South River Incident (16 page)

“I’m sorry it took me so
long, but I had to take care of the dogs and lock up the house,” he said,
slamming the car door. “Jesse, you’re upset. Don’t you want me to drive? You’re
in no condition...”

“I’m fine,” I said. I
jammed my foot on the gas pedal and fishtailed down the driveway.

“What about Cole? Aren’t
you going to follow him?” Billy asked, looking back in Cole’s direction.

“I don’t need him to find
my mama. I don’t need him for anything.”

“That was a harsh
statement, girl. What gives? Are you having second thoughts about how you
really feel about Cole? Am I in trouble here?”

I relaxed some of the
tension in my arms, let out a breath, and slowed the Jeep down. “You don’t have
a thing to worry about.” I looked over and smiled.

“Ah, that’s what she says,
but how does she really feel?” His face was fraught with concern. “You look a
little rattled. I guess you realize that Cole does care about you.”

“It’s too little... too
late, Billy.” I put on the blinker and turned onto the main road. “It looks
like VDOT got the road cleared just in time for the next storm. I guess we’re
in for a full-blown mountain blizzard.”

I
cried as I burst into the hospital room
.
“Oh, Mom, what happened? Are you hurt?
Who did this to you?”

Mom was dressed in a
flowered-print hospital gown. She held the back closed with one hand while she
took her clothes out of a closet with the other. She walked over to the bed and
laid the clothes on it.

“I’m fine, honey. I’m glad
you’re here. You can help me get past those silly doctors. I’m not staying
overnight. They’re crazy. I have things to do. We have a blizzard coming! I
have to get home.”

“Mom,” I said, trying to
soothe her. “They know what’s best for you. If they say you should stay, then
you should stay. Please get back in the bed.”

“You don’t really believe
that. You’re just saying that to keep me here. I’m leaving with or without your
help.”

She stepped over to Billy
and asked, “Will you drive me home?”

He was caught in the
middle. He glanced at me and then back to Mom. “Jesse’s driving. I don’t have
my truck. But I might be able to talk her into it if we’re sure you’re going to
be fine. What did the doctor say?” He took her hand and led her back to the
bed. “Why don’t you sit down and tell me everything.”

She sat on the bed with her
slipper-covered feet dangling over. “They said I have a bruised shoulder and a
sprung elbow. Claire went to find my doctor. She doesn’t want me to leave
either. The kids are with a nurse.”

“Well, maybe you should
listen...” Before I could finish my sentence, the door opened and a doctor
walked in. Claire and Cole were right behind him.

“What’s this I hear about
you wanting to leave the hospital, Mrs. Watson?” he asked as he flipped through
her chart. He turned to Billy and me. “Hello, you must be Mrs. Watson’s
daughter, Jesse. I’m Dr. Bryant. You might remember me.” He held out his hand.

“Yes,” I replied. I offered
him mine. “You were the doctor on duty when my father died. I’ve been to the hospital
a couple of times and you were the doctor on duty then, too. You remember Billy
Blackhawk?” I asked. “He’s a friend of the family.”

“Of course,” he replied.
“Billy and I go way back. How’s it going, Billy? How’s your mom and dad?”

“Just fine, John.” Billy
shook his hand. “What’s the deal here?”

“As you can see, we’re
having a hard time keeping Mrs. Watson in bed. She has suffered a few minor
injuries from her ordeal, and she needs bed rest. I’d like to keep her here for
just a little while.”

“Exactly what kind of
injuries has she suffered, Dr. Bryant?” I asked.

Mom sat up in bed and
yelled across the room.

“That’s nobody’s business
but mine! I want to get out of here.”

Dr. Bryant glanced at Mom
then back to me.

“I’m afraid I can’t divulge
her condition without her consent. But I can assure you, she needs to be in a
hospital. We need to keep her here for a couple of days and give her
medication. After the danger has passed, we’ll give her a prescription to have
filled, and then she will be released. She will need to be on this medication
for a couple of weeks.”

“What he’s trying to tell
you is, Mom has a blood clot in her shoulder and if they don’t dissolve the
clot, it could dislodge itself, go to her heart and kill her. But she’s too
stubborn to listen to what the doctor has to say.” Claire glared at Mom. “If I
hadn’t gone after the doctor when I did, she’d probably be out the front door,
hailing a cab by now.”

“You did the right thing.”
I put my arm around her. “You know how she is when she sets her mind to
something. She kind of reminds me of someone else I know.” I glanced over at
Billy and smiled.

“One day,” Mom announced.
She crawled under the bed covers and crossed her arms on top of the blanket.
“After that, I’m out of here.”

Dr. Bryant rolled his eyes.
He was helpless when it came to getting Mom to follow his advice. He scribbled
on a piece of paper and handed it to Claire. “We gave her Heparin to start.
Here’s a prescription for Coumadin—it’s an anticoagulant. See to it that you
get it filled and make sure she takes it every day according to directions. I’m
afraid if I give her the prescription, she won’t bother with it. Who knows, she
might escape before I see her in the morning. Make sure she takes the
medication when she gets home. My office will be in touch later.” He gave Mom
one final warning. “Stay in bed, Mrs. Watson.”

“You heard what the doctor
said,” I walked over to Mom and sat down on the edge of the bed. “You need to
rest.”

“This is poppycock! I need
to get home. I have a big hole in the wall, and a storm’s coming. It has to be
fixed and I can’t do it sitting here.”

“Don’t you worry, Minnie,”
Billy approached. “I’ll go repair the wall as soon as we leave the hospital.
Why don’t you tell us what happened?” He pulled up a chair close to her bed,
and sat down.

“Start from the beginning,
and don’t skip anything.”

“Claire had just left to go
to the IGA. A storm was heading our way, and we wanted to be prepared. After
she left, I was upstairs reading Benny a story. Carrie was taking her nap. All
of a sudden I heard a noise downstairs. I thought Claire had forgotten
something, and had to come back. I went to the stairs and called out. It got
real quiet. I called out again, but nobody answered. That’s when I got scared.
I went to Claire’s room and got the shotgun out of the closet, put two shells
in it, and tiptoed down the stairs. Somebody came running out of my bedroom and
headed for the back door. I yelled. She turned around and aimed a gun at me.
That’s when I panicked and the shotgun went off. I don’t even remember pulling
the trigger. Next thing I know, I’m in the hospital.”

“It seems,” Claire stepped
closer and said, “that my brave son saw that his grandma was hurt and dialed
911.”

“He’s a smart kid,” Billy
replied. He trained his attention on Mom. “Do you remember what the guy looked
like… his hair color… height?”

“I said it was a woman, not
a man. I know the difference, silly.”

Billy and I stared at each
other. We were both thinking the same thing.

“Are you sure about that,
Mom?” I asked.

“Yes, I’m sure. I’m old,
not blind, at least not yet.” She let out a little chuckle. “She was wearing a
scarf over her head, but I could see the blond hair hanging out. She had on a
black stadium jacket and a pair of black jeans. Later, when I thought more
about it, I found the whole idea of wearing black a little silly. It was broad
daylight and everything was covered with snow. You’d think she’d be smart
enough to wear white if she wanted to blend into the scenery. I guess she
wasn’t as smart as she thought.”

“Did you hit her?”

“I’m not sure, but I sure
did make a mess out of my pie safe, not to mention the wall. I’m surprised the
house didn’t catch fire.”

“Could you give us an
estimate on her weight and height?” Cole spoke for the first time.

“If I had to guess,” Mom
thought for a second. “I’d say she was the same size as Jesse.”

Everybody looked in my
direction.

“I’m 5’5", and a
hundred and eight pounds.”

“In your dreams,” Billy
whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear and get a good laugh.

“Well, maybe a hundred and
fifteen... give or take a couple of pounds.”

I couldn’t help but notice
Cole avoided making eye contact with me. Was it my breath or something I said?
Who was I trying to fool? He was obviously still reeling from the announcement
of my engagement to Billy. He had his chance, but he let it slip by. It was his
loss.

The woman Mom described had
a remarkable resemblance to the woman in the picture... the one who sent that
evil message to me. Loose ends were beginning to come together.

“Did she have any scars or
maybe walked with a limp?” I directed my attention to Mom. “Could you recognize
her if you saw her again?”

“I might. I don’t know,
Jesse, it all happened so fast.” Mom gasped and ordered everybody out of the
room. “Please, I want you all to leave for a minute. I have to talk to Jesse.”

Claire, Billy and Cole
obeyed by leaving the room.

“What is it, Mom?” I
reached over and took her hand.

“You tell me,” she
insisted. “What’s this on your finger?”

“Ah, that,” I smiled.
“Billy and I...”

“You’re getting married!
I’m so glad. It’s about time.” She gave me a hug and yelled toward the door.
“Come in here, Billy Blackhawk!”

The door opened and Billy
slowly walked in.

“Is it safe?” he asked.

“It sure is! I hear you’re
going to marry my daughter. I don’t know how this came about, but I’m so happy
I could cry.” She sniffled.

Billy dug in his jacket for
a handkerchief and handed it to her.

“See, Jesse I told you he
was a fine man. He even carries a handkerchief. It’s a sign of fine breeding.”

“We’re only gotten to the
point of the ring, Mom,” I spoke softly. “We haven’t made plans for a wedding,
yet.”

“We can do that as soon as
I get out of here. How about Christmas?” she asked. “Christmas would be a fine
time. It’s so romantic.”

“Hold on,” I said. “Give me
time to savor the moment before you go and make any arrangements. Billy and I
need to talk.”

“What’s there to talk
about? You’re going to get married so let’s make plans. Why mess around?”

“What’s the big rush? We
have plenty of time.”

Mom looked at Billy, and
then back at me. She had a funny look on her face for a second before she
spoke.

“Does Cole know about the
two of you? I mean, I’m sure this was a shocker for him if he does. It’s none
of my business, and who am I to butt into your life, but a couple of days ago
you and Cole were an item. Now you and Billy are engaged. What happened?”

“It was a revelation, Mom.
One minute everything was going along okay, and then I realized I was on the
wrong path. Cole’s a good man. He’s just not the one for me. We have too many
differences. We don’t have the same goals in life. Cole can’t put in the time
it takes to make a relationship work, and like you would say, I’m not getting
any younger. Above it all, I think the most important thing is that I discovered
I’m in love with Billy.”

“Oh, `ge ya, you make me
feel so good,” Billy said as he leaned over and kissed me. “I’m the happiest
man in the world.”

“You say that now, but have
you sampled her cooking?” Mom asked.

They stared at each other
for a second, and then broke out in laughter. They almost fell all over
themselves on that one.

“If the two of you are
finished making fun of my lack of culinary skills, it’s time to get serious. We
need to get to the heart of our problem. Forget about the wedding for a second,
Mom. Billy, show her the picture.”

He pulled out the photo and
held it up for her to see. “Do you see anyone that looks like the woman who
broke into your house in this photo?” he asked. “Take your time and look at it
carefully.”

“She didn’t break in. The
door wasn’t locked,” Mom replied. She studied the photo. “That’s her—that one
right there!” She pointed to Laura Westover. “Yep, that’s the woman.”

Billy and I glanced at each
other. What were we to do? We couldn’t tell Cole about our finding because we
had stolen the picture from a dead man’s house. Yet, could we ask Mom to keep
quiet to cover for us until we got some answers? We had to come clean.

“Cole!” I yelled. “Would
you come in here, please?”

Cole walked into the room
and I showed him the picture.

“This is the woman who
broke into Mom’s house.”

“Where did you get this
picture?” he asked.

“We found it.”

“I don’t believe it!” Cole
said. “You stole this from a murder victim’s house. What are you two going to
do next... rob a bank... steal a car?”

“What...” Billy started to
say.

“Cole, you sound like a
crazy person,” I jumped in and said. “Get over it. Don’t tell me that you’ve
never picked up something here and there to help you on a case or never lifted
a piece of evidence. If you tell me you haven’t, I’m going to have to call you
a liar. You’re a cop, you don’t always play by the book.”

“Excuse me, but you’re
wrong,” Cole shot back. “I always play by the book. It’s the only way to stay
alive in this game.”

“Oh, bull,” Claire said as
she walked into the room. “Cole, you’re full of crap if you think for one
minute that we’re going to buy that line. Nobody’s perfect, not even you.”

Cole gave her a stunned
look, but didn’t challenge her statement. He turned to Billy with a sour look
on his face. “I’m going to forget that you acquired that picture by
questionable means. I’m even going to forget that you stole my girl. But I
won’t forget that you’re very close to crossing over. If you don’t watch your
step, you’re going to land in jail, and I’m going to be the one who put you
there.”