Murder at the Truck Stop: A Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Series Book 16) Read online

  MURDER AT THE TRUCK STOP

  By

  Dianne Harman

  (A Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery - Book 16)

  Copyright © 2019 Dianne Harman

  www.dianneharman.com

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form without written permission except for the use of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  Paperback ISBN: 9781097793587

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  This book stemmed from a long-time relationship I’ve had with one of my son’s friends, who I consider to be my second son, Scott Pirtle. I have him to thank for this book.

  Scott and my son have remained the closest of friends since high school, even though their geographical locations and chosen occupations are quite different. Recently Scott and his wife, Bridget, visited California, and he and my son got to talking about my books. Scott thought I might be interested in writing a book based on the trucking industry, of which he is quite familiar.

  After many emails between Scott and me, Murder at the Truck Stop became a reality. The more we corresponded, the more fascinated I became with this extraordinarily colorful and fascinating industry. I hope you will enjoy the read as much as I enjoyed learning about the trucking industry.

  To Scott and everyone else who gave birth to this book, thank you.

  And to Tom, for his ongoing support and critical eye!

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  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  EPILOGUE – TWO WEEKS LATER

  RECIPES

  ABOUT DIANNE

  COMING SOON!

  CHAPTER 1

  “Ms. K,” a voice said as Kelly walked down the aisle of her coffee shop, making sure the customers, mainly regulars, and the staff were happy. She was a firm believer that a happy staff transferred over into satisfied returning customers.

  She turned and looked over at the young man who had spoken to her. He seemed familiar, but she couldn’t place him.

  “Hey, Ms. K, it’s me, Jesse, the one who ate you out of house and home when I was growing up.”

  She sat down across from the young man and said, “I am so sorry, Jesse, I didn’t recognize you with the beard. That’s a far cry from the young boy who used to play baseball with my son, Cash. I’m so glad to see you. Since Cash has been in the Mideast, I’ve pretty much lost track of all of his friends. Please, fill me in on what you’ve been doing since I last saw you.”

  “Actually, that’s why I’m here. Cash and I text all the time. After college I got a job as a long-haul trucker and drove all over the U.S. Recently, I got married and I could see that my lifestyle wasn’t going to make for a happy ever after, so I got a new route. Happy to say that now I’m home nights and on the weekends. My wife and dog are much happier with this arrangement.”

  “I’m so glad for you. One of the things I miss about Cash being gone is seeing his friends. He had such a close circle of them, and I have to admit, I liked having all that young testosterone around.”

  “When I told Cash about my new job,” Jesse said, “he asked me to stop by your coffee shop and say hi for him. He also told me if I came here, I had to order the Salisbury steak with mushroom sauce and something he called a Basque cheesecake. He said those were the two things he missed most. I told him I’d definitely order them with him in mind.”

  “That sounds familiar. Whenever I made either one of those for the coffee shop, I didn’t dare come home without some. I see your plate is empty, so it looks like you enjoyed them.”

  “Cash was absolutely right. Those are two of the best things I’ve had in a long time. He told me you and he text a lot, but he thought it might make you feel better if one of his old friends stopped by.”

  “Jesse, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you doing this. I feel like I’ve just heard from Cash. Thanks. I’d like to talk to you about your job, but I’m afraid trucking is something I know nothing about.”

  “Neither did I, and I have to tell you, it’s a whole new world. I mean they even speak a different language. My college English major is doing nothing for me in this job. If anything, I’m having to unlearn everything I learned in college. Sometimes I think it was a waste of time.”

  “I doubt it. I remember that you were going to go to a community college and then a state college, so hopefully, you’re not burdened by a huge student loan. I hear horror stories on the news all the time about the poor graduates who are saddled with them.”

  “No, fortunately I was able to work while I was in college and my parents helped me out, so I don’t owe any money for my education. Thank heavens. Now that I’m married and trying to live the American Dream, I’m finding that white picket fence and house to match doesn’t come cheap. My wife works as a secretary at the cannery just outside of Portland, and we’re hoping we’ll have enough saved to buy a house by next year.”

  “I wish you luck. I sometimes wonder how you young people do it today with the high cost of housing and everything else. Not easy.”

  “No, it’s not. To change the subject. Cash said you love to learn new things, and he thought you might like to go on my route with me some day. Believe me, it really is a different world and pretty colorful.”

  “I’d love to, Jesse. I’ve never even been in a truck, so it will be a totally new experience for me.”

  “Okay, it’s pretty much up to you when we’ll do it, but I have to warn you, it will be early. Today’s kind of a fluke in that the boss wanted me to deliver a special load. Normally I wouldn’t be here at this time, but he got someone else to take my regular route. I could pick you up here about six in the morning.

  “I leave Portland at four in the morning and Cedar Bay is about two hours out. There’s a small truck stop about an hour beyond Cedar Bay where I usually stop for a cup of hot coffee and a bathroom break depending on how much traffic I encounter. Then it’s an hour from there to where I offload. When I finish unloading, I turn around and head back, so you’ll be gone about four hours. When would you like to do it?”

  “How about next week? Is one day better for you than another?”

  “Mondays can get hectic. How about Tuesday?”

  “Sounds good. I unlock the front door of the coffee shop at 6:00 and Roxie, my manager and long-time employee meets me here. Why don’t you pick me up here at the coffee shop at 6:00 a.m.? I’ll be ready,
and thanks for the invite. This really sounds interesting.”

  “I forgot that Roxie works here. I don’t see her, though.”

  “No, she asked for the morning off. She had a dentist appointment. How do you know her?”

  “My boss, Pete Richards, is her brother. He had a party a few months ago, and Roxie and her husband were there. When I found out where she worked, I told her I’d practically grown up at your house. Please tell her I said hi.”

  “Will do. Think I better get back to work. Things never go quite as smooth when Roxie’s gone. Thanks again, Jesse. This will be fun.”

  Kind of depends on whether or not you think the word “murder” is “fun.”

  CHAPTER 2

  It was 3:30 a.m. and Jet, the nickname the other truckers had given him, was frustrated. No matter what he did, Kimberly rejected him. He’d even tried roses, for heaven’s sake. Yeah, that was a great idea. He didn’t know if he’d ever live that down. Too bad Snacks had seen the card on the bouquet at the truck stop and told everyone about it.

  He’d been driving big rig trucks for ten years and although there had been a number of different women over the years, none of them had affected him like Kimberly had. It had gotten to the point where his thoughts about her interfered with his daily routine of listening nonstop to his Audio Bibles. He spent every minute he was driving thinking about her.

  Jet had tried to learn everything he could about her. He’d found her on Facebook, friended her, and visited her page every day, sometimes several times a day. He was consumed with finding out if she was seeing someone special, but so far, she hadn’t mentioned anyone.

  He’d learned she’d liked dogs, so he spent hours finding cute videos of dogs and sending them to her. She always thanked him, but that was it. She’d mentioned once that she liked to cook, so he’d sent her recipes he’d tried at home. Again, she thanked him, but she never mentioned that she’d tried any of them.

  Jet knew she lived with her mother in one of the seedy little tract houses across from the truck stop. He’d learned that her father had abandoned Kimberly and her mother when Kimberly was very young. Her mother worked long hours at the truck stop and when Kimberly had been old enough, she’d started working there as a waitress. She and her mother couldn’t afford a car, so her options were limited when it came to a job.

  He’d asked her out about twenty times. He’d even told her he’d take her to Portland to Le Pigeon, the very expensive French restaurant that had been written up in The Oregonian as the best French restaurant in the city. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been impressed and had turned him down.

  Jet felt like he was at the end of his rope. If he couldn’t get through to her with roses and fine French food, it was beginning to dawn on him that she’d been serious when she’d told him that although she thought of him as a friend, she wasn’t interested in taking their relationship to the next level.

  He wasn’t aware that his infatuation with Kimberly had become common knowledge. It was only when Little Paul’s wife, Susie, had told him that she’d had a long conversation with Kimberly about Jet, that he realized he was probably the laughingstock of all the truckers who frequented the truck stop.

  Susie told him that Kimberly was saving her money so she could go to college and make something of her life, and that she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life working at a truck stop. Then Susie had said, a bit nastily in Jet’s opinion, that she didn’t want anything to do with truckers when it came to romance. She wanted someone who was going to make something of his life, not someone who had to take showers at a truck stop.

  Susie had finished the conversation by telling him that, in her opinion, he was a lot better off without Kimberly. She’d said she wouldn’t be at all surprised if Kimberly ended up like Lizzie, the Lot Lizard who lived next door to Kimberly.

  Jet had been in shock when she’d told him. He felt like he’d been a first-class fool. First that she was so vehement about not having anything to do with truckers, and secondly, the insinuation that Kimberly would end up like Lizzie or maybe already was like her.

  The one thing he couldn’t bear was the thought of Kimberly doing what Lizzie did to make money. He’d been brought up in a church that preached that prostitution was a sin. It was evil and a woman who was a prostitute should be wiped off the face of the earth.

  Ever since Susie had told him her thoughts about Lizzie and Kimberly, he wondered if what she said was true. If it was true, then Kimberly should be killed, just like he’d been taught in church. As much as it would hurt him to do it, he would have to sacrifice his feelings for her in favor of his religious beliefs.

  The more he thought about the way she smiled at the truckers and swayed her hips back and forth when she walked away from the tables after taking orders, the more certain he was that Susie was right. It wasn’t that Kimberly was rejecting him. She just couldn’t have a relationship with a trucker because the other truckers would respect it, and she’d be out of business. It was an unwritten trucker’s code of ethics. You didn’t horn in on another man’s woman.

  He knew it would be easy. She generally took a bathroom break about the same time each morning, and he took it as a sign from above that the emergency exit door that led outside from the hall where the restrooms were located was broken. It would be so easy to walk in, do what his religion expected him to do, and leave. Unnoticed by anyone.

  CHAPTER 3

  Susie held her pit bull, Flips, in her lap as Little Paul started the engine of the big truck and pulled out of the truck stop. It had been one of the quieter nights in the truck yard and she was always grateful for a full night’s sleep. She knew she was one of the few trucker’s wives who accompanied their husband when he was making a run and actually lived with him in the sleeper located behind the cab.

  She and Little Paul had saved their money and when they had enough, they’d splurged and bought a really fancy sleeper. Theirs had a state-of-the-art television and even a king-size bed, because one look at either of them, and it was a given that a double bed or even a queen-size bed, would not be big enough for them.

  They had a bathroom with a shower, but as large as they both were, it was hard for them to fit into it, so they usually used the showers at the truck stop. Same with the toilet area in the sleeper, although they did use their own at night.

  They’d sold their house, and the big truck had become their home on wheels. Flips had never known a home other than the truck, and when they did leave the truck, they knew it was in safe hands with him sitting in the front seat. Someone would have to be insane to try and break into the truck’s cab with a snarling pit bull waiting for you to break through the window.

  Overall, Susie was happy. She loved being on the road and even enjoyed the paperwork Little Paul’s business demanded. They’d had a small desk installed in the sleeper so she could work there when they were on the road. It was a good life, but with one little exception.

  Even though Little Paul was never going to win a bodybuilding contest, over the years he’d become convinced that he was irresistible to women. Young, old, it didn’t matter. He’d never met one he didn’t like, which was the main reason that Susie had insisted that they sell their house so she could spend all of her time with him. Even so, it was difficult to keep him from making a fool of himself.

  The latest woman on his infatuation list was Kimberly, the waitress at the truck stop. In the past, Susie had pretty much ignored his amorous buffoonery, knowing that each infatuation lasted a short time until the woman made it very clear to Little Paul that she wasn’t interested in a fat old bearded trucker. But Kimberly was different.

  She was the first woman Paul had been interested in that concerned her. For one thing, she was far more attractive than the others had been. For another, Paul had always loved the big breakfasts that Susie made in their sleeper, but lately he’d told Susie that he really enjoyed the breakfasts at the truck stop, and had started going there for breakfast. Susie had no choi
ce but to join him.

  A long time ago theirs had become more of a marriage of convenience than one of ongoing passion, but she had a feeling that if Kimberly ever responded to Paul, he might be able to get back some of his youthful mojo. She knew if that happened, the next step would be his leaving Susie, and that was something she would not tolerate. She’d put up with his foibles for all these years, as well as doing all the bookkeeping, and being the main reason Paul had become a successful trucker.

  No, there was no way some young honey from a truck stop was going to ruin her marriage and everything she’d worked so hard for. She needed to think of something, something that would cause Kimberly to no longer be a threat to her marriage.

  She remembered a conversation she’d had one morning with Jet about religion and how it formed the core of his life. His parents had been very religious, but he’d rejected their form of religion when he was a teenager. He’d told Susie he’d been arrested several times for being drunk in public and that he was simply a young man who was out of control. He’d never served jail time, other than a couple of overnight stays, but he’d said he knew it was probably just a matter of time.

  Jet said the last time he’d been arrested and taken to the station in handcuffs, he’d been put in the drunk tank. He said he didn’t know how to describe the experience he had in the middle of the night while he was in jail other than to say he’d had a divine visitation. His jail cell was bathed in light and a ghost-like figure had told him that he’d been saved and from now on he would no longer drink, smoke, or have anything to do with immoral women and that all three of those things were sins.

  The figure in the vision had gone on to say that Jet was now a disciple of God and when Jet found those sinful things, he had to get rid of them, in whatever manner he could. He told Susie the figure had been particularly clear on the subject of prostitutes. The figure had said he must do whatever he could to get rid of them. They were the incarnation of the devil.