Troublemaker Read online

  Good lord! What a turnaround! For seven years she’d been digging herself out of a deep hole, then like a lightning bolt she was once more secure and solvent. The relief was so overwhelming she felt giddy and pulled to the side of the road until she’d settled down some. She hugged Tricks, which earned her a lick. “Guess what, baby girl,” she said as she stroked the dog’s lush fur. “You’re going to be getting a new stuffed toy to play with. How does that sound, huh? Do you want a new baby?”

  Tricks tilted her head back in enjoyment of the stroking, her eyes half-closed and a blissful golden-retriever smile on her face.

  Bo’s mind whirled with things she could do, one of which was buy a new vehicle that was more suitable for her, but the past seven years had taught her a lot and she immediately rejected the idea. No way. She didn’t need a new car. She might want one, but she didn’t need one. The Jeep was running fine, and it was paid for. No, it wasn’t the most comfortable or practical choice for her, it had some miles on it, but she was used to it and she couldn’t see spending money she didn’t need to spend. That was how she’d gotten into such a financial mess to begin with. Likewise, she didn’t need a new wardrobe. Or jewelry. Or a bigger TV.

  Everything she needed—a home, friends, a job, Tricks—she already had.

  Buying Tricks a new stuffed animal sounded like a great way to celebrate. Other than that, she’d use the entire hundred and fifty thousand to retire the last of her credit-card debt and make a big payment on her mortgage. She might refinance, she thought—but if she did, it would be for a shorter length of time. With the credit-card debt gone, she could easily pay extra on the principal as well as start saving for when she actually needed a new car.

  With seven years of hard work she’d bought herself some wiggle room and relief, finally. It was kind of annoying that Axel, of all people, had provided her with the means to jump out of the hole.

  Never mind how annoying it was. She’d jump anyway.

  When her heart rate settled down, she pulled back onto the highway and finished the drive to town. The light snow had melted into the occasional white patch, and a weak sun was trying to break through the dismal gray sky. Traffic was on the light side; evidently people were waiting until the snow was completely gone, and the temperature more than two degrees above freezing before they ventured out on their Friday errands. She passed a few people heading out for lunch a little early and greeted them with a honk and a wave. She made it all the way to the second traffic light before someone yelled, “Tricks!” and the royal procession began.

  Tricks ate it up, beaming and giving the occasional happy “Woof!” when her name was called. She knew the routine and was more than happy to play her part.

  The school principal, Evan Cummins, was leaving the bank where his wife, Lisa, was a vice president of commercial loans. The bank was small enough that she was likely the vice president of commercial loans, but the title was nice and Lisa well liked. Evan waved his arm to flag Bo down, and she pulled to the curb and rolled down her window. Evan darted across the street and leaned down to look in at her and Tricks. “Morning, Chief,” he said cheerfully. “Hi, Tricks.”

  “Good morning,” Bo replied. “Is anything wrong?”

  “No, everything’s okay that I know of, which usually means something will blow up in my face as soon as I get back to the school. I just wanted to ask you if it would be okay for Tricks to ride on the Seniors’ Float in the Heritage Parade. She was the kids’ number one pick.”

  The mental image tickled Bo, and she began laughing. “Will she have to wear a tiara?” The Heritage Parade was an annual event put on by the town, held in May just before the end of school so they could guarantee the kids’ participation. They got out of school to decorate the floats, and the competition between the classes was fierce. The day included an antique car show, a crafts fair, and different food vendors set up in the small town park so people could picnic without having to bring their own food. There were, of course, a Heritage King and Queen picked from the senior class.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised,” he replied. He was a pleasant-looking man in his mid-forties, brown hair and brown eyes, with a dimple beside his mouth when he smiled. All the kids and teachers in their small school seemed to like him, with the occasional hiccup in popularity whenever some of the kids got in trouble. He was a local, which to her way of thinking was a big plus because he knew everyone and the current set of parents were likely his own schoolmates, which meant he got more trust than an outsider would have.

  Bo thought about it. Tricks loved attention, but she loved it only when Bo was nearby. “I don’t know that she’d stay on the float if I weren’t there. And, no, I don’t want to ride on a float. She might do okay if we practiced, but more than likely she’d jump off the float and start looking for me.”

  Evan made a series of thoughtful expressions as he ran possibilities through his head. “How about if you’re hidden where no one can see you? On the float, I mean. I don’t want her to get hurt jumping off a moving flatbed trailer. The kids really want her there. I think they’d crown her queen if she attended school.”

  When Tricks was just a year old, Evan had talked Bo into attending Career Day at the school and bringing Tricks along. The gregarious dog had pranced into the redbrick building as if she owned it, bestowed her tennis ball on select students for them to throw for her, cuddled, licked, and generally charmed all the kids.

  Bo hesitated. “Let me think about it.” She really didn’t want to spend an hour or so crouched on a slow-moving float, especially when there wasn’t any guarantee Tricks would sit prettily even with Bo nearby. She sighed. Oh hell, of course she’d do it, if Tricks would cooperate. “We’d need to do a practice run or two, to see if she’d do it. She might hate the commotion.”

  Then again, when had Tricks ever hated being the center of attention? Nevertheless, Bo wasn’t going to spring anything on her that was that far outside her experience.

  “I’ll get something set up,” he promised and lightly slapped the door frame as he straightened. “Thanks, Chief. I’ll tell the kids it’s a maybe, and it depends on Tricks.”

  She rolled up the window and continued down the street toward the police station, but before she reached there she saw Jesse’s patrol car come racing up the street and slide to a stop in front of Doris Brown’s bakery. He leaped out of the car and ran inside.

  Unless he had a cake emergency, Bo thought, something was wrong. She pulled to the curb on the opposite side of the street, let the window down a couple of inches so Tricks would have fresh air, and dashed across the street to join him. Had someone had a heart attack? Just as she reached the sidewalk, she heard a scream and a loud crash and her heart jumped; she jerked the door open and rushed inside.

  At first the scene was too chaotic to make sense. Jesse and a man were rolling on the floor, throwing punches. Miss Doris stood behind the counter, her hands clapped to her cheeks with her eyes wide and panicky while she emitted a series of little cries like a squeaky car alarm going off. Her granddaughter, Emily, sat crying on the floor with a hand held over her left eye. The glass in one of the counters was broken, as was a table. A customer, Brandwyn Wyman, had grabbed up one of the chairs and was circling the two men fighting, ready to clobber one of them in the head if she got an open shot.

  All Bo knew was that if a fight was going on, she was on Jesse’s side. Without giving herself time to think and chicken out, she gulped once and threw herself into the fray and locked her arm under the other guy’s chin, pulling back as hard as she could. If nothing else, at least she could distract him and give Jesse a chance to get him handcuffed.

  The man bucked and threw himself sideways, trying to dislodge her. The impact with the floor jarred her, hard, made her vision blur and sound fade. She’d never been in a physical fight before and wasn’t prepared for the shock of impact—it was, well, shocking—but she tightened her arm and held on, reaching over his shoulder to clamp her free hand around