Amelia's Story

by C.P. Murphy

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  David had just put Millie down for a nap, as Beth nursed the baby, when he heard commotion going on outside. Beth heard it too, and the two gave each other a puzzled look. David crossed the room and took a look out the window. He saw a group of men, one of them his father and another he recognized as Patrick Buchanan. They were with the constable and people had gathered on the street to find out what was going on.

  “What’s going on out there,” Beth questioned him. She decided that David Jr. had enough to eat and placed the sleepy baby in his cradle.

  David turned to her and answered, “I don’t know but my father is out there with Patrick Buchanan. I didn’t even know he was back in town.” He walked towards the front door and grabbed his jacket. “I will go find out,” he told her. He heard her tell him to be careful, and he nodded in agreement then left.

  David ran to catch up to Henry who was already a block away. As soon as he arrived, Henry looked his way and acknowledged that he was there. “Father,” he started as he caught his breath. “What’s going on?”

  Henry didn’t have time to stop to talk. He pulled David’s elbow and gave him a signal to follow. He knew the news would be a surprise to his son, but he also thought it was a good idea to have him there to help. Bringing Thomas to lock up wouldn’t be an easy task. The small group continued walking until they were outside of the Van Martin house. “We have a new eye witness,” he explained but kept his voice down. “Thomas is the one who murdered your sister,” he explained.

  “What,” David just about shouted. He assumed that Amelia’s case would never be solved and now out of the blue, someone came forward. “I wasn’t aware that there was an investigation.”

  “There was going to be,” Patrick cut in to the conversation. “Your father and I had agreed to work with each other but before we did anything, the witness came and told the constable details that weren’t made public.” He glanced at Henry and hoped that he hadn’t said too much. He failed to tell David who the witness was but his common sense told him to protect Jacob.

  David was stunned. He remembered Amelia running to his house the day she went on a picnic with Thomas and complained about how the man had treated her. He shook his head wondering why he hadn’t thought of that after she died, it might’ve had Thomas paying for his crimes earlier. Like his father, he thought it was odd that her own fiancé would kill her when he wanted nothing more than to have her. “Are you sure it’s him?”

  There was no time for Henry or Patrick to answer. The constable had broken up their conversation and told them it was time to knock on the door and find Thomas.

  Daniel Van Martin had changed his ways after Amelia’s disappearance and even more after she was found dead but the soft side of him didn’t last long. His high-almighty attitude had returned and his friendship with Henry Samuels had ended before it began. He sat in his parlor reading the newspaper when he heard a group of people outside of his house. At first he ignored the sound, thinking it was just people passing by, but curiosity caught a hold of him and he peeked out the window. Though he saw the crowd outside of his house, he didn’t give it a second thought and returned to his seat and continued reading the paper. Then Daniel heard a knock at the door, and the commotion of the men still outside. “Catherine, answer the door,” he demanded his wife. The knocks continued and Daniel’s frustrations grew until he heard Catherine hollering she was coming.

  Catherine raced down the stairs to see who was pounding on the door so hard. As she landed on the bottom step, she looked into the parlor and wished she could tell Daniel to answer the door himself but didn’t want to cause an argument. Whoever was at the door wasn’t there for a personal visit, she could tell by the banging that something was wrong. Once the door was opened, and she saw the constable standing there with a group of men behind him, she asked, “Constable, can I help you with something?”

  The constable removed his hat and held it in front of him to show his respects to the lady. He’d hoped that she wasn’t home because he felt she differed from her husband and son and felt she didn’t deserve to see her only child being taken away the way he would be. “Ma’am,” he started as he looked past her to see if there was anyone else home. “We need to speak to Thomas. Is he home?”

  Daniel wondered what was going on. He jumped out of his seat and raced towards the door so that his wife wouldn’t say anything. “What do you need Thomas for,” he questioned.

  The constable was glad that Daniel had been there and hoped that he would send his wife away but after a moment of silence, he realized that wouldn’t be the case. “Its business, is he around?”

  “No,” Daniel lied. He had no idea what they wanted with Thomas or why they felt they couldn’t discuss it with him. Unfortunate for him, as he denied that his son was home, Thomas descended from the stairs. “Oh,” he covered up for himself, “Thomas I didn’t realize that you’ve returned.”

  Thomas saw the group of men outside and wanted to know what was going on. If he would have realized that they were there to see him, he would have stayed up in his bedroom and let his father continue to lie for him. He had been lying down trying to rid himself of the pain that Jacob had caused and wanted nothing more than to go back up the stairs and put an ice pack on his head. Thomas had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach as soon as he realized the Samuels men were there along with Patrick Buchanan. “What is this all about,” Thomas insisted.

  “I’m afraid that you must come with us,” the law enforcer told him. “We’ve just received word from an eye witness that puts you at the creek. You’re under arrest for the murder of Amelia Samuels.”

  Catherine almost passed out and needed to have a seat. She excused herself and entered the parlor where she could regain her strength. Daniel instructed Thomas not to say a word and then he yelled, “What is this all about? Who is your witness?”

  Ignoring his father’s advice, Thomas defiantly snapped, “It’s a lie. I know nothing of what you’re talking about.”

  Patrick had looked to Henry and David and both men expressed confused looks. He wasn’t sure if they were convinced that Thomas was the guilty one or not but he knew for sure. It was in his gut all the time and he would find out how. “You know exactly what he is talking about,” he shouted. “Now constable, he demanded that I be locked up when Amelia’s body was found and now I demand he gets his turn.”

  Knowing that Buchanan would only start trouble, Henry rushed towards Patrick and pulled him aside. “Let the constable do his job,” he told him and the two watched from the side.

  “Thomas,” the constable said again, “You can either come with us on your own or we can drag you through the village streets. Do you want all of Millersport to see you that way?”

  Thomas shook his head. He didn’t know what to think and wondered who was telling horrible lies about him and his whereabouts the night Amelia disappeared. He didn’t have to say anything because his father had stepped up and spoke.

  “Thomas,” Daniel instructed. “Don’t let the villagers think something is wrong. You’ll damage our name if you don’t go with the constable right now.”

  “But, I did nothing,” Thomas argued. He found this to be a nuisance and decided that the group of men was wasting his time. “I’m not going anywhere. If you have something to say, say it right here.”

  The men looked at each other. They all knew that it wouldn’t be easy and knew that Thomas would put up a fight. They were all correct. It didn’t help any to have Daniel acting so domineering, but the law was the law and not even a Van Martin could run from it. The constable looked to the other three as if to give the sign and within seconds they reached in and grabbed Thomas and pulled him outside. The only one who didn’t have his hands on the young man was Henry.

  “Let go of my son,” Daniel demanded as he tried to grab Thomas himself to keep him in the house. When he realized that he was out numbered he took his anger out on the one man left who was
n’t holding on to Thomas. He jumped in front of Henry and placed his nose inches from Henry’s, clinched his fists and yelled, “You can’t blame a Van Martin for your jezebel’s death.”

  David and Patrick almost let go of Thomas when they heard Daniel speak so wrong against Amelia but the constable insisted that they held on. David looked to the elder Van Martin and wished that he could go tear the man into pieces. Henry pushed Daniel into the wall, grabbed his throat, and squeezed. He could hear him gasp for air and could feel Daniel’s hands trying to break free but Henry would not let go so quick. “Don’t you ever,” he started with a cry in his voice, “Say things like that about my daughter if you wish to live yourself.”

  “Let him go,” the constable had commanded. The whole scene was getting out of hand. He didn’t know that Daniel would put up such a fuss. Henry wasn’t obeying him so he asked the others to make sure Thomas couldn’t get away as he rushed to the fighting pair and pulled Henry off of Daniel. “I said to let him go,” he reminded.

  Henry listened and walked outside to cover his face; he was angry and scared at the same time. Daniel straightened himself out as the constable stepped out to be with the others. Thomas struggled to get away from the men but could not; the longer they held onto him the more frustrated he became. The constable pointed towards the main street and the others walked toward the station.

  Daniel watched them take his son away but wanted to put fear into them and assure Thomas that everything would be fine. “I’ll see you in court and we’ll have the best attorney money can buy.” His words didn’t appear to bother the group as they continued walking away. He reentered his house and could hear his wife crying in the parlor. Deciding that she could deal with the news on her own, he walked straight to his home office to look up the address of a lawyer he knew.

  Thomas was forced to sit on the same cot that Patrick had slept on when he was arrested for Amelia’s murder. It felt cold and lumpy and Thomas knew that he wouldn’t be able to sleep there. The place was beneath him, and not where he belonged for sure. The constable had thrown him in there and then left, shutting the door behind him.

  Deciding that he would not stay there, he jumped off the cot and ran to the door. It was locked and Thomas would’ve broken his foot if he kept kicking it to get someone’s attention. “Let me out of here,” he screamed but nobody had replied. They wouldn’t get away with this, he told himself; then returned to the other side of the room.

  Henry gathered his family together at his house and told them all the news. He had invited Patrick over as thanks for his help bringing Thomas in. The family couldn’t believe what they’ve heard and Henry understood. He didn’t believe it earlier either but seeing both Thomas’ and Daniel’s behavior had made him realize that Jacob Miller had said the truth. They were waiting to hear from the constable who was making arrangements to get the trial underway.

  Anna was glad to see Patrick and her father getting along so well. She knew that in time her father would come to accept the man that Amelia loved. She sat beside him and whispered, “I’m happy that you’re here. You shouldn’t have to be going through this alone.”

  Patrick reached over and touched her arm and was grateful of her kindness. He wondered if anyone else had realized that young Anna had inherited her sister’s heart. “I promised you I would help,” he began. “Didn’t I?”

  The other adults in the room had asked many questions about Thomas. They still had their doubts about a man so high in society and even though the victim was their beloved, they still wondered if the constable had done the right thing.

  Several hours later, the constable had returned to their house. He stood in the sitting-room, put his hands in his pockets, and told them what he knew. “We’ll be able to have the same judge and District Attorney since they already know of the case. They’ll provide a jury also. They don’t want this trial to be as inadequate as the last one.” He looked to Patrick as to apologize but Patrick wasn’t offended. “They’ve asked,” The constable continued, “That if we could do anything, find evidence or any cause that Thomas might’ve had to do this,” he was cut off.

  “What do you mean, might?” David shouted in fear they too didn’t believe that Thomas could’ve done such a thing. He looked to Henry and apologized, “I didn’t think of this until earlier today when we retrieved Thomas but I remember something that happened before Amelia was killed.” The constable was intrigued by this sudden memory so he urged David to go on. “She went on a picnic with him but was told that I was watching, nearby to protect her if needed. Thomas tried to force himself on her and when she got away, she ran straight to my house and told me all about it.” He looked at his father who had his head lowered. It was a lie he told Amelia and David had caught him in it long ago.

  Henry snapped his head back up. He had felt a rush of guilt come over him but he felt then that Thomas wouldn’t hurt her and therefore still held onto those feelings. “No,” he spoke up. “Thomas confronted me about the whole thing himself. He had asked for a kiss and she agreed but then bit his lip. I saw the blood myself.”

  “How could you believe that,” David shouted.

  “Father, he’s right,” Anna spoke up. She had remembered the same conversation with her sister. “She also told me about that day. But she didn’t bit his lip; she said she bit his tongue he’d put in her mouth.”

  Henry was upset that everyone else knew a different story than he did. He thought back to the way he argued with her for treating her fiancé so bad and how he never questioned her about her side of the story. Then he turned to Patrick to see if he knew too. “What about you, did she tell you this?”

  Patrick realized that everyone was looking to him as a conformation of what was being said but he had no answers for them. “No Sir,” he replied. “I remember her going on the picnic. She said she didn’t want to go. But she and I had just become friends at that point. A few days later I asked her but she refused to talk about it.”

  The constable had heard enough. As far as he was concerned, two people spoke the same story, so it must’ve been true. “Don’t speak of this to anyone,” he told them. “We might be able to use it if you’re willing to testify,” he said as he faced David. The young man nodded in agreement as the constable continued to ask, “Is there anything else that Thomas has done to her?” Nobody seemed to have anything to say, so he decided that he should be going. “All right then,” he added before leaving, “The trial is set to start two weeks from Monday. If you think of anything else, please let me know.” He tilted his hat towards them and then left the family facing another turbulent time.