Kickbacks, Kayaks, and Kidnapping: A Camper and Criminals Cozy Mystery Series Book 12
Date: 2020-08-03 00:00:00+00:00
Description: SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY WITH A SMIDGEN OF HOMICIDE USA Today Bestselling author Tonya Kappes brings you southern and quirky characters in her mystery series. Her stories are charged with humor, friendship, family and life in small southern towns.Welcome to Normal, Kentucky where NOTHING is normal. Deep in the heart of the Daniel Boone National Forest, Mae West has spent the last few years bringing the rundown Happy Trails Campground and the small southern and cozy town of Normal, Kentucky back to a thriving economic community. Mae's efforts haven't gone unnoticed. Not only is Happy Trails Campgro
Publisher: Independently published

KICKBACKS, KAYAKS & KIDNAPPING

A CAMPER AND CRIMINALS COZY MYSTERY BOOK 12

Tonya Kappes

Contents

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Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Recipes and Hacks

Hack #1

Campfire Donuts

Hack #2

CAMPFIRE HAND PIES

Hack #3

Insta Pot Lemon Butter Chicken

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Also By Tonya Kappes

Preview

KICKBACKS, KAYAKS & KIDNAPPING

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but, Mae, Dottie Swaggert is on the pho—”

“You march back in there and get on that phone and tell her Mae is here right now,” Lloyd Hornbuckle demanded, interrupting Veronica.

“Well. . .” The line between Veronica’s brows deepened. “There’s been a murder at Happy Trails.”

“A m-m-m. . .” I couldn’t bring myself to even say it.

“Murder?!” Lloyd jumped up from the fancy padded desk chair. It flew back on its wheels and knocked up against the wall. “Well, Ms. West. We cannot have a member of the board who can’t even keep a safe environment for all of our tourists.” He glared at me.

I was still trying to wrap my head around the murder and get to the phone. I stood up as I tried to keep my composure.

“I’m withdrawing Mae West as a candidate for the fifteenth seat on the board. All those in—” He didn’t have to finish his sentence before all fourteen of them chimed in with an “aye.”

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Chapter 1

Entrepreneur.

I mentally read the word I’d written on a piece of paper in the notebook the Laundry Club gals and I kept handy for when we’d put on our amateur sleuth hats. We’d use it to write down clues that helped us put two and two together.

“Entrepreneur.” I read the word out loud, smiling a little. I tucked a strand of my long curly brown hair behind my ear as I let out a long sigh.

Fifi, my toy poodle, jumped up on the small couch in our RV and wedged her head up under my arm.

“How do you think ‘Mae West, entrepreneur’ sounds?” I asked her.

She jumped up and swiped her tongue along my cheek.

“I knew you’d love it.” I sighed and picked up the copy of National Park Magazine I’d been reading a few minutes earlier when I saw the ad Abby Fawn, a good friend of mine and librarian at Normal Library, had placed as my social media guru for Happy Trails Campground.

The ad was for the new water activities I’d added to the campground activities: kayaking, canoeing, white-water rafting, and fishing. Until recently, I had been able to let my guests know about a company that provided these activities, but that company folded. It left me the opportunity to literally dip my toe into the water of extra outdoor activities, which led to more money on the bottom dollar for the campground.

Since the company had folded due to the owner going to prison, the price was pretty cheap. One problem: I knew nothing about kayaking or canoeing, much less white-water rafting. That’s when I decided it would be fun to host a weeklong summer festival called Paddle Fest.

Since Abby knew all things about the Daniel Boone National Forest, where Normal, Kentucky and Happy Trails Campground were located, she’d told me about how years ago, the forest hosted an actual kayak competition. Who knew there was such a thing?

In fact, there was even a kayaking team at the local high school. It would be perfect for kick-starting my new adventure. . .which made me, Maybelline Grant West, an entrepreneur.

“Right here.” I pointed at the ad to show Fifi. “It’s in fine print at the bottom, but it says Mae West, entrepreneur.” I squinted to look at the fine print Abby had put in the ad.

Fifi seemed to like it. Her stubby tail wagged so fast. She did a few twirls that completely warranted praise.

After all, she had been a pedigreed show poodle until she crossed to the wrong side of the campground where Ethel kept Rosco, her male bulldog, off leash. Most dogs weren’t on leashes in the campground—at the owners’ own risk since we did have some coyotes and some brown bears—so I, too, was at fault for letting Fifi run around when I had only been babysitting her. It was only at night that I would put her on a leash.

To say it nicely, Fifi had gotten pregnant, and it was her ticket to freedom from performing all those tricks. Plus, her owner had only used Fifi for the pedigree and saw to it that I take responsibility for the chaos I’d caused by taking Fifi off her hands—life changing for me and Fifi. Keeping her had been the best decision I’d ever made. Well, that and the decision I’d made not to sell the campground, making Normal my new home and living in an RV.

Talk about life changing. All my adult life, I’d lived in New York City after I escaped the foster care system in Kentucky. It wasn’t until I met and married one of the wealthiest, and oldest, businessmen in the stock market—who just so happened to go to federal prison, causing me to lose my Manhattan apartment and our Hamptons home—did I find out I was the owner of Happy Trails Campground. I’d spent the last few years bringing it and the tourism of Normal back to life, making me the entrepreneur.

“I think. . .” The creak of the metal camper step up to my door told me someone was about to knock before their fist made contact with the metal around the screen door.

“Mae, you in there?” Dottie Swaggert’s face was barely visible through the screen, but her hot-pink hair curlers practically glowed in the darkness of the night. It was her deep Southern drawl that told me it was her.

“Come on in.” I slid the magazine over the notebook just as she swung open the door. Fifi jumped off the couch and happily greeted one of her favorite people.

“What are you doing up so late?” Her eyes zeroed in on the small dinette table. She put her hand down to pat Fifi. “Are you moonlighting on the gals?”

She moved her hand from Fifi to one of the curlers that’d come unsnapped around a piece of her thick red hair. Within a second, she’d rolled the hair right back around the sponge and made sure it was snapped close to her head.

“Moonlighting? Are you kidding? I’m already exhausted from running this place.” I showed her the magazine. “Abby’s ad came out for the locals to enter the kayak competition this week, and I can’t wait.”

“The ad she ran a couple of months ago pretty much filled it up. Do you know we have people coming from all over the country to compete?” She shook her head and made herself comfortable on the couch.

Fifi took it as an opportunity to score more loving by lying next to Dottie.

I’d never even known camping was so popular or everything that went with it. When I’d first shown up in Normal to check out this new ownership of mine, the place was so run-down, it took every bit of anything I could pawn, sell, and barter to get it cleaned up enough to open.

Not to mention what it took to make the RV my home. When I looked around, I was pretty proud of all the elbow grease I’d put into the place.

I’d used every bit of space possible. I took down all the walls to create an open-concept plan with the kitchen and family room in one big room. I put up shiplap walls and painted them white. I’d gotten a cute café table with two chairs and a small leather couch from the Tough Nickel, the local thrift store. I’d even redone all the floors with luxurious vinyl that resembled grey wood flooring. The kitchen cabinets and all the storage cabinets were white. I’d transformed my little camper into a charming country farmhouse décor.

I’d strung twinkle lights everywhere I could. The bathroom had been updated with a tile shower and upgraded toilet, which was nice. My bedroom was located in the back. I’d opted to buy a new mattress, with some wooden pallets painted pink and nailed together as a headboard. I’d gotten a dresser from the Tough Nickel that went perfectly with my distressed look. The fuzzy rugs and milk glass vases that were currently filled with different floral arrangements from the Sweet Smell Flower Shop, the local florist, were the perfect romantic touch, especially now since I’d been dating Hank Sharp.

“I’m not sure why you keep spending money to put ads in all them papers and magazines since we ain’t got no place to put people.” Dottie snarled. “We’ve been booked for months.”

“Thanks to a great manager like you.” I knew a little praise went a long way with her. “Just because we are booked doesn’t mean other people from the other campgrounds can’t participate. They will see how awesome our campground is and want to go ahead and book for next year.”

It was crazy how the campground was booked up for months. Cancellations went out every Tuesday morning at eight a.m., and we’d book back up within a few minutes of the emails going out.

“I guess I’m not complaining. It’s good to have a steady job.” Dottie had recently had a bout of fainting issues that resulted in her falling down and breaking a hip.

She’d lived in a local rehab facility while she got back up on her feet, which made her none too happy. The Laundry Club gals, our small group of friends, and I took turns visiting her day in and day out so Dottie didn’t have to be alone.

The Laundry Club gals were a big reason I’d decided to stay in Normal and make it my home. The Laundry Club was the name of the laundromat in Normal, where I had to do laundry when I first moved there since the laundry room at the campground wasn’t working. There, I’d met the owner, Betts Hager, along with Queenie French and Abby Fawn. They were all friends with Dottie, and it just so happened to be the place where all four of them hung out.

Years later, we all still met there for book club, coffee, and social hour. Plus, there was a police scanner there. Talk about hours of entertainment. The National Park Rangers along with the police department got several crazy calls every night. Campers got themselves into some crazy situations. We loved meeting up at the Laundry Club and gathering around the scanner to see what was going to happen next. Sometimes we’d jump into Betts’s old cleaning van and go see what all the commotion was about. Especially when there was a death.

It seemed a little morbid, but we did it anyway. That’s where the notebook came in handy. There’d been a few murders in these parts. Since it was a national forest and park, people figured they could just hide a body out here and it would never be found.

Somehow, one of the Laundry Club ladies or I would always discover or happen upon some sort of murder that put us in the thick of things, which was when we’d put clues in the notebook so we’d have them all in one place.

“I’ve been writing down ideas for the festival for next year in the notebook since we’ve not used it in a while.” I set the magazine back down on the small café table and took a good look at Dottie. “Are you out doing your physical therapy?”

She grimaced when she moved, but she tried to hide it from me.

“I’m trying, but I still can’t get good sleep with this new hip,” she moaned and rubbed her side.

“You’re just a couple of months out.” I slipped on my flip-flops. “Come on. I’ll go a time or two around with you.”

I walked over to the couch and helped her up. It wasn’t too late. I figured it to be around ten or so, since right before she’d gotten here, the night had turned completely dark. During the summer, it was still light out until nine thirty, which made the campground stay alive until around midnight.

The smell of the campfires was carried on the light breeze as it came through the open windows of the RV. It was a good time to walk around the campground and say hello to our guests.

I made sure we knew all of them by name when they arrived.

“I don’t need to bother you with walking me around like an old lady,” she grumbled and got to her feet.

“You are an old lady,” I teased, and she smacked me away. “We need to say goodnight to our guests. Remember, that’s why we are in for the Campground Hospitality Award.”

It was an honor to be in the running for the award with so many campgrounds in and around the national park. When I’d gotten word that we were up for it along with five other campgrounds, I knew we had it in the bag.

At least that’s what I told myself, determined to win. There was a competitive streak in me that I’d never been able to tame.

“Oh, they did put up the banner late this evening.” Dottie had told me the national park committee had called to let us know they were placing banners at each campground. “They had sent over the ballots for people too.”

“We need to make sure to distribute those tomorrow at the hospitality room.” I made a mental note to grab those in the morning from the office since it was my shift to open and take them to the recreational room, where there was complimentary coffee from Trails Coffee and donuts from the Cookie Crumble Bakery.

Both businesses were locally owned. I made sure when I opened the campground that I would feature local products and businesses so if the guests liked them, they’d go visit the businesses and purchase. It was a foolproof business plan that’d brought Normal back as a thriving community and got me the key to the city. . .which brought me back to the title “entrepreneur.”

I couldn’t help but swell up with pride when we stepped out of the RV and looked out across the lake in the middle of the campground with all the campfires dancing under the dark night sky.

“We sure have come a long way,” I told Dottie as we walked around the lake on the far side, near the bungalow section of Happy Trails. “I guess I never figured we’d have all the bungalows filled as well as all the little campers.”

“It was all that fixin’ up you’ve been doing. Making them so popular with the young folks, old folks, and families.” She pointed to the largest of the bungalows, where we could see right into the large window.

The family who had rented it had planned their family vacation here. They were sitting inside around the large kitchen table playing a board game. During the day, they’d been busy hiking all the trails that started in the campground. Tomorrow, they were going to go explore some of the hidden waterfalls.

“This one is still my favorite camper.” I pointed to the small canned-ham red camper that was a single. It was the cutest. It was very popular and always had a waiting list.

“I know.” Dottie stopped and pulled out the cigarette case. She snapped it open and batted out one of her stogies.

I’d really hoped she was going to break that habit when she was in the rehab center, but I now thought rehab had made it worse. Every time I’d go see her, she was having herself a big time, sitting outside with other residents, laughing and talking and all of them smoking too.

“How y’all doin’?” Dottie asked a group of campers when we passed by another one of our campers they’d rented.

She meandered over to their fire while I waited for Fifi to catch up to me on her small walk. That’s mostly what we did at night when she was on the leash, but since there were so many people up and fires going, I knew it would be safe for her to walk around without worrying about a coyote snatching her up.

There were a few people sitting on the dock that jutted out on the lake. The paddleboats were pulled up in their places, and Henry was locking them up. Henry Bryan was the handyman who had already worked here, just like Dottie, so it was natural to keep them both on staff. They were the only employees I had, and they were worth their weight in gold.

“Mae, this here is the state kayak champ who is going to be trying out for the next Olympic team.” Dottie’s accent got stronger as the excitement grew in her voice.

By the way the group of young people laughed, I could tell Dottie entertained them.

“Welcome to Happy Trails.” I wanted to make sure we gave a proper hello to our future Olympian. “Are you going to be participating in the kayak race?”

“Of course he is.” A young woman got up from the campfire and took her place next to him. “I’m Alli Shelton, Bryce Anderson’s agent.”

She had long straight brown hair, with all the pieces around her face pulled back into a clip that fastened at the back of her head. The big black-rimmed glasses took up a lot of her forehead and cheeks. From what I could see, she didn’t have on any makeup other than maybe a hint of lip balm—not exactly what I assumed for an agent.

Not that people got all dolled up when they went camping, but in her case, renting one of my fanciest campers, I’d say she was glamping it.

“Nice to meet you.” Hmm. . .I gave her a once-over as best I could, given it was dark out. By the way she held herself, I could tell she was also an entrepreneur, being an agent and all. “Bryce, we are honored to have you here.”

I made another mental note to be sure to look up kayaking, the Olympics, and Bryce when I made it into town tomorrow.

“You are the owner of the campground?” Alli asked me. I nodded. “And you’re the one putting on the kayak race, correct?”

“I am. If there’s anything you need, please just ask.” There was no doubt in my mind she would take me up on my offer.

“Oh, don’t worry. Bryce gets whatever it is he wants.” She glanced his way, but he’d already gone back to the campfire, where he was doing a couple of shots with a few of the others. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go talk to him, but I do want to come visit you in the morning to discuss his training while we are here and what times we’d like you to shut down the water activities.”

“Shut down?” I questioned and looked at Dottie after Alli rushed off. “Does she expect me to shut down the waterway for him to practice?”

“I guess she thinks his you-know-what don’t stink and he gets what he wants.” Dottie’s lit cigarette bounced from the corner of her mouth as she talked.

Both of us stood there and watched as Bryce and Alli had a disagreement. Apparently, from what I’d overheard, she wasn’t happy with him drinking and thought he needed to get some sleep. After he told her to lighten up, she stormed off in the direction of one of the little red campers she’d rented while he casually made his way over to another set of campers filled with some college girls taking a summer girls’ trip, not caring one bit about the Paddle Fest.

“He don’t give one iota about kayaking.” Dottie nudged me when Bryce grabbed a girl by the hand. “That woman is right. That boy gets whatever it is he wants.”

They disappeared down the mouth of the closest trail.

“Mm-hmm,” I said, smiling, “and he’s gonna get some chiggers in places he don’t want too.”

Chapter 2

There was nothing that could come close to the sunrise in the Daniel Boone National Park. As much as people wanted to try to think the beach was better than the mountains, there was no comparison.

The golden rays extended like fingers as the orange-and-pink sky rose just above the treetops. Various colors of green danced from tree to tree as the light filtered through. Six a.m. was one of my favorite times of day.

With a good night’s sleep, Fifi darting ahead of me, and the birds chirping all around me, I headed up to the office to get a jump on the day with a smile on my face. There was always a lot to do in the office, and with the festival starting today, I had to run into town for a few last-minute items.

“Mornin’, Mae,” Henry hollered from across the lake at the entrance of the recreational center. “I’ll be right over after I get these donuts in here.”

Henry liked to get up early. If the donuts and coffee weren’t delivered by the time he came up to the office, he took it upon himself to call the shops and let them know he was coming to get them.

Fifi was busy doing her morning business, so I had nothing to do but wait on Henry. I sipped my coffee and enjoyed the light summer breeze blowing across the campground. Some of the campfires were still smoldering. My eyes swept across to the trail where I’d seen Bryce and the college girl slip down, and I wondered how their night had gone.

It was none of my business. As long as they didn’t disturb the other guests or destroy any of the forest, we were good.

The trails around the campground were clearly marked, and it was highly recommended not to hike them in the night. I figured Bryce and the young woman weren’t going hiking, and I wasn’t their mother. They were adults.

“How’s it going?” I asked Henry when he finally made it over to my side of the lake.

“It’s all good. I got the kids games all set up down by the creek. The picnic tables are situated just like you wanted them to be. Coach has set up the archery stations. I was going to ask you to get some more ballots run off because it looked like they only gave you a few to hand out.” He took off his hat when he talked to me. His scraggly hair was pretty much gone in most places. Henry always took off his ballcap when he talked to any woman. It was a Southern-gentleman thing. “I want to hand them out at the festival.”

“That’s a great idea.” I patted my leg and made smoochy noises for Fifi to come on. “I’ve got to go to town to grab a few things, and I’ll stop by the library to get some more printed off.”

There was a copier in the office, but it was built into a basic home printer, and we needed a few hundred ballots. The library had a nice one, and it was free for local businesses, and I wanted to talk to Abby about the social media marketing plan she had for the rest of the week.

“A few new campers came in last night.” Henry’s eyes moved past me and beyond the campers behind me.

Happy Trails Campground was pretty large and took up a great deal of land. Campsites varied in size and what they offered. The land we had allowed us to provide many options and sizes of campers and RVs. Guests didn’t even have to own an RV or camper to stay here, and that was what Alli Shelton and Bryce Anderson were actually doing. They’d each rented a different camper that stayed put, kind of like renting a hotel room but with the camping experience. We also had bungalows for rent, which were little cabins with all the necessary amenities. And we had full-timers who rented camper pads, each complete with a concrete slab and grassy area, and lived here year-round.

Though not many, we did have campers and RVs for yearly rentals as vacation-type homes. Dottie, Henry, and I were full-timers along with Hank, Ty Randal, and Ty’s father and brothers.

All sites were situated around the big lake in the middle of the campground with a blacktop drive around it. Dottie’s camper was the first camper on the right after you passed by the office and the storage units. There were a few more campers between me and her. Behind us were a few trailheads, but right behind the bungalows were tent camping sites as well as more RV and camper pads. These were tucked into the woods and were loved by the campers who wanted to be alone or feel like they were really roughing it.

I’d found over the past couple of years that our guests loved the community we’d created. We had a nightly supper where each person could sign up to make one dish over a campfire, which would add up to be enough for the whole campground, and everyone would walk around with plates and eat together. It was a great way to get to know each other and really form a bond.

“I must’ve been passed out,” I told Henry because I normally heard every time someone came in late.

I used my key to open the late-arrivals container on the outside of the office, where the guest could check in after hours with a code that was emailed to them upon arrival, and noticed one was gone.

“Wooded lot?” Henry asked since he lived back near there. “Green TT, about a twenty-four-footer.”

He’d recalled it was a TT, standing for “travel trailer,” and its size. That meant it was hauled in by a truck or large SUV, which wasn’t uncommon. We had more TTs than RVs lately with the boom in sales over the last year.

I read the name of the person who checked in. “Larry Baine. He’s here for the race.” I recalled talking to him when he’d called to make a reservation. Plus, I’d been doing a lot of research on who was who in the kayak world.

When he’d made the reservation, he’d asked me all sorts of questions about kayaking and water flow, which made me realize I needed a lot more knowledge about kayaking. During my research, Larry Baine’s name had come up because his grandson was an up-and-coming kayaker.

At that point, I knew I needed an expert of sorts, and that’s when I knew I had to get Alvin Deters involved.

Alvin Deters. Another person I needed to see today when I went into town.

“He sure was having a hard time backing in.” Henry snickered. His big nose grew bigger when he gave me a smile so wide that it showed the hole where his two front teeth were missing. “I was watchin’ too.” Henry slowly nodded. “I was prepared to help if I needed to.”

“Mornin’, May-bell-ine,” Bobby Ray Bonds, my foster brother who lived full-time in one of the bungalows, hollered out the window of his beat-up old truck on his drive out of the campground.

I gave a wave, as did Henry.

“Must be six thirty.” I didn’t need to look at the clock to know it was the same time every day that Bobby Ray left the campground to head into downtown Normal, where he worked at Grassel’s Garage as the head mechanic. “That means I’ve got to get to work.”

“Be sure you get me them flyers,” Henry reminded me as I unlocked the office door. “And the electrical inspector gave us a pass on the new lights going down Red Fox Trail.”

Fifi ran in before I could flip the lights on. She ran over to the water bowl to get a drink while I opened the window blinds to let a good bit of morning sunshine in before it got too hot. For it being the dead of summer, the forest trees did provide good shade, but the humidity was still a bummer during the later afternoon hours. That’s when I’d take Fifi home so she could stay in the camper and rest.

When I pulled up the blind behind Dottie’s desk, I noticed Alli Shelton was talking to a man I didn’t recognize.

“That’s good,” I responded to Henry. It was like everything I’d planned to get the campground ready to be a host for Paddle Fest seemed to be coming together in the final hours. “All the extra lights will be a bonus for everyone at night.”

There were already a few light posts that dotted Red Fox Trail, which led down to the rapids where the kayak competition would start for Paddle Fest. The kayakers would then keep going, passing many trails and other campgrounds in the Daniel Boone National Forest, until they got to the end.

All of us campground owners had planned and worked together, and we’d decided to host various activities for people of all ages to bring guests to our campground. I had planned activities up into the night, so it was very important for me to get Red Fox Trail all lit up so no one got hurt or worse, lost.

It was easy to get lost on a trail. That was the number one emergency call during the height of hiking season around here. Someone would report that a person had gotten lost or gone missing after they veered off a trail, taking them deep into the forest where the forest rangers had to stage a rescue.

I sure didn’t want that to happen. At all.

Henry told me all about the various activity stations he’d set up before I’d left my covers this morning, including target practice, sightseeing, bird-watching activities for children, children’s kayak lessons, and many more.

“I bet that’s Larry,” I said to Fifi under my breath as I looked out the window, but she didn’t seem too interested. She was already lying down on the big pillow next to Dottie’s desk, where she’d wait patiently for Dottie. Fifi knew Dottie would give her a treat if she waited long enough.

Henry continued to talk, and I continued to watch Alli and the man I assumed to be Larry walking up to the office. So they wouldn’t see me spying on them, I hurried over to the coffee maker, which Dottie had prefilled the night before, and pressed the brew button.

Dottie and I both loved coffee so much. We had an understanding that whoever closed had to get the coffee ready for the person opening the next day.

The office door opened.

“Good morning, y’all.” I smiled and looked between the two people in the doorway.

“I don’t think we are going to have time,” the man told Alli.

“But we are here, and there seems to be nothing but time on our hands. Not much to do around here.” Her hair and lack of makeup were the same as they’d been last night, but she was a spitfire, and I guess that’s what you’d want in an agent.

“Seems to me like you got plenty to keep your hands tied.” The man gave a slight smile. “Last night when me and Hunter pulled in, Bryce and some little woman were dancing around the campfire. . .naked.”

“Naked?” Alli and I both gasped at the same time.

“Naked?” I said again and slid my eyes to her. “We are a family establishment. If you can’t keep your client in line, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

“Larry Baine, you are lying.” Alli’s hands fisted at her sides. “You and your grandson will wish one day that I was your agent.”

“Once you stop making Bryce Anderson your priority, then we will talk about it. And according to what’s being said around the circuit, that won’t be too long.” Larry took a breath.

“What are you talking about?” Alli glared at him as her words seethed through her teeth. “My client relationship with Bryce is rock-solid.”

“I heard he put out feelers, that’s all.” Larry’s head tilted. He paused to give her a moment to respond.

Though Alli tried to hide it, a woman knew when another woman was covering up her true feelings, and right now, Alli was trying her hardest not to give any indication that the rumors just might be true.

“I’m not saying you will not ever represent him. I’m telling you to stop putting your other clients on the back burner.” He must’ve decided to let her out of the hot seat.

“If you give me five minutes of your time, I’m sure it’ll be worthwhile.”

The woman confused me. One minute she was mad, and the next she was practically begging for Larry’s attention—but attention for what?

“Not today.” Larry looked up at me. “If you don’t mind, I need to speak with. . .” He searched for what to call me.

“Mae West. You must be Larry Baine in lot fifty-four.” I put my hand out like a good entrepreneur and shook his with some, but not too much, squeeze. “This is Henry. If you need anything while you’re here, you just have to holler for Henry.”

Henry nodded, taking his cap from the pocket of his overalls and pulling it back on his head before he dismissed himself to get on with his day.

“I’m telling you, Larry.” Alli had no manners. She continued to butt in. “Hunter’s career will not take off with his grandfather as his agent. Sponsorships come and go all the time when the parent gets greedy. I can look at the situation in an unbiased way.”

It dawned on me that she was trying to get his grandson Hunter as a client when the door swung open, nearly knocking Alli in the back. Dottie Swaggert stood there in her full housedress, hot-pink curlers in her hair and stumped-out cigarette in her grip.

“You ain’t gonna believe who I saw last night, prancing around under the moon in his birthday suit.” She cackled before she looked up and realized we had company. “Sorry ’bout this. May-bell-ine, can I see you outside?” She couldn’t stop smiling.

“I’m gonna kill Bryce!” Alli pushed past a laughing Larry Baine and headed out the door.

I swear I could hear her heavy footsteps all the way around the lake.

“Dottie, this is Mr. Baine, staying in lot fifty-four. He and his grandson will be here a few days.” I introduced them.

“Are you unsociable or something?” Dottie gave him a once-over and rubbed her hip with the hand holding the blunted cigarette. “Only people who don’t like to be friendly normally camp way back there.”

“Dottie, I’m going to need to go into town today. What time can you come in?” I asked to take the heat off Larry, who clearly had no idea what had just walked through the door.

Dottie was as blunt as you could get. She didn’t mean any harm, and everyone around Normal knew that, but our customer didn’t.

“I can stay now. My hip is bugging me, and I got me a late-afternoon appointment at the rehab center. You think you can take me?” She walked over to the coffeepot and took the carafe. Then she poured a cup of coffee and extended it to Larry Baine.

“Why thank you, Dottie.” He smiled. “I appreciate it.” He had a charm that Dottie liked. She blushed the color of her hair. . .and not her natural hair either.

Dottie’s hair was box color 409 found down at the Cute-icles Hair Salon. It was something I had to get used to when I moved here. Long gone was the fancy spa in Manhattan where my stylist mixed various hair dye shades to get the perfect highlight for my skin tone, and hello box color that made my hair look as mousy as would a week without hair washing.

“What can I do for you so early?” I asked Larry and made my own coffee.

I kept a close eye on Dottie as she slowly limped over to her desk, where Fifi was sitting patiently, waiting for Dottie to sit down. Before Dottie had her surgery, Fifi would jump up on her and dance around, but now, it was as though Fifi knew Dottie wasn’t feeling well, so she stayed calm.

While Dottie stayed occupied with giving Fifi treats, Larry sat down in the chair in front of my desk, sipping his cup of coffee.

“I’m sure you overheard me and Alli. Her client and my grandson are both kayak competitors. We see each other on the circuit.”

Circuit? It all sounded so professional.

He lifted his right leg up and rested his ankle on the knee of his left leg. There was a nice ease to him. He was much more relaxed than Alli. “I was wanting to get a schedule of the festival events so we could get some practice times in.” He didn’t ask for anything unreasonable.

“You mean to tell me you don’t want no special treatment like shutting down the Daniel Boone National Forest waterways so your client can practice?” Dottie smiled so big.

“You mean to tell me she asked if you could close everything down for Bryce to practice?” Larry stared at me with a blank face.

“I’m sure we can get a schedule of events to you. Tonight, we will be passing out brochures that will show the entire route of the kayak competition. There are various campgrounds participating along the path, so each will have different activities going on there as well.” I had to pick those up at Deter’s Feed-N-Seed today since Alvin had a nice large printer and he’d agreed to print them off for our campground.

The phone rang, and Dottie grabbed it up.

“Happy mornin’ at Happy Trails Campground. What can I do you for?” she asked and followed up with some “mm-hmms,” “yeps,” and “sures.” She then held her hand over the phone’s receiver. “Lloyd Hornbuckle, Daniel Boone National Park President.” Her brows rose.

“I’m sorry. I need to take this call,” I told Larry. “I’ll be sure to get our brochure to you today, and Dottie will get a list of names and numbers from the other campgrounds so you can call them to get their scheduled events.”

Larry seemed pleased with my answer and stood up.

“Can I get a refill?” he asked.

“You sure can. In fact, there’s coffee and donuts in the hospitality room in the building behind us,” I suggested.

“It’s actually the recreational room by day and night, but in the morning, Mae uses her big-city language to call it the hospitality room.” Dottie looked at me. “Line one, Lloyd Hornbuckle.” She grinned then looked at Larry, who was on his way out of the office. “Mr. Baine,” Dottie called after him.

He turned around.

“No nekkidness.” She smacked the desk with her fingers, and her head flew back in laughter, causing Fifi to jump up out of a dead sleep.

Chapter 3

“Good morning, Mr. Hornbuckle.” I spoke in a very chipper tone. “I’ve been meaning to call you, but with Paddle Fest starting this week, it’s been my top priority to make sure the safety of all participants has my full attention.”

Dottie groaned and moaned and even mocked me, poking fun at my conversation with the president of the Daniel Boone National Park Board. Recently, there’d been a position open on the fifteen-member board. Since I had the credentials of a class-A board member who had developed commercial outdoor recreation activities at a site for off-highway vehicle users—in no fancy terms, owned a campground—I was eligible to be appointed.

It would be an honor and something I should’ve truly considered, but I had yet to put a brain cell toward it.

“Yes, sir. I did get the AD-775 form you sent in the mail, and I’ve yet to fill it out.” I sat there listening to Lloyd tell me how important it was to take the appointment very seriously and how being on such a prestigious board would impact the entire national forest and not just the part of the forest Happy Trails was situated in.

Then he said the word. “Mae, we are seeking developed entrepreneurs like yourself to head various committees and see to it that our organization works in collaboration with natural resource managers, local officials, and others to help make project decisions that benefit national forest lands and communities.” He made it sound so easy. “We have a committee meeting tomorrow night at the park office there in Normal. We’d love to see you there with your form filled out and sitting in the vacant chair.”

“What time is the meeting?” I asked and looked at the desk calendar Dottie had put on my desk. She’d gone down to the bank one day and come back with an armful of three-year-old calendars that Ann Doherty, the bank teller, had found when cleaning out the bank closet.

Dottie spent all day changing the dates on them with a Sharpie marker. It kept her busy and out of my hair that day.

“I can’t promise I’ll be there, but I’ll try,” I told Lloyd, enough to get him off the phone.

“Good morning!” Gert Hobson pushed through the door with two coffees in hand. “I figured I’d better drop these off this morning on my second round of refilling the carafes.”

“We are full up on guests.” Dottie took the to-go cup from Gert, the owner of Trails Coffee Shop.

“These pots were plumb dry.” She shook her head. “Every customer who’s been in the last couple of days has said they were camping here, so I figured they must be sucking the hospitality coffee dry, so I might’s well refill them.”

She pointed her chin toward the window behind Dottie. “Who’s the kid?” Her question made me and Dottie look to see who she was talking about.

“Bryce Anderson.” A smirk crossed my face when I pictured him completely naked and dancing around the fire. “Ask Dottie about him.”

“If I were a few years younger. . .” Dottie sighed.

“A few years?” My eyes grew, knowing her sixty-something self wouldn’t be of interest to Bryce Anderson’s twenty-something-year-old hormones, especially after I’d seen him take the young woman in the woods to do what so many young people do when they come to Happy Trails.

Not that I was some old geezer. I was still in my twenties, but not for too many more months.

“Just you wait and see, Mae West.” Dottie shook her crooked finger at me. “This new hip is gonna give me some dance moves even your brother can’t resist.”

“Then you need to do the physical therapy they told you to do with a walker.” I’d been to every single one of Dottie’s doctor’s appointments with her. “They told you to use that walker for the first few weeks at home to build up strength and avoid falling.”

“That’s true,” Gert agreed. “They did the same with my dad.”

“It’s all rocky around here and hard to maneuver.” Dottie had a point, but she always had an excuse.

“I’ll figure it out.” I knew a couple of older people I could ask to see if they had one of those walkers with wheels to help get around the gravel. “It’s not like you need it for the walking. You need it for when you’re resting and can lean on it while doing the daily walks around the lake.”

Dottie rolled her eyes and scrunched her nose in obvious disagreement.

“Let me know if you need me to grab anything while I’m out.” There was no use in arguing with her. I’d get what she needed—I’d even go by the Tough Nickel Thrift Shop to see if Buck had one. He always had weird things, so maybe. It was next to Deter’s Feed-N-Seed, and it wouldn’t take any time to just pop in there to ask.

I left Fifi and Gert at the office and headed back to my camper to get my keys and purse before I headed out of the campground, down the curvy park road that spilled into downtown Normal. The foliage had filled in the forest with the various shades of green, and the wildflowers gave just enough pops of color. It was so pleasing to the eye.

Normal played off the nature it was surrounded by.

Main Street was one-way on each side with a grassy median in between. The grassy area was so large that the town was able to use it not only as green space for tourists to picnic on, but as a walkway with stepping stones to some picnic tables or to the amphitheater where the local theater company put on its plays.

Today was play practice, and about twelve locals were up on stage with their scripts held up to their faces, keeping cool underneath the structure held up by large white pillars. Each pillar had a natural-gas lantern hanging from it, which added to the cozy feel of the town.

A few people were sitting in the covered seating area, watching the troupe rehearse. I recognized Violet Rhinehammer, the local celebrity news anchor and lead in most of the plays, fiddling with the twinkling lights around each pole.

Her blond hair neatly parted to the side and layered in loose curls as well as the hot-pink pantsuit she had on told me she was probably about to film a segment of her new show, Good Day in the Park. She’d been trying so hard through various media outlets to make it big-time that she’d about killed herself coming up with ideas. Her daily broadcast from the park was just one of the babies she’d created.

When I saw her cameraman come out of nowhere, I hightailed it out of my car in the opposite direction. I’d been a victim to Violet’s camera and microphone being shoved in my face, catching me off guard, and I did not intend for today to be one of those days with any sort of camera appearance.

With my head down in my phone so I wouldn’t make accidental eye contact with Violet, I texted Agnes Swift, Hank’s grandmother. She was much older than Dottie, but she might have a friend who had one of those specific walkers I was looking for. It would take her a minute to text me—not that she couldn’t, but she also answered the dispatch phone at the sheriff’s department.

The summer was always the busiest time for them down there. With my phone once again in my pocket and my back to the amphitheater, I walked down the busy Main Street sidewalk where all the little shops were located, which is what made Normal an extra-special choice for tourists to enhance their hiking vacations.

The shops were set up in freestanding cottage-style homes with small courtyards between them. They ranged from the Smelly Dog, which was a pet groomer, to Normal Diner, the Tough Nickel Thrift Shop, and Deter’s Feed-N-Seed, as well as more boutique-type shops that I couldn’t wait to check out. The display windows of each shop even showcased photos of families camping and summers in Normal.

It might’ve been funny to some people that there was a pet-grooming store in the middle of the Daniel Boone National Park, but to hikers and campers, it wasn’t. Families often traveled with their pets, which quite often got dirty on hikes and trails.

Ethel Biddle, the owner, was even open to taking in pets for daycare when their families went on long full-day hikes or even camped in tents overnight.

“Morning, Otis.” I pulled open the door to the Tough Nickel and found Otis Gullett standing there with Buck.

“Mornin’, Miss Mae.” Otis stuck his thumbs in the buckles of his overalls. He rocked back on the worn heels of his cowboy boots. “You gettin’ the stage all ready for us?”

“It’s there and ready.” I smiled. “The campground is getting real full, too, so you better bring some CDs to sell.”

Otis was the fiddle player in the band Blue Ethel and the Adolescent Farm Boys—yep, the same Ethel Biddle who also owned Smelly Dog. Otis had taken pride in recording all the times I’d hired them to play live at the campground and making them into CDs. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that CDs were no longer relevant in today’s world, so I’d send some kid at the campground over to the stage with a fifty and buy them all. Otis had no idea I was the one doing it, and he didn’t need to find out.

“I better skedaddle, then.” He hurried around me and out the door.

“I didn’t mean to run off a customer,” I said to Buck.

“Nah. Old Otis, he comes in every morning when I flip the sign over.” Buck was in his sixties and had coal-black hair. He was tall and slender. “You’re usually not here this early.”

“I’ve got so much going on to get Paddle Fest fully ready, but Dottie Swaggert has got me all worried she’s going to fall because she doesn’t want to use the walker the rehab center gave her. So I thought I’d stop in here on my way over to see Alvin to see if you have a walker with wheels on it.” I crossed my fingers and put them up in the air.

“Hate to burst your bubble, but I ain’t got none.” He tapped his ear. “I’ll keep my ear peeled and let you know if I hear of one.”

“Thanks Buck. I appreciate it.” I waved goodbye.

“I’ll see you later. I hear you’re hosting the big kickoff party for the fest, and I wouldn’t miss it.” That was what I loved so much about this community—everyone was so supportive of one another. We might have done a little gossiping around these parts and had a little competition now and then, but when we needed to, we all came together to support one another.

It didn’t take me long to walk into Deter’s Feed-N-Seed. It was the local shop for anything I needed regarding the campground. If Alvin didn’t have something in the store, he knew someone who would.

“Good morning,” I trilled when I saw Alvin standing at the counter then said sorry when I noticed he had been talking to a customer I didn’t see standing in an aisle. “I wanted to see if I could get some brochures.”

“Yep.” Alvin put his hand out to take the paper from me. He winked and smiled. “I’ve been hearing around town you’ve got a good shot at taking first place in the Campground Hospitality Award.”

“I hope so. Another thing I can boost on social media to get the word out on how amazing our town is so we get as many tourists as we can in all seasons.” I’d made it my mission to bring as much business as possible to Normal after my now-dead ex-husband, Paul West, had pulled off the biggest Ponzi scheme to date in the United States, not only taking everyone for their money in New York City but also in the small towns between there and Normal.

That’s how I’d become the owner of the Happy Trails. It was the only thing Paul had put in my name when he was hauled off to federal prison to serve his life sentence. Luckily—well, unlucky for Paul—someone had gotten to him and killed him before I got to wring his neck myself.

It took a lot of sweat and tears and me getting rid of my pride to get the townsfolk to even accept me as a citizen. It was through the community finally embracing me that I realized I had to give back what Paul took: their livelihoods. It was then that I’d vowed my life’s mission would be to make sure the economy thrived there.

I’d even received the key to the city, which made all the hard work worth it. Now, it’d become second nature, which was another reason to consider sitting on the board of the National Park Committee. Just another thing to add to my plate.

I handed Alvin the paper.

He looked at it and set it down on the counter. He tugged on his big belt buckle, pulling his pants up, and tucked his plaid shirt into the bluest of jeans. He never wore any color jeans other than dark blue. He ran his hand over his light-brown hair.

“You do know you’re the one who deserves this most, right?” He was always kind of a fatherly figure to me around here. He’d been so helpful with getting me all the tools and equipment I needed and watching all the YouTube videos I scoured to get the campground up and running. Not to mention how nasty the lake had been before he cleaned it up.

“You are too kind to me, Alvin.” I smiled. “Do you want me to wait?”

“Do you have anywhere else you need to go?” he asked.

Just at the right moment, my phone rang. I pulled it from my pocket and saw it was Hank.

“I need to take this call.” I wiggled my phone in the air.

“I’ll have them ready when you’re finished yammering.” He picked the brochure back up and turned to head toward the office in the back of his shop while I headed back out the door to the sidewalk so I could talk to my Hank in private.

“Hey there.” Every time I saw his name on my phone, it caused my heart to go pitter-patter and a smile as big as the Daniel Boone National Park to cross my lips. “I guess you’ve been busy and with Chester too.”

Chester was Hank’s dog, who most days stayed at the campground with me, but it seemed like Hank was taking him to work recently.

“Good morning.” His deep Southern accent made my insides drop down into my toes. “I’m missing you.” He completely ignored what I’d said, and it was fine with me. I’d rather hear him saying he missed me than tell me something about work.

“I miss you,” I said back. I was so lost in his voice that I didn’t even see Violet coming at me.

“Mae, can I get a statement about Paddle Fest for Good Day in the Park?” She shoved the microphone in my face and proceeded to look at the cameraman, rolling her other hand around as if she were telling him to start. “We are here with Happy Trails Campground owner and founder of the first Paddle Fest, Maybelline West. Mae, you are a transplant to the area and have truly embraced the lifestyle the forest has to offer.”

“Umm. . .” I looked into the camera with wide-open eyes. Slowly, I took the phone from my ear and held it down to my side.

“What on earth made you think of bringing back the kayak race to town?” she asked and looked at me, showing me that bright-white set of chompers underneath her fake smile.

“Back to town?” I asked.

“Yes. Surely you knew Alvin Deters—” She gasped. “Speaking of Alvin Deters. . .” She grabbed ahold of his arm as soon as he walked out the Feed-N-Seed door, dragging the poor man into the camera shot. “Alvin, what do you think of Mae bringing back the sport that almost made you famous?”

He chuckled at her words that were a little dig. “I’m excited to see what Mae has done. It’s good for the community and great for the sport.” He was so gracious.

“You have to be thrilled to have it back. After all, you were the state champ back in the day.” She nudged him, turning to the camera to smile. “From what I understand, you’re giving kayak lessons to children at the Red Fox Trail, where it just so happens Mae here owns the canoeing and white-water rafting business now.”

“You’ve certainly done your homework, Violet.” I took the microphone from her and stared right into the camera. “I’m excited to be bringing Paddle Fest not only to Normal and the Daniel Boone National Park, but also the rest of the world so we can show you just how gorgeous our National Park really is. There are over eight campgrounds participating, and you can pick up a brochure to all of them if you stop by Deter’s Feed-N-Seed. While you’re in town, come on by Happy Trails tomorrow, where we will be doing the opening ceremony. There will be local businesses with tents set up so you can shop and a band. There will also be enough campfire food to fill your belly.”

Violet grabbed the microphone back.

“Thank you, Mae.” She tried not to show her disapproval of me taking over, but the tone of her voice told me she wasn’t happy. She turned to the camera. “You heard it right from the horse’s mouth. I’m Violet Rhinehammer, host of Good Day in the Park, and we will be right back after a word from our sponsor.”

“Cut!” The cameraman took his eye away from the camera.

Violet twisted around so fast her long hair flew around, knocking me in the face.

“Don’t you ever take my microphone out of my hand. No one touches my microphone.” Her brows lifted in disapproval before she took off down the street.

“Alvin! I knew you knew all about kayaking, but I had no idea you were a champion.” I couldn’t believe that after all these months of planning and me coming to him for advice, he’d never once told me about it.

“When you have time, I’ve got a photo behind the counter I can show you with my team.” There was a sense of pride I’d never seen on Alvin’s face. “I’ve been really excited about getting my oars wet, with you having me give lessons to the young kids.”

“I’m so glad. Now that I’ve taken over the business down there and have a lot of families staying at the campground, maybe we can work out something once a week.” It was another great idea that seemed to pop into my head, making me question why on earth I was so reluctant to take the open position on the park board. I mightn’t’ve had a college education, but I did have street smarts with great ideas.

“You know, I might take you up on that offer, so why don’t we talk about it once the Paddle Fest is over.” He stuck out his hand.

“Deal.” I pushed his hand aside and gave him a great big hug. “You’ve done so much for me, and I’m not sure I’ve given you a proper thank-you.”

“You doing all you’ve done for Normal the past couple of years is thanks enough, little lady.” He pointed to Violet, who was trotting right back toward us. “You better get going before she wrangles you for another interview.”

And hightail it I did, but not before noticing Violet had rudely interrupted a conversation between Larry Baine and his son after they’d walked up to Alvin.

“You have no shame,” I muttered and watched as Violet’s cameraman threw the heavy piece of equipment back up on his shoulder, giving Violet the “go” sign that must’ve meant it was time to shove the microphone in anyone’s face.

Just thinking about how bold Violet could be at times put a fire under me, making me get hustling with the things I needed to do, and heading to the library was next on my list.

The Normal Library was the typical library with the open area when you walked in, the children’s section on the right, and the various other sections towards the back. The reference desk and Abby’s office were located on the left.

It wasn’t the biggest library, but it was big enough for Normal and what I was doing there today: visiting with Abby about the social media coverage for Paddle Fest. The library was silent and empty from what I could tell. I rang the bell on the counter and heard Abby moving around in the back. She stuck her head out the office door.

“Hey, come on back. I was just downloading all the photos from the opening ceremony and sent you a Google photo album with them. ” She gave a couple quick head-nods before she disappeared again. “I think you’re going to like what I’ve come up with for the week and the photos I’ve picked out to help promote future events.”

“You’ve already done so much. I love the ads you put in the National Park Magazine.” I kept to myself how I’d really loved the entrepreneurial part. “I think I’ll just leave whatever it is you’re doing for the week up to you. Really, I need your advice.”

“Me?” She drew her hand up to her chest. Her long brown hair was always pulled back when she was working. “I’m flattered.”

Abby and I were about the same age. She grew up in Normal, so when I’d been having a hard time with the older folks here when I decided to stay, she’d really helped me understand their history in the small southern town. I really did appreciate the friendship she’d given me.

“Lloyd Hornbuckle has asked me to come to the meeting tomorrow with my decision.” I didn’t have to go into any detail about what the position was because they’d been hounding me for a few months since I told them I’d think about it. “My timeframe is over.”

“And why do you not want to sit on the board? What do you have to do with that time?” Abby took the opportunity to take the floor and lay it all out. “Dottie is back. She’s been running the campground since before I was born. Henry is there for any needs. You’re there and don’t really have to be at the park office unless there’s an emergency meeting outside of the monthly meetings. You might have to go to a festival or two, but we already do that.”

“You’re right. I guess it’s just I don’t want any bad issues to come up that I’d be responsible for and vote the wrong way. Then everything I’ve worked for to get Normal’s economy back up and running will be turned upside down. It’s easier to get things done on a small scale as a business owner.” I frowned when I heard how silly my reasoning was.

“Exactly that. This”—she gestured around—“is small scale. You’re meant to do big things. You could change so much for the Daniel Boone National Forest. Maybe not this year but next. You never know what can come up that would be great for the entire forest.”

“You’re right.” I smacked my hands together. She had me pumped up. “You know what, I’m going to go in there tomorrow and tell them yes.”

“I’m so proud of you. And so honored you came to me!” She squealed, leaning in to hug me. “Now, you need to get back and get Happy Trails in tip-top shape. I read a tweet that ESPN might be sending a reporter here. All eyes on kayaking.”

My jaw dropped. Was she serious?

“See?” She fumbled with her phone before I could pick my jaw up off the ground and showed me the tweet. “And it went across all of their media.” She continued to flip through all the social media outlets as my head spun. “You wanted everyone here. . .looks like you got your wish.”

Chapter 4

There was a giddyup in my step. With her talk of me being on the board, Abby had gotten me so excited for not only Paddle Fest but the future of our little community that I’d not even realized I was turning my car back into Happy Trails Campground.

Campers of various types were lined up waiting to get their reservation.

“Oh, Dottie,” I groaned and drove past all the guests, parking anywhere I could find after I made it up to the office. “You should’ve called me,” I said under my breath when I saw her sitting in a chair next to the door with Henry feeding her the papers for the guests to sign, something we did in office.

“You left me in prime checkin’-in time. You picked a fine time to leave me.” She had no issues airing out her grievances in front of the customer she was working with. “Henry, go get me a welcome kit.”

Henry jerked around and ran into the office after she barked the order.

“Why don’t we get out of the heat and get on in the air conditioner,” I told the family of three when I noticed the young boy had beads of sweat above his upper lip, where in a few short years would be a little peach fuzz of a mustache. “Dottie, can you please go grab the afternoon cookies from the Cookie Crumble and walk down the line of cars to give them out and thank them for waiting?” It was more of a polite command than a question.

“In my shape?” She patted her hip. “You must’ve lost your mind.”

“I’m sure everyone will be waiting patiently when they see you’re getting up there in . . .”

“Don’t you dare say it, May-bell-ine.” She shook that finger at me again. “What ’bout the afternoon cookies? We gonna have to replace those.”

“I’m sure Christine Watson won’t mind.” I took the opportunity to text Christine, the owner of the Cookie Crumble, to order whatever cookies she had on hand or weren’t selling as fast today. “Let me get your welcome package.”

“I’ll stay out there.” The boy gestured to the door.

“First time in a campground?” I asked his mom, trying to rouse his excitement so we could move past the first impression Dottie’d given them. Then I handed her a homemade basket that all the guests received.

It was just samplings of the full baskets we sold for the guests. The various baskets had different themes. There were kids baskets with camping toys, things I could get from either the Tough Nickel or Deter’s Feed-N-Seed, a spa basket filled with items from Cute-icles, a Sweet Tooth basket with goodies from the Cookie Crumble, and a Coffee and More basket offering delicious samplings from Trails Coffee. We also had movie-themed, first aid, and honeymoon baskets, and you could imagine the fun Dottie and I had putting those together. A basket for any occasion was available. If we didn’t have one of the requests, we’d make it. But everyone got the welcome basket with various samplings and coupons from around the area.

“No.” The mom laughed as she took the basket from me. I gestured for her and her husband to sit. The young boy rested on the arm of the chair when his dad told him to stay put. “He’s a big fan of Bryce Anderson, and from what he’s researched, Bryce is staying here.”

“He is. Right over there.” Dottie pointed before she put her hand on the knob to leave. My heart dropped. “And he runs around nekkid at night.”

The young man jumped up and ran to the window. The mom had a horrified look on her face while the young man laughed. The father looked confused.

The young man was on his phone. “I’m telling the world!” He kept typing. “Hashtag ‘naked at night.’ Hashtag ‘Bryce Anderson.’ Say, where are we?”

“Joey, calm down.” The mom gave him that mom look.

“Now, Sue, he’s excited. It is why we are here.”

“Now, John,” Sue said sarcastically. “We need to get into our camper, then we can have fun.”

“What she means is that his attire for kayaking is a little pair of swim trunks,” I said. I had no idea what Bryce wore or really anything about him, but I did know Dottie shouldn’t’ve told them anything about Bryce. I gave Dottie the wonky eye, which made her move out of the office faster than I’d seen her move since her surgery.

“Technically, his agent is staying here.” I had to stop the young man’s social media posting before Alli Shelton was on my case about this.

She was one I didn’t want to spar with. She scared me. The quicker I could get this family checked in, the better off we’d all be, and the line of guests would move along.

“There’s JJ Rich!” the boy screamed and bounced around, looking out the window.

“Why, Sue, it sure is.” The husband was more excited about this JJ Rich character than being in my fabulous campground, so I quickly pulled my phone out and looked him up.

ESPN.

I sucked in a deep breath and wondered how I would handle this.

“Now, let’s get you all signed in so you can join the fun festivities and surprises we at Happy Trails Campground have to offer during Paddle Fest.” I took one of the ballots and slid it across the desk along with the forms they needed to sign. I went over the forms and finally got to the ballot. “I’m so proud of Happy Trails, and I’m sure you’re going to find it an amazing and safe place for families. Especially during a major event like Paddle Fest, which I’m proud to say that I came up with for the entire Daniel Boone National Park. This year, we are in the running for a Campground Hospitality Award.” I made sure I pointed out the form so she couldn’t mistake it.

Sue looked it over.

“We’d appreciate your vote if you feel we’ve provided the Southern hospitality you expected. The ballots will be tallied at the end of Paddle Fest and the winner announced during the closing ceremonies. But in the meantime, tomorrow is the opening ceremony here, so you just have to step out of the camper you’ve rented and enjoy.” I handed her the brochure Abby had made about all the local venders and where they’d be set up tomorrow as well as the schedule for the next few days.

“Here are your keys.” I reached in the file Dottie had prepared for them and handed them to Sue since John and Joey were pressed up against the window looking at JJ and Bryce talking. I snatched a pen from the pen holder and took a map of the campground off the desk, circling their camper. “Here is your map of the campground. This is your camper. These are the trail heads, and they are marked with small wooden signs designating the levels of physical difficulty.” I pointed each one out. “This is the Red Fox Trail, where the water activities are located. We do not have lifeguards, so if you do any of the activities, you’ll have to sign waivers and give us your insurance information. As for Joey, we have a resident champion kayaker who will be giving the families staying at Happy Trails free kayak lessons for all skill levels.”

Okay, that was a lie. I had no idea what skill level Alvin was going to teach, but I had an award to win, and little did these people realize how competitive I was and how passionate I was about the campground.

“That’s amazing. Thank you.” Sue looked very impressed.

I stood up, and she followed. I held the door open for them.

“Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. You’ll find the office and after-hours numbers on the refrigerator in your camper, and I live in the little yellow RV right across the lake from you, so I’m always here.” I nodded with a smile as they passed me on their way out the door.

“Oh dear Lord,” I groaned with a smile on my face when my eyes drew down the long line of cars with guests who still needed to be checked in.

“Whoa now!” A male’s voice grabbed my attention.

It was JJ Rich, with his arms extended out to his side as he stood between Bryce and another man. “This is not going to go down like this, fellows.” JJ talked as if he were keeping the peace, and boy, was he.

The other man practically bowled over JJ to get to Bryce, wrapping his arms around Bryce and sending them both to the gravel, rolling around in some sort of fight.

“Stop it!” Alli came screaming past the crowd that had gathered, and by “crowd,” I mean the entire line of people who had gotten out of their cars to see what was going on.

“Mm-hmm, nekkid gets you nowhere.” Dottie walked up and took a cigarette from the cigarette case and lit up. “I seen that boy keeping an eye on Bryce last night when Bryce was all up in that young woman’s business.” Smoke billowed out of her mouth like a train engine.

“Do something,” Alli suggested to me through gritted teeth.

A shot rang out and everyone jumped, including me. A few people threw their hands up over their heads and fell to the ground.

There, in the bright daylight, Dottie Swaggert stood stoic with the lit cigarette dangling from her lips, a smile on her face, and a pistol pointed up to the sky, from which she’d fired a shot.

“What?” She shrugged. “She said to do something.”

Dottie took her hand out of the air and put the little pistol back in her bra, where she kept her concealed carry.

Chapter 5

“She could’ve shot someone.” Hank Sharp didn’t think my story about Dottie breaking up the fight was one bit as funny as I thought it had been.

At the time, I didn’t think it was a bit entertaining, but as the day had gone on and the guests checking in had laughed about it, saying how they liked the spunky feel of Happy Trails and how Dottie was a character, everyone seemed to be okay.

“What would she kill? A bird?” No way was Dottie that good of a shot. “Besides, everyone found her interesting and endearing.”

“It won’t be so endearing when someone turns up dead.” Hank’s green eyes popped against the tan of his sun-kissed face and his black hair. “Burnt or toasted?”

“You have to ask?” I questioned how well he knew me if he didn’t know the way I cooked my marshmallows over the campfire.

“Burnt.” He winked and smiled before he reached for the marshmallow bag. “Let’s see how good these are.”

He picked up the iron rods I’d ordered online specifically for s’mores making over a campfire. I’d gotten three for each campsite as well as a s’more starter kit. If the guests ran out, they could buy a s’more goodie basket or go to the local store to get some more supplies.

It was another nice touch I tried to have for them when they got there because when I was a flight attendant, before I married Paul, the passengers would need various things while we were flying. The convenience of having a few things to tide the campers over after a long day of travel was a nice touch for them.

And it was one thing I hoped the guests would remember when filling out the hospitality ballot.

Fingers crossed.

“How was your day?” I asked Hank and looked around the campground for Fifi and Chester. I made sure I told everyone staying at Happy Trails about the dogs and how they had full run of the place.

Tonight, the two would be busy checking out the new people and their pets, if they had any. From across the lake, the sky was still bright enough to illuminate the faces of our guests, and Joey was sitting next to Bryce’s empty chair around his campfire. Bryce stood in the middle of the groupies with his arms wide open, his mouth moving a mile a minute while he told some story that had to be about kayaking because his arms started to do a side-to-side motion as if he had an oar in his grips.

“It was good. Not a lot going on. I had to go around the campsites to make sure they were all in compliance with the codes for the fest.” He twirled a marshmallow over the fire. “Before I forget, Granny sent me to her house while I was out and about to get the walker with wheels. She said to apologize for not texting you back. She was swamped with a few missing person cases, but all of them were found safe and sound.”

“That’s so scary.” I scanned the campground and saw that all the fires were lit and gave a silent prayer for safety for each one of the guests.

Fifi and Chester both barked, which was odd.

Hank stood up, the s’more rod at his side as he looked to where the dogs were. They’d practically tattled on the man I’d seen knock Bryce over earlier. He was fussing at the young lady who I’d seen Bryce take into the woods and who Dottie had confirmed was also naked with him.

“Do you think I need to stop that?” Hank asked with his eyes still on the situation.

The couple didn’t appear to be having anything but a raised-voice argument, but it was enough that Fifi and Chester didn’t like it. The woman bent down and patted the dogs just long enough for them to be satisfied and dart off to another campfire.

“We can just watch them for a few.” I didn’t want to get in the middle of what appeared to be a lovers’ spat, which made me wonder if the rumors on the internet I’d read about Bryce Anderson’s womanizing were true and if this was just one of many sidekicks on his journey who just so happened to be renting a bungalow for the fest.

Satisfied with my answer, Hank had burnt the marshmallow without even noticing since his thoughts had been somewhere else.

“Is this okay?” he asked with a defeated look.

“It’s perfect.” I reached down and got the chocolate bar and graham cracker to finish off the tasty treat. “I’ll take two more.”

“My pleasure.” Hank laughed and pushed a lot more marshmallows on the iron rod for the next round.

“Did you know Alvin Deters was a kayak champion?” I asked.

“Oh yeah, he’s a legend around here. It used to be a big sport, but then basketball started taking over, and kids got tired of the kayak practices because the sun would just beat down on them if they had it during the late day.” Since Hank grew up in Normal and his family still lived here, he would know the history of the area. “From what Granny tells me, he’s pretty excited about you asking him to help out.”

“He was the one who suggested doing kayak lessons and offered his services.” I licked the melted chocolate from around the edges of the smushed-together graham crackers. “I also told him I’d like to discuss continuing the collaboration after Paddle Fest. I do need someone to run that new adventure.”

“Mae West, you don’t need anyone. I think you’ll do just fine with anything you put your head to.” He bent down and swiped his finger along my chin, showing me some chocolate that’d dripped there before he stole a little kiss. “Mmm…just as sweet as this.” He licked his finger and winked, sending my heart into a full-blown flutter. “Speaking of putting your mind to anything. Have you decided about the position on the board? I think their fall meeting was just put in the books, so they must be getting close to finalizing the seat.”

“Funny you should ask.” I ate the last bite of s’more and watched as the young couple finally seemed to settle their argument.

They walked along the lake, where they stopped shy of the crowd who was obviously there to see Bryce Anderson in all his glory.

“Lloyd called me today. They are having a meeting tomorrow at noon and want me to stop by with my decision. Of course, it’s right after the opening ceremony, so I’ll have to hurry up to get to the national park office as soon as I’m done addressing the crowd.” I had really wanted to use the time on stage to talk up Happy Trails and secure that award, but I guess my winning-personality manager, Dottie Swaggert, was going to have to do that.

This made me a little uneasy, but somehow, Dottie always won over the crowd.

“Have you made a decision?” he asked and looked over his shoulder toward the camper, where Chester was scratching on the door. “I guess he’s ready for bed.”

“You might lose your deposit if he leaves marks on my door,” I teased Hank since he rented from me.

He had lived on his parents’ property in a little camper out in the country while they were off traveling and supporting Hank’s sister’s modeling career—a career that ended up turning into nothing and bringing them back to live in Normal. But Hank was really closest to his granny. She was the one who raised him and took care of him. Though we’d never really explored it, I did feel like Hank kept some sort of resentment toward them for always supporting his sister and leaving him to fend for himself.

“Good thing I make the owner happy.” He reached out for me to stand up with him and curled me into his arms, bending his head down to kiss me. “I love you so much.”

“I love you.” I curled up on my toes and kissed him before giving him a goodnight hug. My eyes peered over his shoulder to where Bryce was now talking one-on-one with people gathered around him.

“It must be hard being a sports celebrity,” I made mention as I noticed everyone trying to get closer to Bryce for him to sign various pieces of memorabilia they were holding up. He was trying to make his way over to where the young woman was now standing alone.

When he reached her, he grabbed her by the back of her head and drew her in for a long kiss on the lips.

“Angela!” A voice boomed into the darkness that seemed to have crept up on us out of nowhere. “Get in here. Now!”

An older gentleman, possibly a father, was standing in the doorway of bungalow number one with his hands on his hips and a scowl on his face that would scare a racoon away.

Chapter 6

The entire night, I slept fitfully. I tossed and turned thinking about this whole Bryce thing. I thought it was going to be good publicity for the campground to allow him to stay here for free, but it was turning out to be a little bit of a nightmare.

First, there was Dottie saying he was running around naked when we took pride in our family-friendly atmosphere. Then, he was getting into arguments with his agent, who was a woman, which made me angry at his lack of respect.

Though she did seem to be a bit of a pill, she had to have known something about being an agent because the more and more I googled Bryce, the more advertisements and various products he endorsed popped up on my search.

But the most disturbing was the young woman he seemed to have mesmerized with his charm. That was the one thing all the articles about his womanizing ways had in common: they all reported his charm was off the charts. And trust me, when I had a conversation with him, time did seem to fall away.

Not that I was attracted to him—I was not—but I’d always been attracted to the bad boys. Probably why I married Paul West. He was a ruthless businessman who’d swept me off my feet with his pizzazz and charm when he was on one of my flights to the city from abroad. I was like a prized possession to add to his portfolio, and I fell for it. Just like those women fell for Bryce.

Of course, after Paul, I swore off bad boys and dated local good boy and Southern gentleman Ty Randal . But apparently, he was too sweet for me. That’s also when I was butting heads with Hank Sharp.

After all, Hank had pegged me as the number one suspect in Paul’s murder after Paul’s body turned up in the lake at Happy Trails. It was all the arguing and fussing between us that told both of us we were a match made in heaven. We’d been together since.

But like Bryce, Hank had that bad-boy charm, and it still came out when we were together. And the fact he was now a full-time detective instead of part-time detective, part-time forest ranger was kind of bad-boy. I liked that. Though I’d never tell him, I felt safe and protected with him around.

That kind of stability had been rare when I was growing up in the foster care system after my family died during a house fire. I was the only survivor, and it took a long time to get over that guilt. Of course, Mary Elizabeth, my foster mom who lived here in Normal, had been nothing short of amazing. I credited her for the gentle and caring soul I had for people I loved.

Which brought me back to Bryce Anderson. He seemed to be so young, and I couldn’t help but wonder where his parents were because he was lacking guidance. I wished Alli could provide that for him.

Then again, maybe all his bad-boy ways were good for publicity and kept her making dough.

“I know, I know,” I called down the hall from the camper bedroom when I heard Fifi scratching at the door. I rolled over and looked at the clock on the nightstand. “You can’t sleep either?”

I threw back the covers and decided to just get up even though I had a good hour before my alarm went off, which was set early so I wouldn’t sleep in. I’d done all I could to get ready for the big Paddle Fest opening ceremony. Now, my job was just to show up and keep Bryce Anderson and all the people who seemed to have a problem with him in line.

“Alright.” I grabbed the leash next to the door since it was still too early in the morning to let Fifi go potty by herself and slipped my feet into my flip-flops I kept by the door. “Let me flip this on.”

I leaned over the little kitchenette counter and flipped on the coffee maker. The coffee would be brewed by the time we made it around the lake.

Fifi took off in a dead sprint, sending the spring-loaded leash to full extension as she darted back and forth from the drive to the lake to get a sniff on each side. There were so many new smells from the new guests, so she was in pure bliss. Her little tail twirled around as her nails sounded like high heels darting along the blacktop.

“Good girl.” I pulled out one of the bags from the poop-bag holder on the leash and praised her for going potty in the baby voice I seemed to have when I talked to her.

She yipped a couple of times at the mouth of one of the trails. I heard a few giggles and “shhhs” come from the trail. I slightly tugged on the leash when I realized what could be going on.

Bryce.

Fifi reluctantly pulled to get closer to the trail but finally gave in and ran toward me as I kept walking and tugging her away. When we made it around the lake, I still kept a close eye on the trail. The giggling couple had yet to emerge.

After we made it back to the camper, I undid Fifi’s leash and filled myself a mug of coffee so I could go sit outside on the picnic table under the camper’s roll-out awning to watch for the couple. I had to know if it was Bryce.

When he and that same young girl emerged, I knew right then and there I had to keep this close to the cuff or there would be more arguing and fighting.

But they didn’t stop arguing.

“I can’t believe it. You mean to tell me after we just spent all this time together that you now want to end it?” She was very upset.

“Shh. Keep your voice down.” Bryce tried to get her to calm down and batted his hands toward the ground. “I’m not saying it’s completely over. Just for right now. We had fun, right?”

“You might’ve had fun, but I was looking for a relationship. You used me to get up in the game. You used me so I could get my father to like you, and now that you know he hates you, you want to throw me away like your old kayaks.” The girl snarled and gnashed her teeth, curling up on her toes and jabbing Bryce in the chest with her fingernail. “I won’t let you take advantage of me and get away with it. Do you hear me, Bryce Anderson? My brother has been itching to get at you, and I just might unleash him!”

“I think you’re nuts.” Bryce made the crazy motion with his finger around his ear. “Coocoo. And I’m glad I know that now.”

“You won’t get away with this!” she screamed after him. Her voice echoed throughout the forest.

Bryce went the opposite direction of the woman, who I assumed was Angela. She shuffled past the camper.

“Hey there.” I let her know I was there.

She jumped and put a hand on her chest, but a smile formed on her lips when she saw it was me. “You scared me.” There was some relief in her tone, but her appearance was disheveled.

“You scared me and Fifi earlier.” I held up my coffee mug. “Can I interest you in a cup?”

“Yeah.” She walked over. “That’d be great.”

She took a seat at the picnic table while I went inside to make her a cup. I put her mug on a little tray with the various items she might take in her coffee to doctor it up before I headed back outside.

“Here you go.” I set the tray in front of her and sat back down. “I put creamer and sugars on there for you too.”

“I like it black.” That was now two things we had in common: bad boys and black coffee. “I’m guessing you didn’t really invite me over for coffee but instead to explain why I was in the woods of your campground.”

“No.” I picked up the mug and took a drink. “I guess I see myself in you, and you might be starry-eyed when it comes to the celebrity guy, and I’d hate to see you get hurt. Especially if you have a boyfriend.”

“Vinnie?” She threw her head back and laughed. “You.” She pointed and laughed even harder. “Oh, dear me. Vinnie is my brother.”

“Oh.” My eyes widened. Generally I was spot-on with lovers’ spats. “I assumed he was vying for your love by having all the fistfights with Bryce.”

“He’s just a big brother looking out for a little sister who doesn’t need to be looked after.” She straightened her back and brought the mug up to her lips. “It’s really for Bryce’s sake that we keep it on the down low.”

My brows furrowed in confusion. I thought he just broke up with her, but she clearly wasn’t accepting it.

“Giao Russo is my father.” Her words made me gulp down the hot liquid, burning me in so many ways as it went down.

“You mean the President of the Kayak Championship Organization?” This changed everything. She slowly nodded. “You do realize you getting involved with an athlete who is the biggest competitor to your father’s organization could cause other competitors to think he has a leg up in the Olympics and various other competitions.”

“And that’s why Vinnie is such a jerk and why me and Bryce have to keep it on the down low.” She didn’t seem to care one way or the other about Bryce’s career and the impact their relationship could have on his future.

“And you don’t think you should call it off?” It was like my words were a weapon and literally killed her, but I had heard it with my own ears, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she was playing it off or if she really hadn’t accepted him breaking it off with her.

“You don’t understand. We are in love, and he will choose me over any competition. We just have to wait until the Olympic trials and he’s on a team.” She glared and jumped up, knocking the coffee mug over, sending all the hot liquid through the cracks of the picnic table and trickling down to my new outdoor rug underneath.

I picked up the mug and looked at the stain that was being created.

She twirled around by the time she was about halfway down to her bungalow. “And I expect you to keep your mouth shut. Understand?”

I took my fingers and zipped my lips with them.

“Don’t forget to vote for Happy Trails for hospitality campsite,” I whispered loudly and got up to go inside.

I knew offering her a cup of coffee and her accepting it was a bit too easy. Bryce and Angela were no longer my issue. If I saw Alli, I’d let her know, but if not, it wasn’t my problem, and I had to get ready for work.

Chapter 7

There wasn’t much more to do than show up at the office since we’d been planning the Paddle Fest for some time now. All the local vendors had started to set up white tents around the lake and begun to arrange tables with the various items they were showcasing or selling.

“Good morning,” I said as I walked up to Christina Watson. “This is amazing.”

I pointed to the little awning she’d put up that looked exactly like the awing on the Cookie Crumble Bakery façade. She’d even hung string lights around her tent. She’d taken advantage of the power outlets Henry had hooked up to each one of the vendor tents and had a little refrigerator and a glass display case with several tiered stands. Neatly stacked on them were cupcakes of all shapes and sizes, each decorated differently.

“You want one?” she asked, her freckles scrunching together as her nose crinkled with the little grin on her face. “I can see you eyeballing the one with the camper rings.”

“My mouth is watering.” I licked my lips. “I love the little ring you’ve stuck on top.”

“Let me get you one.” She pulled her long brown hair up into a hairnet and went to open the case.

“No,” I said even though I really did want it. “Save it for the kids. If there’s any after the ceremony, I might take one with me on the road to the committee meeting at noon.”

“So…” She turned and gave me a sideways glance. “That’s why you’re so dressed up.”

“This old thing?” I ran my hand down the flowery Lilly Pulitzer dress and pretended to make no big deal of it.

“Mm-hmm.” She winked and went back to filling the glass case with some crazily decorated donuts along with an array of cookies.

I waved goodbye and headed around the lake, keeping a close eye on the campers and guests as well as the vendors as I walked by. Paddle Fest had to go off without a hitch. I was more determined than ever to give the entrepreneurial gig a heck of a shot. This would be another great little feature to add to my portfolio.

The little Southern dress and strand of pearls weren’t my usual attire. I’d much rather be in a pair of leather pants, form-fitted Julio Delcasios, the famous designer, with a pair of sky-high heels on. . .those days were long gone. I did keep some of my fancy clothes in one of the storage units though. Some of them I couldn’t part with, but I had sold a lot to pay back some of the money Paul had stolen.

The pier already had a few kids jumping off into the lake, and some people were already in paddleboats. If I’d let Fifi run around, she’d already be out there swimming and barking at the ducks, but I knew it was going to be too busy with cars coming and going. It was safest to leave her in the camper and check on her throughout the day.

A little bit ahead on the right, next to the tiki bar, was the makeshift stage we used for the monthly gathering I hosted for the entire community of Normal. Every month, I held a themed get-together and hired Blue Ethel and the Adolescent Farm Boys. Since the Paddle Fest was pretty big, I didn’t have a theme for this month, knowing this would more than qualify as the get-together.

That’s the one thing that I loved most about being a camper and owning Happy Trails. The community. Everyone was so friendly. There weren’t very many electronics. Just us and nature, which actually brought out the best in folks. It was great.

Ethel Biddle was on the stage. Otis was next to her, tuning up his fiddle, and the other players were also checking their equipment.

“Check one, two, three.” Ethel played around with the various switches with the toe of her cowboy boot. Rosco sat on the edge of the stage, and I couldn’t help but smile.

When he’d gotten Fifi pregnant, I could’ve died, but if he’d not, she’d never have been mine to keep. If I had some time later, I’d bring Fifi up to see him. Thankfully, I’d gotten her fixed as soon as she had those puppies.

“Mae, yoo-hoo!” I heard someone call my name. I turned around to find Carol Wise waving a scarf up in the air. “Hi do!”

Pam Purcell was right next to her, waving as well.

“We brought you some peach pies.” Both of them had tins in their hands. “In case you decide to do this again, we figured you better have a pie contest next year. Ain’t that right, Pam?” Carol nudged Pam.

“Sure is,” Pam agreed.

“You two are so kind.” It was all I could say without pointing out how they were always in competition with one another down at the Normal Baptist Church.

Anytime there was a death, church function. . .heck for that matter, any sort of gathering, Carol and Pam tried to outdo each other on their desserts. They didn’t even try to cover it up. They would argue and fuss right in front of everyone.

“Why don’t you put them in the office so no one will eat them before I get a chance to sample it?” I did want a slice of both. Each one had a nice light-brown crispy topping, but Carol’s had some hard sugar crumbles. “I’ve got a meeting with the committee at noon. Maybe after that, I’ll get slices to celebrate.”

“Yes. We heard about that too.” Pam smiled and nodded very fast.

And that’s why they were bringing me pie. The truth came out.

“We did want to make sure you kept the annual festivals on the calendar since that old Lloyd has been trying to get rid of them. It’s all-American. Where does he think he lives?” Carol’s brows tilted downward in worry. “I know all the festivals you’ve participated in since you’ve lived here have been a highlight for you.”

“We just hope you make sure you don’t let Lloyd take away the festivals.” Pam curled her bottom lip in and gnawed it like she wanted me to give some sort of answer.

“Why don’t we revisit this after I get appointed and when the issues come up?” The suggestion seemed to make them happy. Both of them twirled around and took off toward the office.

Without even realizing it, I looked up, and the entire campground was filled with people. People I’d grown to love. Even Colonel Holz, the country coroner, was there, talking to Mayor Courtney Mackenzie. Helen Pyle, the owner of Cute-icles, was there in all her high-haired glory.

Even my foster mom, Mary Elizabeth, and her business partner, Dawn Gentry, were there. Both of them were honorary Laundry Club ladies who weren’t able to come to all of our outings because they owned and ran The Milkery, the local dairy farm that doubled as a bed-and-breakfast. They were always busy.

Mary Elizabeth was hugging Bobby Ray since she did raise us both. We considered her our mother. Joel Grassel, the owner of Grassel’s Garage, was standing with them.

My guests John and Sue walked past me, and I greeted them. They gave a simple flick of the hand and continued their conversation.

I caught the tail end of their conversation as they walked past. “He’s a boy.” It sounded as though Sue was assuring John of something from what I could tell.

“I don’t care. He shouldn’t idolize someone like him. If I’d known his real character, I’d never have let you talk me into bringing Joey here.”

I knew he had to be talking about Bryce. Every time I turned around, Joey was up in Bryce’s face, trying to get his attention. A couple of times, I did notice Bryce would give Joey a good head scratch, but other than that, when Joey would put something in Bryce’s face for him to sign, he did shoo it away.

On my way over to greet some of the campers, I noticed Vinnie and Angela were with a group of young folks discussing what they wanted to try at each campground. I loved hearing Vinnie say how he’d like to try his hand at archery, though he had no idea it was really for the small kids. Maybe he was young at heart. But I was glad to see he hadn’t marched over to Bryce and tried to pick another fight with him.

“Testing one, two,” was all that Ethel got out before the band started up singing “Little Bitty Bottle of Wine.”

“Why on earth did she start with that one?” Betts Hager had strolled up behind me and put her arm around me.

“I have no idea.” I rolled my eyes as Ethel blurted, “I’ve got a great big woman and an itty-bitty bottle of wine.”

I looked around to see what the crowd was doing, and no one seemed to care. They were talking, smiling, and visiting the vendor booths. It was exactly how I’d imagined it.

“It looks like another brainchild of Mae West is a hit.” Betts smiled, winked, and walked off toward the other members of the Laundry Club, who I’d also go hang out with after this first song since it was already planned that I’d go up and give a little welcome.

“Thank you! I’m Blue Ethel, this here is Rosco, and these are the Adolescent Farm Boys.” Ethel’s excitement exuded through the microphone. “Now, let’s give a big ole camping welcome to your host and founder of Paddle Fest, May-bell-ine West!”

Inwardly, I groaned when she drew out my full name in her Southern accent, but I planted that big grin on my face and ran up the steps on the side of the stage to face the audience, all eyes on me. I was happy to see Abby out in the crowd, taking photos of everyone. She would definitely be using those on the social media pages after she put her magical hashtags on them.

“Let’s give Blue Ethel and the Adolescent Farm Boys another round of applause.” I turned to look at the band and clapped before facing the crowd to address them. “I’d like to thank everyone who made it possible for us to come together for Paddle Fest. Without the other campgrounds and the community, we’d not been able to do this. I’d like to give a special thank-you to Mayor Courtney Mackenzie. She let me run with the idea. But truly, it’s y’all. The camping community who always comes together for a good cause. This year’s proceeds from the local vendors here today all go to the Boys and Girls Daniel Boone National Park Foundation. This foundation allows the boys and girls who live in and around the forest an opportunity to come to summer camps, fall camps, and spring camps as well as participate in the various activities that keep our youth healthy. This year, I’ll be adding kayak lessons to the activities here at Happy Trails… which brings me to just how famous some of our residents in Normal are.”

I scanned the crowd for Alvin Deters. He was standing in the back of the crowd with his arms crossed, talking to Larry Baines and Hunter, Larry’s grandson.

“I’d like our very own local kayak champion to come up and tell us what he thinks of us bringing back Paddle Fest.” I waved my hand for Alvin to join me. “Alvin Deters, can you come on up?”

I clapped my hands, and the crowd joined in cheering him on. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Bryce and Alli had joined us. Neither of them looked too happy. Not far from him was Angela, standing in between Giao and Vinnie. It wasn’t Angela trying to give Bryce a mean stare because he was all flirty with a woman I didn’t recognize that caught my attention, but the glare Giao was giving Bryce and Alli. It was a look that if someone ever gave me, I’d never forget.

Poor little Joey continued to jump around in front of Bryce to get his attention, but Bryce was too busy giving that million-dollar smile to the woman, who, by the way, did scrunch her nose and giggle at whatever Bryce was feeding her. Poor girl. A long sigh escaped me when I couldn’t help but think she was going to be another notch in his belt like Angela.

I snorted out loud when Sue grabbed Joey to stop hopping around. I didn’t see John, but I guessed he wouldn’t be happy since I’d heard him say how he didn’t like Joey idolizing Bryce. If I was his parent, I couldn’t imagine how I’d feel either.

“I’m not prepared for this.” Alvin acted as though he didn’t like that I’d called him out.

“Alvin, you know I’m not a native of Normal. But I do know and have heard through the grapevine—and most of y’all know I’m pretty good at sniffin’ things out—that you hold a record for kayaking that could possibly be beat today. Why don’t you tell the crowd about the record and give them some history on when the real Paddle Fest took place many years ago?”

It was like a lightbulb went off in Alvin’s head. He readily agreed and took the microphone from the stand. I let him have the stage and jogged down to meet Dottie.

“I’ve got to skedaddle to the meeting. Do you think you can wrap up here after Alvin gets finished?” I asked her.

“Of course I can, but I’m gonna tell you once and only once”—she bent her head toward me and gave me the evil eye—“I ain’t no old lady, so you can take that wheely walker and shove it—”

The crowd roared with laughter when Alvin told them about the first time he’d fallen over in the kayak and was upside down, unable to turn himself over. Though not a funny situation at the time, he told it in such a way that made it humorous now.

Instead of standing there to let Dottie fuss at me, I patted her back and headed way around the back of the crowd so no one would stop me on my way to my car so I could get to the meeting in time.

The National Park building was located in the next town over. The forest made it hard to differentiate when you left one small town and entered another. It was a typical brown-brick building from the sixties. There was a parking lot that was filled with cars since there were so many different offices located in the building. There were big dark windows that wrapped around the building. It didn’t look like much from the outside, but when you were sitting in one of the conference rooms, the views of the forest were spectacular.

I’d visited there a few times and enjoyed every time but one. That just so happened to be when I’d found a dead body. . .a murdered dead body. For some reason, I’d always been some sort of magnet to homicide victims, and I wasn’t sure why. But I was on a winning streak lately. Happy Trails was finally in the black, my love life with Hank had been so easy and good, and there were no dead bodies to be spoken of.

The Daniel Boone National Park Museum was small and located there as well. It was nice to tell families about the museum so they could visit for a day’s adventure and learn a little history. There was nothing wrong with learning.

I walked through the front door and quickly scanned the dozens of brochures on the wire rack to find the Happy Trails Campground trifold. Abby had worked so hard on it with a professional photographer when I first reopened Happy Trails. It was gorgeous.

I snarled when I noticed it’d been moved to the middle of all the other campground brochures. Quickly, I glanced around, and when I didn’t see anyone, I plucked the stack of brochures out from where they were and replaced them in an eye-level spot at the top.

“Nice,” I noted and walked into the guts of the building, where there were several people milling about and not paying a bit of attention to me. I looked over the directory and noted the office number for the park board.

After I found the office, I opened the door.

“You must be Mae.” The receptionist greeted me with a warm smile. “Lloyd and the boys are waiting.”

“Boys?” I questioned.

“Oh yeah. If you can convince them to let a woman on the board, you must be something.” Her brows rose. “They like women in power, so if you’ve got the right attitude, you can literally take the position then work your way up.”

“What’s your name?” I asked when I didn’t see a nameplate on the desk.

“Veronica Chestnut.” She stuck her hand out. “I live in Compton.”

“If you’ve got any tips and tricks, you be sure to let me know.” I gave a slight chin-nod.

She pushed the button on the old phone.

“Mr. Hornbuckle, Mae West is here to see you.” She tapped her watch with her long red fingernail. “Punctual,” she whispered.

Lloyd’s familiar voice came through the speaker phone: “Send her in, Veronica.”

“Knock ’em dead, Mae.” She hit the button on the desk, and the doors next to her swung open.

“The first thing we need to do,” I said and tapped her desk, “is get an up-to-date office.”

“You’ve got that right.” She popped up from her chair, grabbing a legal pad and pen from her desk, then placed stoppers in front of the doors before trotting through them ahead of me.

She pulled out a chair from the opposite side of a long conference table where I’d be sitting facing the fourteen members. None of them were women, but that wasn’t about to intimidate me.

I recognized Judge Executive Gab Hemmer as well as Mayor Rove of Slade, Kentucky. Though I’d never seen him in person, it was rumored he’d gotten intoxicated last winter and set his trailer on fire. By the looks of his burnt hands, it appeared that rumor might be true.

It was his city I was most jealous of. Slade was a small unincorporated rural community with two of Daniel Boone National Park’s biggest attractions: there was the Natural Bridge State Park, where there were lots of places for hiking, climbing, boating, and just beautiful natural surroundings to explore, and there was the Red River Gorge.

The gorge was amazing with the huge cliffs and sandstone arches. The gorge had a lot of little niches that amazed hikers with the gorgeous wildflower patches and unique plants that grew only in the gorge. It was just plain awe-inspiring to visit.

I swear it was one of the South’s best-kept secrets that Kentuckians were really proud of. A slice of heaven in my state.

The population of Slade was somewhere around five hundred—not large, but it brought in the most money for the Daniel Boone National Park and received the most grant money too. I wanted a piece of that pie, which was why I was going to accept this position.

Mayor Rove didn’t have to do all the marketing and spending I did in order to attract the tourists. He was sitting on easy street and, from what I heard, drinking it all the way to the bank. And there he was with his big red alcoholic nose and burnt-up hands.

Veronica sat behind them in a chair off to the right with her pad of paper in hand as though she would be taking notes. The phone on Veronica’s desk rang. She ignored it.

“Mae, we at the board have been watching you closely for the past year. When… well, after, you know. . .” Without Lloyd saying it, I knew he meant after the last board member had died. He began to speak a little more loudly so we could hear him over the phone that was still ringing. “Well, we have been trying to come up with a valuable member of the community, one who has selflessly encouraged tourism to the forest, to fill his seat. We have never appointed a woman to this board of directors, though as you know, your good friend Queenie French is over at the historical society, which is composed of various arms of the National Park Commission. Those various committees have a president who directly reports to us.”

“Get on with it, Lloyd.” Judge Executive Gab Hemmer let out a long sigh. “I’ve got to get back to the bench. We already gave her the offer. It’s her turn to speak and tell us what she’s decided.” He shifted his focus to me. The phone rang again, and he let out an even bigger sigh. “Is someone gonna get that daggum phone?”

Veronica jumped up and apologized under her breath.

“Yes, well, you know it’s taken me a few months to decide, and I want to apologize for taking so long to make the decision.” I looked over their shoulders when I noticed Veronica had come rushing back into the conference room with a look of horror on her face.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but, Mae, Dottie Swaggert is on the pho—”

“You march back in there and get on that phone and tell her Mae is here right now,” Lloyd demanded, interrupting Veronica.

“Well. . .” The line between Veronica’s brows deepened. “There’s been a murder at Happy Trails.”

“A m-m-m. . .” I couldn’t bring myself to even say it.

“Murder?!” Lloyd jumped up from the fancy padded desk chair. It flew back on its wheels and knocked up against the wall. “Well, Ms. West. We cannot have a member of the board who can’t even keep a safe environment for all of our tourists.” He glared at me.

I was still trying to wrap my head around the murder and get to the phone. I stood up as I tried to keep my composure.

“I’m withdrawing Mae West as a candidate for the fifteenth seat on the board. All those in—” He didn’t have to finish his sentence before all fourteen of them chimed in with an “aye.”

Chapter 8

The sound of a crackling-fire ringtone chirped from my phone, letting me know without looking that it was Dottie Swaggert.

“You trying to kill me?” she blurted through the phone’s hands-free speaker when I clicked the answer button. “First you give me an old wheely walker. Then you put me in charge of the biggest festival of the year, only to make me deal with a murder!”

“I’m trying to get there as fast as I can.” I didn’t know the curvy roads too well, and if I swayed a little too close to the edge, my car would tumble down the cliff and I’d be another dead body. “Has Hank gotten there?”

“Hank and the rest of Normal.” I could hear someone calling her name and say something. “I’m on the phone with her right now!” Her tone told me she’d reached her wits’ end. “Listen, I don’t got no time bothering with you right now. Just get here.”

“I’m driving the fastest I can.” I knew my speed wouldn’t be an issue since I was positive any type of law enforcement had made their way to Happy Trails, which allowed me to get to the campground a lot faster than usual.

Dottie was right. There were cars everywhere, and I’d say most of them were there for Paddle Fest.

Dottie and the Laundry Club ladies—Betts Hager, Queenie French, Abby Fawn, Mary Elizabeth, and Dawn Gentry—were sitting down in the chairs located in the front of the office. Well, Dottie… she wasn’t sitting. She was pacing back and forth, puffs of smoke rolling out of her mouth like a freight train.

When she caught sight of my car zooming up the gravel, she tossed her cigarette to the ground and put it out with the toe of her shoe. Her eyes focused on me.

“It was aww-ful! Just awful!” she hollered and hurried over to the car. “I mean, awful.”

“I’m sure it was. Start from the beginning,” I told her. “Don’t leave out a thing.”

“We’ve been waiting for you to get here because we’ve got to figure out who did this to you.” Abby Fawn took a deep breath punctuated with several gasps. All the women looked at me.

Mary Elizabeth stood up and hugged me.

“Oh, Maybelline, I just can’t believe this has happened to you. . .again?” She pulled back and brought her hand up to her pearl necklace.

“Me?” I drew my hand to my chest and looked at Abby. “Again?” I questioned Mary Elizabeth and followed her lead by playing with the pearls around my neck. It was something Mary Elizabeth had always done when she was beside herself with a situation, and I figured it helped her, but it didn’t bring any peace to me.

Instead, I plucked them right off my neck and shoved them into the pocket of the Lilly Pulitzer dress.

“Oh, honey.” Mary Elizabeth groaned with sorrow as she followed me on my heels into the office along with the rest of the group.

“Tell me exactly what happened.” I had to get my head wrapped around the situation before I could go see Hank.

“It was awful.” Dottie started in on that again.

“Yes. I know it must’ve been horrific, but we are the Laundry Club ladies, and we will get to the bottom of it.” I noticed the notebook had been taken from my camper and put on the desk.

“That was me.” Abby shifted from foot to foot. “I went to get it after Dottie told me she’d seen it in your camper and you were doodling in it last night.”

Can’t anyone keep their mouths shut around here? I asked myself in my head.

“I also let Fifi out. She was dancing on her tippy-toes, having to tinkle.” Abby was a lot more delicate in nature than Dottie, and she did know how to word things differently. “I hope you aren’t mad.”

“No. I just want to know what happened when I left to go to the committee meeting.” I sat down and waited for one person to talk, but they all started telling me at once. “One at a time.”

“Then I’m going first since I work here,” Dottie insisted. “I’m telling you, Mae, we was finishing up with a few songs by Blue Ethel, and I hate to tell you, but I don’t think they performed good at all.”

“Okay. Go on.” Dottie was a true Southern woman who flitted from one story to the next before finishing the last.

“We will get to that later.” She tossed her head and eyed me. “Then we all walked down to Red Fox Trail to cut the ribbon so Paddle Fest could begin, and that’s when we saw it.”

“Mm-hmm,” added Mary Elizabeth. “It wasn’t pretty either. I told Dawn right then that I hadn’t trusted that boy since all the publicity.”

She had completely lost me.

“Yes. She did.” Dawn Gentry nodded a few times, her pixie haircut was perfectly styled. She plunged her hands down into her black skinny jeans that ended in a black pair of Doc Martens boots—a little too hot for me, but it was her look. Her thin arms were shown off by her black tee. “In fact, she said, ‘I wouldn’t trust that man if his tongue came notarized.’”

Keep in mind that Dawn Gentry wasn’t from Kentucky or the South, so when she’d shown up as a guest and ended up staying, she’d been entertained by the hillbilly-ology we had around here. Especially since Mary Elizabeth had proper Southern-speak and Dottie had more of a hillbilly dialect, it all sounded like a foreign language to Dawn.

And normally, all of us would laugh at what Mary Elizabeth and Dottie would say, but not today.

“Who?” I asked.

“Vinnie Russo. That’s who.” Dottie’s head flung back, and her mouth dropped as if I should be able to read all their minds.

“Okay, so continue with the story on how you found Bryce.” I still couldn’t get over how he was dead.

“Well, I was the leader, naturally.” Dottie’s lips turned down, her voice softening, and she fiddled with her cigarette case, opening and closing the top snap several times. It was almost annoying, but it helped her release her nervous energy, so I tried not to focus on it. “And I seen a kayak turned over in the water. Which is odd because, you know, Bryce is a professional and all.”

I rotated my hand in the air for her to continue.

“I’m getting to it,” she ordered in a voice of authority. “It looked junky and all tipped over, and it wasn’t one of ours because you have them fancy Happy Trails logos on them and all. But Larry Baine made the comment it was Bryce Anderson’s because his logo was on the side as big as day.” Dottie looked around at the ladies. “You know that boy loves to show off any way he can. I seen him nekkid.”

“Dottie. Continue.” I didn’t want to go down that train of thought… not at this time, anyway.

“Fine.” She stiffened and sucked in a deep breath. “Anyways, I looked around for Bryce to get his upside-down kayak out of the water, and when no one saw him, Alli said she’d go get him since he was supposed to sign autographs after the ribbon-cutting, according to your brochure.”

“I know good and well what the schedule was,” I said.

“Par-don me. You said you wanted to know everything, and I’m telling you everything.” Dottie huffed and tapped out a cigarette. “Alvin Deters decided he’d just go in and pull it to shore so we could continue because Mayor Mackenzie was getting a little antsy and sweating.”

“She don’t like to sweat,” Queenie French said as she stood up and adjusted the lime-green fanny pack around her waist. “I’ve tried to get her to come take my Jazzercise class because I noticed her hips were getting a little saddle-baggy, and she was so offended.” She tapped the backs of her legs.

“Shush up, Queenie. Mae wants to hear what happened.” Dottie placed her hands belligerently on her hips. “Alvin reached over the water’s edge and grabbed the top of the kayak to drag it over. It was hard because of the rocks it was resting on, or at least that’s what we all thought.”

“Dottie even yelled, ‘pull it harder!’” Betts gave a little snort.

“Oh, Lordy. I did, and I had no idea Bryce was under there being dragged across them rocks until they turned it over and his face was all scratched and bleeding.” Dottie’s tale created an image in my head of a completely and utterly terrible scene. “But Alvin stopped dragging it, and he actually took off his shoes to go in and flip it over. When he did…” Dottie paused.

“Go on,” Abby encouraged her.

“Why don’t you tell it? You were standing right there gawking with the rest of the crowd.” Dottie tossed her look at Abby, and it wasn’t a good one. “Fine.” Dottie looked at me. “It took Alvin a little muscle to turn it over, but eventually he got it, and Bryce Anderson was slumped inside. Naturally, we all were shocked, and Henry—God love Henry”—she threw her hands up in the air, the unlit cigarette in between her fingers—“he assumed Bryce had drowned and yelled out that we needed someone to do CPR, but he didn’t see the arrow stuck right through Bryce’s body. I mean, plumb through his heart.”

I was literally enthralled with her tale by now. So much so that when she clapped her hands, I jumped out of my chair.

“He was dead. I mean shot-through-the-heart-like-that-Bon-Jovi-song dead.” Dottie gave the worst analogies. But we all knew what she meant.

“Oh no.” I gasped and blankly blinked as her story started to replay. “You mean he didn’t drown, but someone shot him with an arrow?”

Suddenly, I regretted having the local high school archery coach set up a target practice station with bows and arrows. I had told him to make sure the sharp edge was blunt so it didn’t hurt anyone.

“This is not good.” I began to pace and run my hands through my hair.

“You’re not joking.” Abby’s fingers were swiping at her phone as fast as they could. “All the social media sites are talking about Bryce’s death since he was a national athlete, and they are mentioning Happy Trails, which isn’t good for publicity.”

“All the marketing money you’ve spent has gone right on down the drain.” Mary Elizabeth made a downward whistle sound as she drew a finger toward the ground. “But it’ll be fine. Hank is here, and he’ll have it all wrapped up in no time.”

As luck would have it, Hank walked in the door of the office. When he saw me, his wide green eyes and smile were merely a smoke screen for what lay beneath.

“How did the committee meeting go?” he asked when he knew darn well he was there to ask the ladies to give their statements. It was his way of easing me into what had just taken place here.

“Yes,” Dawn followed up. “We can’t wait to hear all the changes you have in that pretty little head of yours.”

“After Dottie called, they decided I wasn’t the fit for them. And that’s all I want to say about that. Hank, how can I help?” I straightened myself up and switched from girlfriend mode to campground-owner mode to address the obvious murder that had just taken place.

“You know the drill. Since there were so many people here when Alvin turned him over, we need to get everyone’s names and how to get in touch with them so we can get statements. We need to know if they saw anyone walk down the trail with Bryce, because he obviously went down there. And we also need to just see if anyone heard anything.” He looked around at the women. “I can start with you ladies since we are here.”

“Did you ask Angela Russo?” Dottie had already pegged that family as suspicious, and I didn’t blame her. “She’s been running around nekkid with him like we are some nudist campground.”

“From what I hear, you didn’t try to stop them.” Betts Hager threw in her two cents.

“Maybe it’s his form of exercise.” Queenie did a quick heel-toe on each side before she giddy-upped into a grapevine, arms flung in the air and all. “After all, dance is a great way to get in shape. You ladies ought to try it.”

“Okay. Maybe one at a time.” Hank was never really able to get a word in edgewise when all the gals were together. He glanced at me like I could read his mind, and I could.

“Ladies, let’s let the law enforcement have the office. We can go down to my camper, where I’ve got some food to snack on.” It was merely a suggestion that was met with snarled noses.

None of them had an appetite after what they’d seen.

Chapter 9

“Smile!” Violet Rhinehammer had her cameraman following behind us as we walked down to my camper. “This is Violet Rhinehammer, coming to you live from Happy Trails Campground, where the body of Bryce Anderson is just now being brought up by Normal County Coroner Colonel Holz, followed up by Mayor Courtney Mackenzie. While we wait for that live shot, we have the owner of Happy Trails Campground, Mae West, here with us.” She hurried alongside me, and I responded by abruptly switching paths and deciding on a dime to go to Red Fox Trail to see for myself. “Mae, tell us what on earth you think happened here today.” She shoved the microphone in my face.

She was good in those heels. Her legs kept up with me along the dirt, gravel, and concrete between here and the trail, but I kept my lips zipped. The other Laundry Club ladies walked on down to my camper where I’d meet them in a few.

“Forget you getting the Campground Hospitality award. Call me crazy, but I think you might be out of the running.” Her words stung.

I wanted so badly to turn around and give her a piece of my mind because I knew she loved to use her platform to get to people. It was like she got a high from it. But I also had to remember it was her job.

“I guess not. And that’s not what’s important here.” Abby Fawn was there to save me. “Right, Mae?”

“Abby Fawn, I was talking to Mae.” Violet put a big smile on her face and blinked her fake eyelashes so many times it just about created a windstorm.

“I’m the spokesperson and media rep for Happy Trails.” Abby gave herself the title on the spot, and relief settled into my chest. “And I think Mae would like to tell you why the award doesn’t matter at this time.”

I gulped and took Abby’s subtle advice and turned to the camera to face the waiting public.

“We are forever grateful we were nominated for the award, but my focus is on helping Bryce Anderson’s fans that are here and his family to cope with this terrible loss to the kayaking community and sports in general. Bryce Anderson was well loved, and we thoroughly enjoyed having him here. We are so sorry for what has happened and doing everything the local authorities are asking us to do. Which means I’ve got to go.” I reached over and touched Abby’s arm.

Abby stepped in between me and Violet, which made Violet stop in order to not run Abby over. I hurried off down the trail and met Colonel halfway as he and Natalie Willowby, the assistant coroner, were carrying up the church cart.

A sheet covered the body, and the small sticklike figure that stuck up from beneath the fabric was obviously part of the arrow Colonel must have had them keep in the body for the autopsy.

“I’m sorry, Mae,” Natalie said in a snide, not-so-sorry tone, “but you need to get out of our way.” She looked over her shoulder. “Jerry!”

Jerry Truman, the local sheriff, came running up the trail.

“Yeah.” He was a bit out of shape and out of breath.

“Can you please help escort them out of here?” Natalie looked at me.

“Sorry, Mae, the trail is closed. I figured Hank told you.” Jerry was sweet.

I glanced at Colonel. He gave a little shrug. He knew I wanted to ask him some questions since our past history communication was similar to this exact situation.

“I’m letting Natalie take the lead on this case. It’s been a while since she had a homicide.” It was his nice way of telling me that one, Natalie had been doing the regular old everyday deaths, and two, he couldn’t give me any of the information I was fishing for.

But the arrow had me stumped. How could one of those children’s arrows have killed Bryce?

“Fine.” I stepped into the weeds on the edge of the trail and let them pass. I slid my eyes just to the right of me, and when Jerry wasn’t looking, I took a few easy steps to the right, knowing if I took the offshoot of the trail, there was a little path, albeit steep but nonetheless a path, that would take me to the water where I might find the high school archery teacher.

The thick brush of the forest curled and entwined with thick vines and fallen trees made it hard for me to climb down the hill in heels. Now I regretted not going to the camper and changing out of this getup I’d worn to the committee meeting.

Luckily, it hadn’t rained in a few weeks and the ground was hard, so my heels didn’t sink into the dirt, but they sure did get stuck on every single strand of ivy that covered the ground.

Finally, after making it to the bottom, I had to walk about fifty yards along the edge of the lake to get to where the ribbon-cutting ceremony was located. All the kayaks were still hanging from the holder. The activities Henry had taken the time to set up were all in place, and Alvin Deters, along with Larry Baine and Coach Pete Carlson, was sitting on an old log as if waiting to be called.

“Oh, Pete.” My words dripped with sorrow. It’d only been about a year that his own father was coach of the archery team before he was shot at the campground with an arrow. “I can’t even imagine how you’re feeling. I mean, with your dad and now another victim of your arrows.”

“It wasn’t my arrow,” he said with uttermost confidence. “I had all my arrows dulled. It wouldn’t even hurt a baby.”

“It wasn’t?” I questioned. That made the entire situation seem completely different. “I was thinking someone was playing around with your arrows and accidently shot Bryce.”

“It was no accident.” Larry Baine shook his head. “Right, Alvin?”

“Nope. Those are like the arrows we use for hunting turkey.” Alvin’s brows dipped. “It ain’t turkey season, so it wasn’t a hunter.”

“Was it a turkey arrow?” Larry asked him. “The kind you had me use last year?”

“You two know each other?” I questioned.

“Yeah.” Larry patted Alvin on the back. “We were on the national team together. Haven’t you seen that old photo of us in the store?”

“No,” I looked at Alvin and just couldn’t believe he had this big long secret I knew nothing about. “So tell me about this arrow.”

“I don’t know anything about it.” Larry nudged Alvin. “He can tell you. I just tried to shoot the darn thing and missed every single time.”

“It was a Magnus Bullhead Broadhead, which is meant to be shot at the head, throat, and neck part of the turkey. It slices right through so the turkey don’t feel a thing, and whoever shot that knew exactly what they were doing.” Alvin did not make me feel good about this.

“You telling me whoever did this did it on purpose?” I had to get clarity so I could see what I was looking for.

“Yes. For sure.” He shook his head. “I knew that boy had some enemies in the industry, but not enough to kill him.”

Enemies… The craziest thing would happen to me in these situations. It was automatic: I’d start to make a list of possible suspects that could’ve done such a horrible thing.

And three popped right into my head. There was Angela Russo, who had clearly been dumped by Bryce, and she did threaten him after accusing him of using her. I’d heard that with my own ears. She was embarrassed, and people killed all the time for love or lack of being loved—at least that’s what was always on those crime shows.

Then there was her brother, Vinnie. He’d tried to kill the man with his bare hands and might have if people hadn’t intervened, and if he’d had a bow and arrow, he wouldn’t have been stopped since he was probably hiding in the woods. He also didn’t like how Bryce was using his sister to gain notoriety with their father, Giao. It was a tangled web, and murdering him would solve the family rift.

And I couldn’t help but include Alli Shelton on the list since she’d been mad at Bryce this entire time. If what Larry had said about Bryce looking for a new agent was true, that would stop her money from coming in, and what was a better motive than money?

“Larry, did you mention something to Alli about Bryce leaving her agency?” I asked.

“Yeah, but you think Alli…?” Larry gave me a funny look, then his face softened. “You know, I’d never thought she’d go as far as killing him, but I guess it’s possible. Alvin, do you think she could just pick up a bow and shoot that good?”

“I’m not saying it can’t be done. Maybe she has some sort of background being an agent.” Alvin didn’t discount any possibility.

“Yeah. I do think she has some archery clients, but I don’t know for sure. I could get a client list from her if you think the police would want one,” Larry said.

“I want one.” My words gave him pause.

“Oh, Mae, I can’t let him give you that list. You can’t do this again.” Alvin was trying to put his foot down.

“Huh? You a police officer?” Larry was so confused.

“Nope. Mae is known to be a pretty good snooper. She’s actually solved a few murders that’ve taken place in the Daniel Boone National Forest.” Alvin rubbed his hands together, his eyes still focused on Bryce Anderson’s kayak that was surrounded by officers doing their evidence collecting.

“I can give it to you. The police haven’t asked,” Larry offered. “But why would you want to look into this?”

“Because it’s my campground, and I have worked really hard to get my reputation up as well as the economy going in Normal after. . .” I trailed off when I was about to tell him what Paul had done, but I was trying hard to put Paul West behind me. “I can’t afford for guests to cancel their reservations, and I don’t want Paddle Fest to be known as the event where Bryce Anderson was killed. So I’ll just stick my nose to the ground and help out the local law enforcement.”

“Her boyfriend is Detective Hank Sharp,” Alvin told him. Larry looked at me and nodded.

I knew it was going to be hard to figure out who killed Bryce because he wasn’t from here, and trying to trace everyone’s history was going to take up some time, but I had nothing but time now that it seemed like Paddle Fest was put on hold until further notice. Plus, Hank Sharp wasn’t about to let anyone leave Normal, Kentucky, which meant I had plenty of people I could interview on my own.

Chapter 10

“M-a-g-n-u-s.” I said each letter out loud as I typed it into the computer at the Normal Library. That was the exact model of bow Alvin had told me Bryce Anderson had been shot and killed with.

My eyes scanned the results of my Google search that’d popped up.

“There it is.” Abby pointed to the link on the screen. “Bullhead Broadhead.”

I clicked on it, fully expecting a typical-looking arrow in hopes I’d be able to narrow down Hank’s short list of suspects, which I was hoping to get from Agnes today, by which of them had expertise in hunting. Turkey hunting, specifically. But Hank had also been cautious to tell me last night after everyone left my camper that he couldn’t rule out that someone had been hunting and missed.

Which was possible. Even though there were rules and regulations to hunting, not to mention hunting seasons, not all tourists bothered to look up the hunting laws. Wild turkeys and deer were highly popular game and were abundant in the forest, so trying to figure out whether this was an actual murder was going to be left up to Hank.

I, on the other hand, had to check it out because the reservation line at the Happy Trails Campground office was ringing off the hook with guests concerned about the safety and security of the campground. My livelihood as well as my employees relied on it.

The website opened, making me and Abby gasp.

“Good lawdy.” Abby leaned in a little further over my shoulder. “Are those three propellers?”

Stunned, I sat there for a second and couldn’t help but wonder whether this was no ordinary arrow.

“I can’t even imagine what that thing would look like coming at me.” Abby looked away when I scrolled down to an actual photo of a poor turkey after it’d been shot by one.

“According to this, exactly what Alvin mentioned about how it’s meant to be shot at the neck is true, which does cause sudden death because the blades literally cut the head right off.” I quickly scrolled past the photo gallery. “Maybe Hank could be right about the theory that someone was illegally hunting, because I can’t imagine why they’d use this expensive arrow and not just a plain one.”

My brows knitted. I hit the print button so I could tape the information into our notebook, where we’d have it as reference when the Laundry Club ladies and I got together for lunch at the laundromat.

“Thanks for letting Fifi out last night before you left,” I said to Abby and waited for all the pages to print.

It’d been so late when I’d gotten back to the camper, I’d found a note from Abby on the notebook saying she’d let Fifi out and everyone was exhausted. They’d planned to meet for lunch at the laundromat, and we’d discuss everything then.

“You’re welcome. And I just don’t know about the hunting theory. It’s not like anyone was terribly upset Bryce was killed. At least no one close to him.” She sucked in a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I overheard one of the men at the campground tell his wife how he’d heard Bryce was a womanizer and wouldn’t be surprised if it finally caught up to him. A husband.”

“Do you know who the man was? Was he staying at the campground?” I asked.

“They did refer to each other by name, but I can’t remember. I do remember them saying something about their son and how they were going to handle talking to him about this.”

Instantly, I knew she was talking about Joey, Sue, and John. I flipped the notebook open and wrote their names down in the section Abby, who was the Laundry Club ladies’ unofficial secretary, had paperclipped off for this particular case.

She’d already written Bryce’s name in the middle of a piece of paper and circled it then drawn various lines to make rays coming from it. On those lines, we’d write down our different suspects, and underneath them, we’d write down motives.

I put John and Sue on one line, adding below how John had told Sue he didn’t like how Joey idolized Bryce and it made him feel like less of a dad. This made me wonder if just out of sheer jealousy, John might’ve killed Bryce. I also added what Abby had mentioned.

“Honestly, Mae, I think that’s far-reaching,” she said and reached around me to point to their names.

“We’ve got to start somewhere.” I didn’t take any sort of hearsay lightly. It was in those little details that the biggest clues and motives could be found. I’d learned that through the snooping around we’d done in the past couple of years.

“I agree, but a family?” she questioned.

“Just the dad.” I plucked the papers off the printer and grabbed the tape roll, securing them down on the page. “He made mention to Sue how he didn’t like how Joey idolized Bryce when Bryce should be idolizing a good man like himself. Maybe out of jealousy over Joey ranting and raving about Bryce, John got sick of hearing it and just did it.”

I tried to recall if John had been in the crowd. I clearly remembered seeing Sue and Joey standing near Bryce when Angela was making wonky eyes at him when he was canoodling with the other camper. I didn’t recall seeing him, but I did remember Giao giving Alli that horrific look.

“I think we need to put Giao, Angela, and Vinnie Russo on this list.” I wrote their names down. “And we can’t forget Alli Shelton.”

“And why are you rattling off all of these people?” Abby’s eyes rounded. She clearly hadn’t been clued in by Dottie about all the gossip going around the campground surrounding them.

“Good question.” I stacked the various extra pages I’d printed out on top of the notebook and grabbed my bag. “I’ll address it at lunch. I’ve got to go.”

“Well, bye!” Abby loudly whispered after me after I’d already gotten halfway to the door.

I was running late. If I wanted to get to the sheriff’s department to talk to Agnes after first having to stop by the Cookie Crumble for bribery treats, I had to get going.

Time was falling away, and fast.

The Cookie Crumble was different than most shops in Normal. It was actually a complete standalone, more modern build.

“I figured you’d be in today to get something sweet,” Christine Watson said, “so I put back a few of my chocolate chip cookies, because they’ve been my biggest seller during Paddle Fest.”

The Cookie Crumble Bakery’s delicious chocolate chip cookies were the size of my head. They were a great price for the size, and who didn’t love chocolate chip cookies from scratch?

She reached behind the counter and held out a bag sporting a bakery logo that looked like a doily with “Cookie Crumble” in the middle, the outline of a cupcake below it, and the outline of a donut below that. It was the cutest design.

A ray of sunshine pierced through the windows, highlighting her face and making her freckles stand out. She was as cute as a button. She had her brown hair tucked up into a hairnet, and she still looked adorable. Me, my curly and unruly hair would’ve been popping out of the hairnet in springs.

“You are a lifesaver,” I teased, though I really did believe it.

“You just have to keep me posted on what on earth is going on. I can’t believe another murder.” She shook her head.

“I’m not sure if it was murder or hunting gone wrong. But either way, it’s not good,” I agreed and took out a twenty, knowing it was more than needed to pay for the sweet treat, but she could keep the rest as tip.

“If anyone can get down to the bottom of it, it’s you.” She tapped her nose. “I’ve told everyone that Mae West has a nose for sniffin’ stuff out.”

“Oh my, don’t be going around saying that. I’m already stumped on this one.” I held the bag up. “You’re a gem. Thank you!”

The smell of the cookies in my car made my tummy grumble. If lunch with the ladies wasn’t right around the corner, I’d probably have eaten two of those big cookies. But the ride wouldn’t take long, because the Cookie Crumble was located in the business district a couple blocks from downtown.

The sheriff’s department was located on the side of the courthouse in the business district. There were other businesslike offices there for things like accounting, law, and banking that our town needed. It was the downtown shops that were our focal point for tourism.

“Mae West!” Agnes Swift sat behind the window on her perch. She clapped her hands in delight. Her saggy jaws tightened slightly when she smiled. Her short grey hair was curled around her head. “I’ve been waiting all day to see you.”

Her eyes darted to the bag of treats.

“I bet the boys you’d bring something in here today.” She held up a crooked finger. “Let me flip the coffee switch on, and we can chat.”

My eyes opened and my jaw dropped.

“Aww, honey. Hank ain’t here. And he won’t know.” She slid off the stool, flipped the switch on the coffeepot, and opened the door to enter the department.

Agnes was Hank’s grandmother. She was the granny who’d practically raised him and who I had to thank for his Southern-gentleman manners.

She was the dispatcher for the department and so spry for her age.

“How’s Precious?” I always asked about my grand-dog—Agnes had taken one of Fifi’s puppies.

“She’s true to her name just like you are true to yours.” Agnes was a big Mae West fan, and it was only by marriage I’d gotten the name.

After many people had made mention of it after I’d gotten married, I’d had to look up the movie star.

“I’m not sure I’m exactly like her.” Mae West had been a legend back in the day as an actress, singer, playwright, screenwriter, comedian, and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades. “But I’m more than happy to be a legend in my own right.”

“Girly, you are on your way.” She opened her arms for me to give her a hug. “I overheard some of the deputies asking Hank what you thought about the case.” She nudged me with her little elbow. “Ain’t that a hoot and a holler?”

“I bet he didn’t like that.” I raised my brows.

“You know he didn’t, but they are right.” She gestured for me to follow her. She plucked two Styrofoam cups off the stack and pulled the coffeepot out to fill them before it’d fully brewed. “Here you go.”

I followed her back to her desk, where I knew she’d have the file waiting for me.

“There’s a lot of things that just don’t add up. From what Hank has gathered, everyone staying in your campground is accounted for, which makes him think it was someone else or a hunter.” We exchanged the file for the bag. “Those are your copies, because I wasn’t sure when you’d be here, and I’m tired of trying to keep busy when you aren’t here. So let me turn my back so you can slip them in your purse. What I don’t see, I can’t tell.”

I laughed and knew I’d be able to look at them a little more closely with the gals.

“Maybe someone had shot him earlier?” I questioned.

“Mm-mm.” Her nose crinkled like she smelled something bad. “Natalie put the time of death as while the opening ceremonies were happening.”

Natalie. My feelings about her and Hank working together must’ve shown on my face.

“Now, now.” Agnes noted my dislike. “That girl. She’s icy. Hank don’t like that.”

“His sister loves Natalie. And if Ellis had her way…”

“Thank the Lord she don’t.” Agnes threw her arms up in the air. “That girl.” Agnes shook her head. “I’m not sure they’re ever gonna get her straight.”

Hank didn’t talk too much about his family, but neither did I. At least not my biological family. He got a good enough dose of Mary Elizabeth and Bobby Ray on a weekly basis that I didn’t even need to bring them up.

“Besides, Hank only has an eye for you and only you.” She gave me a theatrical wink like she knew something I didn’t.

“I know he does.” I smiled and patted my bag. “And so do you. Say, thank you for the walker, but Dottie is refusing to use it.”

“I’ve got a solution for that.” Agnes pointed to herself and bit off a piece of cookie. “Me,” she mumbled, and a few crumbs fell out. She brushed them off her shirt.

“I swear, it’s hard for me to keep my mouth shut even when I’m eating.” She giggled and hurried over to her desk when the dispatch phone rang. “Yep. I’ll send a ranger on out.” She pushed a few buttons and called for a ranger over dispatch. “Mama bear and cub sighting up on Church Rock.”

That was interesting. Church Rock was in Slade in the Gorge and generally very heavily populated. Most times, the mama kept her babies out of sight, but still, the rangers liked for you to report any sort of sightings because somehow they tracked them. I didn’t know how and really didn’t get into the particulars of it.

Instead of interrupting Agnes, since I’d already gotten what I needed, I slipped out, tossing the Styrofoam cup in the trash as I left.

On the way to the car, I texted Agnes to let me know what she meant by her helping Dottie. Because right now, Dottie needed all the help she could get, and I was going to be the one to tell her that, even though I knew she was going to be mad as a wet hen when I brought it up.

Chapter 11

Downtown was very busy, and I noticed a few of the campers from Happy Trails walking around, even having little lunches in the grassy median between the one-way lanes of Main Street. Hank must’ve given them the okay to leave the campground, which was good for me, even though it didn’t appear from the files I’d quickly flipped through on my drive over that he was any closer to solving Bryce Anderson’s murder or accidental death than I was.

There weren’t any parking spots left on the street in front of The Laundry Club, so I pulled around to the side and parked in the parking lot. With my purse in my hand and the notebook and file inside it, I headed on into the laundromat. It was only a short walk from the parking lot, which was a smart layout because campers had just a short distance to carry their laundry bags.

But inside, Betts Hager had really done a fantastic job with the space, making it more than just a place where people could come clean their clothes. Betts had everything for them to do and keep themselves occupied while they did their laundry. She’d made it such an enjoyable atmosphere with a comfortable seating area near a television, a jigsaw-puzzle station, a reading nook with comfy seating where she hosted a monthly book club meeting, and a complimentary coffee station, with coffee not from Trails Coffee but still delicious and much-welcomed, especially because my brain was so foggy from all the theories I was dying to spit out to the ladies.

“I was wonderin’ where you were.” Dottie Swaggert was standing over one of the puzzles with a piece in her hand, surveying where it might fit. She had the Normal Gazette, our local newspaper, curled up under her armpit.

I was happy to see she had on short khakis that buttoned and not a pair of sweatpants, with her white shirt tucked in, a pair of flip-flops, and her bright-red hair curled nicely around her head. Maybe I was wrong and she was starting to feel better, because she’d not fixed herself up in quite some time.

“I told her you had to run off somewhere.” Abby was sitting in the book club section with a roll of duct tape and a few books she’d saved from the library dumpster. “And you’d be here directly. Didn’t I, Betts?”

“Mm-hmm.” Betts nodded and stood up from helping Abby.

Abby always took the old books that had been thrown away in the library dumpster because she said her soul died a little every time she’d discover a precious gem discharged in such a way. She did her best to tape them up and find them a home by way of putting them on a shelf in the book club section of the laundromat with a sign stating they were free to take home.

“Am I late?” Queenie pushed through the door, nearly knocking me over. Her short blond hair was held back with some sweat and a headband that matched her hot-pink bodysuit, purple leg warmers, and bright-white shoes. “Class ran late because we were gabbing too much beforehand about the murder.”

“About that.” I waved for them to join me near the coffee station and looked over at the machines as someone was feeding quarters into the dryer. “Is it safe to talk?” I asked Betts when she walked over to me.

“Yeah. They have on earbuds, those fancy kind with Bluetooth,” she confirmed.

“We never can be too careful who we talk around.” I took the notebook out of my purse and gave it to Abby. She and Queenie walked over to the book club seating because there were some customers in the couch and television section where we normally sat when we did our sleuthing.

“Mary Elizabeth called.” Dottie gave me a funny look. “I told her to call you, but she insisted I tell you that a few of our guests have decided to go and stay at The Milkery because they fear for their lives. So she and Dawn won’t be coming to our little meeting, but if you need anything, she said she’d be more than happy to help.”

“Who is staying there?” I questioned.

“Little Joey’s family. I knew you was going to be all torn outta frame, so I waited until I seen you in person to tell you.” Normally, I got a kick out of Dottie’s lingo, but right now I was kind of steaming mad. I’d gone the extra mile to make that family feel welcomed and accommodated after Dottie hadn’t made their first few minutes at the campground enjoyable. “And I waited until I saw you to give you this.”

She took the newspaper out from underneath her arm and handed it to me, a little sweat stain visible, but Dottie didn’t care.

“Campground Hospitably leader goes down by arrow,” I read. The headline on the front page sat alongside a very unflattering photo of me avoiding Violet, looking beautiful, as she tried to get that statement from me.

“According to the social media manager of Happy Trails, the ongoing investigation will not hinder the Paddle Fest events taking place at the various campgrounds that have put a lot of time and effort keeping their guests safe during this time.” The more I read, the more angry I got. “That’s it!” I crumpled up the paper. “I’ve had it with her.”

“That!” Dottie jutted her finger at me. “That’s the reaction I was hoping for. Get you all torn up worse than a soup sandwich and really get down to the nitty-gritty to figure out who killed that boy so we can get on with it.”

Dottie sure was right. Violet had lit a fire inside me that wouldn’t go out until I got every clue, motive, and suspect on my list completely investigated.

“Abby, are you ready?” I asked.

“Ready.” She flipped the notebook open.

“This is what I’ve got.” I looked at the three of them. “Our victim, Bryce Anderson, is not only a huge celebrity in the sports world, which makes him a target to be knocked off so someone else can get the title, but a womanizer that would make any scorned woman or husband, or even father, very angry.”

“Father?” Betts blinked.

“That brings me to my first three suspects.” I looked at Abby.

“Angela, Giao, and Vinnie Russo,” Abby read. “Angela and Vinnie are the children of Giao. Giao is the president of the Kayak Championship Organization. He, along with Vinnie, believes that Bryce was giving Angela so much time because he wanted to secure the Olympic nomination through her father’s organization.”

“Which explains why Vinnie continually had physical fights with Bryce, and if Mae hadn’t broken them up, Vinnie might’ve killed him right there in the bright daylight,” Dottie noted.

“And when I was on stage at the opening ceremony, I noticed Vinnie and Giao giving Bryce the stare-down, which means that Bryce was there when I was talking.” I sighed. “Which brings me to why Angela or Giao could’ve killed him.”

The three of them scooted up to the edge of the couches and leaned in a little to hear me since I was talking more quietly than normal due to the high traffic in the laundromat.

“Dottie saw Bryce and Angela in a not-so-flattering way a couple of nights ago.” I was going to keep it clean, but Dottie had to take over.

“They were nekkid. It was compromising–I’m telling you, nude and loose.” She couldn’t stop the smile curling up on her face. Everyone giggled. “I didn’t turn away either.”

“Obviously.” Quennie snorted. “Did they see you?”

“Nope.” She shook her head.

“Okay, but the real kicker to the motive is how I saw them yesterday morning when I was walking Fifi,” I said. “They were coming off one of the trails doing Lord knows what when it ended up in a fight because Bryce dumped her.” My words were met with looks of shock and awe on all their faces.

“Which could mean she killed him because he made a fool of her.” Betts’s eyes grew big, as did the nods.

Abby started to read about how I’d overheard Angela threatening Bryce. “According to what Mae wrote—”

“And I quote,” I butted in, “‘I won’t let you take advantage of me and get away with it. Do you hear me, Bryce Anderson? My brother has been itching to get at you, and I just might unleash him.’”

“She said that?” Betts smacked her hands together. “Then we have our killer.”

“Not so fast.” Abby wagged a finger and held the notebook up to show the actual Magnus Bullhead Broadhead arrow used. “They would have to be a pretty good shot and have experience with a bow and arrow.”

“Geez Louise, is that one of them turkey arrows?” Dottie squinted and shivered. “That’s a rough way to go. And if it was intentional, they really wanted him to feel it.”

“Which brings me to this.” I pulled out the folder Agnes had given me.

“Is that the full file?” Abby was so excited. “You’re really pulling rank up there.”

“I do have to say, Agnes told me some of the deputies did ask Hank what my thoughts were on the case.” I laughed, and so did everyone else. “But seriously, Hank and Jerry aren’t positive it was on purpose. Maybe it was someone hunting because they knew the forest would be mainly clear since everyone seemed to be participating in Paddle Fest.”

“Which would make it a good time to go illegally hunting.” Queenie kept doing tippy-toe lifts to strengthen her calf muscles as she discussed the clues.

“Exactly,” I agreed. “And if they saw they accidentally shot a kayaker, they might’ve run.”

Betts was always the one to use good reasoning. She suggested, “We need to see if the Russos have any alibi or background in bow-and-arrow hunting.”

“That’s not Mae’s only suspects.” Abby read the rest. “We have the little family Dottie was saying had moved to The Milkery. According to Mae, Joey has a fascination with Bryce. Apparently, the father didn’t realize how bad until after he agreed to bring them to Paddle Fest and saw just how Joey acted and idolized Bryce. The father also made mention that Bryce was not someone to look up to because he was a womanizer, due to the nature Bryce has been carrying on at Happy Trails. And the father said his son needed to look up to him instead of Bryce.”

“So the father could’ve actually killed Bryce out of jealousy?” Queenie’s voice held a questioning tone.

“I believe that could be a good motive, and now they’ve left the campground, so they aren’t around the crime scene.” Not that the latter comment meant anything. “If I were to kill someone, I’d get out of dodge too.”

“He’d be a fool to mention to his wife he killed Bryce, so he hightailed it faster than any other camper I’ve ever seen leave Happy Trails.” Dottie unsnapped the cigarette case. With the unlit smoke in between her fingers, she rolled her hand in the air. “Get on with this so I can go smoke.”

“You need to stop that habit and get in shape. You know you’d have healed so much faster with that hip of yours if you’d been in tip-top shape.” Queenie was much older than me and a little younger than Dottie but in better physical condition than both of us.

“Then we can move on to”—Abby looked to the notebook—“Alli Shelton.”

“She’s so crooked, if she swallowed a nail, she’d spit up a corkscrew.” Dottie rolled her eyes so hard, and a snarl curled on her upper lip. “I seen her going around and talking to all the kayakers competing. It’s ridiculous.”

“And that’s what makes her a good suspect.” Abby looked back down at the notebook. “Tell them what you heard, Mae.”

“She and Bryce didn’t exactly get along, but she must’ve done something right, because if you open the Paddle Fest magazine the National Park put together, he’s the spokesperson for practically every single product.” Abby handed them the magazine that I’d kept with the notebook since I’d been admiring the ad Abby had put together for Happy Trails. “More importantly, I heard Bryce was actively hunting for a new agent. It was even on the ESPN blog, and she’d been trying to get Larry Baine’s grandson to join her, telling Larry that he was a family member and couldn’t open the kind of doors that she could.”

“What about Larry Baine? What if we put him on there, because he does want his grandson to be a champion?” Betts had made a good suggestion, only he had an alibi.

“I had thought about him, but when I was on stage during the opening ceremony, he was talking about old times with Alvin, and he was also there during the time of death declared by the coroner.” I’d truly thought of everyone I’d seen or heard Bryce come in contact with as possible killers, but the nagging doubt that a stray arrow from an illegal hunter had killed Bryce was a huge possibility.

“And if what Dottie said is true about Alli trying to get the other athletes to sign with her, that could possibly be because she knew that after Bryce was eliminated”—I put it kindly—“she’d need some more clients to fill his open spot of income.”

“She has to go on the list.” The door opened, and Agnes Swift was standing in the threshold.

“Why is that?” Dottie asked as she kept an eye on Agnes.

It was like I could read her mind. She was staring Agnes down to see how Agnes was getting around.

“I’m glad to see you, Dottie. I was hoping you were here.” Agnes sat down on the couch next to Dottie. Dottie scooted over a smidgen and crossed her arms.

“What ’bout?” Dottie’s head drew back, her upper lip curled.

“We will get to that in a minute, but Hank came back to the department, and they’ve uncovered Alli Shelton represents a world-champion wild-turkey hunter.” Agnes pointed at Abby. “Stick that in your little notebook, along with this”—Agnes’s little beady eyes snapped open, looking around us—“Alli Shelton herself was a world-class arrow champion. She’d be able to make it look like it was an accident if anyone could.”

“But I saw her at the crowd.” Abby’s eyes grew, and her mouth dropped. “And I saw her sneak off through the crowd after Alvin got on stage.”

That was all the information I needed to move Alli Shelton to the number one suspect on my list. And I was going to get to the bottom of it.

“Hey, ladies.” Ty Randal strolled through the door with two handled bags of food. “Lunch is served.”

Chapter 12

Hank Sharp had probably already gotten Alli to the department, but it wouldn’t hurt to go looking for her since she was staying in the campground.

When I’d gotten back from our sleuthing lunch with the Laundry Club ladies, I’d sat in the office of Happy Trails and looked over the notebook. I’d had a few hours to myself because Dottie had agreed to go have lunch with Agnes because Agnes only had an hour lunch break.

If I knew Agnes, I bet she’d given Dottie some sound advice, which probably meant sending Dottie to see her physical therapist friend.

While Dottie was out, I took advantage of the wipe-off board that hung on the office wall where we wrote down the calendar of events in the area for our guests. After all, I’d gone down to Alli Shelton’s camper she’d rented and knocked. I wanted to talk to her without Dottie over my shoulder spouting off questions and pointing a finger. But Alli wasn’t there.

I might’ve looked through the window of the camper and seen her suitcase still next to the bed and her laptop sitting on the small table, so I knew she was around here somewhere.

Maybe she was off trying to get more clients, or Hank had dragged her down to the station.

I turned back to the whiteboard, which was perfect for writing down suspects and motives like they did on the television crime shows. It helped me see the big picture as I stood in front of it and eyeballed all of the information together.

John, Joey’s dad, had a great motive of jealousy over his son idolizing a womanizer.

Angela probably couldn’t handle a bow that shot the Magnus Bullhead Broadhead, but Vinnie sure could. And so could Giao. All three of them didn’t like how Bryce had womanizing ways. Certainly Giao had shown disgust for him. Plus, Vinnie had tried to pummel Bryce a couple of times in broad daylight, so who knew what he’d do with the wooded forest as a cover.

Alli Shelton still had the biggest motive to me.

“Knock, knock.” Alvin peeked his head around the door to the office. “I saw your car outside. Are you busy?”

“Not too busy for you.” I put the lid back on the black whiteboard marker and set it on the lip of the board, and I smiled at Larry coming in behind him.

“It looks like you’re at it again.” Alvin and Larry looked over my board.

“Yeah. But I think Alli is Hank’s number one suspect, though he’s not told me.” I let out a long sigh.

“Let me guess, Agnes?” Alvin grinned, and I nodded. “Agnes is Hank’s granny, and she claims Mae is a better detective than her own grandson is.”

“You look like a professional.” Larry took a couple of steps to the board. “You know, I told your boyfriend when he was questioning me and Hunter about how Alli was shocked Bryce was looking around. It’d been all over ESPN, which made him think she had no idea what on earth her client was doing.”

“Yeah, but was she right about being able to open more doors than you could?” I asked him.

“Nah. She’s blowing smoke. Hunter is up-and-coming and doing so well that they approach him at these competitions, and he makes all the contacts. If Hunter is interested in them, he gives me their card, or if he’s really excited to collaborate, he will have them meet me at the event.” Larry’s love for Hunter was written all over his face.

“Yeah, but you also know the limits of what you can do for Hunter.” Alvin patted Larry on the back. “Larry has always said to me that when Hunter’s talent has surpassed what Larry can help with, he will step back and let a sports agent take over.”

“And we are about at that time.” Larry’s lips pinched together, dipping down to a frown. “Then I’m just going to be in the stands, rooting him on.”

The sadness from Larry really brought the mood down, so I changed the subject.

“What did you come to see me about?” I asked Alvin.

“Were you serious about me giving kayak lessons? Because I’ve been thinking it over, and I’d like to give it a shot. This whole Paddle Fest has gotten the blood flowing through my veins, and I’ve not been this excited in a long time.” Alvin’s excitement thrilled me to no end.

“Absolutely, but do you think now is the time?” I asked with what all was going on.

“When Hank questioned me…” Even Alvin wasn’t off Hank’s list. Heck, I was probably on his list. Alvin continued, “I told him about you considering lessons, and I also asked him when he thought the campground’s crime scene would be released. He told me sometime today, and I’d like to give back to you like you’ve done for Normal.”

There was something to be said for an amazing tourist and camping community like Normal. Being the businessman he was, Alvin knew the bad publicity was going to hurt the campground if we didn’t do something.

“Why don’t I give free lessons and advertise it to all the people coming in the Feed-N-Seed, so they have to come to Happy Trails for the free lesson. They will see what a lovely campground you have, and for the free lesson, they’ll have to do some sort of positive social media post about Happy Trails.” Alvin’s marketing idea made my mind explode.

“I can help if you want me to,” Larry suggested. “You can even use my championship title along with Alvin’s to make it seem like we are legit.”

“You are definitely legit.” I grinned from ear to ear, sealing the deal.

It wasn’t too long after Alvin and Larry left that Hank had stopped by, but instead of coming into the office, he headed down Red Fox Trail, emerging shortly with the wadded-up yellow police tape they’d used to mark off the water sports area.

By the look on his face, I could tell where our conversation was heading before it even began.

“Let me explain.” I stood in front of the whiteboard with my arms extended out to my sides. He danced back and forth on his feet to see around me before he grabbed me by both arms, giving me a kiss square on my lips while his eyes peered over my shoulder.

“You dirty dog.” My eyes narrowed. “You used my kiss to see my list of suspects.”

“A detective will go to any length to get his man.” He grinned and walked over to the board.

“Check, check, and gone.”

“What?” I jerked to look at him.

“I don’t have this dad on my list. Which camper is his?” Hank’s question sent my brain off in so many different directions.

“Wait, didn’t you tell everyone here they had to stay put?” I had thought Dottie would’ve checked with Hank to make sure Sue, John, and Joey could leave the campground and stay at The Milkery.

“You know I did.” His brows furrowed, and he looked down the bridge of his nose at me. “Why? What happened? Is that why Alli is gone?”

“Alli? Gone?” Another question sending my thoughts into overload. “One at a time.” I pointed to John’s name on the board. “This guy left the campground with his family to go stay at The Milkery.”

Hank took a second to read the motives I’d listed under his name.

“Alli is gone?” I asked him once he appeared to have stopped reading. “I went to her camper a couple of hours ago, but her stuff was still in there.”

“Is it?” He appeared to be noodling an idea. “Are you sure?”

“As much as you are standing here, I’m sure.” I walked over to the closet where Dottie and I kept all the extra sets of keys to the campers.

My eyes drew down the pegboard until I found the keys to the camper Alli had rented and plucked the flamingo key chain off the hook.

“We can go see for ourselves.” I dangled the keys in the air and slipped my cell phone in my back pocket.

Chapter 13

“Technically, we don’t have a warrant, so this is illegal.” Hank took this moment to worry about details?

“Not true.” I shrugged my shoulder and grabbed his hand as we walked around the lake, passing a lot of guests who’d simply taken advantage of the campfires and were getting to know the other campers Hank had yet to let leave. “Clause E-9 in the renters’ contract states that administration can exercise their right to enter the camper to spray for bugs without the consent of the guest. Did you know ants are just rampant right now?”

“Is that right?” he asked in a warm voice. “You have a solution to everything.” He squeezed my hand before he let go because one of the campers had called him over.

I went ahead and walked over to Alli’s camper because I didn’t need to listen in on Hank’s conversation. It wasn’t like the guest had called me over. With Hank busy talking, it gave me time to go in the camper and just look around.

The camper Alli had rented was a very popular mini travel-trailer that was about sixteen feet in length. It was nice and cozy, with a small dinette at one end, a galley kitchen in the middle, and a bathroom and queen bed on the other end. It had all the bells and whistles of a home including electricity, a microwave, a coffee maker, a stove, fresh water, and cable television as well as high-speed internet.

Staying at Happy Trails Campground in one of my rentable campers was really not camping, but they all liked to put it on social media, which was great for me and the surrounding businesses. By the looks of the contents on the table, Alli had several brochures for the area for day hiking trips, the various water sports, and even one for the amateur hunter.

“Amateur hunter.” I gnawed on my lip and peeked out the dinette window when I heard Hank’s voice. He was getting closer but had stopped a few yards away to finish up his conversation with the guest.

Quickly, I flipped the brochure over and took my phone out of my pocket to snap a photo of the information for the place. I’d never been hunting, nor did I want to go, but if this was a place Alli had gone and shot a few arrows, then it could be a lead, and I was going to check it out.

I leaned back across the table to see if Hank was still talking, and my thigh hit the leg of the table, shaking her laptop out of sleep mode.

Immediately, my eyes went to the open Excel sheet titled potential clients. Each column was titled differently: name, age, sport, credentials, awards, rank, address, and phone number. There was even a contact date column as well as a future date one, which made me think she had an appointment with them on the date she’d typed in.

On the list were names I recognized from general sports. Some of those names had lines through them like she’d used the strike-out feature, which made me assume she’d contacted them and there was no agreement. There was even a line for JJ Rich, the ESPN reporter. Upon closer inspection, it appeared as if she had an interview scheduled with him tonight. I made a mental note and decided I’d show up and see what he had to say about Alli Shelton. He was in the biz, so he’d have a sense of how she was perceived or possibly another suspect we were looking for. And it had to have been scheduled before Bryce’s murder because they were meeting at the base of Red Fox Trail near the water’s edge.

The Excel sheet went all the way back for eight years, which made me think she kept some good records and might have a few leads.

Hank’s laughter rang out. I quickly hit the share button on the Excel screen and typed in my address. It was illegal, but it would be no different than Hank calling in a warrant to get the laptop and then going through it. I simply looked at it like I was getting a jump on things.

“Bug man,” Hank hollered into the camper and jerked the door open. “What did you find?”

“I found a lot of brochures, so maybe she’s at one of these places.” I dragged all the brochures together and put them in a stack.

“She was ordered not to leave the campground unless she informed me where she was going.” His voice carried a unique force. He was now in detective mode.

“She isn’t here, so she didn’t listen, which means you can be in here and not be the bug man.” On purpose, I knocked the table, bringing the laptop to life again. “What’s this?” I asked with a surprised voice. “A spreadsheet of current and potential clients. Hmm.”

“You honestly think you can fool me? You’ve already looked at this.” He put the matter of me snooping aside with good humor. “So, tell me.”

“Okay, well since she didn’t adhere to your order, you can get a warrant and come back to get the laptop and go through these dates and phone numbers to see if she made the appointment.” I sorted the contact columns by date to bring up the current month so Hank could see exactly what appointments she had while she was here. “It seems like she already crossed off Hunter Baine, and we already knew from his grandfather Larry that he wasn’t going to use her as an agent. And it looks like she had an appointment this morning with another kayaker over at Benita Falls Campground.”

Benita Falls was over the mountain in a different part of the Daniel Boone National Forest, but they were taking part in Paddle Fest too. It was farther than any other participating campground, so it was where the kayak competition to help qualify for the Olympics ended.

Hank looked at his watch. He looked back at me.

“Go on.” I knew we’d had supper plans, but obviously this was more important. Plus, it would give me time to head over to The Milkery to talk to John and Sue as well as show up to the interview JJ Rich had scheduled.

“Are you sure?” he questioned.

“If you can get this thing solved, do it,” I encouraged him.

“I’m going to get a warrant.” He motioned around the table, which told me not to touch.

“Oh, don’t worry. I won’t.” I kept my little secret about forwarding the Excel sheet to myself and would maybe poke around a little while he was gone for the next few hours.

It was Hank’s way of telling me to get out of the camper.

“What did my guest want with you?” I asked and happily strolled alongside Hank while we took the long walk back to his car at the office, where we stopped briefly to let the dogs out—both of them were staying in my RV.

“You know, the typical questions about ‘was it a murder or accident.’ In my opinion, there were a lot of reasons people, namely one, had to kill Bryce Anderson. And I am definitely calling it a murder because I asked Alvin Deters about that type of arrow. He said it was specifically made to target the neck of a turkey to completely cut it off. The time of day bugs me because turkeys don’t come anywhere near people, and that waterway has been filled with people over the last couple of days.” He bent down and scratched Chester behind the ears.

“I never thought about that.” Not that I hadn’t thought this was murder, but there had been a small possibility it was an accident by an illegal hunter. That possibility was gone.

“Even if all the people weren’t around, the turkeys would still run if they heard the likes of Blue Ethel and Adolescent Farm Boys,” Hank teased with an awful joke.

“You’re terrible.” I patted my leg for Fifi and Chester to head up into the RV so we could get on with it.

Dottie Swaggert was sitting outside at the communal campfire Henry pretty much kept lit all day long that was nestled between the tiki hut and the recreational room. She was surrounded by other guests and just as happy as them to be gossiping about the events.

No doubt she was telling a good old story because every once in a while, a great deal of laughter was heard from the group.

“I did tell your guests they were able to leave when they wanted and the water sports were open.” Hank gave me some relief that the campground might return to normal. “We’ve combed through everything down there. I can’t find a clue to anything.”

“You better get on with it, or you’ll be heading back from the mountain at dark.” I wrapped my arms around him. I looked up into his green eyes. My heart jumped. “I don’t like you driving in the forest at night. No good cell service. And I don’t want to hear that you were a ranger and know these woods better than any old bear out there.”

“I’ll be fine. I love you.” He kissed me before he jumped in his car and took off. He was already on his phone, no doubt calling in that warrant.

Which told me I better get a move on.

Chapter 14

Dottie had been more than happy to keep watch over the campground. She even told me she was going to walk around and let everyone know all water sports were back on and the campground was cleared.

That was good on two levels. It reassured the guests Happy Trails was safe and sound, and it helped Dottie get some sort of exercise for her hip. Maybe her change in attitude was from Agnes, but I wasn’t about to ask.

Driving out to The Milkery made me think of Abby Fawn.

“Hey, Mae.” Abby answered the phone directly. “Any news?”

“Alli Shelton is missing, and I found a spreadsheet on her laptop.” I knew I had to clarify how I got the information. “Long story short, the camper she rented needed an ant treatment.”

“Is that right?” Deep sarcasm laced her question. “I bet.”

“I went ahead and sent you a share link to your email so you could get a jump on some of the people she’s already been in contact with.” I said this as a suggestion, or at least I hoped she took it that way.

“You certainly give me enough things to do.” I heard her tapping on the keyboard. “The library is dead this afternoon.”

“Good. Do you mind looking into it?” I asked.

“You know I don’t,” she said. “But what do you mean Alli is missing?”

“Hank said she didn’t show up for her appointment to give her statement. And she’s not at the campground where Hank told everyone to stay put.” I drove down the curvy road to The Milkery very slowly.

Deer loved to roam at this time of the late-afternoon-slash-early-evening, and it was not good to hit a deer with your car. Neither turned out in good condition.

“She did have a meeting over at Benita Falls with a kayaker there, so he headed over the mountain to see if she went there or is there. He also has a stack of brochures she left out on the camper table, so he can check those places to see if she’s been there too.” I didn’t bother letting her know he still had to get the warrant because it didn’t pertain to what she and I were doing. “Hank also cleared the campground for business as usual.”

“Oh, that’s great. I’ll go ahead and put out the social media blitz to get rid of any negative publicity out there.” Abby told me she’d do exactly what I’d hoped. “Where are you headed?”

“I wanted to run out to The Milkery to see that dad on our list of suspects, so I can just make sure. You can never be too sure about theories, although Alli sure does have a lot of reasons to kill Bryce.” She had too many good reasons, which made it so obvious it was her.

Then again, she was not around to defend herself, which in itself made her more suspicious. I had to make sure the others who I had decided had great motive to kill him didn’t do it. It was a little quirk I had that made me feel better about pointing the finger.

“After that, I’m going back to Happy Trails, where Alli has an interview with JJ Rich. If she’s going to show up anywhere, it will be for that interview,” I told Abby.

“You be careful. I sure don’t like you running around doing all this by yourself.” Abby was so sweet. “Or you can swing by and get me. I can close the library early.”

“I need you to go through that list. See if any one of them has anything to say about Alli or if they know of Alli’s reputation.” I didn’t need to tell Abby what to say—she was good at doing all of that on her own.

One always knew when they were getting close to The Milkery. The long stretch of wooden fence was the clue.

A few Christmases ago, Mary Elizabeth had come to see me. The Milkery had gone up for sale, and she was so good at Southern hospitality, she knew a bed-and-breakfast was much needed in Normal, and it was her cup of tea to make a go at it. With me and Bobby Ray living in Normal, buying The Milkery was a done deal before the ink dried on the purchase contract.

She had so much vision. She’d converted the empty farmhouse on the back end of the property into a really cool remodeled bed-and-breakfast for tourists who weren’t into camping like the ones who came to my campground.

This was also around the time when Dawn Gentry had come to town. She had been looking to make a change and ended up going into business with Mary Elizabeth.

Off in the distance, I could see the large silos around The Milkery with the name printed on each of them.

I turned up the blacktop drive of the property. It had been a big expense for Mary Elizabeth and Dawn, but Mary Elizabeth insisted on it being blacktop and not concrete.

She claimed a customer’s first impression was of the utmost importance, and gravel didn’t give off a good first impression. Leave it to Mary Elizabeth and her Southern roots to know what looked good and what didn’t. She proved her theory right. It added a much more businesslike and sophisticated feel to the dairy farm, and The Milkery was bringing in more money than any other local business.

The cows were walking together as they made their way up to the barn, where it was about time to feed them before nightfall. The free-range chickens were gathered in the coop on the other side of the Kentucky post fence as I continued up the long drive, and I noticed all the lights were on in the bed and breakfast, which meant they’d yet to do the nightly animal feeding.

I drove past the steel building where the offices were located, and a few lights were still on in there, which told me she’d not yet finished supper. This put a hop in my step as I headed around back to the screen door after I parked.

The smell of fried country ham wafted in the gentle summer breeze. All the leaves on the big, full oak trees around the property swayed, dancing in the wind.

“Am I in time for some supper?” I knocked on the wood frame of the screen door and pulled it open. Mary Elizabeth smiled so big when she saw me. I couldn’t help but notice the spots of flour on her apron. “Biscuits too?”

There was nothing better than one of Mary Elizabeth’s fried country ham sandwiches. I would be all swollen in the morning from all the salt, but it was worth it.

She put out her arms. “You get over here and give me some sugar.”

I never gave up an opportunity for a hug. Take me back a few years ago, and I’d found it very strange when I first met Abby and the Laundry Club ladies. Abby had pulled me in for a hug after I held my hand out for her to shake after we met, and she told me, “We hug around here.” Ever since then, I had welcomed the hug.

“You are just in time for supper, but I thought you were going on a date tonight.” She pulled back and grabbed a mitt to open the oven door.

Both of us bent down and eyeballed the golden-brown and perfectly made biscuits.

“I’m so glad he had to do some business.” My eyes were going to be bigger than my stomach tonight, but I didn’t care. It wasn’t like she made this every night.

“Business as in ‘murder business’?” she asked and put the pan on top of the stove.

“Murder business?” Dawn walked into the kitchen with a serving tray. She set it down on the old farm table and took out a wire bread basket for the biscuits.

“Since y’all weren’t at the Laundry Club meeting, you don’t know all that’s gone on.” While Dawn got the rest of the bed-and-breakfast customers’ dinner dishes together and Mary Elizabeth put all the food in fancy serving bowls, I told them my theory and how I was really there to poke around John and Sue to see what they had to say.

“I know I don’t have to say this, but you need to have some taste and tact when you question them if you’re staying for supper.” It was exactly what I wanted to hear from Mary Elizabeth.

She untied her apron and looked into the door of the microwave. I watched her go through the same routine she’d done so many times when we’d have company stop by when I was a teenager. She ran her hands down her long straight brown hair, letting it dangle behind her shoulders. She’d fiddle with the pearl necklace around her neck, making sure the clasp was in the back and the pearls lay nicely over her collarbone. Finally, she’d blot her fingertips in the creases of her lips so she didn’t have bleeding lipstick. All of this made her presentable.

The finale was her drawing her shoulders back, sucking in her gut, lifting her chin, and taking a deep breath before stepping into the dining room. This ritual made Mary Elizabeth look like she had the most confidence in the world.

“Ladies.” She glanced over her shoulder to inspect Dawn with the utensils and me with the biscuit basket before she was satisfied and made the first move to her guests.

The dining room of the bed and breakfast was very large. The table had ten chairs on each side with plenty of elbow room. Mary Elizabeth had insisted on the extra room when she had commissioned the carpenter to design the table just for this space.

She claimed it was important to be able to eat without feeling cramped and that dinner conversation was the true joy in life.

Instead of noticing all the pops of yellow flowers she’d put in vases along the table, my focus went straight to the chair right across from John.

“Hi there. I heard y’all moved accommodations.” I put a big ole Southern smile on my face that if it could talk would’ve said, “Bless your heart,” and not in the good way.

I lived by Mary Elizabeth’s rule about getting more with honey than vinegar. When it came to the possibility of the man sitting across from me being a killer, the sweet taste of honey would be welcomed when I brought him down.

“I’m sure you understand it was in Joey’s best interests not to stay there.” Sue spoke up. “I probably should’ve told you first instead of the woman with the pink hair-rollers who smokes like a freight train.”

“Dottie Swaggert is lovely.” Mary Elizabeth took the biscuit basket and walked around the table. “Biscuit?”

Sue looked at the basket. “These look delicious.”

“They are. Mary Elizabeth has never made a bad biscuit, and I’ve been eating them all my life.” I took one from the basket as she passed me.

“Are you two mother and daughter?” Sue wiggled her finger between us.

“Mary Elizabeth is my mom.” I didn’t go into detail anymore when someone would ask me. I’d had a hard time coming to grips with me loving another woman as my mother after my biological mom died. I believed it was more survivor’s guilt than anything, but since I was older and a lot wiser, I believed only Mary Elizabeth was put on this earth to be my mom.

“So you’re in safe hands here.” I didn’t mean it to come out like it sounded. “Not that you weren’t in safe hands at Happy Trails. But it is unfortunate what happened. Where is Joey?”

“Your mom made him a special TV-tray dinner for the movie room, letting us enjoy a nice meal alone.” John put his arm around his wife.

“TV tray, huh?” My brow rose, and I looked at Mary Elizabeth, wondering just how she knew this was going to be a night where little Joey needed to be occupied.

It was a trick she’d used on me when she’d had company and didn’t want me in the room. She’d bribed me with a TV dinner, and I’d loved it. Still did to this day.

“You know. Sometimes kids need their own time too.” She gave me a wink and looked around.

She always made sure everyone’s plate was full before she’d get her own plate.

“Speaking of Joey, how did he take the news about Bryce?” I asked. “I was so worried about him since he was the youngest camper there for Paddle Fest.”

“If you ask me, Bryce had it coming to him.” John pointed his fork at me. “I told Sue he was asking for trouble when he was—”

Sue interrupted him by putting her hand on his forearm as if she were telling him to hold his tongue. “Well, let’s just say the way he treated women was not something I wanted Joey to see.”

“Joey thinks it was a kayak accident. He doesn’t know the details, and we are going to keep it that way.” Sue pinched off a piece of biscuit and put it in her mouth. “When John got off his conference call and I told him what happened—”

John interrupted Sue. “I couldn’t believe it. I told Sue we needed to switch locations until the campground got settled. We want to come back once the grounds are cleared because we still have reservations for horseback riding, cave exploring, and the falls walk.”

For a killer, John didn’t seem too worried about being a suspect.

“Did you say you weren’t there when they found Bryce?” I asked John to make sure I heard Sue say he was on a conference call.

“No. I was there for a little bit of the opening ceremony but had to jump on a conference call for my company. You can barely take off when you’re the owner,” he said and looked at his wife. “Vacationing at a campground has really given me the flexibility needed to do both, so that’s why Happy Trails was a great fit.”

Seeing if John’s alibi was legit would be super easy since I had all of his paperwork in the office, which gave his business information. And he certainly didn’t seem to be too much of a suspect now.

“If you’ll excuse me a minute.” I scooted my chair back only to be met with a glare by Mary Elizabeth that told me I better not get up until after supper unless I had to run to the ladies’ room. “It can wait.” I smiled and made a mental note to text Dottie and tell her to look into John’s company and alibi.

Chapter 15

When I got back into the car after supper and had pretty much deduced that John or Sue had nothing to do with Bryce Anderson’s murder, I had a text message from Dottie saying she checked the data usage from the bungalow John had rented.

Since the campground was literally deep set in the woods, internet didn’t come cheap. There was free wi-fi to each camper and bungalow, but we put a data cap on it. If campers exceeded the cap, they were more than welcome to use the free wi-fi in the recreational room and the office.

Dottie confirmed there was a lot of data usage from their bungalow during the opening ceremony. She also had called the emergency contact on John’s application, which was his secretary.

“What did the secretary say?” I decided to wait until I got back to the campground to physically talk to Dottie because half of her text messages needed one of those cereal-box ring-decoders to be deciphered.

Dottie was still sitting in a camping chair next to the firepit. She was alone this time. I could see a lot of the campers were finishing up supper, sitting outside underneath the camper awnings and eating at the picnic tables.

We offered nightly s’mores at the communal campfire, so I knew I had limited time to talk to Dottie about her conversation with John’s secretary.

“I called, and I said, ‘I’m Dottie Swaggert from Happy Trails Campground,’ and then she interrupted me with a gasp like I was calling because something bad had happened to John and his family.” Dottie took a long drag of her cigarette. “I told her nothin’ like that’d happened, but he did move his family to a different location. I figured I better get on with it, because I could tell she was one of those types who liked to ask questions. So I said that he had a credit and I wasn’t sure if the internet data usage from the bungalow was right since, you know”—she rolled the hand with the cigarette around in the air in a big dramatic gesture—“we are deep in the woods and it’s hard to gauge whether the internet service is right.”

The more Dottie told the story about lying to the secretary, the more tuned in I got. She was a very good storyteller, and half the time it was inflated, but it made for a good listen.

“Since he had a credit because they left Happy Trails early, I wondered if he did have some sort of business the night the usage was up. I didn’t tell her it was when we think he killed Bryce Anderson.” She sucked in another good puff before she let it out in a long, slow, steady stream.

“And?” I asked as I walked over to the stack of firewood next to the firepit to get a few more pieces so the fire would stay nice and lit.

“She said that she was sure it’d be fine to apply the credit to his data overage because he had a big video call meeting that night and it lasted a while.” Dottie told me the secretary had confirmed John wasn’t present during the killing, and he was then marked off the suspect list.

“That marks him off.” I looked off in the distance, squinting to see what was going on.

With dusk nestling into the shadowy trees in and around the campground, it was oftentimes hard to make out faces of people milling around. A few of them were headed toward us, so I walked over to the s’more station to make sure it was nice and stocked for all the guests.

The sound of gravel spitting up underneath tires made me and Dottie look over our shoulders. “Is that Lloyd Hornbuckle?” Dottie got a wee bit too excited. She threw her cigarette into the fire and stood up. “I bet he’s here to tell you Happy Trails won the Campground Hospitality Award.”

Dottie turned around and actually looked pretty good with each step she took. She didn’t seem to favor her other hip like she’d been doing, and her gait was nice and smooth. Agnes Swift must’ve really gotten to her.

“I wouldn’t count on it,” I muttered under my breath and waved when Lloyd got out of his long, old black Cadillac sedan.

“Hey, Lloyd.” Dottie was all smiles. “Before you tell us the results, I have a lot more ballots in the office to turn in from our guests.” She turned to go into the office.

“You don’t need to do that,” he said in a stern voice before he plucked the Campground Hospitality Award participant sign right out of the ground. “Finding a dead body in a campground is automatic removal from the ballot.”

Dottie seemed to be having a hard time finding the right words, or at least words that weren’t considered so colorful in language.

“I’m sorry, Mae. It’s just the way it goes.” Lloyd put the sign under his arm. “I really thought you’d make a great addition to the committee.”

“You. . .” Dottie’s gaze snapped to Lloyd’s face, and her fists balled. “You!”

“Dottie, it’s okay. There’s no sense in getting upset over a little award.” I knew if I didn’t try to calm her down, she was going to throw the biggest hissy fit this side of the Daniel Boone National Park.

“Wait until I tell his wife about his behavior!” she yelled loudly enough for the other side of the forest to hear, and thrust her fist into the air.

Lloyd didn’t pay her any attention, which set Dottie off the rails even more. She used her good leg to kick up what little gravel under her shoe she could toward Lloyd. I didn’t stop her because her kick wasn’t very powerful and the gravel didn’t make it anywhere near his car.

“Come on. Let’s get a s’more.” I encouraged her to forget about it.

She didn’t put up a fuss.

“That man needs to stop being on the board. He thinks he’s Smoky the Bear and can just make up all the rules of the land.” She continued to spew various ideas to get him off the board.

I tuned her out and walked to the campfire.

The mouth to the Red Fox Trail from Happy Trails Campground was almost directly behind the tiki hut and performance stage. I noticed a shadowy figure move toward the trail. The new lights with the round lamps Henry had installed gave off enough light to let me see it was JJ Rich.

“What time is it?” I asked Dottie but pulled my phone out of my back pocket, noticing it was time for that interview Alli had on her spreadsheet with him. “I’ve got to go.”

“Where? It’s late.” Dottie knew it wasn’t technically late by normal standards, but it was late for us to be doing much of anything but enjoying the beautiful night.

“I’m going to talk to JJ Rich down at the water. I’ll be back soon and tell you later,” I told her. “In the meantime, let the ladies know John is now crossed off our suspect list and to be on the lookout for Alli Shelton in town because she’s gone AWOL.”

Dottie’s brows shot up. It was enough information for her to forget all about Lloyd and that dumb award.

Though I really had wanted to win it.

I’d not taken a full walk down the trail at this time since Henry had put in the new lights. With the trail nice and bright, I wished I’d done this a long time ago. Not that I wanted to ruin any trail and especially not the natural aspect of this popular trail, but now that I’d taken over the water sports activities, I had an obligation to make it safe for my guests.

Of course, that didn’t come without a price from my insurance agent, Ken Heidelman. He was the one who suggested I have lights dotting the wooded path from the mouth of the trail to the area for water sports.

Red Fox Trail didn’t just have an entrance from Happy Trails. It was a very long hiking trail that went around the forest, where it passed through or near other camping sites. These not only included camper campgrounds but also tent sites.

It was really cool for a hiker from a different campsite to make it up to Happy Trails and enjoy a little bit of what we had to offer. I left the hospitality room open to everyone, which no other campground that I knew of did for those who weren’t staying there. My motto was that everyone was welcome, especially if they simply needed a little hydration, because it did get exhausting hiking.

JJ Rich was sitting on one of the fallen-tree benches Henry had made. Several times during the week, we’d have dead trees fall down and sometimes in the waterway, making it very hard for my guests to take out canoes, kayaks, or even my white-water rafting staff to get the rafts out.

I’d told him to just cut it up, but Henry took it a step further and used his skills to make the neatest benches. He even had placed them along the water’s edge for spectators at the Paddle Fest.

I greeted JJ. “Good evening. I’m sorry to interrupt.” I hadn’t realized he’d opened his backpack and was fiddling with a cell phone stand.

“You’re not interrupting.” He continued to set it up. He opened the tripod and got up. “You stay right there.”

“Oh, okay.” I shrugged.

“You don’t mind being my model until my interview gets here, do you?” He winked and turned the television personality charm on.

“I sure don’t.” I bit the edge of my lip and felt the stress lines deepen on my forehead while I watched him put his cell phone in the stand’s cradle. “But I’m not sure you’re going to need me. I don’t think Alli Shelton is coming.”

The sound of snapping branches made me look over my shoulder. Maybe she was coming.

“And why is that?” JJ gave me an odd look. “She’s the last person I’d ever think wouldn’t show up. She’s been dying to get on my show for a few months now.”

“And now that Bryce is dead, she seems like a good rating builder?” I knew it was a snarky comment, but whether Alli did kill or didn’t kill Bryce, it still wasn’t good to be used.

The crunching of leaves got a little closer. Though JJ seemed to think it was a person, I knew it could be some sort of wildlife or critter that roamed during the dusk hours, which included the red fox, hence the name of the trail.

“Actually, the interview was set up before Bryce’s accident, and I’m not going to lie.” He bent down and put his hands on his knees, looking at me from behind the cell phone, adjusting the arm of the tripod as if he were trying to get the best shot. “With what’s taken place now, everyone is going to be watching this interview.”

JJ’s face stilled and he stood up, his gaze grazing my shoulder.

I turned around to see what he was looking at in fear it was some sort of animal.

“Larry, hey.” I waved and greeted him. “What’s going on?”

“I was walking down the shoreline to see what the conditions of the water were tonight.” He gave a nod to JJ. “Am I interrupting something?”

“JJ Rich, this is Larry Baine. His grandson is. . .” I went to make the introduction, but the two men ignored me and started to shake hands.

“Yeah, Hunter’s grandfather.” JJ smiled and nodded at the same time. “Good to meet you. That grandkid of yours seems to be a chip off the old block.”

Larry couldn’t help smiling. “Are you kidding? He’s much better than me.” Larry shifted his attention to me. “Have you seen Alvin? He was supposed to meet me here.”

“I haven’t, but I can call up to Dottie and ask her.” He agreed for me to do that.

I stepped away to make the call to her and overheard JJ asking if Larry could get Hunter down there for an interview if Alli Shelton didn’t show up. Larry was all over it. He was so excited and kept telling JJ thanks.

“I don’t think she’s coming.” I gave JJ a weary look. “I haven’t seen her all day, and my boyfriend is Detective Sharp. He came looking for her today because she didn’t show up to her interview down at the station. I’ve not seen her all day in the campground.”

“What’s going on?” Larry asked.

“I bet she killed Bryce.” JJ’s words had a little bite to them.

“Huh?” Larry continued to butt in, confused. “Who killed Bryce? Did you figure it out?”

“No.” I shook my head. “Alli was supposed to be here for an interview with JJ right now, but I came down to let him know that she has gone missing.”

“Gone missing?” Larry’s mouth dropped. “That’s not good.”

“‘Missing’ might be a strong word. Let’s just say that no one has seen her, and she’s not shown up for her various appearances.” I looked up the trail when I heard heavy footsteps. The light cast a shadow on Alvin Deters’s face.

“Alli Shelton has bailed,” Larry told him. “I told you, I bet she killed that boy because he was about to stop her gravy train.”

“That’s a big speculation.” I didn’t want them to get any idea that my words had come from Hank.

“What have you found out?” Alvin asked me.

“I had three suspects on my list. One of them has a solid alibi. Which leaves me with two.” I held up two fingers. “One of them has conveniently gone AWOL.” Without saying the name, I could tell they knew I was talking about Alli Shelton. “I’m wondering if I should be on a mission to find her?”

My question went unanswered. All of our attention was turned to Hunter Baine jogging down the trail with a huge smile on his face. His eyes were set on JJ Rich and no one else.

“This is great, man.” Hunter put his hand out. “Thanks so much. I know this is going to boost my career.” He flung his head to the side, letting his long curly blond hair swoop past his face.

“No problem.” JJ checked his watch. “I’m assuming Alli isn’t showing, so why don’t we get started?”

“Is this going to be live?” I asked JJ as he got Hunter seated on the tree bench and perfected his cell phone angle.

“Nope. I have a little editing that’ll need to be done tonight, but it will go up right before the big race tomorrow.” He jogged my memory as to why he was really in town.

With all the hullabaloo about Bryce Anderson’s murder, it overshadowed the real reason why the Daniel Boone National Park was in the spotlight. . .the Paddle Fest.

Chapter 16

I stood around to watch the interview for a few minutes. Alvin and Larry were standing there with pride all over their faces like very happy parents.

“We sure didn’t get this type of attention when we were kids.” Larry nudged Alvin.

“You did,” Alvin teased Larry. “But, man, could you imagine what Hunter might be bringing in if you got him a real agent?”

“I told Hunter we needed to be looking, because this”—Larry put his hands out in front of him—“this is above my skill set. I can read the water, fix equipment, and train him, but all this fancy camera business isn’t my cup of tea.”

“I bet Alli would’ve jumped on the chance to have him as a client.” I made a blank statement.

“She kept approaching us here, and I told Hunter he could do whatever he wanted. If he wanted to meet with her, he could. But she’s been so shifty in the business with Bryce, I’m worried that if Hunter did go with her, she’d not be able to keep his head from swelling.” Larry shook his head and crossed his arms.

“What do you mean? He seems like he has a good head on his shoulders. And he’s got you for a grandfather to keep him honest,” Alvin said.

“These agents get these kids these big money deals and don’t really advise them on investing it. They let these kids buy whatever they want, go anyplace they want, and in Bryce’s case, party all he wanted.” Larry sighed. “I remember when we were in Virginia on a big competition. In fact, it was the first competition Hunter was invited to. Granted, he was the youngest and just starting to make some headway after winning a few smaller competitions.”

I shifted my eyes to Hunter and JJ while I listened to Larry’s story. Hunter continued to smile and even blushed a few times. I couldn’t hear what JJ was saying since we’d moved our conversation back a few feet so the cell phone didn’t pick up our chatter. I was definitely going to watch tomorrow’s interview before the race.

“Bryce was literally caught with a man’s wife, and Alli just blew it off. It was the first time I tried to get her to even notice Hunter because I figured he needed an agent, but after that trip was when I told Hunter he didn’t need an agent and instead needed to focus on training, and the agents would come to him.”

At that moment, Larry’s cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the screen. “I need to take this. Excuse me.” He put the cell up to his ear and answered, walking away.

“So, was Bryce murdered?” Alvin asked me. “Or has Hank determined it was an illegal hunter?”

“They have come to a decision that it was on purpose, and now with her leaving town, it really makes her look suspicious.” I looked at him. “I’m just glad Hank has given the okay to continue with the competition tomorrow.”

That made me think of the Giao family and how I was going to approach them. I still had them on my list even though Alli had taken the lead. I wasn’t going to put this to rest until I really did get to the bottom of it.

With Lloyd taking the participation sign away from the campground, I knew the stain of another murder on Happy Trails property was still very much a threat, and the only way to remove it was to get to the bottom of Bryce’s murder.

“I’m glad he did too. And happy you and I are still going to work together.” Alvin glanced over his shoulder when we heard Larry laugh. “Why don’t you come by the Feed-N-Seed tomorrow morning before the big race so we can talk about it?”

“That sounds great.” I patted him on the back. “I’m going to get going. I can’t wait to see this interview tomorrow.”

Mainly, I couldn’t wait for Abby to use the interview for social media posts and help clean up the bad reputation Happy Trails had suddenly gotten.

I headed back up the trail, where I found Dottie, Abby, and Hank sitting with some of our Happy Trails campers around the campfire.

When Fifi noticed me, she came darting my way. Chester wasn’t as quick as Fifi, but he rushed over to get his fair share of pats and kisses.

“I let them out and decided they needed a little exercise since we’ve both been gone all day.” Hank pulled the s’more stick with the marshmallow on the end closer to him to inspect the doneness.

“It didn’t take too long for you to get back from Benita Falls.” I kissed Hank and pulled the marshmallow from his s’more stick.

“Hey, was that a distraction to steal my marshmallow?” Hank questioned. “You forget I’m a detective and can see things.”

“You didn’t see that coming.” I gave him another kiss and sat down next to him. Fifi yelped. She never liked it when we kissed. “So? What did you find out?”

“Alli didn’t show up for the meeting. The young athlete was going to sign a deal with Alli. The athlete even had an offer to appear on a special cereal box if she qualified for the Olympic team.”

“She?” I liked the sound of that.

“Yes. This kayaker is a young woman who said Alli really used the female side of the business to woo her into signing. Which makes good sense for Alli, if only she’d shown up.” Hank’s eyes reflected the flames of the fire he was staring into.

“Do you think she did it?” Abby asked him.

“I think she skipped out, and that’s very suspicious.” Hank wasn’t about to give any juicy details, so to get himself off the hot seat, he did his normal disappearing act. “I’m going to see where those two stinkers ran off to.”

“You go do that,” I encouraged him so I could see what Abby knew. “Spill it.” I looked at her.

“Dottie texted the group how John was off the suspect list, so I decided to just drive over after I locked up the library. I ended up staying there to use the internet to go over the spreadsheet you sent me.” She pulled up the notes on her phone. “Most of the people on here are turkey bowhunters. Did you know the winnings of a championship is upwards of ten thousand dollars?”

“So she not only had access to the Magnus Bullhead Broadhead arrow, but she had some sort of knowledge about the sport.” It was looking really bad for Alli Shelton in my opinion.

“And the girl Hank was just talking about. Well, I called her from the list too. She said that she did talk to Alli on the phone, and Alli mentioned to her that she hated to go back on her word, but she was thinking about leaving the kayaking sport and not taking any more clients in that field.” Abby continued to read her notes. “Alli told the girl that even though she was a woman, there was only one Bryce, and now that he’s gone, she just isn’t into it anymore. I can’t help but wonder if Alli was also getting into track and field.”

“Track and field?” I shot Abby a look.

“Yeah. There’s one person on here who I can’t figure out. I wonder if it’s some sort of code Alli put in the sheet. She had a meeting with someone by the name of Lightning Legs.” The name made me laugh in amusement.

“Did you say Lightning Legs?” I asked for the sake of my memory. It always helped me to repeat things I wanted to remember, and though Lightning Legs seemed like something I wouldn’t forget, I still did just in case.

“Strange, right?” Abby chuckled. “I searched all the available databases I have access to and almost called in a favor Violet owes me, but I figured I’d give you a chance to try to find out who this Lightning Legs is or at least ask JJ Rich when you see him.”

“He might know.” I thought Abby had made a great suggestion.

If this person did exist enough in the sports world to be on Alli’s list, then I was pretty sure JJ Rich would know.

“And I have a feeling the cops are going to figure out real fast where Alli is hiding.” Dottie’s face glowed from behind the flick of her lighter as she lit her cigarette.

We watched as the sheriff’s deputies’ cars pulled into Happy Trails Campground. I was sure they had a warrant to seize the items in Alli Shelton’s camper.

“If we don’t get to the bottom of it first…” I muttered and saw Hank wave the cars over to the camper.

Chapter 17

So much for a good night’s sleep. The late-night campfire chitchat with Abby had kept me up well past our bedtime since we’d actually watched the sheriff’s department seize the contents of the camper.

While they did that, Abby and I had gone through all the names on Alli’s spreadsheet. We’d even done several Google searches for this mystery Lightning Legs client. Nothing. Not a thing.

I’d purposely left the window next to my bed cracked so I could hear if anyone drove up in the campground in hopes it would be Alli Shelton. There were so many unanswered questions concerning her leaving. Or had she even left?

The idea of her getting lost in the Daniel Boone National Forest was a real possibility, and I wasn’t sure it was one Hank had explored. The last time anyone had seen her was when they’d pulled Bryce’s body from the kayak. Hank had told her not to leave the campground, and I didn’t see her leave, nor did anyone else we’d talked to. When she hadn’t show up to give her statement to Hank was when speculation of her leaving had started. But without a trace?

There had to be a trace.

With my coffee in my hand, Fifi walked, and happily eating her kibble, I took the free moment to look through the notebook and go back over the clues we’d already gathered. The only people left on the suspect list for me to question who were still here were the Russo family. If anyone had motive to get rid of Bryce, it was Angela as a scorned woman. What if she’d ended up fighting with Alli and something awful had happened to Alli?

What if the same person who killed Bryce had now killed Alli, and we hadn’t found her body? I took my phone off the charger and thumbed through the photo album Abby had shared with me on Google photos. I couldn’t help but focus on Alli’s photo.

The thought of her killing Bryce made my stomach curl and knot, sending shivers up my spine. Had Hank even thought of that? Questions surrounding that possibility rolled around in my head, making me unable to think clearly.

“There’s only one thing to do,” I told Fifi. “We need to go for a nice morning walk and see if we can get in front of the Russo family.”

It would actually be pretty easy to do. The Paddle Fest competition would be happening in the late morning, which would give me time to come up with some sort of reason to go to their bungalow and slip in a few questions. Only, I had no idea what questions I’d ask.

Did you kill Bryce Anderson because you didn’t want him anywhere near your daughter? Or what if I asked Vinnie, Did you finally have your revenge and kill Bryce when no one was looking? What about Alli Shelton? Did she see you or accuse you of killing Bryce, and you killed her?

I gulped.

The more possibilities I came up with that went along with this theory, the more real it became in my head.

Quickly, I got my shower and threw on a pair of shorts and a Happy Trails Campground tee shirt I’d had made up for Paddle Fest. It was supposed to be a good seller for us, and I’d had plenty made, but no one wanted to even stay here, much less wear a tee shirt with the name on it.

With my sandals strapped on my feet and Fifi’s leash clipped on her collar, out the camper door we went. The morning sun had just broken over top of the mountains, laying a few rays on the lake’s still water. The birds were chirping, and a few critters made noise in the woods.

Droplets of dew were on the petals and leaves of the colorful wildflowers that grew along the edge of the campground. Soon, with the warmth of the summer sun, the flowers would drink up the dew and stand at full attention, giving a display that not even an artist could capture. Not even a photograph was able to portray the vibrant colors only the eye could see.

Some of the campers had their campfires started and kettles of coffee simmering on the grates. Happy Trails provided all those little touches so the guests could experience how wonderful it was to actually cook and live without electricity, though it was provided inside the campers.

“Good morning.” I greeted everyone I came into contact with on my long way around the lake. Taking the long way around would give the Russos time to get up and me time to come up with a plan to get them up if I didn’t see them.

But the roar of an engine caught my attention. It was Ty Randal in his truck. He had pulled off to the side and had his window rolled down. He was talking to Angela Russo.

“Wonder what that’s about?” My eyes narrowed at Normal’s most eligible bachelor. I’d been working so hard to help Abby to sink her claws into him.

Ty and I had actually dated for a few months when I moved to Normal. He was such a good guy and handsome with his mesmerizing blue eyes, blond shaggy curls, and tan skin. But it was his Southern good-boy charm that was too good for me.

He was not only the owner of Normal Diner but also the chef. He lived full-time in Happy Trails, just a few campers away from me and about four bungalows away from where the Russos were waiting.

“He better stay far away from her,” I grumbled to Fifi and was happy to see him drive off, no doubt heading this early to the diner to get it ready to open for the breakfast crowd.

I picked up the pace and practically started to jog around the lake in order to get to Angela before she headed back into the bungalow, dragging Fifi behind me.

“Angela.” I tried not to holler too loudly so as not to disturb anyone who was still sleeping. I’d found that most of my guests enjoyed getting up and seeing the sunrise from various trails before coming back to get their campfire coffee started, but in the case of the Russo family, they were only there for the Paddle Fest, and in no way, shape, or form had I seen them get up early at all.

In fact, the only time I did see them was at the scheduled events. Or when I saw Angela crawling out of the woods that morning with Bryce.

“How are you?” I caught up to her. She didn’t seem like she was open to talking to me.

Yet.

“Fine. Don’t I look fine?” She shifted her tiny little hip to the side and placed her hands on her waist.

“I was just checking on you since I do know how you were fond of Bryce Anderson.” “Fond” put it mildly.

“He was alright. I guess you think I had something to do with his death now that it seems he was murdered.” Her dark eyes darkened even more as her lashes drew down, casting a shadow on her cheeks.

“I’m sorry if I gave you that impression. The thought never crossed my mind.” I gave her a sympathetic look and used Mary Elizabeth’s technique of honey versus vinegar. “But you two seemed close, and I can’t help but wonder if he ever mentioned any sort of threats he received.”

“Oh.” She swallowed, and her eyes teared.

It was very apparent she’d been putting on a show in front of people and trying not to display any emotion tied to Bryce.

“Besides my brother and father, he never really mentioned anyone. And if it weren’t for that nice chef…” She paused and snapped her fingers as if searching for an answer.

“Ty?” I asked.

“Yes. Ty.” She had a look of relief on her face and pointed her finger at me. “If it weren’t for him, I’m sure that detective would’ve already charged my entire family with Bryce’s murder.”

“Really?” I was taken aback. “What did Ty do?”

“My father really doesn’t like all of this food here or even cooking over a campfire. We are Italian, and we like our daily dose of pasta. So when my father mentioned it to Ty when we first got here, Ty invited my family to a pasta dinner on him. My dad gave him a few times that he’d be available, and according to the detective, we were at the diner when Bryce was murdered.” She shook her finger at me a few more times. “Let me tell you, if you’ve never had Ty’s homemade pasta, you need to try it. I would never tell my grandma, but he gives her pasta a run for its money.”

My mind put the information together like a puzzle as the events of Bryce’s death and her story began to collide.

“But I saw you at the opening ceremony, giving Bryce the evil eye when he was flirting with that other girl, and your father wasn’t so nonchalant either. And don’t get me started on Vinnie—” I was going to finish my sentence, but she interrupted me.

“It was right after that. My father wasn’t going down to the water to cut the ribbon, if you recall. Alli Shelton had already made that deal with you for Bryce to cut the ribbon.” She was right.

I’d not even given thought to that little detail. Truth be told, Alli had gotten ahold of Dottie, and Dottie agreed thinking it would be good publicity. Not that it wouldn’t’ve been if it’d gone off as planned, but I would’ve taken into consideration the president of the Kayak Championship Organization cutting the ribbon. It was what it was.

“My father didn’t want to see that, so he set that time to go to the diner in Normal then head over to his meeting with the Benita Falls person for the after-ceremony medal presentation.” She curled her lips and adjusted her hip to the other side. “So you see, we weren’t even around when Bryce was killed. The detective already cleared us. I guess he checked into our… what do you call it?”

She looked up in the air, searching for the word.

“Alibi?” I couldn’t help but think Angela was so flitty, but who was I to judge?

“Yeah, alibi.” She snorted. “Anyways, I was just talking to Ty. My father wanted me to give him our address because he wants to get Ty to come to New York to cater a big party we are having for the Olympics. My father about died when he realized who exactly Ty was, because he’d gone to Ty’s restaurant out west.”

Again, Ty was a true Southern boy with roots so deep in Normal, at the first sign of his daddy being sick and raising his brothers, Ty came home to help the family out. Especially since Ty’s mother had passed. He’d then moved back to Normal, where he took over the diner from his father. Now his father helped out at the diner but mainly raised Ty’s younger brothers.

“It’s a small world.” My stomach settled a bit knowing Hank had cleared the Russo family, but I was going to ask Ty myself when I saw him. “Back to Bryce.”

“Why? We just want to move on and find the next big kayaking star,” Angela snarled.

“One question: have you seen Alli Shelton?” I asked.

“Nope. Not since she disappeared. I told that detective I wouldn’t doubt if she killed Bryce because he did tell me he was looking for a new agent, and he brought her a lot of money.” Angela turned. “I’ve got to go and get my family up so we can get ready for our up-close camera angles today during the big race.”

“See ya later.” I waved goodbye and continued to think about the money thing. As much as I wanted to find Alli Shelton safe and sound, the money piece of this puzzle still haunted me and directly pointed at Alli Shelton as Bryce Anderson’s killer. “If we find Alli, we find the missing puzzle piece,” I told Fifi on our way back to the camper.

Chapter 18

“Where are you going?” Dottie Swaggert asked me with her legs propped up on her desk and her arms folded across her chest as she leaned way back in her desk chair. She eyeballed the whiteboard while I crossed off Vinnie, Angela, and Giao Russo from the suspect list, leaving only Alli Shelton.

“Kent’s Archery.” I had looked up the archery place from the brochure I’d seen on the table in Alli’s camper when I’d gone in there to snoop around. “He does amateur archery lessons, and I want to know if Alli went there. She had a brochure about it. And you and I both know we don’t put brochures in people’s campers.”

I had a wire rack filled with brochures from the area’s local attractions. Most of them, I didn’t even look at—the marketing reps or the owners themselves would send brochures to display. Which meant Alli had to have picked up the brochure because she had some sort of interest in going or at least checking it out.

“I have to go see if she went there.” I picked up the brochure and handed it to Dottie.

She leaned forward, took her feet off the desk, and uncurled her arms to take it from me. She flipped open the tri-fold and read through it while I wrote down the reasons the Russos weren’t suspects on the whiteboard.

“And if you don’t mind texting the gals and seeing if Abby by any chance figured out who Lightning Legs is, that’d be great.” I finished writing on the board how Ty Randal had made the pasta. I didn’t bother looking in the file Agnes gave me because it only had preliminary information and not the solid interviews Hank had conducted.

“Knock, knock.” Hank stuck his head in the office door. “I thought I’d stop by on my way into work.” His eyes didn’t bother stopping at me. They went directly to the whiteboard.

“Hey!” I expressed more excitement than usual. “Good morning.” I walked over and gave him a kiss. “Off to work?”

“I see you’ve been busy.” He shot me a look. “Yeah, I see the Russo thing. I listened to you about their dislike for each other, but they have a solid alibi.”

It made me more than happy to know Hank did listen to me sometimes.

“It’s all true. Ty Randal is their alibi and they did drive to Benita Falls right after. I confirmed it when I was there yesterday, and the fact is there’s no way the Russo’s timeframe would fit into the timeline of Bryce’s murder.” Hank pressed his lips together. His green eyes dipped.

“So that means Alli Shelton is still the number one suspect, who has gone missing, which makes us think she fled.” I reiterated everything I knew Hank was going to tell me.

“Unless you have a better explanation.” Hank sighed. “I’ve got an APB out on her and even contacted her family. Today, the FBI will get involved, but at least I held them off until the big race will have run.” He referred to the kayak competition.

“Yeah, we don’t need media attention on them.” I was thankful Hank had thought about the race but really wanted more than anything to bring Bryce’s killer to jail. “And you don’t think there might be another killer and they might’ve killed Alli?”

“We’ve thought of that, but until we find Alli, we won’t know for sure. But I’m actually going to meet my sister for breakfast at the diner, and I wanted to see if you wanted to come?” he asked.

“I’d love to.” Not only for the food but to pick Ty Randal’s brain. “I’m sure Ellis is going to love seeing me this early.”

Dottie had her list of to-dos from me, and it was her morning to work at the office, which freed up a few hours for me to finish up our investigation. Really, seeing Kent at the archery place was the last stop until I completely gave up and let Hank and the FBI find her.

My meddling tended to get in the way, and this was no different.

I followed Hank in my car because I still had a few stops to make before I needed to get back for the big race. Besides going to Kent’s Archery, I’d told Alvin I’d stop and get a plan together for him to teach kayak lessons at Happy Trails as part of a package the campground could offer the guests.

He and Ellis had already secured the middle booth in the diner. I was hoping we were going to sit at the counter so I didn’t have to look at how well put-together Ellis was at this early-morning hour.

And put-together she was. She had on a short jumper that fell along her slender model body in the perfect way. Her long blond hair was pulled around her shoulder in a low ponytail with not even one flyaway.

“Good to see you,” I said and smiled, running my flat palm over my unruly curly hair, giving up any hope it would lie flat as it sprang back to life like a coil when I moved my hand. “How’s the new job?” I asked. After the whole modeling gig had fallen through, Ellis had gone to beauty school and gotten herself a job at Cute-icles.

“Sometimes I’m grossed out after I see people’s feet from a day or two of hiking, but I love the discounts I get on products.” She wiggled her fingernails in front of me. “This is a color only sold in New York City.” She raised her brows. “And having a job really lets me buy some extras for the trailer.” She was referring to the trailer Hank had lived in on his parents’ property before he rented the camper at Happy Trails. “I had no idea you were joining us until Hank just told me.” She pinched a smile then looked past me. She lifted her hand and raised it in the air, waving someone over. “Do you mind scooching a bit?”

“I’m sorry I’m late.” Natalie slipped in next to me. “Violet Rhinehammer is filming Good Day in the Park and had me do an impromptu interview. I hope I look good.”

Look good? I just so happened to be sandwiched next to and across from the two biggest beauty queens in Normal. I tried not to gawk at Natalie in her slim-fitting lime-green suit that paired perfectly with the brown heeled sandals. Her wavy black hair fell down around her face, ending in a perfectly straight cut across her shoulders.

“I didn’t know you were coming, Mae.” Her eyes slid down to my tee shirt. “Oh, cute.”

“I didn’t know she was coming either.” Ellis didn’t bother looking at me. She scanned the menu as if she didn’t know it like the back of her hand.

Ty Randal had had the same menu since he took over the diner, and there wasn’t much to it. So I knew Ellis was deliberately trying to not make eye contact with me.

“I invited her, and I didn’t know Natalie was coming either. But now that you’re here, you can tell me about the final report on Bryce Anderson’s autopsy.” He looked at her from across the table.

I kept wondering what it looked like through his eyes. Me, curly hair and tee shirt, sitting next to Natalie, the well-put-together assistant coroner.

She babbled on with her fancy medical lingo before she finally said, “It had to be murder and by a skilled hunter. There’s no way with the precision of the arrow that it was anything but deliberate, and the photos I took during the final autopsy will show that. And we got a call from the family attorney. They want to conduct their own autopsy when you release the body.” She held up a finger, and Shannon Mitchell moseyed over with her server’s pad.

“Yep.” Shannon gazed down at Natalie.

“I need a coffee, one egg scrambled with no oil, and two pieces of bacon. Both crispy. Not a bit flimsy.” She was one of those. I thought about all those times I’d heard my friends from high school who’d worked in fast-food joints tell horrid stories of themselves spitting on people’s food when they made special orders.

Not that it would ever happen here, but the possibility did bring a smile to my face.

“The usual, Mae?” Shannon looked over at me and smiled.

“You know it.” I offered a smile back.

Shannon had come a long way in the shoes she’d had to fill at the diner. Trudy Bull had been a longtime resident and waitress until she was murdered. Shannon had a hard time trying to be like Trudy since Trudy was so personable and Shannon was just snarky. It’d taken a good few months for Shannon to find her groove, but she was fitting in just fine now.

“Before you grab their order, can I help myself to a cup of coffee?” I asked Shannon and scooted close enough to Natalie to make her jump out of the booth.

“You can do whatever it is you want to do.” Shannon winked, and then her face went stern when she looked at Ellis.

Inwardly, I laughed because I could tell Ellis and Natalie had been her customers before and they were probably always a pain in Shannon’s you-know-what, but it gave me a free minute to grab that coffee right behind the counter and catch Ty’s attention.

“Psst,” I whispered after I poured myself a cup and saw Ty pass by the open window of the diner.

“Hey, you.” Ty smiled when he saw it was me. “What’s shaking?”

“Apparently, you’ve got some big special pasta dish you’ve been keeping a secret.” I watched him pick up the rag to wipe off his hands before he pushed himself through the door.

“Yeah, what about that?” He gestured for me to sit at the open stool at the end of the counter. He leaned his hip on the edge and folded his arms. “You here with them?” He gave a slight chin-nod.

“Mm-hmm,” I ho-hummed while rolling my eyes and taking a sip of coffee, which did take a little talent to do all at once. “I want no oil on my eggs. Crispy bacon,” I recited in a mocking tone.

“You’ve just never seen eye to eye with that woman.” He grinned. “And I’m glad, because you might go back to your snobbery ways if you did.”

“Did you see this tee shirt?” I pointed to it. “Would the old me be caught dead in this?”

I did love the finer things life had to offer, but since I’d been living in Normal, I’d come to realize what was really important in this life. It wasn’t the expensive stuff. It was the things money couldn’t buy. It was friendships, trust, kindness, and family.

“I love it and am going to buy one tonight when I get off work.” He smacked the counter. “I’m guessing you didn’t come over just to get your coffee on your own. So what do you want to ask me about?”

“You know I’m a wee bit curious.” I lifted the cup back up to take a sip.

“Is that what we are calling ‘nosey’ nowadays?” he asked, giving me the side-eye.

“You know me. And of course I have to confirm everything Angela told me about coming here during the timeframe of Bryce Anderson’s death, which I’m sure Hank has checked out, from what she told me.” All of my words were met with nods from Ty. “There’s no discrepancy in the timeline at all?”

“Honestly, I can’t even drive that fast from here to Benita Falls, and I know these roads with my eyes closed. It would be difficult for that family to have gone to the very beginning of the opening ceremony, come here and enjoy the pasta I made for them, and gone to the meeting at Benita Falls while driving back to the campground somewhere in between all that… and with no one seeing them sneak down to the water and shoot Bryce with a turkey arrow? No way.” He laughed. “Can you see any one of them shooting a bow and arrow? Much less that kind?”

“I guess you’re right. It’s just, I’m having a hard time coming to grips with all the people I thought had great motive to kill Bryce and none of them being the killer. Which leaves me with just Alli Shelton, Bryce Anderson’s agent.” I took the last sip of coffee and extended my cup to Ty’s outreached hand.

He turned around and filled it up, sliding it across the counter to me. “Looks like your order is up and my time for gabbing to you is too.” The diner was buzzing with the breakfast crowd. “Keep me posted. I’ll see you at the race in a few hours. Timmy is dying to go.”

“Tell him Alvin Deters is offering kayak lessons, and I’ll let him take them for free,” I said. It was a nice perk of living in the campground.

“Dad will love that. Timmy has been driving him crazy this summer.” Ty shook his head and disappeared back into the kitchen.

When I turned around, everyone had their breakfasts served. This time, Natalie had slid over for me to sit on the end.

Hank was eager to get those results from Natalie. It would only fuel their search for the killer and narrow down the suspects, because if what Natalie said was true about someone who was either an expert or definitely had used this type of arrow, it would help him when looking into the backgrounds of anyone who’d had contact with Bryce.

“Did you look at the brochures Alli had on her kitchen table?” I asked Hank on our way out of the diner.

“I gave them to Jerry to have his deputies look them over and make a few calls.” He didn’t seem as interested in them as I did.

“What about the Kent’s Archery brochure?” I asked. “If Alli had been there, she might’ve found out about. . .”

The phone he used for his detective job rang, taking Hank’s focus away from what I was saying.

“I’ll be right there.” He looked at me and shoved the phone back in his pocket. “They found a woman’s body in the water next to Benita Falls.”

“Oh no. Do you think it’s Alli?” I questioned.

“I don’t know, but I’ve got to go.” He gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” I whispered through a sigh after he darted off as soon as he kissed me.

Chapter 19

The Normal Diner was just a few feet away from Deter’s Feed-N-Seed. It was neat to see how the kayaks he’d lined up outside the shop earlier in the week were selling like hot cakes.

I’d heard that years ago when Paddle Fest had taken place, it had been a very popular event in the region. Though we knew it went by the wayside as football and basketball had taken over the sports arena, it showed me that kayaking was back in a big way. I was glad too. It was nice to see older members of the community like Alvin get excited over something they’d loved when they were younger, to see the look in their eyes at the possibility of it coming back and in such strong force.

“Good morning!” I yelled across the shop. “Did you sell all of those kayaks?”

“Can you believe it?” The look on Alvin’s face was one that would stick with me for a long time. “I can’t thank you enough, Mae. When you suggested bringing back Paddle Fest, I have to admit, I was a bit leery. Of course I get all the magazines and keep up on the sport, but to actually have it come back as big as it did has blown my expectations out of the water.” He was standing behind one of the counters and flipping through an old photo album. “Even the collaboration you and I are talking about has really revved me up. I haven’t felt so alive in a long time.”

“What do you have there?” I questioned.

“All my friends through the years that I’ve met through kayaking.” He flipped the page. The glue lines on the page of the very old photo album had yellowed. The edges of the photos were browning, but hopefully the thick clear plastic overlay would help preserve them. “Look at this one of Larry.” He snorted.

“Gosh, his grandson looks just like him.” It was uncanny. “Where is Larry?”

“He is with Hunter. They had a meeting with an agent this morning before the big race. Hunter is ten times better than Larry, and Larry was pretty dang good.” Alvin took his time looking at every single photo before he would turn the page. “And I’m excited to help bring the sport back to where it belongs in our area, which brings me to what we can do.”

“And that’s why I’m here.” I clasped my hands and rested them on the counter. “Why don’t you give me a price. I’d like to put together a sports package for the guests. Abby can get it on the website so when the guests make their reservations, they can pick a package. Initially, they might not think about just doing a kayak lesson, but if I pair it with one of the waterfall tours and a hike tour that would span over a weekend, not only will they get a taste of kayaking and how wonderful it is, but then you can push them for lessons on your own where you would keep all the income.”

“Mae West, you are something. I swear. That darn Lloyd Hornbuckle has lost his mind letting you go from that board.” He slowly shook his head.

“You heard about that?” I asked and wondered how long it was going to take until Violet Rhinehammer got ahold of that bit of news.

“The rumor is they are talking to Natalie Willoughby to take the position.” At his words, my breakfast made its way up to the top of my throat. “I’ll see you at the race.”

“Yeah.” I excused myself and headed right out the door. The only thing that was going to at least take my mind off things was going to the archery place. I had to figure out if Alli had gone there and if she was able to handle a bow with the Magnus Bullhead Broadhead, even though she might be dead.

There had to be closure either way, and there was something about all those brochures that made me think there was something to them.

With the windows rolled down and the light breeze blowing through my unruly hair, I flipped on the radio to the oldies station that Dottie Swaggert loved to listen to and let it carry me into my thoughts until I turned the car into Kent’s Archery.

“Fascinating.” I looked to the right while driving up to the building—the place was packed. There were ten bullseye targets set really far back on the property on one side of the building. Each station had a partition between it and the next one, and the targets themselves were on top of hay bales. All the stations were filled, and more people waited on benches behind them.

On the other side of the building were all sorts of red cushioned targets that looked like they formed a maze. There appeared to be two teams. One team wore bright-yellow hunting vests while the other team wore bright-orange hunting vests. Some of the players were hunkered behind the cushioned targets and would pop out every so many seconds to shoot arrows at the other team.

“I need to tell the Laundry Club ladies about this.” I giggled at the thought of us playing this sort of tag game with each other. I could only imagine how Queenie would dance around those barriers.

“Hey there.” I was greeted by a young lady with a Kent Archery shirt on. “Can I point you in a direction?”

“I’ve never been here before.” I looked around.

“That’s why I’m here.” She laughed. “If you go a little too far that way, you might get hit by a stray arrow, and we don’t want that to happen, so I work the parking lot to make sure you’re safe. Welcome to Kent Archery. What are you looking to do?”

“I came to inquire about the brochure with the amateur archery lessons.”

“Do you have a lesson set up?” she asked.

“No.” I should’ve called before I’d driven all the way out here, but things like that never came to mind before the fact.

“Well, Mr. Kent”—she pointed to her shirt—“the owner, is the only one who gives those lessons. He said that if anything happens while learning, he’d rather be the one to take the blame, and if he does it, he knows they are learning the right way off the bat.”

“He sounds like he takes pride in his business.” I wasn’t sure how I was going to get face time with Mr. Kent, but I needed it. “Is he here?”

“He’s always here.” She continued to smile, wearing that happy face.

“Can I talk to him?” I questioned.

“Mr. Kent is a very busy man, and his schedule is booked out until fall, but if you want to go inside and see Brenda at the counter, she can get you on a cancellation list,” the young girl suggested.

“I’ll do that.” I walked the way she gestured for me to go.

The inside was busier than the outside. The building was one big open arena with so many targets and areas that my senses were in overload. The counter was to the left as soon as I walked in the door.

I looked up and noticed the glass offices above and a steel set of stairs leading to them.

“Are you Brenda?” I asked the woman.

“You found me. How can I help you?” she asked.

“I’m here to ask a few questions about a certain type of arrow that was used in a death. . .”

“Are you with the Normal sheriff’s department? We’ve been wondering how long it was going to take someone to come ask questions since we heard it was a turkey arrow.” She held up a finger and grabbed the phone. “Mr. Kent, a lady with the sheriff’s department has finally shown up.”

She followed up her conversations with some “mm-hmms” and nods before she hung the phone up.

“Head on up those stairs and take the third door on the right. That’s where you’ll find Mr. Kent.” She showed all the directions with her hand.

“Thank you, Brenda.” I should’ve followed up with “But I’m not with the sheriff’s department…” but what the heck. I’d never said it, and she’d just assumed it. . . and you know what they say about people who assume.

It makes an as—

“Deputy?” My colorful thought was interrupted by a big burly man with both arms fully covered in sleeve tattoos.

“Mae.” I put my hand out. “You can call me Mae.”

I followed him into the office, where he shut the door behind us and pulled the chair out for me to sit.

“Your business is amazing,” I said. “I’m sad I’ve not been here before.” He had the best view of the entire inside of the arena.

“I keep a close eye on everyone and everything going on in here. As you know, arrows can be very dangerous, and I would like to help in any way I can.” He sat down behind the big brown desk and held a file across it for me to take. “I went ahead and gathered all the information you need to understand the power and magnitude of the Bullhead arrow.”

“Thank you, but right now, we are looking for this woman.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and scrolled through the photos Abby had sent me from the opening ceremony until I found the really good one she’d taken of Alli Shelton.

He grabbed a pair of glasses off his desk and pushed them up on the bridge of his nose and stared at the photo. His head shifted side to side.

“Yep. She was here. Bad, bad shot.” He leaned back and slipped the glasses off his face.

“She was?” I gasped. Not only did he confirm it, but now we had some evidence she did have some history with shooting arrows. “Are you sure she was bad?”

“She didn’t have the strength to pull a child’s bow back, much less a bow that requires a lot of pullback when you use the Magnus Bullhead Broadhead.” He laughed. “Her child’s arrow didn’t even make it past five feet.”

“Are you sure she wasn’t putting you on?” I questioned.

“Trust me, I can spot someone trying to fake me out, but this gal, she was awful. Why? She can’t possibly be the killer of Bryce Anderson.” He made his own observation.

“She was his agent and has actually gone missing.” I stood up and thanked him for his time. “I really appreciate everything you answered for me. If we need anything else, I’ll be in touch.”

I headed out the door and took a left to go back the way I’d come in when I noticed two Normal sheriff’s deputies walking up the steps with Brenda in tow. I quickly turned on a dime and hurried in the opposite direction and down the steps, running back to the door I’d entered through, ducking a few times so as not to be hit by a stray arrow.

This case had me more confused than ever. I truly believed Mr. Kent when he said there was no way Alli had the strength to shoot the arrow that killed Bryce Anderson. If she didn’t have the strength to even shoot a child’s bow more than five feet, how on earth could she have shot an arrow with such precision to go right through Bryce’s heart?

Simple—she didn’t.

Alli Shelton was not the killer, but who was?

The question would have to be put in the back of my head until after the race. It was getting close to that time, and the alarm on my phone sounded on the way back to alert me that the interview with Hunter Baine and JJ Rich was going to start in fifteen minutes. That was about the time it would take for me to make it back to Happy Trails Campground and get in front of a television to watch.

I was happy to see Henry had put up the big screen we liked to use for outdoor movie night in the recreation room for the kids during the spring and summer months. He had it already tuned to the sport channel, and guests had already taken a seat to watch.

“Where are you hurrying off to?” I asked Henry.

“Black bag issue in camper four.” Poor Henry. The black bag was what the potties in the campers filtered into and not the best to have to clean out if there was a problem. “Dottie is in bungalow three with a kitchen sink backup. Lots of new people with no idea how to use a camper, Mae!”

That was an issue but something I tried to address with each guest when they came in to register, but since we had been so backed up a few days ago, I was unable to go over the rules and how you couldn’t put any food down the sinks or toilet paper in the toilets.

I took full advantage of the time to watch the interview with Hunter and couldn’t contain myself when his bright smile came on with JJ Rich. This was his moment. A dream come true.

Hunter himself was nowhere to be seen, so I figured he and Larry were finished with the agent and he was doing his pre-race ritual, which he’d just told JJ about in the interview. I would have to get this kid’s autograph before he left. He was going places. He even had that television charm going for him.

“Now, I heard you were a track star a few years back before your grandfather got you into kayak racing.” JJ had done his homework. It always fascinated me, the things these reporters could dig out. “In fact, you were so fast that they nicknamed you Lightning Legs.”

Lightning Legs—my ears perked up and my heart raced. That was the name on the spreadsheet that belonged to someone Abby couldn’t figure out. Now we knew. So Alli did have a meeting with Hunter but didn’t want Larry to know. That was interesting. Could Hunter Baine have killed Bryce Anderson so he could get top billing for the Olympics? It was a grave possibility in more ways than one.

I knew everyone would be down at the water’s edge waiting for the race to start, and I had to get down there, so I slipped out of the recreation room and made my way through the crowd that was checking out the vendors.

Normally, I’d stop and greet everyone, welcoming them, but I had to get down to the race and see if Hank was there. Or at least Jerry. This was news that needed to be told.

I’m not sure if I was more alert because my nerves were on edge, but I couldn’t help but notice one of the globes on the lights was pretty dirty. I’d not anticipated that the dust of the trails would make yet another thing for me to clean.

But it wasn’t the actual dirt that caught my eye. It was what was written in the dirt the way kids would write “wash me” with their finger on a dirty car, only in the dirt of that globe was written. . .

Help.

“Hey, Mae.” Larry was walking up the trail while I was looking at the globe. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Do you see that?” I asked and pointed to the globe. Was this a sign from Alli? Did she meet Hunter here on the trail to talk to him, and maybe she knew he killed Bryce?

Something bad took place here, and I could feel it in my bones.

“Just a bunch of dirt.” He took a step closer. “Or does it say ‘hell’?”

“I think it says ‘help.’” I pointed. “H-e-l-p. And I’m not sure, but I think it could be from Alli.”

“Alli? Why on earth do you think that?” he asked with a puzzled look.

“Listen, Larry. I’m sure Hunter is a very good kid, but when kids want to be like their idols and they have the talent like Hunter to do so, I think their minds wander, and they can do some really dumb things.” I didn’t want to tell him I suspected Hunter as Bryce’s killer, but there was just no way around it.

“What are you saying?” He looked so confused and adjusted the backpack strap slung over one shoulder.

“I think Hunter killed Bryce. I know he had a meeting with Alli, and I’m worried he’s done something to her. This was where they met and he dragged her into the woods.”

“And she had time to write ‘help’?” Larry laughed but got serious. “You’re not kidding. I mean, Hunter did idolize Bryce, and I told him he was better than Bryce.” He started to recall certain memories. “I caught him obsessively watching Bryce’s interviews on YouTube and even trying to talk like Bryce. That’s when I told him he needed to focus on his career.” He blinked with bafflement. “You really think she’s in there somewhere?” His head wiggled back and forth like he was trying to see through all the brush beyond the trail.

“I think we need to go look.” I took the first step into the woods, only to have what felt like a gun stuck in my back.

Chapter 20

“I knew you were going to be trouble when Alvin kept telling me you were good at sniffing out things. And if I’d seen where Alli had written that, I’d have wiped it clean.” He shoved the gun deeper and deeper into my back as we went farther and farther into the woods.

He reached into my back pocket and took my phone out, tossing it into the woods.

“We can’t have anyone bothering us. After all, there’s a race to be won by Hunter and a spot on the kayaking Olympic team to be filled by him.” His voice made it sound as if he found great joy in what was taking place.

I grimaced with each step as the tip of the gun dug into my back. Just one misstep, and I was afraid his finger would accidently pull the trigger.

“Now that I know you’re going to kill me, why don’t you tell me how you knew to use that fancy arrow on Bryce Anderson? And when? I saw you in the crowd when I was talking on stage.” Nothing was coming together like a puzzle. “Unless Hunter helped you.”

“Heck no.” The hate spewed from his mouth. “Don’t you ever notice what’s in front of your face? Alvin has so many hunting photos at the Feed-N-Seed with our group on our yearly turkey hunting trip, and that it’s the only arrow I use.”

I gulped.

“And it was so easy to slip away when Alvin was up on stage. No one cared about me. Not a single person noticed that I took the opportunity to walk down to the woods just above the water, where Bryce was busy in his kayak checking out the water conditions.” He laughed and brought me to a small clearing that I knew pretty well.

I’d found this little place a year or so ago when I was hiking off trail. It was so nice and secluded, I’d made a picnic lunch for Hank and myself, and we’d spent the afternoon talking about what we wanted out of life. This sure wasn’t talked about.

“Alli,” I gasped when I saw her tied up to a tree. Her head was hanging. “She needs water.”

“She’ll die a terrible, slow death just like she sucked the life out of Hunter when he begged her to take him on as a client a year ago.” Larry guided me next to her with the gun. He kicked her foot, and her head bobbed up before it fell back down.

“You can’t do this. You won’t get away with it.” I just couldn’t keep my mouth shut as he shoved me to the ground, taking out rope from the backpack.

“Who’s going to tell on me? Mother nature?” He laughed so loud that I knew no matter how much noise we made, no one was going to hear us. “But with Bryce dead, I knew I could make my grandson’s dreams come true. With Bryce out of the way, Alli would beg to have Hunter by her side, and he would give anything to have the life Bryce had. Simple, until she decided after Bryce died that she was getting out of the kayaking-agent life.”

He wrapped the rope around me and jerked it so tight, it nearly took the breath out of me.

“She wasn’t so stupid after all. She pegged me right away as the killer. She even said she saw me make my way down to the water, but when she went after me to see where I went, she didn’t see me because I’d already slipped out of sight into the woods to get my bow and arrow where I’d put them the night before while everyone was entertained by Bryce and his partying ways.” He told the tale like he deserved a pat on his back and he’d done the world a favor.

He thought he was so smooth that it made me sick to my stomach.

“So she headed back up the trail because Bryce would have a fit if anyone, including her, watched his pre-competition ritual.” Larry put the finishing knot on the rope and took a couple of steps back to look at his handywork. “I would like to just put a bullet in your head to make it quick for you because you’re just an innocent bystander in all this, but it’s going to have to wait. If someone hears my bullet, they might come looking, and we can’t have that.”

He reached into the backpack and snapped out a bandana.

“And for good measure.” He put it around my mouth, tying it behind my head. “This will keep you quiet while I go watch my grandson become the United States kayak champion.”

He gave Alli one more kick on the foot before he took off. She didn’t bob her head or anything. I was sure she had heat exhaustion and needed medical attention right away. But how was I going to get her help if I couldn’t even get myself help?

“It should be about anytime now that she’s a goner. Enjoy the show.” He laughed out loud, and the sound of the breaking branches underneath his feet as he walked out the way we came in was like loud bolts of thunder.

Then I heard more branches breaking, the sound getting closer but from a different direction.

“Mmm!” I tried to hum as loud as I could. I wiggled around and thumped my heels on the ground. “Mmmmm!”

“Hank!” Abby’s voice shot past my ear. “Over here!”

I jerked back and forth, trying to see around the tree when I heard her voice call from behind me.

“Mae,” she gasped and fell to the ground. “You’re okay. Thank goodness.” She threw her arms around me.

“Mmm.” I wiggled her off me, gave her big eyes, and nodded a few times, signaling for her to take that thing out of my mouth.

“Hank!” she yelled, and the breaking branches got closer as did the sound of thundering footsteps. “Mae, I put a Google alert on the name Lightning Legs.” She untied the bandana from around my mouth. “As soon as my phone alerted me, I checked it and found out Lightning Legs is Hunter.”

Hank ran up to us, and he looked at me with his big green eyes. There was relief in them.

“Yes, this is detective Hank Sharp. I’ve got Mae West and Alli Shelton. Ms. Shelton is going to need a paramedic.” Hank had bent down and begun his vitals check on her. “She’s alive, with a light heartbeat and shallow breathing. She’s dehydrated at a high level.”

“I got to the campground as fast as I could when I realized Hunter killed Bryce. And he even talked on the interview how he loved to turkey hunt with his grandfather.” Abby was mistaken.

“No. Larry.” I jerked my hands free as soon as she loosened the ropes. “Hank, Larry killed Bryce.”

Hank’s eyes darkened. I could see the look on his face as the clues he’d collected came together.

“Are you okay?” he asked me, and I nodded, sending him out of the woods to get his man.

Chapter 21

The EMTs made it to Alli just in time. They ended up putting the IV fluid bag in her arm while we were still deep in the woods. She wasn’t quite herself, but the color in her cheeks seemed to be coming back a little.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you,” I told Abby and gulped down the water the EMTs had me drink before they let me walk out of the woods, even though I’d not been there very long. “Without your quick thinking and Google alert, I could’ve been bear food.”

“You mean red fox food?” She laughed as we walked out arm in arm.

“Mae! Oh my gawd! You’re alive.” Dottie Swaggert hobbled down the trail. “I’m telling you, if you ever think you’re going to leave this earth before me, then you’ve got another thing coming to you.”

“Aww, I’m too ornery to die.” I gave her a big hug. “But this worry goes two ways. You have to promise me that you’re going to get the therapy you need to heal that hip.”

“Don’t worry. Agnes Swift set me up with a great therapist, so I’m happy and promise I’ll be back to my old self in no time.” She gestured for me to turn up to the mouth of the trail that opened up into the campground, and she leaned on me for support as walked up.

“You can lean on me anytime.” I squeezed her hand.

People shoved past us going up and down the trail, not the slightest bit aware of what had happened. If I knew Hank like I did, he probably took Larry into custody undetected so it didn’t bother the competition.

“Did the race start?” I asked Dottie.

“Mm-hmm, and that’s how we knew you were in trouble. Then Hank pinged your phone, and we found it, so Abby knew you were in trouble. But how did you know where to find Alli?”

She’d asked a very good question.

I told her and Abby how I’d seen the dirty globe with “help” on it. “We’re going to have to wait until Alli wakes up before we hear just how she scribbled that on the dirty lamp.” It was something I was really looking forward to.

The crowd was gathered around the race playing on the big screen with no clue as to how I’d almost gotten killed.

But a few knew. Lloyd, Judge Hemmer, and Mayor Rove were standing at the mouth of the trail.

“Mae, we just heard what happened.” Lloyd cleared his throat. “On behalf of the committee, we’d like to offer you the fifteenth seat on the board. You have gone above and beyond to prove that you have your campground, the safety of our community, and the good of all in the Daniel Boone National Park in your best interests. That’s someone we’d like on our side.”

“And maybe we can get together to promote our towns.” Mayor Rove’s suggestion took my breath away. An endorsement from him around his town full of tourists would give a huge boost to Normal, and I was all over that.

“And you didn’t win the Campground Hospitality Award,” Lloyd said. “If you had and you were to take the position, it would be a conflict of interest.”

“What do you say, Mae? Yea or nay?” Judge Hemmer wanted my answer and put his hand out.

“She says ‘yea’ all day.” Dottie nudged me in my side. I grimaced, sure there was a bruise forming from Larry shoving his gun in my back. “Sorry.” Dottie frowned.

“Yes. I’d love to take the position.” I put my hand out and sealed the deal, wondering what can of worms I’d opened up in my crazy camping lifestyle.

I jerked up to see the gravel shooting up underneath Hank’s big black car, and through the rear window, I could see Larry Baines was in custody in the back seat, confirming that the Paddle Fest I’d planned could begin.

Recipes and RV Hacks advice from Mae West, owner of Happy Trails Campground

HACK #1

Storage in RVs is always at a premium. Mae West has given a lot of answers to this hair-raising question: Where do we keep all the things we need?

In her past life, Mae has been known to have a taste for the finer luxuries in life as in shoes, handbags, and couture clothing.

She simply picks up a shoe bag and a tension rod (the kind for curtains) and hangs the shoe bags on the tension rods in an area of the camper where space hasn’t been utilized.

The shoe bag has pockets to store small items you want on hand. Things that Mae has put in them for her guests at Happy Trails are: lint brushes, spray bottles, ointments, extra rags, and various creams campers might’ve forgotten, including sunscreen.

The best part about this hack is that Mae doesn’t have to go to Bloomingdales to get one. Shoe bags are very inexpensive and can be found at any big box store or online!

CAMPFIRE DONUTS

INGREDIENTS:

cast iron pan
vegetable oil
biscuit dough Pillsbury biscuits
cinnamon sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Build a campfire and place a cast iron pan on the grate over the fire.

2. Pour 1/3 full with vegetable oil into the cast iron. Test oil temperature by placing a small piece of dough in the pan. If it starts to float and brown then the oil is hot enough. If it sinks, then the oil isn’t hot enough.

3. Shape each biscuit into a donut shape by poking a hole in the center and forming a ring.

4. Add each biscuit dough to the oil.

5. Cook until bottom is browned then flip and cook until opposite side has browned. Once both sides have browned, it’s cooked.

6. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or whatever toppings you’d like.

HACK #2

Mae West rarely leaves her RV without her phone. We are so tied to our phones these days that we can use them to help keep us safe while we are hiking while camping. Here are a few of Mae’s tips:

1) Change your phone’s wallpaper background (the picture that comes up when your screen is locked) from a pretty scene to something useful: an image of your name and a contact number. Take a screenshot after you input the info in a notepad function. Anyone who finds your locked lost phone will have a way to contact you.

2) If you find yourself in an area that has poor signal coverage, activate your phone’s airplane mode for a minute or so. When you return to cellular mode, your phone will automatically connect to the nearest cell tower, instead of the weaker tower it might have been holding onto.

3) Facing an emergency situation and your cell phone suddenly has no bars? Try dialing 112. In most instances, this will allow your phone to use ANY available service (even if it’s not your provider and even if your phone is locked) and connect you to an emergency operator for assistance.

4) GPS uses a lot of data, and we rely on our phone’s GPS to get us to our destinations. There are several ways to beat the GPS from taking all your battery life, A) Before your road trip, simply screenshot your travel directions and refer to them rather than live location services. B) Many apps, including Google Maps, allow you to download the maps of the area where you’re traveling. Do this while you’re connected to Wi-Fi and then store the map. This will save you mobile data charges and actually be a lifesaver if you are traveling in an area with limited reception.

5) Putting your phone into airplane mode allows it to charge faster since it disables the power-sapping transmission functions. You’ll temporarily be unable to receive calls or texts, but your phone will have its incoming juice dedicated to charging the battery.

CAMPFIRE HAND PIES

Equipment

Sandwich iron

Nonstick cooking spray

Campfire

Ingredients

Choose amounts according to the number of servings needed.

bread slices-(we use gluten free bread)

cinnamon sugar mixture
seasonal fruit

Directions

1. Make sure the campfire is very hot.

2. Spray the insides of the sandwich iron with nonstick cooking spray.

3. Lay a piece of bread in each side of the iron and press it down slightly to make an indentation in the bread. Place a few tablespoons of fruit on the bread and sprinkle on about 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon sugar mixture. Lay the other piece of bread on top of the other.

4. Close the sandwich iron and press down, locking the handles together. Scrape away any bread hanging out of the iron because the campfire will make it burn.

5. Place the iron right in the middle of the hottest part of the fire and leave it there for about 2 to 3 minutes. The sides should be toasted golden brown when ready.

The pie will be hot, so allow it to cool for a couple minutes before eating.

Hack #3

HACK #3

In the beginning when Mae was just starting out as a new RV’er, she had no idea what she was doing…she just knew her laundry was stinky, the trash can was dirty, and the old RV she inherited stunk! She came up with some great tips to pass along to her guests at Happy Trails, and she’s sharing them here with you.

1) When you are on the road, where do you keep your dirty laundry? Try keeping a bar of scented soap in the same compartment as your dirty laundry. It will help the clothes smell a lot cleaner than they are.

2) Want to quickly freshen up the inside of your RV? Maybe there’s a stale smell or it’s been sitting idle for a while? Tape a dryer sheet over the AC vents and turn it on for a few minutes.

3) We all have trash cans in our RVs and campers. We also use a plastic bag in those trash receptacles. Put old newspaper at the bottom of your trash can – inside the plastic bag – to absorb food juices that may spill.

Insta Pot Lemon Butter Whole Chicken

When Mae West inherited her run-down RV, she had no idea how to cook on that crazy small stove. Since then, she’s become a whiz, and the greatest cooking tool for an RV has also helped.

The Insta Pot

An RV’ers dream kitchen tool!

Here is one of Hank Sharp’s favorite recipes Mae cooks.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken

1 cup chicken broth

4 garlic cloves

1 lemon cut in slices plus a tbs. fresh-squeezed lemon juice 8 tbs melted butter
dried spices: salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika

Make Butter Sauce:

In medium bowl combine spices:

2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp paprika

Directions:

1. Pour 1 cup chicken broth into IP stainless steel liner.

2. Rinse and dry whole chicken. Stuff the cavity with garlic cloves and half of the squeezed lemon. Place chicken breast-side-up in the IP.

3. Add 8 tbs (1 cube) melted butter and 1 tbs lemon juice to the spice mixture.

4. Pour half of the seasoned butter under the skin of the chicken and the remainder over the outside of the chicken.

5. Set IP to manual 18 – 30 minutes based on the weight of the chicken.

6. Close the IP lid and steam vent

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Tonya has written over 85 novels, all of which have graced numerous bestseller lists, including the USA Today. Best known for stories charged with emotion and humor and filled with flawed characters, her novels have garnered reader praise and glowing critical reviews. She lives with her husband and a very spoiled rescue cat named Ro. Tonya grew up in the small southern Kentucky town of Nicholasville. Now that her four boys are grown men, Tonya writes full-time in her camper.

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This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The cover was made by Mariah Sinclair, Red Adept Publishing.

Copyright © 2020 by Tonya Kappes. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information email Tonyakappes@tonyakappes.com