Thorns on Wildflower Island

by Michelle Files

  Sheriff Rex Roberts was the first to exit his car and walk up to the group who had all raised their hands in the air, without being told to. No one wanted to get shot that night. Piper Carmichael had already experienced that unfortunate event.

  Thankfully, Sparkles just sat next to the twins and didn’t make a sound. He was probably overwhelmed by all of the vehicles and strangers around them.

  Rex recognized every face in front of him. The island wasn’t that big and he had been the sheriff for decades. Only the tourists that inundated the island every summer were strangers to him.

  “Do any of you have a weapon?” he asked the group.

  “No sir,” the group said, almost in unison.

  “You all can put your hands down now.”

  Two deputies flanked the sheriff. As he walked up to the group standing solemn on the porch, Rex told the deputies to gather the rest of the crew and to have a look around. They dispersed immediately.

  “What the hell happened here?” Rex was speaking directly to Piper and looking at the bloody wound on her arm. “Were you shot?”

  “Yes sir,” Piper replied. “But it was an accident. Marshall Porter was about to kill Frankie and when they fought, the gun went off.” Mary put her arm around her sister as Piper explained.

  “Which one are you?” he asked her.

  “Huh?” Piper replied. “What do you mean?”

  “She’s Piper,” Mary told him. “And Marshall is knocked out in the backyard. I have no idea if he’s dead or alive.” She jerked her head in the direction of the backyard as she spoke.

  “He was going to kill all of us,” Mary added.

  “Okay.” He looked at all of them. “I’m glad everyone is okay. Piper, go over there and have the paramedics take a look at that arm, all right?”

  “Yeah, okay.” The paramedics were already coming up the walkway toward them. They led both of the twins toward the ambulance.

  “Frankie, what happened to you?” The sheriff turned his attention to the bruised and battered young woman. “It doesn’t look like you got shot, but you’re a mess.”

  “Yeah, I know. No, I didn’t get shot.” Frankie began to tell him about her fight with Marshall, but Rex stopped her.

  “I’m glad you are all right. I’ll come get the story from you in a bit. Right now I want you to go get checked out too, okay?” Rex pointed his thumb back behind him, toward the ambulance.

  Frankie obliged. She shook her head as she noticed all the neighbors standing around on the street, watching the scene unfold. The only one she recognized was the woman who had been at the cafe talking about Marshall and Eliza. She remembered that the woman had mentioned they were her neighbors.

  That’s when the sheriff turned to Sebastian. “So what do you have to do with all of this?” The sheriff knew Sebastian. And knew his reputation around town. But he couldn’t quite put his finger on why he would be there. Sebastian was the last person he expected to find.

  “You know, Sheriff,” Sebastian began, “I think maybe Mrs. Porter here should answer that question.”

  Both men turned to Eliza. She had been standing there with the others and had not said a thing. She was at a loss for words. How in the world was she going to explain it all?

  That’s when they all heard an unexpected noise. Every single person outside suddenly realized where it was coming from and turned to look at the house.

  “Oh my god. I forgot about the baby!” Eliza yelled, as she turned and ran for the house.

  An officer tried to stop her, but he wasn’t quick enough. She ran up the stairs with the officer in hot pursuit. She reached the baby quickly and picked him up.

  “Ma’am stop, please. You could still be in danger. We need to clear the house.” He was out of breath from running up the stairs. He could hear the other officers walking around the house by then, checking each room carefully.

  “No one else is here. It’s fine,” she replied, pulling the boy close to her in an effort to calm him down. He stopped crying as soon as he was safe in his mother’s arms.

  “We still need to clear the house. Come on, let’s go outside right now.” He put his hand on the small of her back to lead her out the door. She complied.

  As soon as she stepped out on the front porch, she saw Marshall. He was handcuffed and being led to a squad car. He was a bruised, bloody mess and was barely recognizable. Sebastian had returned Marshall’s beating with an equally aggressive one. Marshall looked up as he passed by and gave Eliza a look that told her all he needed to convey. She knew exactly what it meant. He was warning her to keep her big mouth shut. About Nathan. About their son. About him threatening to kill the girls. All of it. Her body began to visibly shake as she took it all in.

  That’s when Tim and Roxanne arrived, frantic that the police had called them. They went straight to the ambulance, though very slowly. Tim didn’t move very fast these days.

  “Are you girls okay?” Tim asked them as all three of them hugged Tim and Roxanne.

  Frankie and the twins had calmed down quite a bit by then. They explained to their parents the events of that afternoon, leaving nothing out. Tim and Roxanne just stood there in shock as the details unfolded.

  “You girls really need to stop getting involved in everyone’s business. One of these days, you aren’t going to get out of it so easily. And I won’t be around to help you,” Tim explained.

  The group looked at Tim with drooping shoulders and downturned faces.

  “Hey, what’s with all the long faces? I’m still here for now. There’s plenty of time for that later.”

  Tim smiled at his daughters and his wife. He didn’t want the last few months of his life to be surrounded with sorrow. He wanted happiness and joy in their home. He wanted to remember his family with happy faces.

  “We’re sorry, Daddy,” Mary replied. She reached over and wrapped her arms around her father. She never wanted to let go.

  While they were talking, Rex told Eliza and Sebastian that he would get back to them and to not move. He walked over and started questioning each of the girls, when he received a call over the radio to report to the backyard. The girls hadn’t quite gotten to that part of their story yet.

  “Girls, please stay here until I get back. I’m sure I will have more questions.”

  “Oh, there’s no doubt about that,” Frankie answered, without a beat.

  Rex looked at her, but didn’t say a word. He would find out very shortly what Frankie meant by that smart comment.

  Rex walked over to Eliza. “Mrs. Porter, can you please come with me?” he asked her.

  She nodded and followed him to the backyard. She knew things were just about to go from bad to worse.

  As soon as they rounded the corner into the backyard, Eliza saw them removing the little body that had been buried under the rose bushes. She was completely expecting it, but still turned white at the sight, all the blood seeming to drain from her face. She did her best to be strong, but the tears came anyway. She hugged the little boy in her arms as she cried.

  “Mrs. Porter, who is this child buried here?” Rex asked her as they both stood there, only a few feet from the garden.

  Eliza couldn’t bear to look and turned her head away.

  “Eliza.” Rex’s patience was growing thin with her. “I need an answer.”

  She took a deep breath before she answered, and looked at the trusting little boy in her arms. She knew that once she answered the question, her life would never be the same again. “It’s my son, Sheriff.” She let out her breath.

  He looked at her confused, as he tried to put it all together.

  “Eliza, if that is Zachary in the garden, then who is this?” he asked, pointing to the child she was cradling lovingly in her arms.

  “I don’t know.”

  Every single officer and other personnel that were milling around her backyard immediately stopped what they were doing and stared at her, in disbelief.

  “What do you mean that yo
u don’t know? Eliza, you need to explain yourself. Right now,” he demanded.

  “I know. I’m just not sure where to start.”

  Tears again started to tumble gently out of her eyes and down her cheeks. She didn’t even notice them as she struggled to find the words to explain why her baby was dead and buried in her backyard, and she had someone else’s child in her arms.

  “How about the beginning?” Rex was a bit more gentle in his tone.

  Everyone in the backyard was standing quietly, waiting to hear her story.

  “Okay.”

  She looked around the backyard, and for the first time noticed everyone watching her. It made her incredibly self-conscious under all the scrutiny. She knew she was being judged, before she even had a chance to tell her side of the story. She looked down at her feet and couldn’t get the words out.

  Sheriff Rex noticed her uneasiness. “Eliza, why don’t we go inside to talk. The baby would probably like a snack anyway.”

  She was incredibly grateful to him in that moment and he could see that on her face. Rex looked around and noticed the disappointed looks on everyone’s faces. They’ll hear the story soon enough, he thought. Once they were inside, he sat down at the kitchen table, while she put the boy in the highchair and gave him some grapes and juice. He was happy with that and it made her smile. For just a moment, she completely forgot about all of the horrible events of the past few days. Or the past few months, actually.

  Once she sat down, she had to get the truth out. All of it.

  “This is so I don’t have to make you repeat everything later at the station,” Rex told her as he pushed the record button on the machine he laid on the table in front of Eliza.

  She looked down at it and back up at the sheriff. She nodded.

  Chapter 21

  “One night, Marshall and I got into an argument over something stupid. I don’t know what even started it. Most of our arguments were over stupid things. You don’t know this, but when we fight, we fight hard, and often throw things at each other.”

  He knew. It was common knowledge around the station that they had violent fights. His department had been called numerous times to their home. He didn’t respond though, and she kept talking.

  “Well, there was a heavy vase with flowers in it, sitting on our kitchen bar. I was standing in the living room with Zachary and I said something that Marshall didn’t like. I can’t even remember what it was now.” She paused for a moment, thinking, wondering what it was that she said. “Well anyway, he picked up the vase and threw it at me.” She stopped talking, completely unable to get the next sentence out.

  “I need a drink.”

  Eliza got up, poured herself some water, and stood with her back leaning against the kitchen counter while she drank it. She wasn’t far into her story, but needed the distraction, if only for a moment. She stared off in space somewhere, deep in thought.

  Rex watched her, but didn’t say a word. It never dawned on her to offer him a glass. Eliza looked over at the boy in the highchair while she stood there. She didn’t know his name, or where he came from, but she knew that his life, and hers, was about to change forever. Eliza finished her water and turned to fill the glass up again.

  “Eliza,” Rex finally spoke up. “We need to continue.”

  He watched her walk over and sit back down across from him.

  “I know. I’m sorry. I’m just having a really hard time with this. I’ll tell you everything, I promise.” She sat the glass down on the table in front of her.

  “When he threw that vase at me,” she continued, “he missed…and he hit Zachary.”

  Eliza stopped talking. She needed a moment to compose herself before she fell completely apart. Telling their story was one of the hardest things she had ever had to do. Rex jumped up and grabbed a box of tissue that was on the counter, and handed it to her. It was going to be a long night, he thought to himself.

  Eliza thanked him as she took the box and pulled a tissue out. Then she continued, while he sat back down.

  “The vase hit Zachary so hard in the head that he was thrown back into the bricks on the fireplace. His head was partially caved in and he was dead instantly.”

  At that, she couldn’t hold it in any longer and started sobbing. Rex just sat there and let her cry. He could sense the sincerity in her words, and in her tears. She was telling the truth. He knew that. He had a child of his own and couldn’t fathom the anguish she must be going through.

  After a few minutes, her sobs subsided and she was able to continue. He had some questions, but didn’t want to interrupt the flow of her story, so he made some mental notes as she started talking again.

  “We were afraid that we would go to prison. We had bruises on us from the fight and the cops have been called out a few times on us, you know?”

  He knew.

  “We didn’t think you would believe it was just an accident. I guess we just panicked. That’s when Marshall said we should bury him. He said no one would ever know.”

  She stopped talking then and got up to get the boy some more grapes. He had eaten the ones he had and was starting to whimper.

  “That’s when you reported Zachary missing?” he asked her, in an attempt to get the story moving along again.

  She nodded and continued talking while she got the grapes out of the refrigerator and cleaned them.

  “Yes. We talked about it and figured that if he had wandered off, you wouldn’t suspect us of anything. We knew people would notice if no one ever saw us with him again. Then we got the phone call from you that they found him. We were shocked at first, of course. We didn’t know what to do at that point. There was a fight about it, naturally. Marshall wanted to go to the station and check it out. I wanted to come clean. It never dawned on me that anyone would actually be fooled into thinking that kid was our Zachary.”

  She sat back down after she handed the grapes to him, satisfied that the boy would be okay on his own for a few minutes.

  “But Marshall can be very persuasive. After we fought about it, I sat and listened to his side. We came to the conclusion together that it was our chance to replace Zachary and no one would ever know. You guys had no idea that he wasn’t ours. We thought that if the police could be fooled so easily, so could everyone else. And he does look a lot like Zach. Don’t you think?”

  She and Rex looked over at the innocent boy sitting in the high chair, drinking his juice. He did look a lot like the original Zachary. Rex couldn’t deny that.

  The tone in Eliza’s voice didn’t say that she was sorry. It sounded as if she thought it was the perfect plan. Unfortunately for her, it wasn’t.

  “Well that’s all pretty interesting,” Rex replied. “Right before I got the call to come over here, I got another call from the sheriff in Big Oak. Remember that drifter, Jeff something, that they found with this boy here? Well he was found murdered. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

  Eliza’s mouth dropped open. “I thought they arrested him for kidnapping?”

  “Yes, they did, but he told them that the kid’s mother asked him to watch the kid. They also couldn’t find any evidence that he had ever been to Wildflower Island. So they had nothing to hold him on, even after you claimed him as your own. They continued looking for the woman he said was the kid’s mother, thinking she was the kidnapper. They haven’t been able to find her. When they went back to question the drifter again, he was nowhere to be found.”

  Rex paused as he let it all sink in. “Obviously someone found him and shut him up permanently.”

  He watched Eliza’s face, which told him all he needed to know.

  Eliza had already come this far, she saw no need to lie. Especially not to protect Marshall. She wanted him to go to prison for a long time. She felt it was the only way she would ever be free of him.

  “Yeah, that was Marshall. He left the island for a few days. When he came home, he said he had taken care of our problem. He didn’t elabor
ate. I wasn’t positive until right now exactly what he meant by that.”

  “I see. So, how does Sebastian fit into all of this?” he asked her, trying to move the story forward.

  “Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. It actually started with Zachary getting sick. I mean this boy getting sick.” She pointed at the smiling child. “You know, I don’t even know what his real name is. That’s really sad.”

  Rex gave her a look that told her to move it along.

  “Okay, okay,” she responded. “We took him to the hospital for some tests and then we started getting some harassing phone calls. We thought it was from Nathan. He was the nurse that took the blood tests. We figured he caught on to the fact that it wasn’t the same child and wanted money, even though he never asked for any. Then after Marshall almost killed him, we found out it was Sebastian that had been calling me.”

  “Wait a minute.” Rex put his hand up to stop her from continuing her story. “You said that Marshall almost killed him? How come there have been no reports about this? Is Nathan all right?”

  Eliza shook her head. Once she explained about Marshall and Nathan’s fight, and the subsequent dumping of his body out in the hills, she waited while Rex spoke with his deputy. He sent the deputy out to the spot where Eliza told him they had left Nathan.

  Rex sat back down at the table. “You know this is very bad for you, right?”

  “Yeah, I know,” she replied. “I just need to get it all out. I’m tired of lying and being afraid all the time.”

  Rex nodded. “And Sebastian?”

  “Oh yeah. I just found out that his brother, Andy, works at the lab at the hospital. He told Sebastian that the blood tests were mixed up or something. So Sebastian thought that Zachary was his son. He wanted me to confirm it.”

  Rex’s eyebrows shot up, involuntarily.

  “And is he?” Rex asked.