The Prey Bites Back: A Jesse Watson Mystery Book #8 (28 page)

“Thank you. My
mama always said you could tell a man was raised right if he carried a
handkerchief.” I whimpered and wiped my nose again. “I’ll get her to wash it
for you and return it. By then, I guess I’ll be in jail” I let loose again with
the tears.

The sheriff
held up his hand like a traffic cop and said, “Stop.”

That one word
said it all, but from the look on his face, the sheriff had already turned his
thoughts to something else. Hopefully, he was rationalizing the situation, or
maybe coming to grips with the pickle we were in—all of us, including him. We
had played our part in this mess, but he had failed to look for the car, or
even ask about it. He turned and paced back and forth, looking at the SUV… and
hopefully, thinking about the implications of what had transpired here.

The sheriff
walked over to me and shook his finger in my face. “I didn’t buy your little
crying tantrum for a second. I know you can turn those tears on and off like a
water facet, so… no, it didn’t work on me… but it did calm me down watching you
do your routine. I almost enjoyed it. Tell me, how long would you have cried to
get your way? An hour? Two?” He shook his head and chuckled. Then he paced as
he talked. “I don’t know what to do with you people. I know you’re not killers.
Why do you always have to get in my way? You lie to me. You take advantage of
my leniency. If it hadn’t been for me,” he pointed to Billy and me, “you two
would’ve gone to jail for that stunt you played in the Flo Garner case.” He
stopped pacing and stared at us. “I saved you both from doing time, and how do
you repay me? You lie to me again, over and over, that’s what you do.” The
sheriff looked directly at Billy. “You gave me your word. Doesn’t that mean
anything to you? You swore you would take a hiatus, not work, not get in my
way, but did you? No, you didn’t.” He waved his arms around, and then looked
back at Billy. “What am I supposed to do about this? I sure hope you have
something up your sleeve, because I’m at a loss. If you had just done what you
were supposed to do, you wouldn’t be in the mess you’re in.”

“Sheriff…”

“Let me finish.
I forgot about the car. I admit it.” He looked back at me. “I was more
concerned with finding a killer, and… I didn’t want to be the one to tell your
mother about
Savannah
. Your mom’s a good woman, and I knew it
would upset her. Unlike you, she would’ve cried real tears. I hate being the
bearer of bad news. I was hoping y’all didn’t know about the body in the dryer,
but I should’ve known better. That threw me.”

The wind was
whipping up the snow and blowing it in our faces. The air was so cold.

The sheriff had
been good to us. There were times when he could’ve arrested us, but he didn’t.
We had helped him more than once, so he gave us a little leeway. Unless
something changed, this time was going to be different. We had pushed him to
the breaking point. Something had to give, so I tried to fix things with him.
“It seems to me that you did ask about
Preston
’s car,
but then something happened, and you never got your answer.”

Billy agreed.
“That’s how I remember it, too.”

The sheriff
laughed. “That’s a downright lie. God, now you’re lying to protect me. Well, I
don’t need your help.”

Jonathan
stepped in. “You must be confused, Sheriff Hudson. At the time, we all were.”

I couldn’t
contain myself any longer. “So we’re all a bunch of liars! Big deal! Who cares
about that? We need to concentrate on the here and now. You have the evidence,
Sheriff. That’s what matters. Now go and arrest Dakota Stone. Isn’t that what
this is all about? Finding Gavin Preston’s killer?”

A tow truck
from Crumpler’s Towing Service showed up and hauled the SUV away, leaving us standing
out in the snow, wondering what was going to happen next. Was the sheriff going
to arrest us, and if so, on what charge? I had to know. I walked over to him.

“Are you going
to arrest us?”

“Not today, but
then again, the day isn’t over.”

Jonathan’s cell
phone rang, so he excused himself to take the call. When he returned, he had a
strange look on his face.

“What going on?”

“The bomb at
The
Body Shop
was more bark than bite. Oh, there was a loud explosion, lots of
smoke and some fire, but the fire department got it under control quickly. Thank
goodness, otherwise
Savannah
would be dead.”

“What else?”

“Dakota Stone
had a wall safe, and it’s still intact.” He looked over at the sheriff. “I
guess you forgot to mention that.”

“It’s an ongoing
investigation, and I don’t share.”

Jonathan looked
back to us. “She left her journal behind, and according to it, she’s been a
very bad woman. It contains names, dates and the amount of money paid to her.
That can only mean one thing. She kept a record of payoffs from women—that had
nothing to do with getting a body makeover.”

I gasped, and
then looked at the sheriff. “You knew and you said nothing?”

Billy moved
closer. “Sheriff, if she left her journal behind, she wanted someone to find
it. She’s taunting us. She’s laughing at our perceived stupidity. I mean,
that’s how she sees us… as stupid. She’s rubbing our faces in it. She’s so sure
she’s going to get away with her crimes. Why else would she leave it? She
thinks she’s invincible.”

“I guess she didn’t
plan on having a wreck on the interstate.” The sheriff looked in my direction.
“We have you to thank for that.”

“Don’t think
you’re going to blame me for that, too, along with everything else. I wasn’t
even there. All I did was talk to the woman. It’s not my fault she got so mad
she threw the phone out the window. That was all her doing.”

“You never let
anyone finish, do you? You always have to have the last word. Actually, what I
was going to say, if you had given me time, was good for you, Jesse. Whatever
you said to her did the trick. She lost her cool, and because of that, she’s
lying in a hospital bed wearing her new jewelry—silver handcuffs.”

“Glad I could
be of service. I’m just so relieved that nobody died in the wreck.”

“Olivia Swales
did.”

“I was talking
about the other motorists. I’m sorry about Olivia, but that wasn’t my fault
either. She’s another death you can lay at Dakota Stone’s feet. Olivia would
still be alive if it wasn’t for that crazy woman.”

“Actually, according
to her doctor, she is crazy, but I guess you know that already… since you tried
to pay her a visit this morning.”

“We went to see
Savannah
, not her.”

“Now see, there
you go lying again. Can’t you, just for once, tell me the truth?”

“You’re right.
I did want to see her. I wanted her to come back at me with everything she had,
so I could laugh in her face. I wanted to go get her so riled up that she’d
slice her wrists with her new bracelets. Are you happy now?”

“At least
you’re being honest for a change.”

“I’m curious
about something, Sheriff.”

He groaned.
“What is it?”

“What’s going
to happen to those women who paid to have their husbands killed? They broke a
few laws there. Conspiracy to commit murder. Solicitation to commit murder. You
gonna throw them in the pokey… right next to Dakota Stone? Now wouldn’t that be
priceless. I’d love to hear that conversation. You gonna let me listen in? What
do you say?”

“No comment.”

The sheriff
signaled to the rest of his remaining deputies to move out. As they began to
leave, he started walking to his Greene County Sheriff SUV.

“Hey, where you
going? We’re not finished.”

He stopped and
turned back to me. “Oh, Miss Jesse, you have no idea how finished we are.” He
opened the car door to get in.

“Wait a minute,
Sheriff Hudson,” Billy called to him. He walked up to the sheriff, pulled the
plastic baggie out of his pocket, and then handed it to him. “Our cat was
wearing this wedding band on his tail this morning, and I’m sure he didn’t put
it there. You might find the inscription interesting. If you come by the house,
we have some framed photos of Dakota and Olivia you might also want to see.
There’s more. We found coke in the dog’s pill bowl.”

“Pill bowl?
Never mind.” He took the baggie. “What did you do with the coke?”

“What do you
think? I poured it down the sink. We thought there might be more around, so
Jonathan got a K9 out to do a search. So far, our house is clean. I don’t know
about the rest, yet.”

“Yes, we do.”
Jonathan walked up with his cell phone in hand. “I just got a text from… well…
it said all houses had been searched and all were clear, except Minnie’s. The
dog found coke in a glass bowl in the refrigerator.” He looked up at the
sheriff. “Nancy Woodward had a bag of coke in her purse. She must’ve been
spreading it round, but had to quit when she got struck by lightning.” He
looked at Billy. “Next stop was going to be Mom and Dad’s house.”

“My mom is
going to go nuts when she hears this,” I said.

“She already
knows. She was still there when Rex and K9 Suzy showed up. You know your mother,
she wasn’t about to leave.”

The sheriff
stepped forward. “Where’s the coke?”

“Shark has it.
I told him not to dump it. When I heard Nancy Woodward had coke in her purse, I
figured we’d find more since Billy found some at his house. I guess it blew his
mind when he found it. His first response was to pour it down the sink and wash
out the bowl, so we had nothing. Now your guys can test it to see if it’s the
same. I’m sure it is.”

“Get your guy
to bring it in. I’ll let my guys know he’s coming. Since I’m already here, I’m
going to follow Billy and Jesse back to their house to get the photos.” He
looked at us. “Ready to go? I haven’t got all day.”

Billy and I got
in his truck and headed home with Sheriff Hudson following close behind.

There was now four
inches of snow on the ground, and just making a path through it up to the steps
of our house was a chore. My fingers and toes were freezing and my legs were
stiff by the time I got inside. I was just glad the thunder and lightning had
quit earlier.

“Ah… it’s so
nice and warm in here!” I shook off the snow and then pulled off my coat. “Come
on in, Sheriff. Take off your coat and thaw out by the fire.” I walked over to
the fireplace and turned my back to it. “Feels so good.”

Helene came out
of the den and walked up to us. “I thought you might appreciate a good fire.
The kids helped me. Ethan’s taking a nap, so try to keep it down to a roar.
Maisy’s in her room on the computer.” She looked at the sheriff. “Nice to see
you again, Sheriff Hudson. Would you like a cup of coffee? I got a fresh pot in
the kitchen.”

“Thanks, but
I’m in a hurry.”

“You’re always
in a hurry. If you don’t slow down you’re going to have a heart attack. One cup
won’t hurt you, and from the way you look, I’d say you could use a timeout.”

The sheriff
smiled. “Why not? Thanks to Jesse and Billy, I don’t get much free time to
relax. I better take a minute and have a break before I keel over.”

“They can be
right trying at times, can’t they? Have a seat at the kitchen table and I’ll
bring you a cup.” She looked at us. “You, too.”

We sat at the
table and waited for Helene to bring the coffee. “If you’re wondering where
those picture are, they’re on top of the refrigerator. The kids kept asking
about them.” She set the cups down, walked over to the refrigerator, and
returned with the photos. “Vain, ain’t she?”

“You put them
in a zip-lock bag. Very good.”

“I learn fast.”
She looked at the sheriff. “You know we handled them, so you’ll find our prints
on them.”

“I figured as
much. Couldn’t be helped.” The sheriff finished his coffee and stood up.
“Thanks for the coffee, Helene.” He turned to leave, but stopped and looked back
at Billy and me. “We’ll talk later about… you know what.”

We sure did.
There’d be more questions for us to answer before this party was over. Sheriff
Hudson would be back, or either he’d call and tell us to come in to make a
statement. That’s when he’d tell us our fate. It’s happened that way before.

“Minnie called
and said they had to drop off the coke at the Sheriff’s Office. They should be
back soon.”

“What’s she
been doing? They should’ve been back hours ago. I told her to pack a few
things, not the whole house.”

Billy took his
empty coffee mug over to the sink. “You know your mother. Everything’s
essential to her. I bet she was hot when K9 Suzy found that stuff in her
refrigerator. I can just imagine her reaction. Did you manage to get a word in
on that conversation?”

“Not hardly.
She was irate, and you know we’re going to hear all about it when she gets
back.”

Maisy walked in
and was surprised to see us at home. She greeted us with her beautiful smile
and wanted hugs. “I missed y’all.” She looked up at me. “Your face is starting
to look better, Mom. Does it still hurt?”