A Hopeless Discovery

by Daniel Carson

  “I don’t think she’s going anywhere,” I said. I hugged my best friend from behind. “Katie, that was probably the single greatest thing I have ever seen in my life.”

  “Better than when you punched out Gemima?”

  “Way better.”

  “Thank God, because Hope, I’m pretty sure I just broke every bone in my hand.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  So how exactly did Katie come to deliver the punch heard round the world? As we stood safely outside the corn maze, Katie explained that when she and her kids left Bubba’s and got in the car, Dominic started to shake.

  He was scared.

  “Now, remember,” Katie said, “this is the boy who thinks the first twenty minutes of Saving Private Ryan are tremendous fun.”

  “You haven’t actually let him watch Saving Private Ryan… have you?”

  Katie snapped her fingers. “You’re getting off topic. Focus on the story. So, my weird kid doesn’t just get scared for any old reason. I ask him what’s wrong, and he said he’s got a funny feeling. I ask him about what. And he says he’s got a funny feeling about Aunt Hope.”

  “He said that?”

  “He did. At first I thought, what are the chances… but then he started throwing a crazytown tantrum… so I turned the car around, and we drove back to Bubba’s. The lady up front wouldn’t let us back in—‘no ifs, ands, or buts’—so I told her she could kiss my big white davenport and call the sheriff if she had to. And when she started to call the sheriff, the kids and I ran on in.

  “I saw Kip Granger, and I told him I was looking for you, that we had a bad feeling. He said you’d gone to see Lucinda at the corn maze. And Dominic just started running faster than I’ve ever seen before. Lucy and I chased after and could barely keep up.”

  “Wait. Where was Celia during all this?”

  “Oh. I gave her to Kip Granger.” She turned and pointed. Kip was standing off to one side, snuggling the baby. Celia looked as happy as I’d ever seen her. So did Kip.

  “What if he was the deranged killer?” I said.

  “Then I would have just made a very big mistake, wouldn’t I? So let’s instead focus on the bright side.”

  Just at that moment, Sheriff Kramer emerged from the corn maze, escorting a woozy-looking Lucinda. Her hands were cuffed behind her back, and the right side of her face looked like a car had run over it.

  Alex acknowledged me with a tip of his head. But that was all. He had work to do.

  And when that work was done? Who knows?

  I was confused. I think Alex was too.

  Katie continued. “So we get down to the corn maze and all the lights are off. But I see the faint reflection of a phone on the ground. Your phone. Then I heard voices from inside the corn maze. I flip those lights on, and me and the kids go crazy. I figure, whatever’s going on in there cannot be good.”

  “And then?”

  “Hope, the rest is a blur. The kids took off through the corn maze screaming their brains out, and I just started running straight through corn like Bugs Bunny running through walls. I heard the sound of a struggle, and… what can I say? Dominic’s funny feeling became my funny feeling.”

  “And then you punched Lucinda like Ivan Drago in Rocky IV.”

  Katie did her best Drago impression. “I must break you.”

  “Katie Rodgers, I’m really sorry your hand is going to hurt for a while. Because you are my hero.”

  “Not just me.” Katie nodded down to her two older children, who were waiting patiently for once in their lives. I told Lucy how brave she was and I gave her a hug. But I saved my biggest hug for Dominic. My five-year-old hero.

  “You saved me, Dominic. You really saved me.”

  He blushed. Then he reached up to Katie and pulled on her shirt. “Can we have a story tonight? Please?”

  “Do you want Aunt Hope to tell the story about Godzilla Versus Dominic’s Old Dead Arm?”

  Dominic smiled. “No, we want to hear the new story: ‘When Mama Hit the Bad Woman Really, Really Hard.’”

  Things moved fast the next day.

  Sheriff Kramer officially arrested Lucinda Meadows for the murder of Wanda Wegman and the attempted murder of me.

  Special Agent Vargas worked out a plea deal for Mary Riley. If she could deliver Derby Sledge, the federal prosecutor would agree to no jail time. But she would have to pay a steep fine, and she would be assigned enough community service to keep her busy for a very long time.

  Dr. Bridges made a house call to Katie, put her hand in a splint, and gave her a prescription for happy drugs. Chris temporarily paused his beer-making enterprise in order to wait on Katie hand and foot.

  As well he should. Katie Rodgers was a hero.

  She was my hero.

  I spent most of the day Saturday writing up two stories for the Hopeless Gazette. And when Earl had read them both, all he could say was…

  “Holy smokes!”

  “That’s good, Earl?”

  “That’s very good, Hope. We’ll run the pumpkin patch story now.”

  “And the goat story?”

  “We wait. But this is a very good start.”

  I left the newspaper offices just in time to see Special Agent Vargas give Alex a big hug. Then she got in her car and drove away.

  Alex saw me and jogged right over. “I’m glad you’re okay,” he said.

  “No thanks to me. I have a habit of getting myself into stupid situations.”

  “I might have phrased it that way myself a month ago.”

  “But now?”

  “I think you have a habit of getting yourself out of stupid situations.”

  “Not this time. This time it was Katie and her kids. If not for them, I don’t want to think about—”

  He cut me off. “I don’t either.”

  “So, you and Rebecca?”

  “Yeah, she mentioned she said something to you. She shouldn’t have done that.”

  “You should have told me.”

  “I was trying to.”

  “But you didn’t. You didn’t tell me that you had a serious relationship just before coming to Hopeless. You didn’t stand up for me in front of Gemima and the whole town.”

  “That’s not fair.”

  “Maybe. But it is what it is.”

  “So that’s it?”

  “Alex, I’m hungry… and I need to eat.”

  “You want to get a bite?”

  I looked down at my phone. At the text from Mark Pendergast. It was Saturday. He was in town. And he wanted to have dinner.

  I looked back up at Alex. “Unfortunately, I already have plans.”

  I drove three short blocks to Mazzarelli’s Italian Restaurant. Mark Pendergast was seated at a booth against the wall. He was wearing jeans and a dark blazer, and his hair was slightly slicked back. He looked good. I couldn’t tell if this was a date or a job interview, but at the moment, I was ready for both.

  I told him about my two stories. He loved them, and asked if Earl would let his show run with either of them. I said I didn’t know. Maybe. If the price was right.

  Regardless, he said if this was the kind of work I did, he really wanted to give me a shot.

  “On TV?” I said.

  “Yes, on TV. In New York. Come out soon, give us a screen test… and if the network loves you as much as I do, then we move forward.”

  My dream was coming true. My purgatory in Hopeless was coming to an end. In its place was the big city. Big job. Big money. Everything I had ever dreamed of.

  And yet, at the moment, all I could think about was a little boy who’d had a funny feeling, a best friend who’d thrown a mighty punch, and a man with green eyes that I just couldn’t shake.

  My phone buzzed. The caller ID said it was Nick the barista. Why was he calling me?

  I looked at Mark. “Do you mind if I…?”

  He smiled and waved me away. “I get it, the work never ends. Better answer that.”

  I stood up and
answered. “Nick?”

  “I was told to call you to give you a message.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “That hot chick. She gave me ten bucks to call you and give a message.”

  I walked to the window and looked up the street at A Hopeless Cup. It was closed.

  “Nobody’s at the coffee shop, Nick.”

  “Yeah, I know. The hot chick came in earlier, but she told me to call you with the message tonight.”

  I continued staring at the dark empty shadows inside A Hopeless Cup. “What’s the message?”

  “It’s weird.”

  “Okay. But what is it?”

  “She wrote it down so I wouldn’t forget it. Not that I would have. It’s only two words.”

  “Nick… just tell me the message already.”

  He did—and I almost dropped the phone.

  The message was, in fact, only two words. Two simple but creepy words.

  Bang Bang.

  THE END

  Dear Reader: A Note From Daniel Carson

  Thank you for reading A Hopeless Discovery, the third book in the Hope Walker Mysteries. The fourth Hope Walker Mystery, A Hopeless Game, will be released in October of 2019. If you sign up for my newsletter, I will send you an update when the fourth book is available.

  Daniel Carson Newsletter Link:

  http://eepurl.com/dtZWfH

  The last year has been crazy for my family. We experienced a small house fire in early November. Our little family of ten lived with the in-laws for a few days, a hotel for a month, and a rental house for three months while I worked hard on getting everything ready to move our family back in. We got back into our house (Yay!) and we feel so blessed that the fire wasn’t worse and that nobody was hurt. Smoke alarms are a glorious thing and firefighters are great at what they do. Again, my wife and I feel very fortunate and quite blessed.

  But once we got into our house this spring, life seemed like it was going a hundred miles an hour every day. I’m sure you all know the drill. School, practices, games, work, sick kids, school cancellations, basically, life! But for some reason, the pace of life seems to accelerate ever more quickly for our family with each passing year.

  One contributing factor, our oldest daughter graduated from High School this spring. And, with the oldest one graduating…and the youngest one entering kindergarten, times are changing around our house.

  And amidst all of this, I didn’t get the third Hope Walker book to you as quickly as I thought I would. You’ll see that’s a recurring theme from me. Sorry! I’ve once again readjusted my publishing schedule to better reflect the realities of my life. And I think I have a handle on it now. Fingers crossed! At this point, expect Hope Walker 4 in October 2019 and expect Hope Walker 5 in December of 2019. Book 5 will conclude the first season of the Hope Walker Mysteries and I’m really excited for how this first season is going to wrap up. I hope you enjoy reading about Hope, and Katie, and Granny as much as I enjoy writing about them!

  Remember to sign up for my newsletter if you want updates or you can always come over to my Facebook Author page and say hello. I would love to hear from you.

  Daniel Carson Facebook Author Page:

  https://www.facebook.com/AuthorDanielCarson/

  And remember that Hope Walker Four: A Hopeless Game comes out in October.

  Thank you so much for reading!

  Daniel

  P.S. Reviews are awesome. More awesome than you can possibly understand. If you could leave a short review on Amazon, I would be thrilled. If you could leave a review on a billboard in Times Square, I would be overjoyed.