Veneer over Murder: A Palmetto Antiques Mystery by Albert Bell

Author:Albert Bell [Bell, Albert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Claystone Books
Published: 2022-06-25T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

Having Pepper sleeping on the floor beside my bed helped me relax, although he snored. Maybe I should get him a CPAP. The next morning I took him for a short pre-dawn walk while I ate a breakfast bar. I left him in the kennel with my apologies and a promise of freedom for the rest of the day after I got back from fishing.

When I arrived at the dock, with rods and tackle box in hand, Rebecca was already inspecting the wooden boat. Like me, she was wearing jeans, a flannel shirt, and a sweatshirt. Hers supported Clemson, while mine bore the logo of the University of South Carolina, my alma mater. She didn’t attend Clemson, but I’m a Gamecock, so, as in everything else, she has to stand on the opposite side. In South Carolina there can be no more opposite sides than Clemson and USC. For us that school in Los Angeles, the one with the prophylactic nickname, is “the other” USC.

Rebecca didn’t bother with niceties like “Good morning, Mother. How are you?” Instead she went straight to, “You weren’t kidding about this thing being small. You didn’t say it was so old it must have been the life raft on Noah’s ark. It’s just got an electric trolling motor on it, you know.”

“I saw that when Scott used it yesterday. It’s okay. I wasn’t planning on doing any water skiing.” I tried to keep the mood light. Rebecca didn’t seem to notice. She was all about the business of fishing.

She took the tackle box from me and opened it. “Let’s see what sort of gear you’ve got.”

“The lady who owns the place says this is what they recommend.”

She held up a couple of lures. “What are you trying to catch?”

“Fish?”

Eye-roll. “Did she mention a particular type of fish?”

“Bluegills? Is that a type?”

“Yes, bluegill is a type. You don’t put an ‘s’ on it, though. One bluegill, two bluegill. Just like one fish, two fish.”

I couldn’t resist. “Red fish, blue fish … Sorry, I’m getting all those kids’ books back on the shelves so I’ll be ready to read to the twins.”

Rebecca actually laughed. “Well, you won’t find any red fish here, but you’ll probably find bluegill in a small lake like this.” She opened the container of bait that I had been given and stirred her finger around in it. “Yeah, this will do for bluegill. They’re not big, but you can usually catch a lot of them and fry them up. They’re what we call a panfish.”

Frying wasn’t part of my plan. “I’m going to focus on catching first.”

Rebecca looked from me to the boat and back. With a heavy sigh, she said, “I’m coming with you.”

“Did Wyatt tell you to say that?”

“Yes, but I had already decided to do it before we talked last night. It’s not a good idea to send somebody out alone in a boat when she has no idea what she’s doing. I don’t want the boat to come drifting back empty.

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