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    One Tough Summer
    One Tough Summer
    One Tough Summer
    Ebook139 pages2 hours

    One Tough Summer

    By Brenda Hamilton

    ()

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    About this ebook

    This is the second in the Knightsville mystery series. In this book, the staff of the veterinary hospital in town are involved in a series of break-ins and other vandalism. We also get a look at a few more veterinary scenarios, and the animals that are involved in them from the point of view of the veterinary hospitals staff. The local RCMP investigate the incidents, but "the girls" from the hospital plus Jim and Myles Donnelly from the local paper get pulled into trying to understand the motivation for some of the things which happen. Then just when things didn't seem like they could get worse, Melissa Knight, William's wife goes missing, along with their young lab pup, Mae. To top things off, Mel was very near her due date in her pregnancy. This was during a week of very heavy rain storms which were going through the district The whole town turns out to search for her, almost forgetting about the vandalism situations, until after she could be found. Hope you enjoy seeing to what lengths the folks of the town will go to help one of their own.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrenda Hamilton
    Release dateFeb 7, 2014
    ISBN9781311578716
    One Tough Summer
    Author

    Brenda Hamilton

    Brenda grew up near Oxford Mills, Ontario. After high school she went to Guelph University and graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College in 1977. She moved to the Rainy River District where she ran her large animal practice until the year 2000. Since then, her arthritis and fibromyalgia which had bothered her for years, has finally convinced Brenda to retire. After moving to Oliver with her husband, she has began to write down some of the many story ideas she has had in her head for yearsHope you enjoy reading these tales.

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      Book preview

      One Tough Summer - Brenda Hamilton

      One Tough Summer

      Book two in the Knightsville mystery series

      Copyright 2013 Brenda Hamilton

      Published by Brenda Hamilton at Smashwords

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Table of Contents

      Acknowledgements

      Characters

      About Brenda Hamilton

      Other books by Brenda Hamilton

      Connect with Brenda Hamilton

      Acknowledgements

      This book is dedicated to my husband Dwayne. He encourages me when I get discouraged and supports me in the many long hours it takes to put together a book such as this.

      The next section are short descriptions of many of the characters, both human and animal that you may encounter during your read. Since this story is the second of a series, this will make an easier read if you already can picture the staring characters. At any time you may want to refer back to this section to refresh your memory. Enjoy the story.

      Characters - human

      Jeanne North: receptionist at Knightsville Veterinary Hospital, and commentator of this tale. Jeanne is often speaking to her room-mate and cat, Khat. She worked as a veterinarian for all of her adult life, up until she and Khat moved to the town of Knightsville. Very few folks in town know of her education, but do recognize her animal smarts from her work at the clinic.

      Nora Stone veterinary technician: She grew up on the First Nations Reservation on the outskirts of town. After graduating from high school, she went off to the college at Kelowna and graduated near the top of her class. Nora stands about five foot ten, kind of tall for a girl, and at times I think she is self-conscious of her height. Her hair is black, cut short and shaped to her head. She always keeps herself in good shape; in fact, I think she must jog every day.

      Dr. Roberta (Bobby) Stirling: veterinarian at the Hospital. Bobby styles her long brown hair loosely gathered in a braid in the back, and the only jewelry she usually wears while working is a small pair of white pearl earrings and a nurse's watch pinned to her tunic. Bobby's voice is one of those soft, alto ranged voices, which is kind of musical but can easily be heard. The pet owners and their little ones feel very safe with this lady.

      Jim Donnelly: owner of the local newspaper. A fairly quiet man, but a talented reporter and editor for his small paper. He has recently begun dating Dr. Bobby.

      Myles Donnelly: Jim’s dad, blind since bush accident a few years ago. He used to be a high-school English teacher, until Mrs. Knight disagreed with one of the novels he choose for his seniors to study. He was forced to resign and he turned to the bush to earn his living until a freak accident resulted in his blindness. He has since returned to his first love and is now a reporter for his son’s paper. Andy, his guide dog pilots him where he wants to go.

      Mrs. Agatha Black: librarian, and Susie’s mother, as well as the source for many of the rumors which reach Mrs. Knight. She also believes it her duty to be sure the whole town knows how their patroness feels on every issue.

      Susie Black: Agatha’s daughter and owner of local book store. Susie is blond wearing her hair long, and since it has enough natural curls, when left loose it hangs in soft waves. Susie is petite, barely reaching five foot, four. She and Nora have become the best of friends.

      Carl: part owner of Lakeview Cafe with partner Larry

      Larry:, interior designer, partner of Larry’s in the cafe and married to Carl

      Wendy O’Sullivan: runs the town’s answering service out of her home

      Richard O’Sullivan: (Rich), Wendy’s husband, works at the mill

      Dr. Harold Knight: owner of Knightsville Veterinary Hospital. He is an average sized man, maybe a little over weight, but that wasn’t too bad considering he has never been seen to partake in any physical activity beyond walking, or rather stalking about town. Harold’s hair was going grey, and he seems to have accepted that. He is about forty five years old and he felt the grey enhanced his professional facade, but he was losing his hair over the crown of his head so he had decided to let the hair on one side grow longer, and is now combing it up and over the ever enlarging bald spot. No one in town can guess how much product he used each morning to keep all those long grey fibers stuck to his scalp, and remember we live on the shores of a lake - lots of breezes. Dr. Harold always has a black umbrella hooked over one fore-arm, and a large black brief case held in the other hand.

      Mrs. Cynthia Knight:, mother of both Dr. Harold and William. Cynthia considered she was the matriarch of the town and expected her opinions to be both respected and followed. Mrs. Knight is eighty-something, grey haired, and her clothes and mannerisms screamed money. Her husband's family 'owned' most of the land along the lake front and had been the founders of the lumber mill on the outskirts of town

      William Knight: younger brother of Dr. Harold and owner of Knightsville sawmill. William was just as athletic and socially outgoing, as Harold was not while they were in high-school.

      Melisa Knight: William’s wife, daughter of Jim and Dorothy Longfellow

      Dick Kirby: works at Veterinary Hospital. Has no veterinary assistance training, but has worked next to Dr. Harold for a number of years. Most days his primary job is to agree with everything his boss says.

      Corporal Fred Simmons: local RCMP officer

      Jeffrey Oliver: alarm company rep. for system in vet. Hospital

      Staff Sergeant Powers: Corporal Simmons superior

      Freddy: worked with Myles at the time of the bush accident, now lives with Myles as helper, also studying to become a nurse. He is Nora’s cousin

      Mandy and Chris Jackson: new couple in Knightsville

      Chief Able; Nora’s grandfather and chief of the local First Nation’s Band

      Tobias: Mrs. Black’s chauffeur

      Harvey Able: manager at Isole Peaks the resort, owned by local band and located on Lake Isole at opposite end of the lake from the town of Knightsville

      Olivia Stirling: Dr. Bobby’s mother

      Don Smilie: Search and Rescue officer, handler of Frazer

      Animal Characters

      Khat: Jeanne North’s cat, Khat is often the one that Jeanne talks with when something is bothering her.

      Andy: Myles’ guide dog. Andy is an unlikely looking guide dog. He is a mix of spaniel and black lab and in the winter months looks a bit like a small long- haired black bear. Because of the heat, last summer Myles had Andy's hair cut short- and suddenly he looked like a real Labrador, except for that little white spot on the tip of his tail. Andy is supposed to be a lead dog, but sometimes he has the tendency to herd Myles.

      Oscar: Mrs. Knight’s small white poodle

      Frazer: search and rescue dog- handler Don Smilie, Mastiff cross. Frazer was a huge dog. He was pretty intimidating when you saw him standing beside Don. The dog's back easily came up to his master's waist. Don claims he can track anything from an animal like a cougar or dog to a man. They are often called in by other S&R units in the surrounding mountains.

      Mae: Mel and William’s black lab pup

      Muffin: cat that lives at vet. Hospital

      Cujo: Rottweiler pup belonging to Mandy and Chris Jackson

      1

      It seemed like all the problems started around the end of June, or at least that was when us three girls as we referred to ourselves, were aware that something was going on. As you know Khat, the group was made of me, you momma, Jeanne North, receptionist at Knightsville Veterinary Hospital, Nora Stone, the vet-tech there and Dr. Roberta, Bobby Stirling, associate veterinarian. This made up the female employees at the hospital, which was owned by Dr. Harold Knight. It was actually the whole staff except for Dick Kirby who worked as Dr. Knight`s go-for, and to be honest, some days was more a hindrance, than a help to the rest of us.

      We had a young lady start working with us after school just before high-school finished up for the summer. Judy O`Sullivan was Wendy`s niece. You remember, Wendy has a small home business where she runs an answering service for many businesses and a few private individuals, including me. Judy had started at the clinic for ``work experience`` from the high school, but she had worked out so well, that Dr. Knight had kept her on, or rather us three girls managed to convince him to .

      We thought Judy was a sweet-heart. I think she was just finishing grade ten, and she must have been a very good student, because the grades she told us about were pretty respectable. She had red hair, which was so curly, that though it looked to be just short of shoulder length was actually at least four inches longer. I know that, because one day when we were all talking about our hair styles, and why we had them, she let us know what a pain it was to wash and dry her hair. She then proceeded to pull one strand straight, and laughed when we were amazed at its real length.

      Wendy had told us that Judy was looking for a work-experience business to volunteer at. The high-school ran this course in the junior grades, allowing the students to attend a local business during the last period of each day, for the final six weeks of the semester. When those weeks were through, Judy had been kept on, and been put on the payroll, at minimum wage, of-course.

      Dr. Knight, though he was more human as Nora put it, than he’d been up till last year, still just couldn’t forget his bottom-line. His family were probably the richest in the town, owning much of the land along

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