Clearwater Hunter

By Al Rennie

A young woman finds her prince that never was. She needs to disengage, but the prince threatens pay back if she tries. Joe to the rescue! Susan Whipple walks away from her smothering family. The family comes to CHIPs to find her if only to know that she is safe. Joe's horse trainer asks a favour for his new wife. The boys learn a code word. Sam learns the truth about Dan. Another romp in paradise!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Al Rennie
• Release date: Mar 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310835629

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 Hunter

by

Al Rennie

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2014 by Al Rennie

All Rights Reserved.

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

Image Credit: photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/49889874@N05/7809948764/ marc falardeau via http://photopin.com photopin http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ cc and photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/micadew/9137952417/ micadew via http://photopin.com photopin

Formatting Credit: Lucinda K. Campbell – as always, just great. And thank you for sorting out the problem with Smashwords for me.

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 said he would be publishing Clearwater Diaries later this year.

Turkey is a bit of a crap shoot right now, so I’m not holding my breath on that one.

Thank You

Ilker

Acknowledgements:

I’d like to thank the growing number of readers who are enjoying the Clearwater Series and who have sent me their kind and encouraging comments. I have enjoyed meeting a number of those people on Face Book. As well, I have been tickled to read the many very interesting, kind and informative e-mails sent my way. California Michael is a special regular correspondent who I have enjoyed; he supplied the joke I used in Danger and another one can be found in Killer. A few of the other regulars include: Debby, Sandra, Ana, Dwight, Diane, Warren, Angie, Kathy, Pat, Bonnie, Edd, Carol, Cheerie, Dee, Donna, RJ, Steve and Merle. Thank you. Elaine, your water colour painting looks Florida fantastic, and Paul the Pelican enjoys a special place on my office wall watching my every move. Thank you again.

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 to the Clearwater crew is very gratifying. Thank you Joe and Mia fans, whoever and wherever you are. You are making this ride so much fun. Let me assure the readers who have written asking for more Mia and Joe – I am writing as fast as I can bubbas!

My three excellent editors have returned again 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 editing yet another novel. Their efforts have made the story much better and the content easier for you, the reader, to decipher. The cheque is in the mail!

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 police officer and working in the legal system. In this episode, the questions were regarding hostage situations and interrogation technique. For dramatic purposes and short term memory reasons, there are factual errors in my representation of what we discussed.

Kudos to Skye Graham, she is the critical care nurse who assists with all things medical. She also happens to be a Joe and Mia fan and my sister-in-law.

And thanks to Cec Knight, old poker buddy and science teacher for his help with genetics. His words also make up part of a dialogue found in this book. If there are mistakes in the accuracy of my representation of genetic complexities, it’s on me. I’m your huckleberry.

The joke about the man with one hand was supplied by my five year old grandson, Jace. Thanks buddy!

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 Hunter, 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 or disgust you. Sorry about that. In any case, good reading bubba - enjoy.

Best Regards,

Doc

P.S. – If any of you feel a strong need to communicate with me – try

[e-mail] or [e-mail]

If you would like to see pictures of the Clearwater Beach setting, visit my revised website courtesy of Chance Faulkner Photography. I have included photos of Cooters, Wings, the Jolley Trolley and a few shots taken from Doc and Mia’s condo in Sand Key. If you really look closely enough, you might even see Doc hanging out at the marina. alrennie.com

NOTE: If you are new to this series, this is not the title for you to start with. From Clearwater Killer forward, there is an assumption that you have met some of the regular characters in your reading of the earlier novels. There is no point in me repeating the same detailed descriptive information on an ongoing basis. If you want an introduction to Joe and Mia, go to Clearwater Journals. That is where the couple first meet. At that time, I did not enjoy the luxury of the editors I have now, so there are typos etc. that I have been too lazy to go back and repair. But it is free. The language is rougher and the humour is less evident. If you want lighter fare, try Clearwater Ambush. In one section of that book, Joe visits an A.I. Clinic. My youngest daughter, age – adult - claims that she wet her pants laughing so hard as she was reading those pages. Embarrassing…you bet! Jeez!

Annie’s Amendment – she’s blonde!

The Clearwater Series in the sequence the titles were written.

1) Clearwater Journals

2) Clearwater Diaries

3) Clearwater Ambush

4) Clearwater Abduction

5) Clearwater Heat

6) Clearwater Kiss Off

7) Clearwater Showdown

8) Clearwater Magic

9) Clearwater Intrigue

10) Clearwater Danger

11) Clearwater Predator

12) Clearwater Extortion

13) Clearwater Killer

14) Clearwater Oops!

15) Clearwater Crazy

16) Clearwater Undercover

17) Clearwater Hunter (original title was to be Betrayal)

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, and Daisy at Backwaters on Sand Key. That’s some tattoo she has on her left thigh eh? But, whatever else you do, don’t start chatting with Captain Frankie Donner at the marina; you’ll lose hours of your holiday time.

A few Reader Responses to Clearwater Series:

On the advice of critics, I have limited the number of reader responses. The suggestion was that no one reads them anyway. Apologies to those cut.

I have truly enjoyed reading this series, and hope you plan on taking Joe, Mia, Coop and Ida May further. I'm anxiously awaiting another installment. Corrina Wilke - a Doc Holiday fan (I'm your huckleberry lol)

just to let you know I just finished your newest book in the Clearwater series,… it was great…lol…best series I ever read…keep on…Sandra Orndorff

Al: Just keep them coming! Clearwater is a great series. The Characters are becoming part of the family!…Edd Jenkins

Looking forward to reading the next adventures of Joe and Mia…I read Intrigue and Danger in three days! Keep up the great work Al!!! Angie Day

Hi Al, I just finished Clearwater Extortion, and I loved it. I hope you’re working on the next book, because I can’t wait to see how things go for Jeremy and the boys with all of the new and exciting things happening in their lives. Thank you Al for giving us such fun and interesting characters to read about…

Love the books, can’t put them down and I even find myself slipping into some of the phrases!!! Not sure that will always be a good thing though! Carol

I read the book in one sitting. Great characters, great plot could not put it down. Love the part where he fell in the grave, very funny. I know you are writing another book because we have to find out what was in the safe. I wish I had a Joe in my family lol. Let us know when it's available; I might have to get a Kindle to get it quicker. Waiting patiently… Bonnie Walston

Babe, call the hospital. I’ve gone blind. Everything is so dark… Cracked me up!!! Just finished Oops and again you hit it out of the park-grand salami, best of the best!!! Rock on Rennie!!

Debby Charles

Travis McGee was the old Joe Holiday. You have really done a great job! Just when I thought it was over by reading Killer, you surprised me with another. Great job!!! I’m enjoying this series more than any I’ve read in years. I’m turning as many people as possible to it, and they all seem to be hooked. Please keep writing, and fast. Greg Martin

Just finished Crazy and wanted to let you know, you still got it!! Stay healthy and keep writing. Steve Owle

Chapter 1

Monday January 6th, 2014 – Life is Almost Normal

It’s been kind of quiet lately, Billy Ray said glancing over at me as he fed five fresh Remington 357 High Terminal shells into the new Ruger GP 100 revolver he had been given at Christmas by Santa Claus, aka Myrtle Bing, his wife, and local Homeland Security District Supervisor.

We’re in Kidd’s Gun Shop and Range, big guy; there’s nothing too quiet about that, I replied loudly trying to be heard over the gun blasts of too many shooters (men, women and kids) taking out the remnants of their holiday frustration.

If Mr. VISA and Mrs. MASTERCARD walked into Kidd’s right now, they would be blasted to hell and back in only a few seconds.

Yeah, but you know what I mean, like at CHIPs, (CHIPs equals Cooper Holiday Investigations and Protection where we work.)

Billy would be correct. After the crazy events of the days leading to the Thanksgiving long weekend, business, at least on the investigation side of things, had fallen off. There was still the legal support work we did for our major employer, Bob Morse, lawyer extraordinaire, (just ask him), but not much else had come through the door or called looking for help. The protection side had remained strong with a number of three or four day gigs lined up in the weeks ahead. The guy who runs that side of the business, Doug Willsie, has been in some heavy rest and recovery after almost having his lights put out by a very nasty individual who now resides in hell. Doug had only returned to work for a few days at the end of last week before he took off on a Hawaii vacation with his live-in girlfriend, Eliza. Doug has travelled and seen a fair bit of the world in his life. He was fairly blasé about the whole flying, sight-seeing and room service in a five star hotel deal. By way of contrast, Eliza had never been out of the Tampa Bay area in her entire life and had survived on minimum wage throughout most of that time. This was her first trip on an airplane and her first stay in a luxurious hotel. In the days leading up to their trip, she had been like a little kid going off to see Disneyworld, Sea World and the circus all at the same time. Billy Ray had suggested to Doug that he could save the cost of her ticket because he really didn’t think Liza would need an airplane to get to Hawaii; she was on such a natural high.

The fact that it had been so light in the labour department was the reason I had time to spend with Billy working on his shooting skills and breaking in his new handgun. We had invited Janille along thinking she might enjoy the break from the occasional secretarial and reception job that she does in the office when she bothers to show up for work. She had told us that she would sooner have a frontal lobotomy performed with a dull butter knife than be seen with the two of us at a gun range. I was still working out what her problem was. Maybe it was the black white thing or the gay straight deal or maybe it was the embarrassment of being seen with Billy Ray Boyle at a gun range.

The big guy hits almost everything except the target whenever he shoots. Doug had been working with him up until the Thanksgiving shootout and had told me that there had been some marginal improvement. I was hoping that if my new technique worked, poor marksmanship for Billy Ray would all be a bad memory somewhere in the past. I had shown him a clip of Howard Darby shooting on You Tube. Mr. Darby is or was the fastest gun guy going. He was in competition at a quick draw contest in New Mexico. Billy had studied the video carefully and then looked at me and said, He’s real fast, uh?

Mia might have said, Duh, earth to Billy; it’s a fast draw contest; he wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t fast. But that is Mia, who has on occasion demonstrated all the sensitivity of a toilet seat. I had simply said, Yep… but watch the way he shoots. That`s the important part.

He doesn’t hold the gun with two hands like all these other guys shooting at the range do. He shoots from the hip and doesn’t even aim like they do.

And yet he hits what he’s shooting at. That’s what we’re going to try for. We’re going to take the thinking part out of it.

At that moment Dave Kidd, the congenial ex-cop owner of the place waddled up to us. I hadn’t seen him since last October, but I’d heard that he had lost quite a bit of weight. Maybe I had been misinformed.

Hey, Joe, Billy, Happy New Year guys… how’s the new gun working out for you, Billy? The missus was some excited about giving you that 357 Ruger for Christmas.

The gun is good, Dave Billy said, but I still have a few problems shooting in the traditional way though. That`s why we`re here today. Joe is going to show me a new way of shooting.

Kidd’s eyes shot open and his eyebrows went up like he had never heard anything so incredible. In fact, Billy’s poor marksmanship was legendary in this part of Florida. Really…? A new way of shooting, you say? What way would that be?

Dave Kidd was studying the two of us carefully, and he was wearing a big worrisome frown. I believe the word is consternation.

Yeah, Joe has me trying to shoot like the fast draw guys.

That upped the ante. A new look of genuine concern landed on Dave Kidd’s face, Really… and when were you going to try out this new gun experiment… and where?

Now… right here, Billy Ray said innocently as he checked with me.

I nodded in agreement.

Dave looked from Billy to me and back to Billy.

I’d like to see that…I think, Kidd said, just a second while I get the people at the next couple of lanes to safety.

I thought Dave Kidd was joking and then was surprised when I realized that he wasn’t. It was sort of like Janille’s rejection of our offer earlier, only different.

When Kidd nodded that we were good to go from about ten feet behind and off to the side of us, I took Billy