I smiled gratefully. "I think that is an excellent idea."
He turned to the boy, who looked a little less confident. "You are right. There are professional archers that act up at tournaments: throw their bows, cuss out officials, post tirades online, or just act like all-around jerks--but I don't assume they get away with it. Many contracts haven't been renewed for athletes that prove to be unreliable. Companies won't publicly say what is going on behind closed doors, but I can personally say that many private conversations go on after a public meltdown."
He turned back to me, nodded, and sat down.
"Thank you, Liam. As I was saying, you'll want to have a resume ready." I continued through the last point while checking the clock. It was taking slightly longer than anticipated. "Thank you, and to those competing, strong shots."
A few people applauded while the rest left, I assumed to practice or prepare for the afternoon line of shooting.
Reverse Mullet Mom bore down on me like a freight train, dragging Pants and a girl with a side pony tail behind her. "We really want to get over to the practice range."
I check the list. I had a meeting set with Patricia Pedderson with chaperone Sally Johnston, followed by Marie Johnston and mother Sally Johnston. "Then let's get started right now."
I gestured to the table we had been using for the earlier meetings. I sat down and waited for everyone to settle in. Liam dragged his chair back to the table while Reverse Mullet Mom found another chair.
I reached across the table for the two resumes on the table. "I'll start with Patricia, or would you prefer Pants? Why do you deserve to be sponsored?" I smiled at her.
She gave her answer, and Liam pointed out areas that she could include or expand on. I nodded knowingly, hoping that I gave the appearance of competence.
Once her time was up, I moved on to the next archer, the girl with the side ponytail. "Marie, why do you deserve to be sponsored?"
As she gave her answer, I realized she was the same girl that Coach Ron had filmed the day prior, and her mother was the one who had threatened to kill him. I was eager to ask all three of them about their experience with Coach Ron, but in the meantime I nodded while I thought.
Pants had a great motive. He had picked on her, and basically she was alone. Sally might be her chaperone, but the fact that Pants had referred to her as Mrs. Johnston meant they weren't family. Maybe Sally wouldn't have noticed if Pants wandered away and had a confrontation with Coach Ron.
But Side Pony Marie and Reverse Mullet Sally had the same motive: Coach Ron had videotaped Side Pony Marie and put it up online. Why had he done that? And Reverse Mullet Sally had threatened to kill him, plus she'd called him a name. It wasn't just a general name like "jerk"; it had an additional connotation to it, but what was it? Cheater? No, it was something sleazy. Perv! She'd called him a perv. Had she called him that because of the video, or was it how she had thought of him from before?
Liam gave a final comment then kicked me under the table.
"How are you both doing? I know that yesterday was a crazy day, lots of excitement." I softened my tone, hoping it sounded concerned and sympathetic.
Marie with the side pony shrugged. "Okay, I guess. The tournament was cool, but Mom screaming at Coach Ron was kinda upsetting."
"Sorry, sweetie." Her mom placed a hand on Marie's shoulder. "I know it embarrassed you, but he had to take the video down. It was inappropriate."
Pants leaned forward on her chair. "I had a great time. I got new pants and a new nickname. Everyone is totally jealous."
I smiled. I was so glad that I could have helped her when she needed it, especially given how appreciative she was. "Was he always like that?"
"He was a jerk to everyone, but he especially didn't like me. He really wanted me and a bunch of other compound shooters to join his YAP, but I went for a weekend seminar, and we didn't get along. He was touching me all the time, moving my head or arm or stuff. I hate being touched, even by my family. My mom says that I have a very definite personal space bubble." She giggled. "I kept telling him that I got it, but he grabbed my chin again to move it and I told him not to touch me. That I could do it just fine if he showed me. He totally flipped out. He didn't like my attitude or back talk and was yelling that a good coach has to touch his students and how dare I imply otherwise. Mrs. Strates, Becky's mom, she owns the store, she came in and got me and let me call my mom to pick me up early. They refunded my money as well."
I gasped. "That's awful. I'd be so upset."
"I was. And embarrassed. Ever since then, if we're at the same tournament, he's been on my case for every little stupid thing."
"Come on, girls, let's get to the practice range." Reverse Mullet Mom, Sally Johnston, stood up and returned the chair she had been using to its table. "What do you say to Miss Di and Mister Liam?"
In unison the girls replied, "Thank you."
I stood up. "Sally, can I ask you something?"
"Of course. Girls, go on, I'll be right behind you." After the girls left, she turned to me. "Yes?"
I was going out on a limb here, but maybe if I implied I already knew something, she would agree. "Something's bothering me. People have said some things about Coach Ron, and you called him a perv for filming your daughter." I said "things" slowly with lots of meaning.
She stepped in closer and lowered her voice. "I don't know anything for a fact, but I didn't like the way he looked at or touched his female students and there was something off about his relationship with Becky."
"Overly attached?"
"Something like that. There was something about their relationship that set off my mom alarm. That's part of the reason it freaked me out so much when he took videos of my daughter."
"Did you tell anyone?"
"What could I say? That he made me uncomfortable? That I got a bad vibe? He didn't technically do anything. You know how it is. Thanks for talking to the girls."
After she was gone, I sat next to Liam. "This is not good."
"What happened now?"
"Everything I'm hearing is leading me in the direction that Coach Ron was up to something funny with Becky and maybe some other female students."
Liam leaned back. "Really? I've never heard this."
"I don't have proof yet, but my gut instinct is that something is off. We only have two appointments left. Next is son David Ruben, he's over there in the visor, and Dad, Bob Ruben. The dad is the one that told Sally, the mother from the last meeting, that Coach Ron had filmed her daughter. Then Coach Ron kicked them out of his YAP."
"Are you guys ready for us?" Dad Bob and son David were hovering a few tables over. "I don't want to rush you but..."
"No rush. I was just telling Liam about that whole video fiasco yesterday with Coach Ron."
Bob shook his head as he sat down. "What a mess. I don't regret telling Sally, though. She doesn't allow her daughter on Facebook yet. I knew she'd have a fit that a video of Marie was up, especially with Coach Ron's comments."
"What were Coach Ron's comments?"
"First you need to know that some of the pro archers do this thing where they flip their arrows around before loading the bow. Nothing against the rules, but some people think it's showboating and unnecessary."
"By some people, do you mean Coach Ron?"
"Exactly. David was shooting next to Marie, and Marie was flipping her arrow around. Coach Ron recorded it and put it online with his critique. Something about this being the problem with archers today, wasting their time on show versus performance. He went on about how his students would never do this kinda thing."
"I don't get it. She spun an arrow? Why's that so bad?"
"That's the whole thing, it wasn't. Some people are too stuffy. These are kids. And making fun of kids online is wrong. I had gone outside to grab a cell signal and text my wife when some friends messaged me. I looked at the video and knew it was out of line. I came inside and told Sally. I didn't expect her to explode like that, but I can't blame he
r."
"And he kicked you guys out of the program?" That was their strongest motive.
"He said that, but we weren't really in the program to kick out. We both shoot at the range in the store, and no way would Bertha Strates ban us from the store just because of Coach Ron, no matter how much attention Coach Ron paid her daughter."
"Did you ever see anything weird happen between Coach Ron and Becky?"
"No, of course--" he started to say when his son cut him off.
"Yeah, he grabbed her butt once."
His father reared around to face him. "He what? Why didn't you tell me?"
"You and Mom were gone. It was last summer when I stayed with my buddies. I left something at the range and went back to get it a few hours later. I walked in on Coach Ron working with Becky, and he had his hands all over her."
"Do you mean like correcting her form?" I asked, hoping for Becky's sake that was all he meant.
"It didn't look like that to me. He yelled at me to leave and said if I told anyone he'd make sure I was banned from the range for lying."
His dad's jaw was hanging open. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"
"I told you that Coach Ron was gross," David shot back.
"I just thought... You should have told me exactly... We'll talk about this at home."
I interrupted. "I think you need to tell the police about this. Let me go find them."
The dad nodded at me. His face was white. "Yes, thank you."
I felt sick as I stood up. I had an uneasy feeling that Coach Ron might have had something inappropriate going on with Becky. I stumbled into the hall and ran into Brian.
"I've got some bad news. In there." I turned and pointed to where David and Bob were sitting. "They told me that they saw Coach Ron touch one of his students, Becky, over the summer. They're waiting to talk to the police about it. Becky and her mom are here, too."
He rubbed his hand across his face. "Okay. The police are in the conference room over by Jess's office. I'll take them down there."
I waved at David and Bob to join us, then after they left I sat back down with Liam. "I feel just sick."
Liam put a hand on my back and rubbed it softly. "It's better that it came out now. If Becky Tasered him to protect herself, then I'm sure the police will take that into account."
"What?" Davey Jones, the young girl from my target, was staring at me with large eyes and a white face.
"Oh, sweetie, you shouldn't have heard that. Don't worry about it. It doesn't have anything to do with you." But what if it did? Davey's mom had said that Davey used to attend Coach Ron's program until the new school year started.
"What's going on? Are you okay, CarolAnn?" Davey Jones's mother took one look at Davey and sat her down then looked at us, waiting for an explanation.
I took a deep breath, trying to pick my words carefully. "It appears that Coach Ron might have been inappropriate with a female student."
Davey's mother, Megan, gasped and went white. Liam raced to her side and placed a hand under her elbow to steer her to a chair.
Megan turned to Davey. "Sweetie, did you know about this? Did he ever touch you?"
Davey's lower lip quivered, and tears spilled down her cheeks. "He said he would hurt me if I told anyone."
Her mother wrapped Davey in her arms and pushed her daughter's hair out of her tear-streaked face. "I'd kill him first. Why didn't you tell me? When did this happen? What did you see?"
Davey was sobbing and hiding her face in her mother's sweatshirt.
I didn't want to interrupt the moment, but Davey seemed unwilling or unable to talk more. "Davey, did you see Coach Ron touch Becky? Did he threaten you, too?"
Davey hiccupped as she looked up from her mother. "Too?"
I nodded. "Someone else saw something, and Coach Ron threatened him. What did he say to you?"
"He said if I told anyone, he would hurt me and my mom."
"Did you feel the need to protect yourself from him? Did you get a Taser? Did he attack you?" I held my breath as she nodded.
"I ran out to the car to grab my backpack, and he backed me around a corner. I grabbed the Taser out of my pocket--I bought it from a kid at school--hit him with it and ran away. I don't want to go to jail! I didn't know it would kill him."
Her mother wrapped her arms around Davey and started crying.
CHAPTER SEVEN
By the time we got Davey and her mother to the police and things were sorted out, I had a little bit of time to warm up before lunch. Rumors were buzzing around the practice range as I shot. A few adults were standing behind the line, talking about how they had always known Coach Ron was up to no good. I did't know how the rumors had spread around, but I was already sick of it.
I grabbed my bow and quiver and left the practice range. Whatever warming up I would gain from being there would be offset by my frustration. If they had really known, then they should have said something. If they didn't know, then it was disgusting to pretend they did.
I thought of Davey's face as the police started questioning her and her mother's devastated look and felt sick. I'd set out to find who killed Ron, but this didn't feel like success. All I could think about was Davey's voice shaking as she said she didn't want to go to jail. I had fully expected to discover a ruthless killer, not a scared child who had tried to protect herself.
Liam was outside giving Moo another walk. I checked to see if he was still out there and ran smack into Brian, who was entering the range.
"Can I talk to you for a second?" I asked him.
"Sure."
We stepped down the hall a bit. "Will Davey, er, I mean CarolAnn be okay? It was self-defense and--"
He cut me off with a hand. "Don't worry. The officers are fair. She'll be okay." He looked around and leaned in. "I can't get into it. You have to trust me."
Brian had proven to be a man of his word several times over. A wave of relief rushed over me. The grip on my lungs loosened, and I took a deep breath. "Thanks, and they can get the girls help? Like counseling?"
"Absolutely." He clapped me on the back. "Let the professionals do their job. You need to focus on shooting."
I thanked him and moved toward the entrance to find Liam. I stepped outside into the cold, crisp air. Cars were moving around the parking lot, and Liam was jogging and playing with Moo on a leash.
"Hey, Miss Marple." He jogged over to me and wrapped me in a big hug. "You did a great job solving the case."
"I don't feel great." I squeezed him tightly, and my frustration drained away.
He gave me another squeeze before letting go. "I know."
Moo came up next to my hip and leaned into me. I placed my hand on his side, gently patting him.
Orion and Mary opened the front door to the center.
"Come on, you two, we have to grab lunch quick." Mary waved us over. "Hey, Di, can you explain why there is a video all over the Internet of you explaining how to get sponsorship?"
"I told you about our plan to use it as an excuse to talk to the kids. Liam put me in charge of talking."
He teased me. "It is her specialty."
Mary pulled out her phone and, after pressing a few buttons, flipped it around to show me the description underneath the video. "I knew that part, but why do they describe you as Di, the new pro-staff and sponsorship coordinator for Westmound-Andersson Industries?"
My mind went blank as I stared at Mary. "They what?"
Orion laughed. "I'll gladly give you the job. One more thing off my plate."
"Oh no, we have to get rid of it. Who posted it? Has anyone seen it?" Once something was on the Internet, it was almost impossible to delete it, but perhaps no one had seen it yet.
Mary shrugged and pushed the phone back into her pocket. "The guy that posted it is gone already, and it's been seen and shared thousands of times. I have about a dozen messages from friends asking me to put in a good word with you."
Liam laughed. "Don't worry about it, Di. These things happen all t
he time. Everyone will probably forget in a few weeks. Let's go grab lunch."
We followed Mary and Orion down the hallway, and they had a good laugh at my expense.
Liam grabbed my hand and laced it through his arm as we walked back toward the center. "I wish I didn't have to leave tonight. You know that, right?"
I bounced up against him and laid my head on his shoulder for a few steps. "Yes, but in a few weeks it's the tournament in Vegas, and you have that double date planned."
"Exactly." He placed his hand over mine and squeezed it. "Valentine's Day."
I hope you enjoyed my second book. I would love to interact with you more. If you would like to learn more about me, join my mailing list, or discover my social media accounts, please check out my website.
http://nikkihaverstock.com/
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Nikki Haverstock lives with her husband and dogs on a cattle ranch high in the Rocky Mountains.
Before escaping the city, Nikki taught collegiate archery for ten years. She has competed on and off for fifteen years in the USA Archery women's recurve division.
Nikki has more college degrees than she has sense, and hopefully one day, she will put one to work.
© 2015 by Ranch Dog Entertainment, LLC
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Death Indoors: Target Practice Mysteries 4 Page 9