Haunts, Hikes, & Havoc (A Camper & Criminals Cozy Mystery Series Book 41) by Tonya Kappes

Author:Tonya Kappes [Kappes, Tonya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tonya Kappes Books
Published: 2025-09-17T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

There was a heaviness in my chest as I stepped out of the sheriff’s department, the door clicking shut behind me like a final word I didn’t want to hear. My boots hit the sidewalk with a dull thud, and I didn’t have a single bone in my body that felt like showing up at the festival in downtown Normal. Not after what I’d just seen. Not after what Dina had just gone through.

Instead, I pointed the car down a winding back road, the kind with tree limbs arching over it as if they were trying to whisper secrets. I rolled the window down just a crack, letting the fall air whip through and clear my thoughts. By the time I pulled into the gravel lot at Happy Trails, the sun was slipping lower across the campground.

With daylight saving time, we had just fallen back an hour in time, so that meant the sun would set around five-thirty or six. But with all the trees around, Happy Trails got dusky around 4 p.m.

Dottie and Maggie were parked outside the office door, seated in folding chairs. Dottie’s was tipped back on two legs, the back resting against the wood-paneled office wall. Her red curls were tucked into a black headband, and the bedazzled pumpkin on her sweatshirt caught the light, throwing a little glimmer with each movement.

Their conversation came to a dead halt the moment they saw it was me behind the wheel.

Dottie planted her feet and leaned forward, letting the front legs of the chair slam back down with a thud. Smoke from her cigarette curled around her head like a foggy halo. She squinted at me through it.

“You hungry?” she hollered before I even got the car door closed. “Me and Maggie just finished off some those fried bologna sandwiches from last night.” She snuffed out the cigarette on the siding of the building and tucked the half-smoked thing back into her pleather cigarette case as though she was saving it for later.

Before I could answer, I heard the familiar high-pitched yap.

“Fifi!” I called, spotting her white fluff barreling up the path between the campers like a runaway cotton ball.

I glanced toward the lake and found Chester sitting stock-still at the edge of the pier. He was surrounded by a group of boys casting their fishing lines, nose lifted as if he was supervising. Unlike Fifi, he had zero interest in water sports. That dog would never dream of jumping in. Fifi, on the other hand? If there was a puddle, she was in it.

“Starving,” I admitted and turned to Maggie. “You all right?”

She looked up at me.

“I don’t know,” she murmured. “I feel like your husband’s accusing me of killing Ken, and that’s the last thing I’d ever do to him.”

Fifi reached me and popped up on her back legs, her front paws smudging my jeans. I bent down and scooped her up.

“I told her,” Dottie cut in, pushing open the office door. “When you’re the one

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.