miss fortune mystery (ff) - bayou backup (2 page)

Celia responded by grabbing her bowl of pudding and taking a big spoonful.  She then raised it high in victory before stuffing it in her mouth.  Then she grabbed the mixing bowl and licked it right in front of Jayne’s face.

Jayne lifted her right arm toward the sky, pointing her finger in the air, then bent over and drew and imaginary line across the floor of the café between them.  “Be warned,this is the battle line.”

Gertie stumbled over and put her left arm around Jayne’s shoulder and raised her right one in the air shaking a fist at Celia.  An instant bond was born between the unlikely pair.  They had forged a common enemy in the pudding war.

I winced and stood in the doorway, making sure I was in a good position to protect my dog if a cat-fight broke out.

Ida Belle shook her head, pulled our two warriors away from the fray and gave a stern look to Gertie.

“Calm down, Gertie. You don’t want to end up in jail,” Ida Belle said.

“Again,” Fortune finished, her arms crossed over her chest.

“Especially on a Sunday,” Ida Belle added, her nose up in the air.

“Celia’s showing her butt because you’re with us,” Gertie said and gave Jayne a high-five as they sat down to eat.

Jayne plopped her backpack on the table and dug through the contents that contained who-knows-what.  At a glance, it looked like it would feed and care for a small country for a week.

Gertie glanced at the backpack and ran her fingers across an orange and blue embroidered design on a side pocket.  “Where’d you get this nice backpack? I love all these wild colors.”

“I got it from my Grandma last week before we left on this trip.”  Jayne smiled at the memory and kept rummaging inside the bag. “She designed it herself just for me.  I love my Grammy!”

“Don’t even think about it, Gertie,” Ida Belle eyed the embroidery. “If you wore a backpack, the weight of all your junk would flip you over backwards. You’d end up breaking your neck.”

Jayne emerged, pulling out a small bag of water balloons and shook it in the air in front of Gertie. She leaned in and whispered, “We can fill these later and ambush Celia.”

Gertie nodded with bright eyes and a smile, giving the idea two thumbs up.

Fortune looked at me, a small grin growing on her face. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear those two were related.”

Chapter 4

I relaxed in the shade of an expansive old tree, admiring its thick branches and eating the best country fried steak I’d ever tasted. Shiner played in his water bowl beside me, splashing the water with his paw like a typical Labrador. 

The diner door opened and my new friends strolled out, carrying their meals in styrofoam to-go containers, with Jayne tagging behind.  Well, actually Fortune kind of hopped-limped with her messed up ankle.

“We’ll eat out here with you,” Fortune said and gave Shiner a scratch on the head when he bounded over to greet her.  “We need to keep Gertie away from Celia anyway.”

Gertie sat down in the grass nearby. “Yeah.  Besides, I haven’t eaten alfresco in a while.”

Jayne maneuvered herself into position to sit next to Gertie and tossed Shiner a piece of grilled chicken that she’d purchased in an effort to keep him from begging for the food on her own plate.

We were in the middle of a good meal and great conversation when we were interrupted by Ida Belle’s phone letting out a loud buzz.  Her eyes narrowed as she read a text. 

“You might as well relax,” she said. “Walter said it’s going to take a couple days to get the right tires for your camper.”

I looked at her in confusion.

“Jayne told us about your flat tires, so I sent my friend Walter out to take a look.”

A big weight lifted off my shoulders. “Thanks, Ida Belle.”

Her thumbs worked furiously on the phone until she had more news. “It looks like you ran over some spike strips, but local law enforcement doesn’t use the type of spikes that are stuck in your tires,” Ida Belle said and glanced over at Fortune.

“How do you...?” I started to ask.

Gertie patted my arm.  “She has her ways of getting information.”

Fortune frowned, then gulped down the rest of her food and got her car keys from her pocket.  “How about you let us give you a ride back to your RV to take a look.”

###

Fortune knelt in the grass on the side of the road and inspected the pieces of metal embedded in the camper’s flat tires. “Looks like these spike strips were homemade.” 

Gertie asked, “Did you see anyone out here? “

“Just an old guy that appeared on the road back there after we stopped,” I said and pointed down the road. “Then he got a ride.”

“Where, exactly?” Ida Belle asked, her eyes narrowed and her look serious.

“Shiner can probably show us,” I said and called him over.  “He just retired a month ago from working search and rescue missions.  He’s got a good nose on him.”

I started walking down the side of the road and gave Shiner the command to find any human scent trail. “Search.”

The lab’s muscles tightened as he went to work, looking for new scent.  He quickly caught something in the air and trotted in the grass along the side of the road until he reached the edge of some thick vegetation.  Shiner’s tail wagged furiously as his head disappeared into the brush.

I jogged over to take a look.  “Good boy,” I said and wadded up my navy blue bandanna as a makeshift reward.

As my dog shook the cloth back and forth with pride, I peered into the foliage. 

A small area had been matted down and was littered with the remnants of a crude spike strip, an empty mason jar and a half eaten sandwich.

Fortune stepped in front of me and took a look.  “He was here all right,” she said and picked up the rope and mangled spike strip, dangling it in the air by one corner.  “Pretty crude job, but obviously effective.”

“Maybe he was drunk when he made it,” I said and nudged the empty jar with my hiking boot. “Do they drink moonshine around here?”

Fortune laughed. “A lot.”

I eyed the glass jar as it rolled under my boot and my body stiffened.  A familiar handwritten signature in black marker caught my eye.  I carefully picked up the empty jar and studied it closely.  The handwriting was shaky as usual, the lettering unmistakable. 

The jar had undoubtedly been signed by Jaw Bone Taylor, one of the more talented local moonshiners in North Carolina’s mountains.  The words were written from bottom to top on the side of the jar, the same way Jaw Bone did it on all his liquid creations.

“This moonshine was made in the area where I live,” I said and showed the signature to Fortune.  “In fact, I had to trade a quart of this stuff to an old mountain man to get my search dog.”

“You bartered moonshine for a dog?” Fortune looked amused.

I grinned at her. “It’s a perfectly normal transaction where I come from.”  I patted my dog on the head.

“I guess the name Shiner fits perfectly then.” She grinned and took the jar from my hand, holding it with a handkerchief she took from her pocket.  She inspected the signature.  “So Spike Strip man was in North Carolina or probably knows somebody who has been.”

I nodded in agreement.

A slight breeze ruffled the edge of a piece of paper on the grass near my feet.  I leaned over, picked it up and felt the blood instantly drain from my face. 

It was an eight by ten, photocopied picture of my Granny’s camper.

Chapter 5

“Don’t mention this to Jayne, I don’t want her freaking out on me,” I said as we walked back down the road to the stranded RV. “She functions best in Happy-Go-Lucky Land.”

“No problem,” Fortune said as she tucked the picture in her pocket, now only walking with a slight limp. “But I’m going to take another look at your camper.  Maybe we can figure out who made those spikes.”

Fortune sent a text message to Gertie at the front end of the camper, instructing her to keep Jayne occupied in deep conversation.  Ida Belle met us as we arrived at the rear of the RV, her eyes surveying the area as Fortune gave her a quick update.

Fortune reached through the open window of her Jeep and pulled out a flashlight.  She walked over to the messed up tires, leaned under the camper and turned on the flashlight.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” she said and flipped onto her back, scooting underneath the camper and flashing the light under the rig.

I held my breath and hoped the rig hadn’t sustained more damage then I originally thought.

Fortune eventually rolled back out with a small black box in her hand. “Someone’s been tracking you,” she said and handed the GPS tracker to Ida Belle.

“Or they’d just attached it and planned to start.” Ida Belle said as she studied the make and model of the tracking unit.

“Wow!” Jayne’s shout from the front of the camper broke the relatively quiet atmosphere.  “Wow!”

Now what?

I trotted to the front of the RV while the other two ladies hurried behind me.

We found Jayne leaning against the front of the RV, her eyes were glazed over and her mouth had fallen open.  She blurted out, “I sure do like the view around here.”

I turned to follow her gaze and got knocked with the same jolt of excitement she had, but kept my wits about me.  A gorgeous, dark haired guy in uniform walked toward us with a slight smile and casual masculine confidence. 

Jayne was way too obvious with her delight in Sinful’s law enforcement program, but at least she had good taste.

“Celia must’ve called the law on us, that chicken,” Gertie grumbled.

The local ladies watched the man approach. “Hey Carter,” they said in unison.

Carter smiled at our group, but his eyes lingered on Fortune.

Jayne was dazed and stared at Carter while twirling her hair around her fingers.

The officer turned toward me, “Are you Madison?”

I nodded and tried not to look at his strong tanned arms.

“Do you know who flattened your tires?”

“Not exactly,” I said and found myself studying the way his dark hair accented his eyes. “But we found some clues down the road.”

Fortune handed him the picture we found and filled him in on the rest.  Carter watched Fortune with the same type of interest that I had toward him. She was one lucky lady.

Carter finally turned his attention toward me, his eyes serious.   “Do you mind if I look in your rig?”

“He can look in my rig anytime,” Jayne whispered.

“Go ahead,” I said and fumbled in my pocket for the keys.  “Let me unlock it for you.”

He reached the door and ran his tanned hand along the frame and suddenly raised his arm, signaling us to stay put.  “It’s been pried open.”

Carter reached for his weapon and slowly opened the door.  “What in the world?”

He stepped up into the camper and I poked my head through the door after him.  It looked like a tornado had dropped inside the place.  All the drawers were pulled out and their contents scattered across the small floor area.  Pillows were missing their cases and the couch cushions had been thrown about.

The RV had been ransacked.

Chapter 6

“Where do you want to spend the next couple of nights?” Fortune asked as she looked through the inside of the camper for clues.

“I planned on sleeping right here in the camper,” I said as I pushed the mattress back in place on the bed. “I’ve got a generator for electricity.”

“Do you think it’s a good idea?” She looked worried and pushed her hair from her face, eyeing me carefully.

“I’m not letting some drunk with a pair of spike strips mess up my day,” I said as I re-folded my Grandma’s road map. “My dog will alert me if anyone comes around.”

Fortune gave Ida Belle a slight look.

“Can I see that map?” Ida Belle asked.

She took the map from my hand, leaned forward and spread the large paper across the couch cushions, running her finger along the yellow line.  “Why are you taking this route?” she asked with a hint of confusion. “The highway would be a lot faster.”

“My grandma bought this RV on the internet last week from a guy in North Carolina and needed it delivered to her home in Texas.”  I answered, peering over her shoulder.  “She asked me to bring it out to her along with my cousin, Jayne, since she hadn’t seen us in a couple years.”

Ida Belle straightened and turned toward me.  “What about this yellow line?”

“Grandma insisted I take that route.  I assumed it was to give Jayne and me a bonding experience traveling across the land.”

“Speaking of Jayne…”  Gertie popped her face through the camper door.  “She can bunk over at my place for a couple days.  I’ll take her on some fun excursions around the area and we can meet up with you Wednesday morning. ”

Ida Belle rolled her eyes. “We’ll probably have to meet you at the jail when you two get arrested.”

“That would be great,” I said and felt a little relieved, not at the idea of bailing my cousin out of jail, but for a couple days of peace.  “I’ll meet up with you in town Wednesday morning.”

Gertie climbed in the camper, “Do you mind if I grab Jayne’s extra set of keys, just in case she needs to get in the camper and you’re not here?”

“Sure. Go for it. They’re probably in the glove box.”

Fortune hesitated to leave.  “Do you have protection?”

“I’ve always relied on my hiking knife,” I said and pulled it out of my pocket.  “Never had to use it though, most people don’t bother you if there’s a dog around.”

She ran out to her Jeep and returned with a handgun.  “Be careful, it’s loaded,” she said and gave me the gun.  “Have you ever used one?”

I nodded.

She smiled. “Good.  If you need to use it, just keep pulling the trigger.”

I took the gun and laid it on the camper’s kitchenette counter as she headed out the door.  I got a strange feeling that it wasn’t registered to any of the people around me.

Fortune looked over her shoulder on the way out.  “Just promise me you’ll make sure you know what you’re shooting at”.