Classmate Murders - Bob Moats (ready player one ebook .txt) 📗

Classmate Murders by Bob Moats

EBook Edition

Copyright © 2010 by Bob Moats.
Cover design by Bob Moats

All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

This is a work of pure 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.

For information and address:
Magic 1 Productions
P.O. Box 524, Fraser MI 48026-0524


Website:
http://murdernovels.com


Magic 1 Productions / published by Bob Moats

ISBN # 978-1-4523-0445-8

Other Jim Richards series books by Bob Moats

(In series order)

“Classmate Murders”
“Vegas Showgirl Murders”
“Dominatrix Murders”
“Mistress Murders”
“Bridezilla Murders”
“Magic Murders”
“Strip Club Murders”
“Made-for-TV Murders”
“Mystery Cruise Murders”
"Talk Show Murders"
"Sin City Murders"
"Black Widow Mureders"


For a preview or to purchase a paperback book
go to http://murdernovels.com

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What people are saying about the
Murder novels by Bob Moats

"I went online this morning and read your book. I thought at first that I would only read a few pages, but got sucked into it and read all 11 chapters. You are a very good writer! I read quite a bit and often pick up "Airport" paperback mysteries to read on a plane. Most of them are dreadful, with obvious plots. Classmate Murders is a much better story than most."
Ray Zink, Entrepreneur, Minn.


"I got up to chapter ten of the Classmate Murders and decided then to buy the next two books." ... "Just finished your third book, the Dominatrix Murders. I thought it was the best one of the three, didn't want to put it down till I finished it. I looked forward to see how Penny would greet (Jim) every day after her show. Keep the books coming can't wait for the next one."
A. Norris, former Naval Corpsman


"Classmate Murders is well written and keeps the reader involved and wondering what will happen next throughout the book. Showgirl Murders keeps the reader involved throughout the story and keeps you guessing as to who the murderer is until very near the end."
G. Shurig, Kalamazoo


"If you like mysteries and action then don't miss reading this book..."
Jan Schneider, avid mystery/crime reader


"I finished the book last night, and really enjoyed it. I can only read a book that fast when it keeps my interest, so that should tell you a lot. I would recommend this book to others. I look forward to reading the next installment of the book."
M. K., retired Chrysler Admin.


"I haven’t finished the book yet, when I enjoy a book, I take my time, but I want to buy the other two books. I compare your writing to a Mickey Spillane novel, and I like your style, very narrative. I’m amazed you don’t have a publisher yet."
Michael Rasah, Professor of History


"Thanks for making me immortal, love the stories, your friend, Buck."
The real "Buck", George Carver


“Your books have been a joy to read. They keep me interested until the last page is turned. Keep up the good Work!
B. Scharmann, Rochester Hills, Michigan


"Bob, I LOVED it. It reminds me a lot of Colombo, I can see Jim as a regular guy, not a smooth talker, but able to outwit the bad guys. The characters were great and I love the way you describe so many of them. Some of your other characters were fun to read about. I can't think of any corrective criticism. I will have my husband read it, he reads all the time. I think he will love the book too."
Joyce Van Houzen-Stacy, B.A.,M.B.A.

Bob, my brother, Bill, sent all seven of your Jim Richard's novels for me to read. I loved them. They were interesting and fast moving. You did good and I hope you write some more of them. I gave the books to my daughter and now she says she is hooked! I enjoy your books and I want to see more of them. It is hard to find books of this type. Concise and interesting. We need more books like these. Getting published is a real war. I hope you have good luck with them. You have a talent for writing novels the way I think they should be written. Regards,"
Fred Scharmann, Avon, OH

Murder novels aren't my usual fare but this sweet, suspenseful and often humorous series draws you in and keeps you guessing to the end. I've read all eight (some of them twice) and hope to see more coming soon. I recommend following Jim Richards adventures but take care, murder seems to follow him!
Tia L Brink, Binghamton, New York


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The Classmate Murders
by Bob Moats

Chapter One


Turning 40 and then 50 years old didn't really bother me, but turning 60 was something I just couldn't accept. I ignored it the day it happened, and tried my best to do so despite my family and friend's attempts to make sure I didn't forget. Damn them.

I was now one month past 60, and it still bothered me. The only good thing about it, I was just one year and eleven months closer to social security.

I grumbled around my tiny room tapping the keyboards on my computers, bringing them out of sleep mode, and wishing I had something better to do with my life. Actually anything at all would have been better since I was now doing nothing in the present time of my life. I was unemployed due to the stupidity of my former employers, an age old problem for most good workers, and the state unemployment agency decided I didn't qualify for benefits. Maybe it's the fact that I had quit my job because I really hated it, possibly that was the reason I was denied compensation. I wrote a nice letter in response to their request for more info explaining that my former employers were jerks and they were just abusing my good nature and forcing me to abuse my car in the duty of my job.

I had spent the last 22 months as a security guard driving my car around a large suburban Detroit Cadillac dealership midnights from 7 P.M. till 6 A.M. the next morning, guarding car tires that were the main goal for addicts and the poor to steal. They'd steal them right off the cars. It amazed me that they would haul in a heavy hydraulic jack, tire irons and concrete blocks to remove about 2-4 tires that they would sell for a couple hundred dollars risking being caught. I was a good little trooper and managed to stop two attempts at theft, being told by my employer that I would get a whole twenty dollars as a reward, which I never did receive. Not the first lie they told. My poor car, a twenty year old Ford Crown Victoria was slowly feeling the same ailments I was, old age. I had to do a number of repairs on it during the time I was working and the heater would give out, usually when winter hit here in southeast Michigan. Well, to shorten boring details, I had enough of the car abuse and asked for time off to get the car fixed properly. They gleefully took it as my resignation and I was out of a job.

My computers finally winked to life and I hooked the laptop to the internet dial-up connection and checked my email which usually consisted of spam and a number of forwarded jokes, dirty pictures and chain letters from Buck, my former co-worker and the only friend I have. I would delete the spam and the chain letters and then read the jokes, admire the nubile naked bodies of the women in the pictures from Buck, trying to remember the last sex I had about 12 years ago. It was fading from my memory banks, now a wistful image that I could no longer enjoy. Don't get me wrong, I have occasional sex, just not with another human being.

Buck was another guard that I worked with and he was not a person that thieves would want to have facing them down. Buck was a big, mustachioed biker who carried a nickel plated .38 in his belt. We were not supposed to carry but he'd rather be caught with it than without it. Me, I just refused to get out of my car if confronted by criminals. Ok, I'm a coward. Buck was also a big teddy bear with a soft spot for others, he cared, a rare commodity in people now days. He would fuss over my problems and occasionally buy me a 30 pack of beer in exchange for loaning him my DVD collection of movies. Buck was my only friend that I had other than my computers and my beer.

I looked up at the wall clock, it was just now 7:45 in the evening and all was quiet in the house. My parents were in bed, they usually were in bed by at least 6:30. My Dad was ill and my Mom was his caregiver. I helped Mom with things she couldn't handle, like getting my Dad into bed, doing the shopping and odd jobs around the house. It was an arrangement that suited my Mom, but being an unemployed, beer drinking, 60 year old man living with his parents, I wasn't exactly a prime candidate for any woman seeking a relationship. God, what a loser I was. I can see the profile in the online dating form: "Well, I live in my old bedroom in my parents house, poor credit score, over-weight, balding, gray beard, I drink at least 8 beers a night, I'm unemployed and I just became a senior citizen. I can be the man of your dreams, we just can't meet at my place."

The clock now ran up to 8:00 P.M. and I opened the first of the six beers that I had to cut back to now that I was out of work and money. A thirty pack of beer now lasted five days and kept my expenses down. My Mom gave me a bit of money each week for gas to run for her, so I divided the allowance between the gas for the car and the fuel for me. I have a cardinal rule, I never drink beer before 8:00 at night and I never drive even after one can. I've seen the hell a person can go through after a cop pullover and a few beers.

Tonight my email contained the usual crap, along with Buck's stuff, but one letter caught my eye. The sender was "DWittenfield@gomail.com" and the subject said in big letters: "JAMES, PLEASE HELP!" I knew a Dee Wittenfield in elementary school and she always called me James. Actually I had a huge crush on Dee and we even went steady for about a month before the school district broke into smaller divisions and she was sent to a different school. I went to the download on my mail program and