Clearwater Danger

By Al Rennie

Joe has to deal with a personal request and handles it in a most peculiar way. Bob Morse needs Fred and Joe to investigate a client charged with manslaughter. CHIPs hires a new and colourful character who has a few personal problems of his own. An interesting letter arrives from Europe. Janille needs a new car. The new neighbours pose a few violent problems. Just another week in Paradise.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Al Rennie
• Release date: Feb 20, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301041541

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 Danger

By Al Rennie

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2013 by Al Rennie

All Rights Reserved.

Image Credit: Cover photo credit: www.flickr.com/photos/cmogle/3185908153/ conorwithonen via photopin creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Cover Credit: Rita Toews – probably the most caring, patient and inventive cover creator ever! And she’s tough too!!!! She has to be – she lives in Winnipeg!

Formatting Credit: L.K. Campbell – as always just great – and thank you for the Kindle stuff and the kind and generous compliment about my singing voice!

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 is publishing Clearwater Diaries

later this year.

Thank You

Acknowledgements:

I’d like to thank the growing number of readers who are enjoying the Clearwater Series and who have sent me their kind comments – even the woman who wrote to tell me that the ending to Clearwater Heat ‘sucked’ and that there had better be another one available. I also enjoyed hearing from California Michael who sent me a joke that he thought I might like to use. It’s in this book; see if you can spot it.

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 is gratifying. Thank you Joe and Mia fans, whoever and wherever you are.

I’d like to thank my wife, Marsha and daughter, Jane as well as Annmarie Schwanke for their masterful work in editing this novel. Their efforts have made the story much better and the content easier for you, the reader, to decipher. I would also like to thank them for a couple of their content suggestions, but maybe not all. A few of their ideas were just plain dumb. Example: Maybe Joe and Mia could give away all of their money and go off to join the circus with Bozo and Sean or go to Africa and become missionaries. When I asked what Joe and Mia might do with Sean and Bozo working for a circus or acting as missionaries in Africa, they looked at me like that should be intuitively obvious and walked away. I’m not certain they’ll be back to edit again.

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 dumb questions about aspects of being a cop and working in the legal system. As well, he tried to point out a few of the differences between the law in Ontario and in Florida. If there are errors in my representation of what we discussed, the fault is entirely mine. I must have been laughing too hard at the time I wrote down the information. Cheers Ken!

Warnings:

Note to the kid who keeps e-mailing me with his suggestions – not all of them are too appropriate or even polite: Bugger off – go read Captain Underpants.

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

Best Regards,

Doc

(In Clearwater Beach, Florida – and loving it.)

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

[e-mail]

or visit my revised website courtesy of Chance Faulkner Photography alrennie.com

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, but don’t start chatting with Captain Frankie Donner; you’ll lose hours of your holiday.

A few Reader Responses to Clearwater Journals after it appeared on Free e-books:

If you like Jack Reacher, then you’ll like this. I enjoyed this book very much. It was well written and tense with a dash of humour and kept me involved throughout. If it had been written by Lee Child, it would be an international bestseller. – Morris Kenyon

Brilliant! Couldn’t put it down, thanks – Catherine Cooke

What a riveting story with bouts of wry humor. Again Please. – Bruce

Excellent read with more twists and turns than a road through the mountains. Enjoyed every minute! – Kingstonbears

A really well written book. Loved it a bunch. Hope he does another soon. Maybe a series??? – Wa6ype

A truly fun read, great sense of humor and a good plot. I recommend this author with pleasure. – Evelyn

Excellent writing, fast paced, liked it a lot. – Toerien

Gripping story, believable characters. Would definitely recommend. Very well written. Thoroughly enjoyed it. – Rachel Caldicott

Put my life on hold until I finished it. Great read! You live the character’s emotions and you can’t be sure of the outcome until the last page. – Charles Hough

Great read! Interesting characters and twists – not to mention just enough quirky to make it more real. – Holly Atkisson Gilmer

Enjoyable reading – a combination of a thriller and a love story – Pentii Grant

Easy reading – I look forward to another from Rennie. A book you don’t want to put down; a book you don’t want to end. – Annie Welch

Fantastic, loved it, couldn’t put it down, and didn’t want it to end! – Eloise

Thanks! Great book – I can’t wait for more! – Abu Hamzah

What a great book! Fast paced and great characters. – Sara Walsh

One of those books that you can’t stop reading, but you don’t want it to finish. – Felicity Coakley

Loved it. It reads like the old Matt Helm books I enjoyed so much when I was younger. Good characters, lots of suspense and well written. – Mike Teter

And from two reviewers who have read the entire Clearwater series and evidently enjoyed it: "What a cliff-hanger!! Please tell me the next one is coming out sooner rather than later. Love the Clearwater Series – Jackie K

I have read all of the Clearwater books and enjoyed them all. Clearwater Heat is such a cliff hanger that makes it mandatory to read the next book. I hope you are writing fast and will have it available soon. – Cynthia Brooks August 28, 2012 at 9:22 pm

Dude – this series rocks!

Hi Al, I have read all of your Clearwater Books. I love reading about Joe, Mia, Max and everybody. I was excited to see Clearwater Magic is available through Smashword. I have a Nook, and they are too slow in getting books, so I downloaded Clearwater Magic through Smashwords. I was so disappointed to see it's only 127 pages. Please keeping writing all of these great books, but give us more to read in each one. 127 pages is just a tidbit, so please give us more Doc, Mia, Max, Coop and Mrs. Thornberry in each book, because they deserve more reading material. I really hope there is a follow up to Clearwater Magic soon, because I'll be finished it by tomorrow. Thanks.

NOTE: The number of pages is the result of formatting. Each of the last books has been around 55000 words.

I just finished Clearwater Magic and I continue to love this series. I am looking forward to more clues to the enigmatic Max and will Doug be okay??? Keep them coming, Al! I eagerly await Doc's next day in paradise. – Jackie K.

I just finished reading Clearwater Showdown, I got Clearwater Journals as a free Nook book, but it was so good I had to buy the other books. I have truly enjoyed reading this series, and hope you plan on taking Joe, Mia, Coop and Ida Mae further. I'm anxiously awaiting another installment. Maybe Joe can take a trip to our area (Spokane, WA) or Glacier Park in Montana? We have a hockey team with lots of Canadian kids on it – the Spokane Chiefs. Can't wait to read more! Maybe see the movie?!

Corrina Wilke

a Doc Holiday fan

(I'm your huckleberry lol)

The next endorsement is one that I cherish. It was written by another Canadian writer, RJ Parker.

I read a lot of books in various genres. I really enjoy reading a series of books that have continuous characters. I'm sharing my favorite series of all time with you my friends and fans and hope that you start this and love it as much as I do. I have two more to read which I will do over the next few days. It's the Clearwater series by my friend and fellow Canadian author Mr. Al Rennie. The first book in the series is the Clearwater Journals and it's free. This series is available in all the markets, ie, Amazon, Barnes, Smashwords etc. As an avid reader for 35 years, I'm declaring this series to be my all-time favorite. It simply rocks!! Fast-paced, lovable characters and Al has a great sense of humor. If you're having a bad day, any one of these books will make you laugh. This is Al's website with the books in order.... Let me know if you start these books and what you think. – Blessings, RJ

Chapter One

Monday, January 07, 2013 - Another New Week

Jeez, that’s quite a story Mrs. Reynolds. What did you think that I might be able to do to help you? It’s been a few years now, eh, I mean since you have actually seen your daughter. Her name was Grace, right, nice name. How did the police leave it when they talked to you?

It was just after nine thirty and I was sitting with a new client on a hard bench outside the mini-mall just down from the entrance to Crabby Bill’s. We were looking out at the activity of the Clearwater Beach Marina. The hard core fishing boats had already set out for the day or half day charters. The boats that would be heading out in the next half hour or so would be taking the tourists from up north who wanted to sleep in during their vacation. They would be going out on a dolphin spotting tour or a quick hour and a half fishing jaunt. The fishing charter captains were good with whatever they wanted; it was money in their jeans while things were really slow in the off season.

The woman I was sitting with had called the CHIPs office late last week and asked specifically for me to undertake this investigation for her. Our office manager and chief researcher and any number of other things depending on the situation, Mrs. Ida May Thornberry had said that the woman was ‘financially challenged’. She had not been kidding. At first, when Ida May had said that we needed a retaining fee for a deposit, the woman had cried. Mrs. Thornberry had told her to hold on and she would see what she could do about the standard amount we required. She had then asked, my business partner, Fred and then me that, because the woman was obviously so poor, and because she also seemed so desperate, if we would do this one pro bono. Our incredibly successful lawyer, Bob Morse, does work pro bono when he is struck by the stray passing feeling of guilt or the evident need for a fast tax deduction. CHIPS has being doing very well lately, so no one had objected to us undertaking this investigation on the pro bono terms. The odd part of the request was that the woman had specifically asked for me.

Mrs. Ethel Reynolds had arrived for our meeting on the Jolly Trolley from Clearwater mainland. That only told me that she could afford the two dollars to get here and maybe didn’t have a car. As I had pulled into the parking lot in my old Jag, I had noticed her, without knowing who she was. She was descending the steps of the bus on the roundabout at the backside of Crabby Bill’s. Clearwater Beach is pretty expensive real-estate. The woman coming off the bus clearly looked to be out of her element. Only minutes later she arrived at the spot where she said that she would meet me and introduced herself.

She was a whip thin, plain woman with yellowing protruding teeth, greying hair and darting brown eyes. She was probably in her early or late forties, but maybe younger. She looked washed out. Her stained bony fingers attested to the fact that, when she could, she would smoke. A cigarette for her might be an extravagance and at a guess, I would have made her out as a person who had not enjoyed too many luxuries in her life. She was dressed in a grey sweatshirt, worn out jeans and beaten up Sketcher running shoes. She had put on a fleece zip up navy hoodie for additional warmth. Clearwater Beach was in the middle of something unusual in this part of Florida - a cold snap. Where I was from originally, Toronto, Canada, this would be an almost balmy spring day with the temperatures in the mid fifties. A cold snap back home at this time of year might be in the minus twenty degree Centigrade temperature range and much too often, less.

The sequence of events that Mrs. Reynolds had described to me was close to any number of others that I have heard many times before. It doesn’t matter how many variations of it you hear, the pain for the person telling you their story is deep and real and should be respected. In her case, the poor woman described the loss, years ago, of a daughter named Grace. Grace had been her only child. Ethel told me that her daughter was her only reason for living. In her senior year of high school, Grace had run away from home. Coincidentally, this happened in a period of time when Mrs. Reynolds told me she had been at the lowest point of her life – a life that had not enjoyed too many high points. Her husband was an unemployed alcoholic and their marriage was dissolving right before her eyes; she had lost her job at a local manufacturing assembly plant that made something plastic that was used in making hot tubs; she was drinking far too much and she was ready to give up trying anymore.

And then, when she believed that things could not get any worse than they were, her daughter had turned seventeen and run away. The date she left was on June 25th. I guess watching her mom’s spiral