Middle River Murders

by Ann Mullen

  This man was too smart and obviously knew me too well for me to get anything past him. I ignored his comment, reached down and unzipped my duffel bag. I pulled out a bottle of pills and a bottle of water.

  Mom looked at me and said, “I can’t believe you carry a bottle of water in your bag.”

  “How can I take a pill without water? Actually, I carry water not just for taking pills. You never know when you could get stranded, and that bottle of water could be your salvation.”

  I took one of the tiny pink pills, snapped it in half and then handed it to Mom. I expected the sheriff to lecture me about giving prescription medicine to someone for whom it was not prescribed, but he didn’t say a word—he just gave me a knowing look. He knew that I knew you weren’t supposed to do that, but under the circumstances, he wouldn’t throw me in jail this time. I handed Mom the bottled water and watched as she tossed the pill into her mouth and then gulped down the water. In a few minutes she’d probably be asleep. At least, that’s what I thought. However, it didn’t take long for her energy level to soar.

  The body had been removed by the M.E. and his men, and the sheriff was getting ready to go see what was so urgent up at Kansas Moon’s house.

  “Deputy Kingsley’s going to stay until the cleanup crew gets here,” Sheriff Hudson told us.

  “What cleanup crew?” I asked.

  “I called in a crew who specializes in crime scene cleanup. I discussed this with Billy and he said to do it.”

  We turned to look at Billy.

  “He thinks of everything,” Mom said. “He’s a wonderful son-in-law. I’m so lucky.”

  “I am wonderful and a great a-ya-wis-gi.”

  “Yes, you are,” I said as I got up from the swing and gave him a kiss. “You’re the best warrior around. Now go fix the door, u-we-ji-a-ska-`ya of the house. That’s man of the house for those of you who don’t speak Cherokee.”

  “How… forget it,” Mom said.

  “Before we leave, I’m going to nail the back door shut until I can come back and fix it, if that’s okay with you, Sheriff Hudson.”

  “Sure.”

  Just then, a black van with the words, We Do the Dirty Work 24/7 painted on the side, pulled up in the driveway.

  “That was quick,” I commented.

  “Their job is to get in and get out. They don’t fool around,” Sheriff Hudson announced. “They’re bonded, so you all can leave anytime you want to. I’ll send one of my men over to Billy’s tomorrow for an official statement. You’ll be there won’t you, Mrs. Watson?”

  “Yes, I will.”

  “Could you send Deputy Kingsley out, sheriff?” I asked.

  “I don’t see why not,” he replied. “If you’d feel better talking to a female…”

  “That’s not it, sheriff. I don’t have a problem with men, but she’s just an easy person to talk to.”

  I asked for Deputy Kingsley because I knew she’d be able to help me convince Mom to see a therapist. She has a way about her, and I knew it was going to take a lot of pep talk to convince my mother to seek the help she would need to get through this trauma.

  Sheriff Hudson called his deputy out; they got in their police cars and took off up the road.

  The body was gone and so were all the police. Besides us, that left only the cleaning crew behind.

  I looked at Billy and asked, “How long do you think it’s going to take for them to finish?”

  “The sheriff said it wouldn’t take long. I’m going to the garage and get a hammer and some nails. I’ll ask them when I go in to nail up the door.”

  “I’ll stay with the ladies, unless you need me,” Russ said. “I’d prefer not to leave them alone.”

  “Thanks, Russ. I’d rather you stayed with them, too.”

  Billy turned, walked down the front steps and disappeared behind the house.

  “Hey, it’s really getting dark out here,” Mom chuckled as she got up from the swing. “I thought that pill was supposed to calm me down. I’m full of energy.”

  “Sometimes they have a different affect on different people. You might get a boost for a short while, but then you’ll calm down. Give the pill time to work.”

  Mom walked the length of the porch and back. She looked around the yard and said, “I love this place and I’m not going to let that man run me out of here.”

  I was pleasantly surprised. I was sure that this would be her last time at this house. I figured she’d move in with us permanently and put the house up for sale, but I guess I was wrong. She’s an amazing woman.

  “I’m glad to hear that, Mom.”

  The front door opened and the cleanup crew walked out. One of them was carrying a large, black trash bag.

  “We’re finished,” the tall guy said. “You’ll be getting a bill in the mail.”

  “Do you have an address to send the bill to?”

  “We have Mr. Blackhawk’s address.” He looked at the clipboard he was carrying and said, “Number 2, Bear Mountain Road, Charlottesville, Virginia.”

  “That’s us,” I said. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” he replied. “Sorry about the situation.”

  The crew walked down the steps and out into the yard, then got into the van. They were gone almost as fast as they had arrived.

  Billy hammered away for ten minutes and then came walking out the front door.

  “I’m going to replace the jamb with a steel one. You have a steel door, but the jamb was wood, and since he was such a big man, he went through it like it was nothing. I had to put up a couple of two-by-fours to hold the door in place. Since it’s a steel door, I couldn’t nail it shut like I had planned. Once the new jamb is in place, no one is getting through your door again without a bulldozer. And since you’re planning on keeping the house, it might be a good idea to replace all the exterior jambs. I think I’ll hire someone to do the job. Let’s lock up and go home.”

  “I want to go back inside first,” Mom said. “If I leave without doing that, I might not be able to come back.”

  We walked inside and had a look around. The kitchen was so clean; you’d never know a violent crime had been committed there. The air smelled of lemon.

  “Okay, I’m good,” Mom said. “Now let’s go up and snoop around Kansas Moon’s house. I want to see if I’m right about him.”

  Chapter 13

  Billy held up his hand and said, “I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Sheriff Hudson and his deputies are probably still there searching the man’s house. If we show up, he’ll just turn us away. Not only that, we’ll alienate him. We don’t want the sheriff mad at us.”

  “It won’t be the first time,” I said, walking away.

  I went to the bathroom and retrieved the duffel bag that held my breast pump that I had forgotten earlier. I walked toward the front door and said, “Let’s go.”

  When we got out on the front porch, Russ looked at me and said, “It might be too soon to expose you and your mother to what you might find. You’ve been through a terrible ordeal. I’m amazed you aren’t falling apart as it is, and if you go up there now, the two of you might just go to pieces. You can’t go through what you went through and not take a timeout. It’s too much, too soon. It could cause irreparable damage. I think it would be a big mistake. Go home.”

  Billy looked over at us and said, “I agree. There’s no telling what we might find. I say we go home, get a good night’s sleep and then come back in the morning. We don’t want to go prowling around in unfamiliar territory in the pitch black of night. Someone could get hurt.”

  “We’ve done it before, Billy,” I said. “I say we do it while we still have the nerve.”

  “I agree,” Mom said. “If you’re worried about me, don’t. After what happened today, I don’t think anything could be much worse.”

  “You’d be surprised,” Russ objected. “You have no idea how bad things could be up there.”

  As we stood there trying to decide what to do, the
sheriff’s car, followed by several other Greene County police cars, passed by.

  “Look, they’re leaving,” I said. “They probably didn’t find anything, so what would it hurt if we went up there and looked around?”

  “I just thought of something,” Mom said. “We don’t know where the house is.”

  “That’s not a problem,” Russ said. “If the guy had a phone, he might be listed in the phone book.”

  “We can find out,” Mom said. She turned and headed back inside.

  The three of us followed.

  Mom walked over to the pie safe, pulled out the phone book and laid it on the kitchen table. As she thumbed through the book, something overcame her and she started to shake. A second later, she was consumed with tears.

  “That’s it,” Billy said, wrapping his arms around her. “We’re leaving. Come on, Minnie. Let’s get out of here.”

  We left Mom’s van at her house. She wasn’t capable of driving. She rode with me and continued to cry. I didn’t know what to do except tell her everything was going to be all right. When we came to a stop at the end of South River Road, I reached in the back and dug into my duffel bag of clothes and tricks. I pulled out the bottle of pills and handed her one. I grabbed what was left of the bottled water and handed it to her.

  “Take this,” I commanded.

  “But it had the opposite effect on me,” she said in between her sobs.

  “You just think it did,” I assured her. “The half pill I gave you obviously wasn’t strong enough. Trust me, Mom. I wouldn’t give you anything I thought might hurt you. Please, take the pill.”

  She took the pill from me and gulped it down.

  I knew that was hard for her, because Mom has always prided herself in the fact that she is healthy and has never had to take any kind of pills. She used to say that God made her healthy so she could take care of us. Now it was time for me to take care of her, and she knew it.

  She laid her head back against the headrest as I turned onto Rt. 230, heading toward town. We rode to the end of Rt. 230 in Stanardsville and made a left turn onto business Rt.33. That’s where we departed from Russ. He turned right, heading back to his house.

  It was almost ten o’clock.

  By the time we came to the stoplight in Ruckersville, Mom had stopped crying and had dozed off. I was so relieved. I didn’t know how she would be or what we were going to do when tomorrow came, but I was determined to follow the advice of Deputy Kingsley and call the doctor listed on the business card.

  Forty-five minutes later, I pulled up in the front yard, glad to finally be back home. I wanted to see the kids and my body was telling me I needed to feed Ethan. Billy pulled in behind me and parked next to Chief Sam’s pickup truck.

  I shook Mom to wake her up. “We’re home,” I said.

  She opened her eyes, looked around and said, “That pill sure did kick in fast. Are you sure you didn’t give me a sleeping pill, Jesse?”

  “No, Mom. I don’t have any sleeping pills. I gave you a mild tranquilizer. Since you already had a half of one in your system, giving you a whole one really got the ball rolling. It did the trick. How do you feel?”’

  “I feel relaxed,” she said. “I don’t feel so overwhelmed like I did back at the house. It might be a good idea to see Dr. Bryant and have him prescribe some for me, just for now.”

  “I have a whole bottle, Mom, so let’s just wait and see. If the pills help, we can visit the health food store in Charlottesville. They have herbal remedies for everything. I’ve been drinking herbal tea when my anxiety kicks in. I couldn’t take a tranquilizer while I was pregnant, so I asked my obstetrician if there was something natural I could take. She suggested the herbal tea, and so far, it’s worked well.”

  I suggested the herbal tea, because I didn’t want Mom to get used to taking a pill every time she got upset. If the truth be told about my drinking the tea—that was then and this is now. When I was pregnant I had to seek other options for the sake of my baby. I had no choice. I had to make do with what I had, and fortunately, I managed to get by. Herbal tea has its benefits, but to calm a raging anxiety attack, there’s nothing better and quicker that a good old-fashioned tranquilizer pill.

  “So that’s why you started drinking tea. I was so busy trying to keep you from finding out I was working with Billy that I hadn’t paid much attention to your switch from coffee to tea. Actually, I noticed, but thought it was just plain, regular tea.”

  “I don’t want you to get on drugs, but I knew we had to take drastic measures. You were losing it.”

  “I was rather out of it. Something came over me and I relived the whole ugly scene. My mind went numb.”

  “If necessary, you can take a few pills to help you get through this if it gets real bad, but I still want to get you an herbal remedy.”

  I grabbed the duffel bag containing my breast pump and got out of the car. Mom and I waited for Billy and then the three of us walked up on the porch. Sarah and Chief Sam met us at the door.

  “The kids are asleep,” Sarah said as we walked inside. “They’re such little angels.” She looked at Mom. “How are you doing, Minnie? I can’t imagine what you must have gone through.” She put her arm around Mom’s shoulder and walked her to the kitchen. “Let me fix you a cup of tea. It’ll help you to relax.”

  “I gave her a tranquilizer, so I’m not sure she should drink any of that herbal tea. I don’t think you’re supposed to use both.”

  “Nonsense,” the chief said. “Besides, it’s not your tea; it’s a special blend of mine I brought over.”

  “Perhaps, I’ll have a cup then.”

  “Why don’t we all have a cup,” Billy chimed in. “But first I have to go see my children.”

  “Oh, you mean Little Wolf and Smiling Princess?”

  Billy turned to me in surprise and asked, “Where did that come from?”

  “I don’t know,” I replied. “It just came out of my mouth, like things usually do. Why? Am I not supposed to give them a Cherokee name? I didn’t etch it in stone. We can change it if you don’t like my choice.”

  “They must be baptized and properly given their name.”

  “We can do that whenever you like, but can I call them that for now? It just came to me and I think it’s so cute. I called Ethan Little Wolf because he’s going to chase after all the women when he grows up and they’re going to love it. I called Maisy Smiling Princess because she’s always so happy and she smiles all the time.”

  “I think we should wait,” Billy insisted. “It’s the Cherokee way.”

  “If that’s the way it should be, then that’s what we’ll do.”

  “I can arrange the baptism. The chief will do the honors and we’ll have the celebration at our house,” Sarah suggested.

  Billy and I looked at each other and smiled.

  “I think that would be wonderful, Sarah. Mom might even want to help.” I looked at Mom.

  “That’s fine with me.” Mom looked around the room at us. “I know y’all are trying to take my mind off what happened today by making small talk, and for that I’m grateful.” She seemed on the verge of crying, but instead she said, “Now where’s that tea?”

  “Go see your children,” the chief said to me. “I’ll take that.” He reached for the bag.

  “If the two bottles of milk aren’t good and cold, pour them down the sink. That compartment is designed to stay cold for two hours. It’s been longer than that. I’d rather throw the milk out than take…”

  “I get the message,” the chief smiled and said. “Go be with your husband.”

  I looked around and saw that Billy had already left the room. I looked over at Mom and Sarah in the kitchen.

  “We will take care of her,” Chief Sam said. “And we will wait until you come back to talk.”

  “Talk about what?”

  “Go,” he insisted.

  I turned and walked down the hallway to the nursery. Billy was sitting in the rocking chair holding
Maisy, who was half-asleep. Ethan’s tiny body was curled up in a ball, fast asleep. The scene was so serene.

  Athena and Thor lay on either side of the rocker. They also were asleep.

  “Where’s the cat?” I asked.

  “Spice Cat’s asleep in the den. He’s no dummy, `ge ya. He knows he’s not allowed in here—on the threat of death from you. We all know you have some weird thing about cats and babies.”

  “Ma-Ma,” Maisy said as she sleepily opened her eyes.

  I ran to her, bent down on my knees and hugged her as she sat up in Billy’s lap. “That’s right; it’s me, your mama.” Tears came to my eyes.

  Billy leaned down and kissed my forehead. “I love you so much,” he said.

  His words made me cry. My heart was so full of love.

  “I love you, too.”

  He stood and took Maisy back to her crib. “You must go to sleep, Smiling Princess,” he said as he kissed her and then laid her down. He pulled her blanket over her, looked back at me and then winked. “It’ll be our little secret.”

  “That’s not fair.”

  “I know,” he said as he led me out of the room. He left the door ajar.

  “Your dad said something about having a talk with us. What do you think that means?”

  “I don’t know. Let’s go find out.” He put his arm around me and kissed me several times before we made it to the end of the hallway. Suddenly, my eyes started to water, my milk started to flow and Ethan let out one of his tiny cries.

  “Perfect timing,” I said. “I’ll go get him.” I went back to the nursery, changed his diaper and then picked him up. I grabbed his blanket, wrapped it around him and went to the kitchen. I sat down at the kitchen table with everyone else, covered Ethan and my breast with the blanket and then let him go to work.

  Nobody flinched. I guess they were getting accustomed to my openness. Mom didn’t even blink an eye.

  “Are we ready to talk?” I asked, looking over at the chief. “You said we had something to talk about. If you’re going to tell me something off-the-wall like I’m going to have another baby, I don’t want to hear it. Or, if you have some new medicine man information you want to share, please, go ahead.”