A Field of Poppies

by Sharon Sala

  “I have an offer to make.”

  Mike frowned. Just when he thought the guy was on the up and up, it appeared he was suddenly ready to make a deal. The knowledge was somewhat disappointing.

  “What kind of offer?”

  “I am going home. Obviously, I have Poppy’s check to return to my mother, and some things that need to be said to her as well. Put a wire on me. If anything is said during that conversation that will, in any way, aid you in finding out who murdered Jessup Sadler, I am willing to do it.” Then he looked at Poppy. “I’ll do anything it takes to make this right.”

  Poppy was shocked by the offer. She didn’t want to feel anything for him – not empathy for his daughter’s health or regret for what he and her mother had lost, or that he might be offering to do something noble.

  “The only thing that would make this right is if Daddy hadn’t been murdered,” she snapped.

  “I didn’t do it, but I will help you find out who did,” Justin said.

  Again, the man surprised Mike. He still didn’t know who killed Jessup Sadler, but he would bet his pension it wasn’t Caulfield.

  ****

  Two hours later, with the police surveillance van in place one block over, they were ready to monitor the latest confrontation between Justin and Amelia.

  That’s when Justin Caulfield drove home.

  His gut was in knots. His heart was pounding. He couldn’t let himself think about what he was doing or he’d back out. If God was ready to give him a break, the police would hear nothing but another fight between mother and son. But he wasn’t hopeful. There was a very sick feeling in the back of his mind that he already knew what the outcome would be.

  He knew Poppy was in the van with Duroy and Amblin. She would be a witness to whatever was said and that was okay with him. She deserved to know the truth – all of it – no matter how ugly. But he hadn’t let himself think of how the outcome might impact Callie. He’d deal with that as it unfolded.

  As he turned up the drive, a strange thing happened. Instead of growing more anxious, a calm suddenly came over him. If he’d been a more religious person, he might have thought it was God reminding him he was not alone. But what it did do was reassure him what he was doing was right.

  He parked in front of the house and got out just as the sun was beginning to set. The sky toward the west was awash in long, feathery plumes of purple laced with streaks of cotton-candy pink and popsicle orange. The beauty of the sky was definitely at odds with the ugliness that sheltered beneath his roof. His hand strayed to the front of his shirt as he felt the microphone taped to his chest then he unlocked the door and went in.

  The security alarm beeped twice, signaling the door had been opened, then went silent, but it brought Oral Newton out into the hall. When he saw that it was only Justin, he made a u-turn and headed back toward the kitchen.

  “Newton, where’s my mother?”

  “I believe she’s in her room.”

  “Would you please tell her I need to speak with her. I’ll be in the library.”

  Newton was still pissed that Justin had alluded to some kind of personal relationship between him and Amelia Caulfield, but silently acquiesced.

  Once Justin entered the library, he went straight to the bar and poured himself a shot of whiskey, downing it neat. It lit a quick fire in his belly that he couldn’t afford to flame, which meant stopping with one. He set the glass aside and moved to the windows overlooking the back grounds. It was a beautiful scene that he’d taken for granted. Matching the luxury with which he’d been raised against the poverty in which Poppy had grown up made him sick. It was just one more nail in the wall going up between him and his mother.

  When he heard her footsteps coming down the hall, he pulled the check Poppy had given him out of his pocket and turned toward the door. What he had to say, he would say to her face.

  ****

  Amelia didn’t know what was up, but she was not happy that she’d been summoned in such a manner and intended to let Justin know it. She hadn’t seen him since they’d met in Callie’s room and supposed he’d come to gloat about that illegitimate bitch down in Coal Town. If he thought she would ever accept her, he had another think coming.

  By the time she got to the library, her indignation was at an all-time high. Her chin came up as she crossed the threshold then saw her son silhouetted against the windows overlooking the grounds. For a moment she thought it was Adam, and then remembered her husband was dead.

  “Do not ever summon me in this manner again,” she announced.

  “Your behavior has nullified courtesy. You’ve been filling my daughter’s head with appalling advice. You’ve kept secrets from me that were nothing short of inhumane. You’ve already been asked to leave and you’re still here. It has become increasingly obvious to me that I’ve never really known you. The mother I thought I knew is really nothing but a vicious, lying fake.”

  Amelia’s jaw set as she crossed the room to where Justin was standing. The rage was still there. Something had fueled it, but what? She waited until she was so close she could count the three freckles still on the bridge of his nose, and then smirked.

  “What happened? Did the reunion with your little bastard not go as well as you’d hoped? What happened, did she try to milk you for a bundle of money, too?”

  Justin wouldn’t let himself think about what Poppy was hearing. He’d come for a specific purpose and that was what held his focus.

  “Actually, she came to see me before I got the chance, and as you said, it was about money. Oh, by the way, she brought something for you when she came.”

  Before Amelia could react, Justin grabbed her hand and slapped the check into her palm.

  “She found this in her mother’s possessions, and needless to say was not only shocked but disgusted. Finding out I was her natural father was not high on her list of happy moments. You will notice Sunny never cashed it and Poppy didn’t want it either, which says a whole lot about their morals and backs up my opinion of my dear parents.”

  Amelia was stunned. Fifty thousand dollars would have been a fortune to someone from Coal Town. “But-“

  “But what, Mother? Why didn’t she cash it? I’d be guessing, but the Sunny I knew wasn’t the kind of girl who could be bought. She wasn’t impressed with who I was. She just loved me. I seem to remember you saying that her father was the one who’d come after money, not her, but you notice Dad made the check out to her, not her father. Her father couldn’t cash it and she wouldn’t. She got back at all of us. She wouldn’t be bought.”

  Amelia tossed the check onto the desk behind her.

  “Fine! So she was a saint, but as I’ve already stated, it’s all water under the bridge.”

  “At least you got your money back, which proves Sunny wasn’t the cur you said she was. The one you said should have been sacked up and tossed over the bridge like an unwanted litter of pups.”

  ****

  Out in the van, there was a collective gasp. Mike glanced at Poppy, who sat in stony, tight-lipped silence. He couldn’t take anymore and curled his fingers around her hand.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

  Poppy’s eyes were flashing. She didn’t respond, but she didn’t pull away. A few moments later, her fingers curled into his, and she leaned forward, her gaze focused on the receiver, as if she could see as well as hear what was being said.

  ****

  Amelia shrugged. “Just let it go, Justin. It would never have worked, and for the record, I resent being called a liar.”

  “Then how else do I define you, Mother? Every day things go on that you choose not to tell me.”

  “Like what?”

  “What about the man who came to the house the other night when I wasn’t here? He raised all kinds of hell and you chose not to tell me. This is my house, Mother. It’s my responsibility to make sure it’s a stronghold against such things as this. What if Callie had been here and she’d been in danger? Do you think I w
ouldn’t want to know this?”

  Amelia blinked. “How did you find out about that?”

  Justin’s stomach knotted. Damn it to hell. Sadler was here after all. He threw up his hands in pretend disbelief. “How do you think? This is my home, now. The people who work here work for me, not you.”

  “Fine, so you know. So what? Nothing happened. It’s over. He’s gone.”

  “It’s not over. I need to know who it was and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

  Amelia was caught and Justin could tell she was struggling with how to say it without giving herself away. Finally, he saw her expression set. It was an expression he’d seen countless times before – the one that said she was in charge.

  “It won’t happen again, I can promise you that.”

  Now was the time to push her. He raised his voice, knowing how much she hated that.

  “That’s ridiculous. You have no way of promising any such thing. I demand to know his name so I can deal with him in my own way.”

  Amelia’s cheeks reddened. “All you need to know is that he’s already been dealt with, and, for a change, in my way.”

  He frowned. “I don’t know what you mean?”

  Her hands curled into fists. “I’m sick of people taking advantage of this family. I am appalled at how much money we have lost over the years at having to pay people off to keep them quiet. And no matter how many times we do it, they just keep coming.”

  “Pay off? What the hell are you talking about? I’m talking about a man invading our home.”

  “And I’m talking about another man wanting to trade his silence for more money!”

  “The man who came to the house wanted money? What on earth for?”

  “It doesn’t matter, I told you. It’s over. It’s dealt with and he won’t be back.”

  “You don’t know that. You can’t know that. I want a name,” Justin yelled. “I want a fucking name.”

  “I do know that!” Amelia screamed. “I know it because he’s dead. He’s dead and this is the end of the discussion!”

  Justin didn’t have to pretend shock. Even though he’d suspected it, just hearing her say it had been the death knell to what was left of his family.

  “He’s dead? What the fuck are you saying? Who’s dead? How did it happen?”

  He watched her shift from defiant to that of a victim.

  “He threatened me. He threatened our family. He said he would tell everyone the truth. I had to stop him.”

  Justin was numb. Even though he knew what had happened, he knew the police needed to hear her say it. And so he pushed one more time. He would deal with the guilt later.

  “You stopped him? You killed a man? Tell me that didn’t happen?” he begged.

  Amelia shook her head. “No, no, I didn’t do it. When he left, I sent Newton after him. I had no choice. You understand, don’t you, Justin? I had no choice.”

  “You told Newton to kill him.”

  “Actually, I didn’t use those words. I said, stop him at any cost.”

  Justin groaned. “That’s called a death sentence, Mother. You gave the order which makes you as guilty as the one who pulled the trigger.”

  Amelia’s eyes narrowed. “I did what I had to do to protect this family, just as your father used to do when he was alive.”

  Justin’s vision blurred. “Who was it, Mother?”

  “Jessup Sadler, the man Helen Roberts married. I don’t know what happened, but after all these years he somehow found out the child wasn’t his. He said you’d fired him, that his wife was dying of cancer. He wanted his job back so he would have insurance for her bills or he was going to tell.”

  Justin staggered, then sat down with a plop in the nearest chair.

  “You killed a man who just wanted his job back?”

  “And if we’d given him his job back, then what would he want next? He’d hold that over us for the rest of his life. It was his fault for threatening me like that.”

  Justin didn’t answer. There was no need. He knew the police had heard all they needed to hear. He was just waiting for the doorbell to ring.

  “So now you know, and in a way, you have yourself to blame. If you’d never gotten mixed up with such trash, none of this would have happened.”

  Justin shook his head, too heartsick to respond.

  And just as he expected, the doorbell did ring.

  Amelia frowned. “Who on earth could that be?” She glanced down at Justin. “Are you expecting anyone?”

  He got up and walked out of the room, pulling off the wire as he went. When he met the police coming toward him up the hall, he handed it to Duroy and kept on going.

  The bright light of day was startling as he exited the house. He paused to look around, wondering how everything could still be ordinary when his world had just exploded.

  Then he saw Poppy standing by the van.

  Their gazes met, but he had nothing left to say. He got in the car and drove away, knowing he’d sold his mother down the river. The upside to it was he didn’t have to stay and watch her drown.

  ****

  The minute the name came out of Amelia Caulfield’s mouth Mike shifted into action.

  “Did we get all that?” Mike asked the tech who’d been manning the equipment.

  “Yes sir, and backed up,” the tech said.

  Mike glanced at Kenny. “How far away are the arrest warrants?”

  “They should be here soon,” Kenny said.

  The Lieutenant had been waiting at the courthouse with the warrants. Once they’d given him the names, he’d hand-carried them straight to the judge’s chambers for signature.

  Mike nodded, although he still couldn’t believe what just happened. Caulfield had come through for them in a very big way, but Poppy didn’t seem all that impressed.

  “He did it, Poppy. He kept his word to you at great expense to himself and his family.”

  “As he should have. His family has already annihilated mine.”

  Mike sighed. She was a tough one, but it all came from love and loyalty. He wouldn’t mind being loved like that.

  “When we pick them up, you will stay in this van, understood?”

  “I hear you,” she muttered.

  “Damn it Poppy, I need your word.”

  “I will not cause a scene. I will not follow you into the house. I promise.”

  He noticed she’d said nothing about staying in the van, but short of handcuffing her to a chair, which he wasn’t going to do, he would settle for the reluctant vow.

  At that point, the officers pulled up with the arrest warrants and they proceeded up to the house in a quiet procession.

  Mike waited until they were all congregated at the door before he rang the bell, then glanced back at the van. She was nowhere in sight. Then the door opened.

  “Oh my! What’s going?” Lillian asked.

  “Caulfield P.D. We need to speak with Mrs. Caulfield. Is her driver, Oral Newton on the property?”

  “Yes, he’s in the kitchen.”

  “We need to speak to him, as well.”

  “Mrs. Caulfield is in the library with her son.”

  “We need to speak with her now.”

  Lillian looked startled, but moved aside for them to enter. “Follow me. I’ll show you to the library then send Newton in as well.”

  “Officer Chandler will go with you and escort Mr. Newton.”

  “Yes sir,” Lillian said nervously, and shut the door.

  ****

  As soon as they were inside, Poppy got out. She didn’t intend to cause trouble, but she wanted to see their faces when they emerged.

  Suddenly the door opened again. It was Justin. She hadn’t expected him to be the first person out.

  She’d heard everything, from the opening conversation, to the way he’d lead his own mother into a confession of murder. The behavior depicted strength of character far beyond what she’d expected. She couldn’t read his expression, but she saw the tears on his fa
ce

  So he was crying.

  She’d done nothing but cry since this whole nightmare began. It seemed only fitting that the people at fault should cry, too.

  She was still standing by the van when he drove away. The part of her bent on revenge needed to see Amelia Caulfield come out in handcuffs. She wanted the cold-hearted killer to know who’d been part of taking her down.

  ****

  Amelia watched her son leave without a qualm. The sooner Justin realized this was the way of the world, the better off he would be. Blackmailers got what they deserved. She smoothed a hand over her hair, brushed a fleck of lint from the front of her blue dress, and then started to go back to her room when she heard the sound of footsteps – many footsteps – coming up the hall. She paused. Moments later a half-dozen policemen walked in, followed by two officers in plain clothes.

  “What is the meaning of this?” she cried.

  Mike flashed his badge and took the warrant out of his pocket.

  “Amelia Caulfield, we have a warrant for your arrest.” He began to cite the Miranda warning, which shocked, then enraged her. She began shouting over his voice, demanding to be heard.

  “What is this about? Are you people out of your minds? I’ll have your badges for this!”

  “You’re under arrest for the murder of Jessup Sadler.”

  All the color faded from her face. “I don’t understand. How-“

  “Your son was wearing a wire. We heard everything.”

  The handcuffs around her wrist were shocking, but it was the distinct click they made when they locked that sent a wave of panic throughout. This was happening. It was really happening. She’d been betrayed by her own flesh and blood.

  “I demand the right to call my lawyer. I need to call Graham Ring.”

  “You’ll get a phone call... after you’re booked and jailed.”