South River Incident (15 page)

“No, not just yet.” I
turned my back and walked away.

We made sure the dogs had
plenty of food and water before we left the house. Billy stoked up the fire and
brought in a load of wood while I put the sheets in the dryer and picked up
around the house. The dogs whined when we walked out the door.

“Ignore them,” Billy said.
“I’m more concerned with you leaving the dryer running while we’re gone.”

“Why? What’s wrong with
leaving the dryer running?”

“You do have a lot to learn
about housekeeping.” He shook his head. “We’ll talk about it later.”

Billy had taken my Jeep out
of the garage, turned it around, and had it positioned for me to drive straight
out of the driveway.

“Such a thoughtful man,” I
said, and blew him a kiss. “I’ll be back around two. See you then.”

“I’m right behind you.”

Once we got to Rt. 29, we
went our separate ways. Billy turned right, and I turned left.

I went to the bank and then
spent the rest of the morning shopping at the Fashion Square Mall in
Charlottesville
.
The mall had everything I could possibly want. I bought sheets for all the
beds, towels and washcloths for the bathrooms, an electric frying pan (hoping
it would do the cooking for me), a huge bearskin rug with a real bear’s head to
lay in front of the fireplace for the dogs, and a three-foot Indian dream
catcher.

I was standing on a wooden
crate on the front porch, trying to put a nail in a two-by-four overhead, when
Billy drove up. So far, I’d hit my thumb twice. Fortunately, I wasn’t banging
the hammer very hard.

“I quit. This is a man’s
job,” I cried, stepping down off the stool. “I bought a dream catcher. It’s
supposed to catch all the bad dreams and turn them into good ones. I was going
to hang it, but...”

His smile warmed my heart
when he said, “I’ll take care of it.”

I watched him as he
hammered the nail and then hung the dream catcher.

“There you go, it’s all
done.”

“You’re so good at stuff
like this. Are all men that way?”

“Nope, I’m the only one.”

“I knew that all along.” I
laughed, teasing him. “So what did you do this morning? Did you get everything
done that you set out to do?”

I picked up the crate to
carry back to the utility room, and for a split second, a vision of Ruth
flashed in my head. Did Billy do things like this for her? I mentally slapped
myself. Of course, he did. He was married to the woman for a hundred years. He
loved her. He would have done anything for her and probably did. A pang of
jealously struck a chord deep in my heart. For a moment, the thought of Billy
loving someone else didn’t sit well, but I think it was at that precise moment
that I finally let go of the green-eyed monster lurking within my soul. I
realized jealousy was such a waste of time. All those years I had spent being
jealous of my sister, my friends, and others, had been for nothing. You can’t
control how people are, what they have, or how they feel. None of that matters.
The fact is, Ruth lost out.  She had let go of a wonderful man and he had come
to me. I would gladly take him.

“I ran a few errands,” he
answered. “What did you do?”

“I went to the bank and the
mall. I bought a few things for the house.”

He looked at the dream
catcher and said, “I see. You made a good choice on this purchase. What else
did you buy?”

“Come on, I’ll show you.” I
grabbed him by the arm, snuggling close. “It’s so cold out here.”

“It’s going to get worse,
according to the weatherman.”

He wrapped his arms around
my shoulders to shield me from the cold.

“We’d better hunker down.
We have a Nor’easter heading this way. It’s going to go down in the teens
tonight, and the wind is supposed to get up to sixty miles an hour. That’s
pretty rough. You might want to put that dream catcher inside until it’s over.
I think we’re in for a real storm. We might get as much as a foot of snow. Throw
in some high winds, and we’re talking about a major mountain storm. It just
might kick our butts.”

“That’s all I need to
know.” I turned and put the crate back down, stepped up on it, and removed the
dream catcher from the nail. “I’ll hang it somewhere inside for the time
being.”

He picked up the crate and
followed behind me.

The house was warm, setting
off a feeling of instant comfort. I laid the dream catcher on the kitchen table
and walked over to the fireplace.

“This is so nice,” I said,
rubbing my hands across my butt and doing a little dance.

Athena and Thor lay asleep,
curled up close to the bear’s head on the rug in front of my feet.

Billy sat the crate down by
the door, walked over to where I was standing, and stood beside me with his
back to the fire.

“You know Jesse; your
hunches were right on the money about Helen Carrolton. Your instincts are
pretty good. I have a question for you.”

“Okay, what is it?”

“If you had to choose one
person as the murderer from the picture we found at
Roy
’s house,
which one would you choose? Take your time and think about it before you
answer.”

“I don’t need to take my
time. I know who I’d pick. I thought about it the minute I saw the picture. It
just flashed in my head. It’s the girl standing behind the guy with his arm
around Mary. I got some really bad vibes from her. She looks evil, mad, and
jealous. Why do you ask?”

“Because most people are
killed by someone they know. That’s why I snagged the photo. It’s obvious that
Mary and Roy socialized with these people. Maybe one of them is the killer.”

“Whose killer are we
talking about—Mary’s or Roy’s?”

“Both.”

“Well, then I would have to
go with the blond.”

“That’s Laura Westover.
She’s the one who sent you that message on your computer screen.  She’s married
to Brad Westover—the guy with his arm around Mary.”

“When did you find out who
the phantom e-mailer was?”

“I stopped by the office
and did another search on my computer.”

“Ah, ha... the plot
thickens.”

“I don’t know. I’d have to
go with the guy. Mary’s body was battered.”

“Big deal, you don’t think
women can be brutal?”

“I believe what you say. I
trust your instincts, but I have to tell you, Jesse, I have my doubts about
this one.”

I rolled my eyes at him.
“That’s what you said the last time, remember? I tried to warn you about that
kid Jay, but you wouldn’t listen. You thought I was crazy. Yet, he led us to
the real killer eventually.”

“Yeah, but...”

“No butts... you asked me.
That’s what I think.”

I could see he wasn’t
buying anything of what I was selling. He never did listen too well once he had
made up his mind. He had his own idea of how things were, and most of the time,
I played a hard game of convincing him otherwise. He thought Brad Westover was
the bad guy and never considered for a moment he might be wrong.

“I have something for you,”
I said. I walked over to the kitchen table, removed an envelope from my purse,
and handed it to Billy.

He took the envelope and
looked inside. “What’s this?”

“It’s the rest of the money
I owe you on my car loan. I didn’t want to start out this relationship in debt.
I’m sure we’re going to have plenty of obstacles in our way and I don’t want
money to be one of them.”

“I can’t take this money,
Jesse. It’s part of your inheritance.”

“To do with as I see fit,”
I said. I walked back to the fireplace.

Billy stood holding the
envelope as if he didn’t know what to do next. He turned his back to me and
stuffed the money in my purse. “I’m not taking the money.”

“Why won’t you take the
money?” I walked back to him. “It belongs to you. I owe you that money. It’s a
lot of money, and I won’t have anyone thinking I used our relationship to get
past not paying what I owe. You have to take it.” I reached past him to
retrieve the money.

Billy took my arm before I
could get to my purse and led me back to the blazing fire.

“Sit down. I want to talk
to you.” He motioned to the hearth.

I sat while he squatted
down on one knee.

 He reached inside his
jacket, pulled out a small black velvet case, and opened it. His words were
soft and tender. “Will you marry me, Jesse?”

My mouth hung open as he
took the ring from the case and slipped it on my finger. I was too shocked to
speak. I stared at the huge diamond poised on top of a gold band. I raised my
head, and peered into his dark eyes and said, “It’s beautiful, Billy.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes,” I choked out.

He grabbed me up in a bear
hug and kissed me. “You won’t be sorry, Jesse. I promise.”

Athena and Thor, obviously
sensing the situation, jumped up and started howling. They ran around in
circles, slobbering all over the place.

“What’s wrong with you
guys?” I reached to pet them. “You’re both acting crazy.”

“They’re not dummies,”
Billy said. “They know what’s happening. They’re happy. Can’t you tell?”

I started to reply when a
knock came at the door.

“Who can that be?” I looked
at Billy in surprise. 

“It’s probably the chief.
He went with me to pick out the ring,” he said. He walked over to open the
door.

“He went with you?” I
asked, wondering who else knew.

“Yes, and before you ask,
they all know. I made a few phone calls.”

“What would you have done
if I’d said no?”

“Probably feel like a
fool,” he answered, looking at me with a silly grin on his face. “It wouldn’t
be the first time.”

I walked up and wrapped my
arms around his waist.

“Just answer the door,” I
said, planting a kiss on his cheek.

 My smile faded and my
mouth dropped when Billy opened the door. Cole stood at the entrance.

There could have been no
doubt about what was going on in this house. Billy and I were too cozy-looking
to be anything but intimate. I had a ring on my finger, my arms around my man,
and a rapturous look on my face.  I was guilty as sin. It was time to ‘fess up.

Before Cole could speak, I
stepped in front of Billy.

“Why don’t you come in,
Cole?” I ushered him inside. “You’re the first to be able to congratulate us,”
I said in the most goading voice I could find. “Billy has asked me to marry
him, and I said yes.”

What happened next was not
what I had expected. Cole’s eyes bulged and he sailed at Billy, knocking him to
the floor from the intense force of his body. Fists flew, and before I knew
what happened, they were tearing the place apart. A lamp was knocked over, and
the dream catcher was swept off the table. It was all I could do to intercede
when they got close to the computer.

“Stop it! That’s enough!” I
yelled. “You’re acting like a couple of overgrown little boys!”

Well, that sure did get
their attention. Instantly, they stopped fighting and tried to regain their
dignity. Billy massaged his jaw while Cole wiped the blood from his own lip.

I felt like a jerk.

“This is entirely my
fault,” I said. “I should have never told you about Billy and me like I did.” I
walked over to Cole. “I wanted to hurt you. I’m sorry. You’re a decent man and
you don’t deserve this. Please forgive me.” I turned to Billy and then walked
over to his side. “The truth is, I’m in love with Billy. I think I have been
since the day we met. It just took a little while for me to see it. I hope you
won’t hate us.”

Cole took a deep breath,
tilted his head, and reigned in his anger. “If that’s the way you want it,” he
said. His demeanor changed. He became professional. “I came here to tell you
that someone broke into your mom’s house. She’s in the hospital.”

“What?”
I
cried. “Is she all right?” I ran to him and grabbed him by his jacket. “What
happened?”

Cole reached out and put
his hands on my shoulders. “Calm down, Jesse, she’s fine. She’s in the hospital
for observation. It seems she got knocked unconscious from the shotgun blast.”

“Has she been shot?” I
screamed.

“No, she hasn’t been shot.
The force from the blast knocked her up against the wall when she shot at the
intruder, and then she passed out. But she’s going to be fine. I came here to
take you to see her.” He glanced over at Billy and then back to me. “However, I
can see you don’t need me.”

Billy stepped forward and
said, “I’ll take Jesse to see her mom. What hospital is she in?”

“She’s at UVA. You can
follow me. I have to get a statement from her.”

I was sitting inside my
Jeep with the motor running and honking the horn, when Billy finally made it to
the car.