And coming next from C. E. Granger,
Fall 2018
And here is the introduction for the next book in the Chandler County Series.
Prologue
Crystal let the other passengers leave ahead of her. She needed a little time to psych herself up into getting off the plane. She wanted to see Gentry and meet the man who trundled her off to Alaska without a by-your-leave. But she didn't think Gentry would appreciate it if she busted his nose for him at first sight.
The line cleared out and only the crew remained. Time to get it over with. The whole thing bothered her. Without the structure of the Army to keep her on the straight and narrow, Crystal wondered how she would make it in the civvy world.
She pulled the O.D. green duffel out of the bin and followed the last of the passengers. The pilot said the weather was clear and a comfortable 43 degrees. A small snort followed that thought.
Comfortable for who? Dudes wrapped in two layers of down parkas? What did the man consider uncomfortable? No! Scratch that. A minus something probably, maybe in the low thirties.
With a sigh, she entered the long-covered walkway leading to the interior of the terminal. She got a good look at the whole thing before they landed. The entire complex, runways and all would fit in the back corner of Atlanta's Hartsfield–Jackson airport without any fuss.
She followed the signs for the baggage claim area. Not that she had any baggage. Gentry said once she got past security, they would find her.
As soon as she got Gentry to herself, it would be time to spill the beans. Well, perhaps not all of it. The kid didn't need to know she set fire to the barn in a fit of rage. That would stay her secret.
Without the anonymity of her uniform, Crystal felt naked. Why in the hell did she let Royce and Uncle Thad talk her out of re-upping? She hadn't been drunk and just didn't get it.
Liar! Her mind screamed. She knew why. The phone call with Grant played all over again in her head. It was the part about her having a tight ass. She caught the warmth in his tone and figured he had to be smiling when he made the comment.
It was amazing how all airports had the same general layout. Ahead of her a large bank of windows stood on the other side of steps and escalators. Lots of people stood to the side as they waited for passengers to leave the secured area.
"Crystal! Hun!" That was all the warning she got before her baby sister slammed into her with arms wide.
The duffel hit the floor and Crystal wrapped both arms around the kid. With his hands stuffed in the pocket of his jeans, a guy with dark hair and equally dark eyes watched Gentry hug her.
Russ. That was the husband's name. The dude could play poker with the best of them. Crystal couldn't tell anything from a quick glance at his expression.
But her sister felt different. She must have put on about ten or fifteen pounds. Was she pregnant? Crystal sure hoped the hell not. Gentry was just a baby yet. She needed time to figure out who she was since getting out from under Augie's thumb.
Gentry turned to the guy with a smile on her face. "Russ, come and meet my sister."
When he walked forward and held out a hand, Crystal thought she caught sight of a wary expression in his dark eyes. Then he closed up tighter than hell.
That's okay, Alaska. I'm not sure I like your ass either. But for Gentry's sake, she planned to keep it all screwed in tight. The girl looked happy enough. If Gentry loved the little shit and didn't want to leave, so be it.
There would be other visits. If things didn't work out, they would all have a home at the Reynolds place. And that was the other reason she let them talk her out of enlisting again. Sheila. If Royce didn't get some kind of closure on the thing with their mother, the kid might lose what marbles he had left.
For now, she had a week to assess how Gentry was making out up here. The other two guys in Chandler County would want a full report on her findings. But it wouldn't do to alienate the husband right off.
Crystal shook his hand. She made the pressure just firm enough, but not like a wuss. She would treat him like a fresh out of school junior officer. Crystal could do that in her sleep.
She settled into the seat behind Russ. Gentry crawled into the extended cab with her. They had a few miles to go before they reached Homer. Then would come a boat ride to Seldovia. Crystal shook her head. It was a damn good thing she slept on the plane.
Gentry grabbed her hand and squeezed. "I'm so glad to see you. But why did you leave the service?"
With a grin, Crystal chucked her under the chin. "Royce, Uncle Thad and I are planning to make
the old man and Johnny's life hell. And it's been a long time coming."
Chapter One
The beer RA handed her had beads of moisture rolling off the bottle. Her uncle and RA picked her up at the airport. The red-eye flight out of Anchorage as Gentry called it, left the airport at 10 pm. She had a long layover in Minneapolis and a run to the plane in Detroit. And she thanked her foresight in traveling light or she wouldn't have made the plane in time.
After a dash through a drive-thru for food, the three of them now sat in the old Reynolds farmhouse. Set far back on the one hundred-twenty-acre plot, several large trees shaded the old place. A narrow gravel drive gave access to the old two-story frame home.
The kitchen that the three of them lounged in was large enough to feed a family with six kids and two farm hands, the size of her Great-grandparents' generation. The Reynolds boy who inherited the place wasn't as prolific. Her grandparents had only two kids, her mother Sheila and Thaddeus, the Uncle who sat across the old worn kitchen table from Crystal.
She took a swallow of the cold brew and waited to see which of the two men, her brother or uncle, intended to get the ball rolling. Would the first topic of conversation be Gentry or her missing-and-presumed-dead mother? Crystal bet on RA and hoped Gentry would come first. It was too late in the day to listen to RA's accusations against Augie.
Maybe the old bastard killed her and maybe he didn't. Crystal thought at the time that their mother walked away. Augie could have hit her hard enough to stun Sheila who zombied her way out to the highway. Or perhaps he hit her hard enough to kill. With Augie anything was possible when drunk.
After joining up, she made peace with the situation. Her mother wasn't coming back, and they might never know what happened. RA couldn't seem to let go. Once Carver was out as Sheriff and Mullin in, RA ragged on Grant's ass over it every chance he got.
"How is she doing up there?"
Bingo! Royce Augustus right on target. Crystal grinned at him. "She's gained about ten pounds and runs around in 45-degree weather with nothing but a long-sleeved thermal shirt on."
"That doesn't tell me if she's happy up there or how the kid is treating her."
A shrug accompanied her kicking the chair back on two legs and putting both feet on the corner of the table. Crystal took another swallow from the bottle. Her kid brother had better learn she didn't get to be a sergeant because of her looks.
"She seems happy enough. They live in a cabin on the other side of Kachemak Bay from Homer in a place called Seldovia Village. The joint is tight, she has electricity and running water, a real luxury up there. He should graduate this year and has a good job waiting. Gentry doesn't need to put up with the old man's or Johnny's B.S. What's not to like?"
"Is Gentry pregnant? I wondered if something happened and she latched on to the kid as a way out of here."
"Royce, you got a suspicious mind. Gentry isn't pregnant. From what she said, they are holding off on kids until he's working. Sounded like a reasonable plan to me."
He jerked a chair away from the table and sat. "The whole deal sounded crazy as hell. So, she meets the kid online and he drives all the way down from Alaska to fetch her? Who the hell does that?"
Head back, Crystal drained the bottle and set it on the table. "I think there might have been more to the situation, but you need to look at it from Gentry's point of view. We all left her here. She got stuck, an
d I detected a residue of resentment for that from the girl."
"What the hell was I supposed to do? What the hell would I have done with her? Even after Gentry turned eighteen, no one would let some PFC's kid sister hang out on base."
"And with Augie's temper, I couldn't chance him burning this joint to the ground." Thad cut in.
She glanced at her uncle then back to her kid brother. "I planned to get her out of here but was too late. By the time I got an opportunity to fly back and snatch her away, her husband had already taken care of things."
"I guess it was for the best." RA used one finger to push his beer bottle around on the wooden surface. "Gentry wouldn't have done well in the service and that's all I can see any of us offering her."
The front two legs of her chair thudded onto the old plank floor. "Gentry is getting on just fine up there. That's good enough for me. It's been a long day and I'm ready to hit the hay. We can resume talks tomorrow."
"What about Mullin? Don't you want to hear about his investigation…"
"Into Mom's disappearance? Nope. That's your hang-up, not mine. I need sleep and I'm done. Night, Uncle, RA. See you both in the morning. Oh, and don’t expect me to cook a damn thing. I'm not Ma or Gentry."
As she stomped out of the kitchen, she heard her uncle's laugh boom out behind her. They might work out a schedule of some sort, but she didn't leave a good career to become their chief cook and bottle washer. They needed to get clear on this right out of the gate.
The old bedstead's paint had plenty of chips out and the overhead fixture was one of those square, dished in shades. With the collection of dead bugs in the bottom, it seemed the thing hadn't had a cleaning in years. Crystal thought the whole place could use a good going over with a high-pressure hose.
Peeling wallpaper in some big flowery design covered the walls. Crystal wondered if there were lath and plaster behind the old covering or wood. As old as the place was, who knew.
What served as a closet might hold a coat and a couple of pairs of jeans and shirts. Not a lot else would fit. An old-fashioned wardrobe would give her a place to put stuff and she wondered what one would cost.
She didn't have a lot of things right now so didn't need much space. The service taught her to travel light. But she might want a few things she left behind. Had Johnny and the old man trashed the stuff she left in the old bedroom?
Gentry might know. But she didn't want to ask the kid while up there visiting. She tried to keep things light and kept all talk of the Dane family bullshit to a minimum. When she crawled into bed, the old mattress didn't wheeze out a ton of dust. Someone must have aired it out.
Crystal bet on Thad. The youngest of the Reynolds kids, he was still at home when his father took sick, according to her mother, Thad helped their mother in the evenings after taking care of the farm chores.
She understood why he bailed and joined the Marines as soon as both her grandparents, his parents, died. He must have been desperate to do anything other than farm work and household chores. Over her head hung the string for the light. Crystal tugged on it and the light went out.
But her brain didn't switch off right away. She gave it a minute to wind down. They had a lot of shit to get decided come morning. What in the world would they do for money?
No one needed another horse boarding joint. There had to be enough bed-and-breakfast places. If they wanted to grow something or raise animals, it might take more than the three of them.
The big elephant in the room, the sandy-haired one, all six feet three inches of him invaded her thoughts. They hadn't parted on good terms. It wasn't a huge argument, but they ended the relationship. Well, not quite, she cut it off. She didn't want to hold him back and there wasn't much he could do from a hospital bed.
Funny how life screwed with a person's plans. That car accident cost Grant his place in West Point. But she went into the Army and loved it.
Now feelings of guilt over not taking better care of Gentry with a dose of responsibility to keep RA from doing something stupid had her back in Chandler County. Added to the strange twist, Grant Mullin was the sheriff. Crystal turned on her side and pulled the spare pillow tight. She might have left the service but for her this was a war zone just like all the rest she had been in.
To get a copy of Missing and Presumed Dead, follow the link below:
https://www.amazon.com/Missing-Presumed-Dead-Chandler-County-ebook/dp/B07B4NNV7H/
Missing Forever: A Chandler County Novel Page 6