Bertha stuck her head into the room. "You-hoo, Ronnie, Deputy Hughes."
I motioned her to come in. "How'd you get away from the Chuck Wagon?"
"Hoot told me to get over here to see you and never mind about nothin' else. Ronnie, he's got those three old-codgers who're soft on you waitin' tables. It's hilarious."
"This I gotta see. After I check in on Hicks, I'll definitely head over to the Chuck Wagon for lunch." Hughes stepped through the doorway, looking back at us with a grin. Then he turned and left.
"Honey, I gotta tell you somethin'. Well, show you, really." She put her purse down on the vinyl-upholstered easy-chair next to the bed.
I sat up in the bed. "What's the matter? Are you all right?"
"Aw, honey, I couldn't be better, even if I tried."
She displayed on her left hand a heart-shaped, sparkling yellow stone set in a solitaire.
I clasped the tips of her fingers, as tears of joy threatened. "Does this mean?"
"Yep, Hoot asked me to marry him and I'm so proud, I can hardly stand it."
"Bertha, you and Hoot deserve every happiness."
"Aw, thanks, Honey. I'd like you to be my maid of honor. Would ya, Ronnie?"
"I'd be honored. But, you mean, matron of honor, don't you?"
"Naw, I mean maid of honor. That first marriage of yours don't count. Now if you were to marry Dawson Hughes, that one would count."
Want to get control of a conversation, or change the subject? Ask a question. An interrogator's trick. "Is that a yellow-topaz?"
"Yep. Ronnie, ain't it beautiful?"
"It certainly is. Have you set a date?"
"We're not gettin' any younger, so this ain't gonna be a long engagement. We're thinkin' a November weddin'."
"Hughes said he'd come to Brooklyn to see me for Thanksgiving."
"Now, Ronnie, you know you can't cook a turkey for the man. Come to think of it, a Thanksgivin' weddin' might be just the thing. You come on back down here. Then maybe he can fly east for Christmas. He might just have somethin' all wrapped up in a little box to put on your ring finger by then."
Like the mess in my life and the emotional turmoil in my heart could be fixed by then. Not likely. But, she meant well, so I hugged her. "I think you're pushing it. Still, I'd love to come back to Arroyo for your Thanksgiving wedding."
"Honey, and what about Christmas?"
I gave her another hug. "I'm sure Hughes and I can figure that out."
The End
Veronica "Ronnie" Ingles and Dawson Hughes are on the case again in
DEADLY DESIGNS
Private investigator Veronica "Ronnie" Ingels teams up with Deputy Dawson Hughes to find a geeky radio broadcaster's missing wife and young daughter. They fear the woman and child were taken by Islamic terrorists as revenge against the husband's pro-Israel, conspiracy theory broadcasts.
Hughes has recently been promoted to lieutenant in the Taylor County, Texas Sheriff's Department. He's on leave on a special assignment with Authorized Operations (AO), a clandestine, quasi-government agency operating out of a sea-side mansion in Montauk, NY. The only thing is, many powerful politicians, and government big-wigs claim Authorized Operations doesn't exist.
Ronnie is furious at both Hughes and the broadcaster for waiting two days to start the search. She knows the longer it takes, the less chance there is of finding the child alive. The problem is, radio talk-show host Ed Harper has been hoping-against-hope that his pot-smoking, model wife is on one of her esoteric experiences and has simply taken the child while she romps for a few days. He doesn't want to seriously consider the other, more hazardous possibility… that his radio broadcasts have angered some very dangerous people.
The investigation takes Ronnie and Hughes from a manicured Connecticut estate, to interviews with an elitist A-List society crowd, and run-ins with cranky local police detectives. Then they plunge deep into the seamy, drug-riddled underbelly of the fashion world, with the specter of international terrorism hovering. All the while they know, the sooner a child is found, the better.
Like so many writers, Nike Chillemi started writing at a very young age. She still has the Crayola, fully illustrated book she penned (colored might be more accurate) as a little girl about her then off-the-chart love of horses. Today, you might call her a crime fictionista. Her passion is crime fiction. She likes her bad guys really bad and her good guys smarter and better.
Nike is the founding board member of the Grace Awards and is its Chair, a reader's choice awards for excellence in Christian fiction. She has been a judge in the 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 Carol Awards in the suspense, mystery, and romantic suspense categories; and an Inspy Awards 2010 judge in the Suspense/Thriller/Mystery category. Her four novel Sanctuary Point series, set in the mid-1940s has finaled, won an award, and garnered critical acclaim. Her new contemporary whodunit, HARMFUL INTENT released under the auspices of her own publishing company, Crime Fictionista Press, won in the Grace Awards 2014 Mystery/Thriller/Romantic Suspense/Historic Suspense category. She has written book reviews for The Christian Pulse online magazine. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), Christian Indie Novelists, and John 3:16 Marketing Network. http://nikechillemi.wordpress.com/
Harmful Intent Collection, next book blurb
Veronica "Ronnie" Ingels and Dawson Hughes are on the case again in
BLOOD SPEAKS
~~ another Authorized Operations (AO) novel coming soon…
BLOOD SPEAKS, a Sneak Peek at Book Three
Veronica "Ronnie" Ingels, Brooklyn gal PI, waited a long time for the solitaire on her finger. When her sometimes boss, a shadowy figure and director of a secret government organization, offers a one-week bridal shopping vacay in Virginia, she jumps at it.
Joined by bridesmaids, Sandra Daube and Bertha Dagney, Ronnie sets off for the village of Heritage Cove on Lake Anna, Virginia. Their joyous stay at the quaint Cove Hotel and Resort is shattered by a murder with tendrils and a clandestine motive stretching back to the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
It doesn't take long for Ronnie and her gal-pals to become targets of the killer. It goes without saying, Taylor County Deputy Sheriff, Lieutenant Dawson Hughes leaves Texas to protect his bride-to-be. He's joined by Sandra's employer, conservative political activist Ben Cohen. Neither hell-nor-high-water can keep Gabby Hayes look-alike Hoot Dagney from the side of Bertha, his new bride.
Killer Reads: A Collection of the Best in Inspirational Suspense Page 126