by Ann Mullen
“The time of death hasn’t been established,” Sheriff Hudson said. “The M.E. stated that she was dead before she was dumped in the woods. How long she was out there, we don’t know. We can only guess. She was last seen alive on November 8th by one of her girlfriends. The rest is still being investigated.”
“In other words, I’m not cleared yet?”
“You are not a suspect. Your story concerning the watch checks out.”
Sheriff Hudson seemed sincere, but I still could not bring myself to trust what has been laid out in front of me when it involves the police. Billy planted that seed when we first met.
“Well, then,” I stood up. “You’ll excuse me while I go about living my life. It was nice to meet you Deputy Hoyle.” I smiled at him. “I’m sure I’ll see you again. If you don’t mind, Billy and I have some things to do.” I looked at Billy.
“I’m right behind you,” he replied, getting up from the table. He made a flowing gesture with his arm. “Lead the way.”
I looked over at Mom and said, “I have some packing to do if I’m going to be ready to move after Thanksgiving.” I made sure the sheriff heard me just in case he came back and I was gone. I didn’t want him to assume I had run off. Heaven forbid!
Claire’s face lit up. “Does that mean that you’re going to do it?”
“Yes, I am. I think it’s a great idea as long as Billy agrees.”
“Then,” Billy said, turning to me, “it’s a done deal.”
I guess our departure ended the hot chocolate party. Sheriff Hudson and his deputy bid good-bye to us as Billy and I retreated upstairs to my room. Mom and Claire remained in the kitchen. Thanksgiving was tomorrow and things had to be done.
The door on the left to Claire’s room was open. I looked in and then smiled back at Billy. “Aren’t they cute?” I asked.
Carrie and Benny were asleep on the foldout couch. They looked peaceful and without a care in the world.
“They’ll have their own room soon,” I added.
“And you won’t have any reason to be jealous of Claire.”
“What are you talking about? I’m not jealous.”
“Don’t try to kid a kidder. I know exactly how you felt about Claire moving into my house. You were jealous.”
“You never offered to let me live in your house, and I work for you.”
“You never asked.”
As soon as we walked into my room, the first thing I saw was Athena and Thor asleep on my bed. They were happy as they could be.
“No wonder you rats were so quiet,” I spat at them. “Get your dirty butts off my bed, you maggots.”
Immediately, they jumped down and cuddled up in the corner. After licking their bodies in the most disgusting places, they finally fell back into their usual mode of daytime napping. That’s what dogs do. They eat, drink, go outside to pee, run around for a few minutes, and then come back inside for an hour’s nap. Then they get up and start the routine all over again. This goes on all day long.
I sat down on the bed and looked up at Billy. “Are you sure you don’t mind if I move into your house? Now that I know Claire wants to stay here with Mom, it’s only right for her kids to have a room. I can find another place to live if you’d prefer.”
“I want you to move into my house. I would have offered before if I’d thought about it. This will work out great. You’ll have your privacy and Claire and the kids can stay here with your Mom without being overcrowded. It’s a perfect setup.”
I got up from the bed, walked over to the window and said, “The snow’s melting. I can see it dripping off the trees.”
Billy came up behind me and said, “Yeah, it’s almost up to forty-five degrees outside. Some of the snow will melt and tonight when the temperature goes back down to the twenties, all of this will become ice. It’ll be worse than ever. You won’t be able to keep a car on the road.”
I turned to him and then looked around the room. “I guess the sooner we do this, the better it’ll be for everyone. I’m pretty excited about having a house to myself... if I can afford it. Between the car payments you already take out of my check and the added expense of rent, I’ll probably be broke all the time. But it’ll be worth it.”
When I first went to work for Billy, I had car problems. He helped me out by arranging for me to purchase an automobile from his brother Daniel, and then financing it himself. The auto was a two-year-old, red Jeep Grand Cherokee, with more bells and whistles than I knew how to ring or blow. I loved that car. I took the extra money I made (Billy pays me extra according to how dangerous the job is and how far I’m willing to go) and applied it to the balance. I’ve had the car six months and it’s almost paid for.
A little while back, I had a very bad experience in it, and since then I’ve shied away from driving it unless I absolutely have to. I’m still working on that phobia. However, that one bad experience netted me enough money to almost pay off the car. But sometimes I wonder if it was it worth it.
“We haven’t even discussed how much the rent is going to be yet. What are you worried about?”
“I guess I’m not really worried about the rent. I’m sure you’ll be fair. I’m more concerned with the fact that we haven’t had a big-money case since Helen Carrolton. Poor Helen—her parents did pay us well, but I wish the outcome would have been different.”
The memory of Helen Carrolton was still fresh in my mind; painful memories that I still had a hard time dealing with. I will never forget the sadness I felt when her little red car was discovered with her body in it. I made myself brush my thoughts of her aside.
“We need a big case so we can make some big money. I haven’t had a decent bonus in two months.”
“If you need money, Jesse, just say so. As for a big case, I think we’re sitting on one. Unfortunately, you might be the client.”
“There isn’t any money in this one, pal.”
“Yeah, but think of all the fun we can have.”
“Are you... what’s that word? U-love-no-tizy...”
“Not bad!” he laughed. “You’re getting better. No, I’m not crazy; I’m just facing facts. This isn’t over yet.”
I didn’t want to think about it. If Billy says it was not over—you can bet it’s not over. I knew I was headed for trouble.
I walked away from the window and began going through my dresser drawers. I grabbed a handful of clothes and tossed them on the bed.
“Is there any furniture in your house? I wonder if Claire might want me to leave the bed for the kids. I better go talk with her.”
Billy has known me just long enough to be able to tell when I was getting uptight. He walked over, placed his hands on my shoulders, and began to massage my tense muscles.
“It can wait. You need to relax.”
I could have stood there forever. The motion of his hands, and the way he dug his fingers into my flesh, soothed the savage beast within me. If a person could fall asleep standing up, I would have. The worries of the day seemed to disappear. My head dropped forward as he ran his fingers up and down the back of my neck.
“Oh, Billy, that feels good.” I had just gotten the words out of my mouth when Claire barged into the room with a surprised look on her face.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
I opened my eyes, hoping I hadn’t progressed to swaying with the rhythm of Billy’s hands. It just felt so good!
“You’re not interrupting anything,” I said as I gathered my wits. “Billy was trying to help me rid myself of some pent-up tension.”
“Jack just called and said he couldn’t make it for Thanksgiving. Dennis has come down with the flu. Mom’s pretty upset. She’s downstairs cooking up a storm and so far everyone has cancelled.”
“We’ll be here for dinner, I promise you,” Billy said, and then winked at me. “We don’t want your mom to eat alone.”
I hadn’t really discussed any specific plans for Thanksgiving dinner with Billy because he had told m
e it was a big Blackhawk celebration. Every family member would attend. He hadn’t invited me to go with him so I didn’t invite him to eat with us. I figured we’d do our own thing.
“That’s right,” I added, following Billy’s cue. “We’ll be here.”
“What about Cole? Is he coming?” Claire asked.
“No, Claire,” I puffed. “I don’t think he’s going to be able to make it.”
Billy and I stole a glance at each other. We both realized that Cole was a done deal. Billy was fed up with him, and I could no longer love a man I couldn’t count on. It was over, and life would go onward.
“I see you’re packing. Are you going to move now?” Claire asked.
“Yeah, this is the perfect time,” I said. “Some of the snow has melted, but it’s going to get ugly again. Billy says the weather changes so fast that you’d better go while you still can. We’ll make the move now and be back in time for dinner tomorrow. What time is dinner?”
“It’ll be around noon.”
Claire smiled and turned to leave. She had a strange look in her eyes. “The two of you belong together regardless of what you think. I’m sure you don’t see it, but I do.”
I stumbled all over myself after Claire left the room. Billy wasn’t doing too badly himself. The idea of the two of us being a pair was not only ridiculous, but was just not going to happen. We ignored her statement and continued with the task at hand.
“What do you want to take with you?” Billy asked, scanning the room.
“Let’s see,” I said. I looked around the room again. “I want to take my computer, stereo, the TV set, and my clothes. That’s about it, unless...”
“You won’t need to take the bed unless you want to. All the bedrooms still have a bed and dresser. There’s a couch and a couple of chairs in the living room and a dinette set in the kitchen. Everything else is pretty much gone. We left the bare essentials in the kitchen: pots, pans and utensils. The beds have sheets and bedspreads and the curtains are still there. That’s about it. You’ll see for yourself when we get there.”
“The bare necessities sound perfect to me.”
By five o’clock, we had everything I owned packed in my Jeep, with the exception of my computer table. Instead of taking it apart, we left it in one piece and put it in the back of Billy’s truck. It was made out of paperboard and if it got wet while we were in transport, it would be dead meat. But for $49.95, who cared?
Mom and Claire cried when we pulled out of the driveway. As usual, they were so emotional. They both could cry over the silliest things.
Much of the snow had melted by the time we left Mom’s house in Dogwood Valley. Gullies of water had accumulated in areas, and the South River was running at its peak. I wondered if the residents weren’t in danger of flooding from the snow that had melted off the mountain tops. Billy says that happens quite often. Several inches of snow accumulating in a quick period of time, and rising temperatures soon thereafter, could result in devastating floods. Yet, this didn’t seem too bad.
I drove away with a good feeling in my heart. I was about to embark on another one of my adventures on the road of life. It could only get better, or so I thought.
Chapter 7
I followed Billy out of Stanardsville into Charlottesville, eventually coming to the entrance of the Blackhawk property, several miles deep into Albemarle County.
Bear Mountain Road was the main road into the Blackhawk compound. It traveled for miles, twisting and turning, leading to the various homes of Billy’s brothers and sisters, until it reached the circle of Sam and Sarah Blackhawk’s house. There, the road turned around and led back out. Billy had once told me that Chief Sam Standing Deer planned it that way. He was the chief and he wanted to be at the end of the line. I guess that way he could watch over all his children. Every time he and Sarah left their house, they would have to pass by their children’s homes.
Billy’s parents owned a few thousand acres of land. Many years ago, they divided some of it into parcels for their children, giving each one several acres in which to build a house for their families. And, of course they all did. Unfortunately, not all of them remained as a family on the Blackhawk compound. Billy and Ruth divorced five years ago. Daniel has three ex-wives and five children, but his son, Greg is the only one who still lives with him at their family home. Jonathan built a small cabin and lives there alone. Sarah and Beth also have places of their own to come to when they want to get out of the city. They live in the city because neither one of their husbands wanted to live out in the wild. It was also a career decision. Sarah is a lawyer and Beth is a financial advisor.
Now I had joined the Blackhawk tribe. Almost. I was about to move into their territory. I didn’t know too much about the Cherokees, but from what I’ve seen on TV, they were a tight community. Would they see me as an outsider?
Billy turned left at the third graveled entrance. Tree limbs recently laden with heavy snow hung over the path, scraping the sides of my Jeep as I followed. I hit every pothole in the road before finally coming to a stop in front of a house sitting at the end of the path. I parked alongside of Billy’s truck and got out. There was a crisp nip in the air as a cold gust of wind hit my face. The ground was saturated with the melting snow.
I had heard so much from Billy about this place and now I was going to live in it. When it first came into view, it looked like just an average, two-story log house set back in the mountains. Once inside, I realized it was far from average. It had once been a home and would be again.
I sat the box I was carrying down on the floor and looked around, scanning the room. I shivered at the chill in the house.
The living room, dining room and kitchen were one big open space. To my right up against the wall was a large stone fireplace that looked like it had seen many fires, and had been the gathering place for Billy’s family on a cold winter’s night. A sofa with its back to me, sat in front of the fireplace, and a small table sat empty in front of it. To my left was a dinette table and chairs nestled in the middle of a modern looking kitchen. A utility room was off the back of the kitchen. Straight ahead, a hallway in the middle led to the back half of the house, and the master bedroom to the right. The stairway to the second floor ran along the side to the left of the hallway, and a guest bathroom was to the left past the stairs. All the floors were hardwood.
“Billy, this is nice.”
“As you can see there’s not much furniture,” he apologized as he wiped his wet shoes off on the doormat, and then closed the front door. He walked over and sat a bag of my junk down on the kitchen table. “I’ll bring in some more stuff while you have a look around.”
“No,” I said, locking my arm in his. “I want you to give me the ten-cent tour. It would make it more special coming from you. This is your house.”
“Okay, if that’s what you want,” he said. He smiled that charming smile of his and took on a proud air as he gave me the grand tour of his house. He took me upstairs first and showed me the two bedrooms where his sons grew up, and the bathroom in the hallway they had shared. By the time we had made it through the master bedroom downstairs, he was clearly shaken. I saw a tear in his eye.
“Does it bother you to be here?” I asked.
“Not so much anymore,” he managed to say before he walked off into his own little world.
I hated to see him hurt like that so from that moment on, I decided I was going to put the joy back into his place. I was going to change his last sad memories into new, happy ones. Billy might not have Ruth anymore, but he had me, and I would be his friend till the end.
It didn’t take long for us to get the rest of my stuff inside. I didn’t have much. Within an hour, I had my clothes pretty much unpacked and stored in the one dresser in the master bedroom. A few boxes lined the wall and would stay there until I could figure out what to do with them. The only other piece of furniture in the room was a bed made of pine in the shape of a box, resting on four short legs.
&nb
sp; It felt funny moving into Billy and Ruth’s house, but if I was going to live here, I had to get past that feeling. I just hoped that I didn’t have dreams of him when I slept in their bed. That would be weird.
Billy had a fire going in the fireplace, and I could smell coffee brewing when I walked out of the bedroom.
“Where did you get the coffee?”
“It’s the one thing I keep here. Sometimes I have to come out to the house to make sure everything’s kept up, and I’ll have a cup of coffee while I’m here.”
I heard a rumble in the background. “What was that?”
“It’s the gas heater kicking in. I just turned up the thermostat. Usually I keep it at fifty-five when it gets cold, just so the pipes won’t freeze. But now that you’re here, you’ll need for it to be warmer inside. I figured the fire in the fireplace would be a nice touch.”
“You know how I do love a fire. It makes a house so cozy.” I walked over to the fireplace and rubbed my hands together, leaning into the fire.
“Here,” Billy said as he handed me a cup of coffee. “Drink this, it will warm you up.” His fingertips touched mine.
I touched his hand and said, “Billy, your hands are freezing. Sit by the fire with me.”
We sat down on opposite ends of the hearth and drank our coffee.
Gradually, I got this warm, peaceful feeling. I knew I was going to love this place. This was going to be my home.
“Well, if I’m going to live here, I have to have more than coffee. Didn’t we pass a country store on our way in?” I asked, breaking the silence.
Billy’s cell phone rang. He reached under his coat and whipped it out.
“Hello, Billy Blackhawk... Yes... Hello, Mom. We were just having some coffee... Okay, if that’s what you want. We’ll be right there.”
