Clearwater Glitz

By Al Rennie

It's a New Year - a movie company filming at the Beach has lost its female lead and asks Joe to find her; Skip has skipped and June is upset; it's hard times romantically for the Billy Ray and Natalie couple; the two Bobs ask Joe for a favor; Dingleman asks CHIPs to help him solve a cold kidnap case; Zed is taken captive; a new romance comes to light in the Holiday home; Another romp in paradise!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Al Rennie
• Release date: May 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370090822

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 Glitz

By

Al Rennie

Dedication

For my wife

Marsha

And to all the kind and supportive readers of the Clearwater Series.

Copyright © 2016 by Al Rennie

All Rights Reserved.

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

Cover Image Credit: CCO Public Domain

Formatting Credit: Lucinda K. Campbell – as always, just great … thank you!

I now have four excellent editors on my team. It might be difficult for anyone to believe that as a former English teacher, I would need four editors. The scoop is, they are currently looking for a fifth and sixth. How is that for a confidence builder? In any case, they have once again returned to make my life miserable but your reading experience that much better. I’d like to thank my wife, Marsha, and daughter, Jane as well as Annmarie, Gail and Donna for their masterful work in editing yet another episode of The Clearwater Series.

The food stamps are in the mail … hold on, what food stamps?

Thanks go to Richard Stacy, Michael Harris, Gerry Pielsticker and Nancy Fox for the jokes they sent to me.

A very few Reader Responses to Clearwater Series:

On the advice of the critics, editors and Ellen, I have limited the number of reader responses to a few of the more recent ones. The suggestion was that no one reads them anyway. I know that I do. Apologies go out to those critics who didn’t make the cut.

Al Rennie is still rocking in the world according to Doc!!! I eagerly await each new book and I am not disappointed. This one has another current story line which lets you know that the author is on his toes and doing his homework. I am very glad that the youngest little fellow is finally being brought into the house....good move. Keep on writing Al Rennie and we will keep on buying, reading and enjoying. I have read many stand alone books and many series and this series rates right up there in the top two. Al Rennie rocks!!! M.M.S.

Al Rennie's Clearwater series always gets a 5 star rating from me. This series never gets old (even after the 32nd book), and the stories are clever and funny with mystery, thrills, and sometimes even a little sadness thrown and romance the Joe and Mia way. Start at the beginning and read it, you won’t be able to put it down. Sharon R.

I love all of the Clearwater series books. Al you have created another great book that I will be thinking about for quite some time. I love that you brought out bullying, a lot of that going on. My sister's granddaughter was just bullied at school this past week. She nipped it in the bud. Lol All the jokes we're great, love each and every character in the book. If we all were more like Joe Holliday, this world would be a better place as he always wants to give everyone a fair chance. You bring each character in to grab our attention from the first chapter Until the End. Great read, can't wait for the next book. Bonnie W.

Oh Wow. Clearwater Confessions is awesome. I have read every book in the Clearwater series and they are absolutely my favorite books to read. Mr. Rennie is such an amazing writer and scores another hit with Clearwater Confessions. This story keeps you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Joe and his guys search for a missing girl, stop an incident in a Starbucks, find a meth lab, along with lots of other adventures that make you laugh, hold your breath, and not be able to stop reading till the end. Mr. Rennie gives us characters we love with Joe and his chips crew, his great family along with his brother frank. Thanks Mr. Rennie, I can't wait for the next story. Merle

I love this series. The stories make me laugh, cry, and dream of adventures. I am always excited for the next one.

I am always so excited to pre-order my books from you, Clearwater Confessions did not disappoint! I have to tell you that this series is the only series that I can read the book in a day and a half because it is so hard to put down. I have to force myself to slow down and savor every word. My husband says, ‘lets take a trip to Canada, eh"? I love the story line of how Joe and Mia build their little, or should I say big family. The story line of Mrs. F and Ken Jackson had me on edge, but I love the riding in and shooting Joe’s way in to rescue them. I will be impatiently waiting for your next installment of Joe and Mia.

Thanks Bubba and my B&N card is ready for the next pre-order. I will be watching for it!

I wish to thank Mr. Al Rennie for the complete Valentine gift package. I am just waiting for the T. V. Series to come along. I have seen television series without this much so together. The writing and the plot (plots) are exiting and oh no, what could possibly go wrong. Ha, ha, ha. The character development has reached a point that we know each and every one of them, and love them, even the bad guys. I love bad guys. Every red blooded woman wants a bad guy, even if he is really just a bad boy. I will not give a spoiler, but, the whole book is an exciting read. The editing is professional and outstanding. The plot flows seamlessly and makes one wish there was a bag of popcorn and soda handy. One drawback, the next one is not out. I look forward to see what my Clearwater and their extended family is up to and what is the next speed bump they will have to hop over. Only Doc would call a dire situation a speed bump. Please, Mr. Rennie, keep writing. The suspense is killing your audience. Next stop, ladies and gentlemen, The New York Times Best Seller List!

I have enjoyed and waited in anticipation of every adventure with Joe and Mia and Max and Frank and Fred and Jeremy and all CHiPs fellow cohorts in the Clearwater series. I have read Best Sellers and Mainline authors in the Publishing world but these books are the ones that make me laugh, cry, hold my breath, and surprise me. I would be extremely unhappy if they stopped coming anytime soon. Please wait a little longer before you retire them and become a jockey, race car driver or whatever. Anything other writing these books would totally bore you to death!! – Cindy B

Clearwater Nemesis is the 35th addition to Mr. Rennie's Clearwater Series. I would highly recommend this series. First Mr Rennie is one great storyteller. All 35 books of the Clearwater Series are easy reading, action packed, populated with memorable characters, loaded with humor and filled with clever twists. I look forward to each new addition. Keep them coming Al, if possible write faster! You are becoming the Mark Twain of Canadian writers! E.J.

Hi Mr. Rennie, Once again you nailed it with Clearwater Penalty. You have an amazing sense of timing and a creativity that can’t be topped. I read about 100 books a year and you are by far my favorite author. I am thrilled by your ability to keep me engrossed by every one of your books. I appreciate Grisham, Brown, Balducci and many others; however, you are the guy that keeps me coming back as soon as you next book is released. You have an unbelievable gift and don’t let anything or anyone discourage you from entertaining your public. Thank you once again. Nancy

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 found you first on Smashwords; after that, I kept hitting the buy button in iTunes. I laughed, cried, and told my patients how I almost went to You Tube to look for your video. I see patients in long term care facilities. I have shared your stories and with my patients living on the seawall in Galveston, Tx. You have brought life, love and a bit of silliness into the lives of my patients and have made me a better practitioner. I am forever in your debt. Katherine

Thanks Al for another chapter (Clearwater Hustle) in the lives of my favourite imaginary friends. I'll go and put some stars and comments on iBooks which is where I get my copies. Anthony Templeman

Double Cross is the most complex and surprising book yet. The plot lines completely surprised me and I loved the twists and turns. His ability to describe scenes made me feel like I was right there in Florida! Best of all, his ability to create in-depth characters and make me care about them is a rare gift and makes his books so much more enjoyable.

If you love slightly wacky mysteries, this book – in fact the whole Clearwater series – is a must read for you.

Congratulations Al on your 25th book in this wonderful series. I have enjoyed each and every one. It seems like I know the characters and can't wait for the next installment to see what's happening in their lives. There have been many changes since Clearwater Journals. You have to write faster Bubba. I just finished this one and I need more Joe and cast, eh. R.J.

Nancy’s Amendment to Annie’s Amendment – she’s blonde!

This is the Clearwater Series in the sequence that the titles were written.

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

18) Clearwater Justice

19) Clearwater Skip Trace

20) Clearwater Assault

21) Clearwater Folly

22) Clearwater Homesick

23) Clearwater Hustle

24) Clearwater Stakeout

25) Clearwater Fit

26) Clearwater Double Cross

27) Clearwater Vice

28) Clearwater Escape

29) Clearwater Bubba

30) Clearwater Betrayal

31) Clearwater Penalty

32) Clearwater Deception

33) Clearwater Confession

34) Clearwater Promises

35) Clearwater Nemesis

36) Clearwater Glitz

Note to Joe and Mia fans

In today’s glutted writing environment, reader ratings and reviews can make a huge difference in the success of an indie author. If, as a reader, you have enjoyed a particular book, please take a few moments of your time to give it a favorable rating, and if you are so inclined, a positive short review. Your affirming assessment will mean a great deal to the author and to his or her chances of survival in the current literary marketplace.

Clearwater New Year

Skip!

After the fact, as the investigation was beginning, everybody agreed that the pick up at the group home on Friday afternoon had gone quite well. There had only been one small speed bump. The Children Services worker, April, had introduced Skip to Mr. and Mrs. Evans when they arrived at the group home in their Toyota Corolla to pick the youngster up. The thirty-five year old couple, Linda and Bob Evans, had both been excited and more than a little anxious as this visit might possibly turn into becoming their one last chance at being a mom and a dad. They had exhausted all of the other options that they could afford.

The boy had been very polite and shook their hands just as he had been coached to do by his favorite group home worker. The one awkward moment, quickly glossed over, happened at the very second Mrs. Evans met the young boy. Skip’s worker, consumed in the paperwork that went with one of these short term placements, had forgotten to mention to them that Skip was part Chinese and that he looked the part. If April had thought about it at all – and she hadn’t – she would have considered being oriental in appearance of no consequence. This was a forty-eight hour relief situation, not an adoption.

Mrs. Evans did all she could to suppress her surprise, but it was evident to all present.

Being Chinese, even part Chinese was still a sensitive issue for Skip. One of the former group home workers used to call him a ‘Gook’. Every time he had heard that term, Skip had felt angry and hurt. He had even threatened to stab that worker and he would have too. Fortunately, a friend of his had put an end to her calling him that before he actually did something that he now knew he would have regretted. But looking Chinese, as he did, had surprised, maybe even shocked the lady. He could feel it. And she and her husband were to be his new weekend relief foster- family. He started to worry … and plan.

Once a month, all eight of the group home kids in this house were farmed out to relief homes or to their own family – if that was permitted by the court and the family wanted anything to do with them. Skip used to go to stay with the Holidays in Clearwater Beach. He had told his worker that those visits were the best times in his life. Sometimes they all went fishing and they always had video games and there was swimming in their big pool. Mia and Joe were really nice to him, and Amber, their teenage foster daughter, was really ‘hot’. They bought him stuff and they took the whole family, including him, to restaurants where they told him that he could order whatever he wanted. They had some really cool cars, an Escalade even, and an Aston Martin like James Bond as well as a big pink armoured truck. How ‘sick’ was that? There was always a lot of fun and laughter. He even had a bedroom and a bathroom all to himself. Well, he had shared that bedroom with one of their older foster sons, Lincoln who was away studying at university in Gainesville. So technically, that bedroom was only his when Linc wasn’t there, and so far, he never was there on any of those weekends when Skip visited. And then Skip had gone and done something that had ruined those visits and everything that went with them. It was his fault; he knew that. But maybe he could do something about it now.

So the boy was walking through the mall with you and he told you that he wanted to check something out in the hobby and sports place while you were shopping in the Bath and Body Shop right beside the sports store … and that was the last that you saw of him? the young mall security officer asked as he was writing down the boy’s name and description.

We came here to have lunch with Bob’s sister. We wanted to introduce her to Skip. We had a nice lunch in the food court. I don’t understand what is happening, Mrs. Evans said as she started to cry.

The same questions and answers were done with two uniformed police officers an hour later when the boy was still missing. The third round of questioning happened with a female detective and her partner three hours after that in the Evan’s Safety Harbor home. The Children Services after-hours worker had also been present during that interview. She had brought along the most recent photo of Skip on file. The worker also passed along the bits and pieces of what had been happening recently in Skip’s life after the detectives told her that anything she could tell them might be helpful.

She read the following information from the notes made in Skip’s file. Much of what she read to the detectives was being heard for the first time by Linda and Bob Evans.

It says here that the foster father at Skip’s former relief home reported to the Children Services Agency that his family needed time and space after Skip had been in a fight with their other foster kids, Sean and little Billy. Skip had become really angry when Sean had beaten him at NHL 2017. He had thrown his controller at the big screen television, breaking it, and then stomped on their Play Station 4 game system.

Nice kid … one of the detectives observed.

I guess … anyway, Skip’s fight with Billy and Sean ended quickly when Joe, that’s the foster father, broke it up and sent them all to their rooms. After that Joe and his wife, Mia, talked with each of the boys separately and tried to work things out with them. It also says here that Joe used to be a cop.

Joe Holiday … I think I’ve heard something about him. Go on …

The worker nodded and looked back at the notes. The Evans family don’t have any kids. They were doing the relief weekend – their first – for Children Services so that the wall in the double bedroom at the group home that Skip shared with another boy could be repaired and freshly painted. Relief had also been planned so that the four on-call group home workers could take the New Year’s weekend off.

"Not too helpful, but okay … what else?’

Last week, Skip’s room-mate for the last two months, Calvin, who is a year older and a lot bigger, had some kind of a melt down and punched a number of holes through the drywall in their bedroom before the staff could get him settled. Apparently, Calvin broke his hand in four places during the process and wrenched his back during the struggle with the worker who finally restrained him. This all went down right in front of Skip. That male worker is currently on leave until the Children Services’ investigation is completed. Skip probably won’t see Calvin again. A new kid will be assigned to his bed sometime next week. Calvin is likely going to be transferred to another group home with higher security.

Again, interesting but not too useful… What else have you got?

April, that’s Skip’s primary worker, saw a ‘teachable moment’ and talked to him about the Calvin incident and then discussed all of the consequences that resulted. Skip told her that a more secure home probably meant that the workers were a lot bigger and stronger, and the doors locked just like in a jail. He also told her that he was really afraid that he was going to end up somewhere just like that.

So, we have a runaway kid with anger management and impulse control problems who has experienced violence… the female detective concluded. No surprise there …

Chapter 1

Sunday, January 1st, 2017 – And They’re Off!

The phone rang. And then it rang again …. and then … once more …

Will someone please answer the phone? I called out from where I was ensconced in my new tan leather Lazy-Boy recliner with heat and vibrator features included – Mia’s Christmas gift to me. I was in our family room listening to the restful Harry Gregson-Williams soundtrack for the Denzel movie, ‘The Equalizer’ while reading a fairly new John Grisham book, The Whistler– one of my Christmas presents from Sean and little Billy. To cover all of the Christmas gift bases, I was also wearing my New England Patriot bucket hat- a gift from Amber. The box of Scottish shortbreads beside