Scatman Dues (Freaky Florida Mystery Adventures Book 6) by Margaret Lashley (ereader for android TXT) 📕

“I dunno. Just a random guy from the crowd, as far as I could tell,” Jimmy said. “I didn’t realize what we’d gotten into until I saw the initials on his robe. KFC.” Jimmy hung his head a bit. “I thought it was the, you know. But as it turned out, KFC stands for Kristie’s Frickin’ Crullers.”

“We know,” Grayson said with a quick nod. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. It’s a common mistake.”

I shot Grayson a look, then smiled sympathetically at Jimmy. “It’s okay. We’re with you so far. Go on.”

“Uh ... okay,” Jimmy said. “Anyway, Wade and me were outnumbered. So I whispered for him to just to play along. So that’s what we did.”

“Then what happened,” Grayson asked.

“The guy led us over to a dark-tanned woman wearing a gold robe.”

“That was a woman?” I asked.

“Yeah. She told us to kneel down and stick out our tongues. She dropped something into our mouths and told us to eat it. I pretended to, but spit mine into my palm when no one was looking. But before I could tell Wade not to swallow it, he’d already gulped it down.”

Jimmy’s voice cracked. A tear ran down his cheek. “After that, we danced around the fire with the guys, trying to fit in, you know. A while later, the group broke up. Wade and I went back to my truck, laughing at what a bunch of crazy weirdos those guys were.”

Jimmy looked up, then directly into my eyes. He shook his head. “Everything seemed okay. Like it was just a random, crazy night to remember. Wade got in my truck with me. I drove him back to Juanita’s restaurant and dropped him off at the parking lot. I went home. And that’s—” Jimmy’s voice cracked. “That’s the last time I saw or heard from him.”

Jimmy collapsed onto the table, his head resting atop his crossed arms. “I should’ve warned him,” he mumbled, rolling his head left and right. “It’s all my fault! I killed Wade!”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Garth said, leaning over and hugging his brother.

Grayson cleared his throat. “Until proven otherwise, Jimmy, there’s no evidence Wade is actually dead.”

Jimmy burst into tears. “Then where is he?”

I placed a hand on Jimmy’s. “What Grayson means is, you’re not responsible for whatever’s happened to Wade.”

Grayson’s eyebrow formed a flat line. “That’s not what I said at all. I meant—”

I stomped Grayson’s foot under the table, then whispered softly to Jimmy, “Continue with your story. We need to know all the facts we can if we’re going to figure out what’s really going on here.”

Jimmy raised his head, sniffed, and turned to Garth. “I’m sorry, bro. I didn’t want you to get tangled up in this.”

“Don’t you worry,” Garth said. “Like Pandora said, we’ll figure this out together.”

“If it helps, just think of it like a regular case,” I said to Jimmy. “Right now, we’re investigating a missing person. That’s all. You dropped Wade off Saturday night. Then what?”

Jimmy nodded and straightened his shoulders. “The next morning, Sunday, I called Wade to make sure he was all right. He didn’t answer his cellphone. That wasn’t like him at all. So I went back to Juanita’s restaurant. His truck was still in the lot. That surprised me pretty good.”

“What did you do then?” Grayson asked.

“Well, I checked inside the restaurant. He wasn’t there. So I went into the park. I thought I’d find him hurt or snake bit on one of the trails in the Hi-Ho. I spent the whole day walking trails out there, but I couldn’t find a footprint, a cigarette butt, nothing. It’s like he vanished without a trace.”

Grayson glanced over at me. “Sounds familiar.”

Chapter Forty

Jimmy sat back in the banquette and shook his head. He’d confessed to being the last one to see his friend Wade, but from what I could tell, Jimmy very much hoped to see his friend again—alive and kicking.

“I think we can guess why you didn’t call the cops about Wade going missing,” Grayson said.

“What good would it do?” Jimmy said. “I knew even if I filed a missing person report, the other cops wouldn’t take it seriously. At least not for another couple of days, anyway. If Wade was out there hurt in the woods, I knew I might be his only hope to make it out alive.”

“So that’s where you’ve been all this time,” Garth said.

“Yeah. I walked the Hi-Ho trails till sunset on Sunday. Then, as I was getting ready to head home for the night, I thought about those guys dancing around the fire in robes. I started wondering if they had something to do with Wade going missing.

“Either way, I couldn’t leave Wade alone out there. So I called in sick Monday, then asked for the rest of the week off on vacation. I’ve been camping out in the Hi-Ho—I mean Edward Medard Park—ever since.”

“What’ve you been doing with your time?” I asked.

“Walking the trails by day. Watching the Cruller meetings by night. I’ve been lurking in the bushes, trying to make out what’s going on. But I bring the robe with me that they gave us. And I even sent away for a sword—you know, so I’d fit in better—in case I needed to infiltrate the meetings. I wanted to see if Wade came back or was being held against his will. But I haven’t seen him since.”

“Wade’s been gone five days now,” I said. “Isn’t it time you requested backup from the other cops on the force?”

Jimmy winced. “I’m trying to lay low. I’m worried they’ll book me for Wade’s murder. Thanks to that alien invasion thing last summer, most of the guys already think I’m a loose cannon.” Jimmy locked eyes with me. “You remember what happened.”

I grimaced. “Uh, yeah.”

Jimmy sighed and stared at the table. “You know, I still find tinfoil hats in my chair at work sometimes.”

“Alien invasion was a perfectly plausible explanation at the time,” Grayson said, then sniffed. “But let’s get back