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

come in over the water, and the beach my house and café were on had a view of that same water. It appeared that the other islands were all on the other side.

The boat was headed towards a mass of land that had dark sand lining its beaches and more bare rock than the main island. I could see a small boat dock coming into view and could feel the relief that this boat ride was almost over.

If all of this was true, if I was really a witch that was now in charge of keeping peace and order among the people of these islands then this was going to be my first day on the job. I needed to look into the circumstances surrounding Greta’s murder and bring the guilty party to justice, whatever justice looked like around here.

There was a small group of people waiting for us on the shore and I tried to compose myself. Fake it until you make it, right?

9

Wes was in the welcome party on Port Wayvern. He assisted me out of the boat when we pulled up to the dock and the people around him were smiling and clapping as I walked onto the beach ahead of Miller. They didn’t seem interested in his arrival at all.

“Sadie, pleasure to meet you,” a man said, thrusting a giant hand in my direction for me to shake. “I’m Link Conerty, head of the Conertys.”

It seemed weird to have a hierarchy within a family, I mean, usually it is pre-determined by age, but he couldn’t have been much over forty and he likely had older relatives.

“Good morning, Link. Thank you for the welcome,” I said. My handshake left much to be desired, I go for the ‘clearly-isn’t-into-it' approach of trying to shake once with a loose grip and then pulled my hand back to get it free. My handshake carries no authority.

“We’re sorry to hear about Greta, to die up in those mountains is a wild way to go but she did love hiking, so I guess...” Link began.

“Oh, she was shot actually,” I announced. The group on the shore gasped and I realized I had let slip some information that they hadn’t been aware of.

“Who would do such a thing to an Alden?” a small woman asked. It was truly mind boggling to hear my last name spoken of with such fondness as if we were some noble, presidential family.

“Sadie is here to learn about the communities that she is now involved with as well as begin the investigation into Greta’s murder,” Miller explained. There were a few nods of heads, but it didn’t seem that they were looking at Miller at all, as if he wasn’t even there.

“Then come this way,” Link gestured. “I suppose you are keen to see that we still have our treaties, is that right?” He was looking at me, so I looked at Miller who nodded.

“Yes, treaties,” I smiled. We walked off the sand and onto a sidewalk that snaked around a small collection of buildings and businesses. We walked up to a bamboo hut that was bigger than any other building on the street and stepped inside.

“If It's one of those visits then we’ll leave you to it for the morning and arrange a more formal gathering for you another day, Sadie,” Link said. He waved as he walked back outside, and nobody acknowledged Miller.

“Are you a ghost too?” I laughed. “Why is no one speaking to you?”

“Like I said, we need a peacekeeper that everybody approves of and the island police department doesn’t meet the right criteria apparently. If I’d said anything negative about the Davick’s then they would...” he said, stopping as Link suddenly dived back in through the door.

“Did you say something about the Davick’s? Did their stupid island sink?” Link asked.

“No, I was just explaining how people listen if they think I’m trash talking other people,” Miller smiled. Link swiped at the air as if brushing aside the comment and then left again. “See what I mean? If they think I’m spreading gossip about a family they have an ancient feud with then they are all ears.”

“Am I supposed to read all of this?” I said, looking at the walls that were lined with documents that had been written, crossed out, re-written, signed and framed.

“It would be useful to learn all of this at some point, but you don’t have to take it all in today. A lot of it is to do with who is allowed to fish on Port Wayvern, how close the Davick’s are allowed to swim to this island, curse words that both parties have agreed not to use... I think there is something about personalized license plates somewhere,” Miller said, roaming the room and scanning each page with his eyes.

“Right, is any of this relevant to who might have killed Greta?” I asked.

“The peacekeeper might be asked to make decisions if fighting breaks out, I suppose it has been said that occasionally Greta chose sides, preferred one group over another. There is a chance she was killed over that,” Miller sighed.

“Is there a record of those decisions?”

“Yeah, back on the main island. It will be in your house somewhere and maybe that will help us with the next steps, I think it was important that you meet some more people that are in your new community though, so this trip wasn’t a total waste of time. You will have to visit Tivercana though because if the Davick’s hear that you came here and didn’t go to their island then it will be chaos,” he smiled.

It felt like when a parent has two children and they can’t be seen to favor one, neither should receive preferential treatment, everything must be equal. If I visited this island, then I must visit that one.

I had questions about my witchyness, things that I felt were important to know, but that I didn’t think Miller would answer. At one point I stumbled