“Let’s get some crime scene tape put up around this wing of the motel and the car,” Levi told Leroy. “People will start coming out of their rooms when the sun comes up, and we need to preserve the scene.”
Leroy had already left for his cruiser to get the tape. It didn’t take long for them to get the area cordoned off.
“Leroy, have you talked to anyone in the rooms yet?”
“No, not yet, the sheriff suggested we do it together.”
“Let’s spilt up the rooms then. We will compare notes on who the occupants are and where they are from.”
They started at opposite ends of the motel, knocking on doors. Leroy struck out with the people in the first two rooms. They hadn’t seen or heard anything. Levi got the same story in the first room he checked. The second room was a different story. He knocked and knocked, but no one answered. “Leroy,” he called. “I know there’s someone in there, but he won’t answer the door.”
Leroy walked over, took his baton out of the holder, and gave the door a few powerful wraps. He was about to do it again when he noticed someone peeking through a slit in the window curtains. Both Levi and Leroy stood back as they heard the slide of the deadbolt, and then the door cracked open just enough that they could see the outline of a man’s face.
“Levi?” a voice whispered. “Levi Blackburn? Is that you?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Who’re you?” Levi pushed the door farther open. “Bobby Jack!” he said in surprise. “Bobby Jack Fritz! Is that you in there?”
Bobby Jack Fritz was the assistant manager of the largest supermarket in Hillsville—as well as an aspiring ladies’ man who was kept on a very short leash by his wife, Sally.
“What’n hell you doing here, Bobby?” Levi said. “And who’s in there with you?”
“Aw, Levi…” Bobby Jack said, “Levi, do I…do I have to tell you? Sally thinks I’m in Roanoke. For a training class.”
“Bobby Jack, you better dang well tell me who you got in there. This here’s serious business.”
“Levi, Levi, please…if I tell you…listen, please say you won’t tell nobody else.”
Levi’s famous patience was beginning to plummet, and his equally famous suspicion was about to spike. “Listen, Bobby Jack, if you don’t tell me who’s in there with you, I’m coming in and find out for myself.”
“OK, OK. Just wait a minute, will you? It’s Lucille. Lu…Lucille Small.”
“Your clerk?” Levi said. “That teenybopper clerk from the supermarket? Are you crazy! Ain’t she your kin? Is she even legal?”
“Eighteen, Levi! I swear she’s eighteen! And she’s only my second cousin.”
“Cousin or not, she better by-dang have some eighteen papers with her. Bobby Jack, you stupid twit! You know what Old Man Small is like. He’ll beat your scrawny ass to a pulp!” He pushed the door fully open. “Put your pants back on, stupid. Turn the light on. Lucille, you stay under them covers.”
Levi and Leroy questioned Bobby Jack and Lucille at length. They had been at the motel for eight hours and hadn’t heard or seen a thing.
“Bobby Jack, you’d better slip on out of here while the slippin’s good and get that Lucille home before I beat your dumb ass myself!”
Leroy looked at Levi after they had left the room.
“How are we going to handle that one, Levi?” he asked.
“Listen, if Old Man Small finds out about this, there’ll be one dead Bobby Jack. They’ll beat the living crap out of that boy before they kill him. We can save his hide, even if he ain’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. Enough bad things have happened tonight. You OK with that?”
“I’m all right with one less dead person to deal with.” Leroy replied.
“Good. Now, you do understand that we can get free beer and soda from Bobby Jack at the market?”
Leroy thought for a moment. “I don’t drink beer.”
They continued talking to the rest of the guests. No one saw or heard a thing. Levi called the sheriff.
“How’s it going, Levi?”
“Well, it’s not, sheriff. I suggest you call our friends in Wytheville for help.”
“I already did. I filled Jim Craig in. He said he’ll be at the motel in an hour.”
“OK, sheriff, we’ll wait for know-it-all Craig here.”
The Virginia State Police District Office located in Wytheville, Virginia provide investigative and lab assistance to all police agencies in their jurisdiction which included Carroll County. Jim Craig, the senior investigator on staff would be assigned to the case. Most small rural police agencies and staff appreciated their assistance. Some didn’t. Leroy understood that Levi and Jim Craig had a bit of history between them.
Levi seethed at the thought.
Louisa hadn’t visited her sister in California for too many years. Angelina, who was ten years younger than Louisa, had purchased a large home in Gilroy and converted it into a stunning bed-and-breakfast. She had worked in Silicon Valley for twenty-plus years and had made a small fortune on stock options before the market’s many adjustments. She and her life partner and lover, Sara, had set aside the money they needed to convert the Victorian house into a true destination in the emerging wine country between Gilroy and the ocean on Heckler Pass Highway. Louisa had seen pictures of the house but hadn’t had time to visit. Her career saw to that. She also wasn’t particularly fond of Sara and knew the feeling was mutual.
She passed the gorgeous Syngenta flower gardens on the left-hand side of the road as well as all of the beauty of the Solis Vineyard as well as Sarah’s Vineyard as she drove along Heckler Pass Highway as she looked for the house. She soon realized that she was almost upon the road she needed to turn on to and took a hard right turn. The approach road snaked between two other beautiful vineyards, and she could see the house on top of a knoll from the road. She stopped her rental car and stepped out onto the dirt road. She had to take a picture of this magnificent setting. It truly was spectacular.
When she parked in the circular drive, she saw Angelina come out onto the large wraparound porch. She was more beautiful than ever. While Louisa was a tall, leggy redhead, Angelina was a natural blonde. She was not as tall as Louisa, but her stunning beauty drew attention from men and women alike wherever she went.
“Hey, little sister, quite the dump you have here.”
Angelina ran down the steps and threw her arms around Louisa.
“I’m so happy you’re finally here! Thank God you finally retired and can spend some time with your family!”
“She could have before if she had really wanted to,” a voice behind them said.
Louisa spun around to see Sara walking up behind her.
“Well, look, the hired help is still here,” Louisa said with a smirk as she knew Sara had a short fuse.
“Now, now, you two. A lot of water has gone under our respective bridges since we last saw each other. Let’s be nice!” Angelina took Louisa’s car keys and opened the trunk. She grabbed Louisa’s roller board and headed up the steps.
“Let’s get Louisa settled into her room and then open a great bottle of wine.”
Sara grumbled as she climbed the stairs and headed into the kitchen.
Angelina led Louisa to the largest guest room in the house. She set the roller board down, and gave Louisa a big hug. They both started to cry at the same time.
“God, I’ve missed my big sister!” Angelina said.
“I know, and it’s my fault for not visiting sooner. My life in Washington was pure hell for the last five years. I’m so happy it’s finally over.”
“I’m so happy that you’re finally here!” They hugged some more.
After Angelina helped Louisa unpack, they went downstairs to the grand sitting room. Decorated with fresh-cut lilies and roses, the room was filled with the scent of the flowers and aglow with morning sunshine.
“My little sister, you’ve found your paradise, haven’t you?” remarked Louisa.
“I have found my peace in life. We enjoy sharing our home with our guests. My only regret is that we didn’t do it sooner.”
“Better late than never! Is Sara still your eternal soul mate?”
Angelina looked at her. “We’re deeply in love. She is the strength in my life. I can’t imagine life without her.”
Just then, Sara walked in and heard Angelina’s comments. “Yep, that’s right. I’m the main squeeze in your little sister’s life. Do I hear your parents turning over in their graves?” She cocked her head and cupped her hand to her ear.
Louisa and Angelina’s parents had both passed away some years earlier. Their dad was a successful cardiologist who had high expectations for his daughters. Their mother ran a successful floral business in northern Michigan, where the family had its roots.
Both parents were conservative Catholics. Their angst grew to epic proportions when Angelina dropped out of Michigan State and moved to Palo Alto with her girlfriend. The notion that their baby girl had a female lover was hard to accept. Stability returned to the family when Louisa graduated from Harvard Law and was immediately hired by a prestigious law firm in Boston. Their euphoria was short lived, however, when she abruptly left the firm and accepted an appointment with the FBI. She spent hours trying to convince her parents that she could make a difference as a special agent in the Bureau. In the end, both parents were far more accepting of Louisa as a federal agent than of Angelina as a lesbian working as a waitress in California, long before her success in Silicon Valley.
“Do you think Mom and Dad ever came to accept our life decisions?” asked Angelina, a frown clouding her beautiful face.
“Sweetie, be thankful they both went to heaven sooner than they should have. Can you imagine their discontent if they grew old with two barren daughters who gave them no grandchildren?”
Angelina had wanted to adopt children for a long time, but Sara would have none of it. She simply didn’t like children. She put on a smiley face when guests arrived with children in tow. She could deal with that. Guests didn’t stay forever.
“Now, that would have been ugly. I can’t imagine the constant phone calls concerning our lack of production. There would have been hell to pay!” Louisa suggested.
They both laughed until tears welled in their eyes.
Sara was not laughing as she glared at Louisa with her hands on her hips. “Listen, Louisa, you never liked me and I never have given a sweet shit about your highfalutin’ FBI ass!”
“Oh, my, let’s hear from the freeloading dyke bitch who has locked her fat lips onto my sister as a lifelong leech!” Louisa fumed.
Louisa was referring to the huge estate settlement she and Angelina shared after their parents passed. They had no idea how well their father had invested and the amount of money that came their way. Sara quickly understood that, coupled with Angelina’s success in Silicon Valley, it had left them, at a relatively young age, financially secure for life.
“Fuck you, bitch! You’re no better than us! You never let yourself love anyone. Just so fucking concerned with that career of yours. You’re so totally self-centered you’ve never had a life!” Sara was furious.
Angelina stood up and put her finger to her lips. “Those will be the last caustic words you two say to each other. I know you don’t care for each other, but I love you both. It hurts me to listen to you say mean things to each other.”
There was silence in the room. Sara spoke first. “You are right, my dearest. This is what it is and we have to deal with it as adults. I’m going to head upstairs to work on my pottery project. You two need time to catch up.”
She came over and kissed Angelina before heading upstairs. When she reached the landing, she pivoted ever so slightly to the right and looked at Louisa below. She smiled and offered a one-finger salute as she walked away to her studio.
Louisa smiled as she turned her attention to Angelina, who had gone to the ice bucket to get more wine. “Wow, little sister, how your lover gets us both so excited!”
Angelina almost spilled the wine as she laughed. “Speaking of lovers, do tell if some dashing man has slipped into your life since you are no longer bound by the corset of federal service?”
“So that’s what it was: the corset of federal service. I wish it had been that nice. It was more like a straitjacket that stifled any opportunity I had to live a normal life.”
“Come on, sis, you weren’t the only person to hold a high-level job in the federal government. I’m sure many people maintained a family life while they dealt with the stress and bullshit that comes with the job. Did you ever even come close to a solid relationship?” Angelina asked.
“My dearest Angelina, it was ever so complicated. My day started at five in the morning and usually ended at nine at night at least six days a week. It was better on Sunday. The phone usually didn’t ring until eight o’clock. The responsibilities at the top of the Criminal Division never took a day off. I understood from the very first day on the job that my personal life was going to take a backseat to my professional life. And I had no problem with that.
Don’t get me wrong—over the years there were a few suitors who thought they could play a more important role in my life than my job. They soon found out that the role of second fiddle was what they would have to accept. And there were a few boy toys who satisfied my occasional need for sexual gratification. You probably think that’s pretty darned cold. In a sense it was. After that useless, short marriage to Walter was over, I vowed never to make that same mistake again. And I never did.”
“Louisa, you did so much good for so many while you were at the FBI. It was probably better that you adopted the lifestyle you chose.”
Louisa smiled at Angelina as she spoke. “I’m sixty years old and have a lot of living to do! I’m in great shape with a fair amount of money, and I plan to enjoy every second of my life from now on. I have promised myself that I will, like a snake, shed the old skin I lived in for so long. Those days are over!”
“Well, well…gonna do it with anyone in particular? We can probably find some nice fifty-year-old California boy for you to play with.”
“How sweet of you to offer, but the strangest thing happened just before I came out here to visit,” Louisa offered.
“Who is he?”
“I knew who he was for a number of years. I always thought he was one handsome stud, but he was married. I never got to know him, that is, until a few days ago. I attended a retirement gathering in the District, and much to my surprise he was there. It turns out he’s been a widower for the past two years. He’s a strapping, sixty-two–year-old who looks like he’s fifty.”