Miss Trailerhood by Carina Taylor (the top 100 crime novels of all time .txt) 📗

A loud pop and the sound of a backfiring motor caused me to jump as I dumped the rest of the water into my basil pot. I glanced out the window as I erased water plants off of my small dry erase board hanging on my wall.

Johnny rode by on his motorcycle. He slowed to a stop next to Eldon, who was working on his lawn mower across the street. ’Twas the season.

I glanced around at the trailer park. The single-wides and travel trailers each had their own driveway and a small space to call a yard. Some yards were made up of gravel, some were dirt, while others actually had a small patch of grass on them—and when I say small, I mean small.

I slid my phone into my shorts pocket and headed outside. I wanted to find out why Larry and Patty’s was so quiet next to Eldon’s.

“Hey, Riley!” Johnny called as he stepped off his motorcycle. I waved and smiled as I crossed the street, heading straight for him.

He was a good-looking guy, like stare-at-all-day good-looking. Slightly awkward, though, as though he didn’t know he was attractive. It made me like him even more.

He’d only been in the trailer park for two months.

He was an undercover cop.

Of course, he didn’t know that the rest of us knew that, so we just let it slide. Despite him being a cop, he fit in well at the trailer park. He wasn’t afraid to jump in and lend a hand. He’d even helped jump Dean’s ride—which was probably stolen in the first place. I’d also seen Johnny stand up to Kristin’s ex. Kristin was a single mom in the trailer park who had divorced her abusive ex-husband. I still wasn’t sure how many kids she had because she was always babysitting other people’s. Johnny began checking up on her regularly, which turned out to be a good thing. Kristin’s ex thought he could come back to their trailer and push her around. He hadn’t counted on her next-door neighbor (Johnny) coming over and knocking him unconscious three weeks ago.

Now he could scare off Wren’s boyfriend. I’d have to keep that in mind for when I spoke with Mason again.

I pursed my lips as I debated about asking him to look into Wren’s current boyfriend. Maybe I could convince him to come hang out at the house sometime when Wren brought Mason home.

"You okay?" Johnny asked again.

I’d been standing there admiring the scenery too long. “Yeah, fine. Busy thinking."

"Hey, guys!" Tony walked over to stand by us, his camera hanging around his neck. "I've got my camera if you need me to take any pictures, Riley!"

"Thanks, Tony. I could use your help tomorrow, probably."

"That sounds great,” he said with a thoughtful look on his face. He took his photography seriously, even if he wasn't the best. He also always demanded a fee. If he took a picture of you that you didn’t know about, you’d probably still get a bill in the mail.

“Hey, did I see that Larry and Patty moved out already?" he asked about the neighbors that lived next to Eldon across the street from my trailer. They'd been slowly packing up. They'd bought themselves a trailer in Arizona. They said they were tired of the Oregon rain and planned on living happily ever after in a dry climate. They said their joints couldn't take the change in barometric pressure anymore.

But I hadn't even seen a moving truck today. It was already getting closer to noon, though, which meant I’d spent more time working inside than I thought.

"Yup!" Eldon burst out as he stood up, waving a wrench around. "Some feller came in and bought the place from them as they were loading up the last of their stuff this morning. Paid upfront. In cash."

Eldon dropped to the ground and went back to work on the lawn mower.

Tony looked thoughtful. “What do you suppose he does?”

“Drugs?” suggested Johnny.

“Not this feller,” Eldon chimed in. “Too cleaned up. Maybe a booster. He had a fancy rig. Like yours.”

He clanged around on his lawn mower engine. They’d successful piqued my interest. Who would my new across-the-street-ish neighbor be? I always worried when there was a turnover. I wanted to keep Wren safe, and not everyone was as harmless as Larry and Patty.

Something beeped, and Johnny pulled his phone from his pocket to look at the screen. "I've got to run, but I'll catch you later." He waved and jumped on the motorcycle. He was going to be late for his weekly meeting with the police chief. Someone needed to tell that boy he was a terrible undercover cop. His face was too honest.

Tony snapped a picture of him driving toward the sun on his motorcycle. It would be a great picture. Johnny would definitely get a bill later.

"Hey, Eldon, who bought Larry's house?" I looked at the abandoned single-wide which sat diagonally across the street from my trailer. Usually, the trailers would sit empty for a while before someone bought them and moved in. This would have been the quickest turn around I'd ever seen. It made me curious about who would be my new neighbor.

Hopefully, they wouldn't mind me standing in their driveway for some of my photoshoots. It was a great angle to capture the entire trailer and outdoor sitting area I'd created. I had to keep my pictures updated, especially with seasonal decor.

Eldon stood up and tossed the wrench into an old metal coffee can. "I ain't met the feller yet."

"Fellow," I whispered to myself.

"What's that?"

"I said—“ An engine revving interrupted me. I turned around to see a Jeep driving down the narrow street. It was my Jeep.

Except it wasn't.

It was a Jeep identical to my Jeep, and it pulled into the driveway of the empty single-wide.

"No!" I gasped when I saw who the driver was.

Nate Mercier.

He couldn’t possibly have bought the single-wide. I wouldn’t let him.

“Oh yeah, that’s the feller with the cash.