Greene County Killer

by Ann Mullen

  Greene County Killer

  by Ann Mullen

  http://www.aftonridge.com

  Copyright © 2008 by Ann Mullen

  ISBN 13: 978-0-9828776-5-4

  This book is a work of fiction. Any characters portrayed, living or dead are imaginary. Any resemblance to actual persons is completely coincidental. Any places, business establishments, locales, events, or incidents in this book are the product of the author’s imagination, or used fictitiously.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

  table of content

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  The Christmas holidays were in full swing, and we were planning a big get-together at our house for Christmas Eve. We had plenty to celebrate. Billy and I were married on Christmas Eve a year ago, and since then we’ve had a son, Ethan, now just four months old, and we adopted a little girl named Maisy who will have her first birthday in January. How she came to live with us is a story all in itself.

  My sister, Claire, is finally divorced from Carl the jerk and is getting married in the spring to her fiancé, Randy Morgan. Randy’s the son of Abigail and Pete Morgan, two wonderful folks who live next door to her in Washington, D.C. Abby’s sister, Isabel, also lives with them. You put those two women together and you have yourself a real handful. I met the Morgan family a few months back during one of my snooping excursions.

  Billy’s sister, Beth, and her husband, Adam are expecting their first child in the early part of the summer and the whole clan is waiting for the happy day.

  Mom survived an attack by a revenge seeking serial killer out to get everyone near and dear to our new friend, Daisy Clark. Daisy was a member of an elite social club in Stanardsville, but the group is now defunct thanks to the death of a couple of its members who were hunted down and murdered by said killer. That was another scary time in our lives.

  Fortunately, everyone in the family is still alive—and considering the many diverse and dangerous occupations in this family—that leaves something to be said.

  Hello. My name is Jesse Watson. Welcome to my world.

  I moved to the beautiful mountains of Virginia a few years ago with my folks, and my life changed forever. Unfortunately, on a sadder note, my dad died shortly after we moved to Stanardsville. It took Mom a long time to come to terms with his death, but eventually her grieving became less and less, and then she met Eddie. Eddie is a nice guy and hopefully, Mom will now have a companion for the future.

  I dated Cole James, a Greene County deputy, but after a couple of months, that relationship went south. Then I married his best friend (and the guy I was working for), Billy Blackhawk—Cherokee Indian/private investigator. It turns out that Billy is the man of my dreams. He’s not exactly the kind of man I was expecting to end up with, but I’m sure glad I did. He’s sixteen years older than me and he’s been around the block. Sometimes he’s too smart for his britches, but that keeps me grounded. I can’t imagine my life without him. Because of him and Cole, who are doing their best to rebuild their friendship, I got my P.I. license, and now work with Billy hunting down bad guys and snooping on little old ladies.

  Billy and I live in the house he built when he was married to his first wife, Ruth. I don’t mind that, because the way I figure it, she’s the one who gave up a wonderful man, and I’m the one who was lucky enough to snag him. Since I moved in, we’ve added several rooms to the two story house and I have made it my own.

  The Blackhawk Compound, as Billy’s family refers to it, is huge. Located on the outskirts of Charlottesville, deep in Albemarle County, the land was divided into sections so that all of the Blackhawk children could build a house on it and live close to their parents. Chief Standing Deer Sam and his wife, Sarah, raised four boys and two girls, and it turns out that all of the brothers still live on the compound. A long time ago, they helped build nice houses for their two sisters, but it turned out that neither one of the sisters liked the seclusion, so they eventually moved to the city.

  Bear Mountain Road leads into the Blackhawk Compound, and the private road keeps unwanted visitors out most of the time, but not today.

  Today, our private world was invaded.

  As tradition has it, the Blackhawk men would go out a week or two before Christmas and kill a deer. They would skin it and then prepare it to be frozen so that it would be ready for the Christmas dinner. This year, Billy and his brothers had killed two deer and were patting each other on the back as they skinned it in the garage. Cole was also there, and Chief Sam was present to supervise the operation.

  Billy called me to the garage to see what they were doing. He was so proud.

  Of course, this almost made me sick to think of, let alone watch. I was expecting to lose my dinner if I stayed any longer. They all laughed at me when I said something about Bambi’s mother.

  “It tastes just like beef,” the chief said.

  “You eat steak, don’t you?” Jonathan asked.

  “Yes, but that’s different.”

  “How so?”

  “Ah…”

  “Come on, admit it, Jesse,” Cole said. “You’ve had deer before, and you liked it. Your mother is the one we had to convince to eat it.”

  “Yeah, she’s kind of funny about eating one of God’s creatures, as she calls them.” I had to laugh at myself for being so silly about the whole Bambi thing. “Deer meat is good.”

  “It’s great,” Daniel said. “If it is prepared right it can be a real delight, a feast for all.”

  “You got that right,” Robert added. “I own a restaurant. I know.”

  “Thanks for bringing me out here, Billy,” I said. “But I think I’ve seen enough.” I looked at the remains of the two deer hanging upside down with those sad eyes, and that was it for me. “I’m leaving. Don’t let me stop you guys from doing your thing.” I turned and headed out of the garage.

  Billy stepped in front of me, kissed me on the cheek, and winked.

  “We’re just about finished. All we have left to do is clean up. I love you, `ge ya.”

  “I love you, too… u-we-ji-a-ska-`ya.”

  “Hey, that was pretty good,” Chief Sam said. He smiled. “Your Cherokee is getting better. I knew we’d make a good squaw out of you eventually.”

  The guys chuckled.

  I walked away, waving to the men as I tromped through the snow that had fallen the day before. Winter was setting in, and as usual, snow covered the ground. It wasn’t snowing now, but according to the weather report, it would be soon. It does that here—snows one day and then snows again the next day. And before you know it, ten or twelve inches have accumulated.

  Billy closed the door behind me, but I could still hear their laughter. I felt right at home with these guys, even my ex-boyfriend, Cole.

  I was reminiscing as I walked up the steps to the front porch. I cinched my coat against the cold, turned, and then stood there looking out into the distance.

  T
he driveway was filled with cars and the garage was filled with a bunch of crazy men. Soon the house would be filled with both our families celebrating Christmas, and the merriment would be so heart warming. I loved family gatherings. Life couldn’t get much better, I thought to myself.

  Light snow began to fall, and I had to smile at the fact that I had just thought about the possibility of another round of the white stuff. You see, I love the snow. It makes things seem so homey and picturesque. We had a couple of inches on the ground already, but hadn’t had any major snowfall so far. Usually, by Christmas it would’ve snowed several times, but not this year. This year, I think Mother Nature was saving it all up for one big blizzard. I was waiting for that time to come.

  When I left to go to the garage with Billy, Mom and Billy’s mother, Sarah, were inside doting over Ethan and Maisy, while they discussed important matters such as my sister’s upcoming wedding and the soon-to-be new addition to the family. Athena and Thor were curled up by the fireplace, as usual, and Spice Cat lay on the mantel just waiting for a chance to get into something—or tease the two dogs.

  Oh, the family pets got along just fine, but sometimes they needed a little extra attention, so they would lie in wait and then when you least expect it, they would jump up and tear through the house like a bunch of wild animals.

  I expected it was about that time, so I prepared myself for the assault. I turned and grabbed the doorknob, but instead of heading into a war zone inside, I was shaken by a rumble outside.

  An explosion off in the distance shook the porch beneath my feet and lit up the sky. I stumbled and had to grab onto the railing for support. I felt as if I was on a ship in rough seas. The vibration didn’t last long and once I steadied myself, I looked up to see a sky full of red flames above the trees. A plume of black and grey smoke followed. The explosion was almost deafening, and it had come from the direction of Jonathan’s house!

  “Oh, my God!” I screamed as I ducked down. “What’s happening?” I grabbed the door, shoved it open, and then ran inside.

  The dogs were howling and running around in circles, while Spice Cat jumped on every piece of furniture in the house, meowing.

  Mom and Sarah met me at the door, each holding one of the kids. “What was that?” Mom screeched.

  “Are my guys all right?” Sarah wanted to know.

  “I don’t know what happened,” I said as I looked around. “Is everyone okay in here?”

  “We’re fine,” Mom said. “What about Billy and…”

  “Stay here,” I demanded. “I’ll go check on them.”

  I had barely gotten the words out of my mouth when Billy burst through the front door. He looked around to see if everyone was okay.

  “We’re fine,” I said to him. “Billy, what was that?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m sure going to find out. I want all of you, and that includes you, Jesse, to stay in the house while we see what happened.”

  “But…”

  Billy turned to me and put his hands on my shoulders. “I want you to stay here and look after everyone. Lock the door and don’t open it to anyone until I get back. This is serious, Jesse.”

  “What do you think happened? Is someone after Jonathan… or us? Is there something you haven’t told me?”

  I knew Billy pretty well by now, and I knew that sometimes he would keep things from me to protect me. Only at the last minute and only if he had to, would he tell me what was going on. That drove me crazy, but I had come to live with his ways because he was usually right.

  “What’s going on?” I demanded. “I know you’re hiding something from me. I can tell by the look on your face. Now what is it?”

  “We think someone just blew up Jonathan’s house, but we’re not sure. We’re going over to check it out.”

  “I thought that came from Jonathan’s house!” I said as I looked at Mom and then Sarah.

  They stood silently, hugging the children.

  The dogs had settled down and Spice Cat had gone back to his place on the mantel as if nothing had happened. Animals are strange creatures.

  “Shouldn’t we call the fire department, son?”

  “Cole already did, Mom,” Billy replied. “He was on his cell phone the minute the explosion occurred.”

  A car horn blared outside.

  “I have to leave. Now I want you ladies to stay here, and I’ll call you as soon as we find out anything.” He looked at me and said, “Take care of them.”

  “I will,” I said, almost in tears. “Be careful, Billy.”

  He kissed the kids, Mom, and Sarah, and then hugged me before he turned and walked out the door.

  We heard the slamming of car doors and engines racing. Once the men were gone, the three of us stood in one spot dumbfounded, trying to figure out what to do next.

  I was scared and I knew this wasn’t going to be good. If that was Jonathan’s house that had just gone up in flames, we were all in for a hard night. I looked at Mom and Sarah and said, “Let’s go to the family room and try to calm down. We can watch television. Billy will take care of everything.”

  “I can’t believe you’re not running after him,” Mom said. She looked at me as if she was trying to figure out what was wrong with me. “You want to go watch T.V. at a time like this?”

  “What else can I do? Billy told me to stay here.”

  “When did that ever stop you before?” Sarah chimed in. “Get your gun and go be with your husband. I know you want to. You’re partners. That’s what partners do. They stick together. We can take care of ourselves.”

  “But…”

  “Don’t worry about what Billy will say,” Mom added. “You can handle him. You always do. Besides, he might need you. Like Sarah said, you’re not just his wife, you’re his business partner. I think the name on the office door says Blackhawk & Blackhawk, doesn’t it?”

  “I can’t believe that the two of you are encouraging me to do this. You know Billy will have a fit.”

  “He’ll get over it,” Sarah said, agreeing with Mom.

  I hesitated, and then said, “I really want to go, but I promised Billy I would stay here, so I’d better stay here. We’ll wait a little while and if we don’t hear anything, then maybe I’ll go over there.”

  “You sure have settled down,” Mom said, grinning. “I told you that having children would change your life. See what I mean?”

  “You were right, Minnie,” I replied, calling her by her given name—a practice I used when I wanted to distract her. “You always are… just like my husband.”

  Sarah laughed at the two of us.

  “You know better than to call me by my first name!” Mom chided me. “How many times have I told you not to do that?”

  “Aw, Mom,” I said as I reached over to hug her. “You know I love you.”

  Her attitude got a little puffy as she turned to Sarah and said, “I hope your children don’t treat you like mine do.”

  “Of course, they do. You know how kids are. One minute they’re just as sweet as they can be, and the next, they think they know everything. One thing is certain; they always keep you on your toes.”

  “I couldn’t agree more.”

  They turned and headed toward the back of the house to the family room. Sarah stopped in mid-stride, turned, and asked, “Are you coming, Jesse?”

  “Yes, I am, but only if y’all promise to behave yourselves and stop talking about how your children drive you nuts. None of us are like that.” I snickered nervously.

  My stomach was tied in knots, but I was doing what I could to make the best of what was sure to be a horrific situation. Why would someone blow up Jonathan’s house? I thought about the type of people he comes in contact with and then realized the many enemies he could have. Jonathan is a bounty hunter—that says it all.

  Then I had another thought. Maybe the heater exploded. Yeah, maybe that’s what happened. Perhaps the pilot light went out and… I was just trying to rationalize the situation, but disc
overed that since I didn’t know what the situation was, there was no rationalizing that would do me any good. I just had to wait to see what had happened.

  One long, long hour passed without a word. We could hear the sirens in the background. Several times we went to the front door to look out.

  Ethan and Maisy were down for the night, so we tried to make small talk while we waited. But small talk is nothing but useless chatter. I wanted information. I was frantic and had reached the end of the line. I had to do something.

  Mom and Sarah all but pushed me out the door when I said, “Okay, I’ve waited long enough. I’m going over there. Where’s my gun?”

  Chapter 2

  We tiptoed past the children’s room as the three of us headed toward the front door. I made a quick stop by my bedroom, went in and retrieved my gun and handbag. Mom and Sarah chatted anxiously as they stood by the bedroom door waiting for me.

  Once at the front door, I grabbed my coat from the coat hanger and was poised, ready to brave the cold and whatever else waited outside. Hopefully, nothing bad had happened. That’s what I kept telling myself.

  I put on my coat and was just about ready to go outside when a set of car headlights came up the driveway. I quickly took off my coat and hung it back on the rack.

  Mom and Sarah also saw the headlights and looked at me with that look in their eyes.

  “Hurry up and look busy before Billy gets here,” Mom said. “We don’t want him to know…”

  “I’m already ahead of you, Mom.” I ran to my bedroom to stash my purse and then rejoined them.

  Mom, Sarah, and I went to the kitchen and were going to pretend to be doing something other than what we were going to do when a knock at the door startled us.

  “Who’s that?” Mom asked.

  “I don’t know,” I answered.

  “Billy wouldn’t knock at his own house,” Sarah added.

  We stared at each other before I finally stepped foreword to go answer the door. I reached over, pulled the curtain back, and then peeked through the front window. I let out a sigh of relief.

  “It’s just Geneva,” I said.