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

dance floor to Link’s table. He was surrounded by large men that looked similar to him, I guessed they were his brothers. They shuffled their chairs closer to Link so that there was space for me to join them, reluctantly continuing to shuffle after Miller approached with a chair and tried to squeeze into a spot beside me.

“What brings you to Port Wayvern tonight? Our night life can’t be beaten, so I can’t say I’m surprised,” Link laughed, clicking his fingers obnoxiously towards the bartender and holding up five fingers to suggest that we should all be brought a drink.

“Nothing for me thanks, I’m on duty,” Miller said.

“I don’t really drink all that much either so...” I tried to protest, but my voice went unheard.

“We have some questions about Chris Davick,” Miller began. That seemed to get their attention. “We have reason to believe that harm has come to him and we wanted to find out if you had any contact with him recently, or know of any reason that someone would have wanted to hurt him.”

“Which question should I answer first?” Link said with a smirk. “I’ll say this, with a last name like that, you are likely to run into trouble at some point. I won’t personally lose any sleep over it; the whole family should be avoided like the plague.”

“When was the last time any of you saw him?” I asked.

“He came over with those cupcakes and—” one of the brothers said. I saw the movement of an elbow jabbing into the guy’s ribs and he stop speaking.

“What are you hiding Link?” Miller said, noting that the elbow had belonged to the family’s leader and was clearly trying to censor the truth.

“Nothing. Look, if a Davick has gone and gotten himself shot then I won’t shed a tear, but I also won’t have you coming onto my island and harassing my family,” Link said. “Last time I saw him he wanted to negotiate new terms of the treaty. He was keen to loosen restrictions and I doubt his brother liked that idea too much, so if you are looking for a murderer then you’re on the wrong island.”

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Miller slowly placing his hand on the heel of his gun. Neither one of us had mentioned that Chris was dead or that he had been shot. As the music died down, it became clear that we were in trouble. No one else had a gun, but that didn’t put us at any advantage. This was an island filled with witchcraft, they didn’t have weapons because they didn’t need them.

A few people from the dancefloor decided to run up the stairs and make a break for it, we wouldn’t get so lucky as the exit was closed by a wall of Conerty’s giving us a mean glare.

“Now now, Sheriff. I think you forget that your law doesn’t work here,” Link said. He was still seated and was flanked by his two brothers that were on his feet.

“Doesn’t mine?” I asked. “That was why you killed Greta, right? You don’t want to be held back by other people’s rules anymore.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Link scoffed. I could see that his eyes were shifting over to the area of the bar behind me, I turned quickly to see if there was one of his family members charging at us. In the split second that I was looking away, Link made a break for it.

“Sadie!” Miller yelled. I whipped my head back round and saw him disappear through a doorway into a dark room, his brothers on his heels. We ran after them, thundering into the darkness only to realize that this was not another room at all. This was part of the underground tunnel system.

Where were they headed? I had only just discovered that these tunnels existed, I had no idea how to navigate them or where they all went. Link could be anywhere. I was so grateful to have Miller by my side, but unless he developed the ability to see in the dark, we were screwed.

What could we do if more members of the family followed us? We would be surrounded. Innocent people don’t run. If crime dramas on TV have taught me anything, it’s that sometimes a suspect running away is your proof that you have the right person. Or at the very least, they have done something that they aren’t proud of.

“I have a flashlight; do you want me to switch it on?” Miller whispered. He was close enough to my ear that I could feel his breath.

“Will that make us an easy target?” I replied.

“Only one way to find out, stay behind me,” he ordered. The tunnel was pierced by the beam of light in Miller’s hands, his gun tight in his grip beside the flashlight like a secret agent in a blockbuster. We heard footsteps that were approaching fast.

19

“Simon?” I said, realizing that the approaching footsteps belonged to the tall, gangly ex-boyfriend of my café employee. “What are you doing here?”

Miller didn’t lower his gun. This clearly made Simon uncomfortable, but we were in a situation where it wasn’t clear who was a threat and who wasn’t. I tried to channel my intuition to guide me, to warn me if we were caught in a warzone between the two families in these tunnels and needed to find an escape. I had nothing.

“I don’t want to go into it, but we have a bug in the bar,” Simon panted. He was then joined by his father; he too was out of breath and slightly red in the face from running. “Link killed my uncle, he killed Greta. He is trying to frame us and end the peace.”

“Why would he do that?” I asked.

“If you think my dad killed his brother to become head of the family, then killed the peacekeeper, then it wouldn’t be hard to get everyone else to believe it