The Prey Bites Back: A Jesse Watson Mystery Book #8 (17 page)

“It’s probably
the drug I gave her.”

“No, it’s not
just that. She’s been too accepting of our activities. Normally, she’d give us
a hard time about everything we do that’s not God’s will—and you know what I
mean.”

“I think she’s
beginning to realize that everything we do is in the best interest of our
family. We do what it takes to protect our own.” Jonathan was being serious.
“She knows we always do the right thing.”

“That’s what I
mean. She also knows we skirt the law to get the job done, yet that doesn’t
seem to bother her anymore.”

“Your mother
has been through a lot since she met us,” Jonathan said. “When you think about
it, Jesse, she’s been thrust into a whole new world unlike what she’s been used
to… and she’s adapting.”

“I hope you’re
right. She can adapt all she wants, but I’d hate to see my mother cross over to
the dark side.”

“To be
truthful,” Billy said, “I cracked up when she shot
Preston
in the foot.”

The three of us
smiled.

“Time to get
out of this gear,” Shark said to Mom. “You go tend to your husband and we’ll
see you in a minute.”

“Okay, but
don’t be too long. I want to hear every detail.”

Mom continued
ahead as the four of us entered the armory. By the time we got out of our gear
and had stepped back out into the hallway, we were met by Mason.

“We have a problem.”
Mason had a disturbing look on his face. “We’ve got company. Looks like Sheriff
Hudson just pulled in with some of his guys. No sirens, no flashing lights, and
that bothers me more than if they’d come in like a fire truck, horn a-tooting. You
know this can’t be good.”

We quickly followed
Mason to the computer room where we saw everything playing out on the screens. Sheriff
Hudson had just stepped out of his SUV and was waiting for his deputies in the
other two cars.

“What’s he
doing here?” I asked. “Isn’t he out of his jurisdiction?”

“He’s here to
interrogate us about the explosion,” Billy said. “
The Body Shop
is in
Greene
County
. He has every right to be here. All we
have to do is convince him that we’ve been here the whole time.”

“We’re going to
get caught on this one, Billy,” I said. “He’s not stupid. He knows we were
involved. But how? No one saw us, and no one can even prove we were even in the
vicinity.”

“Stoplight
cameras,” Mason said. “They’ll get you every time.”

“But can’t you
do something about it? Kill the cameras, or something?”

“It’s a little
too late for that.” Mason looked over at Jonathan. “I’m sorry. I should’ve…”

“It’s not your
fault. You had your hands full. We just have to come up with a good reason for
being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Anyone got any ideas?”

“Let me pull up
the cameras and see exactly what they’ve seen.” Mason hit a few keystrokes and
there we were sitting at the stoplight.

“All you can
see is Billy and me. Thank God for tinted windows. We’ll tell him we were out
shopping. Christmas is coming up.”

Jonathan and
Billy both leaned over and kissed me on the cheek and Shark patted me on the
back.

“I understand
why you married this woman, Billy,” Shark said. “She’s a fast thinker.”

“Does that mean
I’m a good liar?”

“Pretty much
so, but that’s an attribute. Now let’s head up to the house and intercept them
before your mother gives them an earful. She’s not happy about the fact her
husband was beaten up, and her daughter was almost killed in the sheriff’s jail
cell. I’m afraid she might lose it and not know when to stop talking.”

By the time the
sheriff had gathered his men and was at the door, we were there waiting for
them… and we were prepared. We were all sitting in the living room as if we
didn’t have a care in the world. Well, except for Shark. He was hiding in a
bedroom, and Mason and Gator were down in the bunker. We didn’t want to have to
explain their presence.

Jonathan
answered the door with a big, fake smile on his face that noticeably faded when
he saw Sheriff Hudson.

“Come on in. What’s
the problem, Sheriff?”

“Oh, I think
you know,” Sheriff Hudson said as he walked in followed by his men. He glanced
around the room. “Looks like a nice, quiet family gathering, but I know better.”

“What do you
mean?” I asked in a pleasant manner, jumping up from the sofa. “That’s exactly
what it is. If you’d like to talk, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t do it in
front of my kids. Perhaps, this can wait. We just finished dinner and the kids
are tired. We were just getting ready to leave.”

“What makes you
think this isn’t a social call?”

“You don’t make
social calls, especially with all this much backup.” I looked at his deputies.
“You’re here to accuse us of something, and I’d appreciate a little tact on
your part in front of my children.”

“Fair enough,”
the sheriff said. “I just have one question for you.”

“Go ahead, ask
your question, and then we’re leaving.”

“Where were you
two hours ago?”

“Billy and I
were out Christmas shopping.”

“In full
tactical gear?”

“It turns me
on, and it freaks out people in the stores. I get a kick out of it, so Billy
plays along. Something wrong with that?”

The sheriff
smiled. “And where did you go shopping? I’m sure we can pull up some footage
from the stores or the mall to corroborate your story.”

I giggled. “We
never made it to the mall. We intended to, but things got a little amorous, so
Billy and I…”

“I can see
where this is headed. I thought you’d make it easy by being honest, but I can
see that’s not going to happen. You could save us all a lot of grief by just
telling me what you know about the explosion at
The Body Shop
. I know
you were there.”

Billy stepped
forward. “Give us a minute, Sheriff.” He then turned to Mom and said, “Minnie,
why don’t you and Helene take the kids to the kitchen for a cookie.”

“A cookie? Are
you sure?” Mom seemed confused at first as to why Billy would allow sweets when
he has always been very strict about the kids’ sugar intake, but it didn’t take
her but a second to get the message.

Before she
could react, Maisy stood, took Ethan by the hand and said, “Come on, Grandma.
Maybe Aunt Lu Ann has apples. We love apples, don’t we, Ethan?”

Ethan shook his
head and smiled. “And oranges, too.”

I was so proud
of Maisy. She’s almost eight, going on twenty, and she’s smart as a whip. How
she came to us as a baby is another story, and even though she knows she’s
adopted, she still loves us. And… after all these years of seeing one of us
come home battered and bruised, she knows that no matter what, we’re on the
right side. So, when Billy says something so off the wall like allowing
cookies, she knows he just wants them out of the room for their own sake. It
was time for grown-up talk.

Billy turned to
Eddie and said, “Eddie, you stay right there. I know you’re in a lot of pain
and you don’t need to be walking around more than you have to.”

Relieved, Eddie
complied. I’m sure he wanted to hear what Billy had to say to Sheriff Hudson as
much as the rest of us did. I, for one, had no idea he was going to tell the
truth.

Once the kids
were out of the room, Billy turned back to the sheriff and said, “Would you
like to sit down, Sheriff Hudson? This could take a while. I’m going to tell
you everything we know and everything we’ve done. It’s time to just lay it all
out there.”

A face-off was
coming and it looked as if both men were testing the waters.

“I’ll stand,
but thanks for the offer,” the sheriff replied. “I’m going to give you a chance
to tell your side of the story, so please do me the courtesy of telling me the
straight truth this time. No leaving anything out. Convince me that none of you
have done anything illegal… lately.” He turned his head and stared at each one
of us separately before coming back to Billy. “I see guilt on every face in
this room. Who killed Gavin Preston?”

“Dakota Stone!”
I blurted out. “She’s the one you should be after.” I pointed my finger at the
sheriff. “Instead of harassing us, you should be out looking for her. She’s
behind everything. She even…”

Billy interrupted.
“Jesse, please sit down and let me handle this. “You’re way too emotional to
say anything without flipping out. We need to tell the sheriff everything we
know if we want him to arrest the right person, instead of us.”

“I guess I am a
little bit emotional.” I turned and stared at the sheriff. “Look at my face and
you’ll see why, or better yet, have a look over at Eddie. I think this is the
perfect time to get emotional. It sure isn’t any fun being hounded and beaten
up.”

Actually, my
little outburst was just a ploy to give Billy more time to think. He knows
better than to try to shut me up. If I had something to say, it was coming out…
and under no circumstances would he ever accuse me of being too emotional, at
least not in front of anyone.

“This is how it
is and what we know so far, Sheriff.”

Billy started
his account of what happened, while the rest of us held our breath.

“Jesse’s right
about Dakota Stone.” He glanced my way for a second, and then back to Sheriff
Hudson. “Gavin Preston came here to warn us about her just before he died.”

“Gavin Preston
came here to warn you about his lover? Yes, we know he was her lover.”

Billy
continued. “She’d been slowly poisoning him once he was of no use to her. He
had refused to maim or kill for her anymore, so she eliminated him. She even
told him so at the last minute. She laughed when she said she had used
antifreeze, and that he had never suspected for a minute. Well, by the time he
found this out, it was too late. He didn’t think he was going to recover. So,
he tried to make things right. He came here and told us everything.”

“And you
believed him?”

“A dying man
has no reason to lie.”

“Okay. Say I
believe you. Continue.”

“I will tell
you that we intercepted him and interrogated him slightly. We thought his
arrival might be another attack on one of us. However, his interrogation was
short-lived. He was already about dead because of the poison. He wanted us to
take him back to the shop so he could die there, and put the blame where it
belonged. Unfortunately, he died here before we could honor his wishes, but we
did as he asked.”

“Honor his
wishes? Are you serious?”

“My people take
great pride in honor. Don’t yours?”

The sheriff was
caught off-guard by Billy’s frank and deliberate question. When honor is called
into doubt, one tends to go blank—if only for a nanosecond.

“So… we wrapped
him up and took him where he wanted to go.”

“Jesus Christ!”
The sheriff hesitated just long enough to regain his composure. “You just
admitted to… Never mind. We’ll get to that later. Why didn’t you call the
police when he died, instead of dumping his body? It makes you look mighty
guilty. How can I believe you when it would be so easy for you to lie to cover
your tracks?”

“Have you ever known
me to tell a lie, Sheriff Hudson?”

Sheriff Hudson
knew Billy wasn’t a liar. Even if it meant trouble for himself, Billy would still
tell the truth. It might not be the whole truth, but it wouldn’t be a lie.

“Alerting the
police to
Preston
’s demise wasn’t at the top of our list. We
arrived at the shop, dropped off Gavin Preston, and then we had a look around.”

“So you have
been doing P.I. work? That really ticks me off. We had a signed agreement. You
made a promise. You swore…”

“No, I wasn’t
working. I was protecting my family. The important thing is that you know
Dakota Stone’s a killer, and she’s on the run. She blew up her own shop to
cover her tracks.”

“Oh, come on.
You don’t expect me to believe that, do you?”

“She confronted
Jesse at the back entrance with the detonator in her hand. She, or most likely someone
she hired, planted a bomb. She was expecting our visit. She tried to kill us.”

“You really
expect me to believe this crazy story, Billy? Give me a little credit.”

“The woman has
no past. Think about it. She runs a spa that caters to rich women, and some of
these women hate their husbands. She’s been known to approach at least one woman
with the offer to kill the husband, and that husband is now dead. Who knows how
many more she’s had killed?”

Sheriff Hudson
shook his head in disbelief. “You’re telling me that Dakota Stone is a
man-hater and for some reason she wants to kill off all bad men?”

Lu Ann spoke
up. “Sheriff, the profile fits. I believe the Stone woman was married to, or
had a relationship with an abuser. She was most likely physically and mentally
abused so badly that she had to do something to stop the abuse. Being abused
does something awful to a person. I also believe she killed him, whoever it
was, and she got such great relief from the act that she made it her goal to
help other women in the same situation. She actually thinks she’s doing them a
favor. But now, her actions are out of control. She can’t stop herself.”