Jackrabbit Junction Jitters Read Online Free Page B

grandfather and sister made her fingers and
toes tingle. Without the two of them living close by over the last few months,
South Dakota had seemed washed out, lifeless.
    As they drove under the Dancing Winnebagos R.V. Park sign
bridging the drive and crossed over a creek lined with willow trees and
cottonwoods, Deborah flipped down the visor and checked her appearance in the
mirror. Kate watched out of the corner of her eye as her mom added another coat
of red lipstick.
    She parked in front of the General Store, leaving the car
idling so the air conditioner kept running, and turned to her mother. “Okay, Mom.
Remember the promise you made as part of the deal of me driving you down here?
You swore you’d be on your best behavior for the next few weeks.”
    Deborah nodded, her smile wider than normal as a red-haired
woman walked out of the store and onto the porch, followed by Gramps. Kate
waved through the windshield at the two.
    “I’m well aware of what I said, Kathryn,” Deborah said
through gritted teeth and reached for the door handle. “Now let’s go talk some
sense into your grandfather before that little gold digger gets his ring on her
finger and her hands in his bank account.”

 
Chapter Three
    “Claire, get your ass up here!” Gramps yelled from the top
of the basement steps, his tone downright grumpy.
    Claire frowned at the open doorway of Ruby’s office. What
had she done now? Then it hit her.
    Mother! Oh, God, Mother!? Norman Bates’s voice echoed in her
head.
    Claire’s stomach cramped in anticipation. All hell was about
to break loose, and here she sat in Ruby’s office, right in the middle of
ground zero.
    After a half-hour of searching for clues that would explain
why someone would break into Ruby’s office and leave thousands of dollars’
worth of rare antiques behind, she had nothing. Nada. Zilch. And now her mother
was here, who would undoubtedly make her feel even more like a loser.
    She glanced around for a place to hide. The window caught
her eye. Could her butt squeeze through that little rectangle? Whoever had
broken in through it couldn’t have been packing any extra pounds around the
middle.
    Grabbing the desk chair, she rolled it below the window. Her
flip-flops squeaked against the leather as she tried to balance on the chair,
which kept reclining.
    After nearly falling ass-over-elbows for the second time,
she kicked the chair to the side and pulled the metal trashcan out from under
the desk. She dumped the trash on the floor, flipped the can upside down, and
crossed her fingers it would hold her weight—plus the three fudge brownies she’d
had for a late brunch. Ruby really needed to find another therapeutic release
for stress besides baking.
    The new window latch unlocked with a click, but when she
tried to swing open the hinged window, the sucker refused to budge. She locked
and unlocked the latch again, pushing hard on the handle, but the window still
wouldn’t open. Gramps must have sealed the window shut after the break-in.
    “Shit!” She hopped off the trashcan and ran over to the
door, listening for the screeching of fingernails on chalkboard, the sound she
associated with her mother’s yelling.
    Silence issued from overhead.
    Her mother must not have breached Ruby’s sanctuary yet. Maybe
she could escape out the back door at the top of the steps.
    Claire had one foot on the bottom step when she heard her
sister’s forced laughter. Sweat trickled down her back.
    Tiptoeing back into the office, she shut the door and looked
over at the floor-to-ceiling bookcase filled with first edition books and
antique box cameras.
    Katy, bar the door! Only in this case, her sister would be
on the outside.
    What the hell. It was worth a try. She could hide out in
Ruby’s office until her mom went to sleep, then run like the wind.
    She tried to pull the bookcase in front of the door, but it
wouldn’t budge thanks to the stupid shag carpeting. Moving around to the other
side, she