Free The Scariest Tail (A Wonder Cats Mystery Book 4) by Harper Lin Page A

trust or a six-figure income.
    “Nope,” Bea said. “Said he rented from a guy he never met. To live in this twelve-room house by himself cost him six hundred dollars a month.”
    I didn’t have to say it. I could see it on both Bea’s and Aunt Astrid’s faces. Something about this whole situation just wasn’t right. Lisa’s story was bizarre enough, but for this young guy to have lived in the area, renting a mansion for pennies in the vicinity of the woman he had decided to stalk, just seemed too weird.
    I thought of how jigsaw puzzles were harder when all the pieces looked alike. This mystery had a dozen components, but I couldn’t see how they fit. I just couldn’t see anything.

Screaming
    A couple of days had passed since the stories with the black-eyed children and the stalking of Lisa Roy had floated to the surface. I was happy to see Jake was feeling better since his incident. He was working and feeling more like his old self. However, if he knew how much damage had been done, and what Bea had seen of the energy around his head and heart being all scratched up and beaten down, he might have succumbed to his injuries.
    Seeing that kind of damage could lead a person to believe they wouldn’t ever be the same. And maybe Jake wouldn’t be the same after his attack. That was what had happened—he had been attacked by those things. But Bea nursed him along; she whispered her spells while he slept and watched as layer after layer of scarring was removed.
    She was really good at healing, no doubt about it.
    That night, it was my turn to lock up the café. The nights were getting longer with winter quickly approaching, but we still had sweater weather. I pulled my ankle-length, rust-colored sweater around me and began my walk home.
    A thin veil of fog hung in the streets. It gave the streetlamps halos and softened the edges of the houses and fences I passed. Trees and shrubs morphed into giant animals, blending seamlessly with shadows that were already there.
    Despite the eerie atmosphere, I felt a strange sense of calm and was enjoying the night as I turned down the street where the Greenstones all resided. I didn’t care what people thought about the prestige that came with a Prestwick address. To me, having my family just a few doors down made me feel very wealthy.
    I had my own little house, a little car, and a job that I didn’t ever want to leave. I had clothes to stay warm, and even though I didn’t cook like Bea, I could still open a can of soup and had plenty in my pantry. If only my parents could see me. If only I could let them know I had turned out okay.
    I knew Aunt Astrid was probably poring over her immense library, looking for something that alluded to black-eyed children. Bea was most likely fluttering around Jake, making sure everything was back to normal and making sure the doors and windows were locked, not just with a physical latch but with a spell or two as well.
    I had decided I might crack open one of those cans of soup, put on the television, and zone out to an old movie or something. I wanted to give my mind a break from all the drama that seemed to be popping up like toadstools.
    But as I made the plans in my head, I noticed a familiar-looking car in my driveway. There was only one person who drove a new Jaguar and didn’t live in Prestwick.
    I tapped the glass on the passenger window. “What are you doing here?” I asked my dear friend Min.
    He must have been really engrossed in thought because he looked as if I’d scared him out of his skin when I tapped. He climbed out of the car. Even in the pale, foggy evening, I could see there was something wrong.
    “I was in the neighborhood. We hadn’t had a chance to just talk for a while. You know, just you and I. Can we go inside?”
    It didn’t take over a decade of friendship for me to realize Min was terribly upset but trying to keep up appearances. The first thought I had was that he and his girlfriend Amalia had called it