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Newly-widowed
Trixie Collier Blake has planted her feet in her hometown of
Dreamland, Arkansas. Never mind that the shadowy development
corporation targeted her almost to death because she wouldn’t sell
the building left to her by a grandfather she barely remembered.
Never mind the second floor was once the Castle Casino frequented by
none other than Al Capone. Never mind that he used the network of
tunnels running under the building and around town to make bootleg
liquor during Prohibition. And never mind that he’s still hanging
around as evidenced by the frequent smell of cigar smoke.
With
the first floor occupied by senior citizen sisters, Letha and Stella
Drummond and their successful Sunshine Style Shoppe, plans for a gift
shop and tea room on the second floor are almost complete. But with
the grand opening of Trixie’s Treasures just around the corner, a
resurgence of interest in the tunnels has Trixie spooked—and it
looks like she’s being targeted again, but this time she doesn’t
know why.
Meanwhile,
Danny Jefferson has developed a passionate interest in and a true
talent for photography. Then he and newcomer Stephanie Wallace, who
plans to open a dance studio on the square, stumble on a decades-old
cold case. By the time Sean Mercer, a forensic anthropologist, gets
involved, Trixie is convinced once again that she’s made the wrong
decision to stay in Dreamland.
But
there’s Mitch Langley—a friend she can count on because he knows
exactly where she is in her grief journey—and Rudy and Dee James,
high school classmates who believe in the future of Dreamland. After
the turbulent events surrounding the attempted take-over of the
downtown for criminal purposes, Trixie has established an uneasy
truce with Police Chief Doug Everton whose knowledge of her origins
is as displeasing to him as it is to her.
She
barely has her fledgling business off the ground when events come to
an explosive climax deep in the hidden tunnels. A search for the
treasure Al Capone is rumored to have left behind brings the
interested parties together—and threatens Trixie’s life one more
time.
Excerpt
Trixie
felt sure Rudy’s feet didn’t touch the pavement as he crossed the
street. She followed close on his heels. “Danny! What the…”
Doug
Everton held up his hand. “I’ll ask the questions.”
“You
sound like a bad western movie,” Rudy said, his voice rising.
“Danny, I brought you back here to pick up your bike, and you said
you were going straight home.”
“I’ll
take the blame,” Stephanie said.
“You’ll
do more than that,” Rudy began, but Doug clamped a hand on his
shoulder.
“Shut
up, Rudy.”
“Don’t
tell me to…” Rudy closed his mouth and stepped back, almost
knocking Trixie over.
“The
first thing I want to know is how the two of you got into the Quimby
Building. Obviously, you set off the alarm.”
“We
were trying to leave when the alarm went off,” Stephanie said.
Trixie thought she actually batted her eyes at the police chief.
“It
didn’t go off when you went in?”
“We
came through the tunnel, Chief Doug,” Danny spoke up. “From the
hotel.”
“And
of course, you knew how to unlock the door,” Trixie said under her
breath.
Danny
looked puzzled. “Sure, I knew, Trixie. I did it before, remember?
When I got us out of the tunnel after Andy…”
“Right,
Danny,” she murmured. “Never mind.”
“It’s
all very simple,” Stephanie interrupted. “I saw Dan on his bike
as I was going into the hotel, so I introduced myself and said I’d
like to see the tunnels sometime.”
“I’ll
bet he didn’t volunteer,” Rudy muttered.
“No.”
She turned innocent eyes on Rudy. “I asked him to take me.”
“So
he did,” Doug filled in. “And that’s how you set off the alarm
trying to come out of the shop.”
“I
knew the door locked from the inside,” Stephanie said. “I saw it
this afternoon at the opening, so I was sure we could get out, and no
one would even know we’d been there.” She smiled—again, Trixie
thought, like a milk-sated cat. “I just didn’t know about the
alarm.”
Doug
looked at Rudy. “Danny’s yours,” he said.
“I
thought it would be okay,” Danny said, looking from Trixie to Rudy
to Doug and back to Trixie. “I told her to stay straight, just like
I told you, Trixie, but she didn’t.”
“We
don’t need to talk about that, Dan,” Stephanie said. For the
first time she appeared nervous.
Danny
nodded. “I told you we’d have to tell.”
Trixie
held her breath. Doug Everton leaned closer to Danny. “Tell what,
Danny?”
“What
we found in the other tunnel.”
Stephanie’s
expression turned from worried to angry, but she didn’t say
anything.
“And
just what did you find?”
Danny
hesitated and then took a deep breath. “A skeleton, Chief Doug. A
real one. And I saw a badge right there by it. A badge like yours.”
The
chief lifted his eyes in supplication. “Oh, good lord.”
“I’m
not sure it was real,” Stephanie said then.
“Of
course it’s real,” Doug said. “Danny knows what he saw, and
unfortunately, so do I.” He turned to Trixie. “I’m guessing you
don’t want to press charges for breaking and entering.”
She
shook her head. “But don’t do it again.”
Stephanie
glared. “I wouldn’t think of it.”
“So
you go home,” Doug said to Danny, “and you go back to the hotel,
Miss Wallace, and I don’t want to hear that either one of you said
boo to anybody about this.”
“I
won’t tell, Chief Doug,” Danny said.
Stephanie
shrugged.
“I’ll
take you to the hotel so you can get your bike,” Rudy said to
Danny. “Then please go straight home.”
Stephanie
tossed her black mane and sailed off into the night.
“The
same goes for the two of you,” Doug said to Rudy and Trixie. “You
didn’t hear anything tonight.”
“You
said you know what Danny saw,” Trixie said. “I’d like to know,
too.”
Chief
Everton took a deep breath. “In 1940, the then police chief of
Dreamland disappeared. Gene Miles had a wife and two kids and a
spotless record, so everybody knew he hadn’t left by choice. Now I
guess we know where he’s been all this time.”
Trixie
felt her knees grow weak. “In the tunnels?” she whispered. “All
these years?”
Doug
nodded. “The FBI investigated, so it’s their cold case, and I’ll
have to report it. They’ll come in and open things up again. It
won’t be nice.”
Trixie
scooted back to her vehicle while she could still depend on her legs
to carry her.
Links
Main website:
www.judynickles.com
Amazon:
http://tinyurl.com/mbkpnxd
Sounds like a good mystery! I've not heard of this author or the series but it sounds like something I need to check out! Any idea how many books are planned in this series?
ReplyDeleteSorry, but I'm not sure :( However, I do highly recommend her other series called the Penelope Pembroke series, if you're looking for a completed series. It has either 6 or 7 books.
DeleteI read the first book in this series last week so I'll be checking this one out as well! Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDelete