That wasn’t all together
true now that I had a chance to think about it. My stomach distress started
right after... Billy and I had been intimate. Oh, Lord...
“It’s understandable,”
Captain Waverly said, coming to my defense. “You’ve had a traumatic experience.
Last night must have been pretty horrible for you and your family. I think
we’re finished here.” He turned to the two FBI agents and dismissed them. “I
think you have what you came for. I’m letting Mr. Blackhawk and Miss Watson
leave.”
“Whoa, hold on a minute,” I
spat. “We’re not finished. What are you going to do about Clayton Tyler? He’s
going to have my family killed if you don’t stop him. Also, I thought you
wanted to know about the picture. Did I miss out on something while I was in
the bathroom?” I glanced at Billy in an attempt to read his facial expressions.
Captain Waverly eased my
fears. “Mr. Blackhawk and I have reached an agreement about the acquisition of
the photo. As far as
Tyler
is concerned, why don’t you let me and my men worry
about him? I can promise you one thing, he won’t have an opportunity to get to
your family. I’ll personally see to that. You have my word on it.’’
“You say that, but where
will your men be when one of
Tyler
’s goons corners one of us off somewhere alone? Are
your men going to be there when we need them? You can’t protect us twenty-four
hours a day. It’s just not possible.”
“Let me put your mind at
ease,” he continued. “Everyone in this photo will be watched around the clock
until we can get our hands on
Tyler
. We’ve been after him for a long time and now with
your help, we have something to go on. We’ll flush him out and bring him to
justice, if I have to arrest everyone in this picture. We’re closing in on him
as we speak.”
“Does that mean you believe
my story?”
“We’ve been following this
case closely. Everything you said earlier has been verified by my department. I
needed your statement for the record.”
“I didn’t see anyone taking
notes.”
“My office is wired with a
recording device.”
“Isn’t that illegal? You
could go to jail.” I laughed at my remark.
“It’s illegal only if I
tried to use it in court, and failed to advise you of that fact before we
started the interview. But I knew that wasn’t going to be necessary. I was
aware of your role in this investigation. The photo was a surprise bonus. Mr.
Blackhawk and I worked all that out on tape. Everything’s aboveboard. Isn’t
that right, Mr. Blackhawk?”
“Why don’t you call me
Billy?” he suggested, reaching over to shake his hand. “I think you know me
well enough by now.”
“I will as long as you call
me John.”
“Call me mystified and
we’ll all be one big happy family,” I hissed. “That still doesn’t make me feel
any safer.” I looked at the captain and proclaimed, “I have a gun. If
Tyler
gets
near my family...”
“You’ll be within your
rights to protect yourself and your family if it becomes necessary to do so. I
assume the gun’s registered. Hold on a minute. I thought we had your gun.” He
started shuffling through some papers on his desk. “Yes, I’m sure of it.”
“I own two, and they’re
both registered,” I replied. Another thought came to me. “What about Sheriff
Hudson?”
“What about him?”
“What’s your take on him
possibly being one of the bad guys?” I didn’t wait for a response. “I can’t
seem to bring myself to believe he is. He just doesn’t look like a crooked
person.”
“What does a crooked person
look like?” Captain Waverly asked.
“I see what you mean.”
“Go home and get on with
your lives,” he said as he walked Billy and me to the main entrance of the
police station. “Put the past behind you and trust this department to do its
job. My men are pretty good at what they do. I’ll get Jake to take you home.”
“That won’t be necessary,”
Billy said. “I drove my truck.”
John eyed Billy with
suspicion. “If you could drive to the station, then why did I have to send out
one of the guys?”
That was my cue to put in
my two cents’ worth.
“A decision made a day
late, and a dollar short. Your man was probably already on the road when Billy
came up with that idea. He’s a man. It’s their job to take care of us
defenseless women.”
Billy and John got a
chuckle out of that statement, but neither one of them disputed my synopsis. I,
on the other hand, got a whole new perspective of that male-bonding thing they
all seem to share. When their masculinity was backed into a corner, they all
stuck together.
“After you finish patting
each other on the back, I’m ready to go home.”
I was relieved that the
interrogation was over and the outcome had been a positive one, but their behavior
was beginning to rattle my nerves. They were like little boys with a newfound
playmate. Men!
“That turned out pretty
good, don’t you think, Jesse?” Billy asked. He started up the truck and backed
out of the parking space. “Captain Waverly’s a good man.”
“They’re all good men until
they’re proven otherwise,” I replied, tired of all the bull. Regardless of how
right everything seemed to be now, later on would be another story. I wanted to
know my family would be safe.
I didn’t want a bunch of empty promises
.
Show me the money. Prove to me that I
don’t have anything to worry
about. “Are you willing to put our lives in the hands of the police?”
“No way, but I do know how
to play the game.”
“But...”
“Look, I think Waverly’s
one of the good guys, but I’m not taking any chances. As soon as we get home,
I’m calling a family meeting.”
“You’ve said something
about a family meeting before. Exactly what does that mean?”
“That means we have a
family crisis and everybody’s required to meet. If you’re not dead, you’d better
be there... no matter where the meeting is held... no matter what.”
“That sounds good to me.
Does that apply to my side of the family? I mean, we’re not married yet.” I was
trying to make light of the situation and add a little bit of humor to a not-so-humorous
situation. However, Billy wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention to me after he
had made his declaration. His main goal was to get us home in one piece.
The roads were terrible.
Snow was piled so high in places that you didn’t dare veer off course. Tire
tracks down the middle of the road were our only guide.
“I’m sorry, Jesse, did you
say something?”
“Why were you getting so
chummy with the captain? What exactly were you talking about while I was in the
bathroom?”
“He offered a piece of
advice that really got my attention. We were discussing how I acquired the
photo, and he made a comment about the fact that you couldn’t always trust what
you see. Photos can be deceptive. All he really wanted from me was generic
stuff. He didn’t care about the photo. I got the impression that he was trying
to drop that subject and get onto something else. It was as if he was trying to
sweep everything under a rug. He wanted to end the conversation.”
“What do you think it
means?”
“I’m thinking that maybe
there’s still an investigation going on that’s related to Clayton Tyler, and
he’s not telling us.”
“Do you think there might
be some kind of sting in place, and he wants us to butt out?”
I had a feeling all along
that something wasn’t right in the kitchen. Captain Waverly was just too darn
nice for a cop, but I didn’t want to say anything to Billy. I thought maybe I
was just being a skeptic. I’m always a little leery of people who are too
friendly.
“I think this goes deeper
than we’ve imagined.”
“Are you saying that you
think the captain’s in on it?”
“Oh, no. I don’t think that
for a minute.”
“Okay, spell it out for me.
What do you think?”
“I can’t put my finger on
it yet, but I think you hit a sore spot when you mentioned your suspicion about
some of the captain’s men. He wasn’t too happy about that.”
“Yeah, did you see the look
on his face? I thought for sure he was going to throw the book at me over that
one. I have another suspicion. What do you think is the possibility that
Tyler
could be
connected to the mob? Is that what the captain was trying to keep from us?”
“What mob? What are you
talking about?”
“You know what I’m talking
about, Billy,
the mob
.”
Billy has a facial
expression for everything. If he thinks something’s silly, he rolls his eyes.
If something makes him mad, he creases his eyebrows in a downward shape. If he
thinks we had better watch out butts, he cocks his eyes to one side. He cocked
his eyes.
“Jesse, if
Tyler
was
connected to the mob, we’d both be dead already. They don’t play games. They
don’t make mistakes. No, that’s not
Tyler
’s style. He has power and money, but I don’t think
he’s smart enough to run with the big dogs. He’s small time in the scheme of
things, but he’s dangerous. It’s apparent that he won’t hesitate to have
someone killed. We must watch him well. We cannot trust others to do it for
us.”
“Do you think that
whatever’s going on can be any worse than what we just went through?”
“Oh, I have a feeling that
it can be a lot worse.”
“Was that what Captain
Waverly was trying to tell you?”
“I think he wants us to go
home and forget this ever happened.”
“Are you serious? He
actually thinks we can do that?”
“That’s what he said.”
“I have news for him. We’re
not going to let this rest while that psycho’s still out there. You know what’s
going to happen, don’t you? One of us is going to have to die before the cops
will do anything. I’m not going to stand around and wait for that to happen.”
“Captain Waverly said to
let him do his job. He doesn’t need our help. He made that perfectly clear.”
“And you’re going to listen
to him?”
“Are you kidding? I know better than to count on the
police!”
A
s soon as Billy and I walked through the front door (which
had been repaired and re-hung thanks to Cole), we were overrun by the Blackhawk
clan. It seems that Mom and Claire, aided by Cole, decided that there was a
family emergency and made a few calls themselves.
Needless to say, the house
was abuzz. The women were in the kitchen fixing sandwiches and discussing
wedding plans while the chief and his sons were in the living room by the fire,
listening to Cole as he tried to explain the situation at hand.
I noticed Billy’s two
sisters were absent from the meeting. When I questioned him about it, he said
they were the exceptions to the rule. They weren’t usually called upon in
dangerous situations unless absolutely necessary, because they didn’t live at
the compound.
“If the chief thought they
might be in danger, he would have called them to this meeting. I’m sure they
have been informed of the situation. Our main concern is that everyone is aware
of what’s going on so they can keep their eyes open for trouble. We’re going on
watch.”
“What does that mean?” I
asked.
“It means that at any time
you might see any one of us prowling the property, keeping watch. Nobody’s
getting on our land without one of us knowing about their presence. We’re ‘circling
the wagons’ as the white man would say.” He looked over at me and smiled.
“We’re watching.”
“How long are you going to
be on watch? This could go on for a while. We’re dealing with some pretty
sneaky fellows.”
“Until the problem is
solved,” the chief said as he approached Billy and me. “You don’t have to worry
about anything, Jesse. My boys won’t let anybody hurt your family.”
“I don’t know, chief,” I
responded. “This guy Tyler’s a pretty bad dude. He kills first and then asks
questions later. That’s his solution to a problem. He sent Brad and Laura
Westover to retrieve a photograph and told them to kill all of us afterwards,
like it was nothing.”
“As you’ll see, men like
him always make mistakes,” the chief replied. “He’s never met you.” A confident
smile crossed his face. “We’ll catch him and put a stop to his trail of
bloodshed.”
“How will you do that? How
can you stop someone like Clayton Tyler? The police don’t have enough evidence
to put him behind bars. If they can’t do the job, what makes you think we can?”
“There are other
alternatives, Jesse,” Jonathan said as he leaped up off the sofa and walked to
the center of the room where we stood.
I hesitated to hear what
his alternative might be, considering he made his living as a bounty hunter.
And I was told that he was darn good at his job. He always got his man or
woman. Judging by his size, if he was after me, I think I’d lay down in the
middle of the road and play dead. His arms were bigger than my legs.
“There’s always the
old-fashioned way,” he continued.
“Hold on,” I pleaded.
“You’re not going to scalp him, are you?”
The house roared with
laughter.
I felt like such an idiot.
Finally, the chief leaned
over and whispered, “We don’t do that anymore, Jesse.”
“I had something else a
little less drastic in mind,” Jonathan said, trying to control his laughter.
“But if it comes to that...”
“Stop teasing Jesse,” Sarah
stepped forward and said. “Can’t you see she’s upset? Behave yourself, young
man.”
“I’m sorry, Mama,” Jonathan
apologized to his mother and then turned to me. “I’m sorry, Jesse. I was just
kidding. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“It’s all right, Jonathan,”
I said. “It’s just that I’m a little bit in a tizzy knowing that man is out
there somewhere, and nobody seems to be able to stop him. He’s invincible, and
he has plenty of money.”
“Nobody’s invincible,
Jesse,” Jonathan said. “I learned that a long time ago. Let me tell you a
little story.”
“Oh, no,” said Daniel as he
slapped Jonathan on the back. “You’re not going to tell us another one of your
horrible stories, are you?”
“Yes, I am, so don’t
interrupt me.” He looked back to me. “Two years age, I was called to go after
this woman who had skipped bail. Bail jumpers are a big part of my job. I like
going after them, because they’re easy to catch. They’re on the run, and they
make a lot of mistakes. Most of my cases are small-time losers, and they never
flee the country. Well, this woman was a whole new story. She had a drug charge
against her, and the minute the judge set bail, she paid it, and then hit the
road. It was her first offense, and if she had been convicted, she would have
probably gotten community service. She came from a wealthy family; her parents
were loaded. They had more money than they could ever spend, and when they
died, she was going to get it all. So instead of going back to court and taking
her medicine, and then going on to live the good life, she jumped bail. She
managed to get on a commercial flight headed to
Atlanta
.”
“Would you just get to the
point?” Daniel needled him.
“The most ironic thing is,
when I got the call, I was at the airport. The minute Joe told me her name, the
ticket counter lady also said it. Talk about being lucky! I purchased a ticket
and set in the seat next to her all the way to
Atlanta
. Before the flight was
over, she was in love.”
“Oh, bull,” Daniel said as
he threw his head back and laughed. “You come up with more crap than anyone I
know.”
“I swear it’s true. It was
Karla.”
A strange look came over
Daniel’s face when he said, “The same...”
“The same,” Jonathan said
with a grin.
Daniel turned to me and
said, “There might be some truth to this story, but if I were you, Jesse, I
wouldn’t believe everything this guy says.”
“What happened to the
woman?” I asked.
“I almost married her,”
Jonathan replied. “Fortunately, I wised up and dropped her. She had too much
baggage. Money breeds trouble.”
“Did she go to jail for
what she did or is she out running the streets?”
“They threw the book at
her. She was sentenced to three years in prison, and the last I heard, she was
still doing time. Talk about being stupid! Like I said... money talks, and...”
“We know the rest, mister,”
Sarah said. “Thank you, very much.”
“Come on, brother,” Daniel
said as he put his arm around Jonathan’s shoulder. “Let me buy you a beer.”
“You can stop worrying,”
Sarah announced, taking my hand. “My boys will protect you. Why don’t you sit
down and have something to eat?”
“I am a little hungry,” I
said. “I lost my breakfast at the police station.”
I should have kept my mouth
closed when I had the chance. That statement prompted an endless conversation
all through lunch about babies and being pregnant. By the time I finished my
sandwich, I had heard more tales about children and childbirth than I cared to.
I needed a nap. My brain was fried.
“Excuse me,” I said,
getting up from the table. “I need to lay down.”
“Of course, dear,” Sarah
said. “We understand, don’t we?” I caught her winking at Mom and Claire.
“That’s a good idea,
honey,” Mom said. “Why don’t you go take a nap? You look a little rough around
the edges. You could use some rest after what you’ve been through. You need to
keep your energy level up.”
“Yeah,” Claire giggled as
she shouted across the room. “You’re going to need all the energy you can get
when that baby comes.”
The ladies had a good
laugh.
“What?” I heard Daniel say,
just before I closed the bedroom door.
I flopped down on top of
the bed and pulled a pillow over my head to block out their voices. Eventually,
I fell into a restful sleep. I felt like I had just dozed off when Billy came
into the bedroom and woke me.
“Dinner’s on the table,
Jesse.”
“What time is it?” I asked
as I sat up and rubbed my eyes.
“It’s
six o’clock
. You’ve
been asleep for five hours.”
“You’re kidding! It sure
didn’t seem that long.”
“That’s because your body
was trying to tell you something.”
“I don’t want to hear one
word out of your mouth about me having a baby. Y’all are making me crazy!”
“That’s not what I was
talking about. All I meant was that maybe your body needs a rest. You’ve put it
through some hard times lately. Stress alone can wear you down. You’ve had
plenty to be stressed about.” He sat down on the bed next to me and brushed a
strand of hair back out of my face. “But if you want to talk about the baby,
now would be a good time for me. I’m all ears.”
“What is it with you
people?” I became enraged. “Between Sarah, Mom, Claire, you, and your dad, I’m
about ready to give birth. Will you give me a break? Billy, there isn’t any
baby. I know we haven’t really talked about certain personal things, but I’m
sure you pretty much know when it’s that time of the month for me.”
“I have noticed that at
certain times you’re a little bit grumpier than normal for about a week. But
like you said, the subject never came up. What’s your point?”
“Do you remember a couple
of weeks ago when you and I were constantly fighting about Doug Tyler and the
whole stakeout fiasco?”
He nodded his head in
response.
“I think you can figure out
the rest. I don’t want to discuss it anymore. I’m getting a headache.”
“But we’re not even
married, yet,” he chided. “How can you have a headache already?”
“If I were you, I’d stick
with the P.I. business, Billy Blackhawk... a comedian, you are not.”
“I don’t know, I thought it
was pretty funny. You just don’t have a sense of humor. You need to loosen up.”
“I don’t want to talk.”
Billy humbly inched
backwards out of the bedroom as I went to the bathroom to freshen up before
greeting the baby police. They were out to get me. I could see it in their
eyes. I ran a brush through my hair and tied it back in a ponytail. I splashed
water on my face and then headed to the kitchen.
Mom, Billy, Claire and the
two kids were seated at the table, getting ready to dig into dinner. Everyone
else was gone, including Cole.
Much to my surprise, the
main topic at the dinner table had nothing to do with me, instead it was about
what name to choose for the new kitten. Claire suggested naming the little
tabby, Spice, because she said it was full of so much energy. She pointed to it
as it pranced around. Three-year-old Carrie agreed with her mother as she
always did, but Benny (who was a year older than his little sister, and thought
that meant he had the final say) was determined the fur ball should be called
Cat.
“I have an idea,” I said.
“Why don’t you name it Spice Cat? That will make everyone happy.”
“That’s a great idea, Ant
Jess,” Benny agreed. “You are so good at making up names. I like that a lot.”
I winked at him and said,
“You guys made up the names. I just put them together. I like the name, Spice
Cat.”
“Whew!” Billy sighed. “I
thought we’d have to stay up all night trying to figure that one out. You know
an animal isn’t happy until it has a name.”
“Oh, you’re just being
silly, Uncle Billy,” Benny said. “He’s happy.”
“Uncle Billy?” I
questioned.
“Mama said I could call him
uncle since you and Billy are getting married. You’re Ant Jess so he’s Uncle
Billy.”
“How do you know it’s a boy
cat?” Claire asked him.
“Uncle Billy said so.”
“If Uncle Billy says it’s a
boy, then it’s a boy,” she agreed.
Out of the blue, Benny
turned to me with the sweetest expression on his face and asked, “Can I make up
a name for your new baby, Ant Jess?”
“When I have a baby, Benny,
I’ll be more than glad to have you help me pick out a name as long as you don’t
want to call it Baby.”
Benny snickered. “You’re
funny, Ant Jess. I have another question for you, okay?”
“Sure,” I said, wondering
what he was going to come up with next. “What would you like to know, sweetie?”
“Why can’t you have all
your babies at one time, like cats do?”
Everybody laughed at his
naivety.
“It’s funny how kids take
such a simple approach to life,” Billy said. “They amaze me.”
“Some people do, Benny,” I
answered. “Some women can have four or five babies at one time. It’s
hereditary.”
“What’s that mean, Ant
Jess?”
“It means that it runs in
the family. If your mother gave birth to twins, that means that somewhere down
the road, one of her kids could, also.”
“Does that mean I could
have twins?”
“Ah, it means... ah...
maybe your wife could, I think.”
“That’s neat! How do you
know all this stuff, Ant Jess?”