Rasp Meadow Crossing
Page 24
The ending lines read:
Chance saved my brother.
Chance saved the sheriff.
Chance saved my brother and me.
Chance saves everyone who needs to be saved.
The sheriff lowered the sheath of papers.
“This is the best book I’ve ever read,” Royce exclaimed.
Hertha laughed, “According to Gwen, it’s the only book you’ve ever read.”
Royce joined in the laughter. “Other than my enforcer procedural books, that could be right.”
The children hugged Chance.
Royce noticed the last page had a final sentence that brought tears to the sheriff’s eyes. She reached to wipe the corner of her eyes. ‘Chance is a saver. The End.’
Blinking back tears, Royce stood. “I’d better get over to the office.”
“We’ll see you at six?” Hertha asked.
“I’d like that. I’d like that very much.”
***
While Royce compiled the voluminous reports about the various cases, she awaited the notification that Luther Sumner’s flight had arrived in Dallas. She knew that it would take time for Luther to be detained, arrested, booked, and perhaps they would interrogate him before calling her.
When the call came in, the agent she’d talked with a number of times, gave a Texas hoot. Luther Sumner had been taken into custody. His business – the property – was a treasure trove of not only weapons and drugs, but autos were being readied to hold contraband. It had all been seized. Timber County’s intervention was responsible for getting irrefutable evidence and a sworn statement from his accomplice. Sumner would probably never even recognize the light of day again.
As she hung up, Royce beckoned to the deputies. She told them what had transpired, and she thanked them all. With victory in her voice, her words lifted, “Luther Sumner will probably be spending the rest of his life incarcerated in a federal prison.”
She hadn’t finished her morning rounds. Royce and Chance walked to the end of the street. Royce glanced back. Timber City had one less cold cases. A violent, heinous murder had been solved. The killer would be indicted, found guilty, and would spend the rest of his life in prison. Another criminal would also spend the remainder of his life incarcerated. Guns and drugs were removed from endangering citizens.
Wanting to feel her lips lift, even if one side was painful, was Royce’s wish. She felt the mountains that surrounded her town. They became the shoulders protecting her community. The beauty of growth and the sculpture of stone encircled her. How fortunate she was to have such simplicity, and such magnificence embracing her. The majesty of Timber County was all around. A skyline was so blue that it went on forever and was visible in each quadrant of sky.
Royce smiled. Later she was going to be sharing a feast with a family. Children were the heart of tomorrow. The destiny of the world would be fine. She would be dining with the only woman she had ever loved completely. She was in love with Hertha. She always had been, and always would be.
With time, perhaps their love would also once again be fine. Royce believed that just like people could recover – love could also recover. It was plenty amazing.
The sheriff slipped a disk of butterscotch candy between her swollen lips. She petted her companion’s head. Chance gave a playful growl.
Royce believed those words in the last book she’d read.
Chance is a saver.
Author Kieran York
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kieran York has authored both Sapphic fiction and Poetry. The lesbian mystery series, Timber City Masks, and Crystal Mountain Veils, featuring Royce Madison, were originally written and published in the mid-1990s. A second edition of them was recently released by Scarlet Clover Publishers. Shinney Forest Cloaks was published in 2015 and is the third mystery of the series. All three Royce Madison mysteries have been on the Amazon 100 Best-Seller’s List -LGBT Mysteries.
York’s fiction also includes Appointment with a Smile, published in 2012. It was a 2013 Lambda Literary Society Award Finalist in the Romance category. Careful Flowers was released in 2013, followed by 2014 releases – Earthen Trinkets and Night Without Time. In 2015, Touring Kelly’s Poem, Loitering on the Frontier, Primrose, Astray and mystery Trevar’s Team: 1 were published.
In 2014, her volume of poetry, Blushing Aspen, was published as Sappho’s Corner Solo Poets book of poetry. It won the Rainbow Award Honorable Mention for poetry, and was a Finalist in the poetry category of Golden Crown Literary Awards. In 2015 the poetry book titled Realm of Belonging was released by Scarlet Clover Publishers.
York has two collections of lesbian short fiction. The first was entitled Sugar With Spice, and was published in 1989. The second was released in 2015, and was called Within our Celebration.
Previously, during the seventies and eighties, Kieran worked as a reporter and reviewer for both newspapers and magazines, and was a magazine publisher for three years. She also wrote and performed songs with a regional woman’s band. She has been guest lecturer and panel member at various events, including Rocky Mountain Book Exhibition, and Colorado Musician’s Series. She is a member of Lambda Literary Society and Sisters in Crime.
She has written for Journal of Mystery Readers International. In addition, she has given numerous campus and coffeehouse poetry readings, as well as taught poetry and creative writing workshops. She graduated from Fort Hays Kansas State University, and attended Mexico’s University of the Americas her junior year.
Kieran lives in the Rocky Mountain Foothills of Colorado with her schnauzer, Clover. She enjoys music, literature, and art. She considers her valuables to included, Clover, and her other family and friends, her library, her antique typewriter collection, and her guitars.
Additional information is available on her websites: http://kieranyork.com and www.scarletcloverpublishers.com in addition, you can find her work on Amazon Author’s Page at: www.amazon.com/author/kieranyork/ .
SCARLET CLOVER PUBLISHERS
COMING IN 2016
TIMBER CITY CUISINE
The Recipes of Lydarose
Written by Her Daughters
A book for those who love to cook, bake, and/or eat!
Stay tuned for a Plenty Amazing Cook Book!
Toss a little enjoyment into the pan.
Measure out some luscious fun.
Pour in some tasty sauces.
Try meals with a Mountain Cuisine.
Meadow picnics, BBQ parties, and trout fests.
Butterscotch is optional!
TREVAR'S TEAM: 2
New intriguing mysteries for the Sapphic trio. Beryl Trevar, Rachel Rosen, and Summer Wade are always on duty when it comes murder cases. They are an amazing blend of savvy, intelligence, sensuality, daring, and heart.
This detective Team knows how to use each attribute, and they also know how to use their Berettas.
They live in Palm Beach, Florida aboard a yacht, named The Radclyffe-Hull. Each woman has an exciting, intricate, and entangled backstory. Each has her own reasons for wanting to capture the badasses of the world.
The team has another commonality. They all have an enormous appreciation of women. They are tough, edgy, tender, gorgeous, and resilient. They also are romantic.
Also back by popular demand – they have a profane parrot named Pluma. Pluma is a favorite of the trio, and of the reader of Trevar’s Team mystery books.
In Trevar’s Team: 2 the team returns from a vacation cruise. Just in time! Palm Beach can again use their help in solving crime. And Pluma curses in two languages, that should be an enormous help to the women.
Trevar’s Team: 1is available via Kindle and Amazon.
www.amazon.com/author/kieranyork/
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