Cinderella and the Vampire, A Cindy Nesbit Mystery

By J. Lee Taylor

. How could Mr. Straight-Arrow be mixed up with vampires? Cindy finds the answer at the bottom of a mine shaft facing the wrong end of a gun.

Cindy doesn’t consider herself an amateur detective. She owns Finders Inc., a computer search company, and gets paid to locate missing documents, pets, deadbeat dads and the occasional separated-at-birth sibling. When her trusty ‘puter, Watson, runs out of leads, Cindy will “go on location,” traveling from her home in Reno, Nevada, to Northern and Central California and Oregon. Her only self-proclaimed flaw is an overabundance of curiosity. And that’s where her stories begin.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J. Lee Taylor
• Release date: Mar 6, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465797339

J. Lee Taylor

J. Lee Taylor enjoys living in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains with her in-corgi-able red and white Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Hooligan. She is currently working on the next Cindy Nesbit mystery.

Book preview

CINDERELLA AND THE VAMPIRE

A Cindy Nesbit Mystery

J. Lee Taylor

Cindy Nesbit, owner of Finders Inc. doesn’t believe in vampires, but when her best friend begs Cindy to find her brother, Ty Rhodes, she reluctantly agrees. Reluctant because while in college, she gifted Ty with her virginity, and he never called again. Cindy follows his trail to north central California and discovers him in a rustic Club Med-type enclave for vampire wannabes. How could Mr. Straight-Arrow be mixed up with vampires?  Cindy finds the answer at the bottom of a mine shaft facing the wrong end of a gun.

A JLT Publiction

Cinderella and the Vampire

A Cindy Nesbit Mystery

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Copyright 2011 by J. Lee Taylor

All rights reserved

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Cover Artist:

Katrina Kirkpatrick

Cover Design:

Katrina Kirkpatrick

Published by JLT Publications

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

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Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Acknowledgements

To my family who always knew I could. To the Girls (Helen, Judy and Kathi) for their unfailing support. To Christeen Sheel whose help made it possible for these books to see the light of day. And to Ellen, Barbara and Ramona, who persist in making me a better writer.

In Memory of My Parents and My Husband—My Biggest Fans

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Front Cover Image

Copyright

Acknowledgments

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

About the Author

Cinderella and the Vampire

J. Lee Taylor

Chapter One

I DON’T DO WINDOWS.

I don’t do Monday mornings.

And I don’t do weird.

Liz, you can’t think Ty is mixed up with vampires. I choked back a laugh.

He mailed a postcard from Angel’s Camp and said he was going to Caldura. He called it a Club Med for vampires. And he didn’t phone me last Friday like he usually does.

I stalled, wondering how much of Liz’s concern to take seriously. I tucked the phone between my jaw and shoulder and made a fresh pot of coffee. One of Reno’s springtime blizzards blew past my kitchen window.

Cindy, you still there?

Yeah, I’m thinking. Today’s Thursday and you still haven’t heard from him? Ty Rhodes had never missed a week without calling his sister. When he went away to Harvard to get his Masters while Liz and I were still at Stanford, he phoned regular as clockwork. Now it had been eleven days? Something important must have come up.

But not vampires.

His postcard message was weird, too. He wrote, ‘Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.’

That doesn’t sound like Ty. It sounds more like...Shakespeare? But why would he leave you a cryptic message? What method in what? Could this have something to do with his job?

No, I don’t think so. That’s another crazy thing. When I tried to call him at home, the phone was disconnected, and he didn’t answer his cell. His boss told me he’d been gone for several weeks. Cin, they told me he’s been given permission to search for another job.

Hmmm. That sounds like a fancy way of saying he’s been fired. I always thought Ty was too perfect to get canned.

Three months ago he told me he loved his job. Now he’s been fired? None of this makes any sense. Liz sounded stressed to the max. I’m afraid he might be in danger.

From vampires? Come on, Liz. You don’t seriously believe he’s mixed-up with Dracula-types. They don’t exist.

I don’t believe in them and you don’t, but I think he’s gone to this place, Caldura. I checked. It’s not even on a map.

I would’ve laughed it off if she’d been talking about anyone else. But this was Ty ‘Mister Straight Arrow’ Rhodes.

Twilight Zone bizarre.

I tried to be reasonable. "Just because he hasn’t called in a week or two doesn’t mean he’s in trouble. And you know my business isn’t about looking for missing people. That’s a job for the police. Have you filed a missing person report?"

No. No police. Not yet.

I heard the panic in Liz’s voice.

I can’t call the police, she said. "My parents would find out, and it would scare them to death. And what if Ty isn’t missing? He’d be furious."

He’s going to be furious anyway because you called me, but okay, no police.

Liz sighed. Look, I know I should have handled this myself. Friends don’t ask friends to do something that could be dangerous. Maybe I should hire a private detective.

Now I’m insulted, I joked. I told you I’d find him, and I will. You know I’m good at my job, although live people aren’t my specialty. I’ve had lots of experience finding dead ones.

She gasped.

I backtracked in a hurry. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. I’ve found missing death certificates for relatives. I’ve located where their loved ones are buried—oh frog feathers. I’m making things worse, aren’t I?

Yes, you are. Liz’s laugh was small.

I’ll find him for you, I repeated, but that doesn’t mean he’ll call. You know he’s not going to be thrilled I butted in. Heck, your brother doesn’t like me.

Not that sad song again. How many times do I have to tell you? If Ty didn’t like you, he’d never have gone out with you. I still don’t understand why you two didn’t hit it off.

It was an old argument. I gave her the standard reply. He only went out with me because you asked him to, Liz. Ten years earlier, her brother and I had gone on one date. I’d given him my virginity, he never called again, and dumb me, I never really got over him.

Yet when Liz called this morning and sounded so desperate I knew I’d do everything I could to help. But I needed more information. Do you remember if Ty said anything else that might help me find this Caldura place?

Once, I think he mentioned some town he was calling from, something with a man’s name, but I’ve forgotten it. She paused. Oh, and Cindy...

What?

Be careful. I’ve got bad feelers about this. If anything happened to you, I’d never forgive myself.

I couldn’t help smiling. Bad feelers? Like in college? Well, your ‘feelers’ were never wrong about those blind dates from Hades, but this time? A vampire Club Med?

I know it sounds crazy, but watch yourself.

I will, and I’ll call when I’ve got something to report.

After reassuring her I wouldn’t take any chances, I hung up and came to a decision. In order to do right by Liz, I’d have to treat this job like any other case. So what if I had occasional lonely-heart-feelings for her brother? This would be strictly business, a business I was good at.

Four years ago I’d discovered a knack for locating other people’s lost items. Always a riddle solver, I combined my computer skills and an ability to act on my hunches and found my niche in the business world. A website and word-of-mouth advertising from satisfied customers had built FINDERS, INC. to the point where I could quit my day job and make a down payment on a house.

After signing the mortgage, I’d had the entire seventy-year-old one story brick house rewired with the latest electronic, Wi-Fi and computer access gadgets. I converted one of the small bedrooms into an office so I could work at home. At twenty-eight, I thought I wanted financial security, not a family.

I grabbed my laptop and slouched in my favorite armchair. Before I punched in the key word vampire to begin a search, my arm hairs stood on end.

Bad feelers, huh? Liz’s remark was making me paranoid.

But sometimes a healthy dose of paranoia can be a good thing. Experience had taught me the world had its share of bad guys.

I tugged on my widow’s peak—a bad habit that made it stick straight up from the rest of my choppy bangs.

Okay, so I’d use the computers at the university. That way, nothing could be traced back to me. Just in case.

Little traffic moved along the quiet streets of the old Northwest neighborhood where I lived. The storm’s wet snow refused to stick on the pavement and would probably blow through by afternoon. Usually I walked the few blocks to the university, but a sense of urgency dictated driving.

I turned the ignition of my stripped down four-wheel drive Jeep. It barely turned over. Come on, Old Blue, I coaxed. Start for me, one more time. Next week, I promised, I’d start saving for a new car. This one had another year left, maybe.

Blustery weather left the parking garage nearest the library with empty spaces to spare. Inside, only a few of the computer terminals were in use. I settled in a chair, found my favorite search engine and keyed in the word vampire.

Whoa!

138 sites and more links than I could count?

Who woulda thought?

Amazed, I moved from vampire designer wigs to clothes, vampire memorabilia and posters, Anne Rice fan club web sites to chat rooms, and ads for custom fangs.

Fangs?

I needed to narrow the search. Typing in ‘vampire + Caldura,’ I watched the screen.

No match.

I typed Caldura, California by itself and the monitor went crazy. A brief flash of weird colors, then it flipped twice and returned to home. Trying again and expecting the same response, I leaned forward to watch more closely.

Page not available, it read.

I hit refresh.

Nothing unexpected.

Had I imagined that sudden flash?

I tried the other search engines, but got no matches found or this page not available. Nothing abnormal, except the feeling of unease nibbling at the edges of my rational mind.

I brought up current maps of north-central California. No Caldura. The phone book for Angel’s Camp and surrounding towns yielded no results.

U. S. Forest Service maps?

Nothing.

I entered half a dozen electronic chat rooms and asked for information on Caldura. More nothing mixed with a lot of foul language.

What else had Liz said? Something about a town with a man’s name connected with Caldura? I looked up the maps of California again, and zeroed in on the Angel’s Camp area.

Bingo.

Murphys and Arnold were just up the road from Angel’s Camp.

Another frustrating hour of computering gave me nothing else to go on. I’d reached a dead end. I’d have to do the rest on location.

I drove home, discouraged that my initial search hadn’t turned up more. My dissatisfaction disappeared when I opened my front door. I’d thoroughly bought into the pride-of-ownership idea. I loved coming home to my house. Light-colored walls and minimalist furniture emphasized my one artistic indulgence: posters and prints of my childhood home, Twin Coves, Oregon. I didn’t have fond memories of that little town, but I missed the ocean and the lighthouse. A painting of the Twin Coves lighthouse hung in a place of honor over the fireplace. New skylights in the living room