Clearwater Magic

By Al Rennie

Morse's law firm is targeted in a wierd scheme. Joe and Coop find that wierd doesn't get it done. CHIPS is hired to produce a death certificate for a missing girl who may not be dead. Rosalie is being stalked. Ida May makes a huge decision. Doug Willsie is brutally attacked. Frank is hoping Quebec separates. Another facet of Max is revealed. Joe and Mia decide to get help. Another romp in paradise

• Language: English
• Publisher: Al Rennie
• Release date: Nov 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301859498

Al Rennie

I was born and raised in Toronto. I attended Upper Canada College before taking a degree at Queen's University. I have worked as a lifeguard for the Toronto Harbour Police, a youth worker for the Toronto YMCA, and an English teacher in Lakefield. I am married with two great daughters and an extended foster family. My interests include Maple Leaf hockey - this is our year - New England Patriot football and writing.

Book preview

Clearwater Magic

By Al Rennie

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2012 by Al Rennie

All Rights Reserved.

Image Credit: Ashelia http://photopin.com

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0

Cover Credit: Rita Toews – probably the most caring, patient and inventive cover creator ever! And she’s tough too!!!! She has to be – she lives in Winnipeg!

Formatting Credit: L.K. Campbell – as always just great – and thank you for the Kindle stuff and the kind compliment about my singing voice!

Dedication

For my wife – Marsha

Always there for me and

always keeping my moral

compass headed in the

right direction!

And Ilker

of Altin Bilek Yaylinlari

Who liked Clearwater Journals enough to get

it published in his home country of Turkey.

Thank You

Acknowledgements:

I’d like to thank those numerous readers of the Clearwater Series who have sent me their kind comments – even the lady who wrote to tell me that the ending to Clearwater Heat ‘sucked’ and that there had better be another ending available. You do not know how encouraging it is for a writer like me to read that his or her work has been read and then re-read and enjoyed. Beyond that, to be told that I had better be writing quickly because of the interest in what is going to happen next is gratifying. Thank you Joe and Mia fans, whoever and wherever you are.

I would also like to thank April Gordon of KHCAS who took time to go over the intricacies and technicalities of the apprehension of abused children. I admire the work you do to keep children safe.

I would also like to thank Karen Robinson for her e-mail. It evolved into a deep discussion about what a Mr. Crab chuckle might sound like. Did you enjoy Spongebob Squarepants, Karen?

Warnings:

Note to all young adult readers:

As a former teacher – and therefore someone sworn to be concerned about the minds of our youth – I have to warn the under eighteen group that Clearwater Magic much like the other books in this series contains a number of bad words, but not as many as a few of the earlier books. And really, what is a bad word? I must also tell you that you will come across some pretty suggestive scenes and some very bad people – but nothing is likely to overly stimulate you or disgust you – sorry about that. In any case, good reading bubba – enjoy.

Best Regards,

Doc

November 30th, 2012

(In Clearwater Beach, Florida – and loving it.)

P.S. – If any of you feel a strong need to communicate with me – try [e-mail] or visit my revised website courtesy of Chance Faulkner Photography alrennie.com

[b]Note: Clearwater Beach and the area surrounding it is truly my idea of paradise. It is a beautiful place to visit and live. The violence depicted in the Clearwater series is just fiction – i.e. – it never happened. Go there and find out for yourself. You’ll love the place. Say ‘hi’ to Betsy if you grab a bite to eat at Cooters.[b]

[b]A few Reader Responses to Clearwater Journals after it appeared on Free e-books:[b]

If you like Jack Reacher, then you’ll like this. I enjoyed this book very much. It was well written and tense with a dash of humour and kept me involved throughout. If it had been written by Lee Child, it would be an international bestseller. – Morris Kenyon

Brilliant! Couldn’t put it down, thanks – Catherine Cooke

What a riveting story with bouts of wry humor. Again Please. – Bruce

Excellent read with more twists and turns than a road through the mountains. Enjoyed every minute! – Kingstonbears

A really well written book. Loved it a bunch. Hope he does another soon. Maybe a series??? – Wa6ype

A truly fun read, great sense of humor and a good plot. I recommend this author with pleasure. – Evelyn

Excellent writing, fast paced, liked it a lot. – Toerien

Gripping story, believable characters. Would definitely recommend. Very well written. Thoroughly enjoyed it. – Rachel Caldicott

Put my life on hold until I finished it. Great read! You live the character’s emotions and you can’t be sure of the outcome until the last page. – Charles Hough

Great read! Interesting characters and twists – not to mention just enough quirky to make it more real. – Holly Atkisson Gilmer

Enjoyable reading – a combination of a thriller and a love story – Pentii Grant

Easy reading – I look forward to another from Rennie. A book you don’t want to put down; a book you don’t want to end. – Annie Welch

Fantastic, loved it, couldn’t put it down, and didn’t want it to end! – Eloise

Thanks! Great book – I can’t wait for more! – Abu Hamzah

What a great book! Fast paced and great characters. – Sara Walsh

One of those books that you can’t stop reading, but you don’t want it to finish. – Felicity Coakley

And from two reviewers who have read the entire Clearwater series and evidently enjoyed it:

"What a cliff-hanger!! Please tell me the next one is coming out sooner rather than later. Love the Clearwater Series – Jackie K

I have read all of the Clearwater books and enjoyed them all. Clearwater Heat is such a cliff hanger that makes it mandatory to read the next book. I hope you are writing fast and will have it available soon. – Cynthia Brooks August 28, 2012 at 9:22 pm

Dude – this series rocks!

Chapter 1

Monday, October, 15 2012 – This doesn’t make any sense.

So that’s the story – what do you think?

The person asking that question was Bob Morse, the lawyer who has kept me out of serious legal trouble a number of times and the guy who steers investigative work for his very successful Tampa Bay area law firm to my partner, Fred Cooper, and me. We have been running a private investigation business that just recently spread out into a protection services operation as well. We call it CHIPS – Cooper Holiday Investigative and Protection Services. I am the ‘H’ part of the acronym. My name is Joe Holiday.

I’ve never heard anything like it, Coop said as he rubbed his chin and studied the brief background paper Morse had given him.

We were sitting in a little Mom and Pop restaurant in Belleaire, Florida called Square Plates. It was nine in the morning. This restaurant is where Morse meets with us if he is feeling a little bit paranoid like when one of his ex wives has a detective on him trying to get a reason to jack up the alimony or one of his junior lawyers is planning a palace coupe. The story he had just told us might have justified any fears he was experiencing. Someone was out to screw over one of his junior lawyers and if they were successful, do damage to the firm.

Usually, Bob meets with Fred every Monday morning before he heads off to court or to meet one of his clients – often at one of the detention centres in the area. He lays out any assignments he wants us to work on and gets updates on what we have been doing in preparation for any trial coming up. I skip those meetings while filing them under the general heading – watching paint drying on a wall boring. Fred usually manages the job of handing out the assignments to members of our staff. He tries to match the needs of the work to the abilities of the crew and then who is available after we address the over the phone or through the door needs. This morning was different. Bob had called Fred late on Sunday night and specifically asked that I attend this meeting. Fred accommodated his request and had contacted me, so here I was, but what I was hearing didn’t make sense.

This isn’t some kind of loopy set up is it? I asked. How far into this did you check it out?

Morse looked at me like I had just called him stupid. Bob Morse may be a large number of interesting things, but stupid wasn’t one of them.

Explain the legal term ‘loopy’ Joe.

Well, you know where your junior lawyer is building in an alibi for failure because the case has ‘an anchor’ written all over it. The threat against him isn’t of the win at all cost variety; it’s more like a ‘lose or else’ sort. Is the guy up for a promotion if he wins the thing? Who will benefit if he fails or if his client goes to jail?

You really were paying attention, Bob Morse said sarcastically and Coop smiled. And all this time I thought you were about to do a ‘face plant’ into your cheese omelette.

I had a rough time with Mia last night.

I thought she was all better after the accident, Coop said sitting forward in his chair and looking a bit worried.

"Oh she is; I was helping her write an essay for her senior English class. The topic was the relevance of one Shakespearian theme from King Lear in today’s society. We did the ketchup in the bottle one."

They didn’t have ketchup back then, Bob stated with some authority and maybe the start of a smarmy sneer. Bob Morse does arrogant pretty well.

Maybe not – Shakespeare talked about it using the idea of a big rock and a hill, but it’s all the same thing and Mia was a waitress who grew up in Florida. She gets ketchup better.

How’s that...? Coop asked.

If you pour the ketchup out of the bottle, you won’t be able to get it all back in, just like if you start a big rock rolling down or pushing up a hill and it gets away on you well, you are basically toast even before you can say, Oops!. You cannot control what happens. The lesson is – think before you pour the ketchup.

Well, I hope Mia does well with your messed up analogy, Joe but could we get back to my more pressing problem? Morse asked impatiently.

Sure Bob, which one?

So what can you do to sort this out? Jay, my junior lawyer, says he is really stressing over this, and I believe him. I don’t think he is trying to build an alibi. The reality is that with a bit of luck and the right judge and jury, he could even win the case. The cops slipped up so even though our client is a sleaze-ball, and deserves to go away, he could walk. But according to the warning, if Jay does win the case, he will pay for it with damage done to his family.

Yeah, well if he deliberately loses it, and the right people find out, he will lose anyway. Is that not right? Coop asked.

Yup, the law society would have his ass. He could lose his licence to practise law, Bob replied. Obviously, we would argue vehemently the extenuating circumstances, but who knows how that would play out. And the spill out onto my firm could be disastrous. I can’t afford to have my name attached to a lawyer about to be disbarred – that is just not good for business. I need you guys to handle this quickly and with kid gloves.

We can do that. Give us all the information in the case file he is supposed to lose as well as give us any names of people who will benefit from this guy, Ronnie McDermott going to jail, Coop said. We can look into it and let you know what might be going on.

Great… Bob said.

You said that this Jay Toler can’t recuse himself because he was told that he’ll have to pay for it anyway. Is that right? Coop asked pulling together all the options.

"That’s the deal that he was given by whoever it is who wants his client, who is sitting in jail as we speak, to stay there. Evidently, they know something about law to be able to throw around the word recuse or maybe they watched The Lincoln Lawyer. It doesn’t matter; he doesn’t have acceptable grounds anyway."

The penalty for winning or for trying to walk away is that he loses his wife and kid. That was the message eh? I asked.

Yep… Morse said.

But the wife and kid are still safely at home, is that right? I asked.

Yep…

That’s only one piece that doesn’t fit the scenario. Think of any other extortion deal like this. The guy making the demands has usually already grabbed the wife to prove his point and add weight to his argument or has demonstrated that he has the ability to do so. As far as we know, the wife and his son do not even know that they are the targets of this person. Someone’s arse is sucking air because this just doesn’t work. The only thing the phone call did was warn us about the possibility of danger to them. They must have known that you would respond.

I guess you’re right, Morse said like he had not considered that possibility. Morse is a bright guy. He always considers all the possibilities.

Doesn’t matter, Coop said. I’d say that your young lawyer, Jay Toler, is still caught between a rock and a hard place until we can figure out how this ketchup bottle got tipped. Anyway, we can get on it right away.

I knew that Coop had jumped into my conjecture to make my position more palatable for Bob Morse and to reduce the anxiety he must already be experiencing.

Is there any way that I could meet with this lawyer, Jay and his wife? I asked. That way, maybe we can come at this from a number of angles. What if the target of this is not really Ronnie McDermott; what if it is Jay Toler and his family? It’s a rhetorical question.

I see where you are going with that one. Yeah, I can get him to meet you. The trial judge awarded a one day continuance to the assistant DA Harding who is handling the case for the prosecution. Harding’s father died suddenly yesterday afternoon. It was a heart attack; the man was only fifty eight years old. It makes you wonder doesn’t it?

Don’t you just love a compassionate judge, I asked facetiously. The poor guy’s dad drops dead and he gets one day off. When did your lawyer, this Jay, when did he get his warning to throw the case again?

The call came into the office around nine fifteen last night, only a short time before I called Fred and asked for you to be here this morning.

So Jay was working at your office at nine on a Sunday night? That’s dedication…

He is working to become a partner. It’s what you do to succeed.

Maybe we should get Doug to throw some protection around mom and kid until we get more into this, Coop? Maybe someone should ride shotgun with the lawyer as well?

I’ll look after that as soon as I get back to the office, Fred said.

The last few minutes were spent setting up the plan of attack. Bob Morse excused himself pleading the demands of scheduled meeting with a client to discuss a plea bargain. His client was facing heavy time if he lost in a drug case that was supposed to start in Clearwater later in the week. The plea bargain Morse had worked out would cut the sentence in half with a possible reduction for time served.

Keep me up to date on this okay? Bob asked as he got up from the table, packed his brief case and hurried away.

Sure thing… Fred replied before he turned to me. What are you thinking, Joe?

I am thinking that there are more than a few things just don’t sit right with this one. Maybe the answer is with talking to the lawyer and his wife. You were right though; this is a different one.

I’ve never heard of anything just like it, and I thought I had seen them all, Coop