Middle River Murders by Ann Mullen Page B

wonderful, I’d had enough. I
wanted to be at home with my new son and my family.
    Billy and Mom came to the hospital to take us home. Everyone
else had their own task at hand. Claire was watching all the kids, while
Billy’s family was with Jonathan.
    We stopped by to see Jonathan for a minute before we left the
hospital. Billy stood outside the room holding Ethan as Mom and I went in.
    “You look pretty good for someone who has just been shot,” I
said as I leaned down and kissed his forehead.
    “And you look pretty good for someone who just had a baby,”
he replied, slurring his words.
    “He’s a little doped up,” Sarah said as she got up from the
chair and walked over to his bed. She straightened his covers. “He was cranky
and determined to leave, so Dr. Staton gave him a shot to help change his mind.
The doc says he can leave tomorrow if everything is okay. Gunshot wounds can be
tricky.”
    We stayed just long enough for me to see for myself that
Jonathan wasn’t going to die, so I could go home and not worry. I was still
upset about the whole undercover operation that put him here and the fact that
I was kept in the dark, but I wasn’t going to say anything else about it… for
now. Once he recovered, I’d give him a lecture about not trusting little old
ladies with guns. He’ll get a kick out of that.
    We rode in Mom’s minivan and I couldn’t have been happier to
be heading home.
    “You need a new car, Mom,” I said. “This one’s old and
outdated. Nobody drives a minivan anymore. You need a nice SUV like the one
Billy bought for me. That way, if you wanted to go four-wheeling, you could.” I
laughed.
    Two months ago, I finally let go of my red Jeep. I loved that
fancy SUV with all its bells and whistles, but I had come to the conclusion
that it was just plain bad luck. I’d had several near death experiences in it
and had lost my nerve to even drive it. So one day Billy came home with a brand
new shiny, black Toyota 4Runner. I almost freaked out when
he told me what it cost, but I let it slide. I figured if Billy wanted to buy
me a nice automobile, then so be it. Then he told me he got it for next to
nothing from Redman’s Auto, the car dealership his brother, Daniel, owns. It
sure pays to have a family with such diverse careers.
    “We’re not going there,” Mom said. “Just because Billy went
out and bought you a new car doesn’t mean I have to get a new one. I like my
van, thank you very much. Besides, your father bought me this van.”
    That was enough for me. I knew the wheels would have to fall
off before Mom would trade in that van and buy another means of transportation.
As we pulled up in the front yard and got out of the van, I glanced back,
looked at it for a second and saw my father’s face flash before me. I almost
cried. I turned back around and looked up at our home.
    This is the house that Billy built many years ago. It’s a
two-story mountain home with a large living room, kitchen, and dining room
combined. There’s a utility room off the back of the kitchen. Our bedroom and
private bathroom are on the right down the hall, and there’s a guest bathroom
past the stairs across from our room. Upstairs there are two large bedrooms
with a bathroom in between.
    Billy lived here for many years with his first wife, Ruth,
but now I’m his wife and we’ve made a few changes to our home. Over the summer,
Billy and his brothers added two guest bedrooms upstairs and a large bedroom
downstairs for our babies. They also added a large family room downstairs at
the back of the house big enough to throw a good-sized party. The room is a
nice place to relax when the whole family comes over for Sunday dinner. I’m
just glad Billy does most of the cooking.
    Once we were inside, the house came to life. Athena and Thor,
our canine wonders, howled as loud as they could when they saw me. They jumped
and pranced to their own tune until I reached down and patted their heads.
After that, they