A Crying Shame: A Jesse Watson Mystery (31 page)

“I don’t need a doctor to tell me the sex of my child—I have
Billy and his father, Chief Samuel Ethan Blackhawk…a.k.a: Chief Standing Deer,
or just plain Chief Sam.”

For just a minute, my thoughts of Brian had been replaced
with a conversation about my own child. Sweet as the thoughts were, the sadness
of Brian crept back. I couldn’t seem to let go. Did he try to kill himself? I
hated the idea that he thought his life was worthless, or over, when he still
had someone who loved and needed him. A tear came spilling down my cheek.

“Don’t be sad, `ge ya,” Billy hugged me and said. “I know you
can’t get your mind off Brian, but you have to. You have to think positive
thoughts.”

“He’s right,” Abby said. “Brian will pull through this and be
reunited with his daughter.”

“Is this one of your visions?” I asked. “Or is this what
you’re hoping will happen? Because I need to tell you that, right now, I could
use a little insight to ease my fears.”

“Some people say my visions aren’t real. Most of the time I’m
right, but not always. You have to decide for yourself as to what you believe.”

“I believe you do have a gift,” I said. “Maybe this time
you’re right.”

“I have my gut instincts to go by, but I must warn you that
my instincts have let me down more than once,” Abby said. “What do I know?
People think I’m just a crazy old lady anyway.”

“I don’t believe that for a second,” I said. “You’re not
crazy.”

“I’m just old, huh?”

“How old are you, Abby?” I asked, inciting laughter from
everyone.

“She’s old, Jesse,” Isabel said. “Real old!”

“Oh, don’t be such a…”

The phone rang and silenced everyone. The eerie quietness in the
room was like a prelude to death. It was felt by everyone. A shiver ran down
my back.

Billy got up from the sofa and walked over to the computer
desk. Slowly, he picked up the receiver and said hello. Minutes passed before
he spoke. He replaced the receiver, turned to us and said, “Brian died on the
way to the hospital.”

I was the first one to break down and the rest followed suit.
All the women huddled together, shedding tears for a man we hardly knew. Were
our tears just for Brian, or were they also tears for a young one who was left
in this world without a mother or a father? We cried until there was nothing
left. Our tears finally dried up and we began the process of healing. We had
to. What else could we do?

“Someone will have to handle the funeral arrangements,” I
said.

“We’ll call his family and make sure everything is taken care
of,” Sarah said as she motioned to the chief. “We’re going to go home, pray for
Brian’s soul, and then make the call.”

“I think we need to say a prayer for him right now,” I said.
I looked over at Mom. “I want us to. You’re the one who always prays. Maybe you
could say a few words for Brian, Vicki, and their little girl.”

“We can pray, too, Ant Jess,” Benny said. He grabbed his
sister’s hand and came over to sit by their mother. “We will pray for Maisy.”

It was truly a sad sight to behold. As all the women and
children continued to huddle together, Billy and the chief squatted down on one
knee beside us. Mom held Maisy as she spoke her words. “Lord, please watch over
this child and keep her safe until she is reunited with her mother and father
in your heavenly kingdom. Bring peace and happiness to her as she grows into
adulthood and never let her forget the love her parents have for her. Please
find it in your heart to forgive their mistakes and let Brian and Vicki rest in
peace. Condemn the person who brought destruction to this loving family and let
him burn in hell for all eternity. In the Lord’s name we pray. Amen.”

I opened my eyes and looked at Mom. I was shocked at her
words. I’d never heard her ask God to let someone burn in hell for their
actions, but this time, I think she was justified.

“I hope I didn’t offend anyone,” Mom said. “I just said what
was in my heart. The Lord knows what kind of person I am, and he loves me. I’ve
been and still am a faithful follower of Him. He will help me deal with this
bitterness in my heart, but until then, I can’t change the way I feel.”

“I was happy with what you said,” Abby said. “It was
perfect.”

“God knows what’s in our hearts, Minnie,” Sarah said. “It
doesn’t matter how you say it just as long as it gets said. It was a wonderful
prayer and I agree with you. Whoever caused the breakdown of this family
deserves to face eternal damnation.”

“And we know who that is,” I said. “Benjamin Beard.”

“I have to agree,” Billy said. “I’m going to rip that man to
shreds. He should be so lucky to get only jail time. If it were up to me, I’d
take him out back and skin him.”

“Billy!” I said, stunned. “We have children in the room.”

“We know Uncle Billy wouldn’t do that, Ant Jess,” Benny said,
his eyes glued to Billy. “You wouldn’t really rip off his skin like they do in
the movies, would you, Uncle Billy?”

“Of course, he wouldn’t,” Claire said. “He’s just mad, and
when people get mad, they say things they don’t mean. Isn’t that true, Billy?”

Billy looked over at Benny and Carrie and then realized what
he had said wasn’t meant for young ears such as theirs. He back-peddled and
said, “No, I wouldn’t do anything so horrible. I was just mad, that’s all.”

Chief Sam stood and followed his son.

One by one, we all ended up in the kitchen. Mom fixed Billy a
plate of leftovers, while I sat at the table holding a sleeping Maisy. Benny
and Carrie sat beside me and stared at Maisy as she slept. It was
nine o’clock
and way past the children’s bedtime, but no one was
in a hurry to do anything about it.

“I should call Randy before we leave and see if he wants us
to wait for him to return,” Abby said in a monotone manner. “I don’t want to
leave him without a way home.”

“We have plenty of room if you want to spend the night,” I
said, my voice a little shaky. “It might not be as fancy as your place, but we
have good food and a lot of love flowing through this house. Why don’t you
stay? I’m sure we can dig up a couple of nightgowns and a spare toothbrush, or
you could sleep naked and not brush your teeth.”

Abby laughed out loud and said, “Now that’s a gross thought.
I don’t think I want to parade my naked body around in front of anyone, but
thanks anyway. If I stay, I’m going to at least have to brush my false teeth.”

Everyone laughed, except Benny.

“I don’t understand,” he said. “Why would you brush your
teeth if they’re not real? I thought they were supposed to be put in a jar by
the bed.”

Abby smiled at him and said, “I was just kidding about my
teeth being false. They’re not false. See.” She pulled her lips back, opened
her mouth real wide to show him, and clicked her teeth together a couple of
times.

Benny jumped back as if he had been stung by a bee. “Wow,” he
said. “You sure have big teeth.”

“Benny, you’re so cute,” I said and laughed out loud. I
reached over and mussed his hair. “And you’re so smart.”

“I know,” he replied. “Mom tells me that all the time.”

“You have a very smart mother,” I said as I looked over at Claire.

“I know,” he said. “And she’s pretty. Cole says that all the
time. He thinks Mom is beautiful. He said he was going to marry my mom. Is that
true, Mom?”

“We’ll have to wait and see,” Claire replied. She looked over
at the chief and chuckled. “You just never know what the future holds.”

Billy and I stood on the front porch listening to the sound
of the wind blow through the trees as it played its musical notes. The
temperature was in the upper thirties, but almost felt like a heat wave compared
to the temperatures we’ve been experiencing these past winter months.
Hopefully, the cold was about to leave and spring was on its way. The snow had
stopped earlier during the day, and as the clouds disappeared, a ray of
sunlight slipped through just for a second. Now it was dark and even though it
was still cold, it was a different kind of cold. It was bearable.

“Did you see the daffodils at the edge of the front porch?”
Billy asked. “They popped up through the snow. We could get a better look if you
want to. I could go get a flashlight.”

“No,” I whispered. I didn’t say anything for a while.
Finally, I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I had to ask. “Do you think there’s
any of Brian’s blood on the ground? I’m just asking because I don’t want anyone
to come outside tomorrow and see it. It would just add to our pain.”

“The yard’s clean, `ge ya. There’s no blood,” Billy said as
he wrapped his arm around me. “We checked.”

“We?”

“Cole and I had a look around after the ambulance left. I
knew you wouldn’t want your mama to see any blood. That’s one of the things I
love about you—you love your family more than anything.”

“I guess I just naturally have good character,” I said,
joking.

“You are,” Billy said, smiling. “You are a good person and
you have the wisdom of the owl.”

“That’s fine with me as long as I don’t look like one.”

Billy hugged me closer.

“I’m glad Abby and Isabel decided to stay,” he said. “I think
they are a welcomed relief. They can help everyone put their attention on other
things instead of death and the ills of society. Abby asked me if she could
move in. She was joking, of course. She was stunned when I told her yes. I like
her and Isabel and Randy. I’m still trying to deal with my feelings about your
buddy, Frank Trainum.”

“I can understand. I guess he was pretty bad to you.”

“He wasn’t as bad as he could’ve been, but he wasn’t a picnic
either.”

“A picnic, huh? Now that would be fun. I’ll be so glad to see
the sun shine again. I’ve seen my share of gray clouds. It seems like the whole
winter was nothing but dark clouds, and thunder clouds.” I chuckled.

“I hope you’re happy now that you finally know.”

“I don’t see what the big deal is. It’s just a name.”

“It’s a privilege to be given a name of such importance.”

“I’m sure it is. My son will have a Cherokee name of
importance.”

“He certainly will.”

The front door opened and Mom stuck her head out. “Everyone’s
in bed, except you two. I did like you said and put Abby and Isabel in the
spare room upstairs. I’ll sleep with Claire, and the kids are sleeping on a
pallet next to our bed. Randy is asleep on the sofa. Athena and Thor are on
your bed. I couldn’t get them to get down. I guess they think they’re some kind
of watchdogs for Maisy. Oh, and we have Spice Cat with us upstairs. I didn’t
want him to jump into Maisy’s crib. You know I have a thing about cats and
babies.”

“I know,” I said. “You think they’ll suck the breath out of
the baby.”

“They could. We don’t know.”

“Those are just horror tales, Mom. But we’ll do it your way.”

“Okay.” She smiled, turned and went back inside.

Billy and I were alone again. We stood on the porch, looking
out into the darkness. I let my mind ponder the recent events, what they meant,
and what we were going to do about them, or if we needed to do anything about
them. As my mind continued on its journey, I turned to Billy and shared my
thoughts.

“I have all these names echoing in my head and I don’t know
what to do about them. Carl, Claire, Sherry, Brian, Vicki, Maisy, Benjamin
Beard, Cole, Sheriff Hudson, Captain Waverly, and of course, Frank
Trainum—their names figure predominately. The way I see it,
Sherry Lane
killed two women and possibly paid
to have someone kill her husband, and she’s going to make sure that Carl Benson
takes the fall for it. Frank Trainum would be the man to see about that, but
he’s at the hospital. I need to call him before he leaves. We have some
unfinished business.” I made a mental note in my head. “Sherry must have
something on Carl.” I leaned down and put my gloved hand on the porch rail. My left
arm was starting to give me a tingle, and I didn’t like the feel of it one bit.
I hadn’t had much pain with it until today, when I noticed a different kind of
ache. I thought it would go away.

“Are you okay, `ge ya?” Billy asked. “You look pale.”

“That’s what someone said earlier. I’m fine. There’s a lot
going on in my mind.” The pain passed and I stepped back. I wrapped my good arm
around Billy, nestled close and continued. “That’s not all. I’m sure Claire’s
hiding something. She cleaned out their safe and has guarded the contents of it
with her life… well, maybe not with her life, but when I asked her about it,
she just said it was stuff that Carl wanted her to keep. She made it sound like
nothing. I can’t go look in her bag because it wouldn’t be right. Do I confront
her and take a chance of alienating my sister? You know that we’re finally come
to terms with each other and I think we’ve finally bonded. We do have our ups
and downs, but maybe that’s the way it’s supposed to be between sisters. I just
don’t know. I don’t want to jeopardize our relationship by putting pressure on
her, but I can’t, in all honesty, let it go. I’m afraid I’m going to have to go
snooping. I’ll ask her one more time, and if she doesn’t come clean, I’ll go
through her stuff. She might be withholding something that could net her jail
time and she doesn’t even know it.”

“So you’re going to do this for her benefit?”

“I have to, Billy. What would you do?”

“I’d give her a chance to explain, and if I wasn’t satisfied
or thought she was not telling the truth, I would do what comes naturally—I’d
snoop.”

“Then it’s settled.”

“What else is bothering you? I can tell by that frown on your
face that there’s more hiding in the shadows of your brilliant detective mind.
You might as well tell me everything if you want me to help you in your
unsavory endeavors.”

“Brian and Vicki are dead as a direct result of something
concerning Benjamin Beard. How or why, it doesn’t matter, because we can’t
change the fact that Benjamin Beard is most likely Maisy’s father. A piece of
paper proves that.”

“Who says it’s real?”

“I feel certain that it’s real. Anything that damaging has to
be real. And I would think the law would be on his side if he decided that he
wanted custody. He probably has every right to take her, even though several
people heard Brian tell me he wanted us to take care of her until his return,
which we now know isn’t going to happen. Do you think Beard would want custody
of Maisy? He has a wife. What would she say? I’m sure she already knows the
whole sordid mess by now. Did Beard kill Vicki to keep his criminal activity a
secret, or was the secret he was trying to keep was that he had a brief affair
with Vicki and a child was the result? What happened there? Could it be that
he’s a pervert who preys on his defenseless patients, or was Vicki the only
one? Maybe he thought he was in love with Vicki, she rejected him, and he
drugged her in his office and had his way with her.”

“You ask many good questions.”

“What about Cole? I asked Cole and Frank to release Brian. I
wanted him to be able to hold Maisy one more time before they took him away.
When Cole handcuffed Brian, he did it in the front. Maybe he was too close to
the case and just didn’t think. He had a lapse in judgment. He knows there’s a reason
the cops don’t handcuff their suspects in the front—it makes it too easy for
the suspect to get control of the situation, which I feel is exactly what
happened here. Brian was able to wrestle the gun away from the officer and in
the process, the gun fired and Brian was killed. Will Cole be reprimanded?
Could he lose his job? And one more thing—the chief said Claire was going to
marry Randy, and he said it right in front of Cole.”

“I bet Cole wasn’t too happy.”

“He was embarrassed. I felt sorry for him.”

“Well, don’t,” Billy said, turning his back to me as he
walked the length of the front porch, and back. “He’s not feeling pity for
anyone but himself.”

“What did he do?”

“He hasn’t done anything. It’s what he said.”

“Stop beating around the bush, Billy! Tell me what he said.”

“Maybe we should go inside.”

“I don’t want to go inside. Tell me!”

“After the ambulance took Brian away, Cole and I were talking
while we checked out the yard for…”

“I don’t want to hear about that,” I said, my stomach doing
an Indian tribal dance. “Just get to the nitty-gritty.”

“He told me that this whole terrible ordeal between Brian,
Vicki and Benjamin Beard has made him open his eyes. He’s determined to force
you to have a paternity test done.”

“Screw him,” I said. “We don’t need a paternity test to
convince me that this is a Blackhawk child I’m carrying. I feel it in my soul.
Cole can’t force me to do anything. Why can’t he just give it a rest? Tell him
I said to leave us alone. No, never mind, I’ll tell him myself. And here I was
worried about his career and all the while he’s trying to shoot another arrow
into my heart.” My face felt red hot.

“I told Cole that I would go along with your wishes. I’m not
afraid that this child is not mine. I know he is. I saw it in a dream.”

“You did what?” I asked as I let out a little chuckle.

“Laugh if you want, but I promise you that Ethan is my son.”

“Whoa, perhaps you should back up a minute until we’re
absolutely sure that it’s a boy.”

“Oh, I’m sure. It shows in your aura.”

“That sounds like something Abby would say.”

“She’s the one who brought it to my attention.”

“Everyone I’ve met since I moved to the mountains knows and
sees all kinds of things. This place has a mysterious hold on people... on me.
I’ve never met anyone with ideals and visions and things of that nature. It’s
so strange. It’s as if the meaning of life has become clear to me through the
people I’ve met. Everybody should experience this feeling.”

“I’m sure many do.”

“Do you have your cell phone in your coat pocket?” I asked,
changing the subject.

“Yes, I do. Why?”

“I want to call the hospital and talk to Frank.”

“It’s late. Are you sure you don’t want to wait until
tomorrow? Remember, tomorrow’s another day.”

“All right, Rhett Butler, hand it over.”

“Actually, I think it was Scarlet O’Hara who said that.”

“Just give me the phone.”

Billy pulled the phone out from under his coat and handed it
to me. “Don’t…”

“You don’t need to tell me what to do, Billy. I have a mind
of my own, thank you very much.”

“I wasn’t going to. I was going to tell you to watch out for
the keys. It’s a small phone and if you press it too hard against your ear, you
might get disconnected,
Missy
.”

I took the phone, winked at him, and said in my most charming
southern voice, “I’m sorry, dear, but I’m in such a tizzy. I just don’t know
what came over me. Could you find it in your heart to please forgive my
terrible manners, sir? You know how we Southern Belles are. We’re such
scatterbrains.”

Billy rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I don’t know what
I’m going to do with you.”

“You’re going to love me,” I said as I opened the phone and
punched in the number for
UVA
Hospital
—a
number I’ve memorized.

“Admissions,” a female voice said.

“I need to talk with Frank Trainum,” I said. “He’s the
detective handling a case involving one of your patients,
Sherry Lane
. I don’t know her room number, but
if you could connect me to the nurse’s station on her floor, I’d appreciate
it.”

“Sure,” she replied. “I’ll see what I can do.”

I held on and waited for her to connect me.

“Fifth floor,” a woman said. “May I help you?”

“Yes,” I replied. “I need to speak to Detective Frank
Trainum. He’s the detective handling the case of one of your patients,
Sherry Lane
. He’s a short, heavy-set man with…”

“I know Detective Trainum,” she said. “He’s not on the floor
right now, but I can have him paged if you’d like.”

“Please do,” I said. “I don’t have his cell number.”

“It wouldn’t matter; cell phones aren’t allowed.”

“Okay,” I said, wondering why she thought I needed that
tidbit of information. I waited while she put me on hold.

Several minutes passed before Frank got on the line. “Hello,”
he said.