Camping Can Be Murder 2 by Karen Musser Nortman

Author:Karen Musser Nortman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: camping and rv stories, camping holiday fiction, cozy mysteries with seniors
Publisher: Karen Musser Nortman

Chapter Five

Early Friday Morning

THE NEXT MORNING, Frannie maneuvered down her camper steps with the dog and the coffee pot and peered up at an overcast sky. Disappointing, but at least there wasn’t any rain in the forecast. And, of course, the weather forecasts were never wrong.

She had pulled a hooded sweatshirt over her pajamas and slipped into moccasins, so after plugging in the old percolator, she hooked up Cuba’s leash to take the Lab on a loop around the campground. In spite of the gray skies, the temperature was bearable and, best of all, there was no wind. As she circled back past the Lumleys’ site, she noticed Odee sitting by a small fire wrapped in a tattered blanket. She gripped a mug with both hands and appeared to be in deep thought.

When she heard Frannie approach, however, she looked up and her face brightened.

“Good morning,” Frannie said. “How did you sleep?”

“Oh, fine—we’ve slept in there before and with an air mattress, it isn’t bad.”

Frannie nodded. “We used to tent camp and if the weather was threatening, we often slept in our SUV and used the tent for a changing room. Eventually we decided we were too old to sleep on the ground at all and that’s when we bought our trailer.”

Odee sighed. “We’d like to trade up—doesn’t have to be anything fancy—but until we figure out this land thing, we can’t do much else. I wish we’d never made that investment.”

Frannie hesitated. “Do you think it’s—on the up and up?” She hesitated to say ‘a scam.’

“I don’t know. Darius was sure it’s fine, but he’s been having second thoughts lately.” She shrugged. “We’re going to the courthouse today to check the records. I hope we’ll find out something one way or the other.”

“Well, good luck,” Frannie said, nudging Cuba up from her version of ‘downward dog.’ “Let’s go.”

When she got back, Larry was up and working on a fire. She poured a mug of coffee and plopped in her chair.

“Morning exercise?” he said.

“Hey, better than nothing.” She looked at her watch. “What time did the sheriff say he was coming back?”

“About 9:00.”

“I need to shower so how about if we do a simple breakfast? There’s cereal and I’ll get the toaster out. I got some rhubarb jam at that place we stopped on our way up yesterday.”

“Fine.”

When Frannie returned from the shower house, Larry was at the table with his cereal and toast, arguing with Mickey over the Cubs and the Cardinals. Nancy and Jane Ann were also having breakfast.

“Where’s Ben?” Frannie said as she toweled off her hair.

“He went for a run.”

“He’s going to enter the 5K tomorrow,” Nancy said.

“Show off,” Frannie said. “You’re all show offs.”

Larry got up, his spat with Mickey forgotten as quickly as it had probably started.

“Go ahead and get your breakfast and I’ll enter the coordinates in the Garmin for that cache that the sheriff wants to look for. What was the name of it?”

“Chocolate,” Mickey said. “How could you forget that? You have a mind like a steel mesh.

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