A Field of Poppies

by Sharon Sala

  “I’ll send a car and a couple of officers to check it out.”

  Mike grinned. “Good. If he’s there, it will be their car and not mine he contaminates.”

  Green chuckled. “Yeah, stink is one thing. Vermin is another.”

  Kenny shuddered and scratched his head. “Makes me itch just talking about it.”

  Mike continued his briefing. “In the meantime, I want to go back over the hospital tapes. Maybe now that we know more, we’ll spot something new.”

  Green nodded. “If we find Prophet, I’ll let you know.”

  They left the office.

  “So we’re off to the movies again?” Kenny asked.

  Mike nodded. “I want both of us watching the same film at the same time. Two sets of eyes and all that.”

  “Agreed,” Kenny said. “I’ll set it up if you’ll get snacks. I’m starved.”

  “Why is it that my donation to the party costs money and yours doesn’t?”

  Kenny smirked. “I assure you that never occurred to me.”

  Mike rolled his eyes. “Like hell. Sweet or salty?”

  “Both,” Kenny said. “Something chocolate and any kind of chips.”

  “Back in a few,” Mike said, and headed to the break room as Kenny went back to Evidence to pull the tapes.

  By the time Mike had drinks and snacks in hand, Kenny was ready and waiting.

  “Knock yourself out,” Mike said, as he slid two bags of chips and a couple of candy bars toward his partner.

  Kenny caught the cold can of Pepsi Mike slid toward him, ignoring the wet trail of condensation it left on the table.

  Mike popped the top on his Coke. “I’m ready.”

  They settled in, making separate notes as they watched who came and went through the hours before Jessup Sadler’s arrival, then paid even closer attention when Sadler, himself, first appeared on the scene.

  Mike licked nacho cheese powder off his fingers and then pointed to the screen.

  “Pause this a minute, will you?”

  Kenny nodded. The screen froze with Jessup Sadler in mid-stride as Mike continued.

  “Okay, knowing what we know now about the daughter not being his daughter, watch his demeanor. See the stoop of shoulders and the drawn, sad expression on his face. It’s no longer just about his wife’s health. And, we also know they had a confrontation at the hospital.”

  “But we don’t know for sure if Helen gave him a name,” Kenny said.

  “Yeah, okay,” Mike said. “I was just thinking out loud. Play the rest and we need to pay particular attention to who leaves the floor ahead of him, although it’s my feeling that he was only rushing because he had a name and was going in search of him. Not that he was following someone in particular.”

  Kenny hit Play and opened his last candy bar.

  Mike stretched his legs out in front of him as he watched, trying to look at the footage with new eyes. Every glance Jessup made, every person he passed, they made note of. After he went into his wife’s room, they later saw the nurse emerge who’d reported the fight they’d been having. From the expression on her face when she exited, it was obvious she’d been upset.

  Once Kenny glanced at his watch, then hit pause and went to the bathroom. Mike took the time to check in on Harmon to see if the list had been completed.

  “Hey, Harmon, it’s me, Mike. How’s it going?”

  “I’m running one more check through military files and then I’m through,” he said.

  “Military?”

  “Yeah,” Harmon said. “I’m pretty sure we’re going to have one name that’s since been deceased while in service and another one still serving Uncle Sam and due for retirement this Christmas.”

  “Then we can certainly rule them out as possible shooters,” Mike said. “Anyway, I know you’ve heard this before, but I need it ASAP.”

  “This is one of those cases where I sure don’t mind doing extra leg work. Losing both parents on the same day in such startling circumstances must be hell on the rest of the family.”

  “Pretty much,” Mike said, remembering Poppy Sadler’s look of disbelief. At that point, Kenny returned. “Hey, gotta go. Thanks for the update.”

  “I’ll be in touch,” Harmon said.

  He disconnected. Kenny hit Play, and they slipped back into view mode. About an hour later, they caught sight of a man passing by the camera and Mike hit Kenny’s arm.

  “Pause it. Isn’t that Caulfield?”

  Kenny squinted. “Yeah, I think so. But his kid’s on that floor, remember?”

  Mike nodded. “Okay... resume.”

  They watched for another ten minutes before Jessup Sadler came out of his wife’s room. Again, they took special note of his demeanor.

  “He looks pissed,” Kenny said.

  “Yeah, I think you’re right. Do you think she told him?”

  Kenny shrugged. “It’s hard to say. He could just be angry because she didn’t. Or it could be because he finally found out who fathered the girl he thought was his.”

  “There he goes toward the elevator. You can see it at the end of the hall. Oh hell! Wait. Someone’s getting in the elevator. Look at Sadler! He’s running.”

  Kenny paused the tape. “But is he running to catch the car, or catch who’s getting on?”

  “Can you tell who it is?” Mike asked.

  Kenny rewound it, then they watched it again, but the view was still blurred and he never turned around.

  “What do you think?” Kenny asked.

  “It’s impossible to say if Sadler was running toward the man or the car. Don’t we have video of him exiting the building?”

  “Yeah, hang on. It’s this one, I think,” Kenny said. He fast-forwarded it to the right timeline. “It’ll be right around this time. Too bad it was dark and raining so hard, it makes the images blurry.”

  Within a few moments they made the same mistake they’d made before. “There he is,” Kenny said.

  “No. It’s not. Remember, we did this before. It’s someone else, remember?”

  Kenny leaned closer. “Oh yeah. I said then he looked familiar.” He hit Pause and then studied the image on the screen. “I know who that is. It’s Caulfield, isn’t it?”

  Mike leaned closer. “We saw him earlier on the floor. I guess he was leaving, too.”

  Kenny frowned. “So, he’s obviously the guy who got on the elevator just ahead of Sadler because he gets all the way to his car and drives off before Sadler makes it to the parking lot. See, there he is, running. Again, we assume because of the rain, but what if it’s not?”

  Mike shook his head. “We could make suppositions all day, but until we have solid evidence to tie one thing to another, this gets us nowhere.”

  Kenny began packing up the tapes to return to Evidence while Mike began cleaning up their trash. They were on their way out when Harmon showed up.

  “Here are the names you wanted. If you need anything else from me, save it for tomorrow, will you? Wife just called. Oldest son is in ER getting stitches. Don’t know details but it’s probably from doing something stupid.” Harmon rolled his eyes. “He takes after the wife’s side of the family.”

  “Thanks, man. Hope he’s okay,” Mike said, and then glanced at the list, paused in mid-step and whistled beneath his breath.

  “What?” Kenny asked.

  “Probably just a coincidence, but check out the fourth name down.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  It was just after 6:00 p.m. when Justin pulled into the driveway of his home. He circled the house and parked in the garage, then walked into the back door with an angry stride. It was too damn bad his mother was not feeling well, because he was about to make her feel worse. As far as he was concerned, she’d been brainwashing Callie with ‘a Caulfield is better than the little people’ mentality just like she’d done to him and he wasn’t having it.

  Newton was sitting at the kitchen table having his supper and talking to Lillian when Justin walked in, surprising
them both.

  The cook gasped.

  Oral stood up.

  Justin lifted a hand. “Sorry I startled you. I’m tired. Thought I’d take a shortcut. Where’s my mother?”

  “She’s in her room. Still not feeling well,” Oral said.

  “Did she go to the doctor?”

  “No sir. She didn’t want to go,” Oral said.

  “She’s so goddamned important she can heal herself,” Justin snapped, and strode through the kitchen in long, angry strides.

  Lillian glanced at Oral who shrugged and sat back down to his meal. The help was used to being in the middle of family turmoil without having to cope with the outcome. However, Oral shifted his focus as he continued to eat, keeping one ear on the rest of the house – just in case he might be needed.

  Justin strode up the stairs and then down the hall to his mother’s room. He started to barge in and then withheld the urge and knocked.

  “Come in,” Amelia called.

  He walked in wearing his attitude with barely disguised civility. Amelia was lying on her bed, but hardly an invalid. Her hair and makeup were in place, she was fully dressed, and thumbing through a magazine.

  “I see you’re feeling better.”

  Amelia let the magazine fall to her lap. “Actually, I still feel a bit shaky. I don’t know what’s-“

  “Then you should have gone to the doctor this morning. At least you would know why instead of commenting about your ignorance of the situation.”

  Amelia’s eyes widened. Whatever had been wrong the other night was still there between them.

  “What’s wrong with you? This is the second time you’ve challenged me in a very rude manner and I don’t appreciate it.”

  “Welcome to the club. I don’t appreciate the crap you’ve been feeding Callie either. A Caulfield wins no matter what it takes? Seriously, Mother? That’s like saying we’d do anything to get our way and mow over whoever it takes to make it happen.”

  “When your father was alive, he-“

  “I’m not Dad! I will never be. I don’t want to be. In my opinion, he was a hard, ruthless man who loved money more than family.”

  Amelia was shocked, not only by what Justin was saying, but at being challenged in such a manner.

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about. He kept Caulfield Industries afloat during several very rocky times in our country’s economic history! You are reaping the benefits of the birthright he left you, and have no right to criticize how he made it happen!”

  “I have every right, because I paid the price to follow in his footsteps and I know exactly what it cost me to do it!”

  All the color suddenly faded from Amelia’s face. “You can’t seriously be holding a grudge about all that nonsense! You were little more than a boy and that’s all water under the bridge.”

  He flashed on Sunny’s wasted body lying in that casket and lost it.

  “Water under the bridge? Fuck you, Mother! When you get to feeling better, I want you out of this house. You have just been discharged from any further duties regarding me and my family. Whatever Callie needs, I will deal with it myself or hire someone who can.”

  Amelia gasped. She threw the magazine aside and was out of the bed and in his face before he had time to move, but he’d already prepared himself for the slap. It was the calling card for her anger.

  “That was a pretty good blow for someone who’s a little shaky,” he drawled.

  Amelia threw up her hands in disgust. “Fine! I lied! I needed some time to myself and I took it. You don’t know what it’s like at my age to watch another member of my family wasting away. I had a life in Florida and I gave it up to come back and help you with your daughter and this is how you repay me.”

  Justin was so pissed he was shaking. It took everything he had not to double up his fist and knock her on her ass. But instead of stepping back, he moved forward until he was right in her face.

  “You’re right. I don’t know what it feels like at your age, but I know what it feels like at mine. And just for the fucking record, my daughter is not going to waste away. Not anymore. As soon as she gets a transplant, she’ll be on the road to a full recovery. I’ll give up my own life to keep her alive before I’ll let her die.”

  “Then you’d be dying for nothing because nothing in your body would be a match!” she screamed, and the moment she said it, all the blood drained from her face.

  Justin jerked as if he’d just been punched in the gut. “What the hell do you mean by that? She’s my daughter. Of course it would be a match.”

  Amelia was in a serious state of panic. All these years she’d kept the secret then blurted it out in a fit of anger.

  “Nothing. I meant nothing. Now leave me alone. I have packing to do.”

  When she started to turn away, Justin grabbed her by the arm. “No. You’re not going anywhere until you tell me-“

  There was a knock on the door and then it opened before either of them could speak.

  Oral Newton stood on the threshold with his shoulders back and his chin up, as if bracing for a fight. It was as if Justin wasn’t even there as his gaze went straight to Amelia.

  “Ma’am, are you all right?”

  Justin’s cheeks burned from a rush of angry blood. “How dare you interfere in personal family business? Get out!”

  Oral didn’t budge. “Ma’am?”

  Amelia sighed and waved him away. “It’s all right, Newton. You may leave. I’ll be fine.”

  Oral gave Justin a look. It wasn’t much more than a glance, but Justin felt the warning as surely as if it had been voiced. Then the door shut.

  Justin spun toward his mother. “That was a little above the call of duty. What’s going on there?”

  Amelia’s shock that anyone might assume she would toy with the hired help was obvious.

  “You’re disgusting, you know that?”

  “You don’t want to talk about your business, fine! You will answer my question. Why would you say my DNA and Callie’s would not be a match? Are you insinuating that she’s not my daughter, that Deborah was fucking someone else and you knew it and let it happen right beneath my nose?”

  Amelia’s heart was hammering so hard that she feared it might burst.

  “Let it be, Justin.”

  “Tell me now or I’ll order a blood test and find out for myself.”

  Suddenly she was aghast. “You’d hang our dirty laundry out for all the world to see?”

  Justin felt sick. She’d just confirmed it without saying the actual words. Callie wasn’t his.

  “When did you learn about this?”

  Amelia shrugged. “Her family had an impeccable bloodline while the man she was seeing was not only an unsuitable match, but was already married with a family of his own.”

  Justin’s stomach rolled. “Well we’ve all heard that story about unsuitable bloodlines before, haven’t we?”

  Amelia ignored him. “Deborah’s family was Catholic and didn’t believe in abortion. You needed focus. She needed a husband. Both your father and I, along with Deborah’s parents decided it would be a good match.”

  Justin couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Deborah was in love with someone else, was pregnant with his child, and still agreed to marry me?”

  Amelia shrugged. “And it worked out, didn’t it? A marriage of convenience is often a good thing. You can fall in love later.”

  “You disgust me. Out of curiosity, does that man even know he has another child?”

  Justin’s rage was frightening. Amelia was over her head and tried bluffing her way out.

  “I don’t know and don’t care. It has nothing to do with us.”

  “Oh my God, Mother. What if the situation had been reversed and Sunny and I had made a baby I didn’t know about? Would you care then?”

  It was the twitch at the corner of her mouth that stopped his heart – that and the fact that she immediately shifted her gaze to a painting over his left shoulder. />
  “You’re not serious?”

  “Serious about what?” Amelia muttered.

  “Sunny was pregnant when I left Caulfield? Why wasn’t I told?”

  “For the same reason Deborah married you. They wanted someone decent to raise her child.”

  Justin grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her until the anger in her eyes was replaced with mortal fear.

  “I’m someone decent! What was wrong with me raising my own child?”

  “But that girl wasn’t decent. She was from Coal Town,” Amelia shouted.

  Justin paled. “Who raised mine, Mother?”

  “I don’t even know there ever was one. Her father showed up about a month after you were gone claiming she was with child. We didn’t believe him. You know how people are, always wanting to scam the rich for easy money. Your father paid him off. If it had been me making the decision, I would have disposed of her like you do any cur with a litter you don’t want. Into the Little Man and good riddance, I say.”

  Justin stared. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He’d never seen this hard, ruthless side of his mother. When he realized she was still talking he refocused his attention.

  “Anyway... he got what he’d come for, which was the money. If she had been pregnant, she probably aborted it and moved on.”

  Justin swiped his hands across his face and then turned on his heel, reached for the nearest thing he could find which happened to be a Tiffany lamp, and threw it across the room. It shattered into irreplaceable pieces.

  “What have you done?” Amelia cried. “That was a priceless piece of Tiffany.”

  Justin hands curled into fists as he started to yell. “What have I done? What have I done? Are you fucking crazy?” Then he shoved his hands through his hair in complete frustration and started to laugh.

  Amelia took a step back. This was a side of Justin she’d never seen and it was frightening.

  “Stop laughing,” she said.

  It only made him laugh that much harder.

  Amelia darted to the other side of the room, keeping the king-sized bed between them as she reached for the phone.