The Coral Killer

by Anna Travis

  “All right, Mr. Fletcher,” she said. “It’s not as hard as it looks. At least not if you’re cruising around on flat water up in the mangroves! We’ll have you up in no time.”

  “Thanks a bunch,” Fletcher said. “This will really help me out.”

  Ruby went in the shed and pulled down a life jacket big enough to fit the science teacher. “Maybe you can do me a favor, too?”

  “How so?”

  “Well,” Ruby tossed Mr. Fletcher the jacket and turned to pull a paddle off the rack. “Well, maybe you could get me back into the Sandy Turtle Cove? I think there’s a killer in your neighborhood, and I want to do some more digging around.”

  “I’m afraid that’s not going to happen,” Fletcher replied.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Ruby’s heart began to thump in her chest, and a horrible feeling washed over her. She turned around, paddle in hand, to see Mr. Fletcher’s face. His expression had turned dreadful, and he was standing in such a way as to block the door.

  Ruby swallowed, and it hit her that she had been wrong.

  Dead wrong.

  “It… It was you, wasn’t it?” she said, her voice shaking. “You killed that poor woman.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  R uby clutched the paddle in her hands. She waved it at him.

  “You stay away from me!” she said, backing as far as she could go.

  “I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Fletcher said. He pulled off his backpack, unzipped it, and pulled out a small, black bag. “Nancy cleaned me out! I already had my suspicions about her stealing from the tourists, but she messed up when she robbed me! She got greedy and ruined me!”

  “You could have gone to the cops,” Ruby started. Maybe if she could keep him talking, she could sneak past him somehow.

  “The cops!” he snarled. “Right! They never bother to track down credit fraud! Report it and she runs, and then I’d be sitting there in debt up to my gravestone! No way—”

  Ruby pulled her whistle pendant up to her lips and blew as hard as she could. Fletcher actually laughed at her silent cry for help.

  “Your little whistle’s broken,” he said with a sneer, but up at the porch, Angel started barking and the sneer faltered.

  “How… How did you know I was investigating?” Ruby asked, her voice trembling more than she liked. She had to keep him talking.

  “That gate guard, Jimmy. Real friendly fellow,” Fletcher said. “Doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut.”

  “Did you know Nancy was being blackmailed?” Ruby said.

  Fletcher was turning colors he was so angry.

  “You think that makes it right?” he shouted, loosening the strings of the black bag.

  “No, no, of course not,” Ruby said, her heart hammering as she eyed the bag. She had a terrible feeling of what it was… He had already put a snake in Kylie’s car, and caught a coral snake to use on Nancy.

  Up at the porch, Angel barked and barked. The dog was trapped, but she wasn’t giving up. Maybe one of the neighbors was home. Maybe someone would hear her barking and call the cops.

  “I didn’t mean to kill Mavis, you stupid girl!” he growled. “I only wanted to put the fear of God into her! Make her give back my money… And maybe a little extra. I didn’t know she had all those stupid allergies. But you… You won’t stop digging! Now I have to do something about you.”

  Fletcher turned the bag upside down.

  Ruby’s world seemed to stop as something yellow, red, and black slithered out of the bag and hit the ground at Ruby’s feet.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Angel barked louder and louder.

  Ruby felt the blood draining out of her face. She stared at her feet in disbelief. The world tilted, threatening to spin out of control, but suddenly Grannie’s words came rushing back to her.

  Stop letting your fear stop you.

  Ruby choked down a breath as other words whispered to her heart.

  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…

  Up at the house, the barking suddenly stopped.

  “One little bite won’t kill me,” Ruby said faintly, half to herself, half to Fletcher.

  I will fear no evil…

  “It doesn’t have to,” Fletcher grinned maliciously and patted his backpack. “I brought friends. They’ll think there was a nest in this shed… Poor girl.”

  For You are with me…

  Ruby looked up, her eyes suddenly bright with a new found courage. She gripped the paddle hard, preparing to jump the snake and make a run for it.

  Fletcher saw the change and bowed up at her, but just then there was a horrible snarl behind him.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Fletcher whirled around as the Australian Shepherd lunged at him. Angel’s jaws latched around his ankle and she flipped her body around, knocking him off balance.

  Ruby swung the paddle for all she was worth, and Fletcher stumbled and went down, right over his coral snake. He screamed with rage and pain, but Ruby stepped on him and launched herself out of the shed.

  “Angel! HEEL!” she screamed. The Aussie dropped Fletcher’s bloody ankle and whirled about instantly. The moment the dog was out the door Ruby slammed it shut and wedged the paddle in place.

  Ruby turned, adrenaline pumping through her system and urging her to run for the Jeep. She rounded the corner of the shed and looked up to see the driveway filling with flashing lights and sirens.

  “Help!” she yelled. “Down here! Help!”

  Car doors banged open and gravel crunched under feet as half the Sheriff’s department ran towards Ruby, but a now-familiar pair of blue eyes reached her first and Ruby threw herself into the only arms she recognized.

  Chapter Eighteen

  R uby sat on the porch steps, clutching a bottle of water. The sirens had stopped, but red and blue lights still flashed around her as she watched a stretcher roll past.

  Mr. Fletcher was alive, but the coral had given him quite the bite, which is why he was going to the hospital, rather than the police station. One of the paramedics caught Ruby’s eye. It was Paul Maddox.

  “I’m okay,” she mouthed, and the older man gave her a brief nod. Then he and his partner jerked the stretcher up into the back of their ambulance with a jolt.

  “Take it easy, man!” Fletcher groaned.

  The medics ignored him completely. They shared a couple words with the law enforcement, then slammed the doors shut and drove away, hitting every pothole the old road had to offer.

  Angel leaned her head onto Ruby’s lap with a whimper, and Ruby wrapped her arms around the dog. She buried her head into the fur and sighed, just as a pair of feet moved closer.

  Ruby looked up to see Ian standing beside her again. He nodded in the direction of the ambulance as it took off down the road.

  “He fell into his own pit, I’m afraid,” Ian said.

  Ruby sucked in a breath and hugged Angel tighter. Then she glanced up at the deputy, feeling rather sheepish.

  “Sorry for flinging myself at you like that,” she said, her face turning a little red.

  “Well, you had a lunatic trying to murder you with a bag of snakes,” he said with a frown. “You did good. And so did you, girl.” He bent over and ruffled the dog’s ears. “And I just talked with Judah, he’ll be here any second.”

  “Good,” Ruby said, certain she could hear another siren in the distance. Just knowing her big brother was on the way helped. She gave Ian a weak smile. “When he gets here, you can tell him I figured the whole thing out, just like I said I would…”

  Ian glanced up as a silver FWC truck pulled into sight and cut its siren off. He crossed his arms and frowned at Ruby.

  “Technically, I figured it out before you did—”

  “What? No way!” Ruby said.

  He nodded at her, with those stupid blue eyes that made her stomach tangle into knots.

  “Yes, I did,” he said. “When I checked your message, I heard you saying hello to someone
. And when I heard you ask about the Eco tour before the phone disconnected, I knew it was him right away.”

  “If that’s so, why did it take you so long to get here?” Ruby challenged.

  “I didn’t know where you were!” he said. “I thought you worked the beach Wednesday mornings!”

  Just then Judah reached them, and Ruby stood up on shaky legs. Judah wrapped his arms around his little sister, then frowned at Ian.

  “What? So, you’re memorizing her schedule now?” he asked.

  “Hey, man, no way!” Ian said, holding his hands up in alarm.

  Ruby buried her face in her brother’s uniformed shirt and smiled. She knew by his tone he was messing with Ian. Judah kissed his sister on the top of the head, and then let go of her to give Angel a great big hug too.

  Ruby sank back down onto the steps. Judah knelt down in front of her, still rubbing the dog. He caught her eyes and nodded over towards Ian. Ruby frowned but nodded at her brother. She knew that look. She was going to have to put up with Ian Prescott for a good, long while.

  “You okay, Rubix?” Judah asked. She nodded, and he looked her over anxiously, as if the paramedics might have missed something. Satisfied, Judah let out a breath. “Good. The rest of the family is on their way. Mama’s fit to be tied.”

  Judah stood up and turned to his room mate.

  “Look, FWC has no jurisdiction for this, so I’m gonna leave her with you and get back to work. Just make sure you’re the one that gets her statement. She’s freaked out enough as it is,” he said.

  “Right…” Ian said.

  Judah bent down and pecked Ruby on the cheek again.

  “You sure you’re okay?” he asked, just as the radio up in his truck started squawking.

  “Really, I’m good,” Ruby said.

  Judah nodded. He shot Ian another look, then headed back to his truck.

  Ruby turned back to Ian and forced herself to smile.

  “About that statement,” she said. “I say we call it a tie, since I had to rescue myself and all…”

  Ian shook his head and knelt beside Ruby and her dog.

  “It’s a deal,” he said. “A tie between all three of us.”

  “Three?” Ruby asked, her green eyes widening.

  “Yeah,” Ian said, patting the dog. “You, me, and your guardian Angel.”

  About the Author

  A nna Travis is just a girl doing her best to live out her faith in every sweet and messy moment life throws at her. She loves salt water, takes her kids camping, lives in flip-flops, and enjoys creating adventures that other Christians can enjoy.

  Anna lives in sunny, south Florida with her husband, five children, an Aussie, and a smattering of chickens, just across the river from the mythical Island of Leyenda.

  You can learn how her faith impacts her fiction at AnnaTravis.com, where you can also keep up with Ruby’s latest adventures, see inspiration for the story, and see what Anna’s currently working on.

  If you enjoyed this story, do a writer a favor,

  and please leave a review!

  Grannie’s Bacon Chicken Ranch Pasta Recipe

  Ingredients:

  ● Half-box of your favorite pasta

  ● Packet of Ranch dressing mix

  ● 1 to 1.5 cups of Mayonnaise (depending on how creamy you like it)

  ● 1 pound of cooked, chopped bacon

  ● Cooked, shredded chicken (great use for left-overs!)

  ● 1 Tomato, chopped up

  ● Sweet Peas, as many as you like. Can be fresh or frozen.

  ● Huge handful of shredded cheese (we love Kashkaval)

  ● Salt & Pepper to taste.

  Mix It Up:

  1. If your chicken isn’t already shredded, either chop it or shred it with a pair of forks. Grannie West tosses her cooked, de-boned chicken in the blender and it always comes out shredded perfectly!

  2. Boil the pasta to your favorite tenderness, drain it.

  3. In large mixing bowl, mix ranch and mayo. Then mix in everything else.

  4. Chill in fridge for at least an hour. Serve.