Greene County Killer

by Ann Mullen

  “What’s she doing here?” Sarah asked. “I thought they were on vacation. They’re supposed to be in South Carolina.”

  “She’s here now,” I replied as I grabbed the doorknob.

  Geneva is Sarah’s sister and when we were in the process of adopting Maisy, she showed up at our front doorstep with her estranged husband, Eli, wanting to be a part of the child’s life. Not only did she accomplish that, but Sarah and Chief Sam sold them a piece of land on the compound, and Billy and his brothers helped build them a house. So now they are back in the fold.

  It seems that Geneva and Eli had long ago parted ways, but were brought back together once their son and his wife died. Actually, Vicki Cherry was raped and murdered, and then Brian Cherry killed himself. But before Brian killed himself, he asked Billy to take care of his child. Brian was Billy’s cousin and family, and nothing was more important than family to Billy.

  Billy had learned that the hard way. His ex-wife Ruth left him because he spent more time on the job trying to make a living than he did with her and their two boys. He swore that would never happen again. It was too late to fix their marriage, but he made a point of being there for his boys as they grew up. Will just graduated from the University of Virginia and is doing an internship at the hospital, and John has one more year to go at Virginia Tech. Billy is so proud. We’re hoping that the boys will join us for our Christmas celebration.

  I opened the door and greeted Geneva. A gust of cold air rushed in.

  “Whew! It’s cold out there,” she said as she shook off the snow.

  “Where’s Eli?” Sarah asked as she peeked around Geneva, looking for him. “Didn’t he come over with you?”

  “Oh, he’s at home in bed,” she replied. “The trip wore him out. That’s what he said, but I know the truth. He likes to travel, but he hates to go visit my friends. He thinks they’re pretentious. He says there’s not an honest one in the bunch, but that’s not true. They’ve been my friends since childhood, and I see no reason to give them up just because he doesn’t like them.”

  “Come on in and take off your coat before you freeze,” I said and then looked over at Mom. “Why don’t you make a fresh pot of coffee?” I looked back at Geneva. “How about a nice piece of pie? Mom makes the best…”

  “Hold on a minute!” Geneva exclaimed. “What’s going on at Jonathan’s? I tried to go over and see what was happening, but they have it barricaded. The cops are everywhere. Jonathan isn’t hurt, is he? I heard an explosion, but I wasn’t sure where it came from until I saw the flames. They were shooting way up into the sky. I tried to wake Eli and get him to go see, but he wouldn’t get up. He didn’t even hear the explosion. He could sleep through anything. He told me to forget about it. He said nothing was wrong, but I knew better. You don’t have a blast like that and have nothing to be wrong. Where is Jonathan?”

  “Thank goodness he was here when the explosion occurred,” Sarah replied. “I’d hate to think what would’ve happened if he’d been at home.”

  I could see the look of fear in her eyes. The thought had never crossed my mind that Jonathan could be dead right now. My stomach churned.

  “That’s it! I’m going over there. It’s been over an hour and nobody has even called. Why don’t you ladies sit down and have some coffee and pie? I’m going to check on the kids and then I’m leaving.”

  “You go now,” Sarah said. “We’ll check on the kids.”

  “Yeah, we’ll check on the kids,” Geneva said. “I had a wonderful time visiting with my friends, but I missed my granddaughter. I’m so glad to be back at home, and I’m dying to see Maisy.”

  Dying is not a word you use in the company of three women who have been sitting around waiting to hear news about a catastrophe. I ran back to my bedroom, grabbed my purse, and headed to the front door. I pulled my coat off the rack and grabbed the doorknob.

  “Do you have your cell phone?” Mom asked.

  “No, I forgot about it.”

  Sarah walked over to the table in the living room, picked it up out of the charger, and then brought it to me. “Be sure to call us the minute you find out anything.”

  “I will,” I said as I buttoned my coat.

  “Don’t get into trouble,” Mom added. “I don’t want to have to come bail you out of jail.”

  I gave Mom the eye.

  “You do have a tendency to open your mouth at the most inopportune time and it gets you into trouble. If the police won’t let you pass, just come back home. Don’t do anything irrational.”

  “Har… har.”

  “I mean it, Jesse. I don’t want you to get shot.”

  “I’m not going to get shot, Mom. Don’t be silly. I’m family. They’ll let me through. I’ll tell them who I am, and they’ll wave me right on by.”

  “Don’t bet on it,” Geneva said. “They wouldn’t let me pass.”

  Mom grinned. “You don’t know my daughter. She doesn’t take no for an answer.”

  “That’s for sure,” Sarah agreed. “She’ll get in. I’d bet on it. I’ve yet to see anyone get in her way… not even a cop. I’ve seen how she handles them. Detective Trainum adores her. He’s a hardened cop; I could tell from some of the stories he told, but Jesse had him eating out of her hands.”

  “That’s because he knows my daughter has a good heart.”

  “Okay. I’m out of here. Lock the door behind me. We don’t know what the situation is, so to be on the safe side, we’re not taking any chances. Considering what seems to happen to this family, nothing would surprise me.”

  “Everything’s going to be fine,” Mom said, trying to reassure everyone.

  “I’m sure,” I said. I figured that later I might wind up eating those words, but for now I was going to try to keep only good thoughts in my head. With that said, I took my leave. I heard the deadbolt click behind me. As soon as I stepped out onto the front porch I smelled the acrid air. The pungent odor burned my nostrils as I grabbed the collar of my coat and pulled it over my nose. Nothing was going to stop me from my mission, not even that funky smell. I could just imagine what the guys must be going through if they were breathing in that caustic odor. I hoped that Billy had his handkerchief with him. That’s all I could think about as I made my way to my Toyota 4Runner.

  A while back I had gotten rid of my red Jeep. I loved that automobile, but too many bad things had happened to me in it. So one day Billy brought home a brand new Toyota 4Runner for me. It was black as night, and I couldn’t have been happier.

  Billy was always doing things to make me happy. It was his way. He said he would never neglect his wife again like he did with Ruth, and he has stuck by his words. Sometimes he would bring me flowers for no reason, and he always had a smile on his face. How could you not cherish a man like that?

  I just turned thirty-four in September, and Billy will be fifty-one come next June. It took me forever to get him to tell me when his birthday was, but I finally pried it out of him. Even though he’s several years older than I am, I still think he’s the sexiest man alive. I love him. What can I say? He’s Cherokee and has the dark skin and long hair you’d expect to see on an Indian. He’s tall and muscular, just like his three brothers. From the back you can hardly tell them apart. Now Chief Sam is a different story. I think he’s shrunk with age. I had to laugh at that thought.

  I made my way to where my Toyota was parked and climbed inside. It was cold, but it didn’t take long to heat up. Seconds later, I was backing up and heading down the long driveway. I was nervous and didn’t know what to expect, but I was determined not to be deterred. I would get through and find out what had happened. Nobody was going to stop me.

  I made a right turn at the end of the driveway, and it wasn’t long before I reached Jonathan’s driveway on the left side of the road. I stopped in the middle of the road and looked around. There was no one there. The road was open. Ah, ha! I thought. This is going to be a piece of cake. I turned into the driveway and was coming around the bend
where the road curves and was immediately confronted by two Charlottesville Police cars. Up the road a ways was an Albemarle County Sheriff’s car. A Channel 29 News car and a van with a huge antenna on top were parked alongside the driveway.

  Through the trees, I could see the flashing lights of the fire truck and other emergency vehicles.

  A police officer held up his hand while another one came up to my car. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you’re going to have to turn around. You can’t go in there unless you’re emergency personnel. The smoke is still thick and it’s not safe.”

  Before I could respond, a newsman with a microphone and a guy with a camera stepped up beside the officer. The guy with the microphone shoved it into my car window and began asking questions as the light from the camera glared in my eyes.

  “Who are you?” the guy with the microphone asked. “Are you related to the owner? Do you know anyone who would have a grudge against Jonathan Blackhawk? Being a bounty hunter, I’m sure he’s made a lot of enemies in his line of work. Do you know who would do this?” He fired questions, one after another at me, but didn’t give me time to answer any of them.

  The police officer got between them and me, and then politely asked the men to step back.

  The two men complied.

  “I’m Jesse Watson-Blackhawk and this is my brother-in-law’s place. I live right up the road.”

  “Oh, you must be Billy’s wife,” the officer said. “We were told to keep an eye out for you. Captain Waverly said you’d be coming.”

  “What made your captain think that I would show up? He doesn’t know me that well.”

  “I don’t know anything about your relationship with our captain, but here you are.”

  “I can see that I’m going to have to have a talk with him. Is my husband all right? What about the rest of the guys? What happened? Did Jonathan’s house burn down?” I sounded just like the reporter.

  The officer didn’t respond. He walked off and became engaged in a conversation with someone on his shoulder walkie-talkie.

  “Are you going to let me pass?” I yelled to him.

  “I’m afraid not, Mrs. Blackhawk,” the second officer walked over and said. “It’s a real mess back there and it’s not safe.” He pointed in the direction of Jonathan’s house.

  “How bad is it?”

  “Let’s just say that the fire department’s got their hands full.”

  “I promise…”

  “No way,” the officer said. “You’re going to have to leave.”

  “Okay, now I’m really ticked off,” I mumbled. “I don’t have to leave. I can sit right here.”

  “If you want to pull off to the side, we can’t stop you. But we have to keep the road clear for fire and rescue personnel. You’re going to have to move your vehicle, or I’m afraid that I’m going to have to arrest you.”

  “You know that if you don’t let me through, I’m just going to pretend to leave and then park my car down the road and walk through the woods. That could be dangerous. It’s snowing, it’s dark, and I could get hurt—and it would be your fault. Are you willing to take the blame for my being injured?”

  The other policeman chuckled.

  “What’s he laughing about? I don’t think it’s a bit funny,” I yelled as I stuck my head out the window.

  I began to muster up a few tears. I was slightly irked at the cop and his captain. I had to get past these guys. Now it had become a quest. I don’t like it when someone tries to tell me what I can and cannot do. I’ll show them.

  “We were told that you would probably show up and try to get by, and that you would even cry to get your way.”

  The tears that I had been holding onto and was about ready to let spill out, dried up.

  Aggravated, I pushed the button to roll up my window and put my gearshift in reverse. I backed the rest of the way down the driveway and out onto Bear Mountain Road… without running into a ditch.

  Backing up is me at my worst. Nine times out of ten, I’ll run off the road or into a pothole. I don’t know what the problem is, but I just can’t seem to get a grip on that part of car control. Maybe I should get aggravated more often.

  I could’ve parked on the side of the driveway, but that would mean that the cops would be watching my every move, so I came up with a better plan. Once I got onto Bear Mountain Road, I pulled over and parked. I reached into my purse, dug out my cell phone, and then punched in the numbered key for Billy’s cell phone. I was angry that Billy hadn’t called. He knew we would be worried. How bad could it be? As I sat on the side of the road and listened to the phone ringing on Billy’s end, an ambulance came rushing out of Jonathan’s driveway with its lights flashing and siren blaring. Then another ambulance came rushing out right after.

  “Oh, God,” I said out loud. My heart started racing and I broke out in a cold sweat. What’s happening? Who’s hurt? My mind was out of control. Then I started to pray.

  “Please Lord, don’t let that be Billy… or Jonathan… or…”

  Jonathan’s Humvee came barreling out onto the road right behind the ambulance. He got so close to the emergency vehicle that it looked as if he was touching its bumper. A second later, Robert’s Dodge pickup was bringing up the rear.

  I waited for Billy’s truck to follow… but it was nowhere to be seen.

  The fake tears I had been saving up to use on the officers turned into real ones and started to flow like the South River after a heavy rain.

  Where’s my Billy? Why isn’t his truck coming out?

  He wasn’t answering his cell phone. I broke the connection and then tried Jonathan’s number. It rang several times before anyone answered.

  “I can’t talk right now, Jesse.”

  “How did you know it was me?”

  “Dad told me before he handed me the phone.”

  “Then give the phone back to the chief, so I can talk to him.”

  There was a brief pause and then the chief answered. “Hello, Jesse.” His tone was somber.

  I could tell that he was in distress. The only time I’d ever heard him speak in a quiet voice like that was when something bad had happened, like the time Jonathan got shot by the same woman who had kidnapped my mother and tried to kill her.

  Naomi Kent killed two members of the Stanardsville Social Club, an innocent bystander, and then tried to kill Daisy’s husband, Gabe, and my mother. Her intentions were to kill everyone close to Daisy Clark and then finally kill Daisy. She was also, in an indirect way, responsible for the death of Kansas Moon, Daisy’s brother. Jonathan just happened to be someone who got in her way, and he took a bullet for it. Fortunately, he made it through all right, and so did Gabe and my mother. Mom was saved by Sheriff Hudson and my dog, Athena. Athena ran off and when the sheriff, on a final check of the premises, found her outside Kansas Moon’s house barking up a storm, he knew his search was over. I will always be indebted to him for rescuing my mother, and it goes without saying that Athena has P.I. potential. She and my other dog, Thor, make a good team.

  The chief was very upset about his son and terribly disturbed by what happened to my mother. He told me that she’s family and even offered his services as a spiritual healer. Sarah concurred. Occasionally, Mom will talk with him about religion. She’s a Southern Baptist and devoted to her religion, but at the same time, she’s very open-minded.

  “Just tell me the truth, Chief Sam. Who’s hurt?”

  As if to gather up the nerve to tell me, he spoke slowly and distinctly, his Cherokee accent coming through. “The first ambulance carries an injured firefighter. The other one carries my sons, Daniel and Billy.”

  “Are they alive?” was all I could get out.

  I had a sharp pain in my chest that rose up to my throat. My breathing became labored, and my head was on the verge of exploding. Either I was having a terrible anxiety attack or this was the real thing. The big one! I was having a heart attack. I just knew that I was going to die sitting right here in my car.


  I gasped as I dropped the phone and dug in my purse for my bottle of little yellow pills. It was the only thing I could think of to do to keep from losing my mind. Like an addict getting ready for a fix, I unscrewed the cap, shook out one of them into the palm of my hand, and then popped it into my mouth, dry-swallowing it. I almost gagged trying to get the pill down. I looked over in the seat and saw a half-empty bottle of water left over from God-knows-when. I snatched up the bottle, unscrewed the cap, and then guzzled what was left. The water had small slivers of ice still left in it, probably left over from when it had started to freeze while sitting in an unheated car.

  I picked the phone up from my lap and tried to chill out as I spoke. “Are Billy and Daniel going to be all right?”

  “Billy was overcome by smoke and Daniel took a nasty fall. Hopefully, they will be okay. Both were being given oxygen. Daniel passed out, but Billy was still conscious when they put them in the ambulance.”

  “Should I go get Sarah and meet you at the hospital?”

  “Yes, I think that would be a good idea,” he replied. “Tell her the boys are going to be fine.”

  “Are they?” I was trying to get the chief to tell me what he really thought so I would know what to expect. I needed to put my mind at ease. But as always, he was tight-lipped and assumed the best.

  “I hope so, but I do not know. We will know more before the sun comes up. This, I am sure.” He paused for a minute and then continued. “Jesse, I am counting on you. You must not let me down. Please keep my wife calm. I worry about her.”

  I sat up straight and heeded his words. “You can count on me, Chief Sam.” I closed up the cell phone and put the car in gear. I had to get home fast and then get us to the hospital in one piece.

  It was snowing heavily by now and I could hardly see through the flakes, but at least I had regained my courage and control of my emotions. Now all I had to do was deal with that little yellow pill I had just taken. Normally, I’m not a pill-popper, but this wasn’t a normal time.

  I had stopped nursing Ethan at the beginning of December because something always got in the way, and then I’d have to run out of the house for one reason or another. I didn’t think it was fair to him, and I was pleased that I got to nurse him for the few months that I had. Thank goodness for that, because tonight I popped that pill without thinking twice about it. I had to get a grip on my anxiety. People would be depending on me. I had to remain calm for the sake of my family.