Read The Prey Bites Back: A Jesse Watson Mystery Book #8 for Free Online

at
the office, but the woman I talked with said she’d pull Athena’s chart and have
something ready for you when you got there. Helene and your mother both called.
Helene was worried, and your mother wanted you to know that they still couldn’t
get out. The bridge is flooded over. Oh, and Billy’s still in bed. I guess the
stress wore him out.”
    “He needs to
recover from getting drunk yesterday.”
    Lila raised her
eyebrows. “That’s unusual for him. I’ve never known Billy to drink much. In
fact, I’ve rarely seen him drink at all.”
    “Well, he did
yesterday. He had so much to drink, I thought he was going to fall down.
Luckily, he didn’t. We made it home, and he went straight to bed.”
    “I can see why
he got drunk. He was still upset about his mother.”
    There was a
lull in the conversation.
    “I better get
on home. I wanna take a shower before I go see Mae at the hospital.”
    “I’ll be glad
to drive you anywhere you want to go. That pill hasn’t worn off yet. You don’t
want me to have to worry about you, do you? The same thing that happened to Mae
might happen to you if I start worrying.”
    We both
laughed, but not at Mae.
    “I think I can
manage. I feel fine.” I began to feel woozy again. I sat back down on the sofa
and said, “Maybe you should drive me home.”
    “I’ll get my
purse.”
    We left the
office, stopped at the vet, and then headed home. The roads were littered with trash
and debris from the storm. Even though the storm had passed, accidents were
still being worked. But all in all, it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been… well…
except for Mae.
    Mae Bridges—I hated
having to tell Mom about her. She’d be devastated. She believed Mae’s
accusations and wanted justice. My old mom Minnie would never be in the middle
of something like this, but my new mom Minnie is a real go-getter. She has a
knack when it comes to getting at the truth. Why did I ever think she might not
be able to slink around in the shadows like a regular P.I.?  She can, and she’s
good at it. So is Eddie. No one suspects two little old folks.
    My fear was: If
Mae’s story was accurate, Dakota Stone and Olivia Swales could be a threat to
anyone who nosed around in their business, or got in their way—the kind of
threat that leaves one dead. The Body Shop . Just the name gave me
visions of rusty cars, not a spa for everything your body and brain wants, needs,
and has to have.
    I needed to
learn more about Mae and Nathaniel Bridges, and their daughter Marsha. After
that, I wanted to see The Body Shop for myself, inside and out.
    Just a few
miles from home, I asked Lila for her cell phone. The battery was just about
dead in mine. She handed it over. I clicked on the image of a camera, the
screen came up, and then I turned around backwards and took several shots of
the SUV behind us… discreetly as I could. Immediately, I emailed the images to
my computer at home and to Billy’s cell phone.
    “What was that
all about, Jesse? You’re freaking me out. Is someone following us?” Lila was
quickly coming unglued.
    “Calm down,
Lila. Act as if nothing’s wrong.” I pulled my 9 MM from my purse and was on the
ready. My paranoia was in high gear. Death does that to me. “Just keep on
driving. Don’t look back.”
    “Okay,” she
replied, fear in her voice.
    Lila made a
right turn onto Bear Mountain
Road , but fortunately, the
SUV didn’t follow.
    “Geez, Jesse,”
Lila said as she finally exhaled. “You scared the crap out of me. I thought we
were under attack. I could see our bodies lying in the middle of the road with
bullet holes in our heads, and blood pooling all around us.”
    “That image will
be with me for a while. Thanks, Lila. Not that I don’t have enough bad ones
back there as it is. What’s one more?”
    My plan was to
go home, check on everyone, and then call my mother, but I didn’t get a chance
to do the latter. Mom’s canary yellow 4Runner was parked in the driveway.