The Durley Incident

By J. M. Davis

Photographic proof of Bigfoot and a ten million dollar reward bring thousands of outsiders to Bowden, a small town isolated deep in the Ozark Mountains. In his thirty-plus years of service, the town’s veteran sheriff, Hank Logan, has never had to solve a serious crime.

While men with high-powered rifles, camera crews, and curiosity seekers, living in tents and RVs, continue to set up camp around Bowden, Sheriff Logan and his new deputy are tasked with finding a missing farmer. A photo from a motion activated wildlife camera leads everyone to believe the farmer and his dog were taken by a dangerous creature roaming the area. After a search within a five mile radius of the missing farmer’s home results in finding no other clues, or John's body, the sheriff suspects the farmer may still be alive and hopes he can find him in time. The sheriff knows something about the sixty-year-old farmer the outsiders don't: John is one of the best trackers in the country, and if he's on the trail, he won't stop until he finds that creature.

And the sheriff won’t stop until he finds John.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J. M. Davis
• Release date: Feb 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311204073

J. M. Davis

Jim Davis is the author of Portrait of Conspiracy, Tough As They Come, A Woman To Die For, Murder and Mayham, The Ghost of Leonard Korn, The Durley Incident, No Tears For Jack, Prom Friday, The Storekeeper, and The Last Violin.Over a period of two decades, he traveled to twenty foreign countries and made the first cellular telephone call in the country of Russia. In 1988, he thought he'd found Elvis alive on the Island of Tortola. Awakened from a dream, he learned an Elvis Impersonator had begun singing in the bar located directly beneath his second floor room.Jim lives with his wife in the Boston Mountains. He writes mystery/suspense novels, novellas, and short stories.

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THE DURLEY INCIDENT

J. M. Davis

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2016 by J. M. Davis

Cover design by Donna Hale

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Dedication

To my wonderful wife, our two amazing children, and our grandchildren.

Table of Contents

THE DURLEY INCIDENT

About the author

Excerpt: PORTRAIT OF CONSPIRACY

THE DURLEY INCIDENT

Sheriff Hank Logan’s new deputy, Claude Worsham, threw the door open wide and charged into the small office space allotted to the law enforcement for Whippet County.

All taken care of, Sheriff.

Claude closed the door, removed his western-style straw hat, and hung it on a hook next to the entrance.

How was she? the sheriff asked, making his way across the room to the coffee maker his wife had given him three years earlier on his birthday, after the old one gave out and stopped working.

Pretty upset when I got there. I led the mule out of her garden, tied him off, and then called Mr. Parker like you told me. He came right over and got it. By the way, how’d you know that was his mule?

He topped his cup off with coffee. There are only six mules in the county. Tom’s farm is a little less than a mile from Lillian’s place. I figured Tom was a good place to start.

Claude nodded. Oh, well that makes sense.

How many cups of coffee did she make you drink before you could leave?

Three. You were right about her being lonely. I let her talk a good long while, before I acted like I needed to get back here.

It appeared the new deputy might work out after all. He’d had reservations about hiring Claude, a young man with a high-school diploma, but short on ambition. The field of applicants narrowed to one when it turned out Claude had been the only person in the county interested enough to fill out an application. Times had changed. Most young men and women wanted to leave the country life to get a college education or a good paying job as soon as they finished school. Claude had been the one exception. On the application form he had written his reason for wanting to be a deputy sheriff. He liked a low stress lifestyle.

Hoping to retire in a year or