DIE SMILING
Chapter One
Twisting the ignition key, I fired up my black Ford Explorer
and backed out of my parking space at the Canton County
Sheriff 's Department. It was a dull, uneventful, but beautiful
early April day at Lake of the Ozarks, here in mid-Missouri,
so my partner and I decided we'd stir up some excitement
with one of our famous competitive shooting matches. We're
headed now for the department's target range out in the
boonies north of the lake, the winner buying the loser the
most extravagant meal on the McDonald's drive-up menu on
the way back into town. That's because we're both such big
spenders.
Not that I'm complaining about the lack of excitement
around here. Almost four months ago, we'd had a case straight
out of hell, a pretty hairy affair with a couple of deadly psycho
types fond of various and sundry poisonous creatures.
Bud had nearly died in that one, and I was sporting a rather
distinctive scar on my leg from a brown recluse spider bite
that gives me the heebie jeebies to this very day.
But Orkin men visit my place regularly, and a can of Raid
visits my Explorer regularly, and I hav ... read full excerpt from Die Smiling ebook
