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    No Diving in the Shallow End
    No Diving in the Shallow End
    No Diving in the Shallow End
    Ebook114 pages1 hour

    No Diving in the Shallow End

    By Victoria Wallin

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    About this ebook

    Betty is running away from someone. Jimmy is running away from dark events in his past. At the seedy Paradise Motel they're both staying at in Florida, everyone's running away from something.

    Jimmy is divorced and living at a motel in Florida where his only pleasure is downing a six-pack of beer every night and hang out with retired cop Bert who has a gambling problem. When the mysterious Betty arrives to the motel, Jimmy is attracted to her, and very curious to find out what she's running from. Can this be a second chance at life? Betty's secrets brings up memories from his own past.

    Betty is desperately running away from someone. When Jimmy helps her out with her new car, she thinks he seems like a nice guy. But what dark events is he hiding from his past? Is Jimmy really as nice as he seems?

    Can anyone really escape their past? A gripping suspenseful drama/thriller.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherVictoria Wallin
    Release dateApr 18, 2019
    ISBN9780463995808
    No Diving in the Shallow End
    Author

    Victoria Wallin

    Victoria Wallin writes women's fiction, romantic comedies, romance, historical fiction and crime thrillers!

    Read more from Victoria Wallin

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      Book preview

      No Diving in the Shallow End - Victoria Wallin

      No Diving in the Shallow End

      a suspenseful drama/thriller

      by

      Victoria Wallin

      No Diving in the Shallow End

      Copyright © 2019 Victoria Wallin

      Smashwords Edition

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written admission of the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed by a newspaper, blog or other social media.

      All characters appearing in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons is coincidental.

      Romance books by Victoria Wallin

      Willow Creek Series:

      Autumn Wishes

      A Home for Christmas

      Forever and a Day: A Historical Romance

      A Dog in the Manger – the novel

      Crime Thrillers by Victoria Wallin

      The Case of the Missing Wife

      The Window Watcher

      The Favor: A Dark Comedy/Thriller

      The Detective Patrone Series:

      .38 Special

      Jailbird

      Table of Contents

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      Chapter 7

      Chapter 8

      Chapter 9

      Chapter 10

      Chapter 11

      Chapter 12

      About the Author

      Chapter 1

      Jimmy

      Jimmy McKeough didn’t sip on his bottle of beer. It was summer in Florida and you had to drink your beer fast or else it would get lukewarm quicker than an alligator death roll. A cold beer was all Jimmy had to enjoy in life, and he took a few more mouthfuls of the imported beer and raked his fingers through his wet messy dark blonde hair that could use a haircut, and looked out over the pool area of the cheap motel he was staying at.

      He leaned his lanky body against one of the poles that supported the second floor section of the shabby U-shaped motel. It had about 50 rooms, most of which were vacant. The walls of the motel had once been white, the paint had stripped and it was in long need of a renovation. The doors to each room were turquoise to give it that Floridian feeling. A rectangular pool was placed in front of the U-shaped two-storey building, surrounded by a dry lawn with a scrawny metal fence enclosing it. There was a parking lot for the residents on the other side of the fence to his right where the U-shape opened up to the busy street.

      Jimmy drank some more from his bottled beer and looked over at the white plastic furniture by the pool that could use a cleaning. The cheap plastic chairs and tables were spread around the pool area. He would usually spend his evenings in one of the chairs, drinking his beer. Today was no exception. He was a creature of habit; he’d bring take away food home after work that he ate in his room, after which he had a shower and a cold beer. Then he went outside to down a six-pack or two by the pool until it was time for bed.

      He had now taken a shower and his beer was half-empty so he went back inside and got another one from the small fridge in the back of his room, and strode over to one of the white plastic chairs and sat down with a deep sigh, putting the cold beer underneath his chair in the shade. He had longed for this moment all day. The sun was setting, grasping its long golden tentacles over the building as if it wasn’t ready to let go of today just yet.

      Jimmy had stayed at plenty of motels during the last eight months. Heck, he could probably write a guide book for cheap motels in the area. But he had stuck to this place for two months now. It was all right; not too many junkies and hookers that caused problems. Not the cleanest place he’d stayed at but he was okay with it, it was cheap, and most of all he liked the fact that it was almost vacant. It had some regulars, like him, but most of them kept to themselves, and the ones that didn’t he got along with fine.

      Speaking of which, Jimmy could hear the familiar sound of shuffling feet on the concrete behind him. He didn’t have to turn his head to see who it was; he knew it was Bert from the sound of his slippers scraping across the concrete. Bert was an old timer, a retired cop in his seventies whose wife had kicked him out due to his gambling habit. The guy liked to play the ponies, a little too much. He was the stubborn kind, the type that would never go to a retirement home - even though this was Florida and there were basically more retirement homes here than motels. The irony.

      Hey Jimmy, the old man let out, somewhat short of breath from dragging his feet over the hard ground from his room to the pool area. Bert was staying in room 4 on the ground floor, close to the entrance so he had easy access everywhere.

      Hey Bert, Jimmy turned his head and greeted him with a crooked smile and watched Bert slowly take a seat in the chair next to him.

      Shit, I’m fucking not twenty-five anymore, Bert exhaled and chuckled after finally sitting down in the chair that creaked a bit, with a six-pack of canned light beer on his lap.

      None of us are, Jimmy agreed and drank from his own beer. It was getting warm, so he emptied the bottle down his throat and put it on the ground.

      How was your day? Bert said with a hoarse throat, the air made a whistling sound in his pipes when he breathed.

      Shit, as usual, Jimmy said with a blank face. He hated his job, and talking about it made him feel as if he was still at work. But Bert always asked, out of politeness he guessed, it was part of their ritual. Bert chuckled again and opened one of his cans of beer.

      You want one? Bert asked.

      Nah, thanks, I got one, Jimmy said and reached for the new beer under his seat and opened it. The two of them drank their beers in silence for a while. Dark clouds were sweeping in above their heads and Jimmy enjoyed the breeze stroking him forgivingly over his tired face.

      Hurricane season’s coming, Bert muttered, glaring at the sky.

      Yup, Jimmy said. He wouldn’t mind some rain.

      After a while they were joined by Andy, the twenty-something junkie that had shacked up in room 22 for the last two weeks. He was wearing a dirty white sleeveless shirt and skinny jeans sagging on his behind. His tall, skinny posture reminded Jimmy of Goofy, all arms and legs.

      Hey guys, Andy said and pulled up a chair next to Bert and Jimmy. He had a cigarette in the corner of his mouth and a bottle of Jack in his fist.

      Hey, Jimmy said. He actually liked the kid. He was funny. Sadly he suspected the kid was hooked to smack. He’d seen needle marks on his arms. Jimmy didn’t think he’d live to see thirty. But there wasn’t anything he could do about it. People did whatever the fuck they wanted. And he was no savior, that’s for sure. He drank some more of his beer.

      Andy, I was just telling Jimmy here that I think a storm is coming, Bert said looking up at the dark skies. Andy looked up at the gray clouds hovering around the evening sun.

      Oh, yeah? Andy said. Wouldn’t mind some rain, he said and drank straight from the bottle, then rested it on his thigh. His foot started drumming against the concrete ground, a nervous tick he was unaware of doing.

      That’s what I thought too, Jimmy said and lit another cigarette. He noticed a big, black Escalade pulling up at the parking lot. Some woman getting out.

      Great minds think alike, Andy said and laughed out loud. He sounded like a hyena when he laughed, Jimmy thought. The three of them turned their heads when they heard the clicking sound of high heels on the ground behind them. It was Dani, the black transvestite in room 44.

      My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, Dani said and giggled as she approached them in fishnets that cut deep into her muscular thighs and a red mini skirt that left nothing to the imagination. The three of them smirked. Well, look at them clouds, do you think it’s gonna rain? she said and sat down in an empty plastic chair next to Bert. She had a tumbler glass with something yellow in it, possibly a screwdriver, Jimmy guessed. Dani sucked on the straw with her red lips around it. She had done her make-up, all set for the night.

      That’s what we all think, Andy said, exhaling smoke in the air.

      Oh, shoot, that’s not good for my business, Dani complained and stroked

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