What You See (35 page)

Billy and I were like two cats that had just been caught
urinating on the living room furniture.

“Sure,” Billy growled.

“Let’s go!” I shouted.

Mom
helped me out
of the
hospital room to the front entrance, while the men brought the cars around. The
nurses insisted that I ride in a wheelchair, but the minute we hit the front
door I jumped up and left the wheelchair behind.

“After all the obstacles I’ve faced in the last few days, I’m
going to walk out of here on my own!”

“You’re absolutely right!” Mom replied. She looked at me and
smiled.

The caravan of automobiles pulled out of the hospital lot. A
state trooper led the way, with the white Buick carrying the three detectives,
following behind. Cole was next in his Jeep. Billy and I rode together, and
Mom, Jack and Dennis brought up the rear. I probably should’ve ridden with Cole
when he asked me to, but I felt as if I needed to be with Billy. We had been
through so much, and now that a major milestone had been crossed—we had solved our
first really big case together—I wanted to be with him.

Billy didn’t say a whole lot to me until we reached the turn
in Ruckersville. He’d been so quiet that I didn’t know what to expect.

“You know, you really have to get over this obsession you
have with me,” he joked. “You just broke that poor man’s heart. I’ve seen the
way you’ve been giving him the brush-off.”

“What are you talking about?” I shook my head and threw up my
arm. “I don’t want to go there. Forget it! I want to talk about you and me.”

“What do you mean, you and me?”

“If I’m going to get shot at all the time and someone’s
always going to try to kill me, I want more money!”

“No problem,” he murmured. “I think we can work something
out. You’ve earned a raise.”

The two of us were a fine pair. I don’t know which one was
physically mangled up the most, but I knew both of us suffered from a mental
collapse that could only be rebuilt by what was to be a saddened outcome. We
would get our closure, but at what cost?

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Billy said. “If you come
up empty-handed things could get a little sticky.”

“Don’t you worry about me, pal,” I hissed. “I have my ducks
in a row!” At least, I sure hoped I did.

When we turned onto the road that led to the Hudgins’ house,
I shivered. Coming back to the place where I almost died made me feel eerie. I
could’ve died right here not more than a few hours ago... never to be seen, or
heard from again. I broke down and cried.

Billy broke the chain of cars and pulled over to the side.

“Go ahead and cry, Jesse. You’ve been through an ordeal. It’s
only natural that you’d be upset.”

“It’s just that I can’t seem to get beyond the feeling that
someone’s after me. It’s such a creepy feeling.”

“It’ll pass in time,” he said. “You’ve been hunted, and the
hunted never sleep. Eventually, you’ll get over it.”

“There you go again sounding like my mother.”

He gave me time to cry out my tears and then pulled back out
into the road. The rest of the group had pulled over earlier and were sitting
in their cars, waiting on us. Maybe they knew I was having a mental breakdown.

“Where’s my Jeep?” I cried as we passed the Hudgins’ house. I
kept remembering about my poor, beautiful car that I once loved so much. Now I
didn’t know if I could ever get in it again.

“I called Daniel and he had somebody come out here and tow it
away. He said between you and me, we were going to keep him in business
forever. He just got your dad’s truck fixed when your car was hauled in. He
said we were his best customers.”

“Billy, you and I both know we’re going to find the body of
Helen Carrolton, don’t you? This is the first time I’ve ever come face-to-face
with someone who has been murdered. I’ve heard about it, but I’ve never been
involved like this. Even when that crazy woman killed her husband for cheating
on her with another man, I wasn’t there. I wasn’t in the middle. I’m right in
the middle of it now.”

“It’ll be okay. Trust me,” he said. “I’m sure you can handle
it.”

Billy and I was now the lead car. By the time we reached the
end of the road, Billy looked at me and said, “I guess this is the right place,
huh?”

“You knew all along, didn’t you?”

“I was pretty sure,” he replied.

“Why didn’t you go ahead and tell the police of your
suspicions?”

“What, and deprive you of your chance to see if your feelings
had any merit? I couldn’t do that to you.”

Billy parked his truck and we got out, waiting for everybody
else to do the same. Detective Hargrove and his men walked up to us, and once
Mom, Jack and Dennis joined the group, the detective signaled for me to show
them the way.

“The forensic team should be here any minute, and the medical
examiner is waiting for our call,” Detective Hargrove stated. “The department
should have some of our guys out here soon. I just got off the radio with my
captain and he said to wait for him, they were on their way.” No sooner had he
spoken, the road filled with cop cars and blaring sirens.

A tall, slender man with a head full of brown, curly hair and
a scar across his right eye was introduced to us as Captain John Waverly of the
Charlottesville Police Department. He appeared to be around forty or
forty-five, and in good physical shape. Surprisingly, he pulled out a pack of
cigarettes, offered us all one, and then lit up. Although he seemed pleasant,
he was all business as he motioned for his men to follow him.

By the time I’d led them down the path Billy and I had
traveled before, I noticed several more official looking men had joined the
group, which now consisted of about twenty-five people. At least ten of the men
were in uniform and some were taking notes, while others talked on
walkie-talkies. Several of the officers carried shovels and duffel bags.

Once we reached the site, officers began putting up yellow
crime scene tape, as several others dressed themselves in disposable jumpsuits
and facial masks. They picked up their shovels, ready to start their task. We
were asked to stay behind the yellow tape, so the men could do their job. I
wanted to help, but Captain Waverly assured me his men could handle it.

“It might be best if you go back and wait by your cars,” he
walked up to us and said. “If we find the body, I can send someone to inform
you. This could be pretty ugly.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said, digging in my heels. “I
almost got killed over this girl. I think I’m entitled to be here.”

He glanced around at us and shook his head. “I could have my
guys remove you from the scene.”

“You could,” I replied, but still stood my ground.

“I’ll let you stay for now,” he said. “If you get in my way,
I’ll have you removed.”

We all moved back as if to let him know we’d stay out of his
way, but we weren’t going to leave unless we were forced to. I was tired, my
body ached, and I needed to sit down. I found a pile of rocks off to the side,
walked over and sat down. Mom, Jack and Dennis followed while Billy and Cole had
their heads together with the two detectives.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Mom leaned over to
me and asked.

“I don’t have the slightest idea,” I answered. I looked past
her to Jack and said, “I never did thank you for going to get Billy. If you
guys hadn’t shown up, things might not have turned out the way they did.”

He glanced at me with a surprised look on his face. “Didn’t
he tell you? We couldn’t find him.”

“How did you know where to come looking for me if you didn’t
get up with him?”

“There’s a simple explanation,” Mom joined in. “When we got
to Billy’s we couldn’t get him to come to the door. We rang the buzzer to the
office and even walked to the side door and banged on it. We banged on the
garage door. Finally, I used my keys and let us in through the front door. I
had a heck of a time trying to remember the code to the alarm, because I was so
frantic and thought for sure we were all going to get arrested. Fortunately, I
finally remembered the code, punched in the numbers, and then we went about
searching for him. We checked downstairs and then went up to his apartment, but
he wasn’t there.”

“Athena was the one who led us into his office,” Jack added.
“She jumped up and started knocking things off his desk and that’s when we
found the file on Helen Carrolton. Mom said that was the case you were working
on, so we looked through it and found the Hudgins’ address. It was the one name
that Mom had remembered hearing you and Billy talk so much about. So we took a
chance. We were almost to their road when we noticed Billy’s truck in front of
us. Cole was with him. That’s when we knew we were on the right path so to
speak.”

“Then what happened?”

“We followed them to the end of the road and got out,” Mom
replied. “That’s when we heard the bulldozer.”

“Billy yelled for us to follow him and that’s what we did,”
Dennis finally spoke.

“We turned around and headed back toward the highway. When we
passed the house, Billy turned off onto a dirt road,” Mom explained. “We
followed him for a good long way until we came to a stream.”

“You should’ve seen your mom handle that van of hers,” Dennis
chuckled. “I was sure we’d never make it across that stream, but she was one
determined lady.”

“My poor van will probably never be the same for it,” she
sighed.

“Billy and Cole pulled right up to the bulldozer, jumped out
and ran up to Larry Hudgins as he was climbing down. Hudgins took off running
and Cole tackled him to the ground. Next thing we knew, Billy was up on the
bulldozer, while Cole handcuffed the man to the truck door and took off after
the kid. By the time Cole got the kid cuffed, Mom had already called the
police.”

“That’s right, I forgot to tell you. Billy bought me a cell
phone,” she giggled. “I’m sure glad he did. It really came in handy.”

“Where was Rita Hudgins?” I asked.

“They found her sitting by a tree, babbling to herself,”
Dennis said. “That woman’s crazy.”

“By the time Billy got the bulldozer started and began moving
the dirt, the police arrived. I wet my pants when I saw that red Jeep of yours
come flying up out of the ground,” Mom said.

“She sure did.”

Before Jack could finish what he was saying, everybody around
us started yelling and running toward the men who had been digging. Instantly,
Mom and the rest of us jumped up and ran over to the yellow tape, getting as
close as we could. Billy came up to me and put his arms around my neck as the
red roof became visible.

One of the men in the hole yelled, “We got a body in here—or
what’s left of one.”

I sank to the ground on my knees and cried. Billy had his
arms wrapped around me as I rocked back and forth, my body racked with
uncontrollable sobs. I leaned over and puked up the contents of my stomach. My
insides were shaking as I gladly took the handkerchief Billy had fished out of
his pocket.

I looked up at him, my breath smelling awful and said, “What
would I do without you?”

“Not to worry,” he said as he planted a kiss on my cheek.
“I’m not going anywhere. Besides, you’d never make it without me to keep you
straight.” Just about the time Billy kissed me on the cheek, Cole walked over,
bent down and mumbled something in his ear. Billy told me he’d be right back.
He got Mom to come sit with me.

“I’m still trying to figure out which one of them loves you
the most,” she whispered.

“Don’t be silly,” I objected.

“I think it’s great,” she went on. “First, you can’t get a
decent man and now you have two of them fighting over you. I just knew one day
you’d have someone, but I never thought you’d have two.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” I said.

If I live to be a hundred, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to
explain how I felt when I finally stood up and looked down into that hole and
saw the little red car. I should’ve been glad I was right all along, but the
overwhelming feeling of sadness took that away from me. I felt like a little
piece of me had died with Helen Carrolton, and I knew I’d never be the same. I
had a knot in my stomach as a cold dread swept over me. Who would tell her
parents?

With tears in my eyes, I walked over to Billy and collapsed
in his arms. “It’s Helen, isn’t it?” I already knew the answer.

“Yes, it is,” he whispered, sadly.

When they used the winch on the back of Billy’s truck to pull
her car out of the ground, I had to walk away. It was so sad I couldn’t stand
to watch any longer. I knew what it was like to lose a loved one.

As I was growing up, my contact with death was very limited.
However, as I got older I’d experienced it first hand. A close girlfriend of
mine died at the age of thirty from breast cancer, and one of the guys I worked
with at a department store, committed suicide. The death of my grandparents was
another sad memory. Those were hard, but they didn’t compare to the two recent
deaths that would squeeze the life out of my heart every day. I mourned for my
father, and ten months before Dad died, my cousin Danielle was killed in a car
accident. She was only eighteen years old. I still cry sometimes when I think
about her and had sad it was that her life had been cut short.