The Great Loveda Brown: The Idyllwild Mystery Series, Book One by Jolie Tunnell

Author:Jolie Tunnell [Tunnell, Jolie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jolie Tunnell
Published: 2020-11-12T16:00:00+00:00

13 HIDEOUT

AS BLUE NAVIGATED the road north, I went over and over everything that had happened since the night I arrived in Idyllwild. For such a small place, it had a lot going on. My stomach growled and reminded me that I’d skipped food altogether so far this morning. Wouldn’t it be funny to tell Mr. Wyman that I investigated his cabin because, like Goldilocks, I’d been searching for porridge?

I nudged Blue into a trot.

Because, of course, it was John Wyman’s name that kept coming up with a question mark in my mind. No one seemed to know anything about him, whereas everyone had multiple tales to tell about each other. It was hard to get away with anything—including murder—in a small town. I was sure he could shoot. Books implied he was educated enough to know poisons. Motive? Here, I came up short. But if I found either Billy’s missing rifle or a container of strychnine or arsenic, it would be enough.

And if not, I promised myself, I’d at least stop for strawberries before hustling back to Miss Nelson’s.

I was certain the clearing was just around the next bend as the trees began to thin, and I searched carefully for what must be a side track to Mr. Wyman’s cabin. In the distance I spied a roofline, obscured by trees, but considering the haphazard way I’d found his cabin in the first place, it made sense that it was closer than I’d assumed. Blue worked her way up a slope between pines, and as we approached the roofline transformed into the shorter crossbeam of a mine shaft.

I stopped in front of it, confused, and looked back the way I came. I could still see the main track where I’d left it. What confused me was the stump set up in front of the mine entrance and the plate of fishbones sitting on it. That, and the worn path leading inside. I calculated. If I had something I didn’t want anyone to find, this was a much better spot than a cabin.

“Well done, Blue,” I said and dismounted.

Abandoned mine shafts were nothing to dally in, and it was hard to determine the integrity of the structure standing at the entry. I peered into the shadows as far as I could until I worked up the courage to move inside.

A nice little camp was set up. Once my eyes adjusted to the dimness, I saw the remains of a small fire. A wooden spoon in a dirty pot. There was a couple of wooden cider boxes with random items inside. A broken comb. An antler. Tin cans. I reached down and held up a large chandelier crystal, turned it toward the light, and then set it back down beside a blue glass wine bottle and a chunk of rose quartz.

Next to the boxes a pile of clothing was heaped on a straw tick mattress on the ground. I moved closer. One of the shirts looked very familiar. A green-checkered flannel. Red had been wearing it when the sheriff and I saw her at the creek.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.