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

things were falling into place. I had Kate agree to meet me at the radio station within half an hour and quickly took Damon up to show him Jake’s apartment. We had work to do.

“Good morning Hallow Haven! Can I get a what what?” Kate bellowed down the microphone. “Oh yeah, you can’t respond. Never mind. It’s your girl Kate Knockout with a surprise, something to spice up your day. As if it needed spicing up, because obviously someone let me present my show during daylight hours today which is crazy, am I right?”

“Psst!” I whispered from across the studio. I tapped the face of my watch to prompt her to hurry up.

“Sorry, I’ve had a few too many cups of Nana’s brew this morning. I’m sure you’ve all been there!” she laughed.

Since I’d left Kate and Effie’s house, Kate had drawn black stars around her eyes with liquid eyeliner and added a deep blue eyeshadow to both lids, making the top half of her face look like a night sky. She already looked cool with her dark hair and bright green bangs, but this was something else. Maybe the thrill of a prime-time slot on the radio had inspired her to go the extra mile with her aesthetic, despite the fact none of the audience could see her.

“As you all probably know, the Battle of the Bands competition is coming to an end. So far it seems that you have all had a favorite, even though the lead singer is awful, not as handsome as he thinks he is and is violating several codes of conduct when it comes to–”

“Ahem!” I coughed.

“Right, yeah, TMI. Anyway, we have a last-minute entry that is gonna blow you guys away. I want you to hold onto your hats, folks. You guys have heard of the masked singer before, I’m sure. Well this guy will never be talking off his disguise… I present to you… Doe!”

Right on cue, Damon stepped towards a mic in a separate booth. He had pulled the hood up on his hoodie so that his face was largely in shadow as he began playing his song. I tapped my toe along to the music as I grinned proudly at my idea for his stage name. I figured that people always use John Doe or Jane Doe when someone is unidentified, so why not just steal the last name and make it his pseudonym.

The lights on the phone beside Kate began to flash wildly. Damon sang about an old girlfriend, or so it seemed, and the pain in his voice as the song progressed made it feel all the more powerful. By the time he had finished singing, both Kate and I had tears in our eyes and Effie was curled up in a ball on the floor.

Kate began to answer the calls from listeners and encouraged them all to vote for their favorite act. So far it seemed like my plan was working, but we weren’t finished yet.

19

It was important that Max and the band didn’t win. Effie and Kate continued to share their Kelly Clarkson story as we set about organizing the platform on the sand. We agreed that the winner should be announced in a public place, if they somehow won despite Damon’s performance then we would need to be there to deal with the fallout.

Kate had informed the listeners of the station that they were to meet outside The Sand Witch at sundown. She’d managed to convince Scott to bring forward the end of the contest so they could have a big beach party at sunset.

Every other entrant would be there, even the ones singing songs about lettuce leaves and grocery lists. They were all going to be standing on the sand waiting to hear if they had won the big prize.

“Do you remember what we are doing today?” Kate asked her sister.

“Yes,” Effie sassed back. “I’m not dumb.”

“Are you sure about that? Because it seems like you are applying more lip gloss than anyone ever has on planet earth, ever,” Kate teased. “You haven’t forgotten that you aren’t trying to get back together with Max today, right?”

“I just think he should know what he’s missing,” Effie explained.

“Yeah, but he’s gonna be missing his freedom soon, because he will be in jail,” Kate huffed.

“Providing we get a confession,” Miller added. “So far we have no witnesses to come forward that place anyone at the scene of the shooting at The Guitar Yard. What I do have is Sadie’s account of seeing the group gathered up in the clearing with Mrs. Hall on the ritual rock.”

“Your girl’s not a liar,” Effie said, spinning away from the mirror to shoot a scolding look in Miller’s direction.

“M…my girl?” he smiled. “I must have missed something.”

“Yeah, like, when are you two just gonna kiss already?” Kate asked. “Honestly, all we get around here lately is bad news, or sad news, or rainstorms. I’m thinking of adding some island gossip to my radio show and you two getting together would be awesome for me, career wise.”

I parted my lips to speak but found my mind had gone blank. I could feel tingling across my hands as if the very idea of kissing Miller was flooding my body with electricity, I just had to hope no one would see any blue lightning on my skin this time.

Kate, being something of a mind reader, was smiling at me like that cat that got the cream. I felt so embarrassed, but there wasn’t time to dwell on it long.

“I suppose you are aware that Bearbrooks decided to whip up a Shell’s Day celebration at the last minute?” Kate said. “They thought that, as there would already be live music taking place at the music festival at the weekend, they could just add a little romance to it. There is gonna be a lot of coupling up! So, if either of you wanted to, oh I don’t know, take a guest