Don Coyote

By J.A. Sprouls

Dr. Seth Herne (Doc) is a well known Cryptozoologist, a hunter of 'hidden creatures.' Jacey is his poor put upon assistant. Don Coyote is a misguided but sensitive soul who wanders across their path one sultry hot day in Tree, Texas. He also crosses the path of a murderer and stumbles upon the victims' bodies. The new sheriff, Jacey's Grandmother, asks them for help in discovering the killer's identity.

Along the way they encounter numerous and interesting residents and possible suspects of the town of Tree. They help the sheriff and end up putting their own lives at risk to stop the murderer and to find the notorious and elusive Jackalope. In the end Jacey learns a very important lesson: you can't judge a nut by its shell.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.A. Sprouls
• Release date: Dec 29, 2013
• ISBN: 9781311232168

J.A. Sprouls

J.A. Sprouls lives in the beautiful and rather flat Plains of West Texas. As a former antique dealer whose business tanked along with the rest of the country's economy, she had to go out and get a real job. Writing, for her, has become a way to wind down after a long day and escape reality for just a short while. 'My Grandfather Is One Heck Of A Mummy' is the first in what will hopefully be a successful cozy mystery series. The second novel in the series, 'Mace Of Spades,' with 'Cowabunga Dead' as the third in the series. Another series that she has written is the Cryptozoology Series with two current books: 'Kamikaze Pigs' and 'Don Coyote.' She has even tried writing a youth novel series titled: 'Abigail Dumpling Adventures.' She has also written two non-series books: 'A Vision Touch' and 'Death Drives a Chevy.' She is currently working on her next novel and should soon be finished. She enjoys writing cozy mysteries with a humorous touch and hopes her readers enjoy reading them as much as she has enjoyed writing them.

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Don Coyote

By J.A. Sprouls

Published by J.A. Sprouls at Smashwords

Copyright J.A. Sprouls 2013

Cover Design Copyright J.A. Sprouls 2013

Discover other titles by J.A. Sprouls at Smashwords.com:

My Grandfather Is One Heck Of A Mummy

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/22897

Mace Of Spades

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/43569

Kamikaze Pigs

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/97712

An Accidental Pirate: The Adventures of Captain Pigtail McQueue

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/154993

A Vision Touch

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/264127

Cowabunga Dead

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/346928

Connect with Me Online:

Smashwords.com:

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jasprouls

My blog:

http://jasprouls.blogspot.com/

Smashwords Edition, License notes

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

Dedicated to my Mother and Sister

For always being there!

~~~~~~

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Epilogue

About the Author

Chapter 1

It was a hot day. The sweat was dripping down my nose and hanging there like an irritating fly. I wiped it off and looked over to Doc. He was busy with the metal detector searching the area for metal. He hoped he would find the treasure of a land pirate who was the scourge of the west about a hundred years ago. Amazingly enough, no one, not even us, had found so much of a coin of the pirate's booty. I had found a treasure map while reading a family's ledger last year and stupidly gave it to Doc. We have spent every day out here hunting for the treasure ever since because of that stupid map. I should never have shown it to Doc, but I naïvely thought it would keep him from going out and hunting for unknown creatures.

Wouldn't you rather hunt for jackalopes? I called over to him.

Don't be ridiculous, the choice of wealth beyond all expectations is a far better endeavor to go after, he hollered back.

But what about the thrill of the hunt? Isn't that just as important? I asked.

Yes, but don't you want enough money to quit your other job? If we find the treasure then you could do just that, he pointed out.

If someone would give me a raise then I could do that without as much sweat and wind as I'm dealing with right now, I informed him. He went back to his metal detector, pretending he didn't hear me. When you consider that he is the richest man in Tree, Texas it wouldn't take much for him to give me a raise but he also happens to be the cheapest man in Tree, Texas. Maybe I should have mentioned that he was the one who needed to give me a raise. I guess it was too subtle for him to figure out.

As I stood up to get another bottle of water, movement off to the west caught my eye. I had to blink a few times in an effort to clear my eyes and make sure they weren't deceiving me. There was a man riding a horse in the hottest time of the day. He must have sun stroke to do something so stupid. Well, that or he needed to hold onto a job, as was my reason for being out here. The strangest thing about him, aside from the fact he was out in the heat, was the fact that he seemed to sparkle. In fact, the glare he was giving off made me shield my eyes with my hand.

The man slowly sauntered up to me on what turned out to be a really skinny mule. He was so tall his feet were dragging on the ground. He was wearing hubcaps tied to his chest and foil wrapped around his arms and legs and he had another hubcap as a shield. On his head he had what looked like a knight's helmet with a covered face piece that flipped up and down and a long white beard sticking out of the bottom of the helmet. He must have been burning up in that getup. As he got closer I did notice a smell of cooked sweat. Sweat alone smells bad enough but to cook it increases its nauseating nature tenfold.

Good afternoon, dear damsel, I am Don Coyote. Have you by chance have you noticed any pesky giants milling about? He asked as I tried not to stare so openly. Actually, I'd have to call it gawking more than staring.

Giants? No, I can honestly say I've not seen any of late. But you've definitely come to the right place. If there's a giant anywhere near here then Doc will know about it, I told him

Excellent, and where may I find this Doc? He inquired.

Doc, I do believe I've found you a comrade in heart, I hollered over to him.

He looked up and gave a slight start when he laid eyes on Don Coyote. He shrugged and put his metal detector down and walked over to us.

Doc, this is Don Coyote and he is in search of some pesky giants, I informed him.

Pesky giants? I've always thought they would be more of a nuisance than pesky. But then again I've not had the pleasure of dealing with a giant. Have there been any sightings in this area? Is that why you're here? Doc asked excitedly.

I'm on a quest, my dear squire. I'm traveling about this great country to insure that the chivalrous ways of the knight are not forgotten, Don answered.

I snorted and said, Good luck with that. Chivalry is not only dead but common courtesy is on life support and the doctors are about to pull the plug.

Don looked at me and drew himself up to his full height, which was a good six feet but he was so skinny it appeared as though he was taller than that, My dear damsel, I do not share your sentiments on today's society. No, I believe that there is good within the general population. It just needs someone to draw it out. The best way to do this is to perform chivalrous acts. This shows by action and not simply by lecturing them. I have noticed that today's youth has a very short attention span,

Yeah, right, but I still think you have your work cut out for you, I told him. I also thought he really needed to take the metal helmet off. It's obviously fried his brain. Though I have to admit that the fact that he thought there were good chivalrous feelings within the general population was even more nuts to me than his looking for giants. That could have been because I have been working for Doc for a number of years now. He's a cryptologist. That means he looks for hidden animals, such as bigfoot, though Doc looks for those indigenous to our region, like jackalopes, giant horny toads and flying pigs. You may ask why flying pigs are indigenous to West Texas. They are because Doc believes our flying pigs are really flying javelins, a wild boar with wings. So giants aren't really that strange sounding. Sigh, I really need to get a life.

So where are the giants? Don asked.

As of the moment I'm not aware of any giants in the area but that doesn't mean they haven't managed to come in under the radar, Doc said while scratching his chin.

If they're giants how the heck could they come in under anything and not be noticed let alone not be seen on radar equipment? I thought it was a logical question.

I don't actually mean I have a radar system and that they haven't shown up on it. It's just a saying. I think giants could easily sneak into the area. They could use the canyons to hide in as they go across the terrain, Doc explained.

So giants are in a perpetual game of hide-n-seek? I asked.

Doc let out a big breath in disgust and made his mustache ruffle. If you were a giant and knew that the government would love to get its hands on you to do all sorts of experiments then you would play hide-n-seek too.

I suppose, but I still think since the land is relatively flat and giants are so big that there really isn't a canyon deep enough to hide one, I pointed out.

The Grand Canyon, Don said.

I had forgotten he was there and he startled me. I beg your pardon?

The Grand Canyon is big enough to conceal a giant, Don expanded.

Oh, yes, right you are. But that's in Arizona and this is Texas. There aren't any canyons that deep or big here. I'm just saying that if there were giants here then we would have seen them, wouldn't we? I inquired.

They are crafty buggers so they could very well hide during the day and then travel at night. They could very well be hidden as a hill or something. So your average person might miss them since they don't know what to look for, Don pointed out.

He's quite right, they are tricky. If you remember your fairy tales they are rather tricky, Doc agreed.

I thought that Jack was the tricky one who managed to get the golden goose away from the giant, I said.

Doc sighed and replied, I've told you before that there is some truth in the stories we have learned throughout our lives. Fairy tales have a bit of truth in them but they are also made for entertainment so they expand on some things, rather than others. They could have very well managed to switch the trickery aspect because regular people want to believe they are smart enough to outsmart a giant. They would hate to think that they were the slow ones who were out witted by a giant. It's been changed in an attempt to give regular humans the security of knowing they are smarter than giants even if they aren't.

Be that as it may, I'm still looking for some giants and if you have any knowledge as to their whereabouts I would greatly appreciate it, Don said.

I saw my chance and, yes, shamelessly I took it. Hey, don't look at me that way. If you had spent the last three weeks in the hot dry heat of Tree, Texas you would have taken the same opportunity

We can always set up a reconnaissance in the area and who knows we might find some for Don to slay, I offered and crossed my fingers. I knew we would spend the time in an air conditioned car instead of in the outside heat. So please let Doc go with the stake out idea. And since the giants traveled at night then we would do the reconnaissance in the cool of the night, how divine would that be?

I'm not too sure we can spare the time to look for giants, Doc explained.

Doc, we've been looking for three weeks and haven't found a single thing. You've looked at the map over and over and you know this is the area featured in the map. Since we haven't found a single thing, the treasure isn't here. There aren't any other places in all of Tree that fit this topography so this is the right place. You know that's true. So why don't you just admit it, the treasure isn't here.

He looked down and I could see he was blushing. Well, that or the heat was finally getting to him.

I know finding the treasure has been a lifelong dream of yours. I know you have been looking for this treasure since childhood and finding the map looked to be means in which to fulfill it, but someone knew where it was and came and got it a long time ago. It's simply not here. If it was here, we would have found something by now. You know I'm right about this, you just don't want it to be true, I told him.

He kicked the ground with the toe of his boot. I waited for him to exclaim, 'But by golly, I want to find the treasure.' He didn't actually do this but I could tell he really wanted to. He finally took a deep breath and sighed. I feel if a job is worth doing it's worth doing right. No, I know the treasure is here and by golly, I'm gonna find it. Piddle.

~~~~~~

Chapter 2

If you learn of any giants in the area I would appreciate it if you would let me know, Don said and mounted his mule. He tipped his helmet to us as though it was a regular hat and he kicked his mule and they set off.

His mule began sauntering off and Doc hollered after him, How can we reach you if we see any?

I will be around, my good squire, so when you see me then you may tell me, Don hollered back.

Great, now I would spend the rest of the day in the hot sun. I watched Don as he headed for the horizon and then grabbed the water bottle. I had been interrupted getting it earlier. I drained the bottle and then went back to my notebook to note that, yet again, no treasure was found today. I could probably have done this the first thing each morning but I figured it would be a jinx so I always waited until just before we called it a day. I went ahead and did it now, just out of disgust. That or maybe the heat was finally getting to me and my brain was going to be as fried as Don Coyote's.

We stayed out there for another couple of hours before Doc decided it would be best to go back to the office. It was such a relief to feel air conditioned air that I just stood there in the doorway and let the cool air wash over my body. Doc bumped into me as he came in.

You could catch a cold that way. If you go from one extreme to another it could affect your health, Doc told me.

A cold would be kinda nice what with the heat wave we're going through at the moment. I might actual enjoy the chills, I informed him. I hoped he would get the message but I thought that might be too subtle for him.

Doc went into his office and shut the door. I sighed and went to my desk to put the boring notes from the day's work into the computer diary Doc had insisted I create in order to have all the facts down for the newspapers when we found the treasure. There's nothing worse than an improperly documented event were his exact words. I sat there after entering 'nothing today, not even a rusty nail.' I knew when Doc reviewed today's notes he would gripe me out for doing a shoddy job but I figured I could ask him just what about the entry isn't the truth.

About an hour later Doc came out of his office and stood at my desk. I chose to ignore him. He finally couldn't take my ignoring him any longer so he loudly cleared his throat.

I finally turned around and asked, May I help you, Doc?

I've been thinking. I have reviewed our notes on the current project and I find that we haven't had the success that I had hoped we would. Since we are much more successful in finding 'hidden creatures' I think that it would be prudent to stop our efforts in the treasure project and instead go back to the original reason I created the Hearne Center for Cryptozoology. I think we need to focus our efforts on the Tree Toogie, he informed me.

The Tree Toogie is a strange creature that Doc and I discovered in the town dump last year. We got video footage of it and have placed it on the web. We received a good number of donations for further study of the Toogie. I have found this to be rather strange simply because the Toogie is the ugliest creature I have ever laid eyes on. It's like a bald blue dog with wings that scares the heck out of me. We've only seen it once but we've collected a good number of stories about sightings from various residents of Tree.

I think that's the best thing. I meant what I had said about the treasure. If it was still there then we would have found something by now. I know that we are searching in the right spot. We've gone over the topography charts and there aren't any other areas that could possibly be where the treasure was buried. We should celebrate the closing of this chapter of our lives by going out to eat. My treat, but you can't buy the most expensive thing on the menu, I added the last part just to emphasize my need for a raise, yet another moment of being too subtle. I really needed to try a more direct approach if I was ever gonna get a raise.

As we were exiting the institute we heard a shout. I turned and saw a rather unusual sight. Don Coyote was being supported by a man who was a lot shorter than Don. Don was leaning so much on the person who was supporting him it made Don appear to have four legs. It was so strange looking that I couldn't help but to laugh. It struck me that this could be one of Doc's strange creatures - the mysterious aluminum foil, four legged limper. Now that's a creature I'd pay to see. But as it would happen I didn't have to pay anything, I was getting the full view, free of charge.

Doc looked at me and shrugged. We headed to the 'creature' to see if we could help. Don's mule was sauntering behind the four legged creature with his head dragging. I was betting the heat had gotten to him.

When we finally got up to the four legs I realized that two of those legs belonged to Puncho. A strange name to be sure but you had to know his background. Puncho was a former