A Field of Poppies (16 page)

“
Wait. Who’s Sunny?” Mike asked.

“
Oh, sorry. That was Helen’s nickname. We called her that pretty much through all twelve years of school. It wasn’t until she graduated and went to work at the paper mill where her folks were employed that she began to go by her given name, Helen.”

Kenny glanced at Mike and arched an eyebrow, as if to say where the fuck is all this going?

Mike ignored him and let Hannah talk.

“
So, did something happen to Sunny at your prom?”

Hannah pursed her lips and then quickly looked away. “I don’t know.”

Mike knew better. “Please, Mrs. Crane, whatever you tell me could help us catch the person who murdered Jessup.”

Carl cleared his throat.

Hannah frowned. “It’s not right to speak ill of the dead.”

Kenny was tired of all the chit chat and abruptly entered into the conversation.

“
Ma’am, if you know something, it’s your duty to tell. Just quit talking in riddles and spit it out.”

Hannah glared at him and set her jaw. She didn’t let any man tell her what to do.

“
Mrs. Crane, what does the prom have to do with Jessup Sadler’s murder?” Mike asked.

Hannah turned away from Kenny as if dismissing him from the conversation and focused her attention on Mike.

“
I don’t know that it has anything to do with it, but you asked if something had happened that might make Jessup take up drinking again and his behavior that night was not normal.”

“
You’re right. I did. Please continue,” Mike said.

“
Sunny was so pretty, but she didn’t have a date for the senior prom. Even though a bunch of us girls went solo, Sunny never lacked for partners at the dance. We were all having a grand time and then all of a sudden she was gone. We never saw her leave and I have no idea who she was dancing with before she left, but she didn’t come to school afterward for nearly a week. We were told she’d had food poisoning. She didn’t say anything different when she came back.”

“
Why, after all these years, would Jessup suddenly become interested in something that happened over twenty years ago?”

“
I don’t know. I’m just telling you what I heard Jessup ask Carl, okay?”

Mike was frustrated. This complicated everything. Either this had nothing to do with Jessup’s murder, or they had to look back to the past to find a reason for someone wanting him dead.

“
Is there anything else you can remember about that evening?”

“
Only that Jessup was unusually quiet, which again, I just chalked up to Helen’s condition.”

Mike stood, and Kenny followed suit, anxious to finish the names on the list and get home.

“
Thank you both for your time. Here’s my card. If you think of anything else please give me a call,” Mike said.

Hannah slipped it into her apron pocket. “Yes sir, we will.”

The dog across the street barked again as they made their way to the car.

“
Unlock the door,” Kenny said, and lengthened his stride.

Mike grinned as he hit the remote. The car lights blinked as the doors unlocked, which set the dog into a frenzy.

“
That was a bust,” Kenny said, as he buckled up.

“
Maybe, maybe not.”

“
Seriously, partner. It’s getting late and I’m hungry. We have three names left on the list. Let’s get this over with and get home, okay?”

“
Then give me an address,” Mike said, entering it into the GPS as Kenny read one off.

As luck would have it, they drove back past the Sadler residence and this time there was a late model pickup parked in the drive.

“
Looks like she’s got company,” Kenny said.

Mike caught a glimpse of the plates. “Out of state. Probably the missing brother.”

“
I didn’t know there was a missing brother,” Kenny said. “What else don’t I know that you do?”

“
Yes, you did and stop being an ass,” Mike said. “When we get to the next house, you take the lead. Maybe it’ll release some of your pent-up hostility.”

****

Poppy was checking to make sure there were clean sheets on John’s bed when she heard a car pull up in the drive. She glanced at the clock. It was too late for company. Please God let it be Johnny.

The thump of footsteps sounded on the porch as she came hurrying down the hall, but it wasn’t until she heard the key in the lock that she knew he was home.

The front door swung inward just as she entered the living room.

Johnny!

He was thinner than the last time she’d seen him, which made his shoulders look wider than ever. He stood in the doorway, as if waiting for an invitation to come the rest of the way in.

“
Hey, Poppy.”

“
Johnny. Thank God, thank God,” Poppy said, and then she was in his arms.

He kicked the door shut behind him as he swept her off her feet. “I’m sorry, sister, I’m so, so, sorry.”

“
It doesn’t matter. You’re here now,” Poppy said, and then began to sob.

John thought he had his emotions in check until he’d seen the dark circles beneath her eyes and the look of terror on her face. Tears burned the back of his throat as he choked on what he’d meant to say. Moments later they were weeping in each other’s arms.

****

Amelia Caulfield had always loved the dining room in the family mansion. It was one of the few rooms she’d never redecorated during her years here with Adam.

The wallpaper was gold flocked with a wine-red diamond pattern. Adam had hated it, saying it reminded him of argyle socks. But Amelia loved it, so it had stayed. The elongated crystals dangling from the chandelier glittered like strands of diamonds, and at her bidding the maid had set table tonight with the Paul Revere silver and Waterford crystal.

She sat in the captain’s chair like a queen residing over her dominion, while Justin sat just to her right. Proper etiquette would have had Justin at the head of the table since he was now the ‘man of the house’, but when Amelia came back from Florida to help with Callie, she had claimed age over propriety and chosen the seat in his stead.

She delivered a different, but witty conversational subject with each course that was served, and by the time they got to dessert, she was on an emotional high.

The only downside to the evening was Justin’s non-committal attitude and his lack of appetite. She’d gone through the entire meal, watching him poke at his food. After having spent the better part of the afternoon and evening together at the hospital with Callie before coming home to a late dinner, he was obviously too distracted to eat.

“
Justin.”

He looked up. “Yes, Mother?”

“
What’s wrong? Are you worried about Callie? Is it something at the office? Talk to me. I may be getting old, but I’m not senile and I am a good listener.”

He looked away, giving his fork a good deal of introspection before putting it on his plate and then shoving it aside. Amelia could tell he was weighing a decision as to whether to confide in her or not.

“
Well, for God’s sake spit it out,” she said.

His nostrils flared as he lifted his head. “I don’t care for the tone of your voice.”

The resemblance was so strong that for a moment, it was as if Amelia was facing her husband and not her son, then she frowned.

“
I’m just trying to help. What’s on your mind, son?”

He laughed. “You don’t want to know.”

“
But I do. I’m your mother. What bothers you, bothers me.”

Justin smiled, but it did not reach his eyes.

“
No, impropriety bothers you, Mother. Not my feelings. But since you insist on probing my psyche, I have a question. How does that saying go about the sins of the fathers being visited upon the children?”

“
I’m not sure of the exact wording myself, but I know what you mean,” Amelia said.

“
So, do you believe one generation pays for the sins of another?”

It was an odd question, but she had no problem answering. “No, I don’t. I think each person follows a pre-destined path that has nothing to do with another, but that’s just me.”

The corner of his mouth turned up just enough that would lead one to think he might but be amused, except he wasn’t.

“
Of course you would think like that. If that’s your belief, then it allows all kinds of leeway without having to claim a responsibility for your choices. Living life your way, you can never be faulted for making a bad decision or be deemed cruel because what you did was not intentional. It was just the path you were destined to be on.”

Amelia didn’t know whether to be concerned or offended. This confrontational behavior wasn’t like him. In fact, it was completely foreign. He was a natural leader – a man who never exhibited stress. This had to be because of Callie.

“
Callie needs a kidney transplant, but neither of us qualify as donors,” Justin said.

Amelia relaxed. Her instincts had been right. This was about Callie.

“
Don’t worry. Transplants are done daily all over the country.”

“
I do worry. I will continue to worry. I cannot imagine why you don’t. Dr. Summers put her on a waiting list, but she’s nowhere near the top.”

Amelia frowned. “Really? I would have thought-“

Justin stared into his mother’s face. “Money can’t buy us out of this.”

Amelia lifted her chin – not much, but just enough for any observer to realize she’d gone from amiable table companion to formidable host.

“
Now I don’t like the tone of
your
voice. If I didn’t know better, I would think you’re implying that the family goes around committing sins and then buying their way out of the messes they cause.”

A muscle jerked at the size of Justin’s jaw but his gaze never wavered.

Amelia felt the accusation, but she wasn’t going there. Not now. Not ever.

He watched her expression shift. Between one breath and the next it was as if their conversation had never happened.

“
You know what dear, I’m very tired this evening. Callie was particularly bored today and demanded a lot of my attention. I believe I’ll turn in for the night.”

Justin stood, momentarily looming over his mother’s chair.

“
You do that, Mother. I know you’ll rest well. You gave your conscience to the devil years ago.”

Amelia’s lips parted in shock, but whatever volley she’d been about to deliver was nullified by her son’s angry exit.

Justin couldn’t calm down and knew it would be impossible to sleep. Without thinking about the time, he stormed out of the house.

The sky was overcast, but security lights triggered by motion detectors came on one by one as he strode to the garage, elongating his shadow and turning it into a child’s version of a monster. The faster he walked, the more it appeared as if he was being chased.

By the time he got to the garage his heart was pounding. As he drove down the driveway and then out into the city, he felt as if he was making an escape, but from what? A man could not outrun his past no matter how far or how fast he went, but he needed to put distance between himself and his mother before one of them said something that couldn’t be taken back.

Traffic was steady in the entertainment side of the city, especially around the mall and the movie theatre. His fingers tightened on the steering wheel as he drove past the mall parking lot. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been to the movies and he’d never been inside that mall because a Caulfield should not mingle with the masses. He’d had that beaten into him early on and never forgotten, and if his behavior at the dinner table was any indication of the grudge he still carried, he’d never forgiven it either.

There was no purpose to his route. He drove up and down streets in one neighborhood after another - wondering what it would be like to be one of
them
- worrying about the economy and maybe a kid who was failing in school or smoking weed. Wondering how it would be to have had a wife who’d married you for love instead of the size of your father’s bank account. And then looking at the other side of the coin and wondering if they ever wished they were him.

Right now, he would trade places in a heartbeat, trade his mother for a wife who loved him and a kid who was healthy as a horse.

He drove out of the residential area and back into the downtown part of Caulfield, but didn’t realize where he was until he stopped at a stop sign. That’s when he saw the floodlights shining on the sign on the front lawn of Edison’s Funeral Home.

His skin crawled. All this time - all the driving – and this was where his subconscious had led him?

As he watched, the front door of the funeral home opened. A couple emerged hand in hand, their heads bent in obvious grief. He drove through the intersection, then up into the parking lot and found himself unwilling to move.

What the fuck was he doing? What would this prove?

Then his attitude shifted to one of defiance. He didn’t have to prove anything to anyone but himself and he wanted to go in. He strode up the sidewalk without hesitation, his steps long and sure. There was a moment as his fingers curled around the doorknob and he felt the cold metal beneath his palm that brought him to a halt. The flash of reality almost made him go back to his car, but he stopped. He’d been running from this moment for over twenty years. The least he could do was say goodbye. He turned the knob and walked in.