Read White Cloud Retreat Online
Authors: Dianne Harman
White Cloud Retreat
White Cloud Retreat
By
Dianne Harman
(A Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery
Series - Book 3)
Copyright © 2015 Dianne
Harman
All rights reserved,
including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form
without written permission except for the use of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons,
living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely
coincidental.
Website, Interior & Cover design
by
Vivek Rajan Vivek
Paperback ISBN: 978-1505333701
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To all of my readers who
made this series so popular, I thank you for buying my books, reading my books,
and sharing them with others. To Vivek for his constant support and wise
guidance, I thank you. And to my husband, Tom, for his unwavering support.
You’ve made all of this possible! Plus you’ve gotten to be a good cook in the
process. Thanks!!!
Table of Contents
Kelly drove up the road leading to
the White Cloud Retreat Center, looking forward to taking a yoga and meditation
class from Zen Master Scott to try and get rid of some of the stress she was
feeling.
The last few months are
catching up with me what with the holidays and the two murders in the Cedar Bay
area that I helped Sheriff Mike solve. I can just imagine how busy the next few
weeks are going to be while I try to find the time to put the final touches on
our wedding plans. It’s only three weeks away. I am so ready for this class.
This is my wedding gift to myself – weekly yoga classes.
She smiled thinking of the
wedding present that her fiancé, Mike, had given her. He was the local county
sheriff and after she’d helped him solve the recent Jeff Black murder case he’d
given her a little female yellow Labrador retriever puppy. The young dog had
already claimed a soft spot in her heart. Since Mike and her other dog, Rebel,
were continuing to bond together, it was a good thing she had a new dog. The
little puppy with the chocolate brown eyes was now four months old and Kelly
had named her “Lady.” She knew it was probably a trite name, but it just seemed
appropriate for a female dog that carried herself with such dignity. She could
almost feel her soft fur and warm, wet puppy kisses whenever she thought of
Lady. It brought a wide smile to her face.
True to its name, puffy
white clouds had settled on the upper portion of the Retreat Center and Kelly
could see people working in the vineyard, pruning the dormant vines and getting
them ready for the spring growth.
She parked her minivan and
took her yoga mat out of the trunk. Scott only taught once a week and from the
number of people walking up to the front door, it was pretty clear his class
was very popular with the students. She entered the room where the class was
going to be held and spread her mat on the floor, smiling and nodding to
several people she knew. Kelly glanced at the clock and realized she had a
little time to do some stretches and warm-up exercises before the class
started.
When Scott walked into the
class he smiled at her as well as at a number of other students. Kelly had
taken classes over the years from Scott and they shared a mutual love of food.
He occasionally stopped by the coffee shop she owned, Kelly’s Koffee Shop, and
when he did he usually brought her a bottle of White Cloud Pinot Noir wine from
the Center’s vineyard.
Scott was one of the most
admired and sought-after Zen Masters in the United States. People came from all
over the country to take seminars from him or be a part of the residential
training programs he conducted several times a year. His brother Luke, who,
according to Scott, had been a successful securities broker in New York, had
recently quit his job because of burnout and had come to the Center to help
Scott run the rapidly growing non-profit business. Although the Center employed
seven priests and five nuns who handled a lot of the Center’s day-to-day work,
Scott still couldn’t keep up with the number of people who wanted to study with
him. He rarely wore Zen Buddhist robes, preferring blue jeans and flannel
shirts which barely covered his growing girth. His appearance was completely
unconventional for what one thought a Zen Master should look like.
I can’t believe he’s so
revered in the Zen and yoga circles throughout the country. He’s got to be one
of the most down-to-earth people I’ve ever met. I believe he’s celibate, but as
charismatic as he is, that must present some problems.
She looked around the room
and noticed that the first three rows of students seated on their yoga mats
waiting for the class to begin were women.
I’m not surprised. He’s a totally
charming and totally unique man. Women adore him, but men like him just as
much.
Scott rang a small
hand-held brass bell, indicating that the class was starting. For the next hour
he led the assembled students in a series of physical movements the yogis
called asanas which worked every part of their bodies.
At the conclusion of the
regular class, an Italian looking man two rows ahead of her raised his hand.
Kelly didn’t recall seeing him in any of the classes she’d taken before,
although it had been awhile since she’d been to the Center. “Yes, Guido,” Scott
said.
“Are we going to have the
walking meditation today? I remember last week you mentioned we might.”
“You’re a step ahead of
me, Guido. I was just getting ready to announce a five minute bathroom break.
Please meet back here and then we’ll go outside for the walking meditation.”
A few minutes later he
told the assembled students to follow him. “It’s a sunny day and as Guido said,
I told you last week that if it was sunny today, I thought that rather than our
usual sitting meditation, we’d end the class by doing a walking meditation in
the forest behind the buildings. Some of you have done them before in the
forest. It’s really one of my favorite ways to meditate. If you’re new to a
walking meditation, simply put your hands together and mindfully be aware of
each step you take.
“If you haven’t been in
our forest meditation area yet, you’re in for a treat. Each path is unique and
has its own name such as Serenity, Peace of Mind, Bodhi, Enlightenment, and
Wisdom, to name a few. There are a large number of designated and named paths
in the forest and I think we can each walk down a separate path and quietly
meditate. Take a moment and choose the one that speaks to you. At the end of
each path you’ll find a bench which overlooks a small pond or beautiful green
foliage of some type. Stop and sit on the bench for a few minutes while you
complete your meditation. Take time to enjoy the peace and tranquility of the
forest. You’ll hear me strike the big gong in front of the center at the end of
fifteen minutes. Please come back here when you hear the gong. Let’s go.”
The students followed him
on a dirt path to the forest’s edge and dispersed in silence, each one looking
inward. Kelly walked to a path on the far right that led into the forest with
its deep green ferns and dappled sunlight. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw
Guido and a woman with bright red hair hurrying to get to the paths near her.
It was a beautiful and peaceful setting. The path Kelly chose was marked with a
sign that said “Tranquility.” She put her hands together and began slowly
walking.
Seems like an awful long
time has gone by,
Kelly thought
. I wonder how long it’s been.
When she’d arrived at the
Center, she’d taken her cell phone and keys with her, leaving her purse locked
in the van. As she prepared to go on the walking meditation she’d slipped both
of them in the pocket of her yoga pants. Now she took her phone from her pocket
and looked at the time. Twenty-five minutes had gone by and she hadn’t heard
the sound of the gong being struck.
Well, I must have missed
it. I was pretty focused on the walking meditation and keeping my mind clear of
outside distractions. Guess I overdid it. Better get back to the Center.
Obviously I’m late. I think this path to the left is shorter and will take me
back to the Center a little faster rather than trying to retrace my steps on
the Tranquility path.
She hurried along the
dimly lit forest path which was thickly littered with soft needles that had
fallen from the cedar trees. She hadn’t gone very far on the shortcut path when
she saw a large shape on the ground to her left.
Oh my gosh,
she
thought.
I’ve heard there are black bears in some of these forests. I hope
that isn’t one.
She remembered hearing somewhere that if you ever
encountered a bear, you should stand perfectly still. Kelly didn’t move a
muscle while she looked at the shape. She suddenly realized it wasn’t a bear at
all, but instead what she was looking at was a human form. She walked over to
it, and gasped. It was Zen Master Scott. Blood was pooling around his body and
Kelly could clearly see a bullet hole in his head. He was dead.
Jim and Ellie Duncan were
at home reading the Bible like they did every Saturday morning when the phone
rang. Jim reached over and picked it up.
“Hello,
this is Jim Duncan.”
“Hi,
Jim. This is Leroy down at the Cascades Electric dispatch center. Sorry to have
to call you out on a Saturday, but your name was at the top of the rotation
list for emergency call out duty. We’ve got two problems that Charlie over in
maintenance and repair wants you to take care of today.”
“Okay.
Where does he want me to go?”
“The
first one is out at the Bar Z cattle ranch and feed lot. They had a lightning
strike last night on the transformer next to their feed lot and they’ve lost
all their power. They’ve got 1,500 cattle in the feed lot that are all fed
using an electrical powered conveyor system that brings the feed directly to
each holding pen. To say they have a big problem that needs to be fixed as
fast as possible is an understatement. Their ranch is about twenty-five miles
north of Cedar Bay off of Henderson Road.”
“Yeah,
I know where it is. I’ve driven by it a number of times. It’s the one where you
can smell the feed lot three miles before you get there and can see it. What’s
the other job?”
“We
have an ongoing problem out at the White Cloud Retreat Center. Their lights
keep flickering on and off because of some kind of power interruption. The
maintenance records indicate you were out there last week and did some repair
work in their utility vault, but apparently that didn’t do the trick, because
they’re still having problems. Charlie wants you to check out the power lines
located in the right of way that leads from our substation to the Center. The
substation is located about a mile from the Center and the right-of-way cuts directly
over the ridge behind the substation and then goes through the forest to where
it terminates at the Center. Charlie thinks maybe some tree branches are coming
in contact with our power lines and causing the intermittent electrical outages
at the Center.
“He
wants you to take one of our big four wheel drive service trucks that are
equipped with both a power wench and a cherry picker basket. The ground in the
right-of-way where the lines are located is relatively smooth and you shouldn’t
have any trouble driving the truck in the right-of-way while you look for
overhanging tree limbs that need to be trimmed back. You can use the cherry
picker basket to get up high enough to trim any tree limbs that might need to
be trimmed.”
“Sure.
I can do that.”
“Charlie
said for me to tell you he’s sorry about this, but he’s shorthanded today and
doesn’t have any other maintenance crew members available that can go with you
on these two jobs. He wants you to do the Bar Z ranch job first as it’s the
most important of the two. He said you should probably be finished with that
job by 2:00 and then you should be on site and ready to work on the Center job
by 3:00.”
“Sounds
like a good plan to me, Leroy. By the way, I worked on some tree removals in
that right-of-way that leads to the Center about three years ago. When I was
there, I saw a female black bear with two cubs and she wasn’t very happy about
my presence in the area. That whole area is prime black bear habitat and
because I’m going to be working alone, think I’ll take my gun with me for
protection. I know my little ol’ .22 pistol can’t kill a bear, but it sure
might put a scare into one and give me time to get away.”
“Better
think twice before you take your gun with you. You know company policy
prohibits employees from having a loaded firearm in their possession at any
time while they’re on duty, and that includes while you’re working alone in a
company truck.
“Okay,
I get it. Tell Charlie I’ll do my best to find the cause of the service
interruption at the Center and fix it, however, between you and me, I really
don’t care if they never get their electrical service properly restored. Those
people that run the Center, especially the guy that calls himself the Zen
Master, Scott Monroe is his name, are evil non-believers who are doing
everything they can to destroy the work of our Lord. The next time God delivers
a lightning bolt like the one that hit the transformer over at the Bar Z, I
hope it hits Zen Master Scott right on top of his head. If God doesn’t take care
of him pretty soon, then some earthly human needs to take him out and eliminate
this cancer that’s growing in our community.”
“Whoa,
Jim, be careful what you say. This is your old buddy Leroy talking and let me
tell you if Charlie ever heard you say something like that he’d have you back
digging utility trenches by hand or worse yet, it could get you fired. Don’t
forget the company motto we have here at Cascades Electric Company, ‘The
customer has the power; we provide the service.’ See you later Jim. The
big service truck is loaded and waiting for you in the maintenance yard.”
I’m
going to take my gun with me. I don’t care what the company policy says and
anyway, I might need it for my personal protection. And yes, if I saw that evil
Zen Master out in the forest, I wouldn’t mind taking a pot shot at him just to
scare him or better yet maybe I ought to blow his head off. Good riddance to
that fountain of evil in our community. It would be for the best and I’m sure
the Lord would understand and forgive my actions.
“Ellie,”
Jim said as he stood up, “I’ve got to work today. I’ll be back in time for
dinner.