South River Incident (29 page)

“I’m smart, just like you.”

Once dinner was over and
the kids were tucked into bed, the rest of us sat by the fire, drinking coffee.
We indulged ourselves in light conversation about the wedding, Christmas, and
just about everything else under the stars, until finally the subject turned to
Clayton Tyler.

“I think it’s important for
us to be on guard,” Billy said. “I don’t want either one of you to take any
chances. For the time being, I think it would be best if you stayed with us for
a while,” he said to Mom and Claire. “There’s plenty of room, and if you need
anything, we can go get it. We need to stay together as a unit.”

“Billy, we can’t stay here
forever,” Mom responded. “Who knows how long it’s going to take to put that man
behind bars. We have to get on with our lives. If the roads are clear, I think
we should go home tomorrow. We’ll be safe; remember I have a gun.”

“Mom, I don’t think that’s
such a good idea. You might need more protection than that gun has to offer.
What would you do if the gun got taken away from you? I’d feel much better
knowing you were safe and sound, right here with us. Just stay for a few days...
long enough for us to see where this is going.”

“Oh, Jesse, we’ll be fine.
The police are going to take care of that man,” she said. “I’m not going to let
him run my life.”

“Billy, talk to her!” I
pleaded. “You can’t let her leave.”

“It isn’t safe for you to
go home right now,” Billy said. “You would be too easy a target there. There’s
nobody close by to look after you. Who would you call for help? By the time we
could get there, it would be too late. I can’t let you go.”

“I don’t need looking
after, Billy Blackhawk. I’m a grown woman and I can take care of myself.  I’m
not afraid of Clayton Tyler.”

“Just the same,” he
declared, “I want you to stay here, please.”

“Well, if you insist,” Mom
relented. “We will stay the week, but come Friday, I’m going home.” With that
declaration made, she politely got up from the sofa, excused herself and went
off to bed.

“I know where you get your
stubbornness from,” Billy said to me. “She’s one determined lady. Nobody’s
going to push her around. She’s just like my mother.”

“If you’ll excuse me,”
Claire said, getting up from the sofa. “I think I’ll hit the sack, too. That
pain pill I took before dinner is starting to kick in. I can hardly keep my
eyes open. See y’all in the morning.”

“Alone at last,” Billy
said, doing that silly eyebrow thing. “Would you like a glass of wine?”

“Billy, you know I can’t
drink that stuff.  It gives me heartburn, and it makes me stupid.”

“Would you like some
bourbon instead? That doesn’t give you heartburn, does it? We drank some at
your mom’s house and it didn’t make you sick or crazy. What’s your pleasure?”

“I think I’ll pass.”

He paused for a second then
said, “Maybe alcohol’s not such a good idea.” He had a strange look on his
face.

“I know what you’re
thinking,” I said. “To put an end to this ridiculous notion of yours, tomorrow
I’m going to town and buy one of those pregnancy tests. Maybe then y’all will
leave me alone. Can we please change the subject?”

Billy smiled and said,
“Whatever makes you happy, makes me happy.”

“Have you heard the latest
weather forecast?”

“It’s supposed to clear up.
Tomorrow the temperature’s going to be in the upper thirties, and by Wednesday,
it’s going to be in the low fifties. I just hope we don’t get any flooding. I
went out while you were asleep and checked the roads. VDOT has them cleared
enough so that you won’t kill yourself. They’re still not the best for
driving.”

“Where did you go?”

“Jonathan and I had to take
care of some business.”

“What kind of business?”

“Stop asking so many
questions and come over here and let me love on you a little bit.”

“That’s not how it works,
mister. There’s not going to be any secrets between us, if you want to be my
husband. Lay it out on the table.”

“You drive a hard bargain,
`ge ya,” he said, clearing his throat. “Here it is, but I don’t think you’re
going to like it. And you can’t tell anyone, not even your mom.”

“Okay, I won’t tell a
soul.”

“Jonathan’s going to find
Tyler
for us.
Up until now nobody has been able to locate him. His last known address was the
house he owns at the estates, but we know he hasn’t lived there since his
family was killed. I guess he didn’t find it imperative to file a change of
address with the post office when he moved. His cronies know where he is, but
they’re not going to tell. If anybody can locate him, it’s Jonathan. There
isn’t a soul that he can’t find. He’s always been like that. The chief says
that he’s the one in the family who has the instinct.”

“What do you mean?”

“In our tribe, like most
tribes, we have the high ones. One of the high ones is the shaman. He uses his
magic to cure the sick, tell the future, and control the spiritual world. And
we have many others of importance. One of the chosen few is a finder. That
place of honor goes to the one who is gifted in the sense. He will use his six
senses to search out his target. Jonathan’s our finder. His instinct is
uncanny.”

“Are you making this up? Is
this one of those old Indian tales?”

“This is true,” he said.
“As a child, Jonathan would go out and find anything that was lost. If a dog ran
off, he’d bring it back. If a horse got out of the corral, he’d find it. We
might not practice the tribal rituals, but we still have our beliefs.”

“You mean you don’t cut off
the head of a chicken anymore?”

“You’re thinking of voodoo.
We don’t cut off the heads of anything, not unless it’s for food. When we kill
...”

“I get the message. You
don’t have to get graphic. Tell me more about Jonathan. He’s a fascinating
guy.”

“There’s not much more to
tell, except that I’m glad that he’s on our side. If he wanted to sneak up and
scalp you in the middle of the night, you would never hear him coming. You
would be a goner... hairless. Off with your head!”

“You’re messing with me.”

“Only a little bit.” He
smiled and blew me a kiss.

I should have asked Billy
right then and there what we were going to do once we located
Tyler
, but
deep down, I knew.  After giving it much thought, I came to the conclusion it
was the only alternative we had. The police couldn’t catch him, and they
couldn’t protect us from him. What else was left? He had to be eliminated. As
sickening as the idea was to me, it didn’t compare to the fear I had of one day
finding my mother or my sister, lying somewhere in a pool of blood, murdered at
the hands of a psycho. Clayton Tyler was crazy, and there was no doubt in my
mind that if he wasn’t killed, we would be. Doing everything by the book was
out—this was real life.

“I can’t believe the evil
thoughts that are going through my mind,” I said, staring at Billy. “For a
minute, I almost let myself believe we should hunt this man down and kill him.”

“You’re letting your
imagination run wild again. Nobody said we were going to kill him. We just want
to find him.”

“I don’t like this,” I
said. “Last year I was an insecure, loudmouth, lowly secretary, with half a
life and now I’m a co-conspirator in a murder plot. Boy, have I ever moved up
the ladder of success.”

“You need to go to bed and
get some rest, Jesse.” Billy took my hand and led me to the bedroom. “Your mind
is wandering way out in left field again.” He snickered to himself, but he
wasn’t laughing when he took me in his arms. “I love you, Jesse. I’ll protect
you at all costs.”

I fell asleep in his arms,
enjoying the cozy feeling of being near him. Everything was going to be fine.
Billy was my knight in shining armor. Nobody could hurt me now.

Just before the break of
dawn, a loud rap on the front door woke me. The pounding got louder as I tried
to force myself to come to life. I threw the covers back and crawled out of
bed. I looked around the dimly lit room in search of a bathrobe and noticed
that Billy was not in bed. “Billy, where are you?” I called out. The house was
silent. Nobody stirred. Again, someone pounded on the front door. “Billy!” I
yelled. Fear overcame me as I ran to the bathroom. I grabbed the robe off the
back of the bathroom door and slid into it. I kept wondering where Billy was.
Did he get up in the middle of the night to do something? Why didn’t he wake
me? I was almost at my wit’s end. Billy was gone and I was alone. The banging on
the door continued, but nobody went to answer it. Where was everyone? Don’t
they hear the knocking? I crept to the bedroom door and glanced around quickly.
The house was completely dark. The nightlight in the hallway had been turned
off. I slowly tiptoed to the front door. I could smell blood in the air. The
odor was strong and acrid as I got closer to the front door. A surge of anxiety
shot through me. I stood by the door until, finally, I found the nerve to put
my hand on the doorknob. A fist pounded on the door again. I gripped the
doorknob and turned it. I opened the door and much to my horror, Clayton Tyler
was standing there. His arms were stretched out and his hands were around my
throat within seconds. I tried to scream, but nothing would come out. His grip
got tighter and tighter. I began to lose consciousness. Finally, I lay on the
floor, breathing my last breath. Clayton Tyler had finally won.

“Jesse!” Billy yelled.
“Wake up!”

“What?” I opened my eyes
and looked at Billy. “What happened? Where have you been? I woke up and you
were gone. Clayton Tyler was banging on the door. He tried to kill me.”

“No, honey,” Billy said. He
wrapped his arms around me. “You were having a bad dream.”

I looked around the room.
“It was only a dream?”

“Yeah, it was just a
dream,” he whispered. “It must have been pretty bad, you’re sweating.”

“It was bad,” I whispered.
“It was about as bad as it gets.”

L
ife doesn’t always go the way you want it to. It
doesn’t matter how hard you try, something or someone will eventually come
along and throw a monkey wrench in the wheel.
In this case it was Spice
Cat. The minute I crawled out of bed, I stepped in cat poop with one foot, and
urine with the other. It was a nasty experience.

“Yuck! What a way to start
the day,” I mumbled to myself, angry that Billy was sleeping peacefully and not
paying a bit of attention to my plight. I hip-hopped to the bathroom in search
of a washcloth. I was determined to punish the culprit as soon as I finished
getting the gross junk out between my toes. It’s funny the things that can go
through your mind when you’re sitting on the toilet cleaning cat poop off your
feet. Finished with the nasty chore at hand, I grabbed Billy’s bathrobe off the
hanger on the bathroom door and slid my arms through the sleeves. I could smell
the sweet scent of Aqua Velva, the other after-shave that he wore sometimes. My
mind drifted as I fantasized about the life Billy and I were going to have. And
then my thoughts turned to Clayton Tyler and the horrible dream I had last
night. A dark cloud rolled in and shadowed any pleasant ideas I might have had.
“No!” I said out loud. “I refuse to let one crazy man control my life.” I
brushed the thought of him aside, walked to the kitchen, grabbed the roll of
paper towels and headed back to the bedroom to clean up the cat poop. When I
returned to the kitchen with the smelly wad in my hand, Mom was standing by the
sink, fixing a pot of coffee.

“Good morning dear,” she
said. “What have you got there?”

“Spice Cat has been marking
his territory, and it’s in my bedroom,” I replied, turning up my nose. I dumped
the nasty mess in the garbage can. “No wonder I hate animals.”

“Oh, Jesse, you do not,”
she admonished me. “Why, just look at you—you love Athena and Thor, and now
you’ve rescued another little lost soul. You couldn’t hate animals or you would
have never taken them in.”

“Excuse me, but I think
you’ve made a mistake. I haven’t taken in that cat. Unless I’m wrong, I think
Claire’s the proud master.”

“Oh, you know what I mean,”
Mom snickered. “Would you like a cup of coffee, dear?”

“Sure,” I replied. I walked
over to the table and sat down. “Put a shot of bourbon in it.”

“What?” Mom screeched.

“Just kidding, Mom.”

“I worry about you
sometimes,” she said, sitting the steaming coffee cups down. “I never know what
to expect. One minute you seem so levelheaded and the next minute you’re off
the charts. Aren’t you happy with Billy?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Then stop being such a
downer. You have everything going your way. Billy’s the perfect man for you so
please make me happy and get your head out of your… you-know-what.”

I laughed a hearty belly
laugh. “I can’t believe what you just said.”

“How many times have I
heard you tell someone the same thing? Only you use uglier words.”

“Yeah, but that’s me. You
never say stuff like that.” I leaned across the table and planted a kiss on her
cheek. “You’re wonderful, Mom. You always know the right thing to say. If
you’ll excuse me,” I said, picking up my cup, “I have things to do.”

I left her sitting at the table
with a baffled look on her face. I took my reenergized zest-for-life attitude
and headed to the bedroom. Mom was right. It was time I stopped whining about
the bad things and started enjoying what I had. Up until Billy came into my
life, everything had been dull and meaningless, but now I had direction.  It
was time I started planning our life together. I had an agenda. I would take a
shower, go Christmas shopping, get one of those stupid tests, and come home and
start preparing for my wedding. Everything was going to go my way.

The weather forecaster had
missed his mark. By
nine o’clock
, the temperature had already reached forty-five
degrees and the snow was melting faster than a running water faucet. Streams of
brown water ran down the tracks in the driveway as the winter grass began to
reappear on the landscape. The wind was at a standstill.

When Claire found out I was
going shopping, she insisted on coming, too.

“I need to do something to
make myself feel better and take my mind off everything. Mom said she would
watch the kids. Do you mind if I tag along? We could make a day of it.”

“No, I don’t mind. If
you’re sure you’re up to it, I’d love to have you come with me,” I said. “Where
do you want to go first? I was thinking about going to the mall and then maybe
heading over to Stanardsville. I want to stop at that pottery place and buy
something for the house. If I’m going to marry an Indian, I need some pottery
in my house. What better way to learn a little about his culture?”

“Mom and I stopped by there
a couple of times. It’s called the
Noon
Whistle Pottery, and a lady about my age runs the
place,” Claire said. “The building used to be a gas station a long time ago.
She has some really nice stuff. I’m sure you’ll be able to find something of
interest. Hey, maybe we can have lunch at the Lafayette Hotel. Did you know
that the
Lafayette
was used as a hospital for the Confederacy during the
Civil War? It’s now a bed and breakfast, with a restaurant.”

“Is that so?” I asked,
trying to sound interested.

“And that’s not all. At one
time, the
Lafayette
...”

“I don’t mean to interrupt,
but I’m ready to leave. You can tell me all about the hotel in the car.”

“I’m ready whenever you
are,” she said.

While I waited for Claire
to get her coat, I had a chance to think. I realized I was not looking forward
to spending my day at the mall with a shopaholic. Claire’s shopping binges were
notorious. Mom always said that Claire was the queen of shoppers. She loved a
good bargain.

“Why don’t you take my
pickup?” Billy asked as we were about to walk out the door. “It’s higher off
the ground than your Jeep, and I’m sure you’re going to run into some
flooding.”

“What about you?” I asked.
“Don’t you have some errands to run?”

“I do need to go to the
office for a while.”

“We’ll be fine in my Jeep,”
I said, taking Claire by the hand. “Besides, you don’t have a camper shell.
Where will we put all the stuff we’re going to buy? We’ll have too many bags.”
We giggled like two school girls as we ran out the door, leaving Mom to watch
the kids, and Billy scratching his head. Life was getting back to normal.

“Where do you want to go
first, the mall or Stanardsville?” I asked Claire as we climbed into the Jeep,
shivering.

Even with the temperatures
in the upper forties, it still felt cold as a freezer outside. My boots were
covered in mud, and my fingertips felt like ice. I rummaged through my purse
for a pair of gloves.

“Claire, look in the glove
box and see if my gloves are in there. I can’t seem to find them.”

“Sure,” she mumbled,
opening the box.

A scream blasted the
interior of the Jeep. Claire bounced around, throwing her arms up in the air
and making faces like she’d just seen a slimy animal head.

“Calm down, Claire. What’s
the matter with you?”

Words would not come out of
her mouth. All she could do was point to the box. I leaned across the console
and looked in.

Both of us jumped out of
the car at the same time and ran back toward the house.

“Billy!” I hollered.
“There’s a dead animal in my car.”

Billy came running out of
the bedroom, one boot on his foot and the other one in his hand. “What do you
mean, there’s a dead animal in your car? What on earth...”

“Somebody put something in
my glove box, and it’s dead.”

I had one of those spine
tingling feelings you get when a possum runs across your grave. That’s what Mom
called it when that shiver ran down your spine. It made me twitch and jerk.

Billy went to check out the
situation while Claire and I stood by the fire, trying to get the ice out of
our bones and the fear out of our souls.  Mom made us a cup of hot chocolate in
an attempt to soothe our nerves. Coffee, hot tea, or hot chocolate were her
remedies for everything.

“Here, drink this,” she
said. “It’ll make you feel better.”

We obeyed. Who could argue
with a nice cup of hot chocolate when your stomach was tied in a knot?

“What’s taking him so
long?” Claire asked, just as Billy was walking through the front door. She
looked up at him and said, “We were beginning to worry about you.”

“What was that thing in my
glove box?” I jumped up and went to Billy. “It looked like a dead, mangled
bird, but I didn’t take the time to get a real close look at it.”

“It was a crow. Somebody
plucked its feathers and gutted it. Then they wrapped the body with the
feathers and tied the bundle together with jute string. I buried it in the
woods.”

“That’s awful!” Mom said.
“Why would somebody do something so cruel and vile?”

“It was a warning—a sign of
death to come,” he said to her, and then looked at me. “It comes from an old
tale carried down over the years to scare evildoers. There’s nothing to it.
Whoever did this was just trying to scare you.”

“I hope it wasn’t anybody
in your family,” Claire commented.

I turned to her in a rage
and said, “That’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever come up with, Claire. I can’t
believe you’d think someone in Billy’s family would do something like that.
Besides, they like me.”

Claire’s accusation had cut
deeply into his heart, and he couldn’t hide the pain. “I can assure you it was
not someone in my family.”

“I’m sorry, Billy,” Claire
was quick to offer. “When you said... aw... it was some voodoo spell... I just
figured... oh, never mind.”

“Forget it, Claire. I think
we know what you mean,” I hissed, tired of listening to her drivel. “I’m ready
to go shopping. Are you coming?”

“After all this, you still
want to go shopping? I don’t know if I can ever get back into that car again.
What else are we going to find, a dead rat?” Claire wrung her hands together
and then wiped them on her jeans. She was obviously appalled at the idea of being
close to something so nasty.

“Well, suit yourself,” I
said. “I’m driving my car and I’m leaving with or without you.” I gave her a
minute to make up her mind and then I headed for the front door.

“Here,” Billy reached into
his coat pocket and removed a pair of gloves. “You might need these. They were
in my truck.”

“Thanks,” I said. I took
the gloves and gave him a peck on the cheek. “I’ll be back in a couple of
hours.”

Ah, free at last! Now I
could do my shopping in peace. I smiled as I got into my car and drove away.
The thought of having a little time to myself was so pleasing. I could do
whatever I wanted to do!

The stores were filled with
people doing their Christmas shopping. I thought the weather would have kept
them at home, but it hadn’t. They were accustomed to deep snowfalls and the
aftermath of melting snow. The mushy, muddy snow and the overflowing streams
that ran across the roads, making driving hazardous, were not a deterrent. The
mall was packed. People loaded down with packages were pleasant even though
they had to shuffle through the hoards of other shoppers. They all had a smile
on their face, which I found quite delightful. The atmosphere was just the
opposite of what I would have encountered if I was in a shopping mall in
Newport News
.
There are so many people living in Tidewater, you can’t turn around without
bumping into someone. And they were always in a hurry. People in a hurry have a
tendency to be rude. Mountain folk are never in a hurry. I spent two hours
going through many of the stores at Fashion Square Mall. They had everything I
needed. I picked up toys for the kids, a sweater for Claire, a bathrobe for
Mom, and a pair of insulated coveralls for Billy. The guy in the store said all
the hunters wore them. Billy was a hunter and a warrior, I explained as the guy
tried to sell me a blaze-orange vest... which I did buy. The salesman also
talked me into buying a knife. He said all warriors carried them.

By lunchtime, I was
famished.  Since Claire hadn’t joined my shopping excursion, I wasn’t going to
go by myself to the
Lafayette
for lunch. The trip to Stanardsville could wait until
another day. Instead, I decided to stop at the Rising Sun. Robert’s restaurant
was one of the best in Charlottesville, and being almost a member of the family,
I was sure to get a table. He always kept a special one set aside just for his
family, and now that family included me. Unfortunately, Robert wasn’t at the
restaurant and the new maitre d’ didn’t know me. After standing in line for
fifteen minutes, I gave up and turned to leave. I had my hand on the door
handle of my car when a waitress called out and motioned for me to come back.

“I’m sorry,” the pretty
blond said.