South River Incident (9 page)

“Just give it time.”

“I don’t need time. I need
someone who cares about me! He dumped me and tonight he’s with my sister. The
thought of it makes my blood boil. He sure has some nerve! She can have him. My
poor sister doesn’t have a clue as to what she’s getting into.”

Billy tried to change the
subject by saying, “Forget it. Let’s talk about something else. We don’t need
to drag on and on about Cole.”

“What do you want to talk
about—the late Mary Keen? How about murder and mayhem? Let me tell you, I’m up
to my eyeballs in it, and I don’t even know how I got there.”

When we reached
Ruckersville, Billy turned off Rt. 29 and pulled into the Food Lion parking
lot.

“We’re going to get some
food and fix us something good to eat.”

“Then I hope you’re
cooking,” I said with a smile.

The roads were slick from
the melted snow and the freezing temperature. Once Billy and I left Food Lion,
I gritted my teeth all the way to
Bear
Mountain Road
. It was a scary trip.

“I thought we’d never make
it back,” I said. “That was the worst ride I’ve had in a long time. Is it going
to be like this in the morning?”

“It depends on the
weather,” Billy said, making the turn onto the gravel road. “We’ll check the
weather channel later. That reminds me, last week I had the phone turned back
on and the satellite system reactivated.”

“Good, you know I have to
have my television.”

We finally made it to the
turn leading to my place. By the time we pulled up to the driveway, I was so
excited that I had forgotten all about Cole. He was a thing of the past.

“This is so nice,” I said,
getting out of the truck. “I have a place all to myself! This is my very first
home in the mountains that I can truly call mine. I mean, I know it’s a rental
and the house really belongs to you, but... well... you know what I mean. It’s
my very first place... oh, never mind.”

“I know what you mean,
Jesse.”

I grabbed a couple of bags
of groceries out of the back of the truck and headed inside. I was excited
about living on my own again.

Billy followed behind me
and was mumbling something about the bottom of the bags being wet because he
took the camper shell off the truck. He had just gotten the words out of his
mouth about the ground being slick, when I slipped on a patch of ice. Groceries
flew everywhere. My feet went back and I fell on both knees. I heard something
crack. I hoped it was the sound of a broken fingernail and not my leg.

I let out a yell, rolled
over on my butt and grabbed my knees. “Ouch! That really hurt!” 

“Jesse, are you all right?”
Billy asked as he rushed to my aid. “Don’t move. Let me check you out.” He
gently ran his hands up and down my legs. Once satisfied that nothing was
broken, he picked me up in his arms and carried me into the house. He was
strong as an ox.

“I figured you’d be
a-huffing and a-puffing,” I joked as he sat me down on the couch.

“Why, because you think I’m
so old?”

“Well...” I chuckled.

“You just sit here while I
get the groceries in. Then we’ll have a look at those knees.” He turned to
leave.

“I’m fine,” I said, rising
up from the couch. “I’m just a little... oops.” I sank back down. “Maybe I’ll
sit here for a few more minutes.”

Billy left the bags of
groceries on the kitchen counter.

“Let me have a look at your
knees,” he said as he sat on the coffee table and started taking off my boots.

“Don’t you think you should
put the food in the refrigerator first?”

“It can wait.” He tried to
push up my pant legs. “A little tight, huh?”

“It ain’t going to happen,
pal. These are straight leg jeans. They’re a little snug. They’re supposed to
fit that way.”

“I noticed they were a
little tight,” Billy said and lifted his eyebrows.

“You dirty old man,” I
hissed. “Go get me a towel or something to wrap around me and I’ll pull down my
jeans.”

Billy jumped up and ran out
of the room and returned holding a washcloth in his hand.

“You’re such a joker.
You’re not funny. Besides, I’ve seen that trick before.” I laughed at his
silliness. 

He handed me the towel he
had been holding behind his back.

“I thought you’d get a kick
out of it.”

I made him turn around
while I unzipped my jeans and slid them down to my feet. I sat back on the
couch and covered my private parts with the towel. Sometimes I could be a
little shy.

“You can turn around.”

My knees were red and I
could see a hint of bruising below the kneecaps. They felt cold.

“Other than being a little
knobby, I think they’ll be all right. See if you can get up and walk around.”

I made him turn his back
again so I could pull up my pants. I walked toward the kitchen and felt a dull
pain in my back shoot down my leg.

“It’s my back,” I cried. “I
think it’s messed up.  I have this pain running down my leg, and my back hurts
right here.” I pointed to the lower part of my back. “I sure hope I didn’t
break a bone.”

“I don’t think that’s the
case, but you might have slipped a disk. How bad is the pain?”

“Well, let’s see,” I said
as I walked from the kitchen back to the living room. “It hurts in my lower
back, but the pain in my leg comes and goes.”

“Go lay back down on the
couch. I’ll get some ice for your back and call the chief. He’ll fix you right
up.”

“Is the chief also a
back-care specialist? I should have guessed,” I mumbled, walking over to the
couch. “He does everything else.”

Billy had the groceries put
away and hamburger frying on the stove by the time Sarah and the chief arrived.

“Something smells good,”
Sarah said. “Where’s Jesse?”

“I’m on the couch,” I
yelled across the room. “Billy pushed me down and broke my back. He’s trying to
suck up to me by fixing dinner.”

Sarah came over, sat on the
coffee table and asked, “Can I get you anything, dear? You look like you’re in
such pain, you poor thing.”

“I am, and it’s his fault!”
I pointed to Billy and laughed.

“She’s nuts, Mom. Don’t
listen to her. She slipped on the ice.” Billy turned to his father. “I think
she threw her back out.”

“No problem,” the chief
said. “I’ll have her better in no time.”

The chief came over to me
and told me to go lay down on the floor on my stomach. He said he would fix me
right up.

“Be careful with her, Sam,”
Sarah told her husband. “She’s a tiny thing.”

“Yeah, and I’m an old man.
I’m not as strong as I used to be.”

I lay on a blanket Billy
had put down on the floor for me while Chief Sam pressed his hands on my spine
and twisted my body like a pretzel. When he was finished, I stood up and the
pain was almost gone.

“What did you do?” I
gushed. “I feel much better.”

“I adjusted your spine.”

“It sure does feel better.”

“It might bother you for a
while, but I’ll be right up the road if you need me. Just give me a holler.”

“Thank you so much.”

“How about staying for
dinner?” Billy asked.

“No thanks, we ate earlier.
Your mom has been cooking all day.”

“You are coming to dinner
tomorrow, aren’t you?” Sarah asked, looking over at me.

I didn’t know what to say
since I hadn’t been invited. 

Billy spoke up. “Sure,
we’ll be there.”

As soon as his folks walked
out the door, I growled at Billy.

“You told my mom we’d eat
at her house.”

He held his hands up in the
air.

“Hold it, Missy. Don’t get
your panties in a bunch. Festivities go on all day, but we don’t eat until
later in the afternoon around six or seven. We’ll have plenty of time to do
both. We’ll go to your Mom’s house in the morning, and come back here later.”

I calmed down a little.

“Dinner’s about ready. All
I have to do is boil some noodles. I think you will like it. I made spaghetti.”

“An Indian making
spaghetti; this ought to be good,” I sneered at him and went to the kitchen. “I
can’t wait to try Indian spaghetti! Yum... yum!”

“You’re going to love it, I
promise,” Billy said.

I had to admit that the
spaghetti was delicious. “How’d you make it so fast? Mom simmers hers for hours.”

“I cheated. I used Five
Brothers.”

I must have had a dumb look
on my face because he added, “It’s a sauce that comes in a jar and you just add
it to cooked hamburger. It’s simple, easy, and delicious, and even you can make
it.” 

“Don’t look at me like
that. I know who the Five Brothers are.”

He didn’t say a word, he
just laughed.

“Are you making fun of me?”

“No, of course not, well,
maybe I was, but it was directed at your cooking. You see, I know that your
cooking abilities aren’t what they should be for a grown woman. Didn’t your
mother teach you anything at all or did you just not pay attention? Actually, I
was really impressed the first time I saw you trying to make boiled eggs. Do
you remember that day? That was a funny sight. Did you really think that was
the way to do it? What a disaster! I’m going to teach you how to cook.”

His laugh echoed throughout
the house and it was that laugh that started it all. It was then that I
realized Billy Blackhawk was an exceptional man. Even though he was much older
than me, he was easy to talk to, and I liked being with him. Sometimes he could
make me laugh when I felt like crying, and when he made me mad, I couldn’t stay
that way for long. At first I thought it was a father thing, but after my
second glass of wine, I knew it wasn’t. I was attracted to him. I probably had
been right from the start, but I never wanted to admit it. The idea of someone
my age being interested in someone his age was outrageous. What would people
think? Why would he have an interest in me? I’m sure that a woman his own age
would be better suited to him. They would have more in common. All those
thoughts came into my head, but it didn’t matter, it was too late. He had been
my boss and my friend, but now he had become much more. I had a warm, fuzzy
feeling growing inside, and it wasn’t from the wine.

After dinner, we sat by the
fireplace and had another glass of wine. Billy moved the coffee table to the
side so we could lean back against the sofa and warm ourselves by the fire. He
got a blanket to cover my legs. The flames from the fire created a warm glow
that lit up the whole room as I nestled in the crook of his strong, muscular
arms. He told me tales about his people while I filled him in on the parts of
my life that he didn’t know about. It felt so right to be sitting next to him,
cuddled up and talking about the things that meant the most to us in life. He
told me his family came first. I agreed.

“They’re the ones who are
going to love you no matter what,” I whispered. “Look at me—I’m living proof.
I’ve screwed up too many times to count, and they still love me. I’ve put my
poor mother and father through some bad times. God, I don’t know how they ever
survived my childhood. I was a holy terror. It didn’t matter what it was that I
did, they still stood by me. They were always there for me. If I ever have
children, I’m going to treat them the same way my parents treated me. I’m going
to love them with all my heart and soul. I’ll never desert them.” I looked over
at Billy and smiled.

“What brings that smile to
your face, `ge ya?” Billy asked as he leaned over close to me. “I hope it’s
because you’re sitting here with me.”

“I just wanted to see if
you’d fallen asleep. I was really going on for a minute there. I hope I wasn’t
boring you. That would be the pits. Alcohol makes my lips loose, if you know
what I mean.”

“I find you fascinating,
even when you’re drinking.”

“Please tell me that I
haven’t been slurring my words.”

He leaned toward me and his
lips slowly touched mine. He kissed me again and again, until my body exploded
with warmth and excitement. I couldn’t stop. I had a hunger inside of me that
so desperately needed to be fed. I wanted Billy to make love to me. Nothing
else would matter until we had become one. It was our destiny. We were meant to
be together.

He lifted me in his arms
and carried me to the bedroom. I was lost in passion, until finally, every need
I had was fulfilled. Billy showed me what real love was truly all about.

T
hanksgiving morning I woke up in purgatory.  My life
was over. I had really made a mess of things this time. How could I’ve been so
stupid? Billy and I were friends and now all that was about to change. I sat up
in bed and instantly felt sick to my stomach. Billy was nowhere in sight. I
threw the sheets aside and crawled out of bed, my naked body shivering in the
cold air. My clothes were scattered about as if I had stripped down in a hurry
and just tossed them through the air, letting them fall where they may.

“Oh, Lord,” I said out loud
as I picked up my clothes, one at a time and piled them on the bed. A pain shot
through my back all the way down to my calf. “I’m going to burn in hell for
this one.” I had really fouled things up this time. What was I thinking?

I heard a door slam and
footsteps coming down the hall. I grabbed the sheet off the bed and wrapped it
around me just in time. Billy walked into the bedroom. He was his usual
cheerful self.

“Good morning,” he said,
smiling. “I see you’re up.” He walked over and stared me in the face, looking
straight into my eyes. “Now before you go off the deep end about last night, I
just want you know one thing: nothing changes between us unless you want it
to.” He reached out his hand and placed it on my bare shoulder. “Sometimes
people do things they later regret. I don’t regret one thing about last night,
but I know you may have some reservations. If you want to talk about it, we
can. If not, we’ll put it aside until you’re ready. I can wait.”

I couldn’t find the words
to say to Billy. I cared about him, but I wasn’t ready to deal with last night.
I was still reeling from my break up with Cole. My insides were crumbling.

“Can we just table this for
the time being?” I dropped my head. “I’m too embarrassed to talk about it.
Maybe later I’ll be ready.”

I gathered up just enough
nerve to look up at him. The look in his eyes was so warm, I wanted to cry. How
could any woman let this man slip by?

“If that’s what you want,”
he said.

“I think so.”

The tension in the air
faded.

“I made coffee, your
computer’s plugged in, and I hooked up your TV to the satellite box. All you
have to do is push a button.”

“You did all that this
morning? What time is it?”

“It’s
eight o’clock
! The
day’s almost over!” He turned to leave. “Do you want some breakfast?”

“Yuck, I’ll pass. All I
need is a shower and a cup of coffee.”

“You know there’s a
bathroom over there,” he said and pointed to one of the two doors against the
bedroom wall. “I’m going to go ahead and get on the computer and see what I can
dig up on our dead woman.”

A sigh of relief escaped my
lips.

“Don’t worry, Jesse,
everything’s going to be fine.” He leaned down and brushed the side of my face
with a kiss. “Go take your shower.”

The hot water beat down on
my face as I tried to get my head together. I was confused by Billy’s lack of
concern about what had happened last night. Should we both just chalk it up as
a mistake? People can do some weird stuff when they have a broken heart, can’t
they? Couple a broken heart with  a few glasses of wine, and there’s no telling
what will happen. I put everything out of my mind and finished my shower. This
was going to be a weird day.

Billy was pecking away on
the keyboard when I walked into the living room twenty minutes later.  He had
on a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt rolled up at the sleeves. His hair was
tied back in a ponytail, and there was a smile on his face. He was the same old
Billy, but I wasn’t the same old Jesse. I had feelings now that I didn’t have
yesterday, and I had to figure out what to do about them. I had to clear the
air.

“Billy...” I walked over to
where he was sitting. “I guess we should talk about what happened last...”

The computer screen lit up,
the cell phone on the table went off, and Billy let out a yell.

“All right, I knew it! Look
at this, Jesse.”

I picked up Billy’s cell
phone and said, “Hello,” as my eyes wandered over to the screen. A picture of
Billy and me popped up. We were sitting at a bar in a restaurant. It looked
like I was talking to a woman sitting next to me, and both of us had a smile on
our face.

“That’s the Rising Sun.
That was the day I lost my watch. But who’s that woman, and why are we smiling
like we’re old friends?”

“Have a look at this.”

Billy hit a couple of keys
and the screen split. Two different pictures of the same woman appeared.

“This is the woman you were
talking to at the bar and this is Mary Keen. It’s the same woman.”

“No way! I don’t believe
it. I remember her. She told me I had pretty hair. You were talking to Robert
at the time.”

I heard someone talking on
the cell phone that I had been holding away from my ear. I had forgotten all
about the caller.

“Jesse, are you there?”
Mom’s voice blasted through the receiver.

“I’m sorry, Mom, I was
talking to Billy when you called.” Then I realized I was on his phone. “Did you
want to talk to him?” 

“Actually, I wanted to talk
to you, but I didn’t have your new number. Your cell phone’s not on so I called
Billy.”

“Well, he’s here. What’s
up?”

“I just received a call
from a man named Roy Keen. He said he was looking for you, and he sounded
hateful.  Jesse, I’m worried. I’m afraid he thinks you had something to do with
his wife’s death and he’s out to get you. I’m worried that he might come
looking for you.”

“What did you tell him?” 

“I didn’t tell him
anything,” she cried. “I told him you didn’t live here anymore and that I
didn’t know where you were, because I don’t.  I mean, I’ve never been to
Billy’s house.”

“If he calls again, tell
him that you relayed the message, but you forgot to get my street address.
That’ll buy me a little time.”

“What are you going to do?
Jesse, this man could be dangerous.”

“Billy and I’ll check him
out and see what the deal is. In the meantime, if a stranger comes to your
door, don’t let him in. Call the police. We’ll be there around twelve. Are you
going to be okay?”

“Hey, I have a gun. Don’t
you worry, he isn’t going to mess with me. Let me talk to Billy, please.”

I handed the phone to Billy
and said, “She wants to talk to you.”

“Hello,” he said. “Am I
going to have to kick someone’s butt? Is somebody giving you a hard time? Don’t
you worry, everything will be fine. We’ll see you soon.”

Billy closed up the cell
phone and threw it on the table.

“I need to have a talk with
our friend.”

Billy hit several keys and
a picture of Royce Allen Keen appeared on the screen, accompanied by a full
workup of his life’s history. His secrets lay spread out before us.

“Excuse me for being
nosey,” I said, leaning over his shoulder, “but how did you get all this
information?”

“I have this friend...”

“Never mind.” I cut him
off. “I don’t want to know.” I quickly changed the subject. “How did Roy Keen
get Mom’s phone number? It’s not in the book, yet.”

“Remember, he used to be a
cop. They have their ways.”

I stared at the computer
screen. The bio of Roy Keen was impressive. It consisted of a list of numerous
awards and commendations from the police department; involvement in several
community activities; head of the Drug Task Force program in the schools in
Greene County; Parents against Drugs, and on and on. Finally, at the end of the
report, his recent criminal activity read like a career nightmare. Internal
Affairs had been all over him, and it appeared that the judicial system was
sure to get a piece of his butt. Eventually, he was cleared of all charges, but
subsequently, dismissed from the force. What does that tell you?

“Mr. Keen has been a pretty
busy fellow,” I said. “Talking about a major fall from grace...”

Billy turned around, looked
at me and said, “Check this out.”

He scrolled down until he
came to a black and white photo of me. The heading read: Murder Suspect—Jessica
(n/m/n) Watson. I had been tagged.

“Billy, this is a police
report
.
Please tell me you didn’t hack into the Greene County Sheriff’s
Department! Not only am I the prime suspect in a murder investigation, but now
they can also add another felony charge to my arrest warrant—computer hacking.”

“Slow down, girl! I do this
kind of stuff all the time, and you know it. You also know that I know what I’m
doing, and I would never do anything that would hurt either one of us.”

Billy was a Cherokee
Indian—a man of honor and pride. He had his own set of rules he lived by, and
so far, they’d proven to be better than any I had ever come across. He did his
best to do the right thing and if somewhere along the line he had to sidestep,
he did it gently.

“Sorry... I just have this
real bad feeling about going to jail,” I whined. “It’s not something I want to
do.”

“Stop worrying about this
jail thing! You’re not going to jail. But if you do, I’ll be right there to
bail you out.” He laughed.

I didn’t find this the
least bit funny. I ignored his remarks as I said, “What’s the worst case
scenario we’re dealing with here?”

“There’s no arrest warrant
out on you, yet, but the day’s still young.”

He got up from the computer
and went to the kitchen.

“Do you want some coffee?”

He opened a cabinet door,
retrieved a mug, and filled a cup for me.

“The way I see it, we have
two options here. We can wait and see if they try to pin this murder on you or
we can find the real killer first. Do you remember where you were the day Mary
Keen disappeared?”

“No, not off hand, but that
was over three weeks ago. I can’t remember what I did yesterday,” I answered.
“However, I will as soon as I find my journal. I’ve been making notes.”

“You need to do that right
now. I think we were on the
Jordan
job around that time. Check it out.”

I sat my cup on the kitchen
table and went to the bedroom. In one of the boxes lined up against the wall, I
found my briefcase, opened it up, got my journal, and headed back to the
kitchen.

 Billy was standing by the
window over the sink looking outside. When he turned around, I walked up and
put my arms around his waist and lay my head on his chest. I felt the need to
be close to him. I was tense.

“I’m really scared this
time, Billy. Somebody’s setting me up, and doing a pretty good job of it.”

His arms went around me as
he looked into my eyes.

“I know, but I can’t figure
out why. Why would someone want to set you up?”

“That’s what I want to
know. I’ve only lived here for six months. That’s not nearly long enough to get
on someone’s bad side.”

I made the mistake of
looking into Billy’s eyes. The way he was looking at me was so electrifying, I
had to make myself walk away. I didn’t want to have those feelings again—at least
not now.

I went over to the table,
pulled out a chair, and sat down. I opened the journal and flipped through the
pages until I came to the page I was looking for... the eighth of November.

“Let’s see,” I started to
read. “November the eighth was a Thursday, and you and I were together all day.
We were on a stakeout at the
Jordan
residence that morning, and later that evening we had
dinner at Mom’s.”

I looked up at Billy with
surprise.

“That was the same day my
car was in the shop. Remember, it still had that leak in the windshield, and
Daniel was going to fix it? I didn’t get it back until the next day. Oh, boy!
We’ve got them!”

I jumped up from the table.
The minute I did, the pain in my back returned, and almost brought me to my
knees.

“Whoa!” I said. I grabbed
my back and lowered myself back down into the chair.

“Don’t move, Jesse.  I’ll
call the chief.”

An hour later, I was back
to my old self. Chief Sam had worked his magic and my pain had gone away.

“I’m glad I live so close
to your dad,” I said to Billy after the chief left. “I have a feeling I’m going
to need his expertise for a few days.”

“You live among the
Blackhawks.  We take care of each other.”

“I know, you’ve told me
that many times, and I’m glad to hear it.”

For a minute, Billy’s
attention drifted away. He picked up the journal and looked at me. “What other
stuff do you have in this book?”

I walked over to him and
grabbed the book. “Excuse me, but there’s nothing in it that you would be
interested in.” I turned and walked away, heading back to the bedroom. I didn’t
want Billy to read some of the things I had written about him. There were a few
times when I had been really mad at him and I had made mention of those times
in the book. I hurried to put it away. When I returned to the living room,
Billy was sitting at the computer again.