Book Read Free

The Lure

Page 28

by S. W. Hubbard


  “So Matthew’s going to the North Country Academy for organ lessons, huh,” he said. "What’ll they do if he doesn’t practice—lock him up?”

  Reid glared at him. “Frank, that’s a very unfair remark. You—”

  "Joking, I was joking!” Geez, Reid had really lost his sense of humor over this place.

  “The lessons will be here in the church, where the organ is,” Reid explained. “Plus, Matthew will be able to walk here.”

  “His father won’t help out at all,” Ardyth interjected. “He wasn’t going to let Matthew take the lessons until Pastor Bob went and spoke to him. Those poor kids are really struggling without their mom.”

  Ardyth had a tendency to dwell on misfortune, while Reid was a determined optimist. “That’s why the organ lessons are such a godsend. And, have you heard about the latest two people to get good jobs at the academy? Lorrie Betz and Ray Stulke.”

  Frank’s hand hung suspended over the Danish tray. Lorrie had crammed more heartache into thirty years of living than most people manage in a lifetime. And Ray was Trout Run’s foremost blockhead. "What in the world are those two qualified to do at a school? Cleaning?”

  “Oh, no. They’re going to be Pathfinders.”

  “The only path Ray can find is from his barstool to the john. What kind of position is a Pathfinder?”

  “Fine for you to be so cavalier, Frank," Reid said. "You have a good, secure job. Most people in this town aren’t so lucky. We’re losing our young people because there are no opportunities for them here. And with Clyde being so sick, we can’t count on Stevenson’s Lumberyard to continue as our prime employer.”

  Reid straightened the lapels of his tweed sports coat. “This town needs to diversify. If MacArthur Payne makes a success of this school, it will be a source of good steady work with benefits for years to come. Steady work keeps people out of trouble. You should appreciate that.”

  Ardyth studied her shoes as if she’d never seen patent leather before. The thump of the big coffee urn being hauled away broke the uncomfortable silence, and Frank grabbed the opportunity to leave as Ardyth began helping with the cleanup.

  He trudged across the green toward his truck, trying to shake off the sting of Reid’s words. Last night's jack- o’-lanterns mocked him, their cheerful gap-toothed grins now transformed into grotesque snarls by the gnawing of hungry squirrels.

  Unspoken in Reid’s tirade was the fact that Frank was an outsider who'd taken the position of police chief away from a local. True, the job didn’t pay well enough for a man to support a family. For twenty years his predecessor had combined the police chief’s job with furniture refinishing to make ends meet.

  Herv’s retirement had touched off a great debate: increase the pay of the chief’s position and induce a local man to train for the job at the police academy, or abolish it altogether and turn Trout Run’s law enforcement over to the state police. In the middle of the fray, Frank had washed up on the town’s doorstep: a man with twenty years’ experience marred by one big mistake that had forced his resignation, willing to work cheap because he had a decent pension from the Kansas City force. His hiring had been an uneasy compromise, and Frank knew, even though Reid would never be so crass as to remind him, that he had cast the deciding vote in Frank's favor.

  Now with a few unguarded wisecracks about the North Country Academy, he’d given Reid the impression that he didn’t care about the fortunes of other people in town as long as his own bread was buttered.

  Frank looked up at the towering peak of Mount Marcy in the distance, and the smaller mountains that tumbled toward the town, shutting out the problems of the wider world. If he knew what was good for him, he'd start showing some enthusiasm for the North Country Academy. But really, how excited could he get about a school that imported scores of juvenile delinquents into his jurisdiction?

  Blood Knot will be available on Kindle in June 2015.

  Read these other mysteries by S.W. Hubbard:

  Frank Bennett Adirondack Mountain Mystery Series

  Take the Bait

  Blood Knot

  Dead Drift

  Palmyrton Estate Sale Mystery Series

  Another Man’s Treasure

  Treasure of Darkness

  http://www.amazon.com/S.-W.-Hubbard/e/B001HCZXRA/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

  About the Author

  S.W. Hubbard is the author of the Palmyrton Estate Sale Mysteries, Another Man’s Treasure and Treasure of Darkness. She is also is the author of three Police Chief Frank Bennett mystery novels set in the Adirondack Mountains: Take the Bait, The Lure (originally published as Swallow the Hook), and Blood Knot, as well as a short story collection featuring Frank Bennett, Dead Drift. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and the anthologies Crimes by Moonlight, The Mystery Box, and Adirondack Mysteries. She lives in Morristown, NJ, where she teaches creative writing to enthusiastic teens and adults, and expository writing to reluctant college freshmen. To contact her or read the first chapter of any of her books, visit: http://www.swhubbard.net. Follow her on Twitter @swhubbardauthor or like her Facebook author page, SW Hubbard author. Connect with S.W. Hubbard on Pinterest and Goodreads too.

  Copyright © 2015 S.W. Hubbard

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions

  By payment of required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this book. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented without the express written permission of copyright owner.

  Please Note

  The reverse engineering, uploading, and/or distributing of this book via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the copyright owner is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author's rights is appreciated

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

  Cover Design and Interior format by The Killion Group

  http://thekilliongroupinc.com

  Thank you.

  Table of Contents

  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

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

 

 

 
cale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share



‹ Prev