Hurricane Force (A Miss Fortune Mystery Book 7) Read Online Free PDF Page A

the church.
    “Never mind my last question,” I said. I turned on my flashlight and cast it over the church, spotting Carter and Walter hurrying for the front doors. “Where are they going in such a hurry?”
    “To see if something’s on fire or if someone needs help,” Ida Belle said.
    I shook my head. “Surely no one is crazy enough to be out in this?”
    Ida Belle raised her eyebrows and looked over at Gertie.
    “One time,” Gertie said. “You go out into a hurricane one time and you never hear the end of it.”
    “You heard more about it from your insurance company than you did from me,” Ida Belle said. “I was too busy laughing.”
    “Should I even ask?” I asked.
    “Probably not,” Ida Belle said, “but since you did, someone forgot they left their bass boat at the dock behind the butcher shop and decided to go retrieve it. She made it halfway down the driveway when Dorothy’s oak tree got hit by lightning and fell right onto the trunk of Gertie’s car, and since she always backs up with her hand on the gear shifter, she was startled into shifting the car from Reverse to Drive.”
    “I did not shift,” Gertie argued. “The car did that itself.”
    “Sure it did,” Ida Belle said. “Anyway, when the car shifted itself, it must have also given itself gas, because it launched forward, right into Dorothy’s porch.”
    Gertie crossed her arms. “I never liked the tree or that porch.”
    I grinned. “What happened to the boat?”
    Ida Belle waved a hand in dismissal. “That boat was probably halfway to Arkansas before she ever climbed in the car.”
    “I’m glad Scooter hauled my airboat up to the back of the house with his four-wheeler,” I said. “I hadn’t even thought about it going on tour.”
    “I will never let anything happen to that boat,” Ida Belle said.
    Her seriousness was just a bit scary. I was fairly certain Ida Belle loved my airboat as much as Walter loved Ida Belle. I heard banging behind me and turned to see Carter and Walter struggling to open the door. I jumped up from the pew and hurried to the back of the church, putting my shoulder on the door next to Walter’s. “Try it again,” I said.
    Carter nodded. “One, two, three!”  
    On three, we shoved as hard as we could and the door flew open. The blast of wind hit me so hard, I had to take a step back to keep my balance. Raindrops felt like needles as they pelted my face. I threw one hand over my eyes and stepped forward to look outside with Walter and Carter. Walter pointed to a car across the street with smoke coming out of its hood. It was empty, and with the downpour, there was no risk of the fire spreading.
    Carter nodded, and we grabbed the edge of the door to pull it shut. We were about two feet from done when one of those sonic blasts of wind descended on us and ripped the door from our grasp. I felt something thin and solid slap against my face and lowered my head, hoping that nothing heavier was blowing in the gale, like a telephone pole or a fire truck.
    It seemed as if we struggled forever, but we finally got the door closed. A flurry of something that felt like leaves fluttered around us, dropping to the floor. I looked down and realized all of the leaves were rectangular, and frowned. I picked one up and shone my flashlight on it, then shoved it at Walter and Carter.
    “It’s money,” I said. I flashed my light across the floor, illuminating the carpet of damp green hundred-dollar bills.
    “What the hell?” Walter grabbed the hundred from my hand and held it right up to his face. “It’s real. This is real.”
    “The nearest bank is a good twenty miles away,” I said. “Could the storm carry money that far?”
    Carter frowned. “Not likely.”
    “Also not likely that the nearest bank is twenty miles away,” Walter said. “The nearest commercial bank might be that far, but I bet a lot of these old-timers have cash hidden all over this town.”
    “You think someone’s retirement fund