Perilous Poetry

by Kym Roberts

  “I’ve never seen your hair look so bad in my entire life,” I told her.

  “Luckily for me, yours looks worse.”

  I laughed, cried, and laughed because I cried.

  Scarlet squeezed my hand. “O.M.W. I am not a pretty crier, Charli Rae. You need to stop before you scare me out of my boots.”

  A female paramedic spoke to Scarlet as she leaned over me to put an oxygen mask on my face. “It’s the drugs doing it to her. She’ll be as good as new in twenty-four hours.”

  I wasn’t sure that was true. I may not have remembered everything, but I knew something horrible had been planned for me. I closed my eyes and willed the waterworks to shut down before I became the biggest ninny in the state of Texas.

  When I opened them again, I was in a hospital bed. This time I knew it was a bed for sure. It smelled like bleach, the sheets felt like paper, and the mattress was as soft as the church pews on Sunday. It was time I visited those pews.

  “You’re awake.” Jamal was sitting in the corner, with this laptop on his lap and his headphones covering his ears. “I was beginning to think you were taking advantage of your time to sleep in this five-star resort.”

  “If that was the case, I’d demand my money back.”

  My Aunt Violet walked into the room with a tray of drinks in her hand.

  “Please tell me that’s something warm.”

  “It’s more than warm. It’s steaming hot. Don’t say I don’t know how to take care of my baby girl.”

  “I would never say that, Aunt Violet. You’re the best aunt I have.”

  She swiped at my shoulder and almost spilled our drinks. “I’m the only aunt you have.”

  “Hmm, that too.”

  Jamal stood up and took his hot chocolate. “Charli, I’d like you to meet my private investor.”

  “Who?” I looked up at my cousin who lifted his chin toward my aunt.

  “Wait…what?”

  Aunt Violet smiled. “It doesn’t pay to keep secrets, young man. If you’d told me you thought one of your investors was in the mob, I could have straightened you out immediately.”

  Jamal snorted and then choked on hot chocolate going up his nose. “If you hadn’t been so cryptic with investing in my business, I wouldn’t have freaked out.”

  I drifted off to sleep listening to them bicker back and forth and loving every minute of it.

  * * * *

  It’d been less than a day since I was released from the hospital and the entire town was gathered in the Book Barn Princess to celebrate—or more likely to get Lucy Barton’s autograph. Lucy had left her errant daughter at home but had held to her word to have the book signing.

  For her part, Ms. Barton felt so bad about what her daughter Janice, better known as Juicy Killer, had done that she put on a dinner at the diner for the first forty-seven people with Hazel Rock IDs to arrive. She would have done more, but that was all the diner would hold according to the fire code. Scarlet, Sugar, and I got a personal apology from Ms. Barton and her daughter, who had been jealous of Scarlet taking over the lead role in Eduardo’s shield maiden artwork. She sent the flowers as a dark joke, not realizing that Eduardo had been killed.

  Jamal and Aunt Violet flanked Lucy as she signed for her fans. From the grins on their faces, it was obvious the two couldn’t have been happier.

  “Are you ever going to tell me how you knew I was in my canoe?” I asked my daddy as we looked over the book signing occurring in the loft. The lines went all the way down the sidewalk down to the Tool Shed Tavern and we’d had to limit the number of books people could buy for Ms. Barton to sign.

  “When Marvin said he had no idea where you went—that he walked you to the gate and left—we knew better,” my dad said. “I went into the tearoom and found your tea on the floor with a brand new book lying in the middle of all that tea. I knew you would never leave a book like that.”

  “Not unless I was creating book art and trying to age the pages.”

  Daddy smiled. “The copy of Canoe Moon seemed too much of a coincidence. Especially when you and I had talked about Marvin buying that book. Jamal went outside and found your canoe missing. When Mateo got there, he called for a boat, but Joe had his at the bar, so we used it.”

  “How did Cade and Scarlet get involved?” I looked over the railing and saw Cade and Scarlet both handing out swag to people waiting in line. Our surprise visitor was Dalton Hibbs, Scarlet’s bull-rider boyfriend who was as big to bull riding as Ms. Barton was to mystery readers. He also happened to be a Lucy Barton fan and volunteered to help out if Ms. Barton would sign his mother’s copy of Good Knight Moon. A deal was struck and Dalton was handing out sticky notes for the readers in line to write their name on so Ms. Barton spelled their names correctly. The Mystery Moms, scattered throughout the store, were eating it up. It was the best of both worlds for them.

  “Cade had been helping Scarlet move her trailer, and they saw Mateo pull up out front.”

  “Oh, I thought she was going to ask you for help?”

  “She didn’t want to bother me since there was so much going on.”

  We made our way down to the lower level with my dad holding my arm like I was going to take a tumble without the support. I stopped and said hello to Betty and Franz as they made their way through the line. I wasn’t sure who wanted Lucy Barton’s signature more, which was surprising since the book we bartered sticky buns for, was the first book I’d ever seen Franz reading. I turned to my dad, I had one more nagging question. “I know why Marvin killed Matt Allen—he blamed him for the beginning of the downfall of his investment, but why’d he kill his brother and Eduardo? Why’d he come after me?”

  Mateo leaned over my shoulder. “That’s simple, Charli. Greed. The three of you were obstacles he couldn’t overcome. Delbert had said they were too late to launch their Build a Library app and refused to move forward because Jamal had cornered the market. With his brother gone, Marvin thought he could get the app running. Eduardo was just a poor guy caught in the middle of trying to make a buck off his art and keep food on his table. When he spouted off about the Book Seekers app being better, Marvin lost his temper and killed him. He hoped the oar would be traced back to Jamal and that would shut down the Book Seekers. When it didn’t, he had no other choice, he had to get rid of you.”

  “But Jamal was already shutting down the app when Marvin tried to kill me,” I argued.

  “He didn’t know that. To him, you had to go.”

  It was my dad’s turn to look for answers. “I’ve got a few more questions, Mateo.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Who shot up the Book Barn Princess and endangered my girls’ lives?”

  “That was actually Delbert.”

  “What?” Daddy and I said in unison as my cousin walked by with a tray of cookies.

  “That’s why Mac started coming into the store more. He felt responsible for the shooting. He overhead about the app when Jamal and Violet came into town and told Delbert about your plan. Delbert and Eduardo got drunk, and mad, and drove by the Barn and shot it up, then he hit your daddy’s truck because he thought Charli was in it. We don’t know if Eduardo’s truck was involved in the accident with the semi-tractor trailer off the bridge, but we’re analyzing video from the semi for the match. We found the gun used in shooting up the Barn at Marvin’s place. Apparently, Delbert was going to try to set Marvin up, because Marvin had no idea the gun was there.”

  “Get out!” Jamal said.

  Mateo smiled and I couldn’t help but think his eyes looked richer than the chocolate chips in my cookie. He caught me staring and winked. “So, Charli, what’s the next chapter in your book?”

  “I was thinking about going to a concert—want to come?”

  Mateo’s smile had me melting in his hands.

  My dad cleared his throat and said, “If y
ou’ll excuse me, I need to announce the winner of the Book Seekers contest.”

  “There’s a winner? I thought you’d decided Ms. Barton had done enough with that meal at the diner,” I said,

  “There can only be one winner, Princess.” Dad made his way toward the table where Ms. Barton was signing books, and I saw Cade push through the crowd with his mom in tow.

  I would have argued since the meet and greet dinner had already taken place with forty-seven lucky people, but my daddy was out of earshot.

  “What’s he up to?” I asked Mateo.

  “I haven’t the faintest idea, but I’m starting to believe you get your orneriness from him.”

  I watched my daddy take the mic from my cousin and then whisper something into my aunt’s ear. Aunt Violet disappeared into the tearoom as my daddy started talking.

  “May I have your attention, please.” The low rumble of voices died down and my daddy continued. “Because we had so many people who were able to enjoy dinner with Ms. Barton, we decided there needed to be one winner overall. The Book Barn Princess is donating all its proceeds from the Book Seekers launch to the Coleman County Nature Preserve.” Applause broke out through the crowd but my daddy held up his hand to quiet them. “This holiday season we are going to start a new tradition at the Book Barn Princess, and we hope that everyone here will help us get it started.” Aunt Violet walked out with Princess in her arms and joined my father. “Our little Princess was injured this past week when she was struck by a stray bullet.”

  A collective gasp traveled through the crowd.

  “Luckily, Princess’s injury was minor. But so many wild animals get injured by gunfire, cars, abandonment, and well, people in general hurting them. Most of those animals aren’t taken to the vet like our little Princess. If they survive, they’re sent to the Coleman County Nature Preserve which is in dire need of funds. I know I don’t have to ask my own Princess, Charli Rae, or the sheriff or the mayor to come up here and volunteer with Jamal and Scarlet for our fundraiser.”

  I smiled and grabbed Mateo as Scarlet grabbed Cade and the four of us headed up toward the signing area.

  “See, I told you I could count on them.” Daddy winked in my direction and as Sugar and Joellen came toward us with black caps and clear shower caps, my smile disappeared.

  He wouldn’t.

  “For the low-price donation of one dollar, we’ve set up a pie throwing booth in the courtyard.”

  He would.

  My aunt pulled a cream pie out from under the table and smiled just like my momma would have.

  “Was this your idea?” Mateo asked.

  Emotion bubbled up inside me. “No!”

  Jamal groaned and I couldn’t help it, I laughed until I didn’t think I could laugh anymore. It was all his fault. He brought up my misery, and now he was going to have to endure it right along with me.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Cade said under his breath.

  “O.M.W. Joellen, don’t put that cape on me.” Scarlet’s little sister ignored her as she struggled to get the cape around Scarlet’s neck during fits of giggling.

  This was one night of pie eating I was never going to forget. Sugar put my clear shower cap in place as my aunt approached with the first pie.

  I dug a dollar out of my pocket and held it out to my aunt. “The first one is mine.” Then I turned to the man on my left and said, “I dub thee honorary prince of the Barn for one night,” right before I hit him in the face with a fluffy whipped cream pie.

  About the Author

  Three career paths resonated for Kym Roberts during her early childhood: detective, investigative reporter, and...nun. Being a nun, however, dropped by the wayside when she became aware of boys—they were the spice of life she couldn’t deny. In high school her path was forged when she took her first job at a dry cleaner and met every cop in town, especially the lone female police officer on patrol. From that point on there was no stopping Kym’s pursuit of a career in law enforcement. Kym followed her dream and became a detective, which fulfilled her desire to be an investigative reporter, with one extra perk—a badge. Promoted to sergeant, Kym spent the majority of her career in SVU. She retired from the job reluctantly when her husband dragged her kicking and screaming to another state, but writing continued to call her name, at least in her head. Visit her on the web at www.kymroberts.com.

  Charli Rae Warren is back home in Hazel Rock, Texas, spending her time reading, collecting, and selling books—at least, the ones that don’t get eaten first by her father’s pet armadillo. Running the family bookstore is a demanding job, but solving murders on the side can be flat out dangerous . . .

  The Book Barn is more than just a shop, it’s a part of the community—and Charli is keeping busy with a fundraising auction and the big rodeo event that’s come to town. That includes dealing with the Texas-sized egos of some celebrity cowboys, including Dalton Hibbs, a blond, blue-eyed bull rider who gets overly rowdy one night with the local hairdresser . . . and soon afterward, disappears into thin air.

  Dalton’s brother also vanished seven years ago—and Charli is thrown about whether Dalton is a villain or a victim. After a close call with an assailant wielding a branding iron (that plays havoc with her hair), and some strange vandalism on her property, she’s going to have to team up with the sheriff to untangle this mystery, before she gets gored . . .

  When kindergarten teacher Charli Rae Warren hightailed it out of Hazel Rock, Texas, as a teen, she vowed to leave her hometown in the dust. A decade later, she’s braving the frontier of big hair and bigger gossip once again . . . but this time, she’s saddled with murder!

  Charli agrees to sell off the family bookstore, housed in a barn, and settle her estranged dad’s debt—if only so she can ride into the sunset and cut ties with Hazel Rock forever. But the trip is extended when Charli finds her realtor dead in the store, strangled by a bedazzled belt. And with daddy suspiciously MIA, father and daughter are topping the most wanted list . . .

  Forging an unlikely alliance with the town beauty queen, the old beau who tore her family apart, and one ugly armadillo, Charli’s intent on protecting what’s left of her past . . . and wrangling the lone killer who’s fixin’ to destroy her future . . .