Free COZY MYSTERY: Murder At The Festival: A Cozy Mystery in the Mountains (Book 4) by Liz Turner Page A

was still fast asleep when she banged on his front door. He opened up looking sleepy and boyishly rubbing an eye with his fist. “Victoria?” He yawned. “Whazzit?”
    “Randolf, it’s about Margie.”
    “Hmmm?”
    “Did the Rangers or anybody else check the hot springs?” Victoria asked.
    Randolf’s eyes widened. He caught on immediately.
    Among Larch’s beautiful and medicinal hot springs, there was one named the Teardrop of Flame. This particular hot spring and a handful of others close to it, had acidic waters with temperatures close to 200 C, instantly causing the moisture in the atmosphere around them to turn to steam.
    “I didn’t think of it,” Randolf said. “The sniffer dogs weren’t much use in that area because the high sulfur concentration blocks their sense of smell. But Victoria… if she was killed because she ventured too far into the hot springs, why there’s absolutely no chance we can find out. The body will have dissolved completely by now.”
    “We have to try, don’t we?” Victoria asked.
    “Try we will,” Randolf said. “I’m close to certain that’s what happened. It seems odd that none of us really thought of it before. At any rate, I’m off to make some calls. Do me a favor, and don’t talk to anybody about this until I get more news, will you?”
    “I won’t,” Victoria promised.
    “Alright then.” Randolf bent down and pressed his lips to her. “You deserve an award, but that’s the best I can manage right now.” He rubbed his nose against her.
    A big goofy smile spread on Victoria’s face, quickly wiped out as she thought of Margie. “Good luck,” Victoria said. “Though to be honest, I hope I was wrong. I hope you don’t find anything.”
    “Me too,” Randolf said.
    She went back home, a little lost in thought, wondering about what the new day would bring. Would it bring a horrible closure to Michelle’s wait? She hoped not.
    Inside, Byron was lying on the couch, his feet propped up on the back, touching the wall.
    “Oh!” Victoria gave a start. “Byron. I didn’t realize you were up.”
    “I’m not up. I’m about to go sleep.” He said.
    “Byron!” She was about to launch into a lecture about why sleep habits were important when something in his expression made her stop. Softly, she asked, “What is it?”
    “I did something,” Byron said. “I found something.”
    “What?”
    “I know you told me that I shouldn’t use the computer. But I was thinking it over last night. Margie had once borrowed my laptop for a day when hers was at the shop. She deleted her files, but I realized that if I did a root, I could bring them back. So I did. I know it’s not admissible in court, but...”
    “You found something?” Victoria asked.
    “I found things.” He said. “A search history. A word file with a few words saved on it.”
    “Let me see them,” Victoria said.
    Byron jumped up and bought her the laptop, Victoria quickly looked over what he was showing her.
    “She used my computer for a whole day, so a lot of the search history is just random,” Byron said. “She was like me. She was on the computer almost constantly.”
    “But?”
    “But there’s a logical pattern that emerges when you see it laid out in a list,” Byron said.
    Victoria nodded.
    The first few searches were random. Red Jacket. How to accessorize a Red Jacket. Can Moles see? How to tell if a boy likes a girl. What can I do if my boyfriend likes another girl?
    Victoria looked up. Whistled. “What on earth. I thought Jay was supposed to be devoted to her.”
    “Me too,” Byron said. “Then again, it could be nothing. Right? Just something random she was reading.”
    Victoria nodded. She kept reading. There were search entries for biology problems, searches about actors and singers, searches about kittens, funny articles… a relatively typical list of things to look at online.
    Three things stood out, though.
    An article entitled “10 stupid pranks to scare your