by Ann Mullen
Captain Waverly eased my fears. “Mr. Blackhawk and I have reached an agreement about the acquisition of the photo. As far as Tyler is concerned, why don’t you let me and my men worry about him? I can promise you one thing, he won’t have an opportunity to get to your family. I’ll personally see to that. You have my word on it.’’
“You say that, but where will your men be when one of Tyler’s goons corners one of us off somewhere alone? Are your men going to be there when we need them? You can’t protect us twenty-four hours a day. It’s just not possible.”
“Let me put your mind at ease,” he continued. “Everyone in this photo will be watched around the clock until we can get our hands on Tyler. We’ve been after him for a long time and now with your help, we have something to go on. We’ll flush him out and bring him to justice, if I have to arrest everyone in this picture. We’re closing in on him as we speak.”
“Does that mean you believe my story?”
“We’ve been following this case closely. Everything you said earlier has been verified by my department. I needed your statement for the record.”
“I didn’t see anyone taking notes.”
“My office is wired with a recording device.”
“Isn’t that illegal? You could go to jail.” I laughed at my remark.
“It’s illegal only if I tried to use it in court, and failed to advise you of that fact before we started the interview. But I knew that wasn’t going to be necessary. I was aware of your role in this investigation. The photo was a surprise bonus. Mr. Blackhawk and I worked all that out on tape. Everything’s aboveboard. Isn’t that right, Mr. Blackhawk?”
“Why don’t you call me Billy?” he suggested, reaching over to shake his hand. “I think you know me well enough by now.”
“I will as long as you call me John.”
“Call me mystified and we’ll all be one big happy family,” I hissed. “That still doesn’t make me feel any safer.” I looked at the captain and proclaimed, “I have a gun. If Tyler gets near my family...”
“You’ll be within your rights to protect yourself and your family if it becomes necessary to do so. I assume the gun’s registered. Hold on a minute. I thought we had your gun.” He started shuffling through some papers on his desk. “Yes, I’m sure of it.”
“I own two, and they’re both registered,” I replied. Another thought came to me. “What about Sheriff Hudson?”
“What about him?”
“What’s your take on him possibly being one of the bad guys?” I didn’t wait for a response. “I can’t seem to bring myself to believe he is. He just doesn’t look like a crooked person.”
“What does a crooked person look like?” Captain Waverly asked.
“I see what you mean.”
“Go home and get on with your lives,” he said as he walked Billy and me to the main entrance of the police station. “Put the past behind you and trust this department to do its job. My men are pretty good at what they do. I’ll get Jake to take you home.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Billy said. “I drove my truck.”
John eyed Billy with suspicion. “If you could drive to the station, then why did I have to send out one of the guys?”
That was my cue to put in my two cents’ worth.
“A decision made a day late, and a dollar short. Your man was probably already on the road when Billy came up with that idea. He’s a man. It’s their job to take care of us defenseless women.”
Billy and John got a chuckle out of that statement, but neither one of them disputed my synopsis. I, on the other hand, got a whole new perspective of that male-bonding thing they all seem to share. When their masculinity was backed into a corner, they all stuck together.
“After you finish patting each other on the back, I’m ready to go home.”
I was relieved that the interrogation was over and the outcome had been a positive one, but their behavior was beginning to rattle my nerves. They were like little boys with a newfound playmate. Men!
“That turned out pretty good, don’t you think, Jesse?” Billy asked. He started up the truck and backed out of the parking space. “Captain Waverly’s a good man.”
“They’re all good men until they’re proven otherwise,” I replied, tired of all the bull. Regardless of how right everything seemed to be now, later on would be another story. I wanted to know my family would be safe. I didn’t want a bunch of empty promises. Show me the money. Prove to me that I don’t have anything to worry about. “Are you willing to put our lives in the hands of the police?”
“No way, but I do know how to play the game.”
“But...”
“Look, I think Waverly’s one of the good guys, but I’m not taking any chances. As soon as we get home, I’m calling a family meeting.”
“You’ve said something about a family meeting before. Exactly what does that mean?”
“That means we have a family crisis and everybody’s required to meet. If you’re not dead, you’d better be there... no matter where the meeting is held... no matter what.”
“That sounds good to me. Does that apply to my side of the family? I mean, we’re not married yet.” I was trying to make light of the situation and add a little bit of humor to a not-so-humorous situation. However, Billy wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention to me after he had made his declaration. His main goal was to get us home in one piece.
The roads were terrible. Snow was piled so high in places that you didn’t dare veer off course. Tire tracks down the middle of the road were our only guide.
“I’m sorry, Jesse, did you say something?”
“Why were you getting so chummy with the captain? What exactly were you talking about while I was in the bathroom?”
“He offered a piece of advice that really got my attention. We were discussing how I acquired the photo, and he made a comment about the fact that you couldn’t always trust what you see. Photos can be deceptive. All he really wanted from me was generic stuff. He didn’t care about the photo. I got the impression that he was trying to drop that subject and get onto something else. It was as if he was trying to sweep everything under a rug. He wanted to end the conversation.”
“What do you think it means?”
“I’m thinking that maybe there’s still an investigation going on that’s related to Clayton Tyler, and he’s not telling us.”
“Do you think there might be some kind of sting in place, and he wants us to butt out?”
I had a feeling all along that something wasn’t right in the kitchen. Captain Waverly was just too darn nice for a cop, but I didn’t want to say anything to Billy. I thought maybe I was just being a skeptic. I’m always a little leery of people who are too friendly.
“I think this goes deeper than we’ve imagined.”
“Are you saying that you think the captain’s in on it?”
“Oh, no. I don’t think that for a minute.”
“Okay, spell it out for me. What do you think?”
“I can’t put my finger on it yet, but I think you hit a sore spot when you mentioned your suspicion about some of the captain’s men. He wasn’t too happy about that.”
“Yeah, did you see the look on his face? I thought for sure he was going to throw the book at me over that one. I have another suspicion. What do you think is the possibility that Tyler could be connected to the mob? Is that what the captain was trying to keep from us?”
“What mob? What are you talking about?”
“You know what I’m talking about, Billy, the mob.”
Billy has a facial expression for everything. If he thinks something’s silly, he rolls his eyes. If something makes him mad, he creases his eyebrows in a downward shape. If he thinks we had better watch out butts, he cocks his eyes to one side. He cocked his eyes.
“Jesse, if Tyler was connected to the mob, we’d both be dead already. They don’t play games. They don’t make mistakes. No, that’s not Tyler’s style. He has power and
money, but I don’t think he’s smart enough to run with the big dogs. He’s small time in the scheme of things, but he’s dangerous. It’s apparent that he won’t hesitate to have someone killed. We must watch him well. We cannot trust others to do it for us.”
“Do you think that whatever’s going on can be any worse than what we just went through?”
“Oh, I have a feeling that it can be a lot worse.”
“Was that what Captain Waverly was trying to tell you?”
“I think he wants us to go home and forget this ever happened.”
“Are you serious? He actually thinks we can do that?”
“That’s what he said.”
“I have news for him. We’re not going to let this rest while that psycho’s still out there. You know what’s going to happen, don’t you? One of us is going to have to die before the cops will do anything. I’m not going to stand around and wait for that to happen.”
“Captain Waverly said to let him do his job. He doesn’t need our help. He made that perfectly clear.”
“And you’re going to listen to him?”
“Are you kidding? I know better than to count on the police!”
Chapter 21
As soon as Billy and I walked through the front door (which had been repaired and re-hung thanks to Cole), we were overrun by the Blackhawk clan. It seems that Mom and Claire, aided by Cole, decided that there was a family emergency and made a few calls themselves.
Needless to say, the house was abuzz. The women were in the kitchen fixing sandwiches and discussing wedding plans while the chief and his sons were in the living room by the fire, listening to Cole as he tried to explain the situation at hand.
I noticed Billy’s two sisters were absent from the meeting. When I questioned him about it, he said they were the exceptions to the rule. They weren’t usually called upon in dangerous situations unless absolutely necessary, because they didn’t live at the compound.
“If the chief thought they might be in danger, he would have called them to this meeting. I’m sure they have been informed of the situation. Our main concern is that everyone is aware of what’s going on so they can keep their eyes open for trouble. We’re going on watch.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means that at any time you might see any one of us prowling the property, keeping watch. Nobody’s getting on our land without one of us knowing about their presence. We’re ‘circling the wagons’ as the white man would say.” He looked over at me and smiled. “We’re watching.”
“How long are you going to be on watch? This could go on for a while. We’re dealing with some pretty sneaky fellows.”
“Until the problem is solved,” the chief said as he approached Billy and me. “You don’t have to worry about anything, Jesse. My boys won’t let anybody hurt your family.”
“I don’t know, chief,” I responded. “This guy Tyler’s a pretty bad dude. He kills first and then asks questions later. That’s his solution to a problem. He sent Brad and Laura Westover to retrieve a photograph and told them to kill all of us afterwards, like it was nothing.”
“As you’ll see, men like him always make mistakes,” the chief replied. “He’s never met you.” A confident smile crossed his face. “We’ll catch him and put a stop to his trail of bloodshed.”
“How will you do that? How can you stop someone like Clayton Tyler? The police don’t have enough evidence to put him behind bars. If they can’t do the job, what makes you think we can?”
“There are other alternatives, Jesse,” Jonathan said as he leaped up off the sofa and walked to the center of the room where we stood.
I hesitated to hear what his alternative might be, considering he made his living as a bounty hunter. And I was told that he was darn good at his job. He always got his man or woman. Judging by his size, if he was after me, I think I’d lay down in the middle of the road and play dead. His arms were bigger than my legs.
“There’s always the old-fashioned way,” he continued.
“Hold on,” I pleaded. “You’re not going to scalp him, are you?”
The house roared with laughter.
I felt like such an idiot.
Finally, the chief leaned over and whispered, “We don’t do that anymore, Jesse.”
“I had something else a little less drastic in mind,” Jonathan said, trying to control his laughter. “But if it comes to that...”
“Stop teasing Jesse,” Sarah stepped forward and said. “Can’t you see she’s upset? Behave yourself, young man.”
“I’m sorry, Mama,” Jonathan apologized to his mother and then turned to me. “I’m sorry, Jesse. I was just kidding. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“It’s all right, Jonathan,” I said. “It’s just that I’m a little bit in a tizzy knowing that man is out there somewhere, and nobody seems to be able to stop him. He’s invincible, and he has plenty of money.”
“Nobody’s invincible, Jesse,” Jonathan said. “I learned that a long time ago. Let me tell you a little story.”
“Oh, no,” said Daniel as he slapped Jonathan on the back. “You’re not going to tell us another one of your horrible stories, are you?”
“Yes, I am, so don’t interrupt me.” He looked back to me. “Two years age, I was called to go after this woman who had skipped bail. Bail jumpers are a big part of my job. I like going after them, because they’re easy to catch. They’re on the run, and they make a lot of mistakes. Most of my cases are small-time losers, and they never flee the country. Well, this woman was a whole new story. She had a drug charge against her, and the minute the judge set bail, she paid it, and then hit the road. It was her first offense, and if she had been convicted, she would have probably gotten community service. She came from a wealthy family; her parents were loaded. They had more money than they could ever spend, and when they died, she was going to get it all. So instead of going back to court and taking her medicine, and then going on to live the good life, she jumped bail. She managed to get on a commercial flight headed to Atlanta.”
“Would you just get to the point?” Daniel needled him.
“The most ironic thing is, when I got the call, I was at the airport. The minute Joe told me her name, the ticket counter lady also said it. Talk about being lucky! I purchased a ticket and set in the seat next to her all the way to Atlanta. Before the flight was over, she was in love.”
“Oh, bull,” Daniel said as he threw his head back and laughed. “You come up with more crap than anyone I know.”
“I swear it’s true. It was Karla.”
A strange look came over Daniel’s face when he said, “The same...”
“The same,” Jonathan said with a grin.
Daniel turned to me and said, “There might be some truth to this story, but if I were you, Jesse, I wouldn’t believe everything this guy says.”
“What happened to the woman?” I asked.
“I almost married her,” Jonathan replied. “Fortunately, I wised up and dropped her. She had too much baggage. Money breeds trouble.”
“Did she go to jail for what she did or is she out running the streets?”
“They threw the book at her. She was sentenced to three years in prison, and the last I heard, she was still doing time. Talk about being stupid! Like I said... money talks, and...”
“We know the rest, mister,” Sarah said. “Thank you, very much.”
“Come on, brother,” Daniel said as he put his arm around Jonathan’s shoulder. “Let me buy you a beer.”
“You can stop worrying,” Sarah announced, taking my hand. “My boys will protect you. Why don’t you sit down and have something to eat?”
“I am a little hungry,” I said. “I lost my breakfast at the police station.”
I should have kept my mouth closed when I had the chance. That statement prompted an endless conversation all through lunch about babies and being pregnant. By the time I finished my sandwich, I had heard more tales about children
and childbirth than I cared to. I needed a nap. My brain was fried.
“Excuse me,” I said, getting up from the table. “I need to lay down.”
“Of course, dear,” Sarah said. “We understand, don’t we?” I caught her winking at Mom and Claire.
“That’s a good idea, honey,” Mom said. “Why don’t you go take a nap? You look a little rough around the edges. You could use some rest after what you’ve been through. You need to keep your energy level up.”
“Yeah,” Claire giggled as she shouted across the room. “You’re going to need all the energy you can get when that baby comes.”
The ladies had a good laugh.
“What?” I heard Daniel say, just before I closed the bedroom door.
I flopped down on top of the bed and pulled a pillow over my head to block out their voices. Eventually, I fell into a restful sleep. I felt like I had just dozed off when Billy came into the bedroom and woke me.
“Dinner’s on the table, Jesse.”
“What time is it?” I asked as I sat up and rubbed my eyes.
“It’s six o’clock. You’ve been asleep for five hours.”
“You’re kidding! It sure didn’t seem that long.”
“That’s because your body was trying to tell you something.”
“I don’t want to hear one word out of your mouth about me having a baby. Y’all are making me crazy!”
“That’s not what I was talking about. All I meant was that maybe your body needs a rest. You’ve put it through some hard times lately. Stress alone can wear you down. You’ve had plenty to be stressed about.” He sat down on the bed next to me and brushed a strand of hair back out of my face. “But if you want to talk about the baby, now would be a good time for me. I’m all ears.”
“What is it with you people?” I became enraged. “Between Sarah, Mom, Claire, you, and your dad, I’m about ready to give birth. Will you give me a break? Billy, there isn’t any baby. I know we haven’t really talked about certain personal things, but I’m sure you pretty much know when it’s that time of the month for me.”
