Read Online Murder Grins and Bears It by Deb Baker - Free Book Online

chunky legs, which were splattered with mud
clear up to his knees. “What in the world are you two doing out
here, Ma?”
    “ Visiting.”
    “ Fred picked up Little
Donny’s scent and we followed it for awhile,” Blaze said, raggedly,
pointing vaguely into the woods. “Then he lost it. We were just
about ready to quit and call it a day when Fred let loose, howling
and carrying on.”
    Blaze sat down on a fallen tree, and I
noticed the rain had stopped. I could see the squall moving away as
quickly as it had appeared, leaving us soaked and chilled.
    Blaze took off his sheriff’s hat and wiped
his face with his arm.
    “ This is too much like work
for me,” he said. “Never been much of a runner.” Or a walker,
swimmer, or exerciser, I thought. Anything requiring calorie loss
scared Blaze.
    I heard a rifle shot in the distance. Then
another.
    Fred began making more racket than an
uninvited raccoon in a coop full of chickens.
    “ We came from down the
road,” I said, studying the lunging dog. “No sign of Little Donny.
But that’s the least of your problems right now. I think you’ll
need that…” I pointed at the cell phone attached to Blaze’s belt. I
paused for effect. “You’re gonna want to call for help with poor
Billy Lundberg, who’s lying in the leaves back that
way.”
    “ Dead drunk again, I
suppose,” Blaze said.
    “ Something like that,” I
said.

    chapter 5

    Deputy Dickey arrived with his entourage,
wearing the same jacket he’d worn yesterday. His hair looked one
day greasier too. Dickey managed to drive down the trail followed
by a sheriff’s pickup truck. Volunteer deputies hung out of every
window and came swarming out of the truck bed when it stopped. A
dead man in the woods brings out the entire community.
    Cora Mae and I gave statements while the
pickup truck tried to back down the trail to find the Detroit boys
for questioning. Later, BB and Marlin appeared, each driving an
ATV. They wandered over to watch.
    Deputy Dickey strutted over to them. “This
is a containment field. Important evidence is being gathered.
You’ll have to move out.” He gestured to a volunteer, who stepped
closer to let the Smith boys know they meant business. The boys
went back to their ATVs and Cora Mae and I followed them.
    “ Cops are all over our
camp,” Marlin said to Cora Mae, “like flies on duct tape. You
wouldn’t believe how many questions they asked us.”
    Cora Mae put her hand on BB’s shoulder. “How
about a ride out of here, Big Boy?”
    Cora Mae’s been watching too many old
movies, but BB appreciated it. He smiled wide.
    “ Hop on.”
    Cora Mae snuggled behind BB on his ATV and I
climbed up behind Marlin, clutching my weapon handbag tightly
between us. One false move from the Detroit boy and he’d be rolling
on the ground, zapped with my trusty stun gun. “We’re going home,”
I called to Blaze.
    “ Might as well,” Blaze
said. “We’ll let you know if we need you.”
    I thought my boy looked tired. Working on a
case involving his own nephew was wearing on him. It was starting
to wear on me too.
    We drove along the trail to Walter’s place
to pick up my truck, and I found myself worrying about Little
Donny’s safety. Was he hungry and wet from the rainstorm? He’d
disappeared twenty-four hours ago, and the only thing to show for
my efforts to help him was another dead body. My muscles knotted in
tension around my heart. What if Little Donny turned out to be the
killer’s next victim?
    We pulled into Walter’s yard. I was
shivering from the wet clothes and windy ride. The temperature had
dropped since noon.
    Cora Mae eased off the ATV. “What does BB
stand for?”
    “ Bazooka,” BB said, puffing
up his chest. “A bazooka launches rockets, like in those war
movies.”
    Marlin snorted. “Don’t believe him. He was
named for those little bitty shot pellets you shoot rabbits
with.”
    “ Was not.”
    “ Was too.”
    I walked away shaking my head. I knew
exactly