South River Incident

by Ann Mullen

  The instant I closed the garage door, Cole took me into his arms.

  “I’ve missed you so much,” he said. His hands were gentle and his kiss warm. I wanted to snuggle up in a bed next to him, but I was still furious about his previous behavior. I pulled away.

  “I’m sorry about the way I acted last night, Jesse. I was embarrassed when my new boss caught us embracing. He didn’t know about us then, but he does now, and that complicates matters.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Sheriff Hudson thinks it would look bad for the department if one of his deputies were involved with a witness.”

  “Don’t you mean someone who is under suspicion?”

  “You’re not under suspicion, but you are a vital member of this scenario. For the time being, I have to distance myself. I don’t have a choice. Sheriff Hudson ordered me to stay away from you until the case is closed. I’m sorry, but he’s my boss and if I want to keep my job, I have to do as he says.”

  “Call me when the time is right. You can find your way out.” I turned my back to him and fled back to the house. With tears running down my face, I slammed the utility door and leaned against it. What a rat! When things get complicated, he walks away.

  Billy walked out of the bathroom. He had shaving cream from one ear to the other. His jeans looked new and his flannel shirt looked like it just came from the cleaners. I wondered where the fresh clothes came from, and then I remembered he kept a spare change of clothes in his truck.

  “What’s the matter?” he asked. “Don’t you like my clothes?”

  “It’s not that,” I sniffed, trying to conceal my tears. “It’s just that everything you wear has a feather or a bead stuffed somewhere. You look like a regular mountain man now. Is that shirt new or did you iron it? I’ve never seen one of those shirts without wrinkles unless it was new.”

  “I’m sure my attire is not what brought those tears to your eyes. What happened? Did Cole break your heart again? I warned you about him.”

  “I guess you could say that,” I said, bursting into tears. I brushed past him and slumped down on the sofa. “What’s wrong with men? Is it their destiny to drive us women crazy?”

  Billy wiped the shaving cream off his face with the towel that had been slung over his shoulder.

  “What’s wrong with that man? I know he loves you, but he continues to do things that make me think otherwise. What’s his problem?”

  “It’s this case,” I cried. “He said that he can’t be involved with me until the case is closed, and I know that could be a long time.”

  “Bologna!” Billy was getting hot under the collar. “Something’s going down that he’s not telling us about. He’s covering his butt. Mark my word.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. He’s doing what he was ordered to do.”

  “Jesse, get real! When a man loves a woman, he’d do anything for her. He wouldn’t let anything or anyone stand in his way. Trust me, I’m a man, I know these things. Maybe it just comes back to what I’ve said all along. His job comes first.”

  I had only a few minutes to think about what Billy had said before the front doorbell rang. I opened it and was greeted by Sheriff Hudson and three of his deputies.

  “Good morning, Miss Watson,” the sheriff said. “May we come in?”

  “Sure,” I said. “What can I do for you?”

  “I need to know if you recognize this watch.” He held out a plastic bag with EVIDENCE written in big red letters.

  I took the bag and examined it carefully. I was surprised to see the watch again. I lost it a couple of months ago at a restaurant where Billy and I were having dinner. I took it off to wash my hands in the rest room and accidentally left it on the counter. When I noticed it missing, I went back to look for it, but it was gone. I hadn’t thought much about it since. Now I was holding it in my hands, and knew it must have something to do with this case.

  “Sure, I do, it’s mine. It has the name Jesse etched on the back. I did that myself with one of those little plug-in things. Where did you get it?” I asked as I relived the past few moments spent with Cole. No wonder he had bailed out. The dead woman and my watch were connected, and he must have known. Why didn’t he warn me? What was going on? I just got out of bed and the world was already crashing around me. “You don’t think I had anything to do with that dead woman, do you? I didn’t even know her.”

  “That’s enough. Don’t say another word, Jesse.”

  “But I didn’t, Billy. I’ve never met the woman.” I was close to tears again. “They’re wrong about this. I don’t know her.”

  “Jesse has identified the watch as belonging to her. You can either arrest her or get out,” Billy said. He stepped up into the sheriff’s face. “What’s it going to be?”

  “Nobody’s arresting anybody,” the sheriff replied. “I just have a few questions I’d like to ask Miss Watson.”

  “Like I said, arrest her or get out.”

  “Have it your way, Mr. Blackhawk,” Wake Hudson said. He and his deputies retreated.

  Billy slammed the door and glared at me in an uncontrollable fit of anger. The cursing that ensued from his lips was a product of his native tongue, but I did recognize the words i’na-dv and u-lv-no-ti-s-gi. It had something to do with a snake and a crazy woman.

  Mom walked out of her bedroom and asked, “What’s the matter? What’s all the fuss about?”

  “Ask your daughter,” Billy said. He walked back to the bathroom and shut the door.

  Claire appeared at the foot of the stairs and said, “I’m going to fix the kids something to eat and then I’m going to take them outside to play for a little while. Jesse, what’s the matter with you? You look awful.”

  Billy came out of the bathroom in time to hear what Claire had asked. “Cole dumped Jesse because he didn’t have the guts to stand up for his woman. He could sure use a dose of reality. In the real world, you stand by the ones you love. You don’t desert them when they need you just because the going gets a little rough.”

  “I don’t understand.” Claire looked at me.

  “Remember I told you about losing my watch?”

  “Yes, you said you left it in the bathroom at Robert’s restaurant and when you went back to look for it, it was gone. What does that have to do with anything? Did someone find it?”

  “The police have it. It seems it’s a piece of evidence in this case. Billy threw the cops out before I could get any details.” I gave Billy the evil eye.

  “Jesse, that’s terrible! Surely, they don’t think you’re involved.”

  “I don’t know. Billy wouldn’t let me talk to them.”

  Mom looked at Billy and then back at us.

  “I’m sure Billy knows what he’s doing. He’s only looking after your best interests. If he threw the sheriff out, I’m sure he had a good reason.”

  “What Jesse failed to mention is that just before the police dropped the bombshell, Cole dropped her. I guess he didn’t want to get his hands dirty.” Billy walked off in a huff.

  “Wait a minute,” I raised my voice. “This is getting blown all out of proportion. It’s not like that.”

  Billy stopped and turned to me.

  “Oh, but it is my dear. It’s exactly like that.” He hesitated long enough for me to sense there was something devious racing through his head. I know him. When he gets that look on his face, venom usually spews forth. “We have to find out what the deal is with that watch. I’m sure your idiot boyfriend knows. All we have to do is pry it out of him.”

  “We could have found out all we needed to know if you hadn’t gotten rid of the sheriff,” I said.

  “I don’t want to talk to the sheriff until we know more about the situation. We don’t want to cause ourselves additional grief. We need more information.”

  “When he asks me about the watch, maybe I can tell him I lost it in the woods. I mean, he must have found it near the body. How else would... ”

  “Yeah, that’s a good idea!
We’ll lie about it,” Billy said with a smirk on his face. “Be serious, Jesse. We don’t need to compound our problem. Oh, no. What if she was wearing the watch?”

  “Why would she be wearing my watch?”

  “I don’t know, you tell me.”

  “I don’t have a clue.”

  “Well, it’s time we find out what we can about Mary Keen. Go get your coat. We’re going to make a house call.”

  “Who are we going to see?”

  “Don’t you worry about that,” Billy commanded. “Just get your coat.”

  “What about Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow? Mom might want me to stay and help get started with the preparation. She always starts ahead of time. It’s a lot of work.”

  “I’ll be fine, honey. You do what you have to,” Mom said. “The only food I’m going to fix today is the cold stuff—potato salad, cold slaw, and deviled eggs. The rest I’ll fix tomorrow when I cook the turkey. Claire will help me, won’t you dear?”

  “Sure,” Claire replied. “I’ll be glad to help.” She leaned over and gave me a hug. “Be careful, Jesse. I know how the two of you are when you get caught up in a case—trouble is not far behind. If I haven’t learned anything in the past several months, I’ve learned that. You two get into more... well, you know. Just be careful.”

  “It’s a little different this time,” Billy said.

  “Yeah, this time I’m the suspect,” I said.

  Billy explained to Mom what to do if the police came back while we were gone. She was to follow his instructions to the letter. “Tell them you don’t know where we are—because you don’t—and don’t answer any questions. Don’t even let them in the house if they don’t have a search warrant. Just shut the door in their faces.”

  “I can’t be rude like that, Billy.”

  “I can,” Claire said. “I’ll take care of Mom. You two go on and do what you have to do. Just try to stay out of jail!”

  We left with a promise that we would behave ourselves.

  “I’m glad to see that Claire has gotten a little fire in her belly,” Billy announced as he climbed in the front seat of his truck. “I was afraid she was going to turn into mush after her break up with Carl. I guess not.”

  “Didn’t I tell you to never say his name in my presence? I can’t stand that man. He’s such a jerk. I want to throw up every time someone even mentions his name. I still can’t believe he would cheat on Claire. She’s a wonderful mother; she has two great kids to prove it. I’m sure she was a good wife; she’s good at everything she does. Only a dead-beat like Carl would take advantage of a person like Claire. Why she put up with him for so long, I’ll never know. I would have dumped that maggot a long time ago. He’s such a worm.”

  “Why don’t you tell me how you really feel?” Billy said and then laughed out loud. “Man, I hope I don’t ever get on your bad side. You really do hold a grudge, don’t you? I have a feeling there’s more to it than you’re telling. Nobody has such hatred for a person unless that person has done something to them personally. So give, `ge ya. What has Carl done to you to make you dislike him so intensely?”

  “To be honest, I don’t hate him; I just really don’t like him very much. Actually, I despise the man. I hold him in the highest degree of contempt. He’s a slug, and doesn’t deserve the love of a fine woman like my sister.”

  “Okay, let’s have the truth,” Billy demanded. “I know you well enough to know there’s something going on between the two of you. What happened? Did he do something to you?”

  “I’m going to tell you this because I’ve needed to tell someone for a long time,” I began. “But you have to swear that you will never tell a soul. It would break Claire’s heart.”

  “I promise to never say a word to anyone, ever. Tell me what he did.”

  “The day that Claire and Carl got married, he cornered me in the bathroom at the reception. He slid his hand up my dress before I had a chance to react. He told me that he wanted to get me into bed, and before it was over, he would have me. He said he knew that I felt the same way; he could see it in my eyes. Before I knew it, he kissed me. I almost puked.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I slapped him as hard as I could and told him that if he ever came near me again, I would tell Claire. Then he laughed at me and said that I didn’t have the nerve.”

  “That must have been awful for you.”

  “Sure it was awful! What could I do? I couldn’t go to Claire with this. God, it was her wedding day!”

  “And you’ve kept this secret all this time. That must have been hard.”

  “It is hard. Every time I look at Claire or the kids, I think of that horrible man and what he did to me... what he did to Claire. Sometimes I almost want to kill him. Well, now you know the truth.”

  “Jesse, you can count on me. Your secret is safe. I will never breathe a word of what you have said, unless you tell me to.”

  “Thanks, Billy,” I replied. “I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I’ve needed that for a long time.”

  Billy started the truck and turned left at the end of the driveway. I was still lost in the conversation that we had just had before I had a chance to realize where we were going. “Oh, no you don’t,” I said, straightening up in my seat. “Stop right here and let me out. I’m not going to Cole’s house.”

  He pretended not to hear me as he pulled out onto the road.

  “I can’t stop. I’m in the middle of the road.”

  “Some road,” I said, reaching for the door handle. “It’s more like a country path. It doesn’t even have lines on it. I don’t see any traffic. Do you see any? Let me out.” I grabbed the handle, twisted it, and the door flew open. As Billy slowed to a stop, I climbed out, slipped and fell in the snow.

  “See what you made me do!”

  Billy leaned across the seat and laughed at me.

  “Stop acting like a child and get back in the truck. We’re going to go have a talk with Cole whether you like it or not.”

  I stood up and brushed the snow off the seat of my jeans.

  “My butt’s wet,” I whined, swallowed my pride and climbed back into the truck. “It’s your fault that I’m all wet. You know I don’t want to go to Cole’s house. Why are you doing this?”

  “If you’re finished throwing a fit, shut the door and your mouth—and it doesn’t necessarily have to be in that order.”

  Chapter 5

  The mile-long ride to Cole’s house got rougher as we got closer. The road hadn’t been plowed by the Virginia Department of Transportation as of yet, and according to Billy, they probably wouldn’t go this far up the mountain. Tire indentations in the snow were the only clue we had as to where the road lay. We chugged and bumped our way up and down the hilly road until we reached the turn-off to Cole’s house.

  “He’s probably in bed asleep.”

  “We’ll just have to wake him.” Billy stopped short when he pulled up in front of the house. Cole was standing on the front porch dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, holding a can of beer.

  The overhead panel in the truck registered the outside temperature as 39 degrees and the time of day as 11:15.

  “What’s he doing outside in a T-shirt?” I asked. “It’s freezing, and he’s drinking a beer. It’s not even noon.”

  “Perhaps his conscience is bothering him.”

  From the look on Cole’s face, I thought perhaps Billy might be right.

  I had wrestled with my feelings all the way to Cole’s house. After what he said to me earlier, I was afraid that if I saw him so soon, it would be the beginning of the end of our relationship. I wanted to hold onto that last little bit of hope I had that this would all work out in the end, and he would be there for me. I couldn’t understand why he was withdrawing when I would probably need him now more than ever. Did he not really love me as much as he claimed? Why wouldn’t he stand up to Sheriff Hudson and tell him that I was his woman and I needed him? If this was happening to him
, I would be right there every step of the way. His actions or lack thereof, tore at my heart. I couldn’t understand why he would let me down when I loved him so much. Didn’t he love me?

  “A little early in the day to be having a beer, isn’t it my friend?” Billy asked Cole as he slammed the truck door. “That’s a sure sign of an alcohol problem. Do I need to find you a sponsor? Your heart must be carrying a heavy burden.”

  Cole threw his hands in the air and shook his head. “What can I say? It’s been a rough couple of days. I do have a heavy heart, but it’s not what you think. I just buried River.”

  “Oh, no,” I said as I walked up the porch steps to him. “I’m so sorry. What happened?”

  “Somebody shot him,” Cole replied. The pain of the loss of his dog was heavy on his face. “I guess he got into somebody’s business once too often so they took matters into their own hands. He dragged himself home to die. There’s a faint trail of blood back there.” He motioned to the woods behind the house. “I buried him by the big cedar tree in the side yard.”

  I glanced over in the direction of the tree. A small mound of dirt was visible in the snow, surrounded by tracks made from the tiny bulldozer that sat off to the side. My heart sunk.

  “How could anyone do that to an animal? Why didn’t they just run him off? They didn’t have to shoot him. People can be so mean.”

  Cole stared at me in disbelief as he said, “That’s not the way people do things here. You either control your dog or he winds up dead. People around here have a short fuse when it comes to dealing with intruders, especially the four-legged kind. That’s just the way it is.”

  I wanted to put my arms around Cole and help him through his pain, but I knew I could not bring myself to do that. He had rejected me. My pride wouldn’t allow me to touch him or show anything other than remorse for the loss of his dog. Instead, I stood in silence.

  Billy sloshed through the snow up to the porch.

  “I’m sorry about River. That’s a terrible thing to happen.” He patted Cole on the back. “Got anymore beer? We need to have a talk, buddy.”

  I was surprised at Billy. I thought for sure he was going to tear into Cole once we got here, but instead he remained calm and in complete control. Then it dawned on me—how could you bite a man’s head off when he has just buried his beloved dog?