by Ann Mullen
I dug out a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and then dressed as quickly as I could. I wanted to be ready at a moment’s notice. Whatever it took, I’d find my mother. Nobody was going to take her away from me.
The house had gotten quiet, and when I walked out into the living room there was no one there. I heard voices in the back of the house. I turned and headed toward them.
Sarah got out of her chair and walked up to me when I entered the family room.
“How are you holding up, dear?” she asked.
“I’m doing pretty good under the circumstances. How long has it been?”
Sarah ushered me to the sofa and motioned for me to sit down.
“It’s been six hours,” she said with a sad look in her eyes. “Can I get you anything, Jesse? Have you had anything to eat?”
“I’m not hungry,” I replied as I looked over at Geneva and then to Eli.
Geneva sat quietly in the rocking chair, taking everything in as she rocked back and forth with Maisy on her lap. She looked right at home. Maisy looked content.
I smiled a weak smile.
Eli sat at one end of the sofa. He watched with a sincere look in his eyes, but didn’t join in the conversation.
I looked over in the corner of the room and saw Spice Cat sitting on top of a book shelf. He was stretched out, oblivious to the happenings of the people in the room. He didn’t even stir when Billy walked in with the dogs at his heels. Athena and Thor’s presence didn’t incite a reaction like it usually did. I guess he needed his rest, too.
Both of the dogs came over to me and lay down at my feet. Athena looked up at me, made a snorkeling noise and then put her head down over her paws. Thor sat up on his rear end and looked at me with those big, sad eyes.
I started to cry at the sight of them looking so sad, and my tears brought about a howling that was not only heart wrenching, but bitter. They missed Mom, too. Both dogs howled and whimpered like lost souls. Their cries got to the point that it was so out of control, we started laughing. We laughed, the dogs whimpered, and everything seemed like one big melodrama.
Billy stood there watching and didn’t say a word until we managed to get our emotions under control.
“I don’t know whether to laugh or cry,” he said. “The situation is sad, but the sight of all of you is so funny.”
Sarah got up and walked over to Billy. “Come over here son and tell us what the police are going to do to find Minnie.”
Billy walked over to me and sat down.
“Sheriff Hudson said they were going to drop a net over the city of Charlottesville and Greene County. The surrounding areas have also been notified and everybody has an eye out. The police are going to find your mother, Jesse. It’s just a matter of time.”
“Why would someone come after your mother?” Sarah asked. “I don’t understand. Minnie doesn’t have an enemy in the world. She’s the kindest person I’ve ever met. She always puts others first. Who would want to do her harm?”
“A few days ago I would’ve said Daisy Clark, but now I know that’s not the case. Daisy’s in the hospital with a foot wound. She won’t be up and about for a while.”
“You call her Crazy Daisy. Your mom thought that was so funny, but she said she wouldn’t tell you that because she didn’t want to encourage you. She said you have a tendency to blurt out…”
“She’s right. I do have a tendency to run off at the mouth, especially if I think I’m right.”
“Which is most of the time,” Billy added.
“You have no idea what a job it is to be right all the time,” I joked. “But someone has to do it.”
Geneva let out a giggle. “I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s nice to see a family who cares so much about each other. I just wish I had been closer to my daughter-in-law. Things might have been different.”
There was a silence in the air until I said, “Sometimes we can’t pick and choose who our children will end up with. Maybe that’s a good thing.”
“Maybe,” she whispered.
“What’s the plan?” Sarah asked as she looked at Billy. “I know we’re not going to sit around and chitchat. You must have something up your sleeve.”
“I’m waiting for the guys to get here. Then we’ll devise a plan.”
“It sure is nice to have our very own posse,” I said. “They should go into business together. They could be like that guy on TV who goes out and rounds up bail jumpers. Oh, that’s right. I forgot. Jonathan does that for a living.”
A loud knock at the front door echoed down the hall to the family room and startled the dogs. Even Spice Cat jumped down from his resting place and scurried out of the room, high-tailing it to wherever it is he goes to hide.
The dogs started barking like crazy and took off down the hall until they reached the front door. Billy got up and headed for the door as I followed. When we got to the door, the dogs were there jumping up and scratching at the door, their paws making a screeching sound like fingernails on a blackboard.
“Get back,” Billy commanded.
The dogs obeyed. They turned and stepped out of his way, eventually ending up one on each side of me. They sat down and waited with me.
Billy opened the door and in walked all three of his brothers. They all had that look on their faces—the look of determination. The Blackhawk boys were ready for action. They came with strong intentions and a will to succeed. When they left, they would leave with a plan and nothing would get in their way of carrying out that plan. It was that plan that would bring my mother back to me.
Jonathan, Daniel and Robert looked just like Billy. They all were tall, well-built Cherokee Indians with a lot of muscle to back them up. Their skin was dark and their hair was long, with the exception of Daniel.
Daniel owns a car lot. He said he had to make himself presentable to his customers. The generation who bought his new, expensive cars was made up of people from way back when and they liked the clean cut look. No ponytails allowed, he said, so he had cut his off a while back. He now wore a short style which I found very flattering to his face.
Robert owns the Rising Sun Restaurant in Charlottesville. He serves the same type of Indian food he has eaten all his life. His customers like it that the owner is a real American Indian, so he has kept his look and his ponytail.
Jonathan is a bounty hunter and doesn’t care what people think of the way he looks. He said that the fact he had a ponytail and looked like a scary Indian helped his career. People were afraid of him simply because they thought he might scalp them if they gave him any grief. I laugh every time he says something silly like that. I know he’s an old softy at heart, but I’d never say that in front of anyone.
A few minutes later, Chief Sam showed up at the door.
I opened the door and said, “Come on in, Chief. You’re just in time.”
We gathered at the kitchen table while Geneva and Sarah went about fixing drinks and a snack. After eating sandwiches and drinking a mighty strong coffee concoction, we discussed the situation. Eli attended to Maisy as she sat in her highchair eating cut up slices of a fresh peach and drinking Juicy Juice. Ethan was still napping, but I expected him to wake up any minute.
“We need a detailed description of the woman, Mom,” Jonathan said. “Tell us everything you can remember about her. What color hair did she have?”
“Let me think,” Sarah said. She paused for a minute and then gave her account of the suspect. “She was about two inches taller than Jesse and weighed about twenty pounds more. I’m not real sure about the weight.”
“That puts her at about 5’7’’ and 145 pounds,” I said.
Everyone looked at me skeptically since I had noticeably kept a few of the pounds I had put on while pregnant.
“Okay, maybe 150 pounds. What’s the big deal?”
Sarah quickly spoke up, averting everyone’s attention away from me. “She had shoulder length, blond hair—straight style turned under and no bangs. Her hair was all one length. She was
fair skinned as if she’d never been on a beach. Oh, and I noticed something odd about her right hand. She had half of her little finger missing right at the tip. She spoke with a slight northern accent, not like ours. I can’t be certain about the accent, but I could tell that she wasn’t from around here.”
“Oh, how so?” I asked.
“She made mention of the weather. She said it was so nice to be in a climate that wasn’t so cold all the time. Normally, I would’ve asked her more questions, but considering she was arresting your mother, I didn’t feel like being very friendly.”
“So we might be dealing with someone who has moved here recently,” I commented.
“Or someone who came here with a purpose,” Billy said.
“Yeah,” Sarah added, joking. “Maybe her membership in a society club was rejected.”
Everyone was silent for a moment.
“You might have something there,” Chief Sam said. “Maybe she’s the one who has been killing off the members of that club.” The chief immediately looked over at me and said, “Don’t let my outspokenness scare you, Jesse. I speak only what I think. That’s the only way to get to the truth. Hopefully, something will come out of our powwow.”
I made light of his statement by saying, “I think it’s called brainstorming, Chief.”
“You might be right, my child.”
Billy got up from the table and walked around the room. His thoughts had left us.
“What is it, Billy?” I asked. “I can tell when you get a wild hair.”
“A thought just came to me,” he said. “No, it was more like an image… a vision.”
“What are you talking about?” Sarah asked.
“Would you recognize her if you saw her again?” Billy asked.
“I think so,” Sarah replied. “She was only here for a few minutes, but it was long enough for her face to be burned in my memory. I was pretty angry at her, even though I knew she was only doing her job, or so I thought.”
“I have a photo I want you to look at,” Billy said. “Let me go find it.”
Billy walked out of the room and headed down the hall. I got up to follow him. My curiosity couldn’t wait to be satisfied.
“Do you know this woman your mother is talking about?” I asked as I walked into the bedroom behind him.
He walked over to the closet and pulled out the lightweight jacket he had worn the night he had slipped out of the house while everyone was asleep. He stuck his hand in one of the pockets and pulled out the photo he had taken from Kansas Moon’s house.
I recognized the photo immediately when I saw the folded newspaper clipping. He held it up for me to see.
I looked closely at the snapshot and was stunned at what I saw. The woman who was sitting in the boat next to Kansas was a dead ringer for the woman Sarah had described.
“She can’t be the one,” I said. “This woman is dead. The newspaper clipping said that she drowned.”
“What’s the story behind this woman?” Billy asked.
I took the newspaper clipping from his hand and said, “It seems to me that I remember the paper said the body was identified by a parent.” I read the article again. “Look here, Billy. It says the body was discovered a mile downstream from where she fell from the boat, and was barely recognizable. Does that mean the fish chewed up the body?”
“I guess so.”
“The police from the town of Walloon Lake, Michigan believe the drowning to be of a suspicious nature.” I kept reading from the article. “No arrests have been made and anyone with information is asked to contact the … blah… blah… and so on.” I looked up at Billy. “Is it possible that the parent who identified the body could have been wrong? It says right here that the body was in bad shape. You don’t think…”
“At this point, I don’t know what to think,” he replied.
“What are the chances… no, this can’t be true.” I scanned the clipping and couldn’t find a date on it. “When was this article written?”
“I don’t know, but the date on the photo is 2004. When did Daisy and Gabe move to Greene County?”
“I don’t know. I never asked. Mom said they moved here to be close to their daughter. Daisy never talked about having a son.”
“I’m not surprised.”
“The body they found was almost unrecognizable.”
“Kansas tried to kill himself because he lost Sophie.”
“We’re missing a few details of this story.”
“Let’s show the picture to your mother and see what she has to say. This probably isn’t even the same woman.”
“You’re probably right. What was I thinking?”
“Hey, at least you’re trying. Don’t beat yourself up, Billy. You have a good head on your shoulders and it was trying to tell you something. I just don’t think this was it. Let’s go find out.”
My mouth dropped when Sarah exclaimed, “That’s her! She’s the deputy who came here and took your mother away. Ah, I think she’s the one. She looks older in person.”
I had to sit down before I fell out. I grabbed a kitchen chair to steady myself and then sat down. “I don’t believe this. My mother’s been abducted by a dead woman! This can’t be for real!”
They passed the photo around and when Jonathan took it, he let out a puff of breathe.
“I don’t believe this!” he said. “I recognize this woman. I’ve seen her somewhere before. I just can’t remember where it was that I saw her.”
“Maybe she was the one who shot you in the parking lot at the hospital. You said it happened really quick and that it was dark.”
“That’s true.”
“The eyewitnesses said she was of medium height, thin and old. This isn’t the same woman who shot you. She isn’t old. She looks to be about my age when this picture was taken. She doesn’t even have wrinkles.”
“She could’ve been wearing a disguise, maybe a wig. I don’t know if it was her in the parking lot, but I’m sure I’ve seen her somewhere.”
“Are you absolutely sure?”
“I’m positive, Jesse. I make a living out of recognizing faces. How do you think I find all those criminals?”
“The woman in this photo is dead, Jonathan,” I said. “She drowned in 2004.”
“Foul play was suspected, but nothing was ever proven,” Billy added. “A parent identified the body. The paper says the body was in bad condition. The fish probably got to it.”
“Maybe the body they found wasn’t the woman in this photo. Maybe they made a mistake,” Sarah surmised.
Billy and I stared at each other.
“Is it possible, Billy?” I asked, looking at him.
“Anything is possible,” Billy said.
“Bad people have a way of coming back from the dead,” the chief added.
“Now that’s about the silliest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“I meant in spirit,” he said, clarifying his statement. “It is well-known throughout the Cherokee tribes that when bad ones die, their spirit remains on this earth in the same place where they lived. Their souls never rest.”
“So they are destined to remain in a state of purgatory,” I added. “How interesting.”
“I don’t think that’s the case here,” Billy said. “If this woman is still alive and is the one who’s behind the killings, we’d better hurry up and find your mom. Anyone who can stay hidden for almost two years and then return to get revenge is a mighty dangerous person.”
“She’d better not tangle with me,” I said. “That’s for sure!”
Chapter 23
Ethan let out a tiny cry. His small sounds echoed down the hall and into the dining room where we had gathered. He was awake and ready to be fed.
“Give me a few minutes and I’ll be right back,” I said and then got up to leave the room. “Don’t anybody leave.”
Sarah walked over to me and asked, “May I come with you?”
“Sure,” I replied, suspicious of her intent. I
knew she had wanted to talk to me about Geneva and Eli, but hadn’t found the right time. I guess now was her chance.
We walked to the nursery and went to Ethan’s crib. He lay there with his eyes wide open, looking around.
“He’s a sweet child,” Sarah said. “I’m blessed to have grandchildren. Now that Beth is pregnant, I’ll be blessed again. I just wish my sister could’ve been so lucky. The only grandchild she has is Maisy.”
I changed Ethan’s diaper while she talked.
“Geneva is a good woman, but she had issues with her daughter-in-law. Vicki never did like her. Right from the beginning, Geneva was treated badly by her.”
I picked up Ethan and took him to the rocking chair to begin his feeding. I held him close and prayed to God that he would grow up with both his grandmothers around.
As he fed, his little hand rubbed my chest. It was another one of those tender moments. My eyes welled up with tears.
“It’s a sad thing to grow old knowing you have a grandchild you can never see or be close to. Geneva and Eli weren’t welcomed in Vicki’s home. She made that perfectly clear. It was very sad when Vicki died, but it was worse when they lost their son.”
“Where are you going with this, Sarah?”
“I don’t usually butt into people’s business, but she’s my sister, Jesse. She’s lost a lot in a short time. It’s been terrible. Maisy is her only grandchild and she said she just can’t lose her. She asked me to talk to you.”
“What does she want? Does she want Maisy to live with her?”
“Oh, no, Jesse. She just wants to be a part of her life, just like I want to be close to my grandson.” Sarah reached over and rubbed Ethan’s tiny head. “She’s not asking for much, Jesse. I hope you’ll grant her wishes. It’s up to you.”