All Aboard: A Humorous Beaver Island Mystery by Maia Ross

Author:Maia Ross [Ross, Maia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lazy Beaver Press
Published: 2024-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Four—Violet

Beside me, Irma tensed. For my part, my spine was all gooey from the town car’s seats, and now that we were on our way to pick up wings, I was happier than I’d been in a long time. Wings and beer. Nothing better than that on a beautiful day. Except for all the mayhem and murder, I was having a great visit so far.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her lazily, not really expecting an answer. Irma was always worried about something or other.

“Dear,” Irma said to the driver, her voice calm and cheerful but with a little bite to it that I’d become familiar with. “What’s your name, again?”

“Jin Lee. What’s yours?”

“Irma Abercrombie. And this is Violet Blackheart.”

I waved like a dork.

“Do you happen to have any experience in evasive maneuvers, Jin?”

“Yes. I’m ex-special forces, with training in tactical and hazardous driving. Why?”

Irma looked about as cheerful as she ever got. “What excellent news! I would love to talk to you more about your experience later, but we do have a car following us that I’m somewhat concerned about.”

Jin’s eyes flicked to the side mirror before she turned on the car’s rear-facing camera. Her jaw clenched.

I tried to be optimistic that we weren’t actually being followed, but if we were, shouldn’t Jin have spotted them first, being ex-special forces and all?

When I went to turn around, Irma stopped me, her hand on my arm like a vise.

“Everyone,” she said cheerfully, “we’re going to look as happy and normal as possible. Jin, dear, what are your thoughts about driving into town and parking at the Beaver Island police station?”

I flinched. I’d been stopped in that very same spot last summer with Camille Beaulieu, contemplating an ice cream cone, when one of Irma’s many nemeses had crashed into a pickup truck, slamming it right into us. I’d gotten a concussion for my troubles, and Camille had been pretty badly injured, although she was fine now, thankfully.

“Highway or police station, dear?” Irma said, her voice still super cheerful. If she was enjoying herself, I was definitely going to kill her. After wings, obviously.

“I’d like to see what happens next, ma’am,” Jin said.

“Carry on, then.” Irma leaned back in her seat, pulled the miniature telescoping mirror she always carried with her out of her purse, and hinged it up so she could see behind us.

Jin took a wide right turn that put us on the island’s highway. It was four lanes with a median at this spot, a bit ostentatious since the island was so small, but I’d bet it was set up like this so the islanders never ever had to wait in traffic when leaving town.

Jin sped us up a little. Not so much that it would look like we were trying to flee anything or anybody, but enough to make sure that the person in our rearview was really following us—or at least that’s what I thought she was doing. I didn’t want to have my thoughts confirmed. Life with Irma was much less terrifying when you didn’t ask a lot of questions.

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