Minnie Crockwell - Will Travel for Trouble 02 - Trouble at Sunny Lake Read Online Free PDF Page B

don’t answer, leave a message and I’ll call you back. Although I’m not sure what else I can tell you.”
    “We’ll be in touch,” Kline said. They left the building, and I fished in my jeans pocket for my wallet.
    To my surprise, Mary turned away from me and dropped into a chair. She bent over and started to cry.  
    “Oh, Mary! What’s wrong? I know this is stressful for you. It’s stressful for all of us.” I tried to offer solace from my position at the counter. There was a door leading to the office around the side of the counter, but I decided not to enter.  
    Mary continued to sob and said nothing to me. I found it hard to sympathize with her at the moment. I wasn’t quite sure why she was crying. And I didn’t know whether to go or to stay.
    Sean stepped back into the café and approached the office.
    “Still here?” he asked flatly in my direction.
    I reared my head. What a rude, obnoxious—
    Shall I hear some cursing now, my dear?
    No, I’ll bite my tongue, Ben. Even without the whole body thing though, this Sean guy is detestable.
    He is not a pleasant person, is he? And our dear Mary. What became of her sweet welcoming demeanor?
    Not a clue, but I’d sure like to find out!
    Minerva…
    “Yes, actually, I am still here. I’m trying to pay my bill for the pontoon boat rental.”
    He rounded the corner and stepped into the door of the office behind the counter. He looked at Mary and paused as if to console her, but obviously thought better of it as he left her alone and approached the counter.  
    “Forty dollars for the hour,” he said. “We won’t count the extra time out there. Not your fault.”
    “Thank you,” I said in a voice that was clearly not grateful. I handed him two twenty-dollar bills. “I hope your grandmother is okay. I think she’s shook up.”
    He threw a careless look over his shoulder. “She’ll be fine.”
    “Did the police happen to mention who the man was?” I couldn’t believe I was asking him. My instinct was to run out of the office and back to the relative normalcy of my rig.
    He shook his head. “Nope. They didn’t tell me. Probably some drunk who fell off the cliff.”
    “A drunk? Why would you think that?”
    He pushed a receipt in my direction and shrugged. “Who else would be wandering out there in the dark?”
    “The dark? Did the police say he’d fallen in the dark?”
    Sean fixed me with his grandmother’s pale blue eyes. “Dark, day, whatever. I don’t know. We’re going to close up the office now, so if there’s nothing else…”
    And clearly there would be nothing else for me. He followed me to the door and locked it behind me without a word.  
    I stepped off the porch and headed to my RV. I had the worst desire to hop in my car and drive down the road to see if I could find the cliffs, maybe look around.  
    Minerva, why ever would you do that? Is your curiosity that boundless?
    “Well, yes, it is, Ben. And I know you. You want to know more, too.”
    Well, perhaps just a bit more. Ben chuckled.
    I returned to my car and withdrew my keys from my pocket. I glanced at the cabin on the hill before pulling out of my RV space and heading for the entrance. No sign of life up there. The young man was certainly keeping a low profile. I wondered if he had seen all the activity and what he must think of it. From his cabin, he would probably have a good view of the public boat launch on the nearby shore.
    I drove east for a few miles, wondering exactly where the cliff area might be. My GPS showed that the road paralleled the lake at this point but eventually moved away. I saw a dirt road to the left and decided to pull in to see where I was in relation to the cliffs. Thick ponderosa pine trees provided shade and seclusion to the narrow rutted path. I hadn’t seen a sign saying private property, so I drove slowly in the direction of the lake.  
    The last thing I wanted to do was run into the deputies or other law enforcement personnel who