Hallow Haven Cozy Mysteries Bundle Books 1-3 by Mara Webb (hardest books to read TXT) 📗

“I suppose you’ve been off dealing with that bank robbery on the high street, eh?” The old lady had gone and a middle-aged man in a business suit was counting out paper money from his wallet in front of me.

“It wasn’t a bank robbery. We aren’t sure if it was a robbery at all, actually. But it was at The Guitar Yard,” I clarified.

“Those darn musicians,” he grumbled. I handed him his change and exchanged small talk with the three customers behind him before Effie got back from the table she was serving.

“Miller said you guys would be out all day on Wilmore,” she said.

“Yeah, change of plans,” I shrugged. “First of all, it seems that the people that live there, apart from the housekeeper, are all missing.”

“Red flag,” Kate and Effie said at the same time, then high fived each other.

“Yeah, your whole family is missing, dude. Some police officer came in here looking for them and then the customers overheard. The gossip mill around here is crazy,” Effie laughed. “Oh, speaking of red flags…” she muttered.

I followed her eyeline to the door of the café and out towards the sand beyond it. Ryder, a man that had also claimed to be my guardian, was running towards us.

“How do you have two hot guys fighting over you again?” Effie asked.

“Just lucky I guess,” I replied.

“Sadie!” he said as he walked through the door. He was out of breath and glistening with sweat. “I need to speak to you outside. It’s urgent.” What now?

6

Ryder ran a store on the high street called ‘Opt Out’. It was a place that specialized in hiking equipment, tents, and backpacks. There was also a bunch of stuff in there that I didn’t recognize, but then again, I’d only been inside a couple of times.

Greta had faked a passion for the great outdoors in order to spend more time with Ryder. She’d had a huge crush on him and was hoping that he would become her guardian if she willed it to happen. My arrival on the island seemed to have triggered some ‘genetic destiny’ in both Miller and Ryder, and now they were both my guardian.

My dead cousin was less than thrilled about it. Her guardian had been her dad, whereas I had two eligible bachelors vying for my attention.

Ryder held the café door open and gestured that he wanted me to speak with him outside. Effie performed a loud wolf whistle as I walked out of the door and I flapped a hand in her direction to get her to shush. Effie and Kate were still laughing by the time the door closed behind me and I was standing on the sand.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“I think you know, don’t you?” he said. I shook my head. “It’s the wolf. He’s up to something.”

Ryder hated Miller. Maybe hate is the wrong word to use, but he had made it clear that he thought Miller was bad news. The issue was that both of them had inherited something that had been activated when I got here. Both were my guardian, but Ryder was also a hunter. A hunter of werewolves specifically.

Apparently there hadn’t been a werewolf on the islands for a long time. The whole mess had started with Greta’s murder, and now here I was rolling my eyes as Ryder started another rant about ‘wolf activity’. In the last few days he’d left me several voicemails with his ‘theories’. I’d just text him back with the moon emoji, what else was I supposed to say?

“Up to something?” I hummed. “Like what?”

“I’ll show you,” he said. He began walking towards the high street and I reluctantly followed behind. He didn’t take a route that I was familiar with. We turned off the sidewalk almost as soon as we got off the sand and weaved between buildings until, we were at the trees that sprouted up over the hills.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Do you trust me?” he said. I nodded. Greta trusted him, as did Kate and Effie. That was recommendation enough. “Then we should hurry.”

Several minutes of silent walking followed. The hill sloped upwards and we were headed in the direction of the mountains. I looked down at my sandals and watched them shift into a pair of hiking boots. I laughed out loud and Ryder turned back to look at me, realizing what had happened.

“You’re getting good at that,” he grinned.

“I don’t know how I did it, but I’m glad it happened,” I replied.

“I should have told you to change your shoes before we left the café, I just didn’t want Miller to have time to clean up and hide the evidence,” he said. Ryder was so sure of himself, so convinced that Miller had done something wrong. What if he was right?

“What are you accusing him of?” I asked.

“Wait and see,” Ryder said. “I can’t understand it myself, but maybe you can figure it out.”

The trees thinned out, the gaps between the trunks grew and we were soon at a clearing. In the middle of the space was a large, flat rock. It looked as though it had been placed there, but the moss and vines growing around its base gave it the illusion that it might have sprung up from the ground.

“Oh,” I gasped. The ground beneath my feet in the clearing was scorched, as if a fire had ravaged a small area of the trees and burned down the plant life in a perfect circle. The vines around the rock were green and luscious; clearly unsinged. Curious.

“You see it, right?” Ryder said.

“I…” I faltered. What was I even looking at? “Aliens?” I said with a smile.

“I doubt it,” Ryder replied. “But not a bad guess. I just think that a rock like this, the burned earth… it means something, it has to.”

“You think Miller came all the way up here with a flame thrower and did