Hallow Haven Cozy Mysteries Bundle Books 1-3 by Mara Webb (books to read fiction .txt) 📕

all sorts of trouble,” the middle one sneered. “I think that someone knocked this wall over to distract from their troublesome past. Body in a bunker, that’s what our sister told me.”

“Yeah, body in a bunker with snakes for hair and a giant pot of gold and—” the tall one began, but I cut him off.

“I don’t know what it is about myths and legends that you are all so addicted to, but I am trying to deal with facts only. Please,” I begged. I rubbed my eyes and took a deep breath. “The wall was destroyed before we found the body… I think. How did your sister hear about what was happening?”

“You’d be as well asking her. I don’t know,” the middle one groaned. “Can you at least tell us how many snakes the guy had on his head?”

“No snakes!” I barked. “There were no snakes, zero, nada. His name was Robert Barton, not medusa. Where do you even get these ideas from?”

“Wait… Robert Barton?” the tall one repeated. “Is that what you said?”

“Yes. Did you know him?” Miller asked.

“Not exactly, but we know of him. They say…” he paused. “Look I know you hate myths and legends, but they say he was taken back by the island. One day he was walking around on Green Holt then he was gone.”

“That’s what they say happened to our aunt,” the middle one said. “She lived on Skerry all her life, she knew the dangerous places to avoid, she knew how to be safe. One day she just disappeared.”

“When did that happen?” I asked.

“A week or so after Robert Barton went missing, apparently,” the tall one replied. “It’s hard to get news from the other side of the wall. We would only ever hear about it from the mailman. His name is Jeff, have you met him?”

12

“Well, we have had a very productive time,” Effie smiled. “I have my computer with me so if you all have a free hour or two later, I can show you the pictures I took.”

“That sounds dreadful, count me out,” Fitz laughed.

We were sitting in the dining room at Honey’s guest house, and I had my eyes locked on the hole in the lawn. Miller said that the police had finally made it over to Green Holt and removed the body of Robert Barton, but I felt as if the whole place was still tainted somehow.

I hadn’t seen any ghosts on the island, as far as I knew, and it felt strange. Obviously, a normal person goes their whole life without bumping into a poltergeist, but it was just a normal occurrence for me now. Where was Greta’s ghost? My deceased cousin normally tagged along on our island-hopping adventures, but I hadn’t seen her on Green Holt once.

How long do ghosts normally hang around after death? Had Robert been dead too long to have a ghost? In films you have people chatting to ghosts from Victorian England, or whatever. I should probably stop getting my paranormal education from Hollywood.

“Sadie? Would you want to see the pictures?” Effie asked. Kate was sitting beside her sister and making wide eyes at me, I got the impression she was trying to communicate the phrase ‘save yourself’.

“We need to speak to Jeff,” Miller said.

“I thought he was all beaten up and sad,” Fitz chimed in.

“I spoke to Brielle and she thinks he is available to answer questions. He actually said he wanted to come over to Green Holt, so she is escorting him,” Miller smiled. He was trying to appease Kate and Effie who had visibly tensed when he said their cousin’s name.

“Oh great…” Kate said, rolling her eyes.

“Guys, Jeff seems to be the key player in this whole mess at the moment,” I said. “For the sake of getting to the bottom of this mystery, can we all just agree not to drag family drama into it? I need answers before my head explodes.”

“Yes boss!” Kate and Effie said in unison, mockingly saluting in my direction before high fiving each other. I looked down at the ring on my finger, the lime green stone that had glowed when Miller had touched me. It was something special, but what was it for? Why had it appeared to absorb my magic?

“Did the police find anything else with the body?” Kate asked.

“Well, we spotted the passport already,” Miller replied. “He had a wrapper from a bag of chips that was folded into a heart shape and…” He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small note pad. I had seen him writing something down during a phone call earlier, this must have been it. “Yeah, heart shaped trash, wide jewelry box and tickets to Australia.”

“Wide jewelry box?” Effie hummed. “Do you mean something that you would put a bracelet it?”

“I didn’t see it,” Miller shrugged.

“Call up and get the measurements, Miller!” Fitz yelled. “We need answers!”

“Your wish is my command,” Miller sassed, dramatically dropping into a curtsey in front of the cat and pulling out his cell phone.

“What’s happening to the bunker?” I asked. Honey stared out at the mount of earth that had been excavated by the treasure hunters that had discovered it.

“I’m not sure,” she sighed. “I don’t know how big it is exactly, but I don’t even know how I would go about digging it up. It’s totally buried, and I don’t have the money to pay for some big equipment to be flown in. I think I’ll just have Tony cover up the hatch with the soil again and put down some grass seed.”

“Okay,” Miller said, walking back towards us. “The box was about the size of a ring box. The little velvet thing inside was the wide bit, as if it would fit two rings in it.”

“Wedding rings!” Fitz gasped. “Oh, well if solving this crime doesn’t get me promoted to Sheriff then I don’t know what will.”

“You haven’t solved anything, and you are a dentist. A dentist doesn’t get promoted to Sheriff,”