“
It is painful to me that I have seen you off and on ever since you began working at The Depot and not know who you were. By that, I meant, not know you were Sunny’s child. I would have never imagined you were mine as well. As for your father’s death, I heard a body had been found in the river when I got to work. My office overlooks the Little Man. I could see police and rescue vehicles on the river bank but didn’t know what was happening or that the victim they found had been murdered. Even after I learned the victim’s name, I had no way of knowing he was your father or Sunny’s husband. I didn’t know your mother by any name other than Sunny. If someone had walked in and told me Helen Sadler died the same day her husband was murdered, I would have thought it a tragedy, but nothing would lead me to believe I was in any way connected to the family.”
“
So it was just pity that caused you to give Daddy’s pension to me?” Poppy snapped.
Justin shrugged. “Compassion is a better word, but yes. He’d given thirty years of his life to Caulfield Industries. One error on a job lasting that long deserved a break. If that’s wrong, then I’m guilty.”
Poppy didn’t buy it and the tone of her voice gave it away.
“
So, paying for the rest of Mama’s medical bills, all the flowers you sent to her funeral, and offering to pay for Daddy’s were just more gestures of compassion?”
“
Yes and no. At the risk of making this sound insulting, your family lived in Coal Town. It costs a fortune to bury one person. I couldn’t imagine how a family from there could come up with the money to bury two. The outstanding medical bills would have not been an issue if Mr. Sadler had not been fired, so I considered it a company problem that had to be fixed. But the flowers were a different matter. I went to the funeral home. There were no flowers. Sunny loved flowers. It was too late to apologize to her. The flowers were a sop to my conscience, not a ploy to gain some kind of points from you. And you need to remember, at that point, I didn’t know of any connection to you.”
Poppy folded her arms. She’d heard him out. She was ready to leave then Mike changed her mind.
“
If I may, I’d like to ask a few questions,” Mike said.
Justin was so overwhelmed that it still had not registered as to why there were actually police on the premises for what amounted to a very personal revelation.
“
Ask whatever you want,” he said.
“
When did you find out about Sunny’s pregnancy?”
The expression on Justin’s face shifted to one of anger.
“
Right after I found out Callie was not my daughter.”
Mike’s first thought was ‘where the hell did that come from’ and then sat back and waited to see what came after.
Justin sighed as he shoved a shaky hand through his hair. “Considering what I’d caused, fate dealt me a good dose of payback, don’t you think?”
“
I don’t follow,” Mike said.
“
Look, for now, what I’m going to tell you needs to stay in this room. My fourteen-year-old daughter Callie is very ill and still knows none of this. The disease she’s been suffering from over the past year nearly killed her. She’s finally on the road to recovery from the disease, but it destroyed her kidneys. She needs a transplant to save her life. My mother and I were having an argument, which is nothing new, when something I said scared her into saying something she would never have revealed.”
“
And that was what?” Mike asked.
Justin looked at Poppy. “I only have one kidney. But I said I’d do anything to save Callie’s life, including dying so that she could have mine.”
Poppy blinked. That didn’t fit in with the cheating, lying killer she believed him to be.
Mike frowned. “And that angered your mother?”
Justin nodded. “I guess she was afraid I’d do something crazy to make that happen. Basically, she said I’d be killing myself for nothing because I wouldn’t be a match. That’s when it hit the fan. Long story short, I found out my deceased wife had been pregnant when she married me. I made some kind of remark about fate and irony then said at least that hadn’t happened to Sunny. It was the look on my mother’s face that gave her away. I lost it. She finally admitted Sunny’s father had come demanding compensation after I’d left for college, that they didn’t really believe him about her pregnancy, but in any case wanted her paid off and out of their lives. I told her they’d had no right to keep that information from me, and that they were merciless in the way they’d treated her. Of course she disagreed, but that was that. I told her to get out of the house and not to come back, but she’s still there, which is why I’m here.”
Mike glanced at Kenny who shrugged and looked away. Once again, if they believed this story, their theory of how the murder could have happened just tanked.
Justin caught the look. “What? What am I missing here?”
Mike knew what he was about to do was risky, but the whole case was full of holes. Might as well put another one in it and see what leaked out.
“
There’s a witness to Jessup Sadler’s murder,” Mike said.
Justin waited, when no one said anything else, he frowned, then leaned forward.
“
Isn’t that a good thing?”
“
It is for us,” Mike said.
Justin glanced at Poppy. “I’m sure that’s good news for you and your brother, as well.”
John squeezed her hand to keep her quiet. Poppy got the message and leaned back against him. This was overwhelming on so many levels.
Justin frowned. Everyone was staring at him, like they were waiting for a lit fuse to blow.
“
Look, I may be a world-class louse, but I’m not stupid. What aren’t you saying?”
“
Where were you Tuesday night?” Mike asked.
Justin leaned back. “At the hospital with Callie.”
“
Jessup Sadler was at the hospital that night, too. A few days prior he’d found out Poppy wasn’t his child, but that’s all he knew. We know nurses on duty heard him he and his wife arguing about it that night.”
Poppy suddenly moaned then covered her face as John pulled her close.
Mike sighed. Damn. He’d forgotten the family knew none of this, but it was too late to take it back.
“
I’m still not following,” Justin said.
“
We have reason to believe Helen Sadler gave up your name, and that you and Jessup might have met up and had words. You left the hospital only minutes ahead of Sadler, who sped out of the parking lot right behind you.”
Justin’s eyes widened. “You think I had something to do with his murder? You can’t be serious? Why would I kill him for news like that? My God, if I’d known it then, I might have had a chance to make my peace with Sunny before she died.”
“
So you’re saying he didn’t show up at your house, that you two did not argue, and that you did not follow him to the river?”
“
I didn’t go home from the hospital. I drove straight to the office and was almost late, at that. My secretary, Frances, can vouch for my arrival. I had an overseas conference call that lasted until just after 1:00 a.m. The records will reflect that. I don’t know what Mr. Sadler did when he left the hospital, but if he thought he would catch up with me at home, he would have soon realized he was mistaken.”
“
What do you mean?” Mike asked.
“
He would have had to deal with Mother. If he had gotten loud or pushy, she would have had Newton send him packing.”
“
Who’s Newton?”
The tone of Justin’s voice was nothing short of sarcastic.
“
Mother’s driver-slash-bodyguard, as if she needed one. It gives her a false sense of entitlement to think she’s so damn special she needs to be sheltered from the masses. He worked for us for years when I was growing up, then retired after Dad died and Mother moved to Florida. He came out of retirement at Mother’s request when she came back to help me with Callie.”
“
Would you consider him capable of murder?”
Justin’s expression went blank and then a muscle suddenly jerked at the side of his jaw.
“
I don’t suppose I ever thought about it.”
“
So, now that you are thinking about it, do you consider him capable of murder?”
All of a sudden, Justin remembered the fury on his mother’s face when she’d told him if it had been left up to her, she would have had Sunny and her baby tossed into the Little Man like an unwanted cur and her litter.
He stood abruptly. “I need a drink.”
Chapter Nineteen
Justin headed for the mini-bar, then suddenly diverted and made a dash for the bathroom.
They heard the door slam, then the sounds of retching.
“
Is he lying?” Poppy asked.
“
Right now there’s no way of knowing for sure,” Mike said.
“
What’s your instinct telling you,” Poppy persisted.
“
That he’s telling the truth.”
Poppy glanced up at her brother. “Johnny?”
John threw it back on her. “It doesn’t matter what I think. What do you think about what he’s said so far?”
“
That I don’t want to be related in any way to people who behave like this.”
Moments later, Justin came back carrying a wet washcloth. He paused at the mini-bar, but instead of getting liquor, he got a bottle of water, took a drink then carried it with him as he sat back down.
“
I apologize,” he said softly, took another sip of the water, then leaned back and closed his eyes.
“
You never did answer my question,” Mike said. “Do you think this Newton fellow capable of murder?”
He swiped the cold cloth across his face and then sat up. The calm in his voice was out of context with the upset he’d just suffered.
“
Given the right set of circumstances, I think some people are capable of doing almost anything to achieve what they want.”
“
What does that mean?” Mike asked.
Justin shrugged as his focus suddenly shifted from reaction to action.
“
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.