by Ann Mullen
“You scared me all right,” Donald snapped at her. “I don’t know why you think I’m after you. I told you it wasn’t me. I didn’t burn down your shop, and I’m not trying to kill you. I just want you to go away and leave me alone.”
“Like you want us to go away?” Billy snapped back at him in the same tone of voice. “Where’s your Dodge Charger?”
“In the garage, I suppose,” Donald replied. “At least it was the last time I saw it. Why?”
“Because someone driving a red Dodge Charger ran us off the road a couple of hours ago. Several of the numbers on the license plate matched the ones on your car. What do you make of that?”
Donald shot a surprised look at his wife, and then hurriedly looked back at Billy—but he wasn’t fast enough for us to miss seeing that look. It was a dead giveaway. He might not have been the driver, but I had my suspicions of who was the guilty party.
“Call the police, Jesse,” Billy commanded.
“No!” Donald shouted. “Don’t call the cops. I don’t want my picture in the paper again. This was just a misunderstanding.” He seemed to relax some, but he was still a little nervous. He lowered his hands. “I’ve had my fair share of the press and the cops. They’re out to burn me anyway they can.” He looked from Billy to me, and then back. “I didn’t run you off the road, and I’m not out to kill Flo. Remember, you’re the ones who broke into my house. I’m willing to let it all go if we can just drop it right here.”
Billy lowered his gun and said, “We can’t really prove anything. The fact that you own the same kind of car is circumstantial evidence at best. We did come here uninvited, but with good reason. We came here to protect Flo.”
“Excuse me, but she’s the one who brought a gun.” He pointed to Flo. “That makes me think she was out to kill me.”
“That’s not true,” Flo said, jumping up out of the chair. “I never meant to harm anyone when …”
Before Flo could finish her sentence, a loud groan came from Wynona’s direction. A second later, she was passed out on the hardwood floor. I guess she’d stood as long as she could. She was now a goner, dropped like a scarf tossed up in the wind and then allowed to casually fall to the ground. Even passed-out drunk, she had some grace. If that had been me, I would’ve hit the floor in the most violent way, cracked my skull, and watched in a drunken stupor while everyone laughed at me. For some reason, the thought of the whole scenario made me chuckle a little… and then… I burst out laughing at the woman sprawled out, drunk on the floor—until Billy gave me one of his looks. I stopped laughing, looked over at Donald and said, “I guess it’s not funny when your wife gets so drunk she passes out in a room full of people.”
Donald walked over to his wife and bent down.
“Maybe we should help her up,” Flo calmly suggested.
“I’ll do it,” Donald said. “If you’ll go, I’ll take care of my wife.”
“I will help you,” Billy offered in a demanding way. He walked over to Wynona. “Where should we put her?”
“On the sofa,” Donald replied as the two of them picked her up. “It’s safer for her down here. If I put her to bed, she might get up in the middle of the night—still drunk of course—and fall down the stairs.”
“Does she get drunk a lot?” I asked, prying as much as I could and taking advantage of a weak moment without drawing too much suspicion on myself.
“I’m afraid so,” Donald answered. “The last few years have been hard on her. Drinking is her escape.”
“From what?” I asked, looking around. “It doesn’t seem to me like she wants for anything.”
“Material possessions can only satisfy a person for so long,” Donald replied. “I give her everything, but it’s never enough.”
“Maybe she’s clinically depressed,” I suggested in earnest. “People with wealth can fall into depression, too. Maybe she needs to see a professional. There are doctors who can help her.”
“She’s seen her share.”
“What do they say?”
I guess I had pushed it too far. Donald straightened up and said, “I’m tired. I’d like to lock up my house and go to bed. Do you mind?”
Billy looked at me, I looked at Flo, and then Flo turned to Donald and said, “You will have no further problems with me. I’ll be leaving now. Goodnight.” She showed no emotion when she exited the room.
Billy and I followed without saying a word. It was over for now. I knew there was more to come, because Billy walked away too easily. As soon as the three of us were outside, Mick pulled into the driveway.
The look on Billy’s face was worth a thousand words, but only one stood out: furious. He walked over to the 4Runner and motioned for everyone to follow. He huddled us together like a football team discussing plays, but that wasn’t what he had in mind. He looked at Flo and Mick, and then said, “I’ll let Flo explain what happened in there, but as of now, we’re finished. It’s over. I’ll send you a final bill in the mail.” He reached into the waistband of his pants, pulled out the gun, and handed it to Mick. “You might want to consider safety locks for all your guns. You’re lucky she didn’t kill someone… or get killed herself. We’re done here.” Billy gave me a nod.
“I’m so sorry I butted in,” Flo offered. “I was wrong. I should’ve stayed at home and let you do your job. I realize that now.”
“Next time you want to hire us, you’re going to have to sign a waiver,” Billy said, light-heartedly. “You will have to obey me.”
“Next time,” Mick agreed.
Billy and I climbed into the 4Runner and headed out. Once we pulled out on the main road, Flo and Mick were no longer in sight. Barely a few hundred feet past the Rhodes’ residence, Billy made a quick left turn onto a dirt road, pulled up under a pine tree, and then switched off the headlights and engine.
We sat in silence. We’d been in this kind of a situation before. Words weren’t necessary. We always played by Billy’s one minute rule—stop, look, and listen for one minute before taking action.
A minute later, I spoke. “I have my own opinion, if you want to hear it. That is, if you’re interested.”
“Tell me about it on the way,” Billy said, getting out of the 4Runner. “Come on, we’re going to do your favorite thing—we’re going to go snooping.”
“I like it when you talk like that,” I said, getting out of the car. “Keep it up and you will always be my man. Hey, did you forget your dish?”
“I have something new I want to try out.”
Trying to stealthily navigate the woods in the dark can be mighty tricky, especially after a ground soaking summer storm. If the mud doesn’t get you, those pesky hidden vines will.
“What’s your plan?” I whispered as we got closer to the side of Donald’s house. The edge of the tree line was less than a hundred feet from our target. “Did you bring a glass to press against the window? How else are we going to hear what’s going on?”
Billy pulled out his new cell phone and started pecking on it. “This isn’t an ordinary phone, `ge ya. It has all kinds of apps. Let’s just see if the satellite can do what it’s supposed to do.”
“What are you talking about? Don’t tell me it’s got a listening device built it. That’s about as cool as can be.”
“Sort of. Let’s see how well it can pick up their…”
The cell phone wasn’t much bigger than a thin notepad. I might not be technologically savvy, but I had my doubts about something so small being able to accomplish what Billy claimed it would… until I heard the voices.
“Are you kidding me? It’s working!”
“Not only will it pick up sound, but it also has a built in recorder.”
“Amazing! That’s pretty smart!”
“That’s where they get their name. Of course, our two are much smarter than the rest. Jonathan worked his magic and it has an extra app no one else has. Such innovations!”
We crouched down and tried to make ourselves as comfortable as possib
le as we listened to what was going on in the Rhodes’ household. My butt was wet from the damp ground, but I was too impressed with our new toy for it to matter.
Donald and Wynona’s voices came through quite clearly. It soon became evident that Wynona had faked her drunken fall. She hadn’t passed out at all, but instead, used her acting ability to fool us all.
“She should win an Emmy for that performance,” I whispered. “I can’t believe we fell for it.”
“I knew she was faking. When drunks pass out their breathing is heavy. Her breathing wasn’t. I knew it was a ruse, but it gave me the opportunity to plant one of those new bugs I bought. In case this phone doesn’t do its job, we will already have a bug in place.”
“You’re a genius!” I kissed his cheek. “P.S. I never even saw you plant the bug!”
“Let’s see what the Rhodes have to hide.”
We listened to what turned out to be an argument between Donald and Wynona. The sound of glass shattering was followed by Wynona’s accusation. Neither Billy nor I expected to hear the truth that was about to unfold. The conversation between Donald and Wynona was heated.
“You’re such a wimp, Donald!”
“I told you I’d take care of everything, Nona. Why did you have to go and do something so stupid? What would you have done if your little escapade had killed them?”
“They’d be off our backs for good.” She laughed.
“All you managed to accomplish was to throw guilt our way. Did you see the look in Billy Blackhawk’s eyes? He’ll never let up now.”
“All I saw was you looking at me the minute he asked about the car. Now he knows we’re guilty.”
“We? You’re the one who…”
“Ah, shut up, Donald! You’re such a loser. I should’ve left you a long time ago.”
“Maybe if you had, Hank would still be alive. He didn’t want you, did he? When you confronted him that night at the inn, he told you it was over. You just couldn’t accept that. Then you had to go and kill my partner… my best friend. What kind of woman does something like that just because her lover dumped her? Too bad he didn’t love you like you thought. Too bad he didn’t want you. He used you, Nona. He would’ve never left his wife for you. Didn’t you know that?”
“That’s why I killed him.”
Billy and I just stared at each other in the dark. The cat was finally clawing its way out of the bag! I was so glad that the weather had cleared up. If it hadn’t, we might’ve missed this.
“I should’ve let you go to prison. I never should’ve cleaned up your mess. I did all that for you, and then you plant that stupid receipt in the tax papers. Why, Nona? Why would you do that? Were you mad at me?”
“I was trying to implicate you… you idiot! I knew Flo would find it and then turn it over to the sheriff. She’s such a stickler for the truth. She’d be compelled to do what she thought was right, and what she would’ve thought was right would be to rat you out. As a matter of fact, if she had knowledge of a crime, she would be forced by law to turn you in. Too bad it didn’t work. She might’ve told you she didn’t look at our paperwork, but I can promise you she was lying. I know for a fact that she glances at everything that comes through her office. That’s why she thought you were trying to kill her… because she saw the receipt and put two and two together.”
“But then I got the receipt back. She no longer had proof that it ever existed. Gone. Done with.”
“Don’t be a fool, Donald! She could’ve made a copy. The credit card name on the receipt was yours. You were trying to save your own butt. That’s why you burned down her office, isn’t it?”
“I did it for you, Nona. Everything I do is for you.”
“There’s nothing you can do for me anymore.”
“Why? Because your lover is dead, and now life isn’t worth living? Did you really love him that much?”
There was a lull in the conversation.
“Let me ask you something, Nona. Why did you even use your credit card that night? You didn’t plan for the evening to go as it did, I’m sure. No… you were hoping that I would find the charge on the monthly bill. That was your way of torturing me—to have me find out about your affair with my partner through the mail. What a coward!”
“That’s exactly what I wanted. Hank and I would be together, and then when you got the bill in the mail, you’d be reminded of how much I hate you.”
“You’re a spiteful woman, Nona. It’s not bad enough that you cheated on me, you wanted to rub my nose in it. I should go to the cops.”
“That’s smart, you moron. Go ahead! Tell them I killed Hank. Then they can put me away, but… oh, yeah… that’s right! You burned down Flo’s office. How much prison time do arsonists get? Geez, you could be in the cell next to me. Now wouldn’t that be nice? We could share.”
Silence.
“I didn’t burn down Flo’s office. I hired someone to do it. So, you see, Nona, all I’d get is a slap on the wrist. If it ever went to trial, my lawyers would have a jury feeling sorry for me ten minutes after the trail started. You on the other hand, you’re the cheating wife who got dumped by her lover, and then killed him. Then you dragged your poor husband in to clean up your mess. He was so hopelessly in love with you, he’d do anything. I win either way.”
“Win what, Donald? Me? It’s too late for that.”
“I’m not stupid, Nona. Don’t think I don’t know what we did to other people. Marriages just don’t survive something like that. I kept hoping you’d love me again like before, but I can see that’s not going to happen. You no longer love me… “
The room went silent again, and then a door slammed in the background. A few seconds later, we could hear ice cubes clinking in a glass. Someone was having a drink.
“What do you think, Billy?” I softly asked. “Are we finished here? We got all the evidence we need.”
“Let’s think about it for a minute. What kind of evidence do we have? We received a startling admission of guilt by eavesdropping, and we have it all on tape. Well… actually on cell phone.” Billy hesitated a second. “I’ll have to figure out how I’m going to explain that one, but in the meantime, I think we should hang out a little longer. I have a feeling it isn’t over yet. Those were fighting words! There’s a i’-na-dv loose in the house.” Billy was psyched. The Cherokee in him was coming out. He knew the day was not over. I trust his instincts, so we waited. As usual, Billy was right. It didn’t take long for the fighting to start again.
“Oh, you’re back,” Donald said. “I thought you’d gone to bed.”
“I went upstairs to think.”
I didn’t know what kind of looks they were exchanging, but I thought it might have been makeup ones. Donald’s tone changed. “You’re so beautiful, Nona. Can’t we work this out?”
What kind of man crawls back to a woman when he knows she doesn’t love him? Weak? Whipped? Loser in love… or just plain loser.
“Stop, Downer. It’s over between us. Downer… Downer… Downer!”
Trouble wasn’t far off. Wynona was antagonizing her husband. I had a feeling this was going to get physical, and it did… quickly.
“What are you doing, Nona?” There was fear in Donald’s voice. “Put that gun away.”
“When Hank died, I couldn’t stand to even look at you. Every day since then all I could think about were ways to get rid of you. Now I have the perfect opportunity. It’s just too bad that someone else will have to take the fall for my bad deeds… again. Poor Flo and her P.I. friends. They won’t know what hit them when I’m through.”
The sound that followed was undeniable.
“Oh, good grief! She shot him, Billy. What are we going to do?”
“Give me your cell phone.”
I reached into my back pocket and tried to dig out my phone, but my hands were trembling so much that when I did get it, I dropped it on the wet ground. The gunshot had taken me by surprise. I was a mess. I snatched the phone up, wiped it on my pants, an
d handed it to Billy.
He called it in, saying that gunshots had been fired, and gave them the address. He handed the phone back to me. “Sheriff Hudson and his men are on the way. We’re going in. He might still be alive.”
“Forget it, Billy. He hasn’t said a word, or even moaned since the shot rang out. He’s dead. We can’t help him now.”
Wynona had finally gotten her wish.
Chapter 10
Even though it was apparent to me that Donald Rhodes had met his demise, Billy was adamant about the possibility that he might still be alive. We were going in. As we scrambled out of the woods coming up alongside the house, Billy’s cell phone picked up on a disturbing call being made by Wynona. She was calling the police, and she was laying the blame at our feet!
“Please help me!” she said. “My husband’s been shot! That Indian and his wife killed him.”
“I can’t believe she thinks she’s going to get away with murder again,” I said, following behind Billy to the front of the house. “She’s an idiot.”
Billy hesitated at the front door.
“Aren’t we going in?”
“No,” he replied. “I think it might be safer to wait for Sheriff Hudson. There’s no telling what she might do if we confront her. She’s liable to shoot one of us. I don’t trust her for a second.”
“We’re wearing vests.”
“They don’t protect against headshots,” he said, chillingly. “She’s too unpredictable. We wait.” Billy looked at me. “Holster your weapon. If we have our guns drawn, we could get shot by the cops.”
I didn’t trust Wynona. She could open the door any minute and put a bullet in one of us, but I did as Billy said. I holstered my weapon.
Lights flashed and sirens blared as the yard filled with police cars. Greene County’s best had arrived with guns drawn… on us. We stood still with our hands raised, Billy still holding the cell phone in his right hand.
Sheriff Hudson motioned to his men, sending them into the house, while Deputy Cole James and another officer patted us down. They took our guns and waited for instructions from the sheriff.