A Crying Shame: A Jesse Watson Mystery

by Ann Mullen

  Athena came running out of the bedroom and stood by the front door.

  Russ came inside and immediately walked over to the fireplace. He placed the car seat on the floor and pulled back the blanket covering it.

  Mom and I held hands as we walked over to him and looked down. In the car seat lay a beautiful baby girl with thin locks of blond hair. She was sound asleep. The first thing Mom said was, “She’s not sucking on a pacifier.”

  “What’s that?” Russ asked.

  We both laughed.

  “Even I know what a pacifier is,” I said, jokingly.

  Athena and Thor came over, sniffed around and then lay down, one on each side of her. Maisy now had two guard dogs to look after her.

  “Have you met my mother?” I looked up and asked him.

  “We’ve met before,” Mom said. “Do you have any children, Mr. Shank?”

  “No, thank you,” he laughingly replied. “I’m not even married, and probably never will be since Billy told me that I couldn’t have her.” He pointed to me. “He sure is the luckiest guy in the world. He has a wonderful wife and a great family. I should be so lucky.”

  “He’s kidding, Mom,” I said as I gave Russ a hug. “How old is Maisy?”

  “I’m not sure,” he replied. “I don’t know a thing about babies. Mom told me what to do, step-by-step to get her here in one piece. I would’ve been here sooner, but Mom kept giving me instructions. I didn’t think I’d ever get away from her. I can ask Brian.”

  “She looks to be about four or five months old,” Mom said. “It’s terribly sad for a child to have to grow up without a mother. I sure hope she doesn’t lose her father as well. She’s a pretty one. When’s the last time that she was fed?”

  Russ reached into his shirt pocket, pulled out a piece of paper, and then handed it to Mom. “Here’s a list of everything you need to know according to my mom. Maisy was fed and changed before I left Mom’s house. At least, that’s what she told me to tell you. I have some stuff in the car that you’re going to need. Actually, I have quite a bit of stuff.”

  I looked at Russ and then back to Mom. “I’ll help Russ get the stuff out of the car, if you’ll watch her for a minute.”

  “Sure, honey, I’ll be glad to.”

  I put on my coat and walked out to the car with Russ.

  “Boy, it sure has gotten cold,” he said, making conversation.

  For a minute, I thought about asking Russ’s advice about what I should do with the shirt, but I figured the less who knew about what I was about to do; the better. I guess I wanted his okay, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I had my mind already made up, and there was no changing it, regardless of what he might say. I would keep him out of it.

  “I’m getting tired of all this snow. I’m ready for spring.”

  We carried the portable crib, two large diaper bags and a box full of baby food into the house. I put the food and diaper bags on the kitchen table while Russ showed us how to unfold the crib.

  “See, it’s a piece of cake. Even I can do it.” He laughed and then winked at me. “Where do you want to put it?”

  “You can leave it right there beside the sofa for now. I’ll figure out where to put it later.”

  “I guess I’ll be going,” he said. “I’ll call you after I’ve had a chance to talk to Billy.”

  “Please do,” I said as I walked him to the door. “I won’t sleep a wink until I hear from you.”

  He looked over at Mom and said, “It was nice to see you, Mrs. Watson.”

  “Thanks for everything. I’m sure we’ll see more of you in the future.”

  “I’m sure you will,” he said as he walked out the door.

  After he left, Mom and I stood and looked at Maisy, neither one of us speaking for the longest time. Finally, I said, “She really is a beautiful child. What do I do with her?”

  “Don’t you worry, honey, you’ll figure it out.”

  “You’re not leaving, are you? I thought you were going to stay for a while… you know… just until we get settled.”

  “I’m not going anywhere, so don’t get all upset. I’ll be here for as long as you need me. Stop worrying, honey. You worry too much.”

  “Thank you, Mom. I don’t know what I’d do if you left now.”

  Mom smiled at me and said, “We need to find a place to put Maisy. We don’t want her in the draft from the front door. I think we should set up the crib in your room and then we’ll take her out of the baby seat and put her to bed.”

  “Do we have to move her? She looks so peaceful right where she is.”

  “You might as well get your hands dirty, so to speak.” Mom looked at me and giggled. “Don’t look so forlorn, honey. It’s not that complicated. Just remember that at this age, when they cry they’re either wet or hungry, or both.”

  Mom and I picked up the portable crib and carried it to my room. Then we went back to get Maisy. I bent down and picked her up in my arms. She stirred, opened her eyes, and then went back to sleep.

  “She has blues eyes, Mom.”

  “I know; she opened them and looked at me while you were outside with Russ.”

  With Mom’s watchful eyes, I took Maisy to my room and lay her down in the crib. She wiggled around a little and then settled in. I placed the blanket from the car seat over her, and then walked out of the room. Athena and Thor followed my every move. I left the door open so I could hear her if she cried, and then ushered the dogs back into the living room.

  “See, that wasn’t so hard,” Mom said. “Now it’s time to take care of you. You need to eat something. You didn’t eat much dinner.”

  “I’m not hungry,” I said as Mom gave me one of her looks. “Okay, I promise to eat something if you’ll get some rest.”

  “I think you’ve got a good idea. I’ll go upstairs and lay down with the kids if you promise to wake me if you need me.”

  “Oh, you can bet on it.”

  Mom turned and walked upstairs.

  As soon as she was out of sight, I turned and ran to the laundry room. I pulled the bag out from under the dirty clothes and ran back to the living room. I tossed the shirt, bag and all, into the fire and watched as it burned. Ten minutes later, the only evidence left had been turned into a pile of ashes. The only eyewitnesses to my crime were two canines, and I knew they’d never tell a soul.

  CHAPTER 10

  A horrible, burnt-plastic smell filled the air. I had to do something to get rid of the odor, and I had to do it quickly. Waiting to hear from Russ Shank and with the threat of Detective Trainum’s return, I was sure to have company soon. If anyone got a whiff of the smell, they would know immediately what I had done. I went to the kitchen in search of a box of matches. Shortly after finding out that I was pregnant; I was forced to give up smoking by well-meaning family members, so I no longer possessed a lighter. However, I was sure that there had to be matches somewhere. I rummaged through the kitchen drawers and searched all the cabinets, but came up empty-handed. Finally, I went over to the computer desk in the living room and pulled open the drawer. I found a book of matches containing only two matchsticks. This would have to do, I told myself. If I’m careful, I’ll be able to light several candles, and hopefully, cover up that stinking smell. I walked over to the fireplace and grabbed the two candles sitting on each end of the mantel, and then walked around the room, gathering up more candles. I took the candles back over to the desk and started lighting each one. I managed to get all seven of the candles lit before the matches burned out. I strategically placed the candles about, and since our living room, dinning room and kitchen is one big open space, the scent of the candles quickly eradicated the horrible odor. I was saved! No one would ever know that I had burned evidence that could’ve possibly caused Billy problems. I knew he wasn’t guilty, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

  I sat down on the sofa and put my feet up on the coffee table, soaking up the smell of vanilla, pine, and a faint hint of cinnamon. I lay
my head back and tried to sort out all the stuff that was going on in my mind. Then it dawned on me that Claire hadn’t returned. I turned my head and looked over at the microwave. It was sixteen minutes after nine. Where was she? She should’ve been back a long time ago. I got up from the sofa, walked over to the desk, and picked up the phone. I punched in Mom’s number.

  “Hello,” Claire said with a slight giggle in her voice. “Quit,” I heard her whisper to someone as she tried to carry on a conversation with me. “Stop, silly!” she said loudly, and then laughed as if she was being tickled.

  “Claire!” I shouted, tired of her playful silliness. It was obvious that she was fooling around with Cole, and I didn’t want to hear it. I had more important things to occupy my mind.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, Jesse,” she replied. “Cole and I were…”

  “When are you coming back? I was worried about you.”

  “I’m leaving in a few minutes. Is everything all right? Are the kids okay?”

  “Everything is fine. Mom’s upstairs asleep with the kids and Maisy is in her crib in my room. She’s so beautiful, Claire.”

  “Don’t get too attached to her, Jesse,” Claire warned.

  “Oh, I won’t.”

  “Have you heard from Billy?”

  “Not yet,” I said. I heard a commotion in the background and then Claire said that Cole wanted to speak to me. “Sure, put him on the phone,” I said.

  “Jesse, has the sheriff or that detective been back?”

  “No, they haven’t, why?”

  “Be prepared. I’m sure Detective Trainum will be back with the hound dogs. Don’t let him intimidate you. He’s got a big mouth…”

  “I’m not afraid of him. I can handle myself.”

  “I’m sure you can, but just in case, don’t answer any of his questions without your lawyer present. Things are heating up and I don’t want that detective to take advantage of the situation.”

  “What do you mean, heating up? Have you heard something?”

  “I talked to Sheriff Hudson and he said the blood test came back and it’s Carl’s blood. They also found blood from at least one other person, maybe two. It’s still being analyzed. They found Carl’s car at the airport. It’s been impounded and they’re going over it with a microscope, well, maybe not a microscope, but you know what I mean. Rest assured they’ll be coming back to your house to do another search.”

  “I’m getting a little rattled.”

  “Why, you don’t have anything to hide, do you?” He hesitated for a second and then asked, “Do you want me to come back with Claire and stay the night?”

  “That might be a good idea,” I replied. “Do you mind?”

  “Of course, not,” Cole said a little too quickly for my liking.

  “I want you here for family support, nothing else.”

  “I understand. We’ll be there in about an hour.”

  The phone connection was broken. I replaced the receiver and turned to go sit back down on the sofa and immediately saw the familiar sight of flashing blue lights through the window.”

  “What’s going on now?” I said as I ran to the foot of the stairs. I whispered Mom’s name just loud enough for her to hear and hopefully not loud enough to wake Maisy or the kids.

  Mom came out of the bedroom to the top of the stairs and called down. “What is it, Jesse?”

  “The cops are back.”

  She was at the foot of the stairs within seconds. “If they don’t have a warrant, don’t let them in,” she said.

  “I won’t, Mom. I’m getting a little sick of their…”

  “What’s that smell?” Mom turned to me with a hard look on her face. “Please tell me that you didn’t do what I think you did.”

  “What do you mean?” I tried to look innocent, but nothing gets past my mother. She’s way to smart to be fooled by a rookie like me.

  “You know good and well what I mean.” She looked around the room. “Blow out those candles, all except the two over the fireplace. We don’t want to look guilty.”

  “Why would burning candles make us look guilty,” I asked as I did what she said.

  “She rolled her eyes at me and said, “Give me a little credit, Missy. I’m nobody’s fool.”

  “No, I didn’t think you were,” I said, watching the trails of smoke from the extinguished candles.

  Mom walked over to the wall and flicked the switch to turn on the ceiling fan. “Let them knock a couple of times before answering the door. That’ll give me time to turn the fan off. Cops aren’t stupid either. They’ll know exactly what’s going on the minute they see that fan running. Nobody runs a fan in the winter.”

  “Sure they do, Mom. It helps circulate the warm air.”

  “I never thought of that. I’ll have to try that when I get back home.”

  After the sound of several car doors being slammed and footsteps on the porch, someone began pounding on the front door.

  “Just a minute,” I yelled out as Mom turned off the ceiling fan. I went to the front door, opened it slightly, and then stuck my head out. “What do you want?” I asked a man in uniform.

  The man had a K9 Unit patch on his jacket. Two other men crawled out of a Chevy Blazer and came up behind him. They were dressed in the same uniforms sporting the same patches, and each one held the leash of a hound dog.

  “I have a search warrant to search the premises, the surrounding land, garage, shed, and all automobiles belonging to Billy Blackhawk.”

  “I hope you don’t plan on bringing those dogs into my house,” I stated. “We have two small children and an infant in here. You’ll scare them to death.”

  The officer looked at me as if I had lost my mind, but I stood firm. I had no intention of letting those animals sniff around my fireplace. Besides, I had no idea how sensitive their noses were and I didn’t want to find out.

  “If we don’t find what we’re looking for, we might have to do exactly that,” he said with a snide grin on his face as he shoved the search warrant in my hand. It was obvious that he was trying to scare me. “Thank you for your cooperation.” He turned and motioned for his men to follow him. They disappeared from sight and the bark of the hounds ensued.

  I shut the front door and walked over to Mom who was standing by the fire. I unfolded the warrant and we huddled together, reading it. After a few minutes, Mom looked at me and asked, “Do you understand any of this jargon?”

  “Basically, it says that they can pretty much do anything they want to and we’re supposed to cooperate or face being arrested.”

  “That’s ridiculous!” Mom was adamant. “I don’t want them in this house!”

  I looked up at her and said, “I have my own reasons why I don’t want them in here. What’s yours?”

  She turned her head, stared into the fire and then replied, “I wonder if buttons would burn up to nothing? I’d hate for them to find a couple of them in the ashes. They might get the wrong idea. All I want to know is how did you find the shirt?”

  “Quiet, Mom,” I said, putting my finger to my mouth. “They’re probably listening.”

  Mom stepped back and looked at me strangely. “I knew you’d do it!” She turned and started walking in circles. “Jesse, you might have made a terrible mistake. That shirt might have gotten Billy off the hook. I hope you haven’t sealed his fate.” She looked down at Thor who was sleeping peacefully by the fire. “He’s probably one of the smartest dogs I’ve ever known.”

  “I’m beginning to think that he’s a genius, as far as dogs go.”

  “I just hope the two of you aren’t too smart for your own britches.”

  “You can’t prosecute someone without evidence.”

  Mom seemed to be in deep thought and didn’t respond to my statement. She stopped pacing and sat down on the sofa. “I wonder why they didn’t ask us for one of Billy’s shirt or other clothing. How are they going to track his scent if they don’t have something to go by?”

  “That’s a g
ood question,” I replied. “Maybe their dogs are trained to sniff out human blood, and it doesn’t matter whose blood it is. I don’t know, Mom. Maybe they took Billy’s shirt or something from him at the police station.”

  “Just in case they come in here, we need to confuse the dogs. Go check the laundry basket and see if there’s one of Billy’s dirty shirts in it, and then put it on.”

  I was confused at first and then I realized that she might have a point. “I’ll go find something of his while you go to the kitchen and heat up some leftovers for me. I haven’t had a chance to eat, and…”

  “That’s a great way to throw a dog off track. The aroma of food gets everybody’s attention, especially a dog.”

  I went to the laundry room, dug in the clothes basket and came up with one of Billy’s T-shirts. I smelled it and then pulled it over my head. The sweet scent of Old Spice lingered in my nostrils along with a faint odor of body perspiration. Oddly, I liked the smell.

  The sound of a baby’s cry caught my attention. I ran to the kitchen, stood and stared at Mom and then said, “What do we do now?”

  “I’ll heat up the food while you go get Maisy. Then I’ll show you what to do. Just remember that she’s only about five months old, so she’ll still be a little wobbly.”

  “What do you mean, wobbly?”

  “Lord, help me. Don’t you know anything about babies?”

  “I know they cry and you have to hold them all the time.”

  “All right, come on,” Mom said. “I’m going to give you a quick lesson.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Maisy had been changed and given a bottle. Mom showed me how to do everything I needed to know for the time being. She explained that for right now, she didn’t think we were to give Maisy anything but a bottle, but once Claire returned, we’d ask her.

  “Things have changed since you were a baby. We used to sterilize everything and had to make up the formula. Now everything is premixed and all you have to do is pour the formula in a bottle and stick it in the microwave. Modern technology! You’ve got to love it.”

  “Yeah, where would we be without it?”