Clint Faraday Mysteries collection A Muddled Murders Collector's Edition Read online

  Clint Faraday Mysteries Collection A

  Muddled Murders

  5 books

  A Sometimes Thing

  Daybreak

  Nightfall

  Shortcuts

  Dangerous Curves

  Smashwords edition © 2014

  all rights reserved: no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, either electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any other information retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright holder/publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews

  These are works of fiction. Resemblances to actual persons or events are purely coincidental unless otherwise noted.

  About the author

  CD Moulton has traveled extensively over much of the world both in the music business, where he was a rock guitarist, songwriter and arranger and in an import/export business. He has been everything from a bar owner to auto salvage (junkyard) manager, longshoreman to high steel worker, orchid grower to landscaper, tropical fish farmer to commercial fisherman. He started writing books in 1983 and has published more than 200 books as of January 1, 2014. His most popular books to date are about research with orchids, though much of his science fiction and fantasy work has proven popular. He wrote the CD Grimes, PI series and the Det. Nick Storie series, Clint Faraday series and many other works.

  He now resides in Puerto Armuelles, Panamá, where he writes books, plays music with friends, does research with orchids and medicinal plants – and pursues his favorite ways to spend his time: beach bum and roaming the mountain jungles doing his botanical research. He has lately become involved in fighting for the rights of the indigenous people, who are among his closest friends, and in fighting the extreme corruption in the courts and police in Panamá.

  He offers the free e-book, Fading Paradise, that explains what he has been through because of the corruption.

  A Sometimes Thing

  Book one of the

  Clint Faraday

  Mysteries

  © 2005 by C. D. Moulton

  10 shorts

  For Julie Lin, who was the inspiration for one character in this book. It’ll be our secret which one.

  Clint Faraday is a retired detective from Florida who has moved to Bocas del Toro, Panamá. He falls into the business in Panamá when there are murders. He works with the police. His neighbor, Judi Lum, is an attractive and smart oriental woman who was born in Taiwan. She is a genius at getting information.

  Table of Contents

  A Fantastic Opportunity

  New Home

  Sunrise

  Routine

  Finish

  The Old Ways

  A Sometimes Thing

  Gone Fishin’

  Rain Forest Tour

  Whatever Works

  Down Under

  Paradise is that Way

  What If...?

  Saturday Blues

  A Fantastic Opportunity

  New Home

  Clint Faraday walked out onto the deck of his little hideaway cottage across from Saigon Bay and plopped down on the canvas-covered chaise lounge (sort of) to watch the sunrise over Isla Carenero. Magnificent reds, oranges and hints of purple.

  “Red sky in morning.” A warning to sailors, but not so much here. It was a calm place and that applied to the weather. It rained a lot, but that was part of the Caribbean Tropics. Clint – or “Cleent” as the natives (few as there were here on Isla Colón) called him.

  He remembered Florida where he had heard the old cliche’ “A Florida NATIVE! I didn’t know there was any such thing!” ten thousand times.

  He sipped the ever-present coffee and waved as Silvio and Jorge went past on their way to the genetic research institute on the point. Botanical genetics research station #3.

  They had two passengers, a man and a woman. Both looked a bit shocked, even at this distance. Clint hadn’t bothered to put on anything this early, not yet deciding what he was going to do. It was going to rain this time of year, but that wouldn’t be for an hour or two.

  What the hell. He’d worry about that when he actually started his day.

  Public nudity wasn’t allowed here anymore than most places, but this was his home so wasn’t really public. If he showed up on the streets like this they would probably not much care, though some would raise a stink. The place was casual and open to a degree he hadn’t found elsewhere – which was a major factor in why he was here at all.

  He was lucky. Not many ex-detectives had the funds to live this kind of life.

  Face it! Not many would WANT to! It was a life of no responsibilities and no rush and no pressure. Most people got so bored after a couple of months that they couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there! People thought that was what detectives wanted from reading the stupid novels and watching TV back in the states.

  Hank Elmore came by in his fancy overdone boat. He waved and looked his criticism at Clint, who stood (just to shock hell out of the obsequious snob) and waved back disinterestedly as he turned to go inside for another cup of coffee. Judith (Judi) Lum, on the deck of the next house (and the only one that could be seen from Clint’s place) waved and wagged a finger at him. She was used to his dress – or lack of it. He grinned and waved back.

  He glanced in the mirror as he passed and decided he needed a shave and he’d cut his hair a bit. He liked the amber-colored mass (with a touch of grey here and there) long, but that meant it stayed wet too much so he kept it a couple of inches above his shoulders.

  He would have liked to say “broad shoulders”, but ... well, he was a bit better built than most. He hadn’t let himself get paunchy or flabby and he stayed limber. At 47 he could still bend stiff-kneed to place his palms on the floor and had the envy-producing six-pack (when he first got up and for a couple of hours. As you get older water builds up under the skin as the day progresses and the definition goes). His steel-hard blue/gray eyes were still clear, though he needed reading glasses, which tended to bug him. He did see a bit better at distance so there were compensations.

  He was glad most of his scars had faded and the tan hid them on top of that. He wasn’t so bad-looking if he wasn’t any movie star.

  Mosquitos weren’t bad today so he’d wear khakis and a tee shirt. Like that wasn’t an everyday choice!

  One thing was damned certain. He was NOT going to wear another suit in this lifetime!

  Silvio waved at Clint, noted the shocked look on the faces of his passengers and said (in Spanish, of course) “Clint is our famous detective. He says it is too bad there’s nothing for a detective to do here,” then laughs. “He’s very handsome and the women like him.” He noted the even more shocked look on Mrs. Graham’s face, so added, “So do some of the ... men,” just to shock her even more.

  He did NOT like Dr. Graham, though he was more or less neutral about Dr. Porth, who shot him a small grin.

  “You mean ... you mean ... the malecons?” she exclaimed.

  Jorge winked at Silvio and said, in broken English (he actually spoke English very well), “The docks? You mean the doctors? How would a dock like anybody?” He knew she had meant to say “maricon”, but he didn’t like her, either. Malecon is a pier, maricon is a homosexual.

  “I meant homosexuals,” she spat, acidly. “You knew that perfectly well!”

  “Homosexuals? What?” Silvio asked. “Clint isn’t homosexual, I don’t think. Nobody would care if he was. That kind of thing is your own business.”


  “I meant does he sleep with homosexuals?” she asked, sneaking another look at Clint, who was standing to wave at Miss Judi next door.

  “Dr. Graham, we wouldn’t answer that if we knew!” Jorge was pretending shock now. “That is none of our business unless he wants to sleep with us and all we’d do is say ‘no’ if he did. We would never tell anyone else if you slept with someone so why would we tell you if somebody else slept with someone even if we knew or cared?”

  “Lydia, such questions are inappropriate here!” Dr. Porth said, sharply. “We are not in the tabloid society here. No one here CARES who somebody else sleeps with!” He winked at Silvio who decided he was probably alright.

  “Not quite true!” Jorge said quickly. “If it’s my wife or sister – or little brother – I would care!

  ”Well, my brother could decide for himself.”

  Dr. Porth grinned and gave him the bird. Jorge decided he liked Dr. Porth right then. He wasn’t one of those snob types.

  Lydia Graham noticed the VERY handsome man on the deck of the rather attractive house built partly out into the bay. He was stark naked!

  Still, he was MOST attractive!

  What was the matter with her?! This place was getting to her. She was NOT the sort who ever even noticed such trashy people. Nude and right out there with everything showing for the entire world to see! He was some kind of degenerate!

  A detective? THAT figured!

  He slept with both men and women? Bisexual? Or was he some kind of gigolo for whoever had the money? What did they mean, none of her business? She most certainly wanted to know if any man she was intimate with slept around and as definitely wanted to know he did NOT sleep with other men! That WAS her business!

  Whatever was the matter with her? There was absolutely no chance she would ever consider an affair with some man she didn’t know!

  Well, she considered it all the time. It was simply that she must never let the people in her later life know about her early life. No one must ever learn how she paid her way through eight long years of college. She had brought herself up into unquestioned respectability.

  What was the matter with her? One look at some naked man from two hundred feet away and she was suddenly ... horny? She was wondering if that one could deliver what none of those dozens who had paid her way through schooling could give her?

  What was the matter with her?! Now she was embarrassing herself in front of these people! Even Ed was chastising her for her remarks!

  God, he was gorgeous! He fit the place so perfectly! He would never give her another thought if he even noticed some average-looking middle-aged librarian type was in the passing boat.

  But ... still. He was a DETECTIVE and that scared the piss out of her.

  It also added to the attraction.

  Ed Porth grinned at the man running the boat and flipped him the finger. He got a grin in return.

  That was probably as interesting a character as one would ever meet on that deck. He certainly fit the easy ambiance of this place!

  What was the mater with Lydia? She had never acted in such a way in his experience with her. She was always reserved and distant, but she was flushed and very bright-eyed as she stared at the guy. She had years of experience in medical work! Why would a nude man affect her so?

  He was probably handsome in an untamed, earthy kind of way. He would be the type who attracted women and gays alike and maybe he slept with anyone who had the time and energy, but so what? How did that affect Lydia?

  Ed noted the flush and fluster and grinned again. She was more primitive than she wanted to admit! She wanted a roll with that one!

  Ah! When we revert to our primal self! It can be a real shock!

  Still, why was it affecting Lydia in such a manner?

  He didn’t fail to notice how the fact the man was a detective had affected her. It made him wonder what she was so afraid of.

  Judi waved at Clint, wagged a finger at him, shook her head and giggled. He was fairly attractive and uninhibited and she was used to him and his ways. He was the kind who was your best friend or your worst enemy – or totally neutral. He never jumped to conclusions about anyone, waiting for you to show your real self. She knew that (much like herself) once you got on his bad side you would probably stay there for the rest of your life.

  She had been apprehensive when she moved here. It was an impulse and she acted on impulse far too much of the time. She had seen the lushness of the place and the calmness and the openness. The people were exactly as they appeared here and she was so sick and tired of the phoniness of “modern society” in the states she couldn’t stand being there anymore. That was true of everywhere she had been for her life, starting from an island near China where her father has instilled a love of nature that had been the rock that saved her numerous times.

  Nature, growing things, particularly exotic plants, was a refuge. It was a healing place to escape the sordidity of everyday urban life among sordid phony people. It was a place where she got her “perspective adjustments” and where she was close to reality. Here, she wasn’t just close to reality. She was in the middle of it.

  Clint fit and so did she. Jorge and Silvio, who were passing by on the way to take a couple of those researchers out to the station fit.

  Those researchers didn’t fit. When you look at reality in a clinical sense you never see anything. There is an enormous difference in looking at something and seeing something as there is as great a difference in listening to something and hearing it.

  She rearranged the orchids on her deck to where the newly-opened flowers would show. The weird Dracula vampira was fully-opened and she could see the little fanged monkey face inside. She was seriously considering crossing it with one of the darker Masdevalias just coming into bloom.

  Clint was going inside. He drank too much coffee.

  She wondered. He was a very sexy man and she knew he considered her sexy.

  No! It would ruin it! They were very close, really, but that would end up in disaster for both of them because it always brought things into a relationship. They would always be close because of what they shared. That must never be any part of it or the sharing would turn into possession. Neither of them would ever tolerate being possessed even in a very small way.

  She smiled. It was fun to think about. She knew full-well that Clint thought about it.

  She noted the sun was hitting her driftwood. This early it wouldn’t matter, but she moved it to where it was in the shade. It was a piece of wood her grandfather had taken from the roots of a tree a storm had broken off back in Taiwan and given to her father, who passed it on to her. To most it was an interesting piece of wood in a very interesting Oriental urn-vase. To her it was part of her heritage. Little things like that meant something to her.

  She went inside to fix a breakfast salad of melon, papaya, pomelo, pineapple....

  Donna Dorman saw the boat coming in. She had come across herself only five minutes before. Dr. Eduard Porth and Dr. Lydia Graham.

  Dr. Porth was alright, but Graham was something else. What would she say if she knew what Donna found while doing a search for background in the case she was to act as a witness for the prosecution on?

  Maybe it didn’t have anything to do with the missing funds and maybe they hadn’t found a definite embezzler of those funds, but it very well could have a connection!

  It bothered her that Porth could also be involved in that. So could Dr. Goodwin and/or Dr. Franklin. Or even that Lum woman who was working with them, though she had probably given them much of the funds they were spending. It could be a ruse. Dr. Marcos might be in it.

  She hoped not. She had always liked Judi. She liked her enthusiasm. She liked Marcos, a little.

  There were others. That’s what made it so difficult. She was working in a sort of undercover way to help find what was going on. Gloria and Marco were helping the doctors off the boat. She received the summons to appear as a witness just yesterday afternoon, but that would
n’t strike anyone as unusual because most of them would be called. What she had to say was another story!

  Maybe she’d get that retired detective to do a bit of digging. He would at least know where and how to look. He had been on some moderately big cases in the states and had solved a murder that made the tabloids – as had his involvement with those two models. At the same time. And they knew – actually more than knew – about....

  That was tabloid trash. She couldn’t accept it as truth, really, but he just grinned and said life could be fun if you didn’t take it seriously.

  Speaking of tabloid trash, DOCTOR Lydia Graham was just getting off the boat at the dock. Bitch! She had Gloria carrying her crud. Like it would break her arm to carry a five pound briefcase herself!

  The boat left.

  Donna went to the comp and sent an e-mail to Clint Faraday, Private Detective.

  There was an incoming e-mail that most of the big-turds from the institute would be there just after noon.

  Crap! Another fun day in paradise!

  Sunrise

  Clint dressed and decided to walk into town. It was going to be a nice enough morning. It would rain later, but that was no big deal. It was a warm friendly rain.

  He was just going out the door when he heard the comp ding, so there was an e-mail.

  Should he get it now?

  No. It was probably spam or someone who heard he was an ex-detective and would try to get him to find out who some husband/wife’s girlfriend/boyfriend was so they could stick it to their ever-lovin’ at the divorce. He had never done divorce and never would.

  Maria Juarez was passing and they talked for a few minutes. She had recently married and knew a lot of people knew they had been close, but she also knew he would never bring it up. He remained friends with people he had slept with because they knew he wasn’t going to get serious and that he would never speak of it to anyone. He had a strange code about married or even promised women. He would enjoy a romp with most people who wanted one, but not if they had made a commitment. It was wrong, not because of any stupid religious or legal tenet, but because it was wrong.