The Prey Bites Back: A Jesse Watson Mystery Book #8 (34 page)

“Yeah, in your
dreams, pal. Stop talking or I might just have to kill you myself.”

We looked at each
other and smiled.

 I should’ve
known the sheriff wasn’t dead. When a person dies, the eyelids don’t close.
They stay open. It’s not like you see in the movies. You can’t run your fingers
over a person’s eyes to get them to stay closed. They just pop back open. When
preparing a body for a funeral, the mortician glues the eyelids shut to keep
them that way.

When notified
that Sheriff Hudson was down, every emergency service for fifty miles or more came
to the rescue. Two fire trucks even showed up. I guess he was right when he
said they all stick together… have each other’s backs, because they sure came
through for him. He was prepped for transportation and on the move within
minutes after their arrival.

An hour later,
the medical examiner and the crime scene technicians had completed their tasks
and were on their way, taking Denise Sutton’s body with them. I was glad when
the last one of them left. It had been a tense and frightful day.

After soaking up
blood from the floor with paper towels and then mopping over the spot, Helene took
to scrubbing the blood spatter and what looked like brain matter off the wall.
It was a disgusting sight, one that I didn’t want to ever see again, let alone
be the one who cleaned up the mess. I gagged every time I looked at the wall.

“Billy, you might
have to paint over this stain. I can’t get it all out. I’ve wiped and wiped,
but there’s still a brown spot.”

“Yeah, I kinda
figured that. I’ve got some paint in the garage that ought to cover it.” He
walked over to where I was standing by the sink. “You okay, `ge ya? You haven’t
said much.”

“I’ve been trying
to wash his blood off me, but I can’t get it out from under my fingernails.”
Tears rose in my eyes and promised to spill over. Once the first tear fell, the
gate opened. “When I thought Wake was dead, I had that same sad, horrifying
feeling like I had when Daniel died… as if I’d lost one of my own. It was
awful, Billy. Then, I thought about my dad, and that empty feeling wouldn’t go
away.”

“Here, let me
help you.” Billy reached down, grabbed a small brush from the cabinet, and then
tenderly held my hand as he scrubbed under the fingernails. After doing the
same to the other hand, he held both of my hands under the running water. The
blood washed away.

I pulled a bunch
of paper towels from the roll and started wiping. “Thanks, I needed that. You
always know how to make me feel better.” I hugged him, and then kissed him on
the cheek.

My cell phone
rang, and when I picked it up and looked at the screen, Sheriff Hudson’s name appeared.
“It’s the sheriff! I don’t believe it. What’s he doing calling me? He should be
in surgery.”

Helene stopped
what she was doing. “Answer it, Jesse! It might not be the sheriff. He could’ve
died and someone’s calling to tell us.”

I frowned. “Don’t
say that! He’s not dead, is he, Billy?”

“We won’t know
until you answer the call.”

Nervously, I
said, “Hello, this is Jesse. Is that you, Sheriff?”

His voice was
raspy and he sounded as if he’d been drugged. “Yes, it’s me. I called to say thanks.
The doctor said what you did helped to save my life. I could’ve bled out right
there on your floor, but thanks to you, I’ll live to continue the fight.”

“I hope you mean
continue the fight of right and wrong and your police force, not the fight
between me and you.”

I could almost
see the smile on his face.

“Yeah, that’s
what I mean.” He coughed.

“Are you all
right? You sound rough.”

“Man… my
shoulder’s gonna hurt tomorrow, but for right now, they’ve got me doped up, and
I’m not feeling any pain. They’re going to fix me up and then send me home to
recuperate, but I’ll be seeing you soon.”

“That sounds like
a threat. You say thanks, and then leave me with that?”

“It wasn’t a threat,
but we do need to talk.”

“Yeah, I guess we
do. Just keep in mind that I saved your life. You owe me.”

He coughed, laughed,
and then disconnected.

Helene smiled and
walked over to me. “See, Jesse, the sheriff likes you. He took the time to call
to let you know he’s okay. That says something.”

“It’s what he
didn’t say that bothers me.” I looked at Billy. “He said he’d be seeing us
soon. What do you think that means?”

“I think you know
what it means, but don’t worry, I don’t think he’s going to arrest us. You
heard him. He said you helped save his life. He won’t ever forget what you did
for him.”

Helene walked
over to the front window. “Did you look outside? The emergency vehicles cleared
a path in the snow all the way down the driveway. I guess that won’t last long
since it’s still snowing. At least the thunder and lightning quit. Haven’t
heard a peep for a while.”

I glanced over to
the window, and then looked back at Billy. “I have this nagging feeling he’s
going to do something we won’t like.”

“As long as he
doesn’t arrest us, how bad could it be? We’re tough. We can take it as long as
he doesn’t put us out of business.”

We stared at each
other.

“Hmm… so what do
we do now? Where do we go from here?”

Billy raised his
eyebrows and cocked his head. “We pick up the pieces and move on.”

So… that’s what
we were going to do. The blood had been cleaned up, and everything appeared to
be normal, except for the leftover tan discoloration on the wall that would
have to be painted over. Blood spatter is a strange thing. You can never really
get rid of it. You can scrub as hard as you can using every cleaning agent
known to man, and you can paint over it, but it will always remain there, hidden
in the background. Turn the lights off and spray luminal, and the blood pattern
will light up like a Christmas tree, regardless of any effort to cover over it.
This brought to mind the other time we had to clean up a pool of blood. I was
sure traces of that blood had seeped through the hardwood slats and would
remain there indefinitely.

“Can we come out
now?” Maisy stood in the hallway. “We heard a loud boom and Ethan’s scared.
He’s crying, Mom.” Ethan stood behind her, cowering.

The loud boom they
had heard was obviously the gunshot that had put Denise Sutton down, not
thunder like they had thought.

Helene went to
her. “Bless your hearts. The storm’s over, so there’s nothing to be afraid of
anymore. Come on, you two. I’m going to fix you some dinner.”

Maisy and Ethan
walked into the dining room followed by Athena and Thor, who were shaking
almost as much as the kids.

Once we had
soothed the kids’ fears, Helene went about rustling up some grub, and then I
walked to the hallway to call Mom. I filled her in on what had transpired here
in the last couple of hours, and then told her she could come home. The threat
was over and everyone was safe now.

A few minutes
later, Mom and Eddie came rushing through the front door. They had their share
of questions, but they were put on hold until dinner was over and the kids were
put to bed. After the kids were out of the room, Mom and Eddie fired questions
at us. They had missed the scene and wanted to know every detail.

Billy explained
in length about what had gone down here, and when he had finished his account,
Mom had a concerned look on her face.

“What about
Sheriff Hudson?”

“He’s going to be
fine, Minnie. He already called to say thanks to Jesse for saving his life.”

“That’s not what
I’m talking about, Billy Blackhawk, and you know it. I’m glad the sheriff’s
going to make it, but what happens when he recovers? Is he coming after us? Are
we going to jail? I don’t think I’d fare well in jail. As a matter of fact,
we’re thinking about giving up the snooping business. It’s just too dangerous.”

“That might be a
good idea. I’m sorry we ever dragged you into it. You should be at home,
playing with your grandchildren, not running around like a bunch of lunatics…
like we do.” Billy looked at me. “Perhaps it’s time to change the way we
operate.”

Mom grinned.
“That’s not going to happen. You can’t change who you are, and you don’t want
to. You’ll go on doing what you do, except maybe from now on you’ll be a little
bit more cautious about how you approach a situation. Stop taking so many
chances. And… by the way, you didn’t drag us into it. We volunteered,
remember?”

I looked at Mom. “Well,
your services are no longer needed. I have enough to worry about without having
to worry about your safety.”

Billy chuckled. “At
this point, our future as private investigators is debatable. We might have to
retire. We broke our agreement with the sheriff, committed a couple of
questionable acts in the process, and have obstructed his justice. If we do
manage to stay out of jail, I doubt very seriously Sheriff Hudson’s gonna let
us continue to practice. He’ll have our licenses yanked.”

“Can he do that?”

“He can’t
actually do it, but he can make it happen.”

“What will you do
then?”

“We are not
without other talents.” Billy smiled. “We’ll come up with something.”

I laughed. “Maybe
Jonathan will put us on his payroll.”

Mom glared at me.
“As bounty hunters? Are you nuts? No way—no how. I won’t allow it, and I mean
it! Jonathan’s told me more freaky tales than I care to hear about. If you and
Billy join up with him and start busting down doors, hunting for bail-jumpers
or what not, Eddie and I will pack up and move to Florida. I won’t stand by and
watch you…”

“Easy, Mom. I
wasn’t serious. My body has taken enough beatings as it is. Besides, Jonathan
doesn’t just track down bail-jumpers. He has gone after some of the most
violent criminals imaginable. Thanks, but no thanks. I’m still waiting for my
face to get back to normal.”

Billy got up from
the table and walked to the kitchen. “I’m going to have a bourbon, straight up.
Anybody interested?”

Like school
children, we all raised our hands, and then waited for Billy to pour the
drinks.

He wouldn’t give
me one, so I got up from the table, walked over to my purse, and pulled out a
pack of cigarettes. I walked to the kitchen, turned on the stove fan, and lit
up.

Mom turned up her
nose. “Now, that’s nasty. Do you have to smoke inside?” She looked at me with
that evil look of hers. “I thought you quit.”

“I did… four or
five times. Sorry, Mom, but I’m a drug addict. Nicotine has a hold on me and is
never going to let go.”

“Malarkey. You
could quit if you tried.”

Billy poured
another round, and then looked at me. “Sorry, `ge ya. Drugs and alcohol don’t
mix. I say we all get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be a big day.
Besides, they don’t serve alcohol in jail.”

Helene grunted.
“That’s not funny, Billy.”

A third glass did
the trick. We retired for the night.

By morning we
were all moving a little slower. Perhaps that last glass of bourbon had been
one glass too many. Helene handed out aspirin with the coffee to those who
needed it.

“My head feels
awful,” Mom said. “Remind me to never drink anything ever again. All I want to
do is go back to bed.”

“Me, too,
Minnie,” Eddie added. “I feel like someone hit me upside the head with a
hammer.”

Helene, being her
usual bouncy self, followed up the coffee with a glass of tomato juice. “Hair
of the dog. Drink up. You’ll feel much better if you do.”

“Don’t need it,
Helene. I feel fine. No hangover.” Billy handed the glass back to her. “It
takes more than three drinks to do me in. Remember, I’m heap, big warrior. I
can drink you guys under the table, before it affects me.”

I laughed. “Yeah,
I’ve seen you in action.”

Mom sniffed her
glass of tomato juice. “What’s in this? It smells like bourbon. I’m not
drinking this junk.” She pushed the glass aside.

“It’s not
bourbon, Minnie. Its a little concoction I put together, so drink up.”

“It smells like
bourbon.”

“Everything’s
gonna smell like bourbon after last night. Trust me. There’s no bourbon in it.”

After we downed
our tomato juice, Helene retrieved the glasses.

“Geez, Helene,” I
said. “You put Vodka in it.”

“Yep, it’s a real
cure-all. Feel better already, don’t you?”

Mom winced. “I
think I’m going to puke.”

“No, you’re not,
Minnie. You just think you are. You’re going to feel better after you get some
food in your belly.”

Helene made
oatmeal for everyone, explaining that it would be bland and it wouldn’t upset
our stomachs. She was right.

The snow had
stopped falling sometime in the middle of the night, and the sun was now out
doing its job of melting the white stuff. The weatherman warned of possible
flooding due to the rising temperature expected today, and told everyone to be
prepared. He said it could get ugly, but here in the mountains, that was part
of everyday life.

We needed to put
a halt to work and be on our best behavior for a little while, at least until
we’d heard something from the sheriff, so we started our day out parked in
front of the TV, watching the news while the kids played with the dogs in
Maisy’s bedroom.

Around ten-thirty,
Jonathan called, and as usual, Billy put him on speaker so all of us could
hear.

“You’re on
speaker, Jonathan. The whole crew’s present. Tell us what you have.”

“Shark, Gator,
and Mason left. Their job’s done, and now they’re off on a new adventure. Can’t
tell you what or where. What can you do? You get good help, and then they up
and move on.” Jonathan laughed.

“But I didn’t get
a chance to say goodbye.”

“Don’t worry,
Minnie. You’ll see them again. Have y’all heard from Sheriff Hudson or Captain
Trainum?”