Read Online Mama Does Time: A Mace Bauer Mystery by Deborah Sharp - Free Book Online
Authors: Deborah Sharp
Ads: Link
be so rude. My hearts been shattered a time or two since Jeb.
But never as bad as that first time, Mace. Never that bad. My sister glanced at her watch. Now, I really am late. The kids will be raising a ruckus if Im not there to supervise the school bus lines.
She got into her Volvo and rolled down the window. Ill talk to you after school, okay? We need to decide what to do next about Mama.
As Maddie pulled away, I started looking through my purse for my cell. I wanted to call my other sister, Marty, and tell her about running into the great love of my life. No phone. I remembered pulling everything out of my purse inside the Booze n Breeze, hunting for a pen.
I walked back inside and saw Linda-Ann waving my missing phone over her head.
I figured youd be back for it, she grinned.
Listen, I want to apologize for my sister. Shes been a principal for so long, she treats everyone like theyre in the seventh grade.
Thats OK. Shes just as mean as ever, though. You know how her name is Madison Wilson?
I nodded.
Back in middle school, all the kids called her Mad Hen Wilson.
I leaned in close. Thatll be our secret, Linda-Ann. I didnt tell her that Maddie was not only aware of the nickname, she embraced it.
Theres something else I want to tell you. She touched one of her dreadlocks to her lips. How well do you know that good-looking cowboy who just left here?
Pretty well. We used to date, a long time ago.
Then you might want to ask him what he knows about the guy who owned this place.
I got an uneasy feeling in my gut. Whys that, Linda-Ann?
That cowboys been in here a lot in the few months Ive worked here. He always went back into the office to talk to Mr. Albert, and theyd always shut the door.
An old Ford rumbled into the drive-thru. I waited while Linda-Ann served a woman with three screaming kids, two of them still in diapers. Id be buying booze too, if I had that brood.
As the Ford backfired and pulled away, the stench of burning oil filled the little store. Linda-Ann continued her story. The last time the cowboy came in, they were back there yelling so loud I could hear their voices coming through the concrete wall.
Could you tell what they were saying?
I couldnt make it out. She folded a dreadlock in two and let it spring back. But when the cowboy left, he slammed the office door so hard it about came off its hinges. Then he kicked over a whole display case of beer. Mr. Albert came out to the counter a couple of minutes later and told me to clean it up. I thought hed be angry.
He wasnt?
His face was ghost-white and he was shaking. He didnt look mad. He looked scared to death.
I barely had time to process what Linda-Ann revealed about my one-time boyfriend.
I had to rush to work, where I was past late for an after-school event. Two third-grade classes were scheduled to visit the makeshift wildlife center I maintain at Himmarshee Park. A teacher from the last group of kids who came by sent me a letter, saying her students were still talking about the injured fox and scary snakes.
This latest group of kids was already there. I didnt want to disappoint them by not showing up.
I could hear the din of thirty-one third graders as I crossed the little bridge over Himmarshee Creek and turned into the park. When I walked in the office and dropped my purse on the desk, Rhonda, my boss, shot me a relieved look.
Thank God, youre here, Mace. Those little monsters are tearing the place apart.
Within ten minutes, I had the students gathered in an outdoor amphitheater, ooohing and aaahing over the contents of a half-dozen cages. The star of the show, a bull alligator missing an eye and most of one foot, was waiting in the wings in his outdoor pool, ready to wow the kids for the shows grand finale.
Does anybody know what this is? I held the first cage aloft. Two dozen hands shot into the air.
A skunk! cried a
But never as bad as that first time, Mace. Never that bad. My sister glanced at her watch. Now, I really am late. The kids will be raising a ruckus if Im not there to supervise the school bus lines.
She got into her Volvo and rolled down the window. Ill talk to you after school, okay? We need to decide what to do next about Mama.
As Maddie pulled away, I started looking through my purse for my cell. I wanted to call my other sister, Marty, and tell her about running into the great love of my life. No phone. I remembered pulling everything out of my purse inside the Booze n Breeze, hunting for a pen.
I walked back inside and saw Linda-Ann waving my missing phone over her head.
I figured youd be back for it, she grinned.
Listen, I want to apologize for my sister. Shes been a principal for so long, she treats everyone like theyre in the seventh grade.
Thats OK. Shes just as mean as ever, though. You know how her name is Madison Wilson?
I nodded.
Back in middle school, all the kids called her Mad Hen Wilson.
I leaned in close. Thatll be our secret, Linda-Ann. I didnt tell her that Maddie was not only aware of the nickname, she embraced it.
Theres something else I want to tell you. She touched one of her dreadlocks to her lips. How well do you know that good-looking cowboy who just left here?
Pretty well. We used to date, a long time ago.
Then you might want to ask him what he knows about the guy who owned this place.
I got an uneasy feeling in my gut. Whys that, Linda-Ann?
That cowboys been in here a lot in the few months Ive worked here. He always went back into the office to talk to Mr. Albert, and theyd always shut the door.
An old Ford rumbled into the drive-thru. I waited while Linda-Ann served a woman with three screaming kids, two of them still in diapers. Id be buying booze too, if I had that brood.
As the Ford backfired and pulled away, the stench of burning oil filled the little store. Linda-Ann continued her story. The last time the cowboy came in, they were back there yelling so loud I could hear their voices coming through the concrete wall.
Could you tell what they were saying?
I couldnt make it out. She folded a dreadlock in two and let it spring back. But when the cowboy left, he slammed the office door so hard it about came off its hinges. Then he kicked over a whole display case of beer. Mr. Albert came out to the counter a couple of minutes later and told me to clean it up. I thought hed be angry.
He wasnt?
His face was ghost-white and he was shaking. He didnt look mad. He looked scared to death.
I barely had time to process what Linda-Ann revealed about my one-time boyfriend.
I had to rush to work, where I was past late for an after-school event. Two third-grade classes were scheduled to visit the makeshift wildlife center I maintain at Himmarshee Park. A teacher from the last group of kids who came by sent me a letter, saying her students were still talking about the injured fox and scary snakes.
This latest group of kids was already there. I didnt want to disappoint them by not showing up.
I could hear the din of thirty-one third graders as I crossed the little bridge over Himmarshee Creek and turned into the park. When I walked in the office and dropped my purse on the desk, Rhonda, my boss, shot me a relieved look.
Thank God, youre here, Mace. Those little monsters are tearing the place apart.
Within ten minutes, I had the students gathered in an outdoor amphitheater, ooohing and aaahing over the contents of a half-dozen cages. The star of the show, a bull alligator missing an eye and most of one foot, was waiting in the wings in his outdoor pool, ready to wow the kids for the shows grand finale.
Does anybody know what this is? I held the first cage aloft. Two dozen hands shot into the air.
A skunk! cried a
Similar Books
