All About the Money (A Jesse Watson Mystery Series Book 7) (2 page)

“Oh, you’ve been thinking about my friend, Flo, haven’t you?”
she asked. “I thought you’d given up on her. I was beginning to wonder.”

“I have to think about something else, so I won’t worry about
Billy.”

After a few seconds, Mom replied, “I don’t know. I think it
was a nickname given to him in college.” She chuckled and then said, “With your
being such a good private eye, I’d think you could find out if you wanted to.”

“I could, and I might just do that. Who could forget a name
like Downer? It shouldn’t be too hard to track down.”

Then, my mind went back to the case Billy was working. While
we were in the process of planning our next move in Flo’s case a couple of
weeks ago, a simple fraud case fell into our laps. We most likely would’ve
passed on it under the circumstances, but the man asking was a friend of
Billy’s who had begged him to take it on.

Kyle Winslow and Billy knew each other from way back when, so
when his old buddy called and asked for his help, he couldn’t refuse. I
remember Billy telling me about Kyle and how they had hung out together… high
school…college… same old… same old. But time moves on and so did their lives.
They hadn’t been in touch for years, but that didn’t matter. Their friendship
was still strong.

Kyle works for Afton South, Inc., an insurance company in
Charlottesville
that covers everything from
homeowner’s insurance to medical insurance. The firm is large, yet privately
owned, and in the business and the private sector (the ones who are insured by
this company)
ASI
is well-respected. That speaks
volumes.

This was a typical case of insurance fraud: a man injured his
back and was on medical disability for over eight months from an injury that
was suspect, in the least. Then, an anonymous call was made to an insurance
agent reporting the sight of Mr. X driving his car—a man who is supposed to be
completely incapacitated. That was a huge red flag! All Billy had to do was get
pictures of the man doing his thing. But, it didn’t quite turn out that way.
Oh, Billy got pictures of Raleigh Jones driving around in his car, but that
wasn’t all he discovered in his surveillance. Not only was Mr. Jones not
disabled, but he was completely physically fit and doing work on the side. Side
work that involved a new and lucrative business—he was a pot dealer. Not the
smalltime kind where he would go out on the street and sell a few bags, but the
kind who would sell the stuff by the pound. Unlike most dealers, he would make
the deliveries himself obviously to avoid drug traffic to his home. A couple
here… a couple there… and he would be set. Raleigh Jones was not an idiot. When
he made his drug deals, he always had a couple of brawny men meet up with him
for backup. A criminal never changes his spots… or is that a leopard? Either
way, both species were cut from the same cloth. They’re all dangerous
predators. The only problem that would turn out to be his downfall was that he
got spotted doing the dirty by Billy.

After staking out the target, it was clear what had to be
done. The police would be brought in to make the arrest after Billy set up a
buy from the guy. No big deal. Billy could handle a simple drug sting. I
thought the police should be notified right away, but Billy said all he had as
evidence was his word, and the Charlottesville Police Department wasn’t going
to go on his word alone.

Once the plan had been put into motion, I wanted to be a part
of it, but Billy wouldn’t let me. He told me that I couldn’t physically handle
myself against those guys. I told him that I was quite capable of shooting
anyone. What did brute force have to do with anything? Finally, in the end, I
gave up. I had lost, and to be honest, I didn’t mind. Let my man handle it. I’m
not only a private eye, but I’m a mother now.

That’s what I told myself until I found myself sitting on the
steps of my front porch with my mother wondering why I wasn’t standing next to
my partner in life, doing what I was cut out to do.

For so long, I had wondered if I would ever find something that
I was good at, and now I realized that I had. After all this time! I knew that
I was a good wife and mother, and I was real good at being a snoop. I could
handle anything. I should be with Billy!

Just when I was thinking about jumping into my car and go
trailing after my man, the headlights of Billy’s Dodge pickup truck came into
view. It sure was a welcomed sight.

Mom and I stood and held hands as we watched the truck pull
up, park, and the glow of the headlights go out.

Inside the house, the telephone started ringing. Mom and I
looked at each other knowing full well that one of us would have to run inside
to answer it before the ringing woke Helene and the kids.

“I’ll get it,” Mom said. “You go check on Billy.” She looked
at him as he walked closer. “He’s walking with a limp. He got hurt! I hope he’s
all right. Oh, geez.” She turned and quickly went into the house. Seconds
later, the phone stopped ringing.

I hugged Billy, taking in the sweet smell of his aftershave
lotion that now had only the slight scent of Old Spice. It was a welcome,
familiar smell. All I wanted to do was hold onto him, but I had to let go. Even
in the dark I could tell that he was in pain.

“What happened, Billy?” I asked, trying not to cry.

“Things got a little rough,” he said.

“Come inside and let me have a look at you.”

“I’m okay, `ge ya. Well, I will be as soon as I take a shower
and get some food in me. It’s been a long, rough day. I’m bushed.”

We turned and started to walk inside just about the same time
Mom came back out onto the porch. She held the portable phone in her hand as
she said, “
Savannah
has a problem. She needs our help.”

Billy looked at me and said, “You need to handle this, Jesse.
I don’t think I have an ounce of energy left in me. I don’t want to talk.”

I took the phone from Mom as we walked inside. I held onto it
without speaking. I wanted to have a look at Billy first. Once inside, I could
tell that it had been a bad day for my husband. He had obviously been in a
fistfight with someone, but I was sure that the beating he had taken wasn’t
half as bad as he had given. Par for the course. Just another day in the life
of a private investigator.

I kissed Billy on the cheek, and then he turned and headed to
the bedroom. “We’ll talk about it later,” he said, winking at me.

Mom stood next to me while I talked with
Savannah
.

“Hello,
Savannah
,” I said. “Mom says you have a
problem. What can we do to help?”

“It’s always been my worst nightmare,” she replied. “Ever
since I started writing I’ve been waiting for something like this to happen.”

“Whatever it is, I’m sure it isn’t anything that can’t be
fixed. Just tell me what happened, and we’ll see what we can do about your
problem.”

“I write about people getting killed, and I always worried
that one day someone would dump a body on my property.”

“And…”

“There’s a body in my garage. Can you imagine what that’s
like? I’ll tell you what it’s like! It’s awful!” She broke down and started
crying hysterically, the deep, heaving kind of cry.

“I’ll be right there,
Savannah
.
Are you alone? Where’s McCoy?”

“He’s not here, but I’m not alone either. I have a body in my
garage!”

It was way past
ten o’clock
at night, and I was tired. I didn’t want to leave the house, but I knew there
was something horrible going on over at
Savannah
’s
house. A dead body in the garage was enough to freak out anybody, but to
Savannah Kelley, the
Greene
County
writer, who lives close to Mom in
Dogwood
Valley
, it was a nightmare in the making.
She said she had always worried that something like this would happen. I guess
a writer lives with the possibility that a fanatic fan might come along and do
something awful like this.

When I explained the situation to Billy, the first thing he
said was, “Did she call the police?”

“No. She called us.”

“Why not? Has she lost her mind? She should’ve called the
cops.”

“She’s scared, Billy,” Mom stepped forward and said. “McCoy
went to Fancy Gap to take care of business and settle matters. She said he was
closing up his law practice. Now that he’s moved here to be with her, I guess
there were loose ends to tie up.”

“This is a nightmare!” Billy exclaimed. “Whew! The last thing
I want to do is go back out.”

“You don’t have to,” I said. “I can go.”

“And I can go with her!” Mom added.

Billy gave us one of his looks. “I don’t think so, ladies. If
anyone’s going, it’s going to be me.” He looked over at Mom. “I don’t want you
to get involved. Dead bodies aren’t real pretty.”

“I’ve seen dead bodies before,” she retorted. “I can handle
it.”

“Wait one minute! Stop right there,” I demanded. “Ever since
we got back from that cruise you’ve been shutting me out of everything. You
pretty much handled every aspect of Flo’s case with the exception of the trip
to
Suffolk
, and then you wouldn’t let me help
with the fraud case. Don’t you think I can handle the job anymore?”

“Sure, I do, `ge ya. I just thought you needed to be able to
spend some time with the children.”

“I spend plenty of time with the kids. I still need to work.”

Helene was in a half-asleep state when she walked down the stairs
and into the kitchen. She looked around and asked, “What’s going on down here?”
Then she looked over at Billy and gasped. “What happened to you? You look as if
you got the wrong end of a whipping stick!”

“It’s a long story,” he replied. “I’m sorry we woke you.”

“That’s okay. You didn’t wake me up. I had a bad dream, and
then I heard loud voices downstairs. I wanted to check it out. Make sure
everything was all right.”

“
Savannah
found a body in her garage!” Mom
said, excitedly. “We have to go over there and help her out.”

Once Mom had spilled the beans, the three of us women started
going on and on about the situation. Billy finally butted in.

“Stop! Please!”

The room fell silent.

Billy walked over to the kitchen counter and looked at the
empty coffee pot. “If somebody will make a pot of coffee, I’ll shove some food
in my mouth, and then we’ll figure out who’s going and who’s staying.”

“There’s nothing to figure out,” I said. “I’m going with
you.”

“I’ll make the coffee,” Helene said, and then walked over to
the pot and started doing so.

Mom walked over to the refrigerator, pulled out the plate she
had fixed earlier for Billy, and stuck it in the microwave to heat it up.

Five minutes later, Billy was washing down his dinner with
coffee as he stood by the sink. He looked up at me and asked, “Are you about
ready to go?”

“I was born ready, honey!”

While Mom and Helene were busy in the kitchen with Billy, I
ran to the bedroom to change clothes. I grabbed my gun and cell phone, stuck
the gun in my purse, the cell phone in my back pants pocket, and was back in
the kitchen waiting for Billy before he had time to even finish his last bite.

He looked up at me, let out a little chuckle and said, “You
look like a kid waiting for someone to take her to the ice cream store.”

“That’s me. Always ready for a treat!”

“Jesse!” Mom hissed. “A dead body is nothing to joke about!”

“I know, Mom. I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just eager to
help
Savannah
, and find out what’s the deal with
the body.”

“Where’s Vera?” Helene questioned. “Is she there with
Savannah
?”

“I didn’t think to ask,” I said.

“She’s not,” Mom offered. “She went on a week’s cruise to
Bermuda
on the
Bella Constance
. After
hearing about all the fun Billy and Jesse had, she said she had to go. She took
a week’s vacation, and headed out. She won’t be back for two more days.”

“We’d better hurry,” Billy said, setting his plate in the
sink. “If
Savannah
’s alone, she’s liable to be in a
real panic. I don’t want her to do something irrational.”

“I’m sure she’s in a panic,” Helene agreed. “I know I would
be if I found a body in my garage. The idea of it just gives me the creeps.”

Billy and I walked out the front door with Mom and Helene
trailing along behind us.

“Lock the doors,” Billy commanded. “And call
Savannah
and tell her we’re on our way. Try
to calm her down. She’ll need to keep it together.”

“If you need us, call my cell phone,” I said, walking down
the porch steps. “You know you can always reach us by cell.”

“You call us and let us know what’s going on,” Mom yelled out
to us as we climbed into Billy’s pickup truck. “You know we’ll worry until we
hear something from you.”

Billy turned the truck around and headed down the driveway. I
looked up into the rearview mirror to see Mom and Helene standing on the front
porch, in the dark, waving to us. They were still standing in the same spot
when we rounded the bend in the driveway.

After we got onto Rt. 29, Billy asked, “Are you mad at me,
`ge ya?”

“No,” I replied, a little stunned at his question. “Why?”

“I thought you were angry because you think I’ve been
shutting you out. That’s what you said. Trust me, that’s the last thing I’d do.
I’d never shut you out. You’re my partner.”

“I’m not mad at you.” I reached over and patted his leg. “I’d
kiss you on the cheek, but I have this seatbelt on. I liked it better when I
used to jump in the truck and snuggle up close to you.”

“Safety first. Isn’t that what you’ve been telling your
mother all this time? Practice what you preach.”

“Yeah…”

For as long as I could remember, Mom hated to wear a
seatbelt. She always complained about how uncomfortable they are. It was like
pulling teeth to get her to buckle up. And then I finally laid down the law. I
told her that if she was going to haul my kids around, everybody had to wear a
seatbelt. It worked. She stopped complaining, and now she wears hers all the
time. And if one of us fails to do likewise, she starts in with her lecture.
What goes around comes around.

“I think you’re starting to worry about me too much. It’s as
if you’re afraid I can’t handle myself anymore. Is that true? Nothing has
changed. Just because we’re married and have kids doesn’t mean I can’t still go
out and beat down someone’s door.”

“I guess I’m getting too over-protective.”

“Well… snap out of it! I’m still just as tough as I’ve always
been!”

“The day has been trying.”

Billy seemed relieved I wasn’t mad at him. Who in their right
mind wants to deal with an angry wife when they’ve had such a rough day?

“That’s right,” I said, changing the subject. “What happened
today? You said we’d talk about it later… and now it’s later. Did
Raleigh
get busted? I sure hope he’s in jail
and off the streets.”

“He’s dead.”

“What?” I freaked. “What do you mean, he’s dead? What
happened?”

Billy slowed the truck down, coming to a stop at the intersection
of Rt. 29 and 33. It was a week night, late at night, but that didn’t seem to
affect traffic. Cars were everywhere.

“I think I might’ve made a mistake, Jesse.”

I knew trouble was ahead. Billy rarely called me Jesse. He
always called me ‘ge ya… meaning woman in his Cherokee language.

“This can’t be but so good,” I muttered. “I don’t like the
sound of this story already.”

“I thought about what you said about bringing the cops in on
it, and decided that you were right. So, about
midday
, I hooked up with one of Captain Waverly’s undercover cops
who set up the buy with
Raleigh
,” he said, starting his explanation.
“We were to meet up with Jones at
three o’clock
in the parking garage at the Downtown Mall.”

“At the mall? Are you serious?”

“Contrary to what most folks believe, drug dealers like
public places. They think it’s inconspicuous to sell their wares in a crowded
place. They think they blend in. They get more brazen all the time. “

“What happened when you met up with Raleigh Jones?”

“I have it all on tape.”

Billy had a mini camcorder he would mount on the inside of
the truck’s grill when he needed to keep it hidden. This had been one of those
times. He reached down under the seat, pulled it out, and then handed it to me.

I flipped on the camcorder and watched the scene play out
while Billy talked. “The buy went down without a hitch, and then the police
swarmed the area. Jones panicked, pulled a gun, and the next thing I knew, he
was laying on the concrete with a bullet in his head.”

“What was the mistake you made? You worked with the cops to
bring down this guy. You didn’t have to. All you had to do was get pictures for
the insurance company. You could’ve stopped there, but you didn’t. You helped
take a drug dealer off the streets. What’s the problem?”

Billy rubbed his forehead and said, “The mistake I made was
to ever trust the cops. I know better. They used me.”

“Used you how?”

“Remember Officer Downey?”

“Of course, I do. He was the officer who read me my rights at
the hospital that time.” I thought about the experience for a second, and then
added, “Yes, I remember him well. I was in the hospital across the hall from
Rose Hudgins. The two of us had just been through a harrowing ordeal. Being
locked up in a car, buried underground was something one never forgets.”

“At the scene, he walked past me and made a comment about
Captain Waverly. Really took me by surprise.”

“What did he say?”

“He said they’ve been after this guy for a good while.
Captain Waverly had every intention of bringing down Raleigh Jones at all
costs, sooner or later. I made that possible sooner than later.”

I thought about the implication for a minute. Then it hit me.
“Are you saying that the captain planned to kill Raleigh Jones?”

“No, not planned, but if the opportunity presented itself… I
gave him that opportunity.”

“Hey, if you hadn’t, someone else would have. But, I’m
stunned that Waverly didn’t trust the judicial system to do its job. He’s a
cop. They’re supposed to believe in the system. It’s just too bad you fell into
his trap.”

“Cops are out for justice, and Waverly got his justice.”

“And just when you think it’s safe to go back into the
water.” I had to laugh. “Let it go, Billy. It’s not your problem, and it’s not
your fault.”

“I think I’m getting soft. I never make mistakes like this. I
should know better than to trust the cops. They’re out to get their man, and it
doesn’t matter how they do it.”

“Right! It seems to me that you’re the one who always told me
to never trust the cops! You specifically said they can never, ever be trusted.
They’ll stab you in the back every chance they get. The minute you turn around
they turn on you. How many times have you told me that?”

“On more than one occasion, I’m quite sure.”

“I just can’t believe Captain Waverly would murder Raleigh
Jones in cold blood. That’s raw.”

“Oh, it wasn’t murder. It was self-defense. Jones drew down
on them.”

“A death by convenience.”

“That’s a good analogy.”

“Now, I understand why you got home so late.”

“Police and paperwork… there ought to be a law,” Billy joked as
he turned left onto
South
River Road
. His face
looked worn out. He was beyond tired, and I felt bad for him.

I watched the small screen on the camcorder, and then
chuckled again. I looked up at Billy and smiled. “I was going to ask you how
you got all beat up, but now I see.”

“We kinda got into an argument over the price the minute I
got the pound of marijuana in my hands. I had to stall. I told
Raleigh
it felt light. I already had the
pot, but the cops were dragging their feet. At first. Then they swarmed in like
a SWAT team besieging a compound full of fanatics.”