Scatman Dues (Freaky Florida Mystery Adventures Book 6) by Margaret Lashley (interesting books to read .TXT) 📗

to the investigation at hand. What evidence have you gathered so far from your undercover operation?”

A tight smile edged the corners of Jimmy’s plump cheeks. “Not a lot. I think the woman in the gold robe is the head of the organization.”

“Did you get a good look at her?” Grayson asked.

Jimmy nodded. “Yeah. She’s young. Maybe thirty, tops. Blonde. Nice-looking face. Pouty lips. Skinny body. Kind of big-bosomed. For some reason, she seems to have some kind of hold on these guys.”

“Gee,” I said. “Imagine that.”

Jimmy locked eyes with me. “No. It’s more than that, Ms. Drex.”

“What kind of control are you talking about?” Grayson asked.

Jimmy’s eyes darted down to the table. “It’s hard to say. She seems to have some kind of ... I dunno ... mind control.”

I shook my head. “What reason would a woman like her have for wanting to control a bunch of pasty, old white guys?”

Jimmy shrugged. “I don’t know. But she calls herself Queen Kristie.”

“Pshaw!” I laughed. “Queen Kristie?”

“Hmm,” Grayson said, rubbing his chin. “Then this woman definitely sees herself as an authority figure. Perhaps even as superior to her subjects.”

I snorted. “A bunch of desperate, overweight, middle-aged hillbillies? Hard not to.”

“But that’s just it,” Jimmy said. “They weren’t overweight. I mean, not at first. And a lot of them drive cars.”

“As opposed to what?” I said. “Spaceships?”

“No,” Jimmy said. “Trucks. These guys park their vehicles along the side roads inside Hi-Ho. There’s only a handful of four-by-fours in the bunch. Some of the license plates are even from outside Polk County. I ran the plates on a few, looking to see if they were relatives of Wade’s or something. One belongs to a mayor. Another’s a high-school principal. One’s a fry cook at Wendy’s.”

I blew out a breath. “Apparently, this cruller queen’s lust for cash knows no boundaries. She must not realize the school system pays squat. That fry cook probably has more in his wallet that the principal.”

Jimmy shook his head. “I don’t think her primary motive is money.”

I blanched. After all, Florida was still technically America.

“If not money, then what?” I asked.

Suddenly, from the back room, Earl let out a groan that reverberated down the hallway.

Grayson pursed his lips. “Whatever the Queen’s personal motivation is will have to wait. The more pressing question for now is how she’s accomplishing mind control over the men.”

“I think I know,” Jimmy said. “I believe there’s something in the round wafer thing she makes the guys eat at the beginning of each meeting. I’ve noticed the more times each man attends, the crazier—and fatter—each gets. When I saw Earl this evening, I could tell he’d already eaten at least one. Am I right?”

I glanced down the hallway and bit my lip. “Yes. You’re right, Jimmy. I saw Earl eat it.”

Jimmy blew out a breath. “I knew it. That’s why I knocked him down. If he’d gotten ahold of another one, it might’ve been game over for him.”

“But ... you gave him another one, didn’t you?” I asked.

“No,” Jimmy said. “I only pretended to throw it into the bedroom.” He pulled the small, round, doughy object from his shirt pocket and held it up for us to examine.

“What is that?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Grayson said, studying it with a magnifying glass.

I sneered at it. “You think it’s laced with some kind of drug?”

“Indubitably,” Grayson said. He pulled a baggie out of his pocket. “Drop that in here, Jimmy. I want to test it.”

“For drugs?” Jimmy asked. “What kind do you suspect?”

Grayson chewed his lip. “Perhaps performance enhancers.”

“Ugh!” I groaned. “Men will do anything to—”

“I meant sales performance enhancers,” Grayson said. “From what you and I observed ourselves, the meetings appear to include some kind of team building exercises, do they not?”

“Maybe,” I said.

“Oh!” Garth said. “I know! Maybe the drugs are mood enhancers—and the meetings are pep rallies. You know. To get the guys all jacked up to sell more crullers.”

Jimmy shook his head. “I think there’s more to it than that. Or, should I say, less to it.”

My nose crinkled. “What do you mean?”

Jimmy clicked the display on his cellphone. “If this is only about selling Kristie’s Frickin’ Crullers, the company itself doesn’t appear to be doing much to build any kind of retail presence.”

“Intriguing,” Grayson said. “Go on.”

“Okay. At the end of each meeting, Queen Kristie hands each guy a bag of donuts. But as far as I can tell, there aren’t any retail shops in town. No online delivery ones, either. In fact, I haven’t seen a single sign of Kristie’s Frickin’ Crullers outside of these bizarre nighttime bonfire meetings.”

“That’s odd.” Grayson said, tapping on his computer keyboard. “You’re right, Jimmy. There’s not a single mention of Kristie’s Frickin’ Crullers on the web.”

My nose crinkled. “What does that mean?”

Grayson closed his laptop with a snap. “It means that Kristie’s Frickin’ Crullers is either a front for something else, or whoever’s running it is keeping the operation top secret until it’s ready to be rolled out.”

“Whatever it is, it’s big,” Jimmy said. “I heard Queen Kristie tell one of her minions that her plan was going to change the world as we know it.”

“Indeed.” Grayson’s eyebrow went up like Spock’s. “I’ve heard those exact words before. But not to worry, my friends. No matter how well-funded or charismatic the leader, not every plan works out as intended.”

My lip snarled. “Grayson, are you comparing Queen Kristie to Hitler?”

“No,” he said. “Steve Jobs. Remember the Segway?”

I sighed, shook my head, and turned to Jimmy. “Not to be rude or anything, but I couldn’t help but notice you’ve put on a few pounds yourself. How many of those queen’s Quaaludes have you eaten?”

“None,” Jimmy said, his body stiffening. “I swear!”

“Well, kudos to you, then,” Grayson said. “You certainly take your role seriously. Not everyone could gain that much weight so quickly for an undercover role.”

“Uh ... I didn’t,” Jimmy said.

Then he dug his fingers into his neck behind his ears and pulled off his double