Excerpt
Tammy burst into the bookstore, the bell above the door clattering. Lockie darted in behind her, almost tripping her in his haste. She caught sight of Olivia and Mrs. Temperance huddled by the counter, their conversation dying midsentence. She ignored their startled expressions as she thrust the envelope forward.
“You won’t believe what I found in the attic!”
“Tammy, dear, what is it?” asked Mrs. Temperance.
For a moment, she hesitated, her fingers inching toward her pocket. Were they trustworthy? What if they dismissed her or—worse—used her story as gossip? Olivia’s kind expression nudged her resolve. My first test. And I’m going to ace it. She passed it over.
Olivia opened the envelope and read it aloud. She looked at Tammy with wide eyes.
“How extraordinary.” She handed it to Mrs. Temperance, who scrutinized it, lips pursed.
“Well, I never…” She met Tammy’s gaze. “This raises some troubling questions.”
“Right.” Tammy slumped against the counter. “It’s so mysterious. It threatened someone living in my cottage. We have to find out who they were and why they did it.”
Mrs. Temperance ran her fingers along the letter’s edges. “This is quite intriguing. Willowcroft has its fair share of secrets, but this…” She paused, tapping her chin. “I can’t imagine what it refers to.”
“Then we must investigate!” said Olivia. “If something sinister happened here in the past, we need to uncover it. This is our next mystery to solve, Mrs. Temperance!”
“It certainly is.”
Tammy’s heart skipped for joy at the prospect of joining forces to unravel the mystery. “What do you mean by your next mystery?”
Olivia glanced at the older woman with a big grin. “We solved a mystery last week. Willowcroft’s Great Bear Caper! We had three bear visits, including one on Mrs. Temperance’s porch and one that broke through my store’s window.”
Tammy gasped. “Are we safe in town? I didn’t factor bears into my plan.”
“Don’t worry, dear,” Mrs. Temperance reassured her. “In all my seventy-plus years, we’ve never had bear trouble—until last week. But black bears are harmless.”
Phew. “How did you solve the mystery?”
“Well,” said Olivia, “Mrs. Temperance, with her knowledge of honey terroir, traced the honey back to the Bradley Berry Farm store. I caught Nick Bradley on my CCTV and he confessed to luring the bears with honey and berries.” She pulled a newspaper from under the counter. “You can read about it here.”
Tammy looked at the front-page headline: “The Great Willowcroft Bear Caper” and the paper’s date. “This happened just before I arrived!”
“Yes. And it sparked our desire to solve more mysteries,” Mrs. Temperance said, turning to Olivia, who nodded in agreement.
“Wow. I thought my week was adventurous with a night at a haunted hotel,” Tammy said. “But bears? You win.”
Olivia’s eyes lit up. “Haunted hotel? Oh, do tell!”
“I will, but not right now. All I can think about is this letter…and now bears.” She grimaced.
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