South River Incident (18 page)

I took the thin gloves and
shoved my hands inside. “I’m ready,” I grinned. “Let’s get to work.”

Billy motioned for me to
slip around the back of the house and check out the doors while he snooped
around out front. Contrary to Billy’s instructions, it wasn’t necessary to
sneak or slide.  Unlike its neighbors, the entire house was surrounded from
view by an endless grove of trees, yet to be pruned. Nobody was going to notice
our presence. If the house had an alarm system, I figured it would alert the
guard first, before the signal was sent to the police. That factor alone gave
me the courage to rattle the windows and kick the sliding glass door.

The door slipped off its
track. I reached over and grabbed the handle, pushing it aside. A gust of warm
air from the heat inside rushed at me, making the curtains billow against my
face. Suddenly, I was standing in the middle of what could only be the
occupants’ party room. One complete wall was filled with every conceivable
electronic gadget designed to enhance your musical pleasure or fulfill your
viewing desires. Comfortable sofas and chairs consumed the center of the floor.
A massive bar lined the opposite wall. In the back of the room, a staircase led
up to the next level of the house.

“Wow!” I said out loud.
“What a great room!”      

Billy suddenly appeared at
the bottom of the stairs. “You should see the rest of the house! It’s pretty
nice.”

“How did you get in here?”
I asked, forcing myself back down to earth. 

“I have my ways.” He
snickered. “I see you’ve learned how to bypass those cheap, crappy sliding
glass doors.”

“Piece of cake,” I flung my
ponytail across my shoulders. “It was nothing, my dear.”

Billy glanced down at my
feet. “Jesse, look at your shoes. Haven’t you learned anything about leaving
evidence at the scene? Go back outside and knock off that snow.”

I went to the door and
kicked the snow from my shoes while he disappeared from the room and returned a
few minutes later. He was carrying a handful of paper towels. Billy wiped the
melted snow from the floor, and then passed the wad of wet towels to me.

“Dry the bottom of your
shoes.”

I looked at him as if he
was crazy. “Are you serious?”

“Please, just do it. I
disabled the alarm. I’d say we have about ten minutes before the guard realizes
the system’s down. Hurry up. We don’t want to waste any time.”

“What are we looking for?”
I asked. I wiped my shoes and then tossed the wet paper towels outside. I would
pick them up and take them with me when we left.

“I’ll let you know when we
find it. There’s an office upstairs. I think that’s where we should start. 
I’ll search through the computer while you rummage through everything else.
Let’s go.”

We ran up the stairs to the
room Billy wanted to search. He sat down at the computer and began scanning
through the files as I searched through the book cases and the file cabinet.
Finally, I came across a picture on the wall that looked as if it had tiny
hinges hidden on one side. I pulled at the picture and discovered a hidden wall
safe.

“Ah, ha!” I looked at
Billy. “Know anything about safecracking?”

He stopped and glanced at
the wall, examining my find. “Give me a minute. I think I’m onto something.”

“What did you find?” I
walked over to the desk and peeked over his shoulder. “It looks like an address
book.”

“It’s more than an address
book.  It’s a payment book,” he said. “Look around for a box of blank computer
discs. I want to download everything.”

“Can’t you just download
all this stuff to your office computer or to the one at home?”

“I don’t want to do that. I
don’t want to leave a trail. It can be traced.”

I searched the desk drawers
on both sides of Billy and came up with a usable disc. I handed it to him.
“Here,” I said. “There was a whole box if you need more.”

He inserted the disc into
the hard drive, clicked a few keys, and started downloading information.

“Okay, let’s have a look at
that safe.” He walked over to the wall, turned the handle and the safe opened.
“Somebody must have been in a hurry. They forgot to close the door all the way.
What a streak of luck.” He stood in front of the safe with his back to me for a
few minutes, and then turned with a strange expression on his face. He was
angry. “You’re not going to believe this.” He stepped back for me to have a
look. “Check it out.”

I stepped forward, and
peeked inside. The safe contained a wad of cash, three plastic bags filled with
white powder, and a gallon-size bag of pot. “Drugs… I should have known. What
are we going to do?”

He closed the safe and
walked back to the computer. “We’re getting out of here, shortly.” 

“You mean we’re just going
to leave the stuff?”

“Do you want to get caught
with the drugs? I sure don’t. We can’t go to the police with our find. What
would we tell them?”

“We could destroy it.”

“No, we’re not going to
mess with the junk.”

He reached in the desk
drawer and retrieved another disc, ejected the one in the hard drive, and
slipped in the new one. “Give me two minutes and then we’re out of here.”

Five minutes later, we were
outside the house.

I grabbed the wad of paper
towels while Billy tried to get the sliding doors back onto their tracks. We
were almost to the guard station when the security patrol car stopped in front
of the Jeep. The guard got out and walked up to Billy’s window.

“Find anything
interesting?” he asked.

Billy handed him a
fifty-dollar bill. “We were never here.”

The guard took the money,
got back into his car, and drove away. He was nowhere in sight by the time we
exited the gate.

“How much do you think it
would cost to get him to rat us out?” I asked. I looked back in the direction
of the guard house.

“I don’t want to even think
about it.”

“Where are we going next?”

“We’ll stop at my place. I
need to get some paperwork. Then we’ll head over to the hospital to pick up
Claire and the kids. How does that sound?”

“It sounds good to me. I’m
ready to go home. Breaking into someone’s house takes a lot out of a person.”

A sudden wave of nausea hit
me, and I broke out in a sweat. I felt dizzy all of a sudden. “Actually, I feel
like I’m going to puke.” I started to gag. “Pull over fast, Billy. I’m going to
throw up.”

Billy slammed on the brakes
and slid to a stop along the side of the road. He looked at me with concern.

I flung open the door, leaned
over the side, and started to gag. Nothing came up. I heaved again, and lost my
stomach contents. “I’m sorry,” I said, wiping my face with my hand. “I don’t
know what happened. All of a sudden, I just felt sick.”

His eyes lit up. “It’s
true!”

I looked at him in
bewilderment. I had no idea of what he was talking about, and knowing Billy as
I do, it could be anything. “What are you talking about? What’s true?”

“Thanksgiving dinner at my
house,” he beamed, “Mom pulled me aside and said that you had conceived a child
that day.  She asked me if I was the father. Considering the way we looked when
she answered the door, she thought we might have just crawled out of bed. I
laughed, and said we had. She congratulated me.”

There’s something about the
Indian people I don’t think I will ever understand. They say weird things and
make the most outrageous predictions. They seem to know everything that’s going
to happen, and why it happened, even before it happens. But this had to be the
exception to the rule. Sarah wasn’t an Indian, and there was absolutely no way
someone can tell the day a woman gets pregnant.

I have to admit that
pregnancy prevention has not been on the top of my list of priorities, but I do
take the pill most of the time. And even though my sex life had picked up, I
wouldn’t get pregnant if I missed taking one pill.

“You’re out of your mind,”
I scoffed at him, trying to regain my composure. “I got sick because I’m
stressed out. I have an anxiety disorder, remember? I’ve just discovered that
breaking into a house can be very stressful. I’m surprised that I didn’t have a
panic attack from the stress of it all. Besides, nobody gets morning sickness
the minute they get pregnant. Not only that, it’s the afternoon. What a joke.
You don’t know what you’re talking about. You can go back to your mom and tell
her she was wrong. This is a joke.”

“The chief told Sarah you
were, and he’s never wrong,” Billy said. He checked his side mirror and then
pulled back onto the road. “I’ve just been waiting for a sign that he was
right. And now I have it.”

“I’ll tell you what, if I’m
pregnant, I’ll let you pick out the baby’s name all by yourself, and I won’t
say a word about your choice.”

“That’s wonderful! I’ve
already been thinking about it. It’s been on my mind constantly since Mom said
something to me. I couldn’t say anything to you because I knew you’d say the
same thing you just said. You already think my family has weird beliefs.”

“I never said that.”

“You didn’t have to. I know
how you think. Every time I say anything about something my family has said or
done, you get a strange look on your face. It’s as if you think they’re from
another planet. But I cut you some slack because I know that once you get to
know them better, you’ll understand them. Indians are different than most
people. They have firm beliefs and they can’t be swayed by others.”

“I might get a strange look
on my face sometimes, but it’s not because I think your family’s weird, it’s
because I’m always astonished at how perceptive they are. Your family’s pretty
fascinating. Sometimes they just amaze me with what they can come up with. I
love them because they have such strong family values. That’s something you
just don’t see very often. The whole world would be a better place if we could
all be more like them, and get back to the basics of family life.”

“You don’t want to admit
that the chief could be right.”

“You’re nuts,” I admonished
him. “Get over it—it’s not true. I can assure you. I’m afraid that your dad’s
wrong this time.”

This was one time someone
else would wind up eating their own words.

T
he drive to
UVA
Hospital
from Stanardsville
took us an hour and fifty-eight minutes according to the clock on the
dashboard—twice as long as it normally would have. The wind was blowing with
the determination and speed of a hurricane, and the snow was coming down harder
than I had ever seen. It was a driver’s nightmare. The whole way there, Billy
had a strange look on his face that made me wonder if possibly he had dipped
into that bag of white powder in the Westover’s safe and was starting to
hallucinate. He seemed to be obsessed with the idea that I was going to be a
mother in the near future.

Boy, did I have a startling
revelation for him. This time the chief had made a mistake. I let it ride for
the time being, hoping he would forget the whole thing.

Billy finally managed to
find a space in the hospital parking lot where we could park without fear of
sliding into another car. Fresh snow continued to fall on already packed-down
ice as we forged our way to the entrance of UVA. Billy refused to let go of my
arm as we made our way to the elevator.

“Billy, I’m fine. You can
let go of my arm.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I just
didn’t want anything to happen to my baby.”

“It’s not your baby,
because I am not pregnant! Would you please get a grip! I don’t want to hear
another word about it. This is ridiculous. Sometimes I wonder where your mind
went.” I hadn’t realized I was talking so loud until I scanned the faces of the
other people in the elevator. They were staring intently at me, waiting for
more. I lowered my voice and turned my back to them. “Don’t you dare mention
this foolishness in front of Mom or Claire, and I mean it! Promise me you’ll
forget all about this crazy idea you have in your head. Give it a rest.”

His gaze drifted.

The people behind us
whispered.

“Promise!” I demanded.

He avoided eye contact when
he said, “I promise.” Then out of nowhere, he wheeled around to his captive
audience and said, “But she can’t ignore the truth for long, can she?”

The small group of nosey
busybodies clapped and cheered.

As soon as the elevator
door opened, I made haste.

Billy caught up with me,
grabbed my arm and turned me around.

“Jesse, I promise to behave
myself. I won’t tell anyone until you say it is all right for me to do so.”

I was still angry with him
when we entered Mom’s hospital room, but I knew he would not bring up this
ridiculous fantasy of his because he made a promise—and Billy never breaks a
promise. What was I thinking? We hadn’t been in the room two seconds when he
blurted out his tale.

“I think Christmas would be
an ideal time to get married,” he said as he rushed to Mom’s side. “We can’t
wait too long because Jesse’s going to have a baby. A child needs two parents.”

My jaw dropped to the
floor. “You are a dirty dog! You broke your promise!”

“Is it true, Jesse?” Mom
gushed. “Are you going to have a baby?”

“No, it’s not true!”

“Then why did you make him
promise not to say anything?”

“This has gotten totally
out of hand!” I shrieked. “Mom, I hate to break your heart, but...”

“Chief Standing Deer says
it’s so,” Billy said, indignantly.

“Well, I can say one thing
for you, Billy Blackhawk: you sure don’t waste any time. A couple of days ago,
Jesse was dating Cole. Now the two of you are going to get married and have a
baby. Is it contagious?”

“Hey, my clock ticks, too,”
Billy said, making a feeble attempt at a joke. He couldn’t hide his joy.

“I’ve made it a practice
all my life to mind my own business and stay out of my children’s... until
now,” Mom said. “I’m going to ask just one question. Do you love each other?”

“Yes,” we both said.

“That’s wonderful! Let’s
make plans!”

I guess it was the fact
that Mom had wanted me to have a husband and a family ever since I was out of
diapers that made her accept Billy’s tale as fact. She trusted him; his word
was worth something. She had told me that more than once. Not only were Billy
and I going to get married, we were also going to have a baby. Mom was
thrilled. As she would have said if given the opportunity, “It’s about time
Jesse found someone to marry her and give her babies.”
I could hear her
words.

Another wave of nausea hit
me. I choked it down and tried to maintain some semblance of normalcy while the
two of them pretended I wasn’t in the room. I was glad that they were ignoring
me. The last thing I wanted to do at this precise moment was to throw up.

The date of our upcoming
nuptials was being discussed by the time I got it together and finally yelled,
“Stop!”

Both fell silent and turned
to me with the stunned look of a cat catching its tail in a swinging door.

“Now wait just a minute,
Missy,” Mom said, adamantly. “There’s a baby to think about. The proper thing
to do is get married before the baby comes. You two are still planning on
getting married, right? Why wait any longer?”

“Is this a joke?” I asked.
I threw my hands up in the air and turned around in a circle. “Forget about
this baby thing.” I looked directly into Billy’s eyes and said, “If you want to
get married at Christmas, then I’m ready, and it has nothing to do with having
a baby. I think Christmas would be a great time.” The fact is, I was ready to
marry Billy anytime he wanted. I had decided that the moment he slipped the
ring on my finger. I knew then that it felt right between us. We were meant to
be together!

A tenderness passed between
us as Billy replied, “I’ll marry you today if that’s what you want. I’m ready
anytime you are. Just say the word.”

“Oh, Billy,” I whispered. A
tear slid down my cheek.

Mom gave us two seconds to
savor the moment before she said, “Great! I hear they have tests that can tell
if you’re pregnant within a couple of days of conception. You take the test and
find out. In the meantime, I’ll call Sarah. I’m sure we can plan a fine
wedding.”

“You’re as crazy as he is,
Mom.”

“I don’t want to hear
another word,” she demanded. “Jesse Watson, do you plan to marry Billy?”

Claire walked in the room
and joined our conversation, before I had a chance to answer Mom’s question.
“What are y’all talking about?”

I was sure that Mom would
never discuss this matter with Claire unless I gave her my permission, and I
wanted this discussion to come to an end for the time being.

“We were...”

“Jesse’s pregnant!” Mom
raved.

“That’s wonderful!” Claire
hugged me. “When’s the blessed event, and who is the father?”

Her words hurt. That was
the final clue for me that she had feelings for Cole. The expression on her
face begged me to say it wasn’t his. I could have used that moment to finally
get one up on my sister. It would be the ultimate victory—but what would be the
point? If I was pregnant, Mother Nature had proven to me over a week ago that
Cole could not possibly be the father, and if the truth be told, I was glad.

“I’m not going to have a
baby,” I protested. “I am, however, going to marry Billy on Christmas Eve.” I
turned around and looked at Billy. “That is, if he agrees.”

He bounced off the corner
of the bed and flung his arms around me, lifting me off the floor. “It works
for me, `ge ya!” He kissed me gently on the lips. 

That was a first. Billy and
I had never displayed any kind of physical affection like that in front of
anybody. It felt odd and it felt good. I hugged him as tight as I could and
smiled over at Mom. I knew this was going to make her happy, too.

“I expect you and Sarah to
make our wedding a special event.”

“You can count on us!”
Claire said. “I’m sure Mom and Sarah can use all the help they can get, and I
would love nothing more than to be a part of my sister’s wedding. I can’t
wait!” Claire’s outburst was jolting. She became a jittery, nervous little
butterfly, running around the room and making lists in her head about what they
were going to do. She definitely had feelings for Cole. Maybe nobody else
noticed it, but I did. I’m a woman... we can always tell. Her behavior was a sure
sign that she was covering up how she felt about him by fixating on something
else. She never was very good at deception.

“Claire,” Mom spoke. “We
can discuss the details later.” She turned to Billy and me. “Then it’s settled.
The two of you will get married on Christmas Eve. Where do you want to hold the
ceremony?”

“It will be on Blackhawk
land.” Billy’s eyes met mine. “This will be the first Blackhawk marriage on my
family’s land since the chief married our mother... a white woman. Now I will
do the same. None of my brothers and sisters were married on this land. I
didn’t even marry Ruth on this land. It just turned out that way. They all
wanted a wedding in a civilized church. But this woman is different.”

“I am different,” I held
onto to him. “Nothing would please me more than to be married to you on
Blackhawk land.”

Talk about perfect timing.
Cole walked into the room.  “Hi, everyone,” he said. He walked over to Mom’s
bed and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He held out his hand to take hers. “We
took Laura Westover in for questioning. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but
she has an ironclad alibi.”

“I’m telling you the truth.
The woman I picked out of that picture was the one who was in my house.”

“Like I said, she has an
alibi. She was with her husband at the time. He swears to it. He says they were
together the whole day. We’ll check it out some more, but I don’t want you to
get your hopes up.”

“That’s a lie. If Mom says
it was Laura, it was Laura.”

He looked at me with
disgust and repeated, “She has an alibi.”

“Do you believe her?”
Claire asked.

“No, I don’t, but my hands
are tied.”

“It’s her word against mine
and she has somebody to back up hers,” Mom sighed. “There’s nothing else we can
do about it. It’s over.”

“We’re going to keep
working on the case,” Cole said. “But I can’t...”

“Forget it,” Mom replied.
“She’s the one. There’s no need to look for anybody else. You said she has an
alibi so that’s the end of that.”

“I don’t think so,” Billy
joined in the conversation. “Why did she break into your house? What could she
possibly be after?

“That’s what we’ve been
trying to find out,” Cole said. “It has to be connected to Mary Keen’s murder.
They were friends as you can see from the photograph.”

“I don’t know,” I added.
“That smirk on Laura’s face doesn’t convey that to me. If I had to guess, I’d
say they were mortal enemies. Better yet, I’d say that was a look of jealousy.”

“I agree,” Claire said.
“That look could only be the look of jealousy.”

“You can be friends with
someone, and still be jealous,” I sneered. The minute those words were out of
my mouth I wished I could have sucked them back in. I was overcome with guilt.
I love my sister, but I’d always been jealous of her. The feeling of guilt
didn’t last long. In its place, a serene sense of comfort settled over me. I
was no longer jealous of Claire; I felt sorry for her. She had everything she
could possible want, but she wasn’t happy. I wondered if she was ever truly
happy. Her marriage was over, and she was living at home with her mother. How sad
is that?  What am I saying? That used to be me!

“That may be true,” Claire
turned to me. “I’ve come to the conclusion that most of the time, it was
unfounded.”

“I agree.” I wanted to
soften the attitude I had developed over the last few months. I realized I had
been wasting too much emotion on an issue that shouldn’t have been one. My
relationship with Billy made all that nonsense seem so trivial.

“That’s good,” Claire
retreated.

Billy had stood by and
listened to our drivel long enough. Getting bored with the conversation between
Claire and me, he turned to Cole, accosting him with determination. “We need to
know what you have on this case. It’s obvious Laura Westover is a threat to the
safety of this family. There’s evidence that she was in Jesse’s house. We found
a woman’s glove on the property, and signs of entry.”

“And I guess you never
reported it, huh?” Cole barked.

“That’s because we weren’t
even sure it was a break-in at my house.” I looked at Billy and then corrected
myself. “I mean our house.” There! I had said it. It was out in the open. We
are a couple.

The room swayed as I fell
to the floor. The last thing I remembered when I woke up on a gurney in the
middle of the hospital hallway was an intense feeling of heat and nausea.

“She’s coming around,” I
heard someone say.

A strong scent of ammonia
lingered in my nostrils. “What happened?”

“You passed out,” Claire
said, patting my hand. “But you’re going to be fine. You just had a little
fainting spell. It will pass.”