South River Incident by Ann Mullen Page A

that’s terrible!
Surely, they don’t think you’re involved.”
    “I don’t know. Billy
wouldn’t let me talk to them.”
    Mom looked at Billy and
then back at us.
    “I’m sure Billy knows what
he’s doing. He’s only looking after your best interests. If he threw the
sheriff out, I’m sure he had a good reason.”
    “What Jesse failed to
mention is that just before the police dropped the bombshell, Cole dropped her.
I guess he didn’t want to get his hands dirty.” Billy walked off in a huff.
    “Wait a minute,” I raised
my voice. “This is getting blown all out of proportion. It’s not like that.”
    Billy stopped and turned to
me.
    “Oh, but it is my dear.
It’s exactly like that.” He hesitated long enough for me to sense there was
something devious racing through his head. I know him. When he gets that look
on his face, venom usually spews forth. “We have to find out what the deal is
with that watch. I’m sure your idiot boyfriend knows. All we have to do is pry
it out of him.”
    “We could have found out
all we needed to know if you hadn’t gotten rid of the sheriff,” I said.
    “I don’t want to talk to
the sheriff until we know more about the situation. We don’t want to cause
ourselves additional grief. We need more information.”
    “When he asks me about the
watch, maybe I can tell him I lost it in the woods.  I mean, he must have found
it near the body. How else would... ”
    “Yeah, that’s a good idea!
We’ll lie about it,” Billy said with a smirk on his face. “Be serious, Jesse.
We don’t need to compound our problem. Oh, no. What if she was wearing the
watch?”
    “Why would she be wearing
my watch?”
    “I don’t know, you tell
me.” 
    “I don’t have a clue.”
    “Well, it’s time we find
out what we can about Mary Keen. Go get your coat. We’re going to make a house
call.”
    “Who are we going to see?”
    “Don’t you worry about
that,” Billy commanded. “Just get your coat.”
    “What about Thanksgiving
dinner tomorrow? Mom might want me to stay and help get started with the
preparation. She always starts ahead of time. It’s a lot of work.”
    “I’ll be fine, honey. You
do what you have to,” Mom said. “The only food I’m going to fix today is the
cold stuff—potato salad, cold slaw, and deviled eggs. The rest I’ll fix
tomorrow when I cook the turkey. Claire will help me, won’t you dear?”
    “Sure,” Claire replied.
“I’ll be glad to help.” She leaned over and gave me a hug. “Be careful, Jesse. 
I know how the two of you are when you get caught up in a case—trouble is not
far behind. If I haven’t learned anything in the past several months, I’ve
learned that. You two get into more... well, you know. Just be careful.”
    “It’s a little different
this time,” Billy said.
    “Yeah, this time I’m the
suspect,” I said.
    Billy explained to Mom what
to do if the police came back while we were gone. She was to follow his
instructions to the letter. “Tell them you don’t know where we are—because you
don’t—and don’t answer any questions. Don’t even let them in the house if they
don’t have a search warrant. Just shut the door in their faces.”
    “I can’t be rude like that,
Billy.”
    “I can,” Claire said. “I’ll
take care of Mom. You two go on and do what you have to do. Just try to stay
out of jail!”
    We left with a promise that
we would behave ourselves. 
    “I’m glad to see that
Claire has gotten a little fire in her belly,” Billy announced as he climbed in
the front seat of his truck. “I was afraid she was going to turn into mush
after her break up with Carl. I guess not.”
    “Didn’t I tell you to never
say his name in my presence? I can’t stand that man. He’s such a jerk. I want
to throw up every time someone even mentions his name. I still can’t believe he
would cheat on Claire. She’s a wonderful mother; she has two great kids to
prove it.  I’m sure she was a good