What You See (7 page)

Billy picked up his tape recorder and said, “My brother,
Robert, owns a nice family restaurant a mile down the road, called the Rising
Sun. He has a couple of booths he keeps available for anyone in the family who
comes in to eat, so we won’t have to wait for a table. The food’s excellent and
the atmosphere is soothing. We can discuss everything as we eat.”

As the Carroltons were walking out the front door, Billy
pulled me aside and asked if we could take my van. He said his truck wouldn’t
hold all of us and he sure didn’t want to take his junky car.

“Sure,” I whispered as I grabbed my purse and turned on the
answering machine. I assumed it had a recorded message on it to take care of
missed calls, but I didn’t have time to check.

Robert Blackhawk greeted us with a smile and then led us to a
booth in the back, talking to Billy the whole time. Occasionally, I picked up
on a few words of English, but most of their conversation was spoken in their
native language. Robert left and a waitress appeared at our table with menus. I
discovered the menu was made up of some foods I’d never heard of until now.

“What do you recommend?” Billy asked the waitress. We all sat
down and then he placed his tape recorder in the middle of the table.

“Our special today is pan-fried buffalo steak, twice baked
potatoes, black beans, and the house salad,” she answered in a tone so
personal, it led me to believe she must know Billy very well.

“Sounds good to me,” Billy replied.

“Sure, why not? I’ve never had buffalo steak,” I added.

“Well, I’m afraid I’ll just stick with something less
exciting. How about the baked chicken platter? I have to watch what I eat at my
age. The digestive system is the first to go,” Jack said to the waitress.

“I think I’ll have the same,”
Myra
replied.

By the time the food arrived, I was seeing another side of
Billy. He was all business at first and then the caring side of him appeared.
He told the Carroltons his fee was two hundred dollars a day, plus expenses,
with a fifteen hundred dollar retainer, from which fees would be deducted until
the retainer was used up.

After that, he would bill weekly. If, for some reason, they
wanted to terminate his services, any money left would be returned to them, and
if any money was due, it was payable upon termination. Then his demeanor became
softer.

“I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but once a person has
been missing for several days, unless they just ran off, the outlook isn’t too
good. I’m sure the police must have told you the same thing. It’s been almost
six months, and I can’t promise to bring your daughter back to you alive, but
I’ll do my best to find her.”

Myra
started crying again as Jack pulled out his checkbook, ripped out a check, and
handed it to Billy.

“Whatever it takes,” Jack Carrolton said. “Money is no
problem.”

The buffalo steak turned out to be delicious. It tasted like
a T-bone steak. By the time we finished eating, I knew more about the awful
disappearance of Helen Carrolton than I wanted to know. She was young, pretty,
and had it all. She left her home in Poquoson the day after Christmas, but
never arrived at her destination in
Charlottesville
, and she never returned home. That was six months ago.

Once our late-lunch-early-dinner was finished, we returned to
the office. It was starting to rain again, and I kept picturing an ominous dark
cloud hanging over all of us. For some strange reason, I had a bad, nagging
feeling of doom. It was so depressing. Did I take my Zoloft this morning? I
couldn’t remember.

Myra
and Jack retreated to Billy’s office. I watched them sign the required
contract. Jack withdrew a bulky envelope from the breast pocket of his leisure
suit and handed it to Billy.

“This is a copy of all the information we have on Helen’s
disappearance.
Myra
and I own a landscaping business in
Newport News
. You can reach us anytime, either
there, or at home. We don’t socialize a whole lot. We’re going to spend the
night at the Ramada Inn, so if you need to talk to us, we’ll be there until
checkout time tomorrow. It’s a long drive for us to make in one day at our age,
but if you need us to, we’ll come back anytime. That is, if you come up with
anything.”

By the time the Carroltons left, it was pouring outside.
Billy explained to me that when it rains in the mountains, like it’s been
doing, it could stop at any minute, but when it drizzles all day, it’s usually
set in—steady and non-stop. That was something to keep in mind for future
reference.

“I’m so glad you’re going to find Helen,” I said to Billy as
he settled into his chair and started going over the papers in the envelope
Jack Carrolton had given him. “This is so sad. Is this the type of case you
handle all the time? I’ve never worked for a private investigator before, so I
have no idea what’s involved. Can you really find her? How? Where do you start
looking?”

“I never said I would find her. I told the Carroltons I’d
try, and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m pretty good at my job. If anybody can
find her, I can. The truth is, Jesse, when it’s been this long, they usually
turn up dead, if they turn up at all. Believe me, we’ll earn our money, but it
might not be so pleasant an outcome.”

I was surprised. I thought it was in the bag. I guess I just
don’t know how these things go. I pictured a scene where Billy and I found the
girl and saved the day, but now, that didn’t seem likely. It was a no-win
situation. If we did find the girl, chances are, she wouldn’t be alive.

“What do you mean? Are you telling me you think she’s dead
and you didn’t tell the Carroltons?”

“I told them the outlook wasn’t promising. You heard me tell
them. Look, here’s a detail you need to know right from the start. When people
come to me, it’s usually their last resort. They’ve done everything else.
They’re been everywhere, and there’s nothing left. They come to me because I’m
their last hope of finding an answer to whatever it is they need to ask. I’m
their last chance. Sometimes I find that answer, and sometimes I don’t. I don’t
cheat them as far as money goes. I only charge for what I do, and I give them
the best service I can.”

“I guess there are a lot of things I need to learn about
investigating,” I replied as I began collecting the cups and leftover dishes
from earlier.

“Don’t worry about it. You’ll learn as you go along.” He
reached into his jacket and retrieved the check from the Carroltons. “Take this
check and log it in on the computer, and also write it in the black book you’ll
find in the top right-hand drawer of your desk. If you have any problems with
the computer just yell. When you’ve finished that, bring me the check. I have a
zip-bag in my desk drawer where I keep money and checks. Oh, and print out a
receipt for the check and mail it to the Carroltons. I forgot to give them one.
Here’s their address.” He wrote the information down on a notepad and handed it
to me. “By the way, you did pretty well today. I didn’t know what to expect,
considering this is all new to you.”

“I didn’t know what to expect either,” I said.

“You did fine. I saw something in you when we first met. I
don’t know what it is yet, but I think we’re going to make a good team.”

“You saw fear and embarrassment for the way I was dressed.”

“Speaking of which, when you’re in the office I want you to
dress nicely. You know, dresses or skirts, or whatever, as long as it’s
conservative. If you need an advance on your salary to buy some more new
clothes...”

“I think I have it covered, but thanks anyway.”

“All right then, about your salary. Your salary, after taxes,
will be two hundred and fifty dollars a week to start. The more you’re involved
in the day-to-day operations, the more you can make. I’ll pay you bonuses on
jobs when you do more than just office work.”

“What do you mean, more than office work?”

“For example: going out in the middle of the night and
staking out the target of an investigation, or taking pictures for me—just the
general stuff that a trainee in this line of work would do. If you’re not
interested in doing anything like this, it’s okay. Just tell me now and I won’t
hold it against you. This line of work isn’t for everyone.”

“I’d love to do something like that. I could learn and earn
at the same time,” I joked.

“All right then, we have work to do.”

As I was walking out of Billy’s office with the coffee tray,
he called out to me, “When I’m out in the field, I wear casual clothes; jeans
or whatever. Sometimes it can get right rough out there. You might want to keep
a change of clothing in a duffel bag in your car. You never know when you might
need them.”

I let this sink in as I went to the coffee room and washed
out the cups. After putting everything away, I went to my desk to continue the
task at hand. I didn’t have any problems with the computer system, and I found
everything I needed to do what Billy had asked of me. I laid the envelope with
the Carrolton’s receipt in the outgoing mail basket and took the check back to
Billy.

After listening to the messages and taking notes at the same
time, Billy handed me a piece of paper from one of those pink pads and said,
“Get Mrs. Miller on the line for me, and then call Mr. Dempsey and set up an
appointment for Monday morning. When you’re finished, maybe we can talk.”

Fifteen minutes later, I was back in Billy’s office.

“Mrs. Miller wants me to find out if her husband is cheating
on her—two to three days at the most. A few pictures and several hours of
surveillance, and we’ll be done. She’ll be here in twenty minutes.”

“You say that so nonchalantly. How do you feel when you get
the dirt on a guy and then have to tell his wife he’s having an affair? Don’t
you feel bad for the injured party?”

“I sure do. I hate it, but that’s life. Crap happens, and I
shovel it around. It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it.” Then he made one
of those head-rolling, eye-crossing gestures that just cracked me up.

In the best Scarlet voice I could muster, I said, “Why, Mr.
Billy, I do believe you are filled with more clichés than
Savannah
has plantations.” I never should’ve
said that. We both started laughing so hard, I had to give Billy a tissue to
wipe away his tears.

Once we both settled down, Billy was the first to open up.
“I’m a Cherokee Indian. Actually, I’m half-Indian. My father is an Indian Chief
and my mother is white. To you this probably means nothing, but to me, this is
a lifetime of trying to endure the pain and suffering of being different. Our
people frown on marrying outside of our own kind, and when you do, you suffer
the wrath that goes along with the deed. The Indian doesn’t marry the white
man, or in this case, the white woman. When my father married my mother, they
were shunned by other leaders, and dealt with very much like one of your
Catholics that has been excommunicated from their church. It has been only in
the past twenty years that our family has mended the scars left by the tribe’s
old-fashioned ways. Through all of this, we managed to hold onto our pride.”

“I don’t know much about your culture, but I can understand
the reason why your people would feel the way they do. Right from the beginning
the white man has crapped all over the Indians. Even I know that,” I responded.

“I don’t dwell on the past. I try to learn from it,” Billy
said. “Tell me something about your life, Jesse.”

“There’s not much to tell. I’m thirty-one and I’ve spent most
of my life doing nothing impressive. I have a sister named Claire, and a
brother named
Jackson
... but we call him Jack. Claire’s
married to a man she now thinks is cheating on her, and they have two kids,
with another one on the way. Jack’s a lawyer, and single. My father retired
from the Navy and my mother doesn’t work. She’s always been a housewife. They
just moved to Stanardsville a couple of days ago, and I moved with them. And
believe me, I didn’t leave much behind. What about you? I guess that picture on
your desk must be your two boys. What about your wife?”

“Ruth and I got a divorce five years ago, but she’s still in
my thoughts. She found someone else to give her the time and attention she
deserves. I don’t blame her. I was always so busy trying to make a good life
for my family that I forgot the most important thing—sharing that life with the
ones you love.”

He cleared his throat and continued, “I’m 47 years old and
I’ve been doing this kind of work forever. I have two sons. Will is twenty-two
and in his senior year at the
University
of
Virginia
. John is twenty years old and goes to Virginia Tech. I can’t
tell you how proud I am of my boys.” He picked up the picture of his sons and
handed it to me.

“Good-looking boys,” I said as I handed back the picture. “Do
you date? Is there someone you’re romantically involved with?”

“You do get right to the point, don’t you?”

“I figure the more we know about each other, the better. It
looks as if we’re going to be spending a good deal of time together, so it
would help to know which side of the fence we’re standing on, and where to draw
the line. If I’m getting too personal, just say so. I can handle it. I don’t
bruise too easily. I’m tough.”