by Ann Mullen
“No thanks,” they both said and then went to their separate corners.
“Are you ready to go?” Billy asked.
“Give me a minute. I want to change clothes.” I left the room, keeping my fingers crossed they wouldn’t go at it again before I returned. I ran upstairs, removed the tank top and put on a clean T-shirt. I grabbed my cell phone from the charger and slipped it into my shoulder bag, along with Rossi. From now on, my gun was going everywhere with me.
When I got back downstairs, everyone was sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee. I caught the end of the conversation.
“What’s this about Bill and Edie?” I asked.
“I was just telling Billy that I didn’t know about the 4th of July,” Mom replied. “Uncle Bill and Aunt Edie are coming for a visit next weekend. They called this morning. But that’s not all. Claire called last night to say that she and the kids were coming for the weekend. Since everyone was going to be here, I called and invited your brother. He’s bringing a friend.”
“But Mom, we told Billy we were going to his family’s party for the 4th. He’ll be disappointed if we don’t show.”
“He said all of us could go to his celebration. He says it’s a big shindig; the more, the merrier.”
I glanced at Billy.
“That’s what I said. My family would love it. Believe me, there will be more food than you can eat, and it’s going to be outside, so there’s plenty of room for guests.”
Cole chimed in, “It’s true. You’ll have a great time.”
“Where will everybody sleep?” I asked Mom.
“Cole has offered to let Jack and his friend stay with him. Claire and the kids can share my room, and Bill and Edie can have the spare room. Unless you want to let Jack have your room and you stay with Cole.”
“Jack can have my room,” I said, winking at Cole.
“Now that the sleeping arrangements have been established, I’ll make a few phone calls,” Mom said.
As we were leaving, Cole walked us outside and said, “I’m going to change the oil in your mom’s van and the pickup truck. If you want me to do your Jeep, I’ll need your keys.”
“It’s fine,” Billy said. “Daniel serviced it before she bought it.”
“Would you mind giving us a moment alone, Billy? I need to have a word with Cole.”
“Sure, I’ll wait for you in the truck,” he answered. “I’ll see you later,” he said to Cole.
I turned to Cole and said, “You don’t have to do all the things you do for us. We appreciate it, but we need to learn how to take care of ourselves. I can change the oil in the cars, and I can cut the grass. Whatever else I need to know, I can find out. I don’t want you spending your time off from work doing our chores.”
“I want to do it,” he said. “There’s a lot of work to running a place like this and you’re going to need help. Living in the mountains takes some effort. Not only do you have to maintain the cars and cut the grass, but you will also have to do things like cut up downed trees, keep the animals at bay, and make sure the upkeep on the house is done.”
“I get the picture,” I said. “Thank you for looking after my mom.”
“I have to,” he whispered. “I want to make a good impression on my future mother-in-law.” He kissed me and gave me a little shove. “Now go on before Billy gets in an uproar.”
Did I hear him right—future mother-in-law? I walked out to Billy’s truck in a daze. I turned and blew Cole a kiss. I was still reeling from Cole’s declaration when I got into the truck and slammed the door. I must have been mistaken.
“You look like the cat that swallowed the canary. What happened?”
“I’m not sure, but I think Cole just asked me to marry him.”
“That’s crazy. You haven’t known Cole long enough to even consider the idea of marriage,” he yelled.
“Don’t yell at me!” I cried. “Maybe I was wrong about what he said.”
“No, you understood him perfectly. Let me tell you something. Cole has a tendency to fall in love with every girl he dates, and he’s dated plenty. He even got married once and you see how that turned out. He can’t help it. I don’t know what’s wrong with the guy.”
“Oddly, I have a tendency to be the same way,” I confessed, “except that I never married one of them. This time it’s different, Billy. Cole isn’t like the other men I dated.”
“Yeah, it’s different all right.”
Billy pulled out of the driveway with a skeptical look on his face, or was it jealousy? I tried not to notice. I wouldn’t entertain those thoughts. The idea of Billy and me being romantically involved was just not going to happen. He’s old, and I’m not.
Billy drove at breakneck speed. I barely got a chance to glimpse at what had become one of my favorite scenes, the cop car on the hill with the sign on top, Law Enforcement—Out of Control. I love it. I know there must be a tale behind it, but I didn’t know what it was. It didn’t matter. To me, it was a symbol of free speech. It represented the right to say whatever you wanted to as long as you didn’t cross the line. Obviously, this didn’t cross the line, because it was still there.
“Can we please slow down?” I asked as we came to a stop at the intersection in Ruckersville. “You’re driving way too fast. I’m on the verge of a major panic attack.”
“Sorry,” he said. “My mind was somewhere else.”
“You’d better be on the ball,” I demanded. “Remember the last time we paid a visit to these crazy people? One of them shot at me. I don’t want that to happen again.”
“I made a mistake. It won’t happen again. You can bet your butt on it,” he said, staring dead into my eyes. “I won’t let you get hurt. After you were shot, I made a promise to myself that I would take care of you and not put you in another dangerous situation.”
“What a joke. Everything you do is risky. But I’m not scared. Let’s go get the bad guys!”
“Let’s do it!” he yelled.
Billy was silent for the rest of the ride until we reached Gordonsville. “I have something to tell you.” He hesitated long enough to get a second wind. “I got a call last night from Daniel. Greg, one of his sons, volunteers for the Adopt-A-Highway program. They were supposed to meet Saturday morning and do what they normally do. Well, it seems Greg had something to do and couldn’t make it, so he went out alone Friday afternoon to do his share. Daniel said it was not uncommon for them to make arrangements like that, as long as everyone does their part.”
“Get to the point, Billy. You’re driving me nuts.”
“Anyway, he went into the woods to take a leak and found a woman’s purse. He picked it up and looked inside. You’re never going to believe who it belongs to.”
“Helen Carrolton,” I mumbled.
“Bingo,” Billy said as he ran his hand across his forehead. “This doesn’t look good, Jesse. I am afraid the girl’s dead.”
“How do you know it’s her purse? Was there a wallet in it?”
“Duh,” he smacked the side of his head. “Of course, there was a wallet in it. How else would we know it belonged to Helen?”
“Who has the purse now?”
“Let’s just say I have control of it for the time being.”
“How did you manage to come into possession of it?”
“Greg took it to his dad, and Daniel called me. Coming from a family of such diverse occupations, Greg knew right away what he had. He knew about the investigation.”
“How did he know?”
“Jesse, you ought to know by now that my family works together. We help each other. We know what’s going on in each other’s lives. That’s what a family’s all about, right?”
“Daniel called and told you Greg found Helen’s purse. It sure is a coincidence that someone in your family found evidence relating to your case. What did you do with the purse?”
“I took it to a friend this morning at the Charlottesville Research Facility for DNA testing. She’ll run hai
r and fiber samples, and test for blood and semen, etc. We should hear something soon.”
“It’s Sunday, Billy,” I reminded him. “How did you manage that? Also, I thought DNA testing took weeks.”
“I have friends in high places and friends in the right places.”
As Billy drove, I sat and tried to absorb what he’d just told me. Helen was probably dead, and somebody would have to tell her parents. “Helen’s parents don’t know, do they?” I asked him.
“Not yet. So far, only a handful of people know. The point is, they have to be told, and the evidence has to be turned over to the police. We can’t wait too long. Withholding evidence is a felony, and I don’t want to go to jail.”
“What do we do?” I asked.
“Hold your breath.”
Chapter 21
Billy and I discussed the situation. I had a hard time believing that we could get so lucky. “Exactly where did Greg find Helen’s purse?” I asked.
“It was in the woods about a half a mile from the road where the Hudgins live. It was strange.”
“I’ll tell you what’s strange... the fact that your nephew was the one who found the purse. You must be the luckiest man on the planet. How is that Billy?”
“Just lucky, I guess,” he offered. “Sometimes things just go my way.”
“It sure sounds like it.”
“Right about here,” Billy pointed. “This is where he found the purse. It was back in the trees over there.”
“Hey, there’s a dirt path,” I motioned. “Pull off and let’s go have a look. Maybe we’ll come across something else.”
Billy quickly glanced around, checking for traffic and then slammed on the brakes. He pulled onto the dirt path and stopped. We got out of the truck.
“Watch out for snakes,” he said.
“Did you have to say that?”
“I’m just warning you. You need to be careful. Have you ever been bitten by a snake?”
“Are you kidding? Not in this lifetime!”
“I have, and I can tell you it’s no picnic.”
“Is there anything that you haven’t done or had happen to you?”
“Don’t be cute.”
We searched the woods for thirty minutes looking for evidence. The underbrush was thick with vines and dead tree limbs.
“There’s nothing here,” I said. “Let’s go. This place gives me the creeps.” Litter was scattered about and I saw several used condoms. It was starting to gross me out. “Looks to me like people just ride by and toss trash out of their cars.”
“Yeah, and that’s what I think happened with the purse. Somebody just tossed it out the window, maybe as a desperate attempt to get rid of evidence,” Billy replied as we trudged back to the truck.
I stood by the open truck door, analyzing the situation. “Whoever tossed the purse did it on the opposite side of the road, unless they turned around at some point. Helen was headed north, not south. That would be a pretty long toss for anybody.”
“Yeah, that’s what I figured,” Billy agreed as he crawled into the truck.
I jumped in and said, “Here’s how I see it.” I ran through the scenario as Billy backed out onto the highway. “Somewhere between the diner and the gas station, Helen picked up her passenger. By the time they reach the gas station, it’s already starting to snow pretty hard. They leave, heading in the same direction as before. Then as they get down the road a bit, he gets control of the situation. Maybe he has a gun and makes her pull over. Now he’s the one driving the car. He turns around and heads back in the opposite direction. She’s frantic. She’s afraid he’s going to kill her, so she tosses her purse out the window, hoping someone will find it eventually. She can’t get anyone’s attention, so she leaves evidence behind.”
“Maybe he’s already killed her and dumped the body,” Billy suggested. “He’s on his way home and looks over and sees the purse. He grabs it, and tosses it out the window.”
I thought for a minute. “No, that can’t be,” I deducted. “It’s snowing like crazy. He would have the windows up. He’d have to reach over and roll down the window. That would be a struggle, and if he did manage to get the window down, I doubt he’d be able to throw the purse that far into the woods from where he was sitting. His arms would have to be mighty long and he’d have to be mighty strong. It doesn’t add up. None of this makes any sense. The purse had to be dumped after the fact... ah... or after she left the gas station. I don’t know. Anything could’ve happened.” I was starting to ramble on. “I was so freaked from being in those woods back there, I can’t think straight now.”
Billy was deep in thought when he pulled up in front of the Hudgins’ house. An old Chevy and an old Ford, Mustang convertible were parked in the parking spaces in front of the house.
“I see the kids are home,” I stated. “Mom’s minivan is gone, and so is Dad’s little red sports car. Where’s the housekeeper’s station wagon?” I smiled at Billy. “How lucky can we get? That just leaves the old Chevy for Jay and the Mustang for Rose.”
“The station wagon’s probably parked out back since it does belong to the housekeeper. You don’t think they’d let her leave it out front for the whole world to see, do you?” he hissed, making some kind of internal noise that reminded me of a frog about ready to vomit.
“Do I detect a little bit of prejudice there, Billy?” I sneered. “Got something against common laborers?”
He laughed at me and said, “Bite your tongue.”
“I was just asking.”
“Hey, what makes you think the Chevy belongs to Jay and the Ford is Rose’s? It could be the other way around.”
Billy parked the truck. I looked down at the two cars as we walked past them and said, “It’s like this. Rose drives the Mustang, because women love to ride in convertibles, and Jay drives the Chevy, because guys love to drive high-performance cars. It’s a logical deduction.”
“I’m impressed, Sherlock,” Billy said with a chuckle. “I’m sure you’re absolutely right!”
As we walked up to the house, Billy and I turned to each other. All the bushes that had lined the flowerbeds had been bulldozed off to the side into an ugly mound of dirt and tangled greenery. We could hear the roar of heavy equipment in the backyard.
“What happened here?” I asked.
“Don’t you mean what is happening here? Do you hear that noise behind the house?”
We listened for a second and then heard someone scream. Billy and I took off running, following the sound.
It was like a madhouse. Rose was running around yelling at Jay. Jay was steadily dragging bushes out from the flowerbeds with a backhoe.
“What’s going on here?” Billy asked, shocked at the sight.
The minute Rose saw us she stopped yelling at her brother, put her face in her hands and started crying. I ran to comfort her. She was frightened and the situation was obviously out of control.
Jay shut off the backhoe, climbed down and started to walk away.
“Have you lost your mind?” I screamed at him. “You’ve gotten your sister all upset, and I don’t think your parents are going to be too happy when they see what you’ve done to their flowerbeds.”
“I tried to make him stop!” Rose whimpered. “But he’s crazy. He won’t listen to anybody. He did this to punish Mom. He knows how much she loves her flowerbeds.”
“Why’s he trying to punish your mother?” I coached. “What did she do to him to make him so angry?”
“It wasn’t anything he didn’t deserve, as usual,” she answered. “Mom took his car away because he didn’t come home until early this morning. The second she leaves the house, he goes into a rampage.”
“Does he behave like this often? I mean, lose his temper and destroy things? Is his temper always this bad?”
It didn’t take her long to figure out where I was headed with this line of questioning. She squared her shoulders, stopped crying and said, “He’ll be fine. He was just a little angr
y.” She brushed past me.
Before I could stop her, she ran to the house. Billy walked over to me. Jay stopped and turned his attention to us. The look on his face made my skin crawl.
“Nice piece of equipment, isn’t it?” Jay asked. “I love playing on that thing. Just makes me feel so tough.”
“What a nut case,” I whispered to Billy.
“You’re tough, all right,” I shouted to Jay. “I guess you’re proud of what you did. You’re a big man. You like to scare women, don’t you? Hurt them? Kill them? Huh? What do you say?” My temper was on the edge and any minute I was going to fly into a rampage that would make his little tantrum seem like child’s play.
Billy got in between us. “Hold on, a minute,” he said as he pushed me back. He knew I was getting crazy. “Straighten up!”
“Where’s my shotgun? You bunch of thieves!” Jay screamed.
That did it for me. I went berserk. I jumped on him and we both went tumbling to the ground.
“You dirty rat!” I screamed. “You killed her, didn’t you? I know you did! I can see it in your eyes. You’re a useless, piece of garbage!”
“Jesse, get off the kid,” Billy said, tugging at my arms.
By the time Billy pulled me off the boy, I was livid. Jay jumped up and scrambled his way into the house.
“What’s the matter with you, Jesse?” Billy demanded as he helped me up. “Don’t you know you could go to jail for what you just did? Have you lost your mind?”
I brushed off my pants. A pain surged through my shoulder.
“Forgot about that shoulder, didn’t you?” Billy asked. “Let’s see if we can do some damage control.”
“He’s guilty, Billy,” I insisted. “I see it in his eyes. He killed her.”
“Sure... sure,” he said, trying to humor me. “Not only are you the next Sherlock Holmes, but you’re also clairvoyant. I’m so lucky!”
“You’re not funny.”
We made our way up the front steps and rang the doorbell.
“You know that crazy kid has probably called the cops by now,” I said. “We’re trespassing... again.”
