Death on the Range: Target Practice Mysteries 1 by Nikki Haverstock Page B

table and starting looking at her notes.
    “It’s hard to explain. She didn’t flat-out lie about any facts, like winning a medal she didn’t or making a team she didn’t, but every story is just a bit off. Let me back up. You didn’t know much about Honey, right? Can I tell you from the beginning?”
    I smiled and grabbed a pen to doodle with while Mary talked. Mary loved to tell a story. I had avoided personal stories from either of us, and she respected that, but she gave me long-winded explanations about every show we watched.
    “Honey was spoiled. I don’t know how rich her parents were, but they had some connections and enough money that she could devote herself to full-time training. In her book, she talks about being a triumphant winner and a gracious loser, but that wasn’t the case. She had a reputation for being a poor sport: not shaking hands after a match, being rude if she lost, just unpleasant, but nothing really against the rules.”
    Mary got up off the floor and sat in a chair to continue.
    “Nationwide, we only have about a hundred women that are seriously training in competitive recurve archery. The talent pool is good but not very deep. Honey had been sitting in about eighth position of the national rankings for years: very consistent but not good enough.”
    I was boggled by her exact statement. “How do you know that?”
    “Because of the articles I wrote. Normally I’m a freelancer, but this last summer I worked part time with NOUSAA, the National Organization of USA Archery, writing little articles about the teams for the Summer Games. Everyone else on the team was easy. Owley lives and dies archery. I don’t think I have even heard of her dating until today, but I will get to that later.”
    I drew a heart next to Owley’s name in the notebook.
    “Owley trains nonstop, and this was already her second Summer Games. She’s our top-ranked female and places well internationally, though she tends to be a bit unpredictable. One world event she will medal, then the next she won’t even make top thirty. She may be pretty weird in person, but she sounds great on paper.”
    “What about Minx?” I had taken an instant dislike to her abrasive personality.
    “Minx is awesome, a real great story. She comes from this huge family, has like a million sisters. They don’t have a lot of money. She lives at home and helps with the family business during the day then trains in the evening. They have bake sales on the weekend to raise enough money to send her to tournaments. She’s a rising star in the organization. She has been on a steady climb for the past few years, and she will probably eventually be better than Owley. She’s tough and a hard worker. If she gets into the OSA program here to train full time, she might be unstoppable. If I had been in charge of publicity, I would have had Minx everywhere, but I found something that explained why she wasn’t. I’ll pull it up for you.”
    “Argh, she gets under my skin. And Honey?” I attempted to draw a skull and crossbones next to Minx’s name.
    “Honey’s story was really hard to write. She only barely made the team at all. The team was picked over three events, and her ranking coming in was sixth. There were only three spots on the team, but it wasn’t the best year for our athletes. There isn’t much money in recurve archery, especially for females, so a couple of long-time athletes retired when they got great job offers or got married. Two others got pregnant, and another had to leave the first event when her mom was rushed to the hospital.”
    “How sad. Did her mom die?”
    “No, she lived, but if you miss one event you can’t advance.” She thumbed through the tablet.
    “That sucks, but at least she didn’t lose her mom as well.” It would be too awful.
    “I totally agree; there’ll be other Summer Games. I got hired right before the final trial so I went to watch. Minx and Owley had the top two places pretty well locked