A Crying Shame: A Jesse Watson Mystery (27 page)

“That won’t be very long,” Mom said. “Cole and I went back to
see her, and they’re going to release her. They have some paperwork to do
first. We were told that it would probably take about an hour.”

“They’re so slow,” Abby said as she walked up to the group.
Randy and Isabel were right behind her. “A person could suffocate from all the
paperwork.”

“What’s going to happen next, Frank?” I asked.

“I’ll get CPD to post a couple of men at her door, and as
soon as the doctor says she can be moved, she’ll be transported to the
infirmary at the jail, or to a hospital in D.C., depending on what the captain
says. He’ll be the one to have the final say.”

“What about you? Are you leaving now?”

“Yeah, my helicopter landed on the hospital’s helipad and
they want it removed.”

“I have an idea,” I said. “Why don’t you all come home with
me and we’ll have a nice dinner, and maybe Abby will let you ride back with
her.” I looked at Abby and then back to Frank.

“I guess that’s up to Abby,” Frank replied.

“That’s fine with me if Frank promises to behave.”

“Abby, you’re such a…”

“We took a limo from the airport to get here. We have plenty
of room in the limo for one more and plenty of room in the helicopter for the
ride back. It’s up to you, Frank.”

“Then it’s settled,” I said. “Frank, send your helicopter
back home, and Abby you can let your limo go. I don’t think he’d want to drive
to our place in this weather. I’m sure we have enough transportation to get you
all to our house and back to the airport.”

“I drove my van,” Mom said. “It’s a minivan, but it holds
five people comfortably.”

“I drove the Jeep,” Billy added. “We can carry five people,
easily.”

“I drove my Jeep, too,” Cole added. “There’s room for four,
but it’s a bumpy ride.”

“Claire’s SUV is in the parking lot,” Frank added.

After the seating arrangements were settled and Claire was
released from the hospital, we were on our way. Abby and Isabel rode in the
minivan with Mom while Claire rode with Cole as he drove her SUV. Frank drove
Cole’s Jeep and Randy rode with him. Billy and I rode alone in my red Jeep—the
same one I swore I would get rid of, and I will, eventually.

“I can’t believe this whole crew is coming to our house for
dinner,” Billy said once we got in the Jeep and started moving. “It’s going to
be a mad house.”

The snow continued to fall as our caravan of misfits drove,
single file, to our home. It seemed like a peaceful end to an otherwise chaotic
couple of days, but that wasn’t the way things were to be. More trouble wasn’t
far behind.

The house was warm and cozy as a fire raged in the fireplace.
Sarah had just put Benny and Carrie down for an afternoon nap as Maisy sucked
her bottle in the comfort of Sarah’s arms. Chief Standing Deer lay asleep on
the sofa. Athena and Thor were asleep by the fire, ignoring us all, and Spice
Cat lay on the fireplace mantle, self-content and oblivious to the world.

“The kids wore him out and I think he wore the kids out.
They’re all taking a nap, even the dogs and the cat,” Sarah said to us as we
all walked inside. “I’m so glad everyone is okay. Billy told me what happened.”

We filed in one by one and took off our coats.

“It sure is cold outside,” Mom said. “Isn’t it time for
spring, yet?”

“I’ll tell you what’s so strange,” Abby said as she walked
over to Sarah and cooed at the child in her arms, “It’s snowing outside and I
could’ve sworn I saw daffodils in bloom on the way here.”

“You probably did,” Sarah replied. “I have clusters of them
in my yard already. Most of them are in bloom. I have buds on my forsythias.”

“Isn’t it a little early for flowers to be blooming?” I asked
no one in particular.

Billy walked into the kitchen and opened the cabinet. “Can I
fix anyone a drink?” He looked over at Cole, Frank and Randy. “How about a
beer, guys?”

“I’ll take a beer,” the chief said as he arose from the sofa.
He appeared to be surprised to see the array of guests. “Are we having a
party?”

“It sure looks like it,” Abby said as she walked over and
shook the chief’s hand. “I’m Abigail Morgan. My friends call me Abby. This is
my sister, Isabel, and my son, Randy.”

Billy grabbed a couple of beers and as he passed them around,
he introduced Frank.

“Isn’t Frank that cop from D.C.?” the chief turned to Billy
and asked.

“Yes, he is,” Billy answered.

The room was quiet for a minute until Maisy let out a wail.
Everyone laughed and the ice was broken. Everyone made themselves at home and
nobody said a word about the strange turn of events until Claire excused
herself from the room.

“I need to go lie down,” she said. She promptly got up and
left the room. Cole had offered to help her upstairs, but her blunt refusal
caught our attention. No one spoke until we heard her close the bedroom door.

“What was that all about?” I looked at Cole and asked.

“She’s been through a terrible ordeal,” Mom said. “She
probably needs some time to herself. She’s dealing with a lot right now. She
was abducted by a crazy woman and then was in a car wreck. I imagine she’s
still a little shaky. I’m sure she’ll be better once she gets a little rest.”

I didn’t say anything, but I wondered what
Sherry Lane
had said while she held Claire
captive in that car. Claire told me she had said some pretty terrible things.
Was it Carl that she had said those things about, or had she made more threats
to Claire and her kids? Sometimes a person can say things that will put
horrible images in your mind; ones that stay with you forever. Is that what
Sherry Lane
had done? Did she plant those images
in Claire’s mind? Later, I would have a talk with Claire about
Sherry Lane
… and about what Claire had removed
from Carl’s safe. We never did get to discuss why she was so determined to
clean out their safe. Did the safe contain incriminating evidence against Carl
or his past, or was Claire just trying to protect herself and her children’s
future? I would find out.

The women were buzzing around in the kitchen and having
themselves a good time with Maisy. I walked over to the fireplace where Billy
was sitting with the rest of the men and asked him, “Will you help me get our
stuff out of Claire’s car? My gun’s in it.”

“Sure,” he said. “Excuse me, guys. Duty calls.”

Billy helped me struggle with my coat as I tried to get my
arm with the cast on it through the sleeve. “I’ll be glad when this thing comes
off.”

“Does your arm hurt much?” he asked.

“No, it doesn’t,” I said. “I’m surprised. Usually when you
break something it hurts like crazy.”

“It’s Mother Nature,” Abby said. “The good Lord gave us the
ability to withstand a lot of stuff when we’re pregnant. It’s amazing what we
can go through while we’re pregnant that we couldn’t handle if we weren’t. I
call it self-preservation.”

“This is true,” the chief added. “A woman must go through
many changes while carrying a child. She must be strong. It is our spirit which
helps her.”

“And I guess God has nothing to do with it,” Sarah added.

They continued their conversation as Billy and I walked out
the door. He put his arm around my shoulder to protect me against the wind. “I
could’ve taken care of this myself, but I figured that you must have something
to say that you didn’t want to say in front of the others.”

“No, I just wanted to get our stuff out of the car. Aren’t
you the one who told me to take care of my gun? You said to never…”

“Okay, I guess I read you wrong.”

“No, you didn’t,” I said as I stopped and looked at him.
“Claire cleaned out their safe while we were at Abby’s house. She said that
Carl told her that if anything happened to remove everything from the safe. I
just wanted…”

“To snoop through her stuff?”

“It’s not snooping.”

“Yes, it is and it’s not right. You can’t go through her
stuff without her permission.”

“Oh, yes I can. She’s my sister.”

He looked at me hard. “Do you want to lose her trust?”

“No.”

“Then you can’t go through her stuff.”

“I hate it when you’re so honest.”

“I’m always honest. You’re just mad because you want me to
agree with your wild, hair-brained idea. You know it’s not right.”

“The stuff she has in that bag might hold clues to the murder
of Ophelia Pitman. I don’t believe for one minute that she was trying to
blackmail
Sherry Lane
because she thought that Carl killed
Sherry’s husband. I think there was more to it. Maybe Carl was involved in
something illegal and Ophelia found out. Sherry didn’t want to lose Carl and if
he went to jail, she would. Even though Carl could be involved in criminal
activity, he isn’t a killer. He didn’t kill Ophelia, but it wouldn’t surprise
me to find out that Carl’s been doing something illegal for a long time.
Knowing him; he’s probably been stealing money from his job. Who knows what
that sneaky snake has been up to?”

“You’re speculating. You don’t know what Carl’s capable of,
Jesse.”

“I know he’s too much of a wimp to kill anyone.” I looked
around. “Hey, it stopped snowing. When we came out it was snowing, and now it’s
not.”

“It looks like the clouds are breaking up. Look over there.”

I looked to the horizon behind our house and saw the sun
peeking through. “The sun finally comes out just before it’s time for it to
set.”

“It’s the first sign of spring.”

“Sure,” I said. I rolled my eyes and started walking toward
Claire’s car. “And tomorrow when we wake up the snow will be gone and all the
trees will be green.” I opened the side door to the car. I reached in and
picked up Claire’s purse and the bag that held her safe’s contents. “If you’d
get the duffle bags, I can handle this.”

He looked at me with a smile and said, “I’m right behind
you.”

We carried the stuff into the house. Billy set the duffle
bags on the floor in our bedroom and then I set Claire’s purse and bag of
goodies on top.

“When Claire wakes up, I’ll take her stuff upstairs. In the
meantime, it’ll be safe here.”

“You can count on it.” He smiled.

I smelled the aroma of food. “Mom must be cooking something.”

“Isn’t she always?”

We both laughed as we took off our coats and walked out of
the bedroom. Billy hung up our coats as I walked into the kitchen.

“What’s cooking?” Billy asked as he walked up to his mother.

Sarah turned and placed Maisy in his arms. “We’re making
dinner a team effort,” she said. “Maisy needs to be burped. I’d hand her to
Jesse, but she has only one good arm.” She winked at me. “Besides, it wouldn’t
hurt for my son to hone up on his baby-burping skills. It’s been a long time.”

“You’re not kidding,” Billy replied. “It’s been a real long
time.”

Billy’s cell phone rang. “I’ll get it,” I said. “You have
your hands full.”

“Tell them I’ll call them back. I’m busy at the moment.”

I walked over to the coat rack and removed Billy’s cell phone
from his coat. I didn’t bother to look at the phone’s Caller ID, instead, I
flipped it open and said hello.

“May I speak to Billy Blackhawk?” a woman asked. Her voice
sounded frantic.

“He’s busy at the moment,” I replied.

“It’s very urgent,” she said.

“Okay, give me a second and then I’ll put him on.”

I walked over to Billy and handed him the phone as Abby
walked up to him and offered her assistance. She took Maisy and placed her on
her shoulder as she sat down at the kitchen table. Isabel and Sarah walked over
and sat down at the table with her while Mom continued to work in the kitchen.
I looked up and noticed that the men were still over by the fireplace, drinking
beer and telling lies. I stood, waiting to hear the outcome of the call when
the house phone rang.

“This sure is a busy place,” I joked as I walked over and
picked up the portable phone from the computer table.

“Is this Jesse?”

“Yes, it is,” I replied.

“Jesse, this is Russ Shank. How are you?”

“I’ve had better days, but otherwise, I’m fine. How’re you
doing?”

“I’ve had better days, too. May I talk to Billy?”

“He’s talking on his cell phone. Can I give him a message, or
would you like to wait? He shouldn’t be long.”

“I’ll hold on,” he replied.

I looked over at Billy and caught his eye. I held the phone
up and mouthed Russ’s name. Billy shook his head in acknowledgement.

“He’ll be right with you, Russ.”

“Thanks, Jesse.”

Billy closed his cell phone and handed it to me. “Put this
up, would you, Jesse?” He took the portable phone and walked out of the room.

I heard the bedroom door close.

The men stopped talking and looked over at me.

“What was that all about?” Mom asked.

“I don’t know,” I replied, looking around the room. “Usually,
when Billy walks out of the room like that, something bad has happened.”

We all remained silent and trance-like until Billy walked
back into the room. When he did, a cold draft whisked through the air and sent
a chill down my spine. I knew that something bad had happened. The look on his
face said it all. The news was not going to be good.

“You all will have to excuse me, but I have to leave. I’ll be
back soon.” Billy looked at me. “Where did you put my cell phone, Jesse?”

“Wait a minute,” I said as I walked up to him. “What’s going
on?”

“Russ just got a call from Brian,” Billy said. “Brian was out
of control. He said he was going to go find Benjamin Beard and kill him.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because he just found out that he’s not Maisy’s father.”

“And the good doctor is, right?” I said.

“Exactly.”

“How did he find out?”

Billy looked around the room and saw that everyone had their
eyes glued to him. “Belinda, the receptionist at Dr. Beard’s office, faxed him
a copy of the paternity test by mistake. She was supposed to fax it somewhere
else, but got the fax numbers mixed up.” Billy looked down at me. “I have to go
find him before he does something awful. He now has reason to believe that the
doctor killed his wife to shut her up. He has nothing to lose and he’s out for
blood.”

“He has Maisy!”

“Not according to him. Maisy isn’t his child.”

“But he still loves her, doesn’t he?”

“He’s not rational, Jesse. He’s not thinking straight.”

“Shouldn’t we call the police?”

“Russ did that before he called me.”

“Then why don’t you let the police handle it?”

“Because I feel responsible, Jesse. I need to do something.
Russ is meeting me at the doctor’s house.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“No, you’re not,” he demanded. “I can handle this by myself.
You need to stay at home. You’re not much use to me with that cast on your arm,
`ge ya.”

“That’s a lame excuse, Billy Blackhawk,” I said, defiantly.
“Okay, I’ll stay home if that’s what you want. Just be careful.”

“I will,” Billy promised as he grabbed his coat and walked
out the door.

I turned around and looked back at everyone left. “I need a
drink.”