Sir Kay: Sir Kay, #1

By Tara Brume

Wanted: One Knight of the Round Table.  Mystic Quests provided, please bring own armor and steed.  Wizard provided.  Will negotiate pay.
When Kay St. Vincent saw the ad in the paper, she knew this was the job for her, but she had no idea what she was signing up for when she got it.
Meanwhile her dead father keeps popping into her life to scare the bejeebies out of her at every opportunity and her cute neighbor Jack, who trades house cleaning and baking for yard work and car repair, is under suspicion of murder.
Can she do justice to the important job she has taken, solve the mystery of who killed Jack's office manager, prevent the hot detective Carter from throwing Jack in jail, AND keep her father and his new friends in line?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Turas Publishing MT
• Release date: Apr 27, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386340720

Tara Brume

Tara Brume has been figuring out minor mysteries and gentle thrillers since she was in grade school when her aunt introduced her to the King and Queen of Mystery, Agatha Christie and Ellery Queen. She enjoys combining that love with her other love, the mountains of Montana. She knows nothing better to while away a Montana winter day than staring out the window at the snowy peaks considering whodunnit.

Book preview

1

The steady drumming of the rain on the tin gutters woke Kay from a restless sleep.  She was glad to wrestle her way out of the nightmares, but she lay in bed, reluctant to crawl from the warm cocoon of flannel sheets and cozy quilt.  The need to pee finally drove her out.

On her way back to the bedroom, she stood and stared out the bathroom window.  Leaden skies hung over a soggy landscape.  After two straight weeks of rain, standing puddles dotted her small backyard.  She knew the front yard would be even more flooded from the backed-up storm drain down the street.  She made a mental note to call the city once again, for all the good it would do her.  Maybe she could get Jack and some of the other neighbors to call.  She would set up a clearing spell as well.  She'd have to think on exactly what she wanted to accomplish.  Action from the city?  For nature to solve it?  Hmmm.  She'd decide over breakfast.

As she slogged downstairs to make her coffee, she contemplated her upcoming day.  Nothing.  A blank slate.  Well, now that she had the storm drain spell to consider, that wasn't quite true anymore.  While the coffee began emitting its heavenly scent, Kay stepped out the front door to retrieve her sodden newspaper.  For some reason, the paper lady could only deliver it with the plastic sleeve open side up so as to best funnel the elements down onto the paper.  With a sigh, she poured the water out onto the porch.  Once inside, she spread the damp outer sections across her dining room chair backs to dry and be read later.

The inner classified section was the one that interested her most.  She took it and her creamed and sugared coffee and settled at the bar, kicking her slippered feet lazily against the chair rail, perusing the ads for gainful employment. 

It had already been two months since Kay had finished her last temp job.  Her friend Anna's husband Denny had paid her to transfer all of his company's old records into their new computer system.  It had been boring, tedious work, but Anna had enjoyed it.  At six months, it was the type of well paying, long term job she preferred to take.  Unfortunately, most jobs like that came from word of mouth and she couldn't count on staying busy year-round.  She needed something more permanent.

Her father's death four years earlier had left her comfortable financially.  She had a healthy savings account, and she'd been able to make a substantial down payment on a cute three bedroom house in the older section of town.  She liked this side of Bozeman because of all the trees. 

She had given herself a deadline.  It was September 13th and if she didn't have a paying job by September 21st then she was going to make herself go get a job at Walmart as a cashier.  Even if she didn't want a job working in a corporation as a number, working at a job like an automaton, putting in her eight hours, punching the clock.

Kay mused, as she had a hundred times before, that she could always get a job as a waitress, but she didn't want that either.  She'd waitressed in college.  But, as she had a hundred times before, she discarded the idea.  She wasn't 22 anymore, she was 31.  She'd hated coming home night after night smelling chicken fried.  The scent clung to her clothing, skin and hair.  Her face stayed broken out from all the grease.  No, Walmart first, she decided. 

She had gone down and signed up at a couple of the temp agencies in town, but they had all wanted her to put her name on the list for temp-to-hire jobs and those kinds of office positions weren't what she was interested in.  She just wasn't a 9-5 girl.  Working in the same office getting caught up in the office politics and the hard feelings and insanity of the same job year-round, day in-day out.  She just didn't know if she was up to that.  She could do short term assignments, but not lifetime commitments.  She liked finishing a project and then being able to move on.  She wasn't an inbox kind of gal, where she came in and had to complete a number of tasks that showed up in her inbox daily.  And then tomorrow those same tasks all showed up again.  Inbox, outbox, punch the time clock.  She preferred the flexibility of having a project and working toward its eventual end.

She mused about having the sort of job where she made a difference, instead of pushing paperwork.  Nursing.  Now there was a profession where people made a difference.  But Kay knew she didn't want to go back to school.  And as she thought about it, she'd never really felt all that comfortable around sick people.  Besides, her empathetic abilities made it difficult to work in the health care field.  But, she thought, it still would be nice to make a difference in her chosen profession.  She kept scanning the ads. She contemplated putting together a spell or a prayer that brought something to her.  She frowned.  She could ask the ancestors for help, but that way lie difficulties.  What they considered suitable was sometimes iffy. 

She wasn't sure what it was she was looking for exactly, but she hoped she found it before her savings gave out.  At any rate, looking in the paper each day had sort of become a daily routine.

Suddenly, there it was.  Wanted: One Knight of the Round Table.  Mystic Quests provided, please bring own armor and steed.  Wizard provided.  Will negotiate pay.

Brilliant!  This was the position she had been holding out for, she just knew it.  She glanced at the clock on the microwave.  Quarter to nine.  Should be there.  She dialed the number listed.

After taking her name and number, a woman with a slight Southern drawl asked Kay to come in at two tomorrow.  Kay hung up smiling.  She knew this was it.

2

Kay coaxed her '79 Bronco out of the drive and down the water choked street.  It had stopped raining, but the storm drain was still full.  She obviously needed to tweak that spell.  She had opted to go with Nature clearing it, but it looked like she would need to involve a more human element. 

She hoped that the people who had run the ad would appreciate the irony of her bringing her own steed.  Her other car, a '96 Contour, which she normally drove because the price of gas was too high to drive the Bronco daily, was getting its oil changed today.  When he died, her father had left her the red and white rebuilt Bronco.  That hadn't sat well with either of her brothers.  The truck had been their father's pride and joy.  Both pestered Kay about it.  She'd tried to explain why he'd done it.  The times they had sat in the garage and talked about life while he worked on the old truck.  Her helping mostly by handing him tools and listening to him.  But he had listened to her as well.  It was the only time they really communicated.  She knew her mother understood.  Besides, now that he was gone, he wanted to spend time with the Bronco and with her.  Her getting the Bronco assured that.

Kay drove down Willson and then crossed Main to turn left down Mendenhall.  She drove slowly watching for the number the drawling woman had given her yesterday.  She parked behind the old remodeled two story Victorian house.  There were three cars already in the small private lot.  She hoped they didn't belong to other applicants.

Kay walked round the sidewalk to the front porch and entered.  There was a little brass plaque by the front door that read Montana Research Foundation.  That didn't sound very Round Table-ish to Kay.  She hoped they weren't going to try to sell her something.  She'd heard about ads in the classifieds that did that.  Suckered you in with a promise of a job interview when what they wanted was to sell you a free Caribbean Cruise.  Well if this was one of those places, they could forget it. 

Her skepticism must have shown on her face as she walked up to the desk in the front room.  An attractive older woman stood, smiled and offered her hand. 

Ms. St. Vincent?  When she said it, it sounded like Miz.  I'm Mary Ellen Lucas.  You're right on time.  Kay shook the proffered hand but before she could say anything, Ms. Lucas handed her a thick folder of paperwork.  Come with me, please. 

She swept Kay down a short hall to a large room filled with a round conference table surrounded by comfy looking leather chairs. 

Have a seat and fill this paperwork out, please.  This came out as the earlier had, an order rather than a request.

Kay sat and grabbed the pen.  Before filling any of it out, she began flipping through it, studying it.  There were the standard employment forms: I-9, W-2, and other government forms.  Several of the larger packets seemed to be personality tests of some sort.  Kay decided to look at those last.  The one that intrigued her most was a non-disclosure form.  It seemed like a standard corporate form, but she read through it anyway. 

She laughed as she signed it.  She wasn't sure what it was she was agreeing to not disclose since all she knew about the job so far was that the rather formidable receptionist's name was Mary Ellen Lucas.  She decided to wait on the actual employment paperwork until she knew more about the job.  No need filling it out unless she had to.  But the tests, well, those they might want to look at before they hired her.  Those were probably the meat of this process.  They'd have her fill those out and then give her a call next week after feeding the results through some computer.  It was a research firm after all.  She settled in and began filling in dots with the provided pencil.

It took her about thirty minutes to finish all the tests.  Her favorite one was the one that asked her in various ways every ten questions if she thought it was acceptable to smoke pot on the job.  That one made her laugh.  The other questions were almost as good.  She wanted to fill out an essay response that said, No, it's not okay to smoke pot, drink, watch internet porn, steal or otherwise commit felonies or misdemeanors on company time.  She felt that would pretty much cover that particular test. 

The other tests were more about personality traits.  She liked them as well.  She hoped they would let her see the results.  Like most people, she had taken tests like that online, but who knew how accurate they were. 

When she finished, she looked around the room wondering if she should fill out the other paperwork or not.  Dad? She quietly asked the empty air.  A hazy figure came into being in the chair next to her, the sunbeams streaming in the room filtering through it caused the figure to look like a hologram.  What is it, Pumpkin? 

What do you think?  Should I fill this employment paperwork out, too?  Kay was whispering now and watching the door.

Can't hurt anything.  You are here anyway.  Might as well, he said with his typical laconic attitude.

She shrugged and began filling it out, he had a point.  It only took her a few minutes; she'd done it so often.  Single, zero.  Yes, she was a citizen of the United States.

After that she looked at her watch and wondered if she should take the paperwork to Miz Mary Ellen Lucas.  Her problem was solved when she heard the light tap-tap of heels on the wood floor of the hallway.  Miz Lucas was coming to check on her. 

Can I take your paperwork?

Sure.  I just finished.  Are you interviewing me?

Oh, no.  We have someone else doing that.  Do you have about 20 minutes to wait while we review this?  You can wait in here or out in the reception area if you'd like.

Here is fine unless you need the room.  Kay decided that the soft leather chairs would be more comfortable than the hardbacked ones in the reception area.

Here is fine.  There are books on the bookcase.  Help yourself.  I'll be back for you soon.

3

W hat do you think about this setup?  Kay was whispering to her father again.  As usual, he didn't answer her.  He typically only talked to her when he felt like it, not when she did.

She shrugged and took out the e-reader she carried with her and settled in to wait.  She wriggled deeper into the wingback chair.  The dark leather felt like butter against her skin.  She wasn't an expert on such things, but she was pretty sure this was the real deal.  Glancing around the room, she noted what looked like a gilt framed C.M. Russell oil painting hanging over a river rock faced fireplace directly across the room from her.  On the rough-hewn timber mantle sat a collection of wicker balls in different sizes and colors.  In the corner of the room to the right of the fireplace was a large and very real fichus tree.  It seemed to be thriving in the sunlight that streamed in the large western windows that ran along the entire wall. 

Underneath the windows a low bookcase stood the length of the room.  It was filled with an eclectic assortment of books and what Kay thought of as mountain lodge chic knickknacks.  There was a bundle of what looked like authentic arrows tied with some sort of grass and fletched with real feathers.  There was also a feathered mask of some kind propped up on a stand.  It was very fierce looking.  Kay wondered