The Prey Bites Back: A Jesse Watson Mystery Book #8

by Ann Mullen

  “What was that all about, Jesse? You’re freaking me out. Is someone following us?” Lila was quickly coming unglued.

  “Calm down, Lila. Act as if nothing’s wrong.” I pulled my 9 MM from my purse and was on the ready. My paranoia was in high gear. Death does that to me. “Just keep on driving. Don’t look back.”

  “Okay,” she replied, fear in her voice.

  Lila made a right turn onto Bear Mountain Road, but fortunately, the SUV didn’t follow.

  “Geez, Jesse,” Lila said as she finally exhaled. “You scared the crap out of me. I thought we were under attack. I could see our bodies lying in the middle of the road with bullet holes in our heads, and blood pooling all around us.”

  “That image will be with me for a while. Thanks, Lila. Not that I don’t have enough bad ones back there as it is. What’s one more?”

  My plan was to go home, check on everyone, and then call my mother, but I didn’t get a chance to do the latter. Mom’s canary yellow 4Runner was parked in the driveway. The flood waters on South River Road must’ve receded.

  Lila pulled up next to Mom’s car, looked at me and said, “I’ll be right beside you when you tell Minnie about Mae.”

  We got out of the car, walked up on the porch, and then into the house, all in slow motion. I had a real heavy feeling in my heart.

  Billy, Helene, Eddie, and Mom were sitting at the kitchen table going through files, the kids and the dogs were playing on the floor in the living room, and Spice Cat was napping happily on the kitchen counter. I let that one go. I was too stressed to worry about a cat on the counter, dropping hair and dander all over the place. I’m glad I took that pill, or I’d probably be having a full-blown panic attack right about now.

  They all jumped up and greeted us, sans cat. Billy gave me a quick kiss on the lips, and then stared into my eyes, warmly. He was telling me everything was okay. He was himself again. My heart melted and my anxiety fled. I kissed the kids, patted the dogs, and then shooed the cat off the counter.

  Mom was holding up a sheet of paper. “You have to see this, Jesse,” she said. “I told you Mae was right. There’s something funny about that place and those wicked women who run it.”

  I handed Helene the bag containing the bottle of pills. “These are for Athena. Lock them up somewhere, and never give her more than one at a time.”

  “Will do,” She replied. She looked at Lila. “Would you like some coffee?”

  “No, thank you.” Lila looked over at me. “I should get back to the office.”

  “Go ahead. I’ll get my car later. Thanks for the lift.”

  No one asked about my car.

  After Lila left, I began my account of the storm, my office visit, and Mae’s badly-timed departure, but Mom stopped me before I could finish. “We already know the whole story,” she interrupted. “I called the hospital, and Mae isn’t dead. That’s what counts.”

  “Whew,” I said, relieved. “I’m so glad to hear that. I knew you’d be upset about her. I even expected you to cry. I’m glad you didn’t.”

  “I am upset about her being struck by lightning, but I can’t do anything about it. That was in God’s hands. I’m concentrating on righting a wrong. Snooping on people and fixing things. Dakota Stone and Olivia Swales are killers. All we have to do is get the evidence. The cops sure can’t seem to get anywhere on this case, and you know they must’ve questioned everyone who ever set eyes on the man. Plus, the wife is always the first they go after. They accuse and harass them to no end. Oh, I’m sure they checked her inside and out. They know she was a member of The Body Shop. Perhaps they actually had the common sense to question the folks there. You know… check out the wife and all her associates… something like that. Hey, the first thing the cops probably did was check out her bank account to see if she’d recently withdrawn a large sum of money—hit man money.” Mom’s head bobbed up and down and her eyebrows arched in the way they always do when she’s sure she’s gotten to the truth of the matter. “Hmm… you’d think the cops could do better. I’m just glad people have us to rely on.”

  “She’s got the bug,” I said, looking at Billy. “She’s a goner.”

  We smiled at each other… and it felt so good.

  “What bug?” Mom asked, knowing the whole time what I’d meant.

  “You know what she’s talking about, Minnie,” Helene joked. “You and Eddie are going to be another Jesse and Billy, just a little older. You’ve got the itch… the fever… and the nose for digging up the dirt. In other words, you’re good at investigating. You know the right place to look and the right questions to ask. You’re old. Folks trust old people.”

  “Geez, where have I heard that before?” Mom smiled.

  Helene motioned to us. “Everyone sit down and I’ll fix some sandwiches.”

  “I am hungry,” I said. “I missed breakfast and lunch.”

  “This’ll be a late lunch,” Helene said, grinning.

  “By the way, I talked to Mae’s daughter, Marsha,” Mom jumped in. “She called me from the hospital. Nice girl. She sure loves her mama. Mae’s pretty bad off. Her whole body is red like she has a real bad sunburn and in some places she has huge blisters. Her memory’s gone, and her internal organs are messed up. The doctor says she’s going to have a long recovery. Lightning strike victims don’t usually live through it, but Mae’s a fighter. She’ll be okay. It’ll just take a while. Don’t know about the memory thing. Doc says that might take longer to come back… if ever. That’s the long-term outlook. For the present, they just hope Mae doesn’t suffer a heart attack and die. Her electrical system is whacked out, and that’s bad on the heart. They’re just not sure of anything right now. Only God knows. She can’t have any visitors yet.”

  “We’ll do what we can,” Billy said. “If Dakota Stone’s a killer, she has to be stopped. When Mae does recover enough to know what’s going on, we’ll have this case solved.”

  “Y’all must know something I don’t,” I said, inquiring. “Where’s the proof. Got any clues, hints, or ideas?”

  Mom dropped a sheet of paper down in front of me, and said, “Here it is.”

  I looked over the document and discovered a very interesting and vital piece of information. There was no record whatsoever that Dakota Stone ever existed until four years ago when she opened her spa/killer/shop.

  “How…”

  “Billy said we could use his private computer.” She pointed to the back where our home office was. “So, we did. After Eddie and I got back from our honeymoon, we went right to work. I joined that spa and started snooping. Eddie did the research. He’s the one who found this.” She pointed to the document.

  I looked over at Billy. “You know what this means, don’t you?”

  “Dakota Stone is not who she says she is.”

  “So who is she?”

  “If you like that,” Eddie said, passing another piece of paper my way, “you’re going to love this.” He went on to explain as I scanned the printout. “Both women are using stolen social security numbers from dead women.”

  “How on earth did you get their social security numbers?”

  “Computer.” Eddie grinned. “If you know the right place to go, you can find out anything on the web.”

  “Now you’re talking like a hacker,” I said, shaking my head. “I hope you didn’t leave any footprints.”

  “He knows the drill,” Billy assured me.

  Eddie continued. “Olivia Swales is using the social security number of a woman who died five years ago in a car accident in Wilson, North Carolina, and Dakota’s social security number belongs to a dead woman in South Carolina. In 2010, Dakota opened her shop and had to list her social security number on the business license, and I found Olivia’s listed on a hospital admission form. She was admitted to UVA Hospital around the same time both women appeared in Charlottesville. Somehow, I feel there’s a connection to Olivia’s hospital stay and their arrival. I can’t find a single thing on either woman bef
ore 2010. It’s as if they didn’t exist until four years ago. Go figure.”

  “I’m no private eye,” Helene said, placing food down in front of us, “but even I know that when someone changes their identity, they’re either running from someone or something.”

  “Precisely,” Billy agreed, picking up his sandwich. “All we have to do is find out who these women really are.”

  “How hard can that be?” I asked, knowing that Billy had his ways. He could find out anything he wanted to. That’s what he does. That’s what we both do. Get dirt. I looked at Mom. “You can take me to The Body Shop as your guest. That’s a start.”

  “I can’t do that,” Mom said as if she was scared. She picked up her sandwich and bit into it.

  “Why not? They won’t know what we’re up to.”

  “That’s what you think. They know it all. We had to fill out paperwork when we joined. They want to know about you, your family, and your friends—so they can help you and make you better. That’s what Dakota said when I asked her about all the questions. I felt like it was an invasion of my privacy, but I didn’t tell her that.” Mom frowned. “I listed you as one of my daughters—the private investigator one. I had to. I knew she’d find out the truth anyway, so I told her what she wanted to know. Sorry. I guess that was a mistake. I should’ve omitted a few details.”

  “Ah, possibly not,” I replied. “It might work to our advantage. When it involves murder, people get paranoid, and when they get paranoid, they make mistakes.”

  “Let’s just hope Dakota Stone doesn’t get mad,” Mom said. “Mad could be bad. Dakota isn’t the kind of woman who lets people push her around. I could tell that as soon as I laid eyes on her. She has that superior air about her.”

  “We won’t push. We’ll snoop.”

  “Hey, wait a minute,” Helene said. “This Stone woman investigates every client, right? So what’s the big deal? No matter what kind of job a person has, it has nothing to do with wanting a day at the killer spa joint.”

  Everyone laughed at her reference to The Body Shop.

  “Stone has no idea you even know Mae Bridges. Correct, Minnie?” Helene didn’t wait for a response. “Look. All you have to do is go back like nothing’s wrong, and take Jesse as your guest. Make a big deal about how distraught you both are over Sarah’s insanity episode, and tell her you need to be pampered.” She glanced over at Billy. “No disrespect to your mother, Billy.”

  “It would be the truth,” Billy replied. “Minnie and Jesse were distraught and now they need a little R&R. I think it’s a good cover. We just won’t tell my mother about the insanity part.”

  “So… Jesse,” Helene said, slyly. “What happened to your car?”

  “Ah, I thought you’d never ask. It’s at the office.”

  “I figured that. Why?”

  “I’m on drugs and can’t drive.”

  “Got any more?” Helene smiled, and then looked at Mom.

  Mom rolled her eyes.

  “On a more serious note,” I said to everyone. “We’re all clear on the details of this case so far, right?” They shook their heads in agreement. “Including the part about Mae giving them the twenty thousand dollars in cash?”

  “We know about the money,” Mom said. “That doesn’t make her guilty of anything. She just wanted to get those killer women off her back. She was scared.”

  “Okay,” was all I said, and then the conversation moved on.

  Billy held up his cell phone. “What’s this all about?”

  I looked at the photos I’d sent him from Lila’s phone and said, “I thought we were being followed, so I took pictures of the SUV. Guess I was wrong. We made a turn, but they didn’t follow. Xanax hallucination.”

  “I’ll run the license plate just to be sure. We’ll start in the morning,” Billy said. “Tomorrow, we go after Dakota Stone.”

  “Time to misbehave!” I added with zeal.

  “Let’s hit hard,” Mom agreed with eagerness. “Time to scrape off the scab and pour alcohol on the wound.”

  “Take no prisoners,” Eddie said, and then saluted Billy. “They all go down!”

  Neither Mom nor I mentioned anything about the stinky smelling shampoo from Dakota’s shop she found in Sarah’s bathroom. Mom was convinced it was tainted and possibly connected to Sarah’s insanity episode. I was convinced that Mom needed more on the job training, but I would check it out. If nothing else, I would at least take a whiff of the stuff. However, I wasn’t going to say a word to Billy. The last thing he needed was for us to suggest that his mother was poisoned by bad shampoo. To me, the whole idea was just too ludicrous.

  Our plan was mapped out. Mom and I were going to be on the frontline, while Billy and Eddie watched our backs. We’d be safe with their help. Nothing bad was going to happen to us as long as Sheriff Hudson didn’t get wind of our activities. He was my biggest concern. Billy and I had promised the sheriff we’d take a hiatus from our job and be good for six months. Even though we weren’t really breaking our promise, we were definitely in a gray area… and black wasn’t far off.

  Regrettably, nothing gets by Sheriff Wake Hudson.

  Chapter 4

  Our plan hit a bump in the road from the start. First thing in the morning, Billy had to go over to Chief Sam’s house after Jonathan called and said their dad was losing it and going off the reservation—an emotional backlash most likely brought on by almost losing his wife because of someone’s incompetence. Now that the emergency was over, he wanted answers. That’s what Billy said when he called to let me know how things were going. He said to go ahead with our visit to the spa, stay out of trouble, and don’t do anything to get ourselves killed. He also said he had confidence in us to keep a level head… or Sheriff Hudson would have ours. I said goodbye and then called my mother.

  “I was just getting ready to call you,” Mom said. “We have a problem on this end. Eddie was out picking up branches from the storm, and he stepped in a hole and twisted his ankle. I told him to stop digging up those rocks unless he was going to take the time to fill the hole with dirt so something like this wouldn’t happen. You’d be surprised at how many holes we have in the yard. The man just won’t listen. He could do it with his foot at the same time he digs up the rock. One minute is all it would take. But does he listen to me? No. Now he’s out of commission for a couple of days.”

  I figured those last sentences of hers were aimed at Eddie. I know my mother. “I hope he’s all right.”

  “He’s going to be fine, but he’s not going anywhere.”

  “Then, we’re really out of luck. Billy can’t make it either. He’s over at the chief’s house. Chief Sam suffered a heavy dose of reality and he’s not dealing with it well. Like us, he wants to know about those blood pressure pills and where they came from. He’s obsessed with finding out. I can’t blame him.” I cleared my throat and continued. “With Eddie down and Billy out of the picture, we don’t have any backup. Billy…”

  “What’s the big deal? They were just going to sit in the car and wait to see if we would come out alive.” She chuckled. “I’m sorry for making a joke, but this is silly. We don’t need them. We both have guns.”

  “Billy wouldn’t approve. He thought we’d have Eddie with us. Remember the times I did something Billy didn’t want me to, and it almost got me killed? Does the name Rose Hudgins ring a bell? How about my run-in with the Greene County killer?”

  “This is different. We can handle it, Jesse. It’s not as if they’re going to kill us on our first visit.” She chuckled again. “Carry an extra gun if it’ll make you feel better.”

  “They don’t pat you down?” I joked.

  “Nope, no searching and no metal detectors, but they do have cameras in every room. They think nobody knows, but I found them all. So… what do you say?”

  “Let’s go spend a few hours getting catered to and we can case the joint at the same time. What about Eddie? Will he be all right by himself?”

  “He
’s stretched out with an icepack on his ankle, and I dragged out an old pair of crutches. He’ll be fine. See… he’s shaking his head.”

  “Do you still have that bottle of shampoo?”

  “You bet. Why?”

  “Bring it with you. I want to ask the nutritionist why it smells so bad. What’s her name?”

  “I don’t remember, but she’s not one of them, Jesse. She gives out goody bags and asks you if you have any questions. That’s it. She’s not real bright, either. She’s just a peon.”

  “Let’s see if we can cause a stir over stinky shampoo.”

  That turned out to be an understatement.

  An hour later, we were in my black 4Runner on our way to The Body Shop. Traffic was the same as usual, but at least the weather was nice. The sun was out and there were no signs of rain, thunder, or deadly lightning.

  The Body Shop was located on Rt. 29 across the street from a furniture store. The brick building was enhanced by tall columns, fancy exterior lights in the front, and a well-manicured landscape. Parking spaces were abundant. The name on the building was in gold cursive letters, making the place look rich. On the outside it was a good looking place, so I was sure the inside would be, too, but it was hard to tell. There were no windows and the only way to see in was at the entrance.

  As soon as we entered the shop, we were greeted by a tall, bleached blond who had curves in all the right places, dressed in clothes that looked as if they cost a fortune. I know the heels did—I recognized the signature red soles of shoes by Christian Louboutin. She was holding an envelope.

  “Hello, Dakota,” Mom said, smiling. “This is my daughter, Jesse. She’s my guest.”

  “I don’t think so,” Dakota said in an ugly manner. “Here’s your check. Your membership has been canceled. I don’t need your kind in my place. I’d like you both to leave the premises immediately.” She shoved the envelope into Mom’s hands. “Leave now, or I’ll be forced to call the police.”