I made it back to the trailer in record time. And that's taking into account I had to stop once to pick my clean clothes up off the gravel and shove them all back into the basket in one big wad. When a toddler I'd just passed shrieked for her mother, I'd come completely unglued. I'd flung the basket, armed myself with the bottle of Shout, and assumed a defensive posture, all in the space of a second-and-a-half. The young child, now terrified of me, was a cute little girl, and I prayed she wouldn't become an hors d'oeuvre before "me-ma" took her back inside.
When I entered the trailer we'd painted chartreuse, with yellow and brown sunflowers to give it even more style, my husband of nearly fifty years, Clyde Ripple, better known as Rip, was just waking up from his nap. There were four or five cheese puffs scattered across his chest as if he'd fallen asleep mid-snack. He was intrigued, but not all that apprehensive about having big cats in the area. "We'll pick up a couple cans of that pepper spray tomorrow if it makes you feel better. Are you still planning to go garage-sale shopping with Cora?"
"Yes. She's picking me up in about an hour. Willie will hang out here with you while we're gone. In the meantime, I need to fold these clothes for the third time and put something in the slow cooker for supper. Rump roast sound okay?"
"You bet! My rump's about to waste away to nothing, you know." We both laughed. Rip had put on fifteen pounds since retiring from law enforcement six years ago, and he wasn't exactly emaciated back then. Following his retirement, we'd sold our home, gotten rid of most of our belongings, bought the Chartreuse Caboose, and hit the road as full-time RVers.
At the present, we were in northern Wyoming. My late brother's daughter, Cora Beaufont, and her husband, Dirk, lived in Buffalo, just east of the Bighorn mountain range.
Cora's father, Dusty, the youngest of my four brothers, died ten years ago when Cora was twenty-nine. She and I had always been close. Dirk, an engineer for a large oil company, was spending three months in Ingleside, Texas, overseeing the construction of a large oil rig. We decided it'd be a good time to visit Cora and our great-nephew, twelve-year-old William, or "Slick Willie" as we called him. We'd keep them company while Dirk was away on business. I was looking forward to a fun month in Wyoming with my favorite niece.
* * *
"Hey, Aunt Rappie! Over here!' Cora called out across the crowded garage. Story, Wyoming, a town north of Buffalo that fewer than a thousand folks called home, was having a city-wide garage sale all weekend. We'd already been to three places and found nothing of interest. Many of the same people we'd seen at the other sales were now shopping at this one, as well. Clearly, we were all on the same circuit. When I approached Cora, she was holding up a camouflaged box the size of a brick. "Here's what you need!"
"What is it?" I asked.
"A game camera!" She'd been told on the way to town about the screeching I'd heard in the forest. "You can attach it to a tree in the woods and get photos of any kind of critter that passes by. It's motion-activated, and takes color photos during the day and infra-red ones at night. Cool, huh?"
"Yeah, real cool. Except that'd involve actually walking into the woods where a mountain lion might be waiting to stalk me like a baby moose. No thanks, sweetheart!"
I had to admit, though, the possibility of capturing a photo of the critter making the spooky sounds was enticing. Unfortunately, at times, my curiosity was stronger than that of our fifteen-pound cat, Dolly. And I was more apt to be killed by it, too, I realized.
"Take Uncle Rip with you to set the camera up and check it for photos occasionally. He does own a gun, doesn't he? After all, he was a county sheriff for six or seven years."
"Ten, actually. But I'd never let him shoot an animal," I said. "Except maybe with his pellet gun just to scare it off."
After much debate with Cora, and even more with myself, I decided to invest in a like-new "critter cam". I hadn't planned on spending my entire twenty-dollar wad on only one item, but it was exciting to think about what kind of critters I might get photos of in the forest. I could feel my enthusiasm mounting.
Little did I know at the time that my new critter cam would snap a photo of a critter of the two-legged variety; even more menacing and lethal than a mountain lion.
Ripped To Shreds
by
Jeanne Glidewell
~
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Ripped To Shreds
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Jeanne Glidewell, lives with her husband, Bob, and chubby cat, Dolly, in Bonner Springs, Kansas. In the winter the three of them travel to their waterfront condo in Rockport, Texas, to spend time with friends, enjoy the milder climate, and wade-fish the bays off the Gulf Coast. In Dolly's case, she does less wade-fishing and more napping, but is a "coastal kitty" nonetheless. Dolly gets her exercise by guarding the condo from being overtaken by an army of the small lizards that frequent the back deck.
Besides writing and fishing, Jeanne enjoys wildlife photography, traveling both here and abroad, and spending time with her four grandchildren. She and Bob owned and operated a large RV park in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for twelve years. It was that enjoyable period in Jeanne's life that inspired her to write a mystery series involving a full-time RVing couple—The Ripple Effect series.
As a 2006 pancreas and kidney transplant recipient, Jeanne now volunteers as a mentor for the Gift of Life of KC program, helping future transplant recipients prepare mentally and emotionally for their upcoming transplants. She's an avid advocate for tissue and organ donation and encourages everyone to make their decision to become a donor known to their family and friends. Marking "organ donor" on a driver's license is not enough to ensure your final wishes are adhered to. Please consider giving the ultimate gift—the gift of life—when you no longer have a need for your organs.
Jeanne is the author of a romance/suspense novel, Soul Survivor, six novels and one novella in her Lexie Starr cozy mystery series, and two novels in her new Ripple Effect cozy mystery series. She is currently writing book three in this series, Ripped to Shreds, and hopes to have it released in the late spring or early summer of 2016.
Table of Contents
Cover
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Character List
From the Desk of Jeanne Glidewell
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
Excerpt from RIPPED TO SHREDS (A Ripple Effect Cozy Mystery, Book 3)
Meet the Author
Rip Tide (A Ripple Effect Cozy Mystery, Book 2) Page 27
