Desert Drift, page 4
part #3 of Sunshine Bluff Mystery Series
Finding no clue here I then searched through the pile of wood, taking each piece off and examining it. There was something there in the middle of it all, I could feel it with my hand but it was wedged inside a crevice.
Using the stick I managed to get hold of it and drag it out. I examined the object in my hand and found that it was a large, chunky ring with an Egyptian symbol on it.
Here was the missing connection with Egypt! This is what had been troubling me all along! I now remembered who was wearing this ring before Todd's death but when I questioned them afterwards it was gone! Vanished!
I now knew who had killed Todd Baker and this ring proved it.
∞∞∞
When I stumbled back to camp by torchlight as it was now completely dark, I could tell the rest of the camper's had been wondering where I had been and I think they were beginning to imagine I was the second victim.
"Bryony! Where on earth have you been? We've been worried sick!" Sheriff Mali cried when he saw me, pausing in his pacing around.
The rest of the camper's were sitting around the fire looking up at him.
"Actually I need to have a word with you, Sheriff," I said.
"If you must," he replied, pulling me aside. "What is it?" He asked shortly.
"This is the clue I've been looking for. I just need to set a trap, with your permission of course, to prove who this belongs to."
"So this is where you've been all this time," he said, more softened than I'd seen him so far.
"Do I have your permission?"
"Since when have you ever asked for my permission before?"
"I'm asking for it now."
"It depends."
"Well, let me tell you my plan."
∞∞∞
We came back to camp and I had this big announcement to make.
"Listen up camper's! This evening I have found the area where we think Todd was actually killed. Me and Sheriff Mali have decided to search the area tomorrow for clues. So we want everyone to stay put while we do this. Understood?"
Everyone nodded and we all supposedly retired for the night except me, Mali and Lewis who appeared from our tents to wait in the shadows to wait for the person I expected to see.
Sure enough after twenty minutes had gone by, Bret Wainwright emerged from his tent and headed straight for the area where I'd found the ring.
We followed treading carefully in the darkness. When he got to the firewood he switched on his torch and began frantically searching the area.
We needn't have seen anymore so we all stepped forward.
"Hold it right there!" Mali cried out.
Bret dropped his torch and ran into the blackness.
"Why did you have to frighten him like that?" I asked.
"He won't get very far without a light," Lewis said.
He and Mali ran after him and threw him on the ground, Mali cuffing his hands behind his back.
"You're under arrest for the murder of Todd Baker."
Mali and Lewis led him back to the camp and sat him down in the tent we used for dining to question him. Seeing our torches brought the others out to see what was happening and I had the difficult job of getting them all to go back and wait in their tents, which they did after a lot of persuading.
"It's Bret," I heard Jamie whisper to Eddy.
"Is it Bret?" Eddy asked me when the others were safely inside.
I nodded.
"Why?"
"Because Todd was his father. Come with me and we'll find out exactly why."
C H A P T E R12
Me and Eddy stood in the doorway of the tent and listened to Bret telling his story.
"I came on this expedition to find my father who happened to be Todd Baker. I read about it in the newspaper and I thought this would be a good opportunity to tell him of my existence," he was saying.
"I take it he didn't want to know?" Mali asked.
"He wasn't interested in me. He left my mom after getting her in trouble. He said he didn't even know. Then my mom had me put up for adoption because she was young and couldn't cope on her own."
"All this you found out at the adoption centre?" Lewis asked.
"Right."
"And you confronted Todd with this while he was out getting firewood?" This was Mali.
"Right."
"Tell us what happened?" Mali continued.
"We started fighting because I was angry with his attitude. He said he cared nothing for my mom and me, he never did!"
"So you hit him with the statue?"
"Yeah. I brought that statue with me to show him so I could prove who I was. He had given it as a gift to my mom from one of his trips to Egypt, but it was only to try and sweet talk her."
"How did you know it was Bret?" Eddy whispered to me.
"It was the ring he lost when he killed Todd. I noticed he was wearing the ring before Todd was killed. When I spoke to him afterwards though, he was no longer wearing it. It had just vanished. This is what had been troubling me. The missing connection with Egypt."
"Good work!"
∞∞∞
Finally we were all on the bus waiting to go home! Mali, Lewis and Eddy had all gone back to the station with Bret to finish the necessary paperwork.
I sat back in my seat desperately wanting to sleep, but it was impossible with Leslie on the bus!
"I would never have guessed that nice young man would turn out to be Todd's killer!" She kept on saying over and over.
""Yeah, mom. But he did!" Jamie cried. She came to sit by me.
"so, Jamie. Are we still friends?" I asked, thinking of her earlier comment.
"Yeah, we're still friends. I know you didn't mean any offense and there was none taken."
"Good, I'm glad. What about you and Eddy?"
"My mom says we should wait a year or two, and we'll see how it goes."
"Great. Let us go home. I can't wait for a long soak in a hot bath!"
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 r1
Sheriff Mali had been right when he said my detective work would land me in hot water one day.
He'd said that in the desert and he would say it again before my time as an amateur sleuth would finally be over.
I was beginning to realise I had been wrong about Mali the whole time, something I was having trouble admitting, even to myself.
That was until I heard about the petition he was getting signed to have me transported back to New York!
I heard about it at Lulu's diner that morning.
Lulu's diner was one of my favourite haunts and Lulu Pine had become like an agony aunt to me now, despite the bright pink hair, long painted nails and bubbly persona.
I could talk to her better than I could my mom, who I'd left behind in New York along with the columnist job I hated, and this particular morning I was in desperate need of advice.
I was confused after my mom kept on telling me I needed to find the 'one.' I had tried a few dates with a couple of guys, but they just didn't go anywhere. All this I poured into the kind, understanding ears of Lulu over one of her mean milkshakes and creation traybakes.
The tray bake in question was a malteser biscuit base, topped with a chocolate mousse and a whipped baileys cream. It was just what I had been needing after an earful from my good old mom!
"Cheer up, Bry. I'm sure your mom means well and has your best interests at heart," Lulu said.
"I'm sure she does, but that isn't what is troubling me."
"Then what is?"
"If I will ever find the one. If such a thing exists, and if there will ever be a guy I can like enough to marry someday."
"Oh, you have plenty of time for that. How old are you now?"
"Twenty-six."
"See, plenty of time. You'll find someone you want to spend the rest of your life with in time. We always do, I never managed it but I'm sure you will."
"Wasn't your Pete like that at first?"
"Oh, yeah. But then things turned sour. That won't happen with you though, Bry. I'm just not the co-habiting type. I never was really."
"Do you think so?"
"Of course. You just wait and see!"
I left the diner that day still not feeling very reassured.
∞∞∞
Marilyn Miggles, Desert Drift
