by Ann Mullen
Mom stepped between us and said, “All right, everybody calm down and let’s figure out what to do next.”
“There’s only one thing to do,” Cole pointed to Billy and me. “You two have to come in and make a statement. Tell the police everything that happened and pray that they believe your story. I can’t promise you anything. My boss is a tough man to deal with when it comes to this sort of thing. He has a tendency to frown on murder, especially when it happens to one of his own. I know Roy had gone sour, but he was a cop once.”
I rolled my eyes and let out a forced breath. “This is crazy.” I threw my hands up in the air and turned to walk away. “I’m not doing squat. If they want me, they can come and get me.”
“Hold on a minute, Jesse.” Billy reached to touch my arm. “Cole might be right. We have to go make a statement. If we don’t, we’ll look guilty.”
“I have news for you, pal, we already look guilty. This is just going to tighten the noose.”
“Jesse, do what Cole says,” Mom said. “He knows what’s best.”
“He might know what’s legal, but I’m not so sure he knows what’s best. Just because he’s a cop, it doesn’t mean he has all the answers.”
“I’m not saying he does, either,” Mom replied. “I think he’s the best thing you have going for you right now. Maybe he can sway the sheriff, maybe he can’t. But that doesn’t change the fact that you have to go to the police. You can’t just sweep it under the rug like you used to do when I would ask you to clean your room. Do you remember? I knew you were sweeping trash under your rug, and I would always go in and clean it up. I can’t do that this time. You have to clean up your own mess.”
“You never forget a thing, do you?”
“No, I don’t. It’s my job to remember everything you ever did.”
I finally came to the realization that Mom was right, and I was wrong. We had to do something. I just wasn’t sure what, and I didn’t like the idea of going into the lion’s den again. I’ve been there too many times in the last six months. I was afraid that if I went in again, I would be chewed up and spit out like a bad piece of meat. I apologized to Mom for ruining her Thanksgiving meal, and for giving her something else to worry about.
“Oh, honey, you didn’t ruin my Thanksgiving. If anything, you added some spice. Things are never dull when you’re around. Besides, I’m not worried. I know Cole and Billy will take care of you.” She laughed her silly laugh, and then kissed me on the cheek.
I didn’t have much confidence in Cole anymore, but I knew Billy would never let me down. He had become my rock. I knew I could trust him with my life.
“I guess we’d better get moving,” I said. “I don’t want to put this off any longer. I’m sure Sheriff Hudson will be so glad to see me again. He’s getting used to having me as a guest at his humble abode. Maybe he could set up a room just for me in case I come for a visit. I sure hope he puts a TV in the room.”
I know everyone thought I was being silly, but I didn’t care. It was my way of being able to handle what was happening. The truth is, I was scared. I didn’t like the way things were going so far and I didn’t have a reason to believe it would get better.
Billy saw my fear. He came over and put his arm around me. “Come on,” he said. “I’ll be right beside you the whole time.”
“What will I do if they put you in jail?”
“You won’t have to do anything.” He chuckled and then looked around the room. “You’ll be there with me.”
I grabbed him by the arm and headed for the door. “If you’re saying that to make me feel better, it’s not working.”
“Would I do that?”
“Take care of her, Billy,” Mom said as she walked over to the front door. “Don’t let her get crazy and say something that we might all regret later. You know how she gets when her temper flares. She’s worse than a mama bear protecting her cubs.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen her mad a few times. She’s rabid.”
“Billy Blackhawk, you’re full of it,” I said. “Get me out of here! We have a party to go to.”
“See, I told you she was crazy.”
Chapter 11
The sheriff kept us until almost five o’clock. He warned us not to leave town and said he might have more questions for us at a later date. Actually, he was almost pleasant after we convinced him we had an alibi for the day Mary Keen disappeared, or at least my car did. It was impossible for anyone to say they saw me in my car on that day because my car was in the shop. Also, we could alibi each other in the death of Roy. Yet, I still had an uneasy feeling.
“I can’t believe he was so nice,” I whispered to Billy as we left the police station. “See, he knows we’re not guilty.”
“Boy, have you got a lot to learn,” Billy said, helping me up into the truck. He walked around to the driver’s side. “He’s waiting, that’s all.”
“Waiting for what?”
“He’s waiting for us to slip up or until he can get more concrete evidence. He can now place us at the scene of the crime. But there’re two of us and he knows our alibi will hold up in court unless he can prove something otherwise.” Billy started the truck and pulled out of the parking lot. He retrieved his cell phone and handed it to me. “Here, call your mama.”
I dialed the number, and Claire picked up on the first ring. I had to go through everything that happened at the police station before she finally handed the phone to Mom.
“Mom, it’s me, Jesse. I just wanted to let you know everything was fine. I’m not going to jail just yet.”
“I’m glad, honey.” She sounded relieved. “Cole and Billy are good men. I knew they would take care of my girl.”
I replayed the whole scene at the police station. She wanted to know every detail.
“Does that mean you guys are in the clear?”
“Well, for now it does, Mom. You can bet we’re going to watch our backs. I don’t trust the cops.”
“Oh, Jesse, you sound so mysterious. If it wasn’t so serious, it would almost be funny,” she giggled into the phone.
Billy motioned for me to hand him the phone.
“Hold on, Mom, Billy wants to talk to you.” I passed him the phone.
“Hey, didn’t I tell you everything would work out? We’ll be there shortly. That’s fine! We’ll see you soon... Love you, too.” He closed up the phone and stuck it back into his coat pocket. “Your mom wanted to know if we were coming by to get the dogs. I told her we were. She thought we had forgotten about them.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve had other things on my mind.”
“That’s exactly what your mother said. According to her, it seems our communication skills are sorely lacking.”
“I was just thinking. I hate to bring them to a new place and then turn around and leave them by themselves.”
“They’ll get used to it. All they have to do is get settled in. Trust me, dogs adjust to new environments very well. It just takes a little time. Besides, we’ll be there to help make it easier. Five minutes in that house, a bowl of food and a blanket, and they’ll be right at home.”
“If you say so,” I mumbled. “Maybe you could help me for a while. I’m not too good at long-term maintenance.”
“It’s time you learned.” He looked at me in one of his serious manners. “It’s time you grew up and took on some responsibilities. You have a good life and people around you who love you. You’ve found your home.”
I understood every word he said. I’d lived a vagabond lifestyle for so long that I didn’t know what it meant to have a real connection to anything permanent... whether it was a relationship, apartment, or a job. This was to be my life and even though things could get strange sometimes, I liked it, and I wanted it to get better.
“You are absolutely right! I need to get my priorities straight. The first thing I need to do is make a home for my dogs. Then, I’ll go from there.”
“You’ve got it.”
“Is that a snowflake?”
I asked Billy. We pulled into the circle at Mom’s house. “I thought we were finished with snow for a while.”
“What can I say? We live in the mountains. Winter is upon us.”
“Let’s make this quick and painless. I don’t think Mom really wants to let those dogs go, but for some reason, she has the same idea as you do. She wants me to be responsible.”
“There’s no doubt in my mind about it,” Billy agreed.
The departure was filled with tears. Mom and Claire cried when Billy and I put Athena and Thor in the truck. At the last minute, Claire ran out of the house with a big bag of dog food.
“Here, you might want to take this. They’ll need it now and we can get more when they come for a visit.”
I opened the door and grabbed the bag.
“Thanks, I’m sure they will appreciate it. Are you sure you guys don’t want to come with us?”
“It’s been a long day and everyone is tired, maybe some other time.”
By the time we reached our new home, the snow was coming down hard. Thor had insisted on riding all the way with his head out the window, nipping at the flakes, while Athena lay groaning between Billy and me. She usually gets car-sick. The minute I opened the door, they jumped out and took off running. They were free.
“Hey, where’re you going?” I yelled at them.
“Oh, let them go,” Billy said, grabbing the bag of dog food and heading up the steps. “They have to check out their new territory.”
I collected my belongings and followed Billy inside.
The thermostat had been set on seventy degrees when we left, which should have kept everything nice and warm, but the house felt like an icebox.
“Billy, it’s freezing in here. Did you leave a window open?”
“No, I didn’t.”
He looked around the room, until his eyes became fixed on the door to the utility room.
“What on earth... the outside door is standing open. Give me your gun. Mine’s in the truck.”
I sat my briefcase on the kitchen table and removed my gun.
“Here,” I whispered, passing it to him butt first. “What’s going on?”
“Someone’s been here. Stay close to me.”
He held the gun out in both hands, kicked the back door shut with his foot, and then went from room to room.
I stayed on his heels. I was scared and didn’t know how I would have reacted if we had found someone in the house.
“It must have been the wind,” he said, once the search was complete. “I guess my imagination is working overtime.”
He put the gun on the computer table and went to the fireplace.
“I’ll put some logs on the fire. Why don’t you call in the dogs?”
“Billy, I saw you lock that door. It wasn’t the wind and you know it. Tell me the truth. You think someone’s been in here, don’t you?”
“Jesse, it’s an old lock. I’ve been meaning to replace it with a deadbolt, but never got around to it. I’ll take care of it as soon as Lowe’s opens in the morning. Don’t worry. If you’re scared, I’ll move something heavy in front of it. Nobody’s getting in here.”
“Maybe you can stay with us tonight,” I replied.
He made a move toward me with an amorous look in his eyes.
“Stop right there!” I said, taking a step backward. I didn’t want to instigate anything. “The dogs need you. That’s all I meant.”
“In that case, I’d better stay. We don’t want the dogs to be scared.”
He chuckled and walked to the front door. When he opened it, a gust of snow and two soaking wet dogs rushed in. Their wet, dirty paws made tracks on the floor straight to the kitchen. Thor had something in his mouth.
“What have you got there, boy?” I asked. I went to him and bent down. I finally managed to wrestle it out of his mouth.
Once Billy sat the bowls of food on the floor, Thor forgot all about the prize he had just delivered.
“Did you lose a glove?” I asked, looking up at Billy.
He reached out and took the glove from my hand, examining it closely.
“It’s not mine. It’s too small. Besides, it’s a woman’s glove.” He handed it back to me. “It’s probably yours.”
I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out mine.
“I don’t think so.” I waved my pair at him. “I have mine.”
Billy tossed the wet glove in the sink.
“Maybe it’s one of my mom’s. We’ll take it with us. I need to get back to my place and take a shower or we’re going to be late.”
“You’re going to leave us alone?”
“Yes, unless you want to come with me. I have to change clothes sometime and I thought you might need time to relax.”
“I could use a little down time before we go to your folk’s house,” I said, feeling a little silly for being so scared. I was a big girl. I had a gun and two viscous attack dogs. How much protection does one person need?
I looked at the dogs. Athena was standing at her dish, savoring every morsel of her dry food while Thor had plopped himself down in front of the fireplace looking like a beached whale. Before Billy reached the front door, Athena had abandoned her food and joined Thor.
I kept my distance from Billy as he was leaving. I think we both recognized it was time to step back and draw some lines in our relationship before we could move on to the next level. I wasn’t sure how I felt about many things, but there was one thing I did know—I wanted Billy near me. Soon, we would have to meet in the middle and lay our cards on the table. I had a lot of thinking to do in a short period of time. When emotions and physical attraction come into play, things start happening.
After Billy left, I threw a couple of logs on the fire, switched on the television to keep the dogs company, and then headed to the bathroom for a well-deserved soak. I grabbed a couple of candles off the dresser and was ready to relax. I’d just about dozed off in a sea of warm bubbles when Athena came up to me and barked.
“What?” I snapped to attention. “What is it, girl?”
She yelped and pranced around in circles, her nose high in the air. Suddenly she stopped, twisted her head to one side, and then jumped on the tub with her front paws. She was silent until I went to pat her head. A chilling howl came out of her mouth that could have awakened the dead. I knew she was trying to tell me something.
“Back up and give me a minute,” I said to her as I reached for the towel on the toilet seat. I jumped out of the tub, dried off quickly and wrapped the towel around me.
Athena turned and ran.
By the time I reached the living room my heart was racing. My hair was wet and the water dripped down my back. I stood frozen in shock, staring at what she was trying to show me. A picture of a skull and crossbones flashed on the computer screen. At the bottom, a message appeared: STAY OUT OF MY BUSINESS OR DIE!
The sound of my heartbeat pounded in my head as I gingerly looked around the room. The eerie feeling of somebody watching me crept up and sent a shudder through my body. Goosebumps rose on my forearms. It took a half-second for me to panic. I snatched my Rossi off the computer table and ran to the bedroom to get dressed. There was something vulnerable about being half naked, and thinking some creep was staring at you through a window. I had to put on some clothes.
Things were still in disarray from the move since I hadn’t completely settled in. I had to scrounge around until I came up with my old bathrobe. Once I had myself covered and cinched up, my courage returned. I felt under the bed to make sure that my 9MM was still there—it was.
In my line of work, it’s good to have a backup weapon. At one time I considered buying a snub-nosed .38 with an ankle strap, but with my luck, I was afraid I’d shoot myself in the foot.
I sucked in my breath, stuffed the Rossi in my robe pocket, and inched out of the bedroom. With my back to the wall, I slid through the house until I had closed every curtain and made sure the front and back doors were still secure. I went upstairs
to have a look around. Once I was sure the windows in both bedrooms were locked, I let out a sigh of relief. I wasn’t taking any chances. I’ve watched enough TV to know that bad things can happen to women who live alone.
By the time I made it downstairs, most of my fears had subsided. I stood in the living room, and for the first time since I had moved to the mountains, I stopped and took a real hard look at my life. I had a feeling that I was exactly where I was meant to be. All I had to do was to decide where I wanted to go from here. One day soon, I would become a licensed private detective and then Billy and I would be business partners. At least that had been the plan—until we had slept together. Speaking of which, what about Cole? How did I feel about him? I cared for him, but the intense love I thought I felt was nothing more than sexual gratification and a need on my part to have someone in my life. He stimulated and fulfilled my sexual desires, but that was about as far as it went. We didn’t share much of anything else. He wasn’t able to put in the time it took to make a relationship work, and I needed someone who wanted to be with me. I realized I could have all of that with Billy.
There was one thing about Cole that disturbed me: his short fuse. Although I had not seen him get really angry until recently, I had a feeling there was an underlying rage that might surface at any moment. I might be wrong, but I didn’t want to find out. It left me with an uneasy feeling.
Cole’s behavior reminded me of a friend of mine back in Newport News. I went to high school with Angie, and after high school we both got a job working at Coleman’s Department Store. She married Gary, her high school sweetheart, and everything was lovely.
Shortly afterwards, Angie started showing up at work with a black eye or other bruises on her body, and it was happening on a regular basis.
Finally, one day I confronted her about her black eye. I told her I was her friend, and wanted to help. I knew something was wrong. Nobody was that clumsy so I asked her to tell me the truth.
When she broke down and told me that her husband beat her, I was mystified. I found it hard to believe that Gary was that kind of person.
She said that Gary was wonderful man, or so everybody thought. On the outside, he was kind, friendly, and about as good-hearted as they come. But that was on the outside, when he was around people. When they were at home and nobody was around, he had a terrible temper. He would throw things at her, and slap her around. Once he chased her around the house with a butcher knife, and threatened to slit her throat. He told her he could cut her up into little pieces, and feed her body parts to the fish in the James River, and nobody would ever know.
