Foul Play

When we arrive back at my house, neither of us immediately gets out of the car. We stay in our seats, too stunned to process what just happened. I just wanted to watch the sunrise with my boyfriend, I would have never thought something so beautiful would lead to something so horrific. Ryan finally sets his hand softly on top of mine and asks, "How are you holding up?"

"I just can't believe it you know? It hasn't even been twenty-four hours since I last saw her." Ryan nods but doesn't say anything as he sits next to me, gazing at nothing in midair. Suddenly, a sickening thought occurs to me.

"Did any of the officers call Jackson? Does he know?" I ask Ryan but he shakes his head, "I don't remember anyone mentioning Jackson."

"Should I call him? Should I tell him his girlfriend is dead? Instead of having him hear about it by some bumbling police officer?" I ask and my heart sinks as I imagine Jackson hearing the shocking news. I'm surprised when Ryan shakes his head again.

"I don't think you should involve yourself in any way. We don't know that Jackson wasn't involved." My jaw drops as my eyes widen, "Ryan, you can't possibly think Jackson clobbered Poppy in the back of the head, do you? We both don't like the man, but that doesn't make him a murderer."

"There wasn't a struggle, Sawyer. Poppy knew the person that did this to her," he replies and I defensively shoot back, "Or didn't see who it was!"

"We don't know anything definite yet. But I don't think you should be getting involved in this. The police will do their job and break the news to him." I release a loud sigh and then reach for the car handle. We both push our car doors shut and Ryan walks in step with me back up to the house. When I open my front door, I spot Celia mopping the foyer and she spots the somber looks on our faces.

"What's wrong y'all? It's too early in the mornin' for sour faces," she says cheerily but I shake my head at her, "It's been an awful morning, Ms. Celia." She stops mopping and I spot Momma at the top of the staircase. She frowns when she sees me.

"Where have you been?" She asks and I glance over at Ryan. He puts his hand on my shoulder and I look between Celia and my mother before announcing, "Poppy Penderghast was found dead this morning at the country club." Both Celia and Momma's hands fly up to their mouths in horror. Momma shakes her head and slowly starts down the stairs as she asks, "What? How on earth did that happen?" Ryan shakes his head while glancing down at his feet, "We are unsure. I was going to go back and work with the Hollis officers still at the scene." He kisses my forehead and says, "I'll call you if we find anything more." I nod and he gives a polite nod to Momma before slipping back out the front door. Momma watches him leave and then looks to me, "The Penderghasts and Jackson must be devastated." I follow behind her as she strides into the kitchen and Celia immediately begins making us hot cups of tea. I slump into the hard wooden chair as Momma looks at me, shock still covering her face.

"Was Ryan called to the crime scene this morning? Is that how y'all found out?" She asks and I know I shouldn't tell her it was because we were out all night and stumbled across the body as I was picking up her car.

"Yeah, I had to go with him. I had to know if it was true," I reply but she immediately frowns, "A bit unprofessional for Ryan to let you tag along. You shouldn't be near a crime scene my dear girl, imagine if your name was in the paper because of this." I roll my eyes to myself; I should have just told her the truth. Now she thinks Ryan is unprofessional instead of thinking I am irresponsible.

Celia hands me a dainty porcelain teacup and I sip the hot chamomile tea slowly. I feel the steaming water move down my throat and it quickly makes my chest warm. Lack of sleep is finally catching up to me and I want nothing more than to go and pass out upstairs. I don't want Momma asking me any more questions so I take my cup and stand from the table. I look at her gazing out the window and tell her, "I am going to sleep. Wake me up if anyone calls here with details. I'm sure Poppy's death will roll over this town like a thick fog." Momma shudders, just as I did and I continue to walk upstairs. As I plop onto my squeaky mattress, every muscle in my body relaxes. I feel like I have had my entire body clenched tightly in fear since we found the body hours ago. As I am about to drift off to sleep, Poppy's lifeless eyes flash across my mind and it suddenly makes it much harder to fall asleep.

******

The sun is spilling into my bedroom window when a knock at my door jolts me awake. I curse the blinding light and stubbornly roll towards the wall, trying to ignore the knock. I hear my door push open and I know Momma is now standing beside my bed.

"Sawyer, you have company. You need to get yourself together and come downstairs immediately," she says with a snap.

"Tell them to go away," I mumble back as I continue to face the wall. I hear her scoff, "I am not about to tell Scarlett Hemming to go away." I roll over to face her and my eyes fly open like roller blinds.

"Mrs. Hemming is here?" I ask in shock and Momma nods, "Yes, she said she needs to speak with you. She said it's urgent." Without warning, my mother yanks my down comforter away from me and I scowl at her. She balls up my warmth in her arms and tosses it onto my chaise.

"Be downstairs in ten minutes, Sawyer." She warns and I slump against my pillow feeling defeated. Why is Mrs. Hemming here? Even when Jackson and I were engaged, she only ever stopped by my house once. My mother and her always get together at the club or at her house.

I quickly push myself out of bed and brush my teeth. I smooth my blonde hair down the best I can and slip into a simple cotton dress.

I trot down the stairs and find Mrs. Hemming sipping tea with my mother in the kitchen. She stands when she sees me, looking distressed,

"Sawyer, I am so sorry to wake you but we just got word of Poppy's death." I nod to her and I wonder if I should give her a polite hug or a hand squeeze. I don't know what the etiquette is in these situations.

"Yes, it was shocking," I reply back as I stay across from her. She glances to my momma and then back to me.

"Do you think I can have a quick word with you?" She asks and I can tell my mother was not planning on being excused from our conversation. Her question lingers awkwardly in the air as Momma shoots me a look. I ignore her stare and nod as I glance to the patio.

"Uh, yeah of course."

She gingerly sets her teacup down and I hold the patio door out to her.

"This way," I say as I guide her to our wooden porch swing that sits on the backside of our wrap-around porch. It's not far enough away from any windows, so I know my nosy mother is able to eavesdrop inside. We both fall back into the seat and the swing sways under us, blowing tiny strands of her dark hair around. She glances around before saying, "Sawyer, I hate asking you this because it seems so silly but...you didn't take my words literally yesterday, did you?"

Confused I look to her, "What do you mean?"

She tucks a loose tendril of flowing hair behind her ears before gazing back to me.

"You didn't...literally get Poppy out of the way, did you?

I throw my head back as if I were slapped, "No! Of course not!"

I watch as she visibly relaxes into the swing and I am appalled that she thought I would go so far.

"I just didn't know if you two had a confrontation that got physical, I just wanted to make sure..." Mrs. Hemming says while shaking her head.

"No, absolutely not. The gash in her head was from something more than just a fist," I say incredulously. Mrs. Hemming snaps her head back to me and in shock she asks, "Poppy was struck in the head? How do you know?"

She didn't know I was the one that found her. I look to her wide blue eyes as I reply, "Ryan and I were the ones that found Poppy on the golf course." Her hand flies to her mouth in shock and I nod, "She was lying face down in the clothing she was wearing at the meeting. She had a wide gash in the back of her head and there were no signs of a struggle."

Mrs. Hemming's hand flies to the diamond cross necklace adorning her neck and she grips it tightly.

"The police didn't tell Jackson that when they called him. All they said was Poppy was found at the country club and foul play is suspected," she says.

Now I understand why she was concerned with my involvement. She could have thought it was a catfight gone bad if that's all she knew. I reach out to her hand, a gesture I have never done.

"I don't know who would want to hurt Poppy, but I wasn't involved and I'm sure Jackson wasn't either."

She shakes her head as if the thought of Jackson being involved was ever an option.

"No, I knew Jackson had no involvement. He was home last night because she blew their date off."

"She did? That's odd" I say in surprise and Mrs. Hemming shakes her head.

"I don't know why she did, but I was glad."

"You'd think she would have tried harder if she was under the impression that I was going to steal Jackson out from under her. You think she would make sure they were going out on a date so she would know he wasn't going out with me," I tell her and she nods along. I can tell she's thinking hard about everything as she sits with a straight spine against the swaying swing in silence. I slump against the wooden seat and this is probably the first time I have ever slouched in front of Mrs. Hemming.

Something stirs her to the present and she shifts her gaze over to me.

"Well darling, I will let you get back to your life. Due to the unfortunate circumstances, it looks like my son will never in fact be marrying Poppy Penderghast, so my worries are over."

I watch as her brow furrows as she realizes how harsh her words sounded due to the present situation. She touches her lips with her finger as if she regrets her last statement but I give her a slight smile, showing her I knew she didn't mean it. She stands from the swing and then looks down at me.

"Even though things went horribly wrong, I will still vouch for you, my dear. You deserve happiness and if I can help you find it, I will do everything I can."

I give her a soft smile and she pulls the flimsy screen door open. I hear Momma's voice and wonder if she perched herself under the window and listened in on our conversation. I'm sure she was dying to know why Mrs. Hemming wanted to speak with me alone.