The Prey Bites Back: A Jesse Watson Mystery Book #8 (18 page)

Lu Ann’s good
at her job. Sheriff Hudson knows it, and he has great respect for her work.
He’s mentioned this a few times after she was instrumental in helping to solve a
few cases that he was involved in.

“After Jesse’s
incident in my jail, my office looked long and hard into this woman’s background,
especially when we discovered that
Preston
worked
for her.”

“I bet you
didn’t find out much about her since there’s not much to find out.”

“Don’t bet on
it, Lu Ann. We know a lot about her.”

“Then you know
she isn’t who she claims to be,” Jonathan said, speaking for the first time
since Billy’s announcement that we were going to tell our side of the story.
The shock had worn off. “She’s hiding from something, or someone.”

“Yes, we know
that too, but that doesn’t make her a killer. People have been known to change
their identities… for whatever reason. There’s no law against that.”

“Ah, come on,
Sheriff Hudson,” I said. “There’s a law against stealing someone’s identity.
Why don’t you arrest her for that? You know what’s going on here. We admit to
transporting a dead body. That’s all we did. Suppose
Preston
hadn’t died. All we would’ve been guilty of was giving a
guy a lift back to work. The point is, we didn’t kill anyone, and you know it.
We’ve had our ups and downs in the past, but you know we’re good people. So, I
lied about the shopping trip. Big deal.” I looked over at Billy and then back
to the sheriff. “I didn’t know we were going to share.”

“I ought to
arrest all of you right now just for getting in my way, but I’m not going to.
You see, I’m the sheriff and I know everything.” He looked directly at me. “I
know a lie when I hear one… and I know the truth.”

“So what do you
want from us?” I glared back at him.

“I want you to
stay out of my way and let me do my job! What you did was…”

“What we did
was the right thing to do. We transported a body. That’s all. You can’t arrest
us for that.”

The sheriff
walked over to me, and then kicked my foot with his.

The look of
surprise was on everyone’s face… except the cops.

“You just
assaulted a police officer, right deputies?” He didn’t even glance at his guys.

“Yeah, that’s
what I saw, Sheriff,” one of them said.

“Me, too,” the
other agreed.

Sheriff Hudson
kept his stare on me. “I could arrest you for that.” He stepped closer to my
face. “And here, all this time, I thought we were best friends.”

Memories of the
time when Sheriff Hudson saved my mom from a crazed killer came flooding back.
I told him then that I’d be forever in his debt, and would love and worship him
forever. I guess he’s felt cheated since that day, and he’d have every reason
to. He was right. I hadn’t given the man the respect he deserved, and I surely
haven’t been a good girl like I promised to be. Old habits never cease. They
just lie around and fester, waiting to resurface.

He stepped back
and took a deep breath. “I have a headache, and I’m tired.” He rubbed his head.

“I can get you
an aspirin,” I butted in. I guess I was feeling badly about the way I had
treated him since the incident. He had saved my mother from certain death, and
in return, I’d done nothing but drive him crazy. Or… maybe I was just trying to
sound sincere.

“I don’t want
an aspirin! I want the truth!”

“We’ve told you
the truth! You need to get your men out looking for that woman before she kills
someone else… and next time, it’ll probably be one of us.”

That statement
rang true. Before skipping town, Dakota had a few loose ends to tie up—us. We’d
ruined her thriving business and put her on the run. She’d be out for revenge.

“If what you’ve
told me turns out to be false, I’ll have all of you in my jail by morning. If
you’ve left out one little detail, you’re done.” He looked at me. “And that
includes your mother.”

“Leave her out
of it,” I demanded. “My mother knows nothing of this.”

“Now, see…”
Sheriff Hudson shook his head at me again. “I know that’s a lie.”

Billy waved me
off.

“You have
something to add, Billy? You say you didn’t blow up a building and you didn’t
kill anyone, so what’s left?”

“Sheriff, there
is one other thing you need to know.”

Oh, no! Billy
was going to tell the sheriff that mom had shot
Preston
in the foot. It was one important thing that hadn’t come up so far, and I
wanted to keep it that way. After the explosion, there was probably nothing
left of
Preston
anyway. The cops would never find out…
would they?

“No, Billy, it’s
irrelevant.”

“No need for
secrets now.”

“God…” the
sheriff moaned.

I could tell by
the look on his face that he didn’t want to hear what was coming next. What
else had we done that he didn’t know about? I’m sure that’s what he was asking himself.

“You always
save the best for last. Jesse’s begging you not to tell me, so it must be about
her mother. What did Minnie do? Please don’t tell me she shot somebody.”

“As you know,
Minnie hasn’t taken this well. Jesse was brutalized in your jail and then Eddie
was almost killed. At his age, there’s no telling how long it’ll take for him
to be back to his old self.” Billy looked over at Eddie. “No offense, Eddie,
but you’re not a kid anymore and you did take a pretty bad beating.”

“None taken.”
Eddie smiled.

“Enough!”
Sheriff Hudson said. “Where’s this going, Billy? Did she shoot Gavin Preston?
Is that what you’re trying to tell me?” He didn’t give Billy a chance to say
anything. He just shook his head in that usual manner of his. “I’m going to
have to arrest her.” He looked over at me. “I blame you for this.”

“Me? Why me?”

“Because you’re
the one who dragged her into your little criminal enterprises.”

“I resent
that!”

“And now she’s
gone and killed someone! I hope you’re happy!”

“Stop!” Billy
said, stepping between the sheriff and me as if he was trying to break up an
argument between two kids. “Minnie didn’t shoot
Preston
…
well, she did, but it’s not what you think. She shot him in the foot.”

“What?”

“We gave her a
tranquilizer, and she went temporarily insane,” I said, defending my mother.
“I’m sure you’re well aware that no jury, if it came to that, would ever find
my mother guilty… under the circumstances.”

Surprisingly, the
sheriff chuckled and stepped back. “An eye for an eye, huh?”

“That’s exactly
what Mom said!” I smiled.

“You people are
crazy.”

“Does that mean
you believe us?”

“What he’s
saying, Jesse,” Billy surmised. “Video surveillance from somewhere picked up on
us entering the building, and shortly afterwards, the building exploded. It’s
all on tape somewhere, right, Sheriff?”

“Correct.”

“And in this
video, it must show me and Dakota behind the building. It should also show her
dropping the detonator and then running off.”

“We have it.
Forensics is checking for prints.”

“You wanted to
question us about the death of Gavin Preston, so you’d have a head’s up,”
Jonathan added. “You’ll know when the autopsy comes back whether or not we’re lying.
If we are, you’ll be back for us, and if we’re not… then what? By the time all
the results are in, Dakota Stone and Olivia Swales will be in
Brazil
, setting up shop again. If you don’t get a move on, she’ll
get away just like…”

“Just like Vera
did,” the sheriff admitted with a sad look on his face. “I was wrong then, but
I won’t be this time.”

Vera was Savannah
Kelly’s housekeeper/assistant/friend, that is, until she turned out to be one
of the bad guys. She slipped through the clutches of Sheriff Hudson and his
deputies. Vera Brown was the one who got away. The sheriff would never forget
that.

“I know y’all didn’t
bomb the building.” He looked at Jonathan. “If you had, there wouldn’t be
anything left. Now that I’m somewhat convinced one of you didn’t kill
Preston
, my efforts will be focused on finding Dakota Stone and Olivia
Swales.”

“It’s about
time!” I hissed. I started to tell the sheriff that we could prove part of our
story, because we still had
Preston
’s car, but thought better of it. He
should’ve asked.

“One other
thing,” Sheriff Hudson said. “Where’s the other guy?”

“He’s resting
from his wound,” Mom said, walking into the room. “He’s a good man. He saved
Eddie’s life, and he got shot in the leg trying to protect us.”

“Mom!”

“She’s talking
about the incident in the hospital parking lot,” Sheriff Hudson said, looking
at me. “Like I said before—I’m the sheriff. I know everything. I need a name.”

“Find out for
yourself,” Mom said. “We’re not giving him up.”

“Oh, Minnie. I
already know who he is. I just wanted to see if you’d tell me the truth. I’m
disappointed in you.”

“I’m afraid it
won’t be the last time.”

I chuckled and
then tried to move onto another subject quickly. “If you know so much then why
haven’t you caught the guy who shot at us?”

“Because he’s
dead, burned up in an explosion.” After a second, the sheriff grinned. “I guess
Preston
said he didn’t do anything, huh?”

“What does it
matter now?” Billy asked. “What’s done is done. You need to concentrate on
apprehending the Stone woman and her sidekick.”

“That’s my
plan, and I want all of you to stay out of it.”

“But we can
help,” I said. “How many times have we come through for you?”

“Yeah, but at
what cost? Bodies start piling up when you’re around.”

“Bull.”

“You’re like
little kids fighting,” Mom interrupted, looking at me and then at the sheriff.
“Why don’t you two play nice?” She stared back at the sheriff. “I think there
might be something to what Jesse said a little while ago. That woman’s coming
back for one of us. She has to. It would be her ultimate revenge… to at least
take one of us out.”

“That thought
crossed my mind,” the sheriff said, and then looked over at me. “See, Jesse, I
do listen to you sometimes.” Then he looked at Billy and Jonathan. “No one
leaves your
compound
tonight. No helicopter rides, no grocery store
visits… nothing. I’ll post a couple of my men on the grounds… for your protection.”

“We don’t need
your men,” Jonathan said. “They’d be more useful to you on the streets.”

“Oh, that’s
right,” the sheriff replied. “I forgot you have this whole place hotwired.
Pretty fancy setup you have. Like you’re ready for the apocalypse.”

“Just can’t
keep a secret anymore, can you? What’s this world coming to?”

“I wouldn’t be
doing my job if I didn’t post some guys. There’s a possible threat of
retaliation, and I know it. I have to do my best to make sure that doesn’t
happen.”

“If you insist,
but we can take care of our own.”

“That’s what
I’m afraid of. I want this woman alive. Let my guys do their jobs.”

“I’m sorry to
interrupt,” Mom said, “but the kids need to go home. They’re exhausted.”

“I think we’re
finished for now,” Sheriff Hudson said. He looked at Billy. “Take your family
home, stay there, and be safe. My men will be on watch.”

“And so will
we,” Jonathan added.

I raised my
hand. “Whoa… wait a minute, Sheriff. That’s it? You ask us a few questions and
we answer them to your satisfaction somewhat, and then you just walk away? No
way. It was too easy. Other than harassing us, what’s the real reason you’re
here?”

From the look
on Sheriff Hudson’s face, he did have something left to say… something he
dreaded talking about.

Somebody
must’ve died.

Somebody we
know.

“Let me take a
stab at it. You have something very uncomfortable to tell us, but you’re not
going to, unless we ask, so… I’m going to ask. Who was the person they found in
the dryer?”

“I was hoping
you wouldn’t ask, but since you did.” The sheriff paused as if he really hated
to say what he was about to. “I wanted to tell you before you heard it on the
news.”

“Who was it?”

“It was Savannah
Kelly.”

Chapter 10

The room took on an ominous
silence. Everyone gasped at the news. With tears in her eyes, Mom asked the
sheriff, “Is she… is she dead like they said on the news? They said the cops
found a dead body in the clothes dryer.”

Sheriff Hudson
walked over to Mom, put his hand on her shoulder and said, “Don’t believe
everything you hear on the news, Minnie. I don’t have an update, but the last I
was told is that she’s alive.”