Jackie Dickson glanced behind her at the long truck bed. "Why would you buy a pisser like this?"
"Don't you be calling my pickup a pisser. That is just not nice." Emme patted the dashboard. "I like Cleo, and I've missed having my truck."
"Cleo? You realize this is a machine, right? Nuts, bolts, an engine, nothing more." Just when she thought her "maybe" twin sister, that was still to be determined, was going to be tolerable to live with, she goes all Alabama redneck.
"At least, it's more practical than that little skateboard you bought." Emme snarled at her.
"Skateboard? That blue beauty is a Z4 BMW roadster that tops out at a 165 MPH." Patting the dashboard of the truck sarcastically, she moaned. "What does this tank do? A slow crawl through Dixie?"
"It ain't all about the speed. Cleo can pull a boat, haul anything you want, lets me see over traffic, and as a bonus, I can run right over your puny little Beamer." She smiled.
Such was life with Ellie May Clampett. Jackie wondered what karmic debt she owed to have been sent here. It must have been a whopper.
"Did you put those coordinates into the GPS?"
"No, I'm just riding shotgun, while throwing biscuits to Jethro in the back."
Emme swerved a bit to the right, driving through the center of a huge pothole. The sudden impact jolted Jackie off her seat, crunching her elbow against the door. Then a loud thud hammered the back of the truck sending a shudder through the metal. The truck swerved, and Emme fought the wheel.
"Being a smart ass is one thing, trying to kill me is another." Jackie snapped.
"It wasn't me," Emme pulled the steering wheel hard. "I think we blew a tire." Easing the truck onto the side of the road, she pushed the four-way lights on and slid out. Tilting her head to one side, she looked at the tires, gave a shrug, started to walk to the back and stopped dead in her tracks.
Emme's hazel eyes grew large, the color drained from her tanned face and every part of her body was frozen into place.
This was one of those moments when Jackie had to decide if she really wanted to look behind her or not. They probably ran over some poor woodland animal. Those beasts were all over the place down here in the south. It's remains were probably scrambled over the side of the truck, and this miserable humidity would make it start stinking.
Emme stood on tip-toes, tilted her head to one side, and crooked her finger motioning Jackie to get out. Damn, there was no way of getting out of seeing what carnage was underneath the truck. Shoving open the door, she stepped onto the gravel shoulder, turning.
"Holy shit, what is that?"
"I think it's a body."
They walked toward the bed of the truck where booted feet hung over the side. The edge of the truck's bed was now a funky 'U' shape, the feet were perched at odd angles, and the branches of several pine trees nearly covered the rest of the body. At least, Jackie hoped there was a rest of the body.
"No. Hell no. Not another dead body. Seriously? Who the hell did we piss off so bad?" Jackie shook her head. Three dead bodies in a matter of weeks wasn't normal. Normal? Ha! It was downright screwed up.
"Eww, eww," Emme peered into the truck bed first. "That is nasty." Walking to the back, she stepped up on the bumper.
"What are you doing?" If she thought it was nasty why was she getting an even better look?
"Huh, will you look at this." Two cars sped past, their breeze making Emme hang onto the tailgate. "What do y'all think this is a NASCAR race?" She shouted after them.
Jackie hesitated. They'd seen enough mangled bodies recently to last a lifetime. Just a few weeks ago, they hadn't known each other existed. Jackie was a happy executive with a pharmaceutical company in Boston, and Emme was an architect working in Alabama. Then they both received a cryptic letter to come to Washington, D.C.
Since then a man was assassinated in front of them, they'd been shot at, moved to a 'safe' house by some agency - they didn't know which one - told their recently deceased parents were spies, and decided to open a private investigation office as a way of hiding their search for the truth about their parents. That was all it was supposed to be a PI agency that acted as a good cover story in their search. PI credentials opened doors.
Then they solved a high profile murder after a dead body slammed into them. That gave them a good paycheck, let them help the local cops put a murderer behind bars and put them square in the PI business. They had managed to keep their names out of the paper, barely. Publicity wasn't a good thing for people in a jacked-up witness protection program.
Jackie was hoping for nice little cases that involved cheating spouses or worker's comp fraud, not real dead bodies.
Standing on the bumper beside Emme she looked at the surprisingly intact body. It was a man in his mid to late thirties, Caucasian, brown hair tied in a ponytail, and dressed in, wait, what? A Scottish kilt.
"What the hell?" They exchanged glances. Jackie took one of the pine branches and lifted the kilt.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm checking to see if he was a real Scotsman." She dropped the branch.
"And you think looking at his junk is going to tell you? That is just rude." Emme jumped down just as a convertible sports car stopped.
"Hey, sweet thing do you need some help?" The driver's bald head glistened in the sun, his neon blue mesh tank top had been blown to an odd angle off one shoulder, and he was in serious need of a shave. He gave the engine a few revs.
"We sure do, honey." Emme pointed to the truck. "We could use some help dumping this dead body." The man the floored the convertible for all it was worth.
Did her sister really just tell that man there was a dead body in their truck? Yes, dammit she did.
"You know that man is calling the cops right now."
"My call will trump his." Emme smiled. "I have Agent Meechum's private number."
M-D Character Interview With Emme Mayson - the Southern Sister
Hey, y'all my name is Emme Dickson. I'm the Southern half of Mayson-Dickson Investigations. I'm glad you invited me over.
What did you think when you met you Boston sister?
When I first met her? Honestly, I didn't think much of her. I mean, whew, she was all power suit and condescending attitude. After a while though I discovered she was a pretty awesome lady - for a Yankee. Plus, we still don't know if we're really sisters or not. You see someone, we don't know who, seems to have tampered with the DNA test we took.
Tampered with a test? Any idea of who that might be?
Honestly, no. I mean who would want to mess around with DNA test? That's alright, I can get another one.
The lawyer that summoned both of you was shot and killed, and didn't answer all your questions. Do you have any ideas what's really going on?
That poor, poor man. A sniper put one right between his eyes. He managed to croak out a final word or two before he transpired, but neither Jackie nor I had a clue what he meant. The next thing we know this scary secret agent woman Sydney, was ushering us out the door.
The only thing we know is that our parents were afraid and tried to protect us. They split up and they split us up to keep us safe. Our quest now is to find out who they really were, and why someone might have killed them and is likely trying to find us.
Do you think your parents were spies?
We don't know, but we've made a good start on finding out.
On your first walk in your new location you stumbled on a dead body. Did that make you want to pack your bags and leave?
Ewww, that body smelled like a dead pig on a hot August day. I swear every time you mention it, I recall that smell. To answer you, no it didn't make me want to leave, it made me want to find out who killed him.
Did Jackie feel the same way?
She did, but she sure wouldn't admit it. It took a few margaritas to convince her.
Tell us about the two men that stumble into your lives at your new location?
First, there is Fender. He is the caretaker of the property we live in and he is a cutie. The man is all beach wave hair, tanned body and he has a thing for Jackie.
Then there is Agent Chris Meechum. He is on special assignment for the FBI and this is one hot agent, let me tell you.
Neither man wants us to start our PI business, but we have a secret weapon - Zack. I just got the loud clearing throat signal from our author Jocie, so you'll have to read the book
M-D Interview Jackie Dickson - The Northern Sister
Thank you for hosting me today. My name is Jackie Dickson and I'm the featured character in Jocie McKade's Mayson-Dickson Investigations cozy mystery series.
That sounds intriguing, why Mayson-Dickson?
That was not my idea, in fact, I hate the name. It was apparently picked by my father, a man I never knew existed.
Wait, your dad picked your name, but you didn't know him?
That's correct. I received a letter summoning me to a law office in Washington, D.C. Little did I know that day would change my entire life. I was introduced to a woman that was supposed to be my sister, my twin sister, can you imagine?
You have a twin sister you didn't know about?
Apparently. But I have my doubts that we are sisters. I mean the woman is an annoying redneck from Alabama. She swaddles herself in pink and wears, oh man, she wears a NASCAR hat. I think she's fixed grits a few times too, I can smell the things.
What brought you together?
A bullet. Yeah, blunt I know, but I'm from Boston it's how we are. The day we met in that lawyer's office, a sniper took the man out. Damn, it was ugly. He did manage to utter some strange message that we are working on deciphering. Jocie, our author says that will be worked out in book two - maybe.
We were given new identities and told to head to a new location. The next thing we know, there's a dead body washing across Emme and we are tangled up in a murder investigation.
Why were you given new identities?
Hell if I know, it had something to do with our parents. Apparently, they were both involved in some bad-ass government black ops work and, man, this is hard to talk about. They split up and they split us up to protect us. At least, that's what little bit we were told before that sniper bullet took out our only source of information. In spite of not really liking each other, we are working together to find out the truth about our parents.
So, in the middle of all this, you two start at PI firm?
Why not? We found that we are really good at solving murders and using our PI credentials is a great way to investigate our parents.
Tell us about those delicious men in your new life.
First there is Fender, he came with the new house. He is a beach bum that lives in the cottage and is the caretaker, but I suspect he is more than that. The man is nothing I would ever have even given a second glance too in Boston. Here, however, I don't know maybe it's the beach air, but I'm having a hard time keeping my distance.
Then there is Agent Meechum working locally on assignment for the FBI. He is a true pain in Emme's ass. The man dogs her like a puppy. I think we drive him crazy.
And then we have Zack, we sort of inherited him and he is proving to be very valuable.
Plus there is, what? What? Jocie is giving me that annoying throaty thing, you know when you need to shut up. I don't know why she can't just say 'shut up'. I think that crazy Southern sister of mine is getting to her.
If you'd like to know more, just head over to Amazon and snag a copy of Mayson-Dickson, The Line is Drawn.
Thanks for having me today. I hope y'all will head over to Amazon and put yourself up a copy of Mayson-Dickson, The line is Drawn, Book One. Grab a sweet tea, and a comfy chair and enjoy.
Jocie is giving away an ebook of Mayson-Dickson!
You can learn more about Jocie online at:
Facebook Author Page
McKade's Mavericks FB Fan Page
This page is just for fans.
Amazon Author Page
Goodreads Author Page
You can purchase Mayson-Dickson at:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
iTunes
