What You See (14 page)

“What a rat!” I yelled. “Why do men say such horrible things?
Do you still love him?”

“Yes,” she whimpered.

“This isn’t going to be easy, Claire, but we’ll be here for
you. You can count on us, right Mom?”

Mom came over to the couch and said, “Don’t worry, honey.
We’ll be with you every step of the way, no matter what you decide to do. Why
don’t I go home with you? Your dad won’t mind.”

Claire started crying again. Next thing I knew, we were all
crying when Dad walked in.

Our emotional behavior must have upset Athena. She started
howling, whimpering, and rubbing her nose on us. It was her behavior that
caused us to start laughing. One minute we were crying, and the next we were
laughing. Poor girl, she probably thought we were nuts.

After dinner, I retreated to my room. I wanted Mom and Claire
to have a chance to talk alone, and I needed a break from all the emotion. I
hated to see Claire go through this, but it was a part of life. I also knew a
man would dump on you, and you’d just have to get past it. I’ve been there a
few times myself.

I poured
over
the case of Helen Carrolton. I couldn’t understand why Billy wanted me to spend
so much time going over the same information we had already burned our brains
out over. What was I going to find that the two of us had missed?

I followed her trip from the time she left home until the
young man working at the gas station on Rt. 15 last saw her. The police report
filed with the Charlottesville Police Department that we now had a copy of,
along with other info I didn’t think we were supposed to be privy to, stated
she left her house between two and three o’clock on December 26th. It was
assumed she took I-64 to the I-295 Richmond by-pass, and picked up I-64 again, because
she exited at Zion Crossroads. Taking a right at the crossroads onto Rt. 15,
she stopped at the Piney Mountain Grill, two miles down the road.

Piney
Mountain
Grill, situated between a mini-mart
gas station and a used car lot, was owned and operated by a man named Bubba
Johnson. One of his waitresses, Rose Hudgins, age 22, reported serving someone
fitting Helen’s description. When shown a picture of Helen Carrolton, she
positively identified her. She confirmed seeing the woman leave in a small, red
automobile. She said she remembered her because they had a conversation about
ex-boyfriends. Rose said it had been a slow day, so she had plenty of time to
talk. According to her statement, Helen Carrolton had just had a nasty breakup
with her boyfriend. He drank too much and had a violent temper. She told police
the girl in question stated that her ex-boyfriend was jealous and possessive.
Helen feared he might become dangerous. He had hit her several times in the
past. She was scared of him.

I found it odd that there was very little information on Rose
Hudgins in the report. I guess once Bubba Johnson confirmed that Rose had
talked to Helen only briefly, the police didn’t need to dig any deeper. Maybe
that’s why they’re cops, and I’m not.

Five miles down the road was the Stoney Point Gas station.
The attendant on duty, Tom Dorey, couldn’t positively identify Helen. He
recalled a red Geo driven by a cute, young blonde. He also reported seeing a
male in the passenger seat. She got ten dollars worth of gas and left.

Again, there was no personal information on Tom Dorey in the
file.

I couldn’t figure it out. The three people who had last seen
Helen alive, had nothing in their file, except a short statement confirming
they had seen her. Where did she pick up the male passenger? In a stretch of
five minutes, Helen Carrolton had obviously picked up her killer. Oops, did I
just think, ‘her killer’? All of a sudden, I had a very bad feeling. I sensed
doom. I knew she was dead, and I couldn’t shake the feeling. I almost felt sick
to my stomach. I tried to put the bad thoughts out of my head as I continued
reading the statements from Helen’s parents and her ex-boyfriend. The
statements were a biography of Helen. It contained general information
concerning their life, and what they were doing at the time of her
disappearance. The ex-boyfriend, Sean Allen, was employed by T.W. Moving and
Storage in Grafton. He was on an airplane with his parents on their way to
visit his grandparents. They took a flight out of
Newport News
International
Airport
on December 26th, at
6:15 a.m.
His alibi had been confirmed. He was off the hook.

The rest of the file contained useless data from the Virginia
State Police and various local police departments. It basically stated that
after a thorough investigation... Helen Carrolton was missing.

Did it seem like there was something missing, other than
Helen Carrolton? I had a stack of paperwork, and none of it was worth a dime. I
got more out of the newspaper clippings than I did out of the police reports,
and that wasn’t much. Was this all there was, or was this all that Billy could
get? I needed to know.

I reached over to pick up the telephone to call Billy, when
it rang.

“Hello,” I said.

“Hello, Jesse?”

I recognized the voice immediately. It was Carl. He was not
one of my favorite people. I was about ready to chop up his body, and feed his
parts to the wildlife roaming the woods around my new home. Yes, I could do
that. I would cut him into little pieces, and feed him one chunk at a time to
the animals. I may get lucky. A bear might come along at just the right time,
and eat him for dinner. Even though the idea of a bear gnawing Carl to the bone
was extremely tantalizing, I had to remember the fact that he was my sister’s
husband—rat that he is.

“Yes, Carl. What can I do for you?”

“I need to talk to Claire. Is she there?” he whined.

I wanted to slap him. Where did he think she’d be? I was
losing my patience. The emotions I’d been through for the last several days had
begun to form a knot in the pit my stomach the size of a grapefruit.

“Carl, you’re such an idiot. Have you lost your mind?” I
sneered. “Don’t you have enough sense to separate your real life from your
fantasy life?”

“I know I messed up...”

Before he could go on, I growled, “Save it, Carl. I don’t
even want to go there with you. You’re such a low-life. If you’re going to play
around, don’t get caught!”

“I’m...” he tried to say.

“Shut up. I don’t want to hear it. I’ll put Claire on the
phone,” I said. “Just remember, Carl, you have me in on it now. When it comes
to my sister, you’re just a fly on the wall, and I’m the fly swatter.”

I went to the hall and yelled downstairs for Claire to pick
up the phone. The minute she picked up, I hung up. I didn’t want to listen to
Carl whine, cry, and sing the blues. My call to Billy was going to have to
wait, or maybe not. I remembered Billy’s phone in the truck. I grabbed the card
with all his numbers on it, and went outside.

The sun was just beginning to set as I sat in his truck,
waiting for him to answer his phone.

“Hello,” he said, out of breath. “This had better be good.
You got me out of the shower.”

“I’m sorry, Billy. I’ll call you back later,” I apologized.

“Jesse! No, forget it. It’s okay. Actually, I was drying
off,” he said. “What can I do for you?”

“I was going over the file, and there seems to be something
missing. I know we worked on this all week, and it didn’t come to me until now,
but I was wondering if there was anymore information about Rose Hudgins or Tom
Dorey’s personal life. What about the grill owner, Bubba Johnson?”

“You have all there is. Besides, what good is that going to
do us? They’re minor players in the scenario.”

“They might be minor,” I added, “but they’re the last three
people to see her alive. I think there’s more to it. Don’t you think it would
be worth it to check these people out more closely? What could it hurt?”

“You might be right. We’ll pay them a visit on Monday. What
are you doing? Other than going over the file, are you busy?”

“I was just studying this file, why?”

“I got a call from my brother just before I got in the
shower. He wants me to check out this car he has for you. I was just thinking
about giving you a call. Do you want to go with me?”

“Robert’s looking for a car for me?”

“No, silly,” he laughed. “Daniel’s the one who has the car
lot. I told you about him.”

“How many brothers do you have?”

“I have three brothers and two sisters,” he boasted.

Giggling, I said, “Now I know why they’re called tribes. Are
all Indian families this large?”

“Yes, they are,” Billy replied and then changed the subject.
“How about it? Do you want to go? It would save me from having to take you to
look at it later.”

“Sure. Give me an hour to change clothes and get there.”

After meeting up with Billy, he took me to Redman’s
Auto
Center
. It was a huge car lot filled with
an array of new automobiles. I wondered what Billy must have been thinking. I
couldn’t afford a new car.

“Does Daniel own this car lot?”

“He sure does,” he answered as we pulled up to the front
entrance. “Daniel owns a car lot; Robert owns a restaurant; Jonathan’s a bounty
hunter;
Elizabeth
’s a financial advisor; and Jenny’s a
lawyer.”

“What, no doctors in your family?” I snickered.

“My father is a doctor, but he’s retired.”

“What does your mother do?”

“She’s the grease that keeps the gears lubed.”

Daniel came out to greet us. He was a younger version of
Billy. He was handsome, dark skinned, had long black hair, and was tall, with a
muscular build. I soon discovered he was a smooth talker with charm and wit. He
quickly changed my mind about sleazy car salesmen.

“What a pretty young lady you are, Jesse,” Daniel said. “My
brother was right. But you’re awful small and not much for child-bearing.”

They both laughed.

Did he just insult me or was he making a joke?

“Don’t listen to him, Jesse. He’s always looking for wife
material. He’s been married three times, and has five children. He wants his
own personal tribe,” Billy said as he slapped Daniel on the back.

We followed Daniel until we came to a red Jeep. He handed me
the keys and said, “Here she is. It’s a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee, with all the
bells and whistles. It has power windows and door locks, a separate jack for a
car phone, and it’s equipped with a Lo Jack tracking system. If you like it,
all we have to do is sign some papers and it’s yours. Why don’t you take it for
a test drive?”

“What’s the price?” I asked, knowing full well whatever it
was, I couldn’t afford it.

Daniel stared at Billy and asked, “Didn’t you discuss the
details of this deal with her?”

“I didn’t have time. She called shortly after you did, and we
came straight here. The matter didn’t come up until now.”

Daniel opened the car door and said, “Take it for a test
drive. Billy can discuss the details with you, while you’re driving. I’ll go
get the paperwork started.”

I loved the Jeep the minute I sat down. It still had the
smell of a new car, and the leather seats were wonderfully comfortable. I was
impressed with the compass overhead.

“What’s this deal that Daniel keeps talking about, Billy? Why
all the secrecy? Is something illegal going down?”

“Ah, you break my heart, `ge ya,” he cried as he placed his
hand over his heart. “You know I’m not into that kind of stuff.” He smiled. “I
told you I would take care of you, didn’t I?”

Before I had a chance to say anything, he went on, “The
agency is going to purchase this car as a tax write-off. That is, if you decide
you want it. It’ll be licensed and insured through the agency. When you get it
paid for, I’ll give you the title. Then you’re on your own.”

He waited for me to respond, but I was too flabbergasted.

Why was he doing this for me? He hardly knew me. We’ve only
been together for a little over a week, and already he’s bought me clothes, let
me use his new truck, and now he’s going to buy me a car.

This was scary. Nobody has ever looked after me, except my
parents, who didn’t expect something in return. What did he want? What did I
have to do to get this car? My mind was spinning in all different directions.

“Jesse, you have that suspicious look on your face!”

“What look? What are you talking about? I don’t have any look
on my face! You’re seeing things.”

“Yes, you do. It’s that look you get when you think
something’s fishy. Nothing fishy is going on, so stop worrying. You’re getting
a fairly new car, and I’m getting a tax write-off. No big deal.”

I pulled out of the car lot and made a U-turn onto Rt. 29.

“First off, it is a big deal,” I scowled. “I can’t afford a
car like this. It probably cost twenty thousand dollars. And secondly, how do
you figure I’m going to pay for it? The payments alone are probably more than
my rent used to be. I’m not rich, you know. Money could be a problem.”

“You can pay through payroll deduction,” he said. “We’re
getting the car at cost—fifteen-five.”

“Who gets the car if I quit?”

Billy looked hurt. “I’m hoping you’ll stick around, but if
you do decide to leave, you can get a loan and pay it off, or you can leave it
with me, and walk away. How does that sound?” He reached into his back pocket
and removed his wallet. “Here’s your paycheck. I forgot to give it to you
before you left today. I’m sorry.”

I was trying to drive and concentrate on Billy at the same
time. I reached over, took the check without looking at it and said, “I wasn’t
expecting to get paid until next week.”

“I’ll pay you at the end of each week. Besides, I don’t know
how long you’re going to hang around,” he said as he laughed.

“Why are you so good to me? You hardly know me.”

“Whether or not you know it, we’re going to be partners for a
long... long... long... long time, so get used to it. Partners look after each
other.”