Witness Ch. 04

"Poppy! Poppy! Let me in; it's me Robert," she heard her brother cry through the door.

She ran to the door and fumbled with the locks, ripping off an acrylic fingernail in her eagerness to open the door. Robert stood there looking forlorn, carrying a backpack. He was still dressed in his school uniform but he looked clean, well fed and unharmed. Poppy pulled him inside, slammed and locked the door and wrapped her arms around him, nearly crushing him in her eagerness and excitement.

Poppy smothered his face with kisses and Robert squirmed in her grasp. As much as he loved being cuddled and kissed by his big sister, this was becoming embarrassing.

"Are you ok? Did they hurt you?" Poppy began to bombard him with questions which the boy calmly ignored until she let go of him and allowed him to sit down.

He looked around her apartment and studied it. It had been a long time since he had been here and he had expected that his sister would have moved into a well-appointed condo, not still be in this one bedroom flat in a low rent apartment block. He might be a kid but he knew that hot-shot legal eagles didn't live in tenements.

Robert explained to her that he had stayed at the cabin with Frankie for the few days that he was kidnapped. Frankie had treated him well and was friendly. Frankie taught Robert how to play cards and they had also played checkers. Frankie made him Italian food and told him stories of his life as a boy in Sicily. Robert had been well treated and talked to Poppy about his abduction as if it had been adventure. She recognised the symptoms of Stockholm syndrome.

Frankie had delivered Frankie to Poppy's front door and told him to count to twenty before knocking and left him there.

Poppy hated that Robert talked about Frankie like he was some sort of burly benevolent uncle but Robert wasn't to know that Frankie had sexually violated his sister repeatedly ... nor would he ever know.

Poppy explained away the tenement apartment she was living in as being a contingency.

"Remember when I visited you at the Grosvenor School with Mister Granger?" Poppy asked Robert.

She kept stroking and touching Robert and like most young boys his age he was becoming annoyed with her being overly affectionate.

"Elliot? He seemed like a nice man. He was with you when the men took us away, I remember that," Robert hopped off the lounge and made his way over to the small refrigerator.

"Well I suppose you've already guessed that he is a policeman and that he was my bodyguard. He put me here to keep me safe because those guys know where I really live," the lies just rolled off her tongue.

"I was involved in a big mob case but now it's gone away and we are no longer in danger. You can go back to the Grosvenor School and I can go back to my apartment," more lies, easily told.

Poppy joined him at the refrigerator and took the candy bar he had selected from him and gave him an orange instead.

"Can I say with you at your real apartment for a while Poppy?" Robert asked.

"I want you back in school Robert. You've already missed some tuition. We'll go somewhere nice next semester break ok?" Poppy mussed his hair and he allowed her to because she relented and gave him the candy bar too.

Poppy left Robert in front of the TV and went to use the public phone near the stairway.

"I need a favour Elliot, please don't hang up," Poppy breathed into the phone.

"I'm not in the favour business Miss Evesham," Elliot said gruffly but if Poppy could see his face she would see the glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"They released Robert. He's safe and well," Poppy said.

"Thank god," Elliot said and she could hear the genuine relief in Robert's voice.

"I need to get him back to the Grosvenor School as soon as possible and I don't have a car and I can't ask anybody I know. Robert is here at the apartment, he thinks this is the safe house. He still doesn't know about... about how I make a living," she said reluctantly.

"I don't know Poppy," Elliot sighed.

"Don't do it for me. Do it for Robert. I won't ask for anything else I promise," she pleaded.

*****

The long drive to the upstate school was uncomfortable for Elliot and Poppy who kept their conversation to a minimum. Poppy was wearing one of her business suits, passing herself off as a legal professional. Elliot and Robert hit it off and Poppy let him sit in the front seat of the unmarked police car so that Elliot could show him how the lights, siren and police radio worked.

He entertained Robert with police stories, nothing too grisly or gruesome but exciting 'cops and robbers' tales that kept Robert amused and fascinated. Robert bombarded Elliot with questions about being a policeman which Elliot gladly answered and embellished.

Every now and then Elliot would look at Poppy in the rear vision mirror but she seemed lost in thought. They stopped for a break halfway and over Poppy's objections Elliot bought Robert an ice-cream.

"He likes you," Poppy said to Elliot when Robert went to use the bathroom.

"He's a good kid," Elliot licked his ice-cream cone.

"He is a good kid," Poppy agreed with him.

The silence became uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry for what I called you; I apologise," Elliot finally broke the silence.

"Apology accepted. You didn't really insult me; you just told me what I am. It doesn't change anything Elliot," Poppy folded her arms and looked away from him.

"You ever wonder how they found out about Robert? How they knew you were visiting him? How they knew where the safe house was?" Elliot changed tack.

"Someone in law enforcement told them. Brett Mendelsohn kept carping on about corruption and the need for secrecy," Poppy answered.

The truth was that Poppy hadn't given much thought as to how the mob knew about Robert; she was too concerned about the consequences.

"Until the ADA recorded your testimony, the mob would have been happy to just take you out so there were no witnesses left to the homicide. If they knew about the safe house they would have come for us. So logic says that they didn't know where the safe house was until after you recorded your testimony," Elliot explained.

"So what?" Poppy sounded disinterested.

"Listen to me Poppy. Their lawyers would have told the Napolitanos about the recorded testimony because the prosecutor would have had to tender a copy of the tape to the court and the defence attorneys. But Robert's existence and whereabouts were not common knowledge. Only myself and Brett Mendelsohn knew about him so if Brett got mouthy then word would have got to the Napolitanos," Elliot continued anyway.

"What does it matter Elliot? I have Robert back now and I'm safe now that Luca Tattaglia has immunity from prosecution," Poppy sounded exasperated.

"What matters is someone put your life at risk. Someone put Robert's life at risk. They did it on my watch!" Elliot said grimly.

"So as usual it's all about you," Poppy hissed and turned away.

Elliot spun Poppy around by her elbow so that she was facing him. Her green eyes were aflame with anger.

"No, it's about someone putting people I care about lives in danger. Someone sold you out," Elliot tried to sound calm.

"That's what people do to me Elliot. They sell me out. So now I'm selling myself out, but I'm selling myself out on my terms," Poppy glared up at him.

"Why do you hate yourself so much?" Elliot appealed to her.

"Why do you hate me so much?" Poppy continued to glare at him.

"I don't hate you Poppy, I..." Elliot looked away.

"Yes?" Poppy waited anxiously for the rest but Robert came skipping up to them with a smile on his face.

"What were you two talking about?" Robert grinned at them.

Elliot took a step back and breathed out.

"Nothing important Robert. I was telling your sister that I think that you are very brave boy," Elliot took the car keys from his pocket.

They spent the rest of the trip explaining to Robert that he couldn't tell anyone about his kidnapping. That even though Frankie had been nice to him, that if he told anyone found out what had happened to him that Frankie and his cohorts would come looking for Poppy and him.

Robert was intelligent enough to understand the seriousness of the situation.

At the Grosvenor School they parked in the same place they had parked in before. It was midweek and the visitor's car park was empty.

"I won't be long. I just need to check in with the Dean and get Robert settled," Poppy said, helping Robert into his blazer and straightening his tie.

"I need to use the phone anyway," Elliot said and walked over to a public phone in the corner of the car park.

He turned and watched Poppy walk away from him down the path holding Robert's hand. He tore his eyes away when the longing he felt for her began to resurface. He turned to the phone and picked up the receiver.

The Dean of the Grosvenor School was a tall man in his fifties. He spoke with a clipped accent and welcomed Poppy and Robert into his office. Poppy noticed that his eyes crawled over her. Something had changed.

Poppy told the story they had fabricated during the journey about a family emergency and apologised for taking Robert from the school without notice.

"We kept Robert's place of course because you continued to pay his board and tutelage in his absence. His teachers will provide him with make-up tuition so that he won't be disadvantaged," the Dean smiled at them both.

"Now Robert, go outside and meet up with Mrs Frobisher who will settle you in your dorm and take you to class," the Dean smiled at Robert.

Robert gave Poppy a hug and a peck on the cheek; he picked up his backpack and left the office.

The Dean's demeanour changed immediately that Robert left the room.

"I had a call from Assistant District Attorney Mr Brett Mendelsohn," he announced and Poppy felt the ground open beneath her.

"He didn't tell me everything because he couldn't for legal reasons but he did tell me that you are not the legal secretary you claim to be. He told me that you are in fact making a living immorally," the Dean's eyes scathed her breasts and drifted down to her demurely crossed legs.

"I'm a progressive man Ms Evesham but if this were to come to the attention of the school board I'm afraid that Robert would have to be expelled," he got up from behind his desk and walked to the office door and locked it.

Poppy wasn't stupid. She knew what was coming next. She just wandered if Brett had also told him that she was transgender.

She looked at the Dean who stood before her, looming over her, his eyes filled with lust.

Poppy dropped to her knees and unzipped his fly. The Dean was already erect and she had difficulty taking his penis from his underpants but when she freed it, it stood out proud and throbbing. It was nothing impressive but then again Poppy had seen hundreds of penises.

She dutifully lowered her mouth to his organ and lapped at it. The Dean was so excited that he climaxed immediately, spattering Poppy's face with the first rope of ejaculate. Poppy engulfed his penis and swallowed the remainder, not to pleasure the Dean but to keep his spunk off her clothes.

The Dean put his hands on her shoulders to steady himself whilst she sucked him dry and then spat him out. He patted his penis dry with a handkerchief which he pointedly didn't offer to Poppy. She took the box of tissues off the Dean's desk and wiped her face whilst he tucked his penis into his pants and zipped.

Poppy got to her feet.

"I take it you will be wanting this type of payment every time I visit the school?" Poppy said pragmatically.

"You are indeed an intelligent young woman, even if you are a whore," the Dean's smile held no warmth.

"See yourself out Miss Evesham," the Dean made his way back behind his desk.

Poppy stopped at the ladies room to rinse out her mouth, wash her face and reapply her makeup. She wasn't so much angry as disappointed but then again she expected men to treat her this way and she would do anything to keep Robert at the prodigious school.

She walked to the car and found Elliot leaning against it waiting for her. She desperately wanted a cigarette but she knew he would get angry so she didn't ask.

He got the door for her and she noticed the appreciative look he gave her legs as her skirt rode up when she climbed into the car but she was in no mood for men's appreciative glances at the moment.

They drove in silence, Poppy wondering how long she could keep Robert at the Grosvenor School with the sword of Damocles hanging over her head. Men like the Dean were seldom kept happy with a monthly blowjob. He'd want a regular fuck and likely pass her around his friends. She wondered how many other women the Dean had blackmailed into providing him with sex so that their children could attend the school.

She was leaning against the window and not paying much attention when she suddenly realised that they had entered a town that was not on their route back to the city.

"Where are we?" Poppy asked as she stopped daydreaming.

"Welcome to Braidwood," Elliot said, his voice noncommittal.

"Why are we here?" Poppy asked looking around the main street of the town.

It wasn't exactly a small town but it wasn't a metropolis either; far from it in fact. The buildings were well maintained but they had an air of antiquity to them. The businesses seemed to be prospering and the townsfolk well-heeled.

Elliot drove through the town without stopping and without answering her question.

He turned down a long well-kept gravel drive that led to a ranch-style house where a woman wearing an apron waited on the porch watching the car approach. When Elliot stopped in front of the house Poppy could see that the woman was wearing a stylish housedress, low heels and nylons. Her makeup was light but perfect and her long brunette hair was piled loosely on top of her head, held in place with long wooden pins. She looked like a country wife who had style.

She also had a strong resemblance to Elliot. She was tall, slim and very attractive.

Elliot parked the car and the woman came down off the stoop and hugged Elliot and kissed his cheek. A Labrador scampered around Elliot and he hugged the dog, stroked it briefly and threw a stick for it to catch. Elliot opened Poppy's door and helped her out of the car.

"Penelope Evesham this is my sister Sharon Granger," Elliot grinned.

Poppy offered her hand nervously but Sharon leaned in and hugged her and kissed her cheek. The Labrador returned and got under everyone's feet.

"That's Charlie, I see his manners haven't improved since I was last here," Elliot threw the stick again and the dog bounded after it.

"You go set the table. I've made us a late lunch. Don't you dare touch a thing until we join you, now scoot. I want to talk to the woman who has turned my misogynist asshole brother into a gentleman," Sharon waved Elliot away.

Poppy was speechless and dumbfounded and allowed Sharon to lead her onto the porch and seat her at a white cane outdoor setting under the shade of the veranda.

"He said you were beautiful but he didn't do you justice," Sharon smiled at Poppy and poured homemade lemonade from a pitcher.

Poppy still didn't know what was going on.

"That lunkhead didn't tell you did he?" Sharon passed Poppy a glass of ice-cold lemonade.

"This is our family home left to us by our parents. We were going to sell it and split the profits but it has too much sentimental value and when Elliot left for the city it made sense for me to live here," Sharon at least explained something.

Poppy sipped the lemonade. She was parched and needed to wet her mouth so she could talk.

"Ok. Why am I here?" Poppy asked, still confused.

"Do you know how many women Elliot has bought to this house since he moved to the city?" Sharon looked at Poppy over the rim of her glass.

Poppy couldn't get over Sharon's resemblance to her brother or how beautiful she was.

"That many," Sharon circled her finger before Poppy could answer.

"Oh we're not... we're just... we are not a couple," Poppy blurted out.

"Bullshit!" Sharon retorted but she was grinning.

"My brother hasn't been as enthusiastic about telling me about a woman since he took Helen Carter to the prom," Sharon patted Poppy's knee affectionately.

"It's not what you think? How much has Elliot told you about me?" Poppy's anger was simmering under her outward appearance of calmness.

"Come and walk with me a little. He can wait awhile," Sharon got to her feet and Poppy followed suit.

She led Poppy along a path shaded my trees to a large garden crisscrossed by a sandstone path.

"Elliot hated me until I was in my I was nineteen. I'm a lesbian and he despised me for bringing shame on the family. He thought it was something I could change if I just tried hard. This town is small enough that people still know everyone else's business and he was a police officer on the Braidwood PD," Sharon paused to smell a rose.

"Two brothers from the wrong side of town thought they could fuck the lesbian out of me. They abducted me and took me to an old barn were they took turns on me until they were exhausted. Needless to say their strategy didn't work," Sharon smiled wanly.

Poppy was amazed and appalled that Sharon could talk so matter-of-factly about her rape.

"Elliot told me that similar things, no, far worse things have happened to you. He told me about the scars on your body. He was crying into the phone when he told me," Sharon offered the bloom to Poppy.

"He told you about me?" Poppy was stupefied and appalled.

"Everything," Sharon looked pointedly at Poppy.

Sharon stepped into Poppy and hugged her briefly.

"He told me about how badly he treated you when he first met you and how he despises himself for it. When they arrested the two men who raped me they had to confine Elliot to another cell to prevent him from beating them to death," Sharon continued.

"Elliot begrudgingly came to understand me after the rape; he came to love me but it took the assault and the loss of our parents for him to find his real feelings for me. I forgave him but he still hates himself for how he treated me. He still blames himself for my rape," she paused at another bloom.

"He confessed to me that he recently allowed history to repeat itself. That he mistreated a woman he loved because of prejudice and self-loathing," Sharon offered Poppy the second bloom to smell.

Poppy had not noticed that Sharon had used the word love.

"So why has he brought me here?" Poppy asked.

"Because he knows that you won't listen to him. Because you told him that he was never going to take you home to meet his mom. He doesn't have a mom now, I'm his only close family and now he's taken you home to meet me," Sharon's smile was beatific.

"He told you I'm transgender?" Poppy was incredulous.

"He told me that you are beautiful. Not just pretty but beautiful inside too. He told me about Robert, about what you have to do to look after him," Sharon touched Poppy on the cheek.

"I can't imagine... I don't want to imagine," Poppy was surprised when a tear ran down Sharon's cheek.

"So what do we do now?" Poppy's head was spinning.

"We go and have lunch... provided Elliot hasn't eaten everything," Sharon laughed and it was infectious.

"He does like to eat," Poppy smiled.

The two women walked back to the house and found Elliot waiting anxiously on the porch.

He opened the screen door for them and stood aside to let them in ahead of him.

"Get that shit grin off your face brother. If this beautiful girl ever forgives you I'm taking her for a sanity test; you're not out of the doghouse by a long shot," Sharon dug her brother in the ribs when she squeezed past him.

The three had a long lunch, conversation carefully steered clear of anything painful. Elliot and Sharon told Poppy stories of their childhood growing up in Braidwood. His father had been a Deputy Sheriff for the county and Elliot had followed his father into law enforcement and joined the Braidwood PD.