Death Indoors: Target Practice Mysteries 4 by Nikki Haverstock

I'm good. This must be the most stressful tournament you've ever coached at."
    She chuckled lightly. "In some ways yes because of the stuff Coach Ron has pulled today, but the archers are doing pretty well. It's not uncommon to have tons of archers having meltdowns because of shooting poorly or whatever. So far it's been difficult, but people are handling it really well. I'm going to check on Tiger and Mouse. If you need me, holler."
    I grabbed my quiver and put on my equipment and did some slow, easy stretches. Archers, parents, and coaches wandered around, and the range was quickly filling up. Liam and Moo weren't back, but they would be soon. The reverse-mullet mother who had filed the protest against Coach Ron, and vice versa, was hanging around the DOS stand talking to a few judges. A judge picked up the microphone, and her voice crackled overhead.
    "Coach Ron, Coach Ron, please come to the DOS stand immediately. Archers, five minutes until we resume shooting." The announcement cut off with a pop.
    "How you doing?"
    I swung around to see Loggin behind me. "Good, how about you?"
    "Pretty good, pretty good, not nearly as exciting as your end of the range. Can't you get things under control down here?"
    "I wish. Can you hear that coach that was standing behind me screaming through the entire first round?"
    "A little bit," said Loggin. "These things will toughen you up. You'll be a total rock star after today. Kill it." He extended his fist for a bump then trotted back to the compound end of the shooting line.
    I walked over to my bow near the shooting line and picked it up.
    The redheaded star student who stood to my left was arguing with her mother. "Where's Coach Ron?"
    Her mother shook her head, but her answer was lost in the announcement overhead.
    "Archers, two minutes. Two minutes until we resume shooting. There'll be no practice ends. We'll go straight into scoring."
    Maybe Coach Ron had been ejected by the judges. This day could be looking up.
    The whistle blew twice, and we approached the line. I took a deep breath, nocked an arrow on the bow, and waited for the single whistle to start shooting. The absence of Coach Ron's voice was a balm on my soul, and I had to remove the smile that crept up on my lips.
    The star student behind me was not as relieved. I could hear her shifting behind me and whispering to her mom to do something.
    The single whistle blew to shoot, and I felt ready to crush this round.
    As I released my first arrows, I was confident that it was a strong shot, so I was shocked to see an arrow land completely off to the right of my target in the lowest scoring ring.
    I assumed it was mine until Davey gasped and said over her shoulder, "I'm so sorry."
    "Hey, it's okay. These things happen." I whispered back. If I squinted, I could find my arrow on my target. Thankfully it was closer to the middle.
    Davey lifted her arm to shoot again, her entire little body shaking. As she released the arrow, it arched up, missed the target face, and barely caught the edge of the mat.
    I shot my arrow near my first arrow then looked at the target face to my left. The star student's target wasn't looking that great either. In fact, checking down the line, many of the targets had arrows outside of the scoring rings.
    I shot my last arrow and stepped off the line. Davey stepped off the line next to me and ran over to her mother to burrow her face into her mother's chest. The star student stepped off the line, tears running down her face. She dropped her bow down on the stand with more force than was necessary and stomped back to her mother.
    I put my bow down and eased away. The air felt tense and prickled with little snipped words. I retreated to my chair, where Liam and Moo had returned.
    "Hey, you're looking perkier. Sorry we weren't back before you started. We went outside during the break, and all the kids wanted to play with Moo."
    I looked at Moo, collapsed on his bed his tongue hanging out and his eyes closed. His