Clearwater Predator

By Al Rennie

Spring Break in Clearwater Beach college kids are everywhere and so is a predator Joe gets an offer he can't refuse Mia is up for a career change Billy goes to a race track Jeremy and Ida May get a mega computer Frankie has big debt problems with some nasty loan sharks Joey has lost his wife again Frank gets ready for the Olympics - Doug teaches Doc to crawl in the mud - another fun romp!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Al Rennie
• Release date: Apr 18, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301757060

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 Predator

By

Al Rennie

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2013 by Al Rennie

All Rights Reserved.

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shanegorski/2710096640/

Cover Credit: Rita Toews – probably the most caring, patient and inventive cover creator ever!

Formatting Credit: L.K. Campbell – as always just great – and thank you for the Kindle stuff…

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. As an encore, he is publishing

Clearwater Diaries

later this year.

Thank You

Acknowledgements:

I’d like to thank the growing number of readers who are enjoying the Clearwater Series and who have sent me their kind comments. I have enjoyed meeting many of those people on Face Book. I have been tickled reading the many very interesting and informative e-mails sent my way. California Michael is a special regular correspondent. He supplied me with the joke I used in Clearwater Danger and has sent me another one for this book. It’s in here; see if you can spot it. There is a test at the end. Let me assure the readers who have written asking for more Mia and Joe – I am writing as fast as I can, bubbas!

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. You are making this ride so much fun.

Thank you to the young guy, who asked to remain anonymous, but might have been named Jeremy, at the local Staples store who generously answered my dumb questions about computer capabilities and how a data center functions.

My three fantastic editors have returned to make my life miserable but your reading experience better. I’d like to thank my wife, Marsha and daughter, Jane as well as Annmarie Schwanke for their masterful work in assisting with this novel. Their efforts have made the story much better and the content easier for you, the reader, to decipher. Annmarie also offered a few suggestions for the book’s cover as I had hit a wall trying to find something appropriate. In fact, when I pumped ‘predator’ into Bing Images, the feedback put me directly into apoplectic shock for an hour or so and I still have bad dreams today. I knew nothing about parental settings. I do now.

I’d also like to thank Deputy Chief Ken Jackman (ret.) Peterborough Police Force, for taking time out of his busy life to answer my questions about aspects of being a cop and working in the legal system. He was very helpful in assisting me understand the FBI’s NCIC program and its Canadian equivalent. As well, he tried to point out a few of the differences between the law in Ontario and in Florida. If there are errors in my representation of what we discussed, the fault is entirely mine. Cheers Ken!

Warnings:

Note to the kid who keeps e-mailing me with his suggestions – not all of them are too appropriate or even almost polite: Ask your mom to get you a med review bubba – soon! Go read Captain Underpants.

Note:

There is no live racing on Monday or Tuesday at Tampa Downs. To suggest that there is, is called dramatic license. Fact is altered to serve the author’s practical purposes. However, there is simulcast wagering on races at other tracks and there is also a Poker Room that goes steadily throughout the week. If you enjoy live racing, Tampa Downs is usually open from December to May with live racing Wednesday to Sunday afternoons.

Notice to all young adult readers:

As a former teacher – and therefore someone sworn to be concerned about the minds of our young people – I have to warn the under eighteen group that Clearwater Predator, much like the other books in this series, contains a number of bad words, but maybe not as many as a few of the earlier works. 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

(Back home in Ontario and not loving it so much! Damn it’s cold!)

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

Note: Clearwater Beach and the area surrounding it is truly my idea of paradise. It is a beautiful place to visit and to live – if you can afford it. The violence depicted in the Clearwater series is just that – 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, but don’t start chatting with Captain Frankie Donner; you’ll lose hours of your holiday.

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

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

Loved it. It reads like the old Matt Helm books I enjoyed so much when I was younger. Good characters, lots of suspense and well written. – Mike Teter

"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!

Hi Al, I have read all of your Clearwater Books. I love reading about Joe, Mia, Max and everybody. I was excited to see Clearwater Magic is available through Smashwords. I have a Nook, and they are too slow in getting books, so I downloaded Clearwater Magic through Smashwords. I was so disappointed to see it's only 127 pages. Please keeping writing all of these great books, but give us more to read in each one. 127 pages is just a tidbit, so please give us more Doc, Mia, Max, Coop and Mrs. Thornberry in each book, because they deserve more reading material. I really hope there is a follow up to Clearwater Magic soon, because I'll be finished it by tomorrow. Thanks.

I just finished Clearwater Magic and I continue to love this series. I am looking forward to more clues to the enigmatic Max and will Doug be okay??? Keep them coming, Al! I eagerly await Doc's next day in paradise. – Jackie K.

I just finished reading Clearwater Showdown, I got Clearwater Journals as a free Nook book, but it was so good I had to buy the other books. I have truly enjoyed reading this series, and hope you plan on taking Joe, Mia, Coop and Ida Mae further. I'm anxiously awaiting another installment. Maybe Joe can take a trip to our area (Spokane, WA) or Glacier Park in Montana? We have a hockey team with lots of Canadian kids on it – the Spokane Chiefs. Can't wait to read more! Maybe see the movie?!

—Corrina Wilke

a Doc Holiday fan

(I'm your huckleberry lol)

Review by: Merle Felger on March 26, 2013 :

Clearwater Danger was great. I have read every book in the Clearwater Journals. I love reading about Joe and the things he manages to get himself into, and how Max, Coop and the rest of his entourage always have his back. I hope the next Joe and Mia adventure is coming out soon. But, I really wish the books were longer, I think they are just a little too short.

Reply: This one is a little longer…just for you Merle…Thank you for the kind review that you wrote on Smashwords.

The next endorsement is one that I cherish. It was written by another Canadian writer, RJ Parker.

I read a lot of books in various genres. I really enjoy reading a series of books that have continuous characters. I'm sharing my favorite series of all time with you my friends and fans and hope that you start this and love it as much as I do. I have two more to read which I will do over the next few days. It's the Clearwater series by my friend and fellow Canadian author Mr. Al Rennie. The first book in the series is the Clearwater Journals and it's free. This series is available in all the markets, ie, Amazon, Barnes, Smashwords etc. As an avid reader for 35 years, I'm declaring this series to be my all-time favorite. It simply rocks!! Fast-paced, lovable characters and Al has a great sense of humor. If you're having a bad day, any one of these books will make you laugh. This is Al's website with the books in order.... Let me know if you start these books and what you think.

Blessings, RJ

Chapter 1

Saturday, March 2, 2013 – And now for something new!

Joey, wake up, there’s someone in the driveway.

It’s an ‘S’ day, babe. Joey sleeps in on ‘S’ days, remember.

Yeah, well Joey likes to sleep in on the other days too, but we have a big white Hummer limo with really dark tinted windows sitting in the driveway right now. No one is getting out, and its engine is still running, so what’s going on here, Joe?

It’s just a bad dream babe; go back to sleep.

Not a bad dream, Joey; it’s kind of scary…

Bad dreams are like that Mia; that’s why they call them bad dreams.

I guess I had hit Mia’s patience quota for today.

Joe Holiday, get your ass out of bed right now and go find out what they want. Maybe take a gun with you.

I found a pair of ‘washed in the last week’ Rip Zone board shorts and a blue Cooters T-shirt that Max had bought me for some forgotten reason. I slipped into my new Teva mush flip flops while thinking about how much my life has changed in the last few years. I went out to talk with whoever the early bird in the Hummer was.

Buddy, I said to the driver side window, it’s a Saturday morning. This part of the world sleeps in on Saturday and Sunday morning.

Mia had been right. The windows were so dark I could only make out the movement of some very large guy turning his huge head slightly to talk with someone in the back. A few seconds later the driver’s window slid part way down, and I was looking at a behemoth wearing white framed Oakley sun glasses tinted to almost opaque and smelling like English Leather after shave. He smiled at me, exposing teeth that had to be false they were so white. From what little I could see of him sitting behind the SUV limo’s steering wheel, the guy looked like he could probably bench press the Hummer.

Mr. Smith would like to apologize for disturbing your extended kip Mr. Holiday, but he has something of extreme importance to discuss with you, the behemoth said in a plumy English accent. Maybe I was still dreaming. James Bond meets Odd Job and I’m Daniel Craig.

Does he have an appointment? I asked before quickly adding, just playing with you bubba. Does Mr. Smith want to come inside for some breakfast? You could come too; I think we just bulk shopped yesterday.

No, but if you would get in the car, he would be happy to discuss his problem with you in the air conditioned, bullet proof comfort of the rather large rear seat.

Bullet proof you say, nothing dramatic about that, I guess.

I had never been in the back of a Hummer limo before. There was enough space to house a small battalion, a bowling alley and a hot tub. The dapper grey little guy who greeted me with a wave of his hand to the seat across from him looked a little lost and weary old. He was wearing a charcoal grey three piece suit with a silk white button down shirt and blue and red military striped tie with highly polished black oxford shoes. This was Clearwater Beach, Florida. If this old dude wandered around outside for too long someone would build a museum around him and start selling tickets.

The man offered his hand and was no longer Mr. Smith. Jeremiah Vlossun, and you must be Mr. Joe Holiday. The Leuven’s said you were a little strange in dress and language. They also indicated that your friends call you, Doc, and that you are quite a remarkable investigator. Why do they call you Doc? Were you a doctor at some time?

A little strange in dress – now there is an example of the kettle calling the pot black as my old grandma might say.

Joe is fine, Mr. Vlossun. The ‘Doc’ nickname was given to me by my brother when we were kids. He was Wyatt Earp and I was Doc Holiday when we played cowboys. The name just stuck. How can I be of assistance to you on this lovely, early Saturday morning?

You can find the person who killed my grand-daughter, the old man said as he, with a mildly trembling hand, handed me a professional photo of a woman child. I studied the head shot picture of his grand-daughter carefully. She was a raven haired beauty with strikingly bright green eyes that hinted at mischief. Her nose was slightly off centre like it had been broken when she was much younger. She had full lips that were in a demure smile for the camera and she looked young, possibly still in her mid-teens, a full happy life ahead of her when the photo had been taken. Mr. Vlossun watched me, paused and seemed to gather himself for a second and then launched into his story.

The sad tale that Mr. Vlossun told