Carol J Perry - Late Checkout

Late Checkout — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Late Checkout" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...63

Also by Carol J. Perry

Final Exam

Bells, Spells, and Murders

It Takes a Coven

Grave Errors

Murder Go Round

Look Both Ways

Tails, You Lose

Caught Dead Handed

LATE CHECKOUT

Carol J. Perry

KENSINGTON BOOKS
www.kensingtonbooks.com

All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.

Table of Contents

KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by

Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018

Copyright 2019 by Carol J. Perry

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.

If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as unsold and destroyed to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this stripped book.

Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

ISBN: 978-1-4967-1462-6

ISBN-13: 978-1-4967-1463-3 (ebook)
ISBN-10: 1-4967-1463-6 (ebook)

For Dan, my husband and best friend

Authors Note

Sincere apologies to the Main Public Library in my hometown of Salem, Massachusetts. I have taken the liberty of completely rearranging the interior of that fine historic structure to suit my story.

For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face...

1 Corinthians, 13:12

Chapter 1

I t was a cool, pretty October Friday morning in my home town of Salem, Massachusetts. My beautiful Laguna blue 2014 Chevrolet Stingray Corvette convertible was in the shop because some inconsiderate dope had run a shopping cart down one side of it, leaving a significant gouge in the passenger door. My aunt Ibby was in Boston at a librarians convention, so her vintage but trustworthy Buick wasnt available either. My hours as a field reporter at WICH-TV had just been cut nearly in half because the station managers wifes nephew had just graduated from broadcasting school and needs some experience.

Im Lee Barrett, nee Maralee Kowalski, thirty-three, red-haired, Salem born, orphaned early, married once, and widowed young. My aunt Isobel Russell and I share the fine old family home on Winter Street, along with our big yellow-striped gentleman cat, ORyan.

Might as well walk to work, I grumbled to the cat, who watched with apparent interest as I pulled on cordovan boots over faded jeans, then tossed my NASCAR jacket over a white turtleneck shirt. With the new schedule I dont have to get there until noon anyway. ORyan gave a sympathetic Mmrrow, and followed me to my kitchen door and out into the front hall.

Aunt Ibby had surprised me with an apartment of my own on the third floor of the house when I returned from Florida a few years ago after the death of my race car driver husband, Johnny Barrett. Coming home to Salem had so far been a really good choice for me, and the field reporter job at WICH-TV had seemed like a dream come true.

Listen, Ms. Barrett, this is only temporary, station manager Bruce Doan had said when hed told me about my lowered occupational status. The kid just needs a little television face time in local TV before he moves on. Meanwhile, your workload will be reduced, but you can still do your investigative reports on the late news once in a while. The kid in question was Buffy Doans nephew, Howard Templeton. The reduction in income wasnt a problem. Between Johnnys insurance and the inheritance from my parents, Im fine financially. Besides, Templeton seemed like a pleasant enough guy, but I was trying hard not to dislike him for disrupting my more or less orderly world. It was becoming a challenge.

I locked the kitchen door and started down the curvy, wide-banistered staircase to the first-floor foyer with ORyan padding along beside me. He paused at the arched entrance to Aunt Ibbys living room, peeked inside, then joined me at the front door. I patted his fuzzy head, wished him a nice day, unlocked the door, and stepped out onto our front steps facing Winter Street.

October days can be delightful in New Englandsome call it Indian summer. This was such a day. Leaves had begun to turn to red and gold and the sky was an impossible shade of bluethink Maxfield Parrish paintings. My peevish mood began to melt away as I strolled along the edge of Salem Common, a pastoral oasis in the midst of a busy city. I waved across the wrought iron fence to Stasia, the pigeon lady who sat on her regular bench, surrounded by cooing birds. Across Washington Street, the tourist buses lined up in front of the Witch Museum while the massive statue of Roger Conant gazed down benignly upon us all. I could even smell the aroma of fresh, hot, buttery popcorn wafting from the same four-wheeled red-and-white wagon I remembered from my childhood.

Things arent so bad, I told myself. Howard Templeton will move on eventually. My car will be repaired in a day or so. I still have a job. Im blessed to have my aunt who loves me, and Pete Mondello, the wonderful man in my life. Everything is going to be okay....

Those rose-colored glasses slipped off in a hurry when a horn tooted and the WICH-TV mobile van rolled past, a happily waving Templeton kid in the front seat and my favorite videographer, Francine Hunter, at the wheel. Great. That automatically left me riding around in the stations beat-up Volkswagen work van with Old Eddie for my driver. Thats in case anything worth covering happened during my shift, and in case Scott Palmerwho wears about fourteen different hats around the station including occasional field reporterdidnt grab the call.

I turned onto Hawthorne Boulevard, kicked a crumpled-up candy wrapper aside (darned urban tumbleweed), trudged past the Nathaniel Hawthorne statue (old Nate, sitting up there, all famous and beloved), and headed for Derby Street, getting crabbier by the minute.

WICH-TV is housed in one of Derby Streets wonderful old waterfront brick buildings that hadnt been destroyed during the urban renewal madness of the 1950s. The front door opens onto the main lobby, where the brass-doored elevator still gleams and the black-and-white tiled floor is scrubbed daily. Before I went inside, I took a quick look into the adjacent harbor-side parking lot, checking to be sure Templeton hadnt glommed onto my parking space along with everything else. He hadnt.

Sometimes, in the interest of saving time, I use the metal stairway to the second-floor office suite, but being in no great hurry, I opted for old clunky, trying not to focus on the brass panels. I have a thing about reflective surfaces. Im whats called, in paranormal circles, a scryer. My best friend, River North, calls me a gazer. River is a witch and one of the few people who know that sometimes when I look at a shiny object I see things that others cant see. Aunt Ibby knows all about my so-called gift. My detective boyfriend, Pete, knows about it too, and struggles to understand it. Thats all right. So do I.

Next page

1234567...63

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Late Checkout»

Look at similar books to Late Checkout. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

John C. Skipper

Billy Southworth: A Biography of the Hall of Fame Manager and Ballplayer

Bryan F. Le Beau

The Story of the Salem Witch Trials

Jeanne Stella

Historic Streets of Salem, Massachusetts

Ron Swoboda

Heres the Catch: A Memoir of the Miracle Mets and More

Josh Chetwynd

The Field Guide to Sports Metaphors: A Compendium of Competitive Words and Idioms

Rob Gordon

2015 Minor League Baseball Analyst

Kelly Wallace

Intuitive Tarot - Learn The Tarot Instantly: Learn The Tarot Instantly

Gary Sheffield

Inside Power

Sue Macy

A Whole New Ball Game: The Story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

Abe Streep

The Legends of Last Place: A Season With America’s Worst Professional Baseball Team

Wayne Stewart

Name That Ballplayer: The Ultimate Baseball Whodunnit? Quiz

Jones Chipper

Ballplayer

Discussion, reviews of the book Late Checkout and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.