Nubbin but Trouble: Mercy Mares Mystery, #5

By Ava Mallory

He's ornery. He's grouchy. He's missing.

Nubbin doesn't like to be told what to do. He especially doesn't like to be told what not to do.

Determined to keep things that way, he slips out of the nursing home and heads for bigger pastures. There are two problems with his plan: It's the middle of winter and a band of brazen criminals are on the loose.

Mercy has a sweet spot for her former patient. When she learns that he's vanished, she drops everything to search for him, but the sly octogenarian doesn't want to be found.

Can she find him before he succumbs to the frigid temperatures, or worse, falls prey to something far more sinister?

Nubbin but Trouble is book five in the Mercy Mares Mysteries. It features a traveling nurse with a knack for trouble and a heart of gold. With a band of misfits of all ages by her side, she's a force to be reckoned with and a sight to see. Follow her adventures as she chases crooks, criminals, and the occasional curmudgeon in this laugh-out-loud medical cozy mystery series that pays homage to nurses everywhere.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ava Mallory
• Release date: Jul 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201279752

Ava Mallory

Ava Mallory is brilliant, worldly and multi-talented - in her dreams. In reality, she spends her days catering to the often nonsensical, utterly impossible, never-ending needs of four children between the ages of 24 and 10.  When she completes every task on their "Mom, can-you-do" list, she sneaks off into her home office - most often without sleep, but always with coffee & chocolate in hand - and writes until her brain and her body finally give way or one of the many streaming television programs she's addicted to returns with new episodes. Either way, words make it on the page and her fans will not stage a revolt.  Currently, Ava is hard at work on future Mercy Mares novels and developing two new Cozy Mystery series'. 

Book preview

NUBBIN BUT TROUBLE

Mercy Mares Mystery

Book 5

AVA MALLORY

Copyright 1st Edition @2015, 2nd Edition 2023 Ava Mallory. All Rights Reserved

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

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Website: https://writeravamallory.wixsite.com/avamallory

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Epilogue

Chapter One

Just five minutes into my much-deserved ‘stay-cation’ and the promise of rest was about to come to fruition. No more chasing bad guys for me. I’d officially hung up my sleuthing hat, so to speak, and settled back into my normal – maybe not that normal – way of life. Just me, my lovable yet lazy dog Barney, and a stack of books and movies so high, I could barely see over them to watch them on my brand-new flat screen T.V.

Nope. There would be no tracking clues and following leads for me. Two, maybe three, weeks of absolute nothingness is just what the doctor ordered. I should know. I’ve been a nurse for well over twenty years. I’m qualified to determine if someone was experiencing burnout and a little something I liked to call ‘fed-up-ness’.

We finally did it, Barney. I looked over the top of the magazine I held in my hands to see Barney’s ever-present sleeping grin. He sat in the spot that had quickly become his refuge – under my coffee table with a blanket that had been made for him by one of his many former owners or pseudo-owners at the nursing home. That’s where I met him nearly six months ago.

Barney is a Pg by breed but a definite lackadaisical soul by choice. While some dogs flourished with attention and the excitement of crowds, Barney preferred the peace and quiet. Living among senior citizens as he had for several years of his life will do that to even the spryest of individuals. Let’s just say old Barney to it to an extreme. He was committed to his stance and no promise of biscuits, chew toys, or bribing would make him change his position. Other than the requisite morning, afternoon, and evening jaunt to tend to his needs, he didn’t require nor actively seek out any form of formal exercise.

Together, we made for an interesting duo. You see, up until about an hour ago, I wasn’t inclined to actively search for anything that would render me out of breath or with completely avoidable muscle strain.

Somehow, between my required cup of morning coffee and a thorough read-through of my local newspaper, The Lake Villa Post, I’d inadvertently volunteered to participate in a group exercise class with my elderly next-door neighbor and good friend Margie, who, truth be told, could run circles around people half her age. That’s what surprises me the most – I’d allowed her to convince me into joining a gym and essentially torturing myself three, maybe four days a week, depending on if I was in town at the time while simultaneously swearing off any form of physical exertion beyond what I was paid to do, or barring being chased by a madman.

Life as a traveling nurse luckily didn’t afford me much opportunity to take part in group exercise classes, so I don’t have to make up excuses as to why I didn’t exercise. I had a readymade bonafide excuse and I’d argue that up and down until the day I die. I just hoped I didn’t die due to lack of exercise.

Now, I’m not against exercise per se. I just didn’t like the idea of breaking a sweat any more than necessary. My job required that I spend a considerable amount of time on my feet and from time to time chasing the occasional noncompliant patient who became unruly for reasons beyond my control.

What shall we watch first, old pal? I asked my sleeping pooch. A romantic comedy or a thriller? Which would you prefer?

I reached for the stack of movies I’d been dying to see for months and rolled my eyes at the sound of my house phone ringing again. If I were a narcissist, I’d say the world revolved around me. It had been ringing off the hook since I woke up almost three hours ago. I’d answered the first few calls, then it came to be too much to deal with. One of the many cons (or perks in my case) of working out of town most of the time was not having to deal with bill collectors. Not that I had a lot of bills. No more than your average American. But I had enough to ensure I’d have to remain in the workforce for the next fifty or sixty years, give or take a decade or two.

What do you say we turn that ringer off for a week or two? I asked Barney.

My cell phone vibrated in my robe pocket.

Who is this now?

I made a mental checklist of all the people in my inner circle and their current whereabouts as far as I knew. Ruby, my best friend, and supervisor was away at a nursing conference this week. Her husband, Hank, a psychiatrist, was also out of town on business this week. My daughter, Diana, had just returned to New York City, where she was a grad student at Bristol University and working full-time as a buyer for a car rental company. I didn’t know any reason why she’d call so soon after having just left California.

I looked at my cell phone and recognized the number immediately.

Hello, I said.

Hey, sorry to bother you, but I have a problem here, Charlie, my friend, and some would say, my future love interest, said.

I thought I knew what would come next. It was well known that the illustrious sheriff, Charlie Wagner, took pleasure in teasing me and poking fun at just about everything I did in life. He and I met while I was on assignment in western Nebraska. Some time had passed since then, but it didn’t change the fact that Charlie had come really close to arresting me for murder at the time. Luckily, I had the wherewithal to prove my innocence and help him find the real killer, but I digress...

To my surprise, Charlie didn’t follow up his comment with any of his typical off-color remarks or his special brand of humor.

Are you there, Mercy? he asked.

I cleared my throat. Yes, I’m here. Why do you sound so serious, Charlie? Did somebody make fun of your country accent? I teased, but he didn’t take the bait. I wanted a little back and forth. He kept the same serious tone.

Whoa! Who crawled up his attitude barometer so early in the morning?

Sorry, grouch. I’m the one who should be upset. You’re interrupting my vacation, remember? I reminded him of that fact since he was one of the ones who’d urged me to take a break after several months of working nonstop.

Cut it out! I don’t care about your vacation right now. We have a problem. A big problem. He sighed. I didn’t want to tell you this, but you’re not making this conversation any easier, so I might as well get it over with. He paused and sighed again. Nubbin is gone.

My heart leapt into my throat. Nubbin was my favorite patient of all time, but after getting to know him, he’d quickly become one of my favorite people in the world. I couldn’t imagine my life without him in it.

My voice shook as I asked, What do you mean gone? What happened to him?

Charlie’s tone changed. He’s gone, Mercy. As in, he eloped. He took off int the middle of the night last night.

I slapped Charlie’s chest. Don’t do that to me. I thought you meant he was dead. I clutched my chest. Are you trying to give me a heart attack? That’s not how you tell someone their friend is missing. I couldn’t catch my breath. My heart beat out of control. My lungs constricted. My hands shook.

Nubbin lived in a nursing home, and at eighty-something years old, he wasn’t in the best of health.

I’d taken care of him for three months while working in western Nebraska and was very familiar with his diagnosis and medications. He wouldn’t last long out in the wild by himself.

We’re looking for him. I have my team on it. He couldn’t have gotten too far. We’ll find him, Charlie said.

How could this happen? He’s on a locked unit. There are cameras and people everywhere. How did no one see or hear him? It’s not like he’s a tiny, quiet man. I couldn’t believe it. There were supposed to be security measures in place to prevent this sort of thing from happening.

I don’t know, Mercy. That’s what we need to figure out after we find him, Charlie said.

My hands shook violently. Anger wouldn’t come close to explaining what I felt. I knew the ins and outs of Valley Retirement Estates and knew just how lazy and irresponsible the staff could be, especially where Nubbin Schmeckpepper was concerned. He was their problem child. He was the one they avoided working with when they could. No one would miss him. No one would chase him.

He had a reputation for being a bit of a curmudgeon. I don’t know much about the history between him and a few of his caretakers, but I knew enough to know they weren’t necessarily fond of each other and had no plan in place to fix the situation anytime soon. In fact, on the day that I had the pleasure of making Nubbin’s acquaintance, I stepped into the unit to find the portly giant waving a cane in the nursing staff’s faces.

While some people would shy away from someone who threatened your coworkers, I couldn’t help but intervene, and intervene I did. That sealed the deal for my relationship with Nubbin. He instantly liked me. He had a funny way of showing it, but I knew it dep down in my soul, nonetheless.

Over the last six months, he and I exchanged many conversations. Most of them were not entirely coherent, given his memory impairment, but all were worth their weight in gold. Hearing this