All About the Money (A Jesse Watson Mystery Series Book 7)

by Ann Mullen

  “And you didn’t tell me? I was sitting here wearing a vest and packing heat. What do you think a deputy would say if he caught me? We’d both go to jail!”

  “My senses were keened.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I did not feel or smell a cop.”

  I had to laugh again.

  “I’m serious, `ge ya. Didn’t you ever watch any westerns on TV?”

  “Yeah, I did, but nowhere did I see an Indian sniffing…. “ My voice trailed off.

  “Is it coming back to you now?”

  “Sometimes, I forget that you’re an Indian—a warrior with special powers.” I chuckled. “You are the man! You know and see everything!”

  “I am a Man Warrior.”

  We laughed together. We were both glad the hunt was over, and that it had been successful. If events had turned out differently…

  “Now we can go home, go to bed, and get started on that baby,” Billy said with a smile.

  I didn’t respond. I was still reeling at the idea that we could’ve been arrested for trespassing—an offense not worth worrying about—but nonetheless an annoyance. We could’ve been hauled off to jail and questioned for hours. There’s nothing worse than being kept up all night by a burly deputy who had just started his shift and had plenty of energy.

  What am I thinking? Trespassing is nothing. We do it all the time and we never think twice about it. Am I getting weak?

  “You are silent, `ge ya. Are you having second thoughts about us having another baby?”

  “No,” I replied. “I was just wondering why we had to wait until we got home. Practice makes perfect, or something like that.”

  I was joking, but Billy wasn’t when he turned off Rt.33 onto a dirt road. While he looked for a place to park in the woods, I giggled like a school girl. By the time he turned off the car, I had tears running down my face from laughing so hard. I didn’t believe he was serious until he took me in his arms, kissing me passionately.

  “We can’t do this here,” I said as he kissed my neck and pulled at the Velcro on my vest. “What if we get caught?”

  Needless to say, Billy folded down the back seats in the 4Runner, and the two of us did something we’ve never done before. We made love in our car, and it was wonderful! It was wonderful, until we saw the flashing lights of a police car. We scrambled to get dressed.

  “I don’t believe it!” I said in a panic. “Of all the things we’ve done, we’re going to get arrested for having sex in public. Mom will never forgive me for embarrassing her like this.”

  “Don’t worry, `ge ya,” Billy said, crawling out of the car. “I’ll take care of it.”

  Then, I thought about Wynona’s gun. If they caught us with it, we’d surely go to jail. My heart raced as I tried to figure out what to do next. All I could think about was the time Billy got arrested for withholding evidence. That wasn’t fun.

  It turned out that the deputy was someone we knew. He let us off with a stern warning, and then laughed all the way back to his car. I was ashamed of myself. Billy was proud.

  “That’s a smug look you have on your face,” I said to him as he turned the key in the ignition. “What did he say to you?”

  “He said he didn’t think I still had it in me. He even patted me on the back. He thinks you’re a hot mama.”

  “He didn’t say that, did he?”

  “Not in those words, but I knew what he meant. It made me feel good.”

  “How long do you think it’ll be before every cop in Greene County knows about our little indiscretion? What’s that going to do to our reputation?”

  “Nothing. They’ll be envious.”

  It was after one o’clock by the time we got home, and I was glad to put this day behind us. Actually, I was glad to put this night behind us. The day had been fine. It was our nighttime escapades that gave me pause. Although it was exciting, it was not going to happen again. No more sex in the car.

  The night came to an end, and when the sun came up, I awakened to the sound of laughter. It was coming from the kitchen, and judging by the tone, I was sure that Billy was telling someone about our wild night. This was going to be another long day.

  When I got to the kitchen, Jonathan and Billy were standing by the sink, drinking coffee. They both smiled when they saw me. I knew how this was going to turn out.

  “I guess Billy’s been telling you about our wild night,” I said, walking over to the coffee pot.

  “You know there are no secrets in this family,” Jonathan replied. “Jesse, you really need to curb your urges.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.” I poured a cup of coffee. “Besides, he’s the one who needs to keep his urges in check. Ha. Ha.”

  Billy winked at me. “I love you, `ge ya.”

  “Hey, I’m just glad to see that the spark’s still there,” Jonathan came back with. “So many marriages fail because people forget to keep the romance alive.”

  “You’re a wise man, Jonathan,” I said. “You’re not going to run off with Deanna, are you?”

  Billy almost choked on his coffee.

  Jonathan didn’t flinch. All he said was, “I know what I’m getting into. Deanna has no hold on me. I can handle my feelings and her.”

  I looked at Billy, and then back to Jonathan. “I hope so. Lu Ann loves you, and you love her. Think about that before your urges get the best of you.”

  Billy looked at Jonathan and said, “Jesse and Helene freaked out about Deanna being the one who was going to run the ballistics. They seem to think you’re going to fall back in love with her, and then dump Lu Ann… and I was the one who instigated it.”

  Jonathan looked at me and said, “It’s not going to happen, Jesse, so you can stop worrying. Deanna is the past. Lu Ann is the future.”

  “The past, huh?” Helene mumbled, walking into the kitchen with a cup of coffee in her hand. “I don’t see any good coming out of reconnecting with that woman.” She looked at me. “I checked on the kids and there’re still asleep. So are the dogs. Tell me about last night. What happened when you went over to Wynona’s house? Did you find the gun?”

  “Yes, ma’am, we sure did! And then we had sex in the car.”

  Helene gasped for a second, and then chuckled.

  “That’s right. Billy and I had sex in the car, and a Greene county deputy caught us. Of course, he let us go after he laughed himself to death.” I took my coffee, walked over to the table, and sat down. “I can’t wait for my mother to hear about this.”

  “She probably already knows,” Helene said as she sat down next to me. “She lives in Greene County. Everybody knows everybody, and nobody misses a thing.”

  “Geez…”

  “It’s no big deal, Jesse,” Helene said. “It’s not as if you killed someone.”

  “Like Savannah did,” I said under my breath.

  No one commented, so I moved on. I looked at Billy and said, “I think you should turn the gun over to the sheriff and let them do their job. It would save us all a lot of headache.” I looked over at Jonathan. “If you go to Deanna for help, it’s only going to cause you problems in the end. Take my word for it.”

  Jonathan didn’t respond.

  “If I give the sheriff the gun without having it checked out, I won’t learn a thing,” Billy said. “He’s not going to share information.”

  “So… you’re going to have it tested and then turn it over to Sheriff Hudson. Won’t he know it’s been run through ballistics? For one thing, it’ll have fingerprint dust residue on it.”

  “Not when I’m finished with it.”

  The conversation changed, and the day proceeded on. After breakfast, Jonathan took the gun and went on his merry way, saying he would call as soon as he found out anything. Helene and I were concerned about his seeing Deanna, but there was nothing we could do.

  A flatbed carrying Billy’s wrecked truck showed up around nine, and by the time it was unloaded and put in the garage, the new truck arrived.
Greg handed Billy a handful of paperwork and then departed. The new truck had been registered, tagged and insured. It was ready for the road!

  Billy spent much of the morning checking out the wrecked truck to see what he’d have to do to restore it, while Helene, the kids, and the dogs played outside. I made phone calls, following up on the happenings of family, friends, and clients. Someone had to do it, and since I knew Billy wanted to mess around with his old truck, I volunteered. I wasn’t real thrilled to call Flo and tell her that her bill had been prepared and was in the mail. The fee: $5500. She didn’t say a word about the cost. She was just happy to have her life back.

  Next on my mental list was UVA Hospital. Donald Rhodes was recovering and would be released today. Cole James had already been released. I guess getting shot or being stabbed doesn’t get a person any extra time in the hospital. Wynona Rhodes was still locked up and would be until her trial. I didn’t get the specifics, and it didn’t matter. She wasn’t going anywhere. I went on the internet to see if I could get any information on Bruno Michaels, and discovered some interesting dirt on the man. Four months ago, his wife, Francine, had been killed in a drive-by shooting. Bruno was the only suspect in her murder, and even though his alibi was lame, he was still free to walk the streets. The weapon used in the shooting—a .38 caliber handgun—has not been recovered. I printed out the page.

  I took a deep breath, and then called Savannah. After several rings, her answering machine came on, so I left a polite message. I told her to please call if she needed anything, and we hoped she was doing all right. Then, I called Russell. If Savannah wasn’t home, he’d know where she was. To my surprise, he hadn’t talked to her since last night. He’d called, but she hadn’t answered. He sounded distressed.

  When I got off the phone, it dawned on me that Cole was out of the hospital. Was she with him? I knew there was chemistry between the two, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they hooked up. Savannah’s marriage had been on the skids for a good while, and now that McCoy was out of the picture, why not? That might sound cold, but it is what it is.

  Mom was delighted to hear from me. When I told her about Billy’s new truck, she said they would come over to see it as soon as Eddie was feeling better. His stomach problems had turned out to be a bug, and he was feeling right rough. She also told me there would be a service for McCoy on Friday at eleven o’clock at the Stanardsville Baptist Church, and then his body would be laid to rest in the family plot in Fancy Gap.

  “Cole’s out of the hospital,” Mom said.

  “I heard,” I replied. “I’m so glad he’s going to be all right.”

  The tone in Mom’s voice changed. “Don’t you find it a little strange that McCoy pulled a knife on Cole, knowing full well that Cole was armed? Can you answer that for me?”

  “You seem a little perturbed, Mom. What’s the matter?”

  “It’s been bothering me. McCoy wasn’t an irrational man, so why would he attack Cole?”

  “Love is a mighty powerful thing, Mom. He lost his wife, so he cracked.”

  “I think there’s something fishy going on.”

  “Like what, Mom?”

  “Savannah told me that McCoy had been using drugs. I don’t believe it. I remember his telling me awhile back that he had a mini-stroke two years ago and couldn’t even take antihistamines for his sinus problems. Why would he use drugs when it would be so harmful to his health?”

  “What kind of drugs?”

  “Barbiturates and amphetamines. I came home and looked them up in the dictionary, and it said they were stimulants and tranquilizers.”

  “Uppers and downers. If he had a stroke, he’d never take those. It’d be like playing Russian roulette. She has to be lying.”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  “Why would she try to make people think he had a drug problem?”

  “That’s what I’d like to know. She said he was acting erratic the day he died, and it was the drugs that made him attack Cole.”

  “When did this little bit of information come to light?”

  “I went over to her house this morning to check on her and that’s when she brought up the subject of drugs. She never mentioned it before. Why would she be telling me about the drugs now?”

  “She wants people to believe that McCoy was off his rocker.”

  “She’s setting the stage, but for what?”

  “I don’t know, but I can run a background check on McCoy and find out anything I want to know about him, including his medical history. If he was on any medication, it’ll be in his medical profile.”

  “You can do that?”

  “Sure. Give me a minute. I’ll log onto the website Billy uses to do his background checks.”

  “You’re going to do it right now while we’re talking?”

  “Yep.”

  I logged onto the computer, clicked the icon Billy had set up on the desktop, and within seconds, the browser opened to the website I wanted. I logged onto the site using Billy’s ID and password, and waited for the page to come up. When it did, I typed in McCoy’s name, and then scrolled down the list until I found him.

  “You’d be amazed at how many people have the same name,” I said to Mom as I surfed the site. “You’d think that with a name like McCoy Kelley, he’d be the only one, but there’re eight people with that name.”

  “How do you know you got the right one if there’s that many people with the same name?”

  “Address… age.” I clicked on McCoy’s medical record, and when the page appeared, his entire medical history came up. “Mom, McCoy was taking Coumadin—you took that drug once, remember?”

  “Yes, I do. It’s a blood thinner. That’s what they give people who have a blood clot. That’s why I had to take it.”

  “It’s also prescribed for patients who’ve had a stroke or heart attack. We know he had a stroke… and… it says here that he was taking Atenolol for high blood pressure. That’s it, Mom. No other drugs listed.” I continued to read the page. “Did you know that McCoy had a lot of allergies when he was a child? He had to take allergy shots for two years.”

  “I didn’t know that. What else does it say?”

  “He had his appendix removed when he was seventeen.”

  “Wow! You can find out all that stuff on the internet?”

  “Mom, I can find out anything on the net. Billy subscribes to a website called the dirt dot com, or something like that, and if I want to know anything about a person, this is where I go.”

  “Do you have to pay for it?”

  “Yes.” I clicked out, and then typed Savannah’s name in the search bar. “If you ever want to know something about a person just tell me. I’ll do a search for you.”

  “I like the idea of being able to do it myself. Now that I know how to use a computer, I might have a use for a site like that. If I wanted to hire someone to do a job, I could run a background check first. Yeah… I like that idea.”

  “Just sign up and pay the fee. You can even use your credit card.”

  “I don’t like the idea of putting my credit card number out there.”

  “Why? Every time you use your card it puts your number out there. It’s just as safe to use your card online as it is to use it at the grocery store.”

  “I never thought of it like that, but I guess you’re right.”

  Savannah’s profile came up, and astonishingly, her drug list was quite impressive. “Listen to this, Mom. I’m checking out Savannah’s medical history and…”

  “Why? What does her medical history have to do with anything?”

  “Because I want to see if she’s on any medications. The drugs McCoy was taking weren’t uppers or downers, so where did he get them? Here we go. Savannah takes: Clonazepam for anxiety, Modafinil for SAD—seasonal effective disorder, Wellbutrin…”

  “What? She was taking all those pills?”

  “Wait. I’m not finished yet. Let me right click on this. Wellbutrin is used to treat a psycholo
gical inability to experience pleasure.”

  “You mean, she wasn’t happy?”

  “I guess not. Hold on, Mom. There’s another one on the list—Zyprexa. Oh, Lord. It’s used to treat schizophrenia, acute manic depression and bipolar disorder. Savannah appears to be one unhappy lady.”

  “I can’t believe it! I had no idea.”

  My mind started doing what it always does when the pieces of the puzzle start falling together—it went everywhere. “Here’s a thought, Mom. Savannah said McCoy used drugs. Suppose he was using her drugs.”

  “Are you saying she gave them to him?”

  “You never know. You thought there was something strange going on, so we checked it out, and this is where we ended up. Savannah had the drugs and the opportunity. They were married and living together when he flipped out. She could’ve slipped him a bunch of pills without his ever knowing it. People do it all the time.”

  “I just don’t know. Maybe I’m making something out of nothing.”

  “If it’s nothing, then why did she even bring up the drugs? The man’s dead. What good would it do now, except to cast a shadow on his character?”

  “You do have a point. She could blame her bad marriage on McCoy by telling everyone he was hooked on drugs. That’s pretty mean.”

  “Especially if it isn’t true.”

  “There’s more, Jesse. Wait until you hear this. There’s something going on between Savannah and Cole.”

  “Hanky-panky?”

  “I saw them kiss, and it wasn’t just a friendly peck. He got out of the hospital and the first thing he did was to come by to check on her. At least, that’s what he said. Then, when he was leaving, she walked him out to the porch. I snooped on her and that’s when I saw them kiss.”

  “Mom, you’re getting just like me! I’m so proud of you!”

  “You make sense. You once told me that if something didn’t feel right, then it probably wasn’t. When she started talking about McCoy’s drug use, I started feeling uneasy. I couldn’t make myself believe it. If the truth is that hard to swallow, maybe the truth is not being told.”

  “If you want the truth, start digging.”

  “How can I do that?”