Bats and Bones (The Frannie Shoemaker Campground Mysteries) Read Online Free PDF Page A

once and the dogs promptly went crazy. Larry handed Cuba’s
leash to Mickey and took charge.
    “Everyone
stay here. Don’t move!” he said and approached the cave around the open side of
the boulders. Always prepared, Frannie thought, as he pulled a small flashlight
from one of his cargo pockets and held it overhead, aiming it down behind the
boulders.
    “I think
it’s the host lady,” he said. “And I don’t think there’s much chance but, Jane
Ann, will you come up and see if she has a pulse?”
    Donna
nudged Rob. “You should go see,” she said in a loud whisper. Rob hesitated,
looking uncomfortable. Larry heard her.
    “Not now,
Donna. I just want Jane Ann to check for signs of life, and then we’ll have to
wait for the authorities,” he said. Donna folded her arms and looked away,
offended. But soon she craned her neck back toward the cave.
    Jane Ann
followed Larry’s route and stepped around him, stopping for just an instant as
fresh shock played over her face when she saw what he revealed with his light.
Then she became all business and ducked behind the boulders. They could hear
her calling Maeve Schlumm’s name, trying to get a response.
    “Be careful
not to touch anything you don’t have to,” Larry said.
    Jane Ann
stood, her face washed of color, and shook her head. “She’s gone.”
    Larry and
Jane Ann exited the cave and Larry pulled out his cell phone to call 911. He
shook his head and looked at his phone. “No signal here. I probably need to go
back up to the parking lot.”
    “Can I come
with you?” Frannie asked. Larry hesitated and then, seeing her forlorn face,
nodded.
    “Everyone
else stay here, though, and don’t let anyone near this place. We’ll turn anyone
back that we meet but there may be hikers coming from the other way.”
    Donna
interrupted. “Is it really the host lady?”
    Larry and
Jane Ann both nodded. “She’s wearing the same clothes she had on last night,”
Jane Ann said.
    Frannie
felt numb. The little she knew of Maeve Schlumm from the night before couldn’t
be farther from the warm personality of her own mother, but somehow Maeve’s
death made the recent loss of her mother fresh and raw. The pleasant warmth of
the morning and the ravine seemed to dissipate under a gray chill. She fell in
behind Larry as he headed down the path.
    “How did
she die, could you tell?” Frannie asked.
    “Her head
had been bashed in on one side.”
    “Do you
think she fell?”
    “Possible.”
Larry shrugged.
    “But why
would she have been out here last night? We saw her go after those bikers and
it was almost 10:00, so it must have been after that.”
    “Maybe it
was this morning—she might have put the same clothes back on to come out
here for…I don’t know.”
    “Larry, is
it possible she might have been murdered?”
    “We need to
just wait and let the authorities handle it. Not much point in speculating.”
    When they
reached the boardwalk leading to the parking lot, Larry tried his phone again.
This time he was able to connect. Putting his phone away, he said, “We’re
supposed to wait in the parking lot—they’ll contact the ranger.”
    They waited
a seemingly long ten minutes, sipping water in the baking sun and not talking.
A brown DNR pickup raced into the parking lot and screeched to a stop.
    A very
young, very tall skinny man emerged. Frannie’s first impression was of the kids
she had taught in junior high. How depressing that authority figures keep
getting younger.
    Larry
offered his hand to the ranger.
    “I’m Larry
Shoemaker—we spoke briefly last night. I’m the one who called.”
    “Brayton
Phillips—the head ranger,” the young man replied. “You’re the retired
cop, right? I talked to so many people last night,” he added almost
apologetically. His face was flushed and he kept pulling at his collar. A death
in his park was obviously a new experience for him. “Um, this woman is at
Bogg’s Retreat? Were there others down there with