Fixin' To Die (A Kenni Lowry Mystery Book 1) by Tonya Kappes

dropping them on the floorboard.
    “Ugh.” I sighed and looked between my legs, scraping my foot on the floorboard to help kick them back toward me, but like everything else today, they weren’t cooperating with me either.
    I opened the door and bent down into the truck.
    “Where in the hell did they go?” I questioned, as if someone was going to answer me.
    I patted my hand underneath the seat and jerked it out when I felt something stick me.
    “Shit!” I put my bleeding finger in my mouth to stop the blood, and then took it out to inspect where something had poked me. “Damn,” I said, looking at it closer and pinching it, causing the blood to come out in little drops.
    I grabbed the flashlight out of my handy dandy bag and bent back down, shining it under the seat, where I found my keys and a little lapel pin next to them. I raked both of them forward, careful not to poke myself again. I put the keys in my pocket and held the pin in the palm of my hand while taking a look at it from all angles.
    I smiled.
    It was my Poppa’s pin from when he was Cottonwood sheriff, though I wondered why they hadn’t buried it with him. After all, he was buried in his uniform.
    “Somehow you knew I was coming.” I took a step forward, an inch closer toward the most important man from my past. I put the pin in my pocket. I ran my hand along the top of the stone and cleared off any loose debris. “There is something strange going on around here, and I’m not so sure I’m going to win this one.”
    Tears stung the rims of my eyes at the sheer thought of Poppa being gone. One day he was here, healthy as a bull, and then the next day I found him next to his bed, dead of a heart attack. People say time healed all wounds; I wondered when my time was going to start. My heart was just as broken now as it had been when he died.
    “I’m so scared that I’m not going to be able to put all the puzzle pieces together to solve these crimes.” I plopped down crossed-legged in front of Poppa’s stone like I was plopping down on his sofa as I’d done so many times before and kept talking. “I sure do wish you were here to help.”
    In some strange way it did make me feel better to visit Poppa’s final resting place. Sometimes I walked away with answers to the questions I was fighting within me.
    “I don’t know where to start. Doc Walton has been murdered. Someone broke into White’s Jewelry.” I wiped my face with the palm of my hand. “None of this ever happened when you were sheriff.” I put my head in my hands.
    I remembered the pin and pulled it out of my front pocket. I sobbed. “I found this pin in the truck today. And Wyatt said something about the old police beacon light and how I still use it. I guess he was right.” I picked up a blade of grass and twirled it between my fingers. “I’m going to make you proud. I’m going to figure out who killed Doc and who broke into the jewelry store.”
    “Kenni, you alright?” Rowdy asked from behind me.
    I jumped up, wiping my face and turning toward him.
    “Rowdy, are you sneaking up on me?” I asked. He looked at me cross. “Sure, I’m fine.” I waved off the real concern he had written all over his face. “Why?” I couldn’t tell if Rowdy was fishing for information about the two open investigations or if he was just being kind. He wasn’t the nosy type, so I was going with kindness. It was something I needed to believe in.
    “Aw, I don’t know.” He bent down and plucked a couple weeds out of the grass. “It’s just that I’ve seen you here quite a bit lately.” He pointed to Poppa’s stone.
    “I’m fine.” I laughed and walked past him. “Are you okay?” I asked, taking the heat off of me.
    “Just tired.” He ran his hands through his curly brown hair. “I’ve been out at the fairgrounds all night making sure the drainage was working.” He shook his head. “I told Mayor Ryland he might have to postpone it.”
    “I don’t think the mayor