All About the Money (A Jesse Watson Mystery Series Book 7) (15 page)

“What are you talking about? Helicopter? Are you kidding?”

“I meant to tell you, but there was so much going on.”

“There always is. That’s no excuse.”

“Then, when you brought up the subject of money, I lost my
nerve. I’m sorry. I should’ve told you about it.”

“You buy the stuff. I use them. I like it when you bring home
new toys. And now that I know we’re rich, I have a few items on my wish list.
When are you going to teach me how to fly our new helicopter?”

“Actually, Chief Sam bought the helicopter. Jonathan and I paid
for the construction work. The pad was poured last week, and the work crew is
finishing up the hangar. The helicopter should be here by tonight. Jonathan
left this morning to pick it up.”

“They don’t deliver?”

“No. We bought it from a private seller. Jonathan took a
plane to
South Carolina
to pick it up. He’ll fly the chopper
back.”

“Can you fly one of those things?”

“I’ve been up in one a few times, but I haven’t actually
flown one yet. Jonathan has been teaching me the basics.” 

“Can we keep it in our backyard occasionally?”

“Only if you’re willing to pay to have a landing pad and
hangar built out back. That’s what we’d need.”

“We’re rich. Let’s do it.”

“You’re a bad girl, `ge ya. I think I’m going to regret
talking about money with you. You’ve turned into a monster.”

“I want stuff! I want to spend money!” I joked, rolling
around on the floor with my rich husband. “I have money! I can buy anything!
Where’s Louboutin when you need him?”

I knew that Billy had some funds, so this wasn’t news to me.
He buys expensive gadgets. I just wanted to act silly and enjoy the fact that
we will have our own helicopter. What a step up in the world for me. Now all I
needed was my very own limousine to completely round out the picture. Oh, no! I
was turning into Savannah Kelley!

Billy’s cell phone rang, silencing me.

“Hey, it’s my duty,” Billy said. “We’re talking about my
knowledge of a crime. I had to report it. I was hoping he’d take my advice and
turn it in, but I guess blood runs deeper than the law. That’s too bad. He’s
not a bad guy. He just got stuck in the middle. It happens to the best of us.”

Billy had called Sheriff Hudson earlier to tell him that
Bruno had possession of the gun Wynona used to shoot her husband. The sheriff
was returning his call to let him know they had retrieved the gun. At least,
that’s what I thought until I saw the look on Billy’s face. After a brief
pause, Billy said, “He tossed it somewhere. I know he had it. I caught him
trying to sneak it out of Wynona’s house.” Five minutes later, he ended the
conversation, tossed his cell phone up on the coffee table, and then looked at
me. “I need a break from this madness. Why don’t we take a few days off and
take the kids to the beach… or Disney world? I don’t care where we go. I just
want to get away.”

“What happened, Billy? What did Sheriff Hudson say?”

“He went to question Bruno about the gun, but didn’t get
anywhere. Bruno denied even knowing about it, let alone having it in his
possession.”

“Didn’t the sheriff search his house? He knew Bruno had the
gun. You told him so.”

“No. Apparently, he needs more evidence than just my word to
get a search warrant. He questioned Bruno and let him know that he knew about
the gun and that they would find it eventually.”

“And…”

“And… the sheriff and his men left. What else could they do
without a warrant? I should’ve taken the gun and turned it in myself.”

“What’s going to happen now? Will they try to blame Flo… or
us?” I thought for a second, and then added, “Why wouldn’t Bruno Michaels turn
over the gun, unless he has something to hide?”

“They aren’t going to blame anyone but Wynona. Donald Rhodes
is going to recover, and he’ll testify that his wife tried to kill him. She’ll
be charged with attempted murder for trying to kill him, and he’s going to
testify that she killed Hank Sharp.”

“What about his part in the cover-up of Hank’s murder?”

“He made a deal. He won’t do any time.”

“I’m glad he’s going to be all right. I hope they lock up
Wynona and throw away the key. She’s a danger to everyone around her. I think she’s
unstable. Who, in their right mind, would kill their lover just because he
dumped her? That’s insane.”

“Sometimes… I just hate this job. I should’ve taken the gun.”

“Don’t blame yourself, and don’t hate your job. We have a
good life and it’s all because we are good at what we do. We have a lot of fun…
sometimes. How did you know he wasn’t going to do the right thing?”

“People lie all the time. I should’ve known that.”

“You can’t control what people do.”

“Let’s forget about all of this and have some fun. Let’s take
the kids to Disney World. All I have to do is make a few calls and then we can
be on our way.”

“What about those two cases Lila was talking about? I figured
they’d be next on the agenda now that Flo’s case has been wrapped up.
Savannah
’s problem is her own.”

“There’s nothing so important going on that can’t wait three
or four days. I say we hop on a plane and get out of here.”

“Are you really serious? Because if you are, I can be ready
in an hour and that includes packing up for the kids. Just say the word.”

Billy got up from the floor and held out his hand. “Come with
me to the magic
kingdom
of
Walt Disney World
.”

I stood, took his hand and said, “How about some place else?
You know how I feel about those rides after Claire got shot with a BB gun on
one of them at
Buckroe
Beach
Amusement Park
. I haven’t been able to go on one
since. We were just kids when it happened, but I’ve been freaked out ever
since.”

“Okay. You pick the place. I’ll go anywhere.”

“How about
Hawaii
? I’ve always wanted to go there.
Play in the sand. Sip Martinis. We can lie on the beach and drink all day.”

“What about the kids?”

“Of course, we’ll have to take Helene. She can be the
designated sober one. Ask her if she wants to go. I’m sure she’d love to go to
Hawaii
even if she has to work while she
plays.”

“I have an idea. Save
Hawaii
for another time. Why don’t we take advantage of Bella and Loukas’ offer and
take the kids for a cruise on the
Bella Constance
? They’d love it.”

“And it would save us money… money that I could spend at her
boutique.” I smiled. “Bella did say that Room 610 was ours to use anytime we
wanted. Let’s take her up on her offer. Call her.”

“I’ll make all the arrangements. I’ll go online right now and
check the schedule. If the ship has already departed, we’re out of luck.”

“Go check before I get myself all excited.”

Billy left the room, and when he returned ten minutes later,
he was shaking his head. “It was a good idea, but the ship left port yesterday
and won’t return for six days. Maybe another time.”

“I hope that’s not going to keep us from making other plans.
You’ve got me jazzed about going somewhere, so let’s go. Hey… I have a great
idea. Why don’t we go someplace in the helicopter?”

“I’ll need a few more lessons and a pilot’s license before
that happens. We can’t ask Jonathan to fly us. He’s been in the air enough for
one day. He’ll be tired when he gets home.”

“We’re not going to leave until tomorrow. He might be
willing. Will you ask him?”

“No, let’s wait on the chopper ride. We don’t want to tie him
up. He can’t just take us someplace and drop us off.”

“Why not? He can pick us up in a couple of days. He’d
probably love to do it.”

Helene returned home and all she could talk about was
Jonathan’s new helicopter. “I saw pictures of it. Jonathan had a couple tacked
up to one of the walls in the hangar. Did you know that he’s gone to pick it up
right now?”

“Yes,” I replied. “Billy told me all about it. We’re hoping
to get him to fly all of us somewhere for a few days. Are you interested?”

“I most certainly am. I’d love to go.” She walked over to the
kids and kissed both of them. She turned, walked back over to the sofa and sat
down. “When do we leave?”

“Okay. I’ll run it by Jonathan,” Billy said, relenting. “But
even if we don’t go in the helicopter, we’ve decided to take a short break and
go somewhere.”

“We can’t make up our mind where we want to go,” I added. “We
just know we want to go somewhere. Our active cases are no longer active, so
we’re going to get away for awhile. We don’t know where we’re going, but we’re
leaving in the morning.”

Helene laughed. “So… we’d headed out for destinations
unknown.”

“No,” Billy replied. “We have to decide where we’re going.
There are plans to make. Hotel rooms to rent.”

“May I make a suggestion?” Helene asked.

“Sure,” we both said.

“Why don’t we go…”

A loud noise followed by a vibration overtook the room,
drowning out Helene. All we could hear was the rumble of something all around
us.

“What is that?” I yelled, looking at Helene. “That can’t be
rain.”

“The rain stopped awhile ago,” she yelled back.

I looked at Billy. “Is it an earthquake?”

I was beginning to get scared. Helene and I ran over to the
kids and snatched them up, cuddling them close. They didn’t seem to be fazed by
the noise, but the dogs went into a barking fit. The cat showed up from
wherever he’d been hiding and jumped up on the sofa, meowing like his tail was
on fire. He buried his head in the cushions.

“It’s okay,” Billy said above the racket. “Jonathan’s back
with the chopper. He’s buzzing us to let us know he’s arrived.”

“Oh, my goodness,” Helene said. “It’s so loud.”

“He’s flying close,” Billy added. “Normally, he wouldn’t do
that.”

“I’d like to change my mind about putting that thing in our
backyard,” I said. “I sure hope we don’t have to listen to that noise every
time it takes off.”

“You won’t, `ge ya.”

“Let’s go see it then,” I suggested. “If it’s that loud, it’s
got to be bodacious. I bet that is one heck of chopper.”

A horrifying sputter, that even I knew couldn’t be good,
echoed throughout the room.  A few short seconds later, the chopper had landed.

Or had it crashed?

Leaving the kids with Helene, Billy and I jumped in the car
to go find out.

Jonathan’s house sits on twenty some acres of land across the
road from our house on the Blackhawk compound, and is surrounded by trees.
There were no visible flames or smoke rising above the area.

“He didn’t crash,” I told Billy as we traveled at a high rate
of speed, going the short distance. “You can slow down now.”

The path to the hangar was off to the left of Jonathan’s
house, and as soon as we pulled up, we could see the helicopter was intact. The
blades were still turning, and Jonathan was sitting in the cockpit. Billy and I
jumped out of the car, and then bent over slightly so the blades wouldn’t cut
off our heads as we approached the helicopter. The noise was almost deafening.

Billy opened the co-pilot door and motioned to Jonathan. The
side door slid open and then Billy motioned for me to get in. He crawled in the
front seat while I stepped up into the passenger area.

After crawling inside, I wasn’t sure I could handle the
noise, until Jonathan pressed a button somewhere and the side door slid closed,
drowning out most of it.

“Wow!” I exclaimed. “This is really cool!”

A second later, we were in the air, flying over
Charlottesville
.

I looked around, examining everything. I’d only been in a
helicopter once that I could remember, and that was with my dad when I was a
child. He took us for a ride once, and once was enough for Mom. It turned out
that she didn’t like helicopters any more than she did camping. I thought about
her when I saw how nice this one was. It reminded me of the black helicopters
you’d see in Army movies, only the interior was much more lavish. This one was
the Cadillac of cars.

Jonathan pointed out the features, while I made myself
comfortable in a plump, leather seat, and felt the leather. I didn’t know a
thing about helicopters, except that I thought they were really cool, but after
Jonathan finished, I could at least tell you how to operate the radio and that
this one was a
Bell
.

Jonathan smiled when I made the hand signal to indicate that
all the stuff he had just told me had gone right over my head. “That’s okay,”
he said. “You’ll learn.” He cocked his eyes at me. “I know you want to.”

“How can you tell?”

“You have that rabid look in your eyes.”

“I just can’t imagine ever learning how to fly one of these
things. It’s so… big… and so much. It’d be like driving a train. One wrong
foul-up and you’re dead meat. It wouldn’t be like hitting a tree with your car.
You might survive that, but not this. You crash a helicopter and you’re going
to die for sure.”

“Not necessarily,” Billy said. “Jonathan has survived a few.”

“Barely,” Jonathan added. “You’re not in combat if you don’t
go down every now and then.” He chuckled. “Look, Jesse. All you need to know is
that the red button shoots. The rest is secondary.”

I was flabbergasted. My eyes lit up when I said, “Are you
telling me it has rockets?”

Billy and Jonathan looked at each other, and then shared a
good-natured laugh.

“No, it doesn’t have rockets,” Jonathan replied. “Not yet,
anyway.”

“Does it have the red button?”

They laughed again. My inexperience was so delightful to
them.

“You really don’t know much about helicopters, do you,
Jesse?”

“I knew what the red button meant. Everybody knows that one.
You press the red button to fire the rockets. I was just wondering if it was
pre-wired with a red button just in case you’d want to add rockets to its list
of features. So… when are we going to get some rockets?”

“You’re just wide-opened, girl,” Jonathan mused. “You have
such an adventurous side. I just love that about you.” He leaned over and
kissed me on the forehead.

“Hey, buddy, keep your eyes on the road!”

Fifteen minutes after takeoff, Jonathan landed the helicopter
back on the ground. He powered-down the monstrous machine. The noise of the
engine and the rotor blades died to a slight hum, and then stopped. He pulled
out his cell phone and said, “Watch this.” He pressed a key and the hangar’s
floodlights flicked on, illuminating the darkness. “All the modern conveniences
of home.”

“I’m so impressed,” I said, jubilated. “My guys have the best
toys! I just have one question. How do you get the helicopter into the hangar?
I don’t imagine you’d fly it in, would you?”

“No,” Jonathan replied. “You don’t fly it in. We purchased a
pallet jack for that. You want to see it? It’s pretty cool, too.”

“Maybe she can see it later,” Billy interjected. “We need to
be getting back. It’s about time to put the kids to bed, and we’d both like to
be there for a change.” Billy looked at me. “You about ready to go, `ge ya?”

“Yeah,” I replied. I looked back at Billy, wondering if he
was going to ask Jonathan about flying us somewhere, but I didn’t say anything.
I would wait for his lead.

Jonathan walked with us back to the 4Runner, talking the
whole time about the newly purchased helicopter. It was apparent that he knew
pretty much everything there was to know about it, and he was so excited that
the Blackhawks finally owned another one.

“Another one?” I asked as I crawled into the passenger seat
of the car. “You had one before?”

“Dad had one when we were little, but his brother crashed it.
When Uncle Ray died in the helicopter crash, Dad lost all interest in flying.
He never bought another one, until now.”

Billy and Jonathan shared a sad moment.

“I’m so sorry to hear that. I bet it was hard on your dad.”

“It’s been over thirty years,” Jonathan added. “He’s never
gotten over it. He blames himself. He said he should’ve never let Ray fly
alone. When I approached him about buying the chopper, he was hesitant, but he
finally relented.”

“Do you think he’ll want to fly it? As you said, it’s been a
long time.”

“We’ll see.”

I waved to Jonathan as Billy turned the car around and headed
down the driveway. Even though we talked about the helicopter on the ride back
to the house, I didn’t bring up the subject of why he didn’t ask Jonathan to
fly us somewhere, until we were walking up on the front porch.

“I didn’t ask because he said he had to give her the once
over before he made any long trip. That’ll take a little time. He won’t take
anyone up in it until he’s sure it’s safe and doesn’t have some little glitch.”

“He took us up in it.”

“Yeah, but we didn’t go far.”

Helene had already given the kids a bath and was ready to put
them to bed. We’d made it just in time. Once they were tucked in, Billy and I
sat in the den with Helene, drinking coffee and discussing our plans.

“The helicopter trip is out,” I said to Helene. “Jonathan has
to check her out real good first, so we might as well go ahead and make other
plans.”

“Why don’t we just do something simple,” Helene suggested.
“I’ve been thinking about the trip, and I think it would be fun if we went to
the beach for a couple of days. How about Nag’s Head? Is that too far?”

“Sounds good to me,” I said. “What about you, Billy?”

“I don’t know,” Billy replied. “The summer is coming to an
end and I doubt we’d be able to find a place to stay on such short notice. The
hotels and cottages are booked up well in advance. Let me see what I can find
out.” He got up and headed to our home office to check the computer. Thirty
minutes later, he came back and said, “Sorry, ladies. I couldn’t even find a
hotel vacancy, let alone a cottage to rent.”

“I guess… whoa… wait a minute,” I said, looking at Billy.
“Russell Shank owns a cottage right on the beach in Nag’s Head. I think he said
it was on mile post eight or ten. Remember his telling us he’d just spent a
week there? That was right before
Savannah
went and killed that woman and needed his undivided attention. Maybe he’d rent
it to us. We wouldn’t make a mess. Tell him we’d leave it just like it was when
we got there.”

Athena and Thor, who had been lying in a corner snoozing, all
of a sudden, jumped up and started prancing around. I guess they liked the idea
as well. The cat was nowhere to be seen.

“What about them?” Helene asked. “Are they going? And what
are we going to do with the cat?”

“Let’s just see if I can get Russell to let us use his cottage
first,” Billy answered. “Then we’ll go from there.” He pulled out his cell
phone and walked out of the room. This time when Billy returned, he had a
serious look on his face.

“What’s the matter?” I asked him. “It’s not the end of the
world if he won’t let us use his…”

“It’s not that,” Billy replied. “He’s more than glad to let
us use his cottage, but not right now. His brother’s family is using it for the
next two weeks. After that, we’re more than welcome to use it. The problem
is—McCoy’s going to be buried in a few days. If we leave now, we’ll miss the
funeral.”

Reality brought us all back down to earth.

“I forgot,” I said, sadly. “We can’t miss the funeral. It
wouldn’t be right. He was our friend. We have to go.”

“Yeah. When I called Russell, he was at
Savannah
’s, helping her make the
arrangements. That was sad. I could hear her crying in the background.”

“Was my mom still there?”

“No, she wasn’t. Russell said she left over an hour ago.
Eddie wasn’t feeling well.”

“What’s the matter with him?”

“I don’t know. You’d have to ask her. You should call her.
It’s about time the two of you got over this
Savannah
thing and agree to disagree.”

The idea of calling my mom and having her go on and on about
Savannah
didn’t appeal to me. I just wasn’t
in the mood for another confrontation. Then, I thought about it for a minute.
Billy was right. I wasn’t going to let Savannah Kelley come between my mother
and me. No, sir! I would call my mom and ignore anything she had to say about
the high and mighty
Savannah
! While Billy and Helene were
discussing ideas for our trip, I walked out of the room and called my mom.

“Hello,” Mom whispered into the phone.

“Mom? Why are you whispering? Is Eddie okay?”

“He’s doing better,” she continued to whisper. “He’s asleep
on the couch. His stomach isn’t doing too well. He ate too much dinner.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I hope he’ll be all right.”

“He’ll be fine. I gave him some baking soda in water. Next
time he’ll listen to me. He can’t help it. He just loves my cooking.”

“How’re the wedding plans coming along?”

“Very well.”

Mom and I talked for over twenty minutes before it dawned on
me that
Savannah
’s name hadn’t even come up once.
But, we had to be able to talk without fussing over her, so…

“Billy and I plan to take Helene and the kids on a
mini-vacation as soon as we can get it set up. We were thinking we’d go after
McCoy’s funeral. We’ll be gone a week.”

“You will be back in time for the wedding, won’t you?”

“Weddings,” I jokingly corrected her. “Of course, we will.
Besides, that’s three weeks away. We have plenty of time. Y’all have everything
under control, right? You don’t need my help.”

“Oh, honey, are you feeling left out? I’m sorry. I didn’t…”

“No… not at all, Mom.” I chuckled. “You know that’s not my
thing. If you need my help, I’d be more than glad to give it, but if you don’t,
that suits me just fine. I’m not much of a party planner, especially a big
shindig such as this. I’m happy just to stand on the sidelines and watch.”

Our conversation ended without any disagreement over
Savannah
. I’d decided not to try to change my
mother’s mind about her. It wasn’t worth it. We had a good relationship, and I
wasn’t about to let anyone change that. I felt relieved after our phone
conversation. When I walked back to the den and told Billy, he was relieved,
too.

“I’m so glad you’ve decided to put it to rest. There’s no
reason to go on and on about something you can’t change, so why argue over
something so unimportant?”

“That’s my thought exactly.
Savannah
will show her true colors eventually. Mom doesn’t need me
giving her grief all the time about her.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. It’s not as if
Savannah
is going to corrupt your mother.
Minnie’s a smart lady. If there’s something to see, she’ll see it.”

Helene sat on the sofa and didn’t say anything as if she were
concentrating on something. When I sat down next to her, she looked over at me
and said, “Shall we give up on our getaway plans for now? With McCoy’s funeral
coming up, and then the wedding gala, maybe we should stay home. There’ll be
plenty of time for travel later.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” I said. “It’s pretty bad when we
can’t plan a family trip for even a couple of days. Have we become boring?”