6 Maple Leaf Hunter

  Maple Leaf Hunter

  by Maddie Cochere

  Copyright 2013 by Maddie Cochere

  All rights reserved, which includes the right to reproduce this book or portions therof in any form whatsoever except as provided by US copyright Law.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase a copy for yourself. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used factiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.

  Breezy Books

  www.breezybooks.com

  Jacket design by Gillian Soltis of Columbus, Ohio

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter One

  The hot, sweaty man lying on top of me was dead. At least I think he was dead. He didn’t appear to be breathing, while I, on the other hand, was gasping for air from his dead weight on my chest.

  “Sam, help me,” I managed to squeak out.

  Not only did the man have me pinned down, but two of the chairs from the food court had landed on top of us. I heard a man yell, “Call 911!”

  I turned my head past the dead man’s face in an effort to see who called out. One of the construction workers who had been seated next to us peered down into my face.

  “Lady, are you ok?” he asked. His face was red as he shoved the chairs aside.

  “Get him off me,” I sputtered.

  He rolled the man over onto his back. Samantha was quick to help me to my feet.

  “Ralph. Ralph,” the construction worker said in a hushed but panicked tone as he shook the dead man. There was no response.

  A middle-aged man with a Radio Shack nametag shoved the construction worker aside and began administering CPR. Emergency sirens could already be heard in the distance.

  With her arm around me, Samantha guided me to another table and eased me into a chair. The color had drained from her tanned face.

  “Susan, that was horrible,” she said. Her voice was shaking. “Are you hurt?”

  “I don’t think so,” I told her. “I’m probably going to have some bruises, but I don’t think I hit my head very hard.” I rubbed the back of my head and felt a small goose egg.

  Two people from mall security rushed to the man and took over for the electronics worker. A few minutes later, an ambulance pulled up outside the mall doors. Samantha and I watched as EMS personnel surrounded the man, effectively blocking our view. It wasn’t long before they wheeled the dead man out on a stretcher.

  I looked around the food court and saw that people were already going back to their tables or leaving the mall altogether. Some were giving me curious sideways glances, and I started to feel guilty as though I had done something wrong.

  “Where did those two construction workers go?” I asked Samantha.

  “I don’t know,” she said. A confused look crossed her face. “I only remember seeing the one who turned the man over. They both disappeared after that.”

  A police cruiser pulled into the space vacated by the ambulance, and Dick stepped out. Dick was a cousin of Samantha’s husband, Larry. He was a good guy, and we could always count on him to keep us in the loop when there were juicy police matters around town. He spotted us and walked over.

  “Samantha,” he said, acknowledging her with a nod of his head. He faced me, frowned, and asked, “Don’t you ever answer your phone?”

  My purse!

  “Sam!” I yelped with my eyes wide. “Where’s my purse?”

  It had been hanging on the back of my chair when the man and I went flying. I focused on the area where I had originally been sitting, but it was gone. My heart sank. Was it stolen during the commotion? My passport, credit cards, and an excessive amount of cash were in it for our upcoming trip to Canada.

  The goose egg on the back of my head began to throb.

  Samantha checked under several tables before finding it behind a chair still flipped on its side. Both top zippers of the purse were open. Fearing the worst, I yanked out my wallet and searched through it, but all of my money and credit cards were still in place. My passport was in an inside zippered pocket of my purse, and my cell phone was visible amongst the plethora of items I carried. I couldn’t imagine I had left my purse open, but as there wasn’t anything missing, there could be no other explanation.

  My phone showed eight missed calls. Five were from Mick, and there were three from Detective Bentley with the Carbide City Police Department.

  My stomach flopped over. “Dick, what’s happened?” I asked. “Is someone hurt? Is Lizzie ok?”

  He smiled and said, “No one’s hurt. Mick and Alex are down at the station, and Detective Bentley wants you to come down, too. He has some questions about the cow incident this past weekend.”

  Oh my gosh! Could this day get any worse? If Alex was involved in that cow incident, Mick was going to go ballistic.

  “Are you ok to drive?” Samantha asked. “Do you want me to take you?”

  “I’m fine. Really, I am,” I said. She didn’t look convinced. I turned back to Dick and asked, “What happened here? Did you hear anything?”

  “The 911 call came in as a heart attack,” he said. “Emergency services went out right away, so we didn’t send a car over.”

  “It was a lot more than a heart attack,” Samantha said. “The man who died tackled Susan. It wasn’t like he stood up and fell over on her. He ran right at her, and there was something weird about the whole thing.”

  “Sorry,” he said shrugging his shoulders. “The man had a heart attack. There wasn’t anything sinister.”

  “Ok, I’m leaving,” I said as I pulled my keys from my purse. “I probably won’t see you again before we take off,” I told Samantha.

  “I know,” she said and leaned in to give me a hug. “You and Mick have a good time. Make sure you have a second honeymoon while you’re in Niagara Falls.” Her smile turned impish.

  I couldn’t help laughing, but with Dick still standing beside us, I felt a blush creep into my face. I had already packed some sexy new lingerie and had every intention of having another honeymoon with Mick in both Niagara Falls and Toronto.

  My elbows began to hurt as I walked out the mall doors, but my spirits were high thinking about the long weekend to come with Mick. We hadn’t taken a vacation or had any alone time away since Lizzie was born two and a half years ago.

  I slipped behind the wheel of my new SUV. The silver vehicle was comfortable and had plenty of bells and whistles, but I couldn’t help feeling regret at having sold the Chevelle last month. I loved the ‘67 bolero red car my dad had restored, but Mick finally convinced me it was going to need work soon, and it wasn’t a practical car for a family. I had to admit, the four-door SUV was much easier to get everything in and out of, including Lizzie.

  It didn’t take long to make my way downtown to the police station. As usual, there were no parking spaces on the street, and I had to drive around th
e block twice before one opened up. I didn’t usually mind making a few extra turns around the downtown area. I loved the historic old city, and I enjoyed looking to see if new shops had opened or if windows held notices of sales. But today, I didn’t want to keep everyone waiting, so I zipped around the block as fast as I dared both times. Parallel parking had never been a problem for me, and in no time, I had the car parked, and I was jogging across Main Street.

  The Carbide City Police Department was located in an old, stately building, which used to house the city’s library. The large, open foyer was naturally cool with the original marble floors and columns still in place. It felt good to step inside and away from the eighty-three degree temperature outside.

  The desk officer continued writing for a few moments before looking up to address me at the counter. “Afternoon, ma’am,” he said. He tore a slip of paper from a pad and handed it to me. “This is for you.”

  I looked at the paper and saw it was a ticket. A jaywalking ticket!

  “Are you serious?” I asked. “I always run across the street when I come in here. No one has ever given me a ticket before.”

  “You do, do you?” he asked. He flipped to the next ticket in his book. “Tell me how many times, and I can take care of that for you right now.”

  He was smiling, but I sensed he was serious. “Never mind,” I said. “How much is this going to cost me?”

  “Fifty dollars, and you can pay it across the street at the courthouse when you leave.” With an even bigger smile, he said, “Be sure to cross at the light.”

  I closed my eyes for a second and decided not to fuss about the ticket. It would only make things worse. “I’m Susan Raines,” I told him. “Detective Bentley is expecting me.”

  “I know who you are,” he said. “Have a seat.”

  I sat on a wooden bench nearest the hallway leading to Detective Bentley’s office. I plopped my purse down beside me and made a mental note to empty out the change before we left town tomorrow. The weight of the purse was making my arm ache. Or was it something else? I pushed my short sleeve up and saw a large bruise starting to form. I didn’t recall getting hit so hard on the front of my arm. I must have banged it on a table or chair when I fell.

  The events at the mall were still fresh in my mind, and they were unsettling. The look on the man’s face as he ran toward me was crazed. He seemed completely out of control. I didn’t think I would ever forget his eyes bugging out of his head. I squeezed my eyes shut tight as if that would help to erase the image, but doing so only enhanced my senses. I could see his face, feel his body on top of me, and I could smell him! There was clearly a sweaty, musty odor in my nose. A shudder ran through my body.

  Two police officers came into the lobby through the main doors and headed down a hallway on the opposite side of the desk. What was taking so long? If Mick was already here, and they were in such a hurry to reach me, why was I still waiting?

  I ran the strange events at the mall over again in my mind …

  Today was Friday and a typically hot August day in Ohio. The training classes I had conducted this week for Slimmers Weight Loss ended yesterday, and I had taken today off to make final preparations for our trip to Canada. Samantha called early in the afternoon and asked me to meet her at the mall for a smoothie and some girl talk.

  It was two fifteen when I pushed the mall door open and walked into the food court. I remember the exact time, because I had promised Darby I would be home by four o’clock to take Lizzie off his hands, and I had glanced at my watch before walking over to Samantha.

  “Hi, Sam,” I said. “I’m buying. What do you want?”

  “You’re not buying,” she protested. “I invited you. It’s my treat today.”

  “Not today,” I said as I handed my purse to her.

  She grabbed the strap and laughed as she nearly dropped it. “What in the world do you have in there?”

  “Change,” I said. “It feels like it weighs twenty pounds. I’m buying so I can use up some of these coins.”

  “In that case, strawberry-banana for me,” she said.

  I snaked my way between tables to Smoothie Delights and placed our orders with the teenage boy behind the counter. I asked for my favorite, a Pina Colada Delight.

  While I waited, I glanced around the moderately crowded food court. Most of the people were senior citizens and appeared to be visiting in small groups. Several teenagers were eating meals, as were a few mothers with children. A smattering of people sat alone. Samantha had her head down and was rapidly texting on her phone. I smiled. It drove everyone crazy, but I hated talking and texting on my phone, which meant it was usually in my purse with the volume turned down too low.

  I noticed she looked especially pretty today. Samantha was my closest girlfriend and racquetball doubles partner. I usually saw her with her hair piled on top of her head and numerous pins sticking out as they tried to hold it in place. Her dark, curly hair was down today and nearly to her waist. She spent far too much time in the sun, but her tan was to be envied.

  “That’ll be seven dollars and eighty-four cents.”

  I turned back to the counter and smiled at the worker. He didn’t return my smile. My change purse was in my hand, and I emptied most of it onto the counter. I counted out five dollars in quarters. I didn’t want to rummage in the bottom of my purse for more quarters, so I added two dollar bills and finished paying with dimes and four pennies.

  The boy behind the counter made noises of disgust at having to count the change, but he didn’t comment. When I thanked him, he grunted. The thought of Lizzie’s teenage years flashed before my eyes, and I half winced as I walked away.

  I made my way back to Samantha and set our drinks on the table. She snapped her phone shut.

  “Larry wants to come back over here tonight,” she said with a sigh. “He wants to see the Pirata Exhibit, but I don’t.”

  Settled with my smoothie, I took a long drink through the straw. It was super cold, super refreshing, and I waited for brain freeze. It didn’t come. “Mick and I saw it when we were here last week,” I told her. “We came over to buy new shoes for Lizzie, and when he saw the exhibit, he wanted to check it out. I thought it would be dull, but it wasn’t, and it’s real pirate treasure, so it was pretty cool.”

  “Is it treasure like in The Goonies?” she asked.

  I laughed. “It’s been years since I’ve seen that movie,” I said. “There are a lot of gold and silver coins, but they aren’t perfectly round, and they don’t gleam. The gold bars are kind of long and flat with uneven edges. They’ll let you hold them though. I’m surprised at how much of the treasure is out in the open, but the workers watch you like a hawk.”

  “What about jewelry?” she asked.

  “There are some emeralds, but most of the jewelry is gold chains,” I said. “The walls are lined with photographs from the dive off the coast of Bermuda. Really, Sam, I don’t think you’ll mind, and it’ll make Larry happy.”

  “I suppose,” she said. A moment later, her face brightened. “I want a new comforter and sheets for the bedroom. If he’s in a good mood after seeing the treasure, I bet I can walk him right into Nordstrom, and he’ll help pick them out.”

  We both laughed, and I felt a hand slide across my back.

  “Excuse me,” a guy said as he squished himself between my chair and the chair of the person behind me.

  “No problem,” I said, but I was wary. He didn’t have to walk behind me to sit at the table next to ours, and I definitely didn’t like that he had touched me.

  “When are you due in Toronto?” Samantha asked.

  “Monday morning at ten o’clock,” I said. I could barely contain a squeal of delight. “I’m having brunch with both my agent and the editor of Rainbow Kids Publishing. I haven’t met either in person, so I’m nervous, but I’m excited, too.”

  “I can’t believe you wrote a book,” she said shaking her head. “And it was accepted the first time you sent it out.�
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  “I know,” I said. “Especially a picture book. Mick thinks-”

  My words were stopped short by a hard bump from behind. A guy with his hands full of shopping bags and food dropped one of the bags. Small tools clanged out onto the floor.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “Sit still. I’ll get this picked up and get out of your way.”

  The guy who had brushed my back with his hand stood from his chair and took the food from the guy squatting down to pick up the tools.

  Samantha scowled at both of them. “Why didn’t you go around in the first place?” she asked.

  The second guy bumped me again as he squished through to the table. They were obviously construction or road workers. Both were wearing hard hats, and although they were wearing shorts, they were also wearing work boots. They settled down to their food and began texting on their phones.

  “Geez,” Samantha said loud enough for the two guys to hear. “Where were we?”

  “We were talking about my meeting with my agent and editor on Monday,” I said. “But there’s nothing more to tell.”

  “Are you spending one night or two in Niagara Falls?” she asked before sucking up the last of her smoothie. I couldn’t help giggling at her noises. I still had over half of my drink left.

  “Just one,” I said. “Mick booked a room for us at the Marriott on the Canadian side. We’ll go up to Toronto then on Sunday. Rainbow Kids Publishing is putting us in a room at the Ritz-Carlton.” I leaned back and let out a happy sigh. “I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to this. Between work and Lizzie, I feel like I haven’t had enough sleep for a couple of years now.”

  “What?” Samantha snapped at the two construction workers beside us.

  They both flinched. I had no idea what caused her outburst.

  “You’ve been listening to us talk ever since you sat down,” she said. She pointed to the guy closest to me and said, “I saw you roll your eyes when she said she hadn’t slept for a couple of years.”

  “Hey, it was nothin’,” said the eye-roller. “It’s kind of hard not to hear ya since you’re so close to us, and I was rollin’ my eyes in agreement. I got a baby at home, and I never sleep.”