D E S E R T D R I F T

  S U N S H I N E B L U F F

  M Y S T E R I E S

  B O O K T H R E E

  M A R I L Y N M I G G L E S

  Copyright © 2018 by Marilyn Miggles

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  C O N T E N T S

  C O V E R

  T I T L E P A G E

  C O P Y R I G H T

  C H A P T E R 1

  C H A P T E R 2

  C H A P T E R 3

  C H A P T E R 4

  C H A P T E R 5

  C H A P T E R 6

  C H A P T E R 7

  C H A P T E R 8

  C H A P T E R 9

  C H A P T E R 10

  C H A P T E R 11

  C H A P T E R 12

  H U N G R Y H O S T A G E S S N E A K P R E V I E W

  C h a p t e r 1

  The Arizonian desert was a vast wilderness surrounding Sunshine Bluff and I was getting used to the feeling of living in the middle of nowhere by now as opposed to New York where I was from originally.

  I was finding that I liked open spaces now and quaint little town's like Sunshine Bluff were growing on me for sure.

  My mom whom I'd left behind in New York, even said I had picked up the local lingo in my time here, which was worrying!

  I had just printed a newspaper article about the desert expedition organised by Midge Dexter, the local man who likes to think he is a real life cowboy, that would take place at the end of the week.

  They were looking for plucky volunteers and Sheriff Mali had promised his protection, as they sauntered through the desert at land mark speed.

  It didn't sound much like my type of thing, but I wasn't going, or at least I thought I wasn't! That was until I was roped in to make up a group of four as one of the volunteers had pulled out at the last minute.

  I had agreed because the town was counting on me, but to be honest I wasn't too keen on the idea of having to spend so much time with the Sheriff after his shock revelation of his feelings for me.

  I could see there was no other way of keeping the locals happy, however. So I had no choice in the matter, it seemed.

  I only hoped my tendency to invite trouble and intrigue wherever I went wouldn't follow me into the desert. Time would tell if I was losing my touch.

  So off I went to pack. How do you pack for a trip to the desert? I would just have to make it up.

  ∞∞∞

  It was the week before our departure and Lulu's preparations for the desert themed banquet she'd had planned to celebrate the exhibition were coming along nicely.

  She was going through the menu with me in the kitchen at the diner she owned in the town.

  "For the first course we have Hors d'oeuvres. You're just going to love these!" She exclaimed, tying back her shoulder length bright pink hair, which matched her lively outgoing personality.

  "I hope so, as this just might be the the last decent meal I have for a while."

  Lulu laughed, "get a load of these. Little chocolate wafers, layered with a sand and water themed buttercream. It's butterscotch really, no sand used."

  "Wow," I said, my green eyes taking in the delicious looking wafers.

  "Want a try?" Lulu asked, looking at me sideways.

  "Yes, please." I didn't hesitate!

  She handed me a sample and I popped it into my mouth in one exploding bite of crisp wafer, which melted on my tongue and finished with a taste of sweet, sticky buttercream!

  "Is it a hit?" Lulu asked.

  I gave her the thumbs up as I was still devouring the rest of the delicacy.

  "Now, for the next course."

  "I will sure be packing on the punds after this," I said, patting my slim stomach.

  "Get that down you." Lulu slid across a plate of a brown gooey topped tray bake.

  "What is this?" I asked, my fork poised at the ready to dive into it.

  "This is my take on a sticky toffee. Treacle flavour biscuit, topped with a toffee buttercream, and a genoese sponge, followed by a good dousing of hot, toffee sauce. This will act as a pyramid, going with the Egyptian theme."

  I dived in, this description giving me an appetite to try it. It was like a toffee explosion in my mouth!

  "That is so good."

  "Do you think they'll go down well?

  "Oh, yeah. It sure is one sweet banquet. Haven't you got milkshakes with all this?"

  "I was getting to that."

  "I thought you might."

  Lulu's diner was famed for its unusual flavour milkshakes, but they really worked!

  She dashed to the fridge and came back carrying a milkshake creation, putting in down in front of me.

  "Take a sip and tell me what flavour you think it is?"

  I looked down at the glass, trying to guess from the topping what flavour it might be. It was bright red with orange sprinkles! I took a sip and swirled it around in my mouth for a couple of seconds until the flavours came through.

  "Well?" Lulu asked, smiling.

  I stared at her, puzzled.

  "It's meant to be a saharan sunset. Beetroot and carrot cake."

  "Beetroot! Carrot cake! I never would have guessed that!"

  "Don't you think it works?" She placed her head on one side to show me her uncertainty.

  "It tastes fine, I just couldn't tell."

  "You think they'll like it?"

  "Are you kidding? I think they'll love it!" I exclaimed.

  "Then we're good to go!" She gave me a high five for emphasis, her favourite gesture.

  C h a p t e r2

  The banquet went down a treat and many of the expeditioner's attended, though not all, especially Sheriff Mali, I don't think he'd ever stepped foot into Lulu's diner before. In any case, I was relieved not to have to bump into him there.

  I was seated at the counter on one of the high rised chairs, when deputy Eddy Shiller came across to me, sporting his cute baby face and sandy blonde hair, with a man I did not recognise. He was a little older than Eddy and he had fiery red hair in a modern cut and emerald green eyes, greener than my own. I noticed his skin was pale and freckled as I found ginger's generally were!

  "Hi, Bryony. This is Lewis Tyler, the guy I took over from as deputy here," Eddy explained.

  "Ah, so you used to work for Sheriff Mali?" I asked, with a smile of commiseration.

  "Why, yes ma'am. I am now a Sheriff myself for my sins," he said.

  "Good for you. How did you find the Sheriff to work for?" I asked, patting the seat beside me.

  He took a seat and put his hat down on the counter.

  "To be perfectly honest, not so well at first."

  "Really? How come?"

  "From what Eddy's told me you're probably aware he can be tricky to work with. We are actually now great buddy's though, for all that."

  "You do surprise me."

  "Do I? I've actually heard him speak about you in better terms."

  "Me? I can't believe that. He and I are worse enemies."

  "Well, I can't believe what you tell me either."

  "We surely can't be talking about the same guy here."

  "We sure are, ma'am."

  "Why is he not here tonight?"

  "Parties are not his thing."

  "I know, but couldn't he have made an exception just this once?"

  "This is Al Mali we're talking about. The guy does not make exceptions," Lewis said, his eyes creasing at the corners a little to show his amusement.

  "No, I should have known," I muttered.

  "Oi! Pink-haired chicky!" A blonde, long-haired hippy man called into the kitchen after appearing at my elbow.

  "Yeah? It's Lulu to you, sunshine," Lulu said, coming out of the kitchen.

  "Whatever. You got anymore of that red stuff?" He leaned on the counter and turned to me with a wink.

  Once Lulu had supplied him with more of the Saharan milkshake, he took it back to his table sipping all the way through the orange and white straw she had supplied with them.

  I leaned back in my chair towards Eddy standing right behind me. "Who is that, Eddy?"

  "Sammy Nickel," came from Lewis still sitting beside me.

  He watched the hippy warily as he made his way back to his seat before he said anymore.

  "You'll have to watch him, I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him," he said.

  "How do you know him?" I asked.

  "He used to live in the same town where I'm now Sheriff. He was always getting into trouble. He moved to Chicago some years ago now, but he doesn't look as if he's changed much."

  "What is he doing on the expedition?" Eddy asked from behind me.

  "He's always had a thing about Egypt. Something to do with his hippy lifestyle, I don't doubt," Lewis explained.

  A loud laugh reached us from the other end of the diner and we all looked across to see a plumpish lady with black, curly, shoulder-length hair in her early forties and wearing a bright pink blouse to match her flamboyant personality.

  She was sitting opposite a girl of about sixteen with mahogany pixie cropped hair, whose face looked like a miniature version of the loud-mouthed lady's, only she seemed more subdued in her personality as she

looked around the diner, seeming embarrassed by the other woman's outburst.

  Must be mother and daughter, I was thinking to myself.

  I could well sympathise with the girl when I thought about my relationship with my own mother, whom I'd left in New York where I originated from.

  I glanced at Eddy who had been contemplating them too and he smirked when he caught my eye.

  "That's Leslie Anderson, in case you were wondering, and her rather chastened daughter, Jamie," he said.

  He then gave me a look I couldn't at first account for, I just knew it was something I wasn't going to like. I was about to cross examine him when it hit me what he meant.

  "Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" I exclaimed, feeling the full force of the blow.

  "Afraid not. She is with us."

  "Well, at least I can give her daughter a bit of moral support. We organised daughter's must stick together."

  "That's a good way of looking at it," Eddy said, still grinning like he was enjoying every minute of it.

  "Why couldn't Sheriff Mali have got her in his group, that would keep him on his toes."

  Eddy laughed at this thought.

  I turned towards the large window with the words: L U L U ' S D I N E R spread across it and I noticed for the first time a young man, about my age, which was twenty-five, sitting on the sill that reached all the way down to ground level. He seemed to be intent on watching someone in the diner. He had spikey dark brown hair and a thin moustache.

  I followed the direction his dark brown eyes were going in and he seemed to be watching a man in his sixties who had been sitting alone all evening at the edge of one of the booths. He had grey hair that was still thick on top of his head and hadn't yet started to recede, despite his age!

  He had a furrowed brow that made him look angry all the time, and his bushy eyebrows being so close to his eyes didn't help his cause here much either!

  I wondered what the younger man could have found so interesting about him.

  "That's our tour guide, Todd Baker," said Eddy, seeing who I was staring at.

  "Really? He doesn't exactly fill me with confidence either."

  "No, a bit of an odd ball is Todd. He does know his stuff though. In the desert at least."

  "That's something then."

  "It helps. Especially in an emergency."

  "Wait, what do you mean by emergency?"

  The alarm I felt must have shown in my face, as Eddy replied, "just relax, it won't happen, okay?"

  "Yup, Bryony. Don't forget you have an excellent team of big strong men protecting you," Lewis said.

  I wrinkled my nose in distaste.

  "Thanks, that inspires me with great confidence," I said with some sarcasm.

  C ha p t e r3

  It was the day of the expedition finally, and I awoke with great trepidation as to what would follow. I wasn't too sure about this trip, in fact, I had a bad feeling about it all together.

  I said goodbye to my black and white cat, Sunny, and grabbed my things. Louisa Froome from next door would be looking after Sunny, I knew he was in capable hands as she'd looked after him after my gran had passed away a couple of years ago.

  I loaded up my car, a yellow beatle I had named canary, with a rucksack of personal belongings, cooking equipment in another, a tent. The list was endless!

  I met up with Eddy and the rest of the team at the town hall. Myself and Eddy made up a four with Leslie Anderson, the loud-mouthed lady from the diner and her daughter, jamie, who seemed sweet and compliant for a teenager! She seemed to take to me straight away.

  I saw Lewis Tyler in the background with his group, which were Sammy Nickel, the hippy, and two women in their thirties who I recognised as pinnacle's of the town.

  I also saw Sheriff Mali with the young man I'd seen intently watching our guide, Todd Baker, at Lulu's diner the other evening. Also in his team were a young married couple I recognised as Sunshine Bluff locals.

  Having worked at Lulu's diner for a while when I first arrived here and was just finding my feet, I had become familiar quite quickly with the local's here.

  At one point Mali looked across the room in my direction. I quickly ducked behind Eddy and Leslie before he saw me. I had never even bumped into him since his confession of his 'supposed' feelings for me, and I didn't think he'd be too chuffed to know I had joined the expedition at the last minute. He would have to find out eventually, of course, it didn't need to be just yet, however.

  Having had our luggage loaded onto one of the waiting tour buses we all clambered inside and headed for the desert. Little did we know what awaited us there!

  ∞∞∞

  The trip to the desert was an eventful one to the say the least! I had to deal with Leslie Anderson's constant talking from the seat behind me. Nobody else could hardly get a word in edgeways.

  The bus pulled in at the side of the road and we stepped out onto the orange sand, waiting for the others to catch up.

  Sheriff Mali's team arrived second and he came to stand by Eddy, whispering something to him. Then he spotted me and frowned.

  "Hi, Sheriff!" I called and waved to wind him up.

  "What's she doing here?" I heard him whisper to Eddy.

  "I asked her to make up a four," Eddy whispered back.

  "She won't last five minutes. I only hope she doesn't bring any trouble with her. Everywhere she goes there's trouble."

  "I'm sure she'll be fine, chief," Eddy said, smiling across at me.

  The final bus carrying Lewis tyler's team as well as our guide, Todd Baker, pulled in and I couldn't help but notice how the young man, whom I'd seen earlier, watched Todd as he stepped down from the bus.

  Todd had only just stepped foot onto land when he was already in an altercation with Sammy Nickel who seemed to have an ongoing quarrel from the journey to continue with.

  I didn't hear much of what was said but he seemed to have taken an exception to the location of our first camp.

  "I know best, Nickel! Trust me!" Todd cried, going very red in the face.

  I glanced at the young man from Mali's team again and he was still intently watching Todd, only his face had taken on a different expression this time, which I couldn't read at all. Was it fear? Disappointment? Anger? Something along those lines.

  I looked away again and noticed Mali watching me curiously. Had he read my thoughts?

  He turned away again quickly when he saw me looking at him.

  "Sheriff!" I called to his back.

  He paused and slowly turned around, "what do you want?" He asked shortly.

  "That man, he's on your team, isn't he?" I asked, pointing him out.

  He grinned, "the one you've been watching for the past ten minutes, you mean?"

  "Yeah, but it isn't what you think. I was wondering who he was, I've never seen him before. Is he local?"

  "No, his name's Bret Wainwright, comes from Illinois somewhere. Why do you ask?"

  "Does he know Todd Baker?"

  "I don't think so, but then I'm not his keeper. Why?"

  "Why has he come all the way from Illinois?"

  "I dont know. Why don't you ask him?" He asked impatiently, as though he were talking to a child who was questioning him.

  "He seems uncommonly interested in Todd Baker for some reason. I'm not sure why," I said, almost to myself but it seemed to get Mali's goat.

  "Oh, I see what this is. You're playing detective again. It doesn't suit you, Bryony. Besides, it's gonna get you into serious trouble one of these days'."

  "I was only wondering."

  He smiled grimly and left me to my wondering.

  "Hey, Bryony! come and look at this!" Jamie Anderson called to me, waving me over.

  She was standing on a sand mound along with Eddy, looking out over the desert. As I got nearer to them I coudn't help noticing how close she was standing to him and their hands separated as I climbed upto them. I gave him a look that said, 'she is only sixteen.' He just blinked and carried on looking over the view.

  "Isn't it spectacular!" Jamie cried.

  "It is something," I said, looking out over the vast wilderness. The clear blue sky was magical against the back drop of the orange sand. What could possibly go wrong here?

 

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