by Ann Mullen
I laughed at her comment, but she was right on the mark. “Anyone who lives with us has to be tough, considering the type of work we do.”
“Oh, honey, I know all about this family,” she said. “I know what to expect. You can’t do what these guys do and not be tough.” She looked over at Billy and then back at me. “He says that you’re as tough as they come, too.” She looked at the bandage on my head. “If you want me to, I can have a look at your head and maybe we can downsize that bandage. I know you must hate it.”
“I do!” I said. “Do you think you can do something about it? I can’t walk around with this monster on the back of my head.”
“Follow me and I’ll see what I can do.”
I followed her to the bathroom beside the nursery and watched as she removed the bandage, examined the wound and then said, “This isn’t too bad. I think I can fix you right up. I need a pair of scissors.”
I opened the cabinet door, pulled out a pair, and handed them to her.
She grabbed a small gauze pad and a roll of gauze tape, and then closed the cabinet.
“They shaved your head a wee bit. That’s good.” She cut two small pieces of tape and stuck them to the countertop, and then took a small gauze pad and cut it in half. She pressed the pad to my head and then applied the tape.
“Ah, that’s much better,” she said.
“You’re hired.”
“We’re going to get along just fine. I don’t know why Billy was worried.”
“I have my moments and he knows it,” I replied. “I need to go see my babies.”
The two of us walked out of the bathroom and headed down the hall to the den. Geneva was holding Maisy in her lap, reading from a children’s book, and Ethan was sitting in his lounger on the floor by the dogs. The cat was lying on the sofa with all four feet up in the air. Nobody moved or said a word when we walked in. I smiled and waved as Geneva continued with her story. I bent down and kissed Maisy and Ethan and then whispered my thanks to Geneva. She nodded her head in agreement, yet didn’t miss a beat with her tale.
“Everything seems to be fine,” I said as we turned and walked out of the room.
“Geneva is real good with the kids,” Helene said. “I’ve already settled in. I took the room upstairs across from your mother’s room; the one next to Jonathan. You sure have a full house.”
“We still have empty bedrooms upstairs.”
“Yeah, but for how long?”
“You never know around here.”
“I just want to mention that I cleaned the blood up off the floor in the hallway upstairs.”
“Thanks so much, Helene. I never thought there might be some of my blood on the floor. Yuck. I’m sure that was a nasty job.”
“It wasn’t so bad. I’ve seen worse.”
Helene and I walked to the kitchen and meandered over to the coffee pot. She poured us both a cup, and then the two of us sat down at the table and listened to Cole and Billy.
“We have to do something,” Billy said. He looked at me. “My mind hasn’t been on my job. I’m supposed to protect my family, but instead I’ve been too consumed with grief over Daniel’s death.”
“Don’t be silly,” I said as I touched his hand. “Your brother just died. No one expects you to be in control every minute of the day.”
After the words came out of my mouth, a thought came to me—our house just got broken into, I was hit on the head, yet not one cop showed up to take a report. Did Billy call the police to report the break-in and my attack? And if he did, where were they? They were nowhere in sight when the ambulance took me away, and they never showed up at the hospital to question me. What was going on?
“Billy,” I said, looking from him to Cole and back. “Why haven’t I seen any police? Why didn’t they come and take a report after that man attacked me?”
“I didn’t call them.”
“Why?” I asked, stunned.
“They aren’t going to find anything, and I didn’t want to deal with them.” He looked at Cole. “No offense, but sometimes the police just get in the way.”
“None taken,” Cole replied. He didn’t seem to be surprised at Billy’s remark.
I looked at Cole and asked, “But don’t you have to make a report now that you know a crime has been committed? That man broke into my house and attacked me.”
“I wasn’t present and I don’t know that a crime has been committed until you tell me so. Do you want to file a report? I can see to it that the proper authorities are notified… since this really isn’t my jurisdiction.”
I looked at Billy and realized that he was right. Why bring the police into this and have them take up our time with their useless questions? They weren’t going to find anything that we couldn’t find ourselves. I would match Billy’s ability to catch the bad guy against the police any day.
“What crime? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I fell and hit my head.”
“Yeah, that’s what Billy said,” Cole replied. “But we’ve been friends too long for him to fool me. I finally pried the truth out of him. But, like I said, there’s nothing I can do if you don’t want to make an official police report. If he claims that you fell and hit your head, who am I to doubt him?”
“I see,” I said, and then let the matter drop. It was apparent to me that Cole knew he’d be wasting his time trying to get us to make a police report. In our business, we handle everything in-house… if we can.
Helene had been sitting there quietly listening to us, until she finally spoke up and said, “Geneva thinks he got in through the upstairs fire escape. Before the ambulance got here, Billy got her to go around and make sure all the doors were locked. She didn’t tell him about the unlocked door upstairs because by the time she made the discovery, the ambulance had already arrived. Once Jonathan and I got here, she told us about it. When we checked it out, we could see that there had been footprints on the landing and on the steps. Someone had tried to cover them up by swishing the snow back and forth like we used to do as kids when we played out in it. Of the few prints he could find, Jonathan said the tread was deep and the pattern fit that of a hunting boot.”
“That doesn’t tell us much,” I said. “Virginia is for lovers and hunters.”
Helene chuckled. “How true,” she agreed. “I’ve always heard that if you go into Charlottesville, you’ll find an artist or a writer on every corner. Well, if you go to Greene County you’ll find a hunter on every corner.”
“Ah,” I said. “Speaking of writers, have you heard about the one in Greene County?” I looked at Cole.
“Yes, I have,” he replied. “Your mother filled me in about her latest book, and according to her—the writer—she seems to think that we have a copycat killer on the loose, and he or she is using her book as a guideline. I don’t put much stock into what a writer says in a book of fiction.”
“And why not?” I asked. “Have you seen the book? Have you read any of it? Let me tell you something. Mom thinks there’s a connection, and I have a tendency to pay attention to what my mother says. I think we need to check out this book.”
“That’s a waste of time,” Cole said. “Things like this happen in the movies, not in real life.”
“Don’t be so sure,” Geneva said as she walked into the kitchen with an entourage of dogs and a cat following her. She was holding Ethan in one arm and Maisy in the other.
I almost fell out of my chair. I jumped up and grabbed Ethan from her.
“Here, let me help you. These kids are too heavy for you to be hauling both of them around at the same time.” The truth of the matter was that I was afraid she might drop one of them.
“Thanks,” she said in a kind manner. “They were getting restless, so I figured we’d come in here and see what all the fuss was about. Have you figured out who broke into your house?”
“Not yet, Geneva,” Billy said as he got up and pulled out a chair for her to sit down in. “I hear that you’re the one who discovered the
unlocked door. Good work. We might make a detective out of you after all.”
She giggled like a school girl. “After Jonathan left, Helene and I had a closer look at that lock. I don’t think the door was unlocked. I think the lock had been picked. Eli knows how to pick a lock. I’ve seen him do it many times. He likes to do stuff like that. Anyway, there were scratches around the keyhole—that’s why I think it was picked. And why don’t you have a deadbolt on that door like you do all the rest?”
“I wanted to make it easy to open, so I only put one lock on it. The whole purpose was to have an easy egress if we had to get out in a hurry… you know… in case of a fire. Until I did the remodeling, there was no way to exit the second floor unless you crawled out of a window, and if you had to crawl out of one of the windows there was nothing for you to stand on. You would’ve fallen two stories to the ground.”
“And if the fire didn’t kill you, the fall would,” Geneva added. “I see your point. I guess you weren’t expecting someone would use that door to break into your house, since you saw it as a means of escape. But now…”
“But now it’s time to put a deadbolt on that door.”
Billy looked as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“It’s not your fault, so don’t blame yourself, Billy,” I said. “The door did have a lock on it. It’s just that the intruder broke in anyway. It won’t happen again. There are still a couple of deadbolts in the garage. I saw them sitting on a shelf the evening I went out to check on you guys and your deer-skinning party.”
The room was quiet. The silence was deafening. We were all obviously thinking back to that day with sadness.
“Forget it,” I said. “It’s over and done with. We need to concentrate on the killers. I know there are two of them working together. Wayne Avery and this guy are connected, and we have to find out how. What do they have in common?” I looked at Cole. “What can you tell us about the case?”
“There’s nothing I can say that you haven’t already heard on the news.”
“That’s a load of crap,” Billy said as he slammed his fist down on the table. His outburst took us all by surprise. Helene jumped back in her seat as if someone had taken a swing at her, and Geneva flinched. Both children started crying. The dogs and the cat immediately dispersed… gone to hide in their favorite hiding places, wherever that was.
Billy got up from the table and walked over to the front window. He hung his head and uttered, “I’m sorry.” He looked back over at Cole and repeated his words. “I’m sorry, Cole. I know you’re just trying to help as best as you can.”
I handed Ethan to Helene, got up from the table, and walked over to him. I put my arms around his waist from behind and whispered, “It’s okay, Billy. Come on back to the table. We need to figure out what we’re going to do next.”
Helene and Geneva managed to calm the children, and then Helene said, “We’re going to the den, if you don’t mind. You don’t need us around.”
“I tell you what,” I said. “Let’s all eat something. Food usually seems to help.” I looked around at everyone. “Is anyone hungry?”
“I’ll fix something for us,” Helene said. “I’ll put Maisy in her playpen and get started right now. Why don’t you guys take your discussion to the den, and when I have something thrown together, I’ll give you a holler.”
“I could definitely eat a sandwich,” Billy said, looking at me. “I was going to eat one earlier, but had to run to the hospital when my wife got conked on the head. How about you, Cole?”
“I wouldn’t mind a sandwich,” Cole replied.
“Say no more,” Geneva said. “I’ll help. Could you bring Ethan’s lounger in here for me?”
“Sure,” Billy said as he headed to the den.
Cole and I followed. After he took the lounger back to the kitchen and then returned, the three of us sat down and discussed our next move.
“What can you tell us about the case?” Billy asked Cole as he leaned forward in his chair, his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped together in front of them. “And, please, don’t insult my intelligence by saying there’s nothing you can tell me. My brother is dead, Cole. I need your help.”
Before Cole had a chance to say anything, his cell phone rang. He got up to excuse himself and walked over to the corner of the room. His call was lengthy. Finally, he closed up his phone, turned around and said, “That was Sheriff Hudson. Dr. David Wellsworth has been murdered. He was killed in his sleep in the middle of the night. He lives over in Syria in Madison County. He is—was a psychiatrist.”
Cole had a forlorn look on his face.
“What is it, Cole?” I asked. “You have a strange look on your face.”
“I almost slipped and told my boss about what you said. One of these days I’m going to lose my job because of you two.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I should’ve called Sheriff Hudson the minute you said the psychiatrist had been killed.”
“But you didn’t know he was telling me the truth. They were words spoken by a madman. He could’ve been lying, but even if he was telling the truth, it was already too late. Besides, you just found out.”
He looked at his watch. “About an hour ago.”
“It was still too late.”
“What did the sheriff have to say?” Billy asked. “Do you have to leave?”
“No. Actually, I took some personal time because of my mother’s accident. Sheriff Hudson just wanted to keep me abreast of the situation. All of us are still on the lookout for Wayne Avery even when we’re off-duty. Anything that happens that might be connected to him is important, so that’s why the sheriff called me.”
“I guess the sheriff already knew that Wayne Avery had been in therapy.”
“Oh, yes,” Cole replied. “He surmised that the doctor could be in jeopardy, so he alerted the Madison County Sheriff’s Office. I assume they contacted the doctor and warned him.”
“You guys still don’t have anything on the kid, do you?” I asked. “I mean, you don’t have any prints, or…”
“All we have so far is a name, thanks to you. Otherwise, we’d still be looking for clues. At least, we had somewhere to start. Once the kid called you and gave you his name, we had a lead to follow. From the way it looks, Wayne Avery is our killer.”
“He has an accomplice. The guy who knocked me out didn’t sound like Wayne. His voice was deep and husky.”
“Like Billy said, he could’ve been scared. That could’ve been why his voice sounded different. I think we’re looking for one person.”
“I know this may sound silly, but I think we need to get our hands on that book, or at least go talk with that author.”
“Okay,” Billy agreed. “Let’s go pay her a visit.”
“And we’ll ride by Wayne Avery’s house.”
“I don’t know what you think you’re going to accomplish by that,” Cole said. “The sheriff has a deputy watching the place, and so far, Avery hasn’t returned home. I’m sure he will eventually. It’s only a matter of time.”
“Ah, you just never know what you’ll find until you look,” Billy replied and then winked at me. “We have something we want to check out.”
I could only assume that Billy was talking about the set of keys that Spice Cat had dragged up.
Cole’s cell phone rang again. When his conversation was over, he smiled and looked at the two of us and said, “The thing about not having any proof—that’s not the case anymore. We now have concrete evidence linking Wayne Avery to the murders in Ruckersville. After the fire, a neighbor discovered a discarded gas can in his backyard that didn’t belong to him, so he called the Sheriff’s Office. They found one print, and it belongs to our bad guy, Wayne Avery. That puts him at the scene of the crime, and pretty much nails his coffin shut.”
“Could we not use that word?” I asked. “It makes me think of Daniel. I’m sad enough as it is.”
“Yeah, I guess that wa
s a bad choice of words. Sorry.”
Helene walked into the room and announced, “Lunch, however late it is, is now being served in the main dining room.”
The three of us got up and headed back to the kitchen. While Billy and Cole ate, I nibbled on cheese and crackers. Food wasn’t appealing to me at the moment. Actually, I felt a little sick to my stomach and I had a terrible headache—but I wasn’t about to say anything.
Billy’s cell phone rang, so he excused himself to answer it. He walked out of the room, but returned within minutes. He said that the call was from Jonathan and that the medal he found in his yard had Wayne Avery’s fingerprint on it.
“I guess we now have our killer. All we have to do is find him before he kills again.”
“That’s my job,” Cole said with a strange look on his face. He stood up and excused himself from the table. “I need to go. Thanks for the lunch, ladies. Jesse, Billy, I’ll call you if we come up with anything else. Just keep your eyes open and watch out for this kid. He’s a killer, and so far he’s been true to his word.” Cole looked directly at me. “Remember what he said to you about your kids? Keep that in mind when you leave the house. Make sure there’s plenty of protection handy for whoever’s staying here with them. He could come back and you won’t know when, until he’s here. I’m going to ask Sheriff Hudson to contact Captain Waverly and see if they’ll post an officer on the premises out of sight.”
“Would you check to see if Officer Whalen is okay?”
“I already know the answer to that. He’s going to recover and should be back on duty in a couple of weeks… maybe a month. Is there anything else you want me to check out?”
I thought for a minute and said, “Yes. Could you find out if the CPD towed that pickup truck that was sitting out by the road to the impound lot?”
“I can answer that for you, too. No, they didn’t. It vanished. They have no idea what happened to it, but they do have an APB out on it.”
“Thanks for being so helpful, Cole,” Billy said as he walked him to the front door. “If we come across anything, we’ll let you know.”
“Sure you will.” Cole said, and rolled his eyes as he waved good-bye to the rest of us.