Death Indoors: Target Practice Mysteries 4 by Nikki Haverstock Read Free Book Online Page A

Awful. I never, ever shoot this badly. I think something is broken on my bow or something. My score's terrible." He turned and left the target.
    If I hadn't felt badly enough about my score before, that really rubbed the salt in my wounds. "Only sixteen more ends to go."
    ***
    After we finished scoring, I stretched my arms overhead as we returned from the targets. The excitement of earlier had died down. Coach Ron had continued to fight with the judges about what was an appropriate level of communication. Even when he lowered his voice and spoke half as much, he was a distraction of epic proportions. During the one end he hadn't been present to constantly vomit words, I was so relieved that I could have cried from joy.
    Davey, as sweet as she was, had filled every second of silence off the line as well. She clearly liked me, and I hated to do anything to dampen her youthful enthusiasm, and heaven knows that I'm not so popular that I'm able to turn down any form of friendship, but my ears were ringing from the constant chatter around me, and I ached to just sit in silence.
    A judge was on the far side of the range with a magnifying glass to determine the value of an arrow, and I snuck back to sit by Liam. I collapsed into my seat and closed my eyes. "Where are Mary, Orion and Moo?"
    "They went out for a walk."
    Liam didn't say anything more, and I appreciated that more than anything else in the world. The five seconds of quiet were amazing until a shrill woman's voice cut through the noises around me.
    "I'll kill you, Ron!"
    I stood up and scrubbed my face. "What's going wrong now?"
    A woman had pushed past us to approach Ron. She had a reverse mullet, short in the back and long in the front. She was jabbing a finger into Ron's chest. "How dare you videotape my daughter! Take that video down before I break every finger you have, you pervert!"
    Judges raced over, and the crowd surged up around them.
    A gentleman next to me muttered, "Oh geez, I didn't expect that."
    "What's going on?" I asked.
    "Coach Ron filmed my son and her daughter"--he pointed that the screaming lady--"and put it up on the Internet and was kinda mocking how her daughter was shooting. A friend happened to see it and knows that I'm really picky about keeping my son off social media. I showed it to her, and, well... you see what happened."
    The shouting of Reverse Mullet Mom and Coach Ron was continuing.
    "He's making fun of my daughter on the Internet. I'm filing a protest. I want him kicked out."
    Coach Ron's face was tomato red again. He'd better have a strong heart. "No, I'm filing a protest. You can't call me a pervert and attack me." Then he turned, and his eyes landed on the dad standing next to me. "You! You and your son are out of the program. I don't want troublemakers around."
    The dad's mouth dropped open in shock. "You're kicking us out because of your screw-up? You've got to be kidding me, you--" Brian, in his police uniform, came up and grabbed the dad's arm, whispering something in the man's ear. The man narrowed his eyes at Coach Ron and jerked his arm out of Brian's grasp. He nodded his head at Brian then stormed off to the far end of the compound side of the range.
    The range vibrated with noise as everyone discussed what had just happened. I flopped back in my seat. "This is ridiculous."
    Liam rubbed my back. "One end left, then you can take a short break between rounds and catch your breath."
    "If I survive that long. Is this how all tournaments are now-adays? I might not be cut out for this." This day had been a roller coaster of emotions, and I wanted off. I had buried my face in my hands when Jess spoke up.
    "No, this is not typical. You're doing a great job of holding yourself together."
    I stood up to talk to Jess. "Oh, come on, you've got to be kidding me." I leaned in closer. "I'm shooting horribly."
    She grabbed both my shoulders so she could look into my eyes. "This whole event is beyond insane. I'm really proud of you. Just one