A Crying Shame: A Jesse Watson Mystery (3 page)

“Hello,” Mom said. Her voice was groggy. “Who is this?”

“It’s me, Jesse.” I gave her a few seconds before I spoke
again. “Were you asleep? How can you sleep at a time like this? Have you heard
from Billy?”

“Calm down, Jesse,” Mom said. “I haven’t heard from Billy.
Why, what’s the matter? Did something go wrong?” Her voice became more
distinct. “After y’all left, Claire and I had something to eat, and then I laid
down on the bed. And the next thing I know, you call. What time is it?”

“It’s almost
midnight
and I told Billy to call the minute
he had the kids. D.C.’s only two hours from here and he’s been gone almost
four. I called all the numbers on the list he gave me and couldn’t get an
answer from any of them. I was hoping that either you or Claire had heard
something.”

“Let me go see if Claire’s awake. I’ll call you back in a
minute, okay?”

“Call me right back, please.”

Ten minutes passed and then twenty and still no phone call.

“What is with these people?” I said to the dogs as I paced
back and forth. “Don’t they realize I’m going nuts here?” I couldn’t stand it
any longer. I walked over to the phone and dialed Mom’s number. “Just wait
until I get someone on this phone! I’m going to give them a piece…”

“Hello,” Billy said.

“Hello!” I yelled at him. I was irate and at the same time I
was so glad to hear his voice. “What’s the matter with you guys? Don’t you
realize that I’ve been worried to death? You promised to call me hours ago!”

“I’m sorry, Jesse.”

“Is that all you can say? Where’re the kids? What happened
tonight? Why didn’t you call like you promised?” Tears began to pour out. I
felt sick to my stomach.

“Calm down, `ge ya. Everything is all right. It went better
than we’d planned. You were right about Carl. He didn’t put up much of a fuss
even though he did stand his ground. I wasn’t threatening or anything. I talked
to Carl just long enough for Daniel and Robert to slip in the back door. We
were out of there in less than fifteen minutes. He said the kids were in bed,
so it wouldn’t surprise me if he still doesn’t know they’re gone. He doesn’t
seem to be the type who would go back and check on them after I left.”

“What about Jonathan? Where was he?”

“He was our lookout. He hid in the bushes.”

“What would’ve happened if… oh, never mind. Are you coming
home now?”

“We’re just getting ready to leave.”

“We’ll talk about it when you get home. I want to know
everything.”

An hour later, Billy walked in the front door. He looked
ragged and beat. I hugged him while he tried to take off his coat.

“I was so worried that something had gone wrong. It’s awful
sitting home waiting for the one you love to come back from a mission such as
this. I should’ve been there with you.”

“No, you shouldn’t have. I know how you are. You would’ve
made it worse. You would’ve been all over Carl. As it turned out, it wasn’t so
bad.”

“Come on over to the sofa and let’s sit down. I want to hear
what happened. Can I get you something to eat or drink first?”

Billy hung his coat on the rack by the door and then walked over
to the sofa. “No, I’m fine. On the way home, we stopped at Apple Jacks and got
something for the kids. I had a burger. I think it’s still talking to me.” He
sat on the sofa and stretched out his long legs. He crossed his arms and closed
his eyes. By the time I sat down next to him, he had dozed off.

“Billy, come on,” I said as I shook him. “Let’s go to bed.
We’ll talk in the morning.”

He rose from the sofa and headed to the bedroom. “I’m sorry,
but I’m too tired to talk, Jesse. This has been a long, long day.”

“I know it has, Billy. Our life sure does have a lot of
excitement in it, doesn’t it? I mean, you drove all the way from
Tennessee
and then had to turn around and
drive to
Washington
,
D.C.
I’m surprised you can still walk.”

“I didn’t drive to D.C., Jonathan did. I fell asleep as soon
as we hit the road, and slept the whole way there.”

I pulled the covers back as Billy went to the bathroom to
brush his teeth. I was surprised that he didn’t jump in the shower before
hitting the sack. He was such a stickler for good hygiene. I went to the
bathroom and stood next to him to brush my teeth. I stared at his image in the
mirror. Here was the man I had been waiting for my whole life. He was perfect.
He’s the kind of man all women hope to marry. I looked forward to sharing my
life with him. I knew every day was going to be wonderful and exciting. When I
crawled into bed next to him, I had no idea of how exciting things were going
to get. I leaned over and kissed his cheek.

“Sleep well, my love,” I whispered in his ear. “Everything is
the way it should be.”

The next day was the start of a new life for us. Billy and I
were married, had a wonderful honeymoon, and were now home and ready to begin
our journey through life together. We had a baby on the way, a business to run,
and I was ready to become a full-fledged private investigator. All I need is my
license to make it official. I was sure that Billy would just as soon have me
forget about that endeavor under the circumstances, but a lot of women work
while they’re pregnant and so could I. Besides, I had almost eight more months
to go before the baby arrived. I had to do something. I couldn’t just sit
around all day and think about nothing but babies. I’d go crazy. I crawled out
of bed and followed the smell of fresh brewed coffee. Billy was sitting at the
kitchen table reading the newspaper.

I walked over to him, gave him a kiss on the forehead and
said, “Have you been out already? Where did you get the paper?” I turned and
headed to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. “What’s the weather like outside?”

He looked up at me, smiled and said, “Let’s see. I went to
Crumpler’s Market up the road and bought the paper, and the temperature outside
is in the low forties. The paper says we’re going to get snow this weekend.
It’s supposed to start tomorrow afternoon. We could get as much as five
inches.”

“Hey, that’s not bad. We’ve had worse, haven’t we?”

“Yeah, we’ve had our share. This winter is the first one I’ve
seen where it’s snowed so often. Usually we get four or five good snowfalls and
then it just fades away into spring. But I guess this time it’s going to be
different.”

“That’s right. I’m here. I’m a city girl who’s not accustomed
to snow, and so what happens? It snows every week. That’s okay. I love it.”

“I’ve had enough.”

I sat down at the table with my coffee and picked up a piece
of the paper that Billy had discarded. “I’m surprised Claire hasn’t called this
morning. You know by now Carl’s well aware of what you pulled last night. I bet
he’s really ticked off.”

Billy let out a chuckle. “I bet he is. He’s probably already
thinking up a plan of retaliation. I wish I could’ve seen the look on his face
when he realized what we did. You know he’s mad.”

“Tell me exactly what happened.”

“It’s simple. I went to the front door, knocked, and as soon
as he opened the door, Daniel and Robert slipped in the back way. In a few
minutes, I heard the signal, so I ended the conversation and then left.”

“What signal?”

“The hoot of the owl,” Billy said as he smiled. “That’s the
signal we always use.”

“What did you and Carl talk about?”

“I told him that what he did was wrong and the police would
be after him shortly, and if he knew what was good for him, he’d better let me
take the kids back home. I told him Claire promised she wouldn’t press charges
if he cooperated. Of course, he refused. He said the police had already been to
his house and he told them he had visitation rights and that he was exercising
those rights; his wife knew all about it. He told the cops that his wife took a
lot of tranquilizers. Then he said some pretty nasty things about Claire and
her relationship with
that deputy
. He’s going to sue for sole custody.
He said Claire was a drunk and a slut. He was rather adamant about his
feelings. He also mentioned the fact that he’s a pillar in the community and
has many friends in the police department, as well as being friends with
several judges. He has many claims, but I think his head is bigger than his
popularity. However, I could be wrong.”

“He does know some people in high places. I think that’s one
thing that scares Claire. There’s no telling what he could do to her, if he
sets his mind to it. He’s such a creep! I’m going to call him and cuss him out.
How dare he talk about my sister like that! Claire isn’t any of those things.
After all the crap he’s pulled…”

“Let it go, `ge ya. The kids are safe and back home with
their mother. Our work is finished.”

“I guess you’re right. Maybe I’ll call Claire and see what
the police had to say. I’m sure they’ve been by to talk to her. Carl’s probably
in an uproar. By now he knows that you’re the one who took the kids. I bet he’s
been burning up Sheriff Hudson’s telephone line. I’m surprised the sheriff
hasn’t been by already.”

“How would they know that I took the kids?”

“Oh, come on, Billy. You know Wake Hudson’s a pretty smart
guy. He knew you’d go after the kids the minute he sorted out the situation…
actually, the minute he found out it was Claire’s kids. He knows our family and
he knows the two of us, all too well.”

“I guess we have had a few dealings with him.”

“A few?” I said as I rolled my eyes at him. “Since I’ve met
you, I’ve visited the Greene County Sheriff’s Office more times than I care to
count. I’ve been chased by bad guys; accused of murder; been shot at more than
once, and been carted off to the hospital way too many times.
UVA
Hospital
now owns a piece of my soul.”

“See, now aren’t you glad you married me?” Billy looked up
from the paper and winked.

“I’m surprised that Carl hasn’t called here.”

“Oh, he probably will. That’s okay; I can handle anything he
throws my way.”

“I know you can,” I said. I got up from the table and walked
over to the wall phone. “I’m going to call Claire. I’m dying to hear what he
had to say to her.”

I picked up the receiver and punched in Mom’s number. The
phone ran several times before I realized that no one was going to pick up.
“That’s strange,” I said to Billy as I turned and hung up the phone. “It’s a
little early in the morning for them to be gone.”

We both looked over at the digital readout on the microwave
and smiled.

“I guess it really isn’t that early,” I said. “It’s
ten o’clock
. They probably went shopping. Claire deals with
stress by shopping, and I’m willing to bet that last night was probably the
most stressful moment of her life, ever.”

“I would think so, `ge ya.”

The phone rang suddenly and startled me. “Whoa! I bet that’s
Claire,” I said, picking up the receiver. “Hello, Jesse speaking.”

“Hi, honey. This is your mom.”

“Hi, Mom, how’s everything? I just called a few seconds ago.”

“I know. I saw it on Caller ID. I was in the shower.”

“Where’s Claire? Why didn’t she answer the phone?”

“It’s a long story. Maybe you and Billy could come over and
we could talk about it.”

“You want us to come over right this minute? We just sat down
for coffee and…”

“Please, Jesse. You need to come over now.”

“What happened, Mom?”

I could hear rustling and the sound of someone whispering.
Claire was now on the line and she spoke to me in an unusually loud voice.

“Get over here! Oh, and be sure to bring your wonderful
husband!”

The line went dead.

I turned to Billy in amazement. “Claire just hung up on me.”

“I can see that.”

“She yelled at me. She told me to get over there right now
and to be sure to bring you. She called you my
wonderful husband
. I’m
going to have to smack her. I can see it coming. What’s her problem? You
rescued her kids and now she’s in a tiff about something. You’d think she’d be
grateful. Oh, crap… it probably has something to do with her new sweetheart,
Cole. I told you he’s gone nuts. There’s something weird about that guy. Ever
since he got shot, he’s been a totally different person.”

“Calm down, Jesse. First off, you’re not going to slap
Claire, and secondly, this might have nothing to do with Cole. It probably has
something to do with her husband. Let’s go to your Mom’s house and see what’s
going on. I don’t have any plans for today, do you?”

“I thought maybe we could go to the office, check things out,
talk about our baby and the fact that I should continue to work, and then
decide what we’re going to do with the rest of our lives. I need to check the
post office to see if my letter from DCJS is in the mail, and once I have my
picture taken and get my identification card, I’ll be a real private
investigator. That’s going to be exciting. I can’t wait until I get to flip out
my wallet, show people my ID, and then tell them that I’m a real...”

“That’s right; we did put our mail on hold,” Billy said as he
tried to ignore my comments about my career as a snoop. “We need to go pick it
up. Bills need to be paid, and...”

I let the matter of my career drop for the time being. I knew
Billy didn’t like the idea of me carrying his child and chasing after dangerous
criminals. He wanted me to stay home where it was safe. Silly me, what was I
thinking?

“We need to buy you a new cell phone. Other than that, I
don’t have any plans.”

Billy got up from the table and walked over to me. He leaned
down and kissed my forehead. “Let’s go see your mom,” he said and started to
walk away.

I grabbed the sleeve of his shirt. “You gotta do better than
that,
Injun
.”

He laughed and then grabbed me up in one of his big hugs.
“You’d better be nice to me, or that little
Injun
ain’t gonna like it.”
He rubbed my tummy.

How lucky can one woman get?

Thirty minutes later as Billy and I were about to walk out
the door, the phone rang.

“Maybe I should get that,” I said.

“If it’s important, they’ll call back.”

“Let me just run and check Caller ID.”

“Okay, but hurry up. I left the truck running.”

Athena and Thor stood by the door, ready to leave. Their
patience was running thin, too.

I ran over to the computer desk and looked at the portable
phone. The number was the Greene County Sheriff’s Office in Stanardsville—I
knew it by heart. I looked over at Billy. “I don’t like this. It’s the
sheriff.”

He motioned for me to hurry. “Come on,” he demanded.
“Something must be up.”

“You think so?” I asked, snidely. “I haven’t killed anyone
lately, have you?” I meant for my remark to be a joke, but all of a sudden, it
didn’t sound very funny. The sight of Laura and Brad Westover lying bloody and
dead on my living room floor flashed through my mind. I stared up at Billy. “I
didn’t mean to say that.”

Oddly, it appeared as if Billy wasn’t listening to me. His
thoughts were somewhere else.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yes,” he softly said. “I’m ready anytime you are.”

We locked the house and decided to make Athena and Thor stay
home. We could hear their loud barks as we crawled up into the truck. They
weren’t happy.

“They’ll be okay,” Billy said as he looked in his rearview
mirror. “I know you don’t like to leave them alone.”

“It’s okay. It’s probably for the best. Who knows what’s
going on over at Mom’s house?”

“I have a feeling we might have to go visit the sheriff.”

“I don’t see why. We haven’t done anything wrong. They can’t
arrest you for going to Carl’s house and taking the kids considering he was the
one who stole them in the first place. What grounds do they have?”

“I think the words you’re looking for is
obstruction of
justice
. If it comes right down to it, they could prosecute me for
interfering with their investigation.”

“Are you serious? They can’t do that!”

“They most certainly can.”

“But you did their job for them.”

“Sheriff Hudson might not see it that way. Up until now he’s
never had a reason to arrest me, but this is a different story. This could be
his chance to throw me in jail and make it stick, if he wants to. I’m a private
investigator; I know all about the law. I know the difference between right and
wrong. But I also know that they don’t usually prosecute on those grounds
unless you…”

“Unless what?”

“…cause harm or death by your actions.”

“Please don’t tell me that,” I said. “I think I’m going to be
sick. This whole situation just keeps getting worse.”

Billy could see that I was getting upset. He reached over and
placed his hand on mine. “I’m getting ahead of myself. I’m starting to act just
like you. I’m letting my imagination run wild. The sheriff doesn’t even know I
was involved, but when he finds out, I’m sure he’ll thank me.”

“That was a good one!” I replied. “Billy, you’re such a bad
liar. I thought it was second nature for private eyes to lie.”

“We do our best.”

After that statement, Billy and I rode in silence until we
reached the Ruckersville intersection. The light turned red as we approached.

“The silence is killing me,” I said. “What is it that you’re
not telling me? I know you’re keeping something from me, Billy. You have that
weird look on your face... the kind you get when you don’t want to tell me
something because you don’t think I can handle it. But I can handle anything
you throw my way. Tell me before I go crazy.”