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

blur of scenery that passed by. The greenery of the trees and the golden sands started to disappear as we pulled up to a gated community. I didn’t know there were places like this in Hallow Haven.

“You know, I have sent in my entry and haven’t heard a thing yet! When will y’all be announcing the winner?” Wes asked.

“This is our stop, thanks Wes,” Miller responded. He opened the car door and took my hand to help pull me out of the vehicle. He passed Wes some cash and waved to usher him to drive away.

“You can thank me later,” Miller smiled. “He is totally unaware of how bad his singing is, just like most people around here.”

A security guard in a booth nodded at Miller, smiled at me, and then pressed a button to cause the electric gates to slide apart. We walked through them and Miller led the way to a house with palm trees lining the path to the door. Every inch of the exterior screamed money.

He knocked twice and then we waited. A car sat on the driveway, but no one was answering. He knocked again. I stepped away from the front door and pressed my hands to my forehead so that I could see through the window into the house, the sun blazing behind me was making it difficult to see.

I could just about make out the outline of a sofa, a coffee table with a mug in the center, and the twisted body of Mrs. Hall lying still on the fireside rug.

14

It seemed pretty clear that she was dead, but we busted our way in through the front door and checked for a pulse anyway. She was dead, alright.

“I would love to say that people didn’t die as often before you got here, but that would be a lie,” Miller said.

“Did you and Greta stumble upon as many dead bodies as we have?” I asked.

“Er… actually not all that many. We got called out for brawling, people stealing fishing boats, the occasional body would wash up on the shore I guess, but you seem to have brought bad luck,” he chuckled.

“Maybe I should get back on a plane and zoom off for everyone’s safety,” I teased.

“Nah, I kind of like having you around, even if I spend most of my days investigating murders now,” he smiled. I blushed, but then quickly remembered that we were flirting over the body of Mrs. Hall and we should probably focus.

“What do you make of that?” I asked, pointing at an empty plastic container of medication. Miller crouched down to look at the prescription label.

“These are hers; I don’t know the name of that drug, but it clearly hasn’t done her any favors,” he said. The container had landed just a few inches from her open hand, as if she had been holding it when she fell. “I can’t see any blood or a weapon anywhere around, for the minute I have to assume this was an overdose.”

“I didn’t get the impression that she was too cut up about her husband being murdered,” I mused. “Although that might have been a front. Maybe she came back here and had to sit with her feelings for a while. I don’t know.”

“Well look at all of these,” he said, pointing at handwritten letters that were piled up beside the sofa. They were small pieces of paper out of their envelopes and looked crinkled as if they had been held many times. “Dearest Evie, I can’t wait to press your skin against mine again, to have you in my arms and—”

Miller was reading aloud but then stopped abruptly and I saw his cheeks flush a bright scarlet.

“What are you reading there, Sheriff?” I teased.

“I can’t say that out loud,” he said. “But there is some saucy stuff in here, these have to be from Jake, right?”

“Can I see?” Miller passed the letter to me and I read over the words, quickly recognizing which part had caused Miller to blush. “There were notebooks in Jake’s apartment, we could try to do a comparison with the writing. It’s not like we can ask him… oh!”

“What?”

“Well, Greta’s ghost showed up after she was murdered, right? What about other ghosts? Maybe we could find his ghost somewhere and ask him what happened? I feel like a dummy for not thinking of it earlier, but this whole ‘ghost’ thing is still pretty new,” I laughed. “Oh man, wait until Kate and Effie hear about this. I bet they will kick themselves for not suggesting it sooner.”

“Take the letters anyway, it might be useful to double check just in case the ghost thing doesn’t work out,” Miller said. “But if we find him, maybe we can ask him where everyone from Wilmore went…”

“Still no sign of them? I feel like the priority is to catch a killer, then we can worry about my Uncle and the rest of them.” I let out a long sigh. “I thought moving to an island would help me take my mind off all the negativity that was going on back home, it seems that I’ve just replaced it with a different set of problems.”

“That’s life,” Miller agreed. “Maybe you just need something to look forward to.”

“Like what?” I replied.

“Dinner. With me. A dinner with me,” he said. “It would be great to spend time together that didn’t involve dead people, and I want to show you my favorite spot on the cliffs. It doesn’t have to be anything more than that, but I think you’d really like it up there. There’s a great view of the ocean and—”

“Yes, I’d like that,” I grinned. For a second it felt like we were the only two people in the world, but reality soon caught up to us. Miller’s phone buzzed and he answered the call. He stepped away to speak and I got the impression he was talking to someone else from the police department.

I looked again at the handwriting and