Look, you made a mockery of my daughter’s death by first saying it was your fault and then a fool of us all at your trial. What makes you think that we could help each other?”
“First of all, it was temporary insanity which made me say it was my fault. Wasn’t it yours too? Wasn’t it everyone’s fault for not protecting her enough?” Patrick was losing his patience and felt anger fill his face with the lack of response from Henry. “Did you really know her?” He asked.
“What?” Henry asked in return as he slammed his fist down on the counter.
Patrick grinned, knowing he could get through to Henry one way or the other. “Well I did. True, we met weeks before her death. But I think it might be safe enough to say I knew her better than you did in those final days.”
Henry had heard enough and turned around to walk into his private office. Why did Buchanan have to return to dig up hurtful memories? He thought to himself. “Good day, Mr. Buchanan.”
Deciding that the conversation wasn’t yet over, Patrick raced behind Henry and grabbed his shoulder to turn him back around. “Oh, she definitely knew you!”
Henry pushed Patrick off of him and was ready to throw punches if it came to it. He knew what Buchanan was saying, another thing he hadn’t thought of since then, and that was that Amelia knew of his crimes before she died. “Get the hell out of here,” he snorted.
Patrick wasn’t done tormenting the older man. There was too much at stake in the situation and he wanted to be heard. “She knew something about you I’m sure you still don’t want the rest of your family to know about.”
“Are you threatening me, Mr. Buchanan?”
“Not at all,” Patrick replied. “I’m just making a point. Listen, I know that General Downy was easy on you and I don’t want to tell anyone else but would if I need to.”
“So you are threatening me,” Henry said but Patrick wouldn’t give him the chance to take a stand.
“That isn’t what I intended to do,” Patrick shouted. “But since you mentioned it, maybe I am.” He could see that Henry didn’t seem to care, so he continued with a quieter tone, “Henry, whether you like it or not, she loved us both. And believe me; I still love her with all my heart. I know that she wouldn’t want us to fight over this. I’m asking you to work with me so we can figure out what happened. Please.”
Henry was quiet for a while and didn’t answer. Instead he thought back to those days and how she hated the thought of marrying Thomas Van Martin. He also remembered the times she tried to convince him to let her find a true love of her own. Perhaps, he wondered, she was trying to warm up to him and tried to tell him about her feelings for Patrick. He wondered what he would have thought back then. He found it within himself to answer, “I might not be too fond of you, and I’m not fond of knowing that my daughter loved you and yet couldn’t even tell me about it, but you are right and maybe we could be cooperative and work together.” Patrick reached over and extended his hand for Henry to shake, in which he did. There was still the never dying thought inside of him of what her final thoughts were. “Tell me something,” he said before letting go of the hand shake. “When she was last seen, she was searching for me, but was there something else that might have been upsetting her?”
“We argued when I told her what I knew of you. She didn’t believe me until she realized that was why you were making her marry Van Martin. But then she changed, I thought she would be angry with you but she wasn’t. In fact, the argument continued because she decided that she would wed without a fight, just to save you.” Patrick paused and held back the tears building up as he recalled his last moments with her. “Even after I told her I already told the government, she insisted that she would do whatever it took to get you off the hook. She ran from me and as far as I know, she was convinced that marrying Thomas was for the best. I had no idea I would never see her again so when Downy arrived at my door, I did whatever it took to clear your name.”
Henry could see the pain in Patrick’s eyes and as much as he hated to admit it, he was feeling bad for the man. Thomas had said many times he loved Amelia yet he had never seen these expressions from that lad. “Why would you still do that after she said she would marry someone else?”
“Because she cared for nobody more than she had for you,” Patrick answered. “So I figured even if she had married Thomas, it would please her enough to keep her friendship.”
Henry reached over and placed a hand on Patrick’s upper back “Then maybe by working together, we can each learn a little more about her.”
“Then work together, we will,” Patrick responded. He wasn’t sure if he could ever get Henry to agree but was thrilled to know that he had. “Where should we start?”
Thomas was striding through the streets with glee in his eyes. He had denied himself of what he wanted for long enough and now his life was getting back on track. He’d played the mourning fiancé for as long as he could and then searched for the next Mrs. Van Martin. There were no girls in the village that wanted to be with him. They must have been intimidated by his gorgeous looks, he thought to himself. He was determined to have a soft body to lie next to at night, even if that meant that he had to threaten someone else. Anna Samuels had grown to be quite the eye catch, but he dared not try to force Henry into anything else, fearing that Samuels had lead the government to believe he was the one committing treason. Anna was off limits to him, but he found someone worth threatening, someone worth ending a l
ong friendship with; Emma Cooper. He laughed at the thought of his pal Jacob objecting but there was nothing he could do to stop this new plan of his.
Jacob and Emma sat on the bench outside of the general store. As Jacob held onto her hand, he thought about how much he had wanted to make her his wife. The couple had talked of marriage but Emma wasn’t yet ready to take that step due to the tragic loss of Amelia. Jacob had understood, knowing she feared marriage because when Amelia got engaged she was killed. Many times he tried to assure her she didn’t hold the same fate as her late friend but it fell to deaf ears. He knew in time she would agree to making their love official. Emma had rested her head on his shoulder as Jacob noticed Thomas walking towards them. The relationship with his best friend hadn’t been the same since Amelia’s death either. He wondered if maybe Thomas was resentful of him because he had Emma where Thomas again had nobody. Emma had lifted her head and saw Thomas too and groaned. “I wonder what he wants now,” he said to her.
Thomas saw his new love and the friend she would soon call her ex sitting on the bench. Some might say this should be tender moment but not Thomas, he was eager to torture the couple as much as he could. They sat close to each other, the sickening way that couples do, but it wasn’t close enough where he couldn’t interfere.
Without second thought, Thomas forced his skinny body right between them and sat down. “Isn’t this cozy?” he asked.
Emma couldn’t stand to be close to him so she jumped up and moved to the other side of Jacob, leaving Thomas on the end. Jacob was also annoyed and pushed Thomas to move. “What is wrong with you,” he hollered.
Laughing out loud as if the soon-to-be-splitting couple amused him, Thomas demanded, “Oh no, Emma. I insist that you sit on this side of me.”
“She doesn’t have to listen to you,” Jacob reminded his not so good friend. Thomas had been acting strange for a while now and his sudden orders to Emma were going too far.
Thomas would not lighten up to make them feel better. He would try harder to displease them. He reached over to Emma and pulled her hand until she was back on the other side of him. She shrugged and tried to get him off of her but he won and she sat down. “Now, I came here to tell you something very important and you aren’t making me feel unwelcomed.” Emma had moved enough so that her dress wasn’t touching him but she didn’t try to sit next to Jacob again. Jacob just glared at Thomas, added fuel to Thomas’ fire. “Now listen carefully,” he started. “I’ve decided to get married again.”
Emma laughed and couldn’t help but let it out. She knew all the girls in the village and none of them would even consider Thomas, not even for his money. Then her face turned sour when she realized that he must have been forcing someone else. “Who are you forcing now?”
She knew him too well, another reason he chose her to be his bride. Beating around the bush was just not his style, so he blurted out, “You, Emma Cooper. You will be my bride.”
Both Emma and Jacob jumped up and faced Thomas with shock. Jacob was angered by Thomas’ attitude. Nobody had the right to take his girl away from him, not even the Van Martins. “Over my dead body,” he screamed as he formed a fist and held it close to his side.
“There is nothing you can do to make me marry you, Thomas,” Emma insisted. She wondered what made him think that he could win her heart.
Now in full laughter, Thomas continued. “Oh beautiful girl,” he said as he stood facing her and ignoring that Jacob was there. “Your father works for me and I told him that if he didn’t make you marry me, then he would be unemployed.”
No longer able to control his anger, Jacob reached over and grabbed Thomas by the collar. “You son- of- a- bitch,” he spit in his face. “What gives you the right to treat people the way you do?”
“I don’t believe you,” Emma cried. She wished that her father had never taken that job at the brickyard but realized that was his way of feeding the family and keeping a roof over their heads. “He knows I love Jacob and wouldn’t agree to your threats.”
Thomas was proud of himself; he without doubt upset the happy couple. Emma was his for the taken and nobody could stop him. Grinning from ear to ear, he showed his desires to her right in front of the love of her life. He pulled her close and planted a wet long kiss on her sweet lips. He knew he had an audience, and he loved the attention; until he felt a cold hard fist slug him on the side of the head.
“Get your hands and awful mouth off of her,” Jacob demanded. It was a demand that was followed through because Thomas’ weak body fell right to the ground. Jacob glared down on the man that used to be his friend and added, “I don’t care what you think you’ve said or done, Emma won’t marry you and that is final.” He grabbed her by her hand and the two of them ran to her father. They were convinced that they could talk the elder out of his decision.
Henry and Patrick stood inside his store waiting for the constable to arrive so they could once again reopen Amelia’s case. Henry was updating Buchanan on the details he knew, details that were failed to be given to Patrick because of his immediate lock up. Their conversation was cut short and put on hold when George Cooper walked in. He asked for an ointment to comfort his aching back and Henry got busy preparing it. Cooper looked to Patrick and welcomed him back and made small talk with him. Henry was just finishing up and Cooper was just about to leave when his daughter and Jacob Miller had rushed in.
“Father,”
“Mr. Cooper,” the two youngsters cried out at the same time. George Cooper knew what was bothering them. They must have received the marriage message from Thomas and it was apparent that they didn’t like what they’ve heard. He knew that the apothecary store wasn’t the place to discuss this so he said, “We should go somewhere else to talk. This isn’t the time or the place.”
Henry and Patrick just looked at each other as the scene unfolded before their eyes. The constable they had been expecting had also walked in right behind the couple and was just in time for the confrontation.
Jacob looked around and as far as he was concerned, this was the perfect place to talk about Thomas. He knew that the others in the room would back him up. “No, right here is good enough.” He glanced over to Henry and calmed down as he spoke, “I’m sorry Mr. Samuels but feel as if you might side with Emma and me on this one.”
Emma stood with tears streaking down her face. This was happening too fast for her and she remembered too clear how desperate Amelia was to get out of her engagement. “Oh Father. Why are you forcing me to marry Thomas Van Martin when you know I love Jacob?”
Henry’s head spun as he heard Emma speak. He wondered what Thomas had over George but knew that if he kept quiet, he would soon find out.
George Cooper faced his daughter and put his hands on her shoulders as if he was trying to make her understand something. “His father is soon to retire so Thomas is taking over the brickyard. He said he would fire me if I didn’t break the two of you up,” he told her as he looked at Jacob.
Henry had enough and felt he had to speak up. Too many lives had been changed by Van Martin threats and it was time to put an end to it. “George, pardon me but you can’t let him get away with this. You can’t let him win.”
Emma cried even harder knowing that what her father had said was true; she heard it right from Thomas’ mouth. “I won’t marry him. The last girl who was forced into a marriage with him was murdered,” she cried but didn’t mean to upset Mr. Samuels or Patrick who she had just noticed was there. She looked to Henry as if to apologize but he didn’t seem bothered by what she had said.
George Cooper felt that his daughter was out of place and right away thought he should correct her. “Emma, you can’t just blame Thomas for what happened to Amelia.”
Jacob lowered his head like he was ashamed of something but then snapped it back up. There was no way he would allow his girlfriend to marry anyone other than himself. He would do whatever it took, and it appeared that now was the time to take a stand. “I’m sorry that
I said nothing sooner,” he said as he looked over at Henry, “But Thomas is Amelia’s killer. I know that for a fact.”
The constable who had just been a bystander until this point pulled Jacob aside and asked Henry if he could talk to the young man in Henry’s office. Given the situation and what Jacob had just said, Henry was glad to be of service. The remaining four stood and waited for the other two to come out. It was only a few minutes but seemed like an eternity to all of them. George Cooper felt horrible to have put his daughter in that position but hoped that his decision provoked Jacob’s long silence. Emma stood and didn’t look to be in any shock at all. Jacob had never told her anything like that before but once she realized that Patrick Buchanan wasn’t the guilty one, she knew that Thomas must have been.
Patrick paced back and forth, from day one he knew that Thomas was involved somehow and now he hoped that they would have the answers he needed. Henry put his head down on the counter and cried. Nothing had been said about Amelia’s death until now out of nowhere, it seemed they had another suspect. Something wasn’t right with this accusation, he told himself. Thomas would marry his daughter and Henry knew that there could be no way he would do anything to stop the marriage he looked forward to. He looked to the others and tried to read their minds. Part of him wanted this all to be over but another part of him couldn’t accept that his daughter was killed by her own fiancé.
Twenty minutes later the constable and Jacob had returned from the private office. Both of their faces were grim at the news that needed to be shared with the others. This wouldn’t be news that would go over well with the citizens of Millersport but everything that Jacob had told the constable had made sense. It was just one man’s testimony but for now, it was enough. “Henry, Patrick, I’ll need your help. George, take Emma home and stay with her.”
“What is going on,” Patrick spoke up. His patience was running thin, and he wanted answers. “Jacob has given me enough testimony to put Thomas Van Martin on trial. He said too many things that the public didn’t know. I will arrest Van Martin and will need your help in apprehending him.” Everyone else was silent; this was a shock, but they all did as they were told and within seconds were out to confront the monster that the village had been living with for over a year and a half.