All About the Money (A Jesse Watson Mystery Series Book 7) Read Online Free Page B

television.
    Savannah ’s
house was a typical mountain home very much like Mom’s. It was big, but not
oversized, and normally it was immaculate. But not now. Now, it was a wreck.
Furniture was askew, lamps were knocked over, and broken glass littered the
floor.
    “Jeez, Savannah ,” I said, trying not to overreact
and upset her more than she already was. “How awful! This must have been
horrifying for you. I’m so sorry.”
    “Let me look at you,” Billy said as he motioned to her,
sizing up the situation. “Is that your blood on you, or is it someone else’s?”
    When Savannah held out her hands and unfurled her
fingers, blood ran from them and dripped on the flood. Small, but continuous
drops were seeping from her wounds, and the flow didn’t seem to want to let up.
    “Defensive wounds,” Billy stated. “Someone attacked you with
a knife, and you fought back.”
    “This is the worst of my injuries,” she cried. “Other than
the one on my leg. I have a decent cut there.”
    Billy immediately went to the counter drawer, pulled out a
couple of dishrags, and then came back and wrapped both of Savannah ’s hands.
    I looked down and saw her ripped jeans. A huge bloody patch
the size of a saucer had soaked through her pants. I bent down and pulled apart
the torn opening and examined the injury to her thigh. “You’re going to need
stitches,” I said, and then looked up at Billy. “We need more dishrags. She’s
got a nasty little cut on her leg.”
    He grabbed another one, handed it to me, and then I wrapped
it around her leg. I tied it as tight as I could, but, hopefully, not enough to
cut off circulation. Savannah was a small woman. It wouldn’t take
much pressure to do that.
    “Come over here and sit down at the kitchen table,” Billy
said, escorting her as he spoke. “I know this must be difficult for you, but
you have to tell us everything.” The two of them sat down at the table. Billy
reached over and put his hand on top of hers and continued. “Then we have to
call the police and the rescue squad. You’re going to have to go to the
hospital.”
    “No! We can’t call the cops! They’ll put me in jail! I don’t
want to go to jail. It wasn’t my fault!”
    I walked over to her and said, “Of course, it wasn’t your
fault, Savannah , but we have to call the sheriff.
You have a body in your garage.” I thought for a second, and then asked, “How
did the body get there?”
    She didn’t say anything.
    Billy got up and walked over to the kitchen sink. He pulled
out a bottle of whisky from underneath the counter, grabbed a glass out of the
top cabinet, and then filled it with the liquid. He walked back over to Savannah and handed the glass to her.
    “Here, take a big drink.” He sat the bottle down on the
table. “I have a feeling you’re going to need it before this is over. It looks
bad here.”
    She did as he said without balking at his demand. She wasn’t
much of a drinker, but you’d never know it by the way she downed the alcohol.
She held the empty glass back up to Billy and said, “I’m going to need another
one of these, please.”
    Billy poured a little more in the glass.
    Savannah guzzled the liquid.
    I’d never seen her drink like that before, but that was then,
and this is now. She’d probably need a lot more to recover from this mess.
Under the circumstances, if it had been me, I would be demanding much more.
    We gave her a few minutes to try to calm down, and then Billy
proceeded with his questions. “What happened, Savannah ? Who’s in your garage? I’m not here to judge. I’m here to
help. So tell me everything… and start at the beginning.”
    She sighed, and then began her tale of horror. “I went out
shopping today, and when I got home…” She started crying again.
    “Okay, Savannah ,” Billy said in a soft tone. “Try to
calm down. Take a deep breath.”
    She took a deep breath.
    Watching him try to comfort her warmed my heart. No wonder I
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