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

enemies with.” 8th on the very poorly written list was a suggestion that the person takes the air out of their enemy’s tires.
    “At the very least, it’ll aggravate them. At the very best, it might keep them from going to that meeting you want to attend to impress your crush.” The writer had said, attaching a stock photo of an angry man kicking a car’s tire.
    The second and third articles were far more attractive.
    An article about the FBI arresting a Wisconsin couple for tax fraud, and an article about corruption in a small town mayor’s office.
    Victoria felt her heart beat faster. Why was a teenager reading these articles?
    Byron nodded gravely as he saw the expression on her face. “Exactly.” He said. “There’s more too.” He opened up another file. “She wrote this. It makes no sense to me. It’s almost like she was writing in code so that no one else would catch it. But maybe you will?”
    Victoria read it. “It’s a riddle of some sort.” She said. “ A code or just a silly poem?”
    Byron read it aloud. “Three men go to a hotel and rent a room. They pay 10 dollars each. The manager realizes he overcharged them 5 dollars and gives it to the bellboy to take to them. The bellboy realizes you can’t split 5$ evenly between three men, so he pockets 2 dollars and gives them each a dollar. Now each of these men has 9 dollars, and the bellboy has 2 dollars. Where did the last dollar go?” He frowned. “It’s an old riddle, isn’t it? I feel like I know the answer, yet each time I read it, I’m always confused.”
    “Yes. It must have some significance to her.” Victoria said.
    “Maybe we’re overthinking it,” Byron said. “She’s fond of coding, perhaps she’s fond of puzzles too.”
    Victoria was interrupted by a buzz from her cell phone. She picked it up and saw that it was Randolf calling. Victoria felt her stomach sink. Even before she took the call, she prayed that it wasn’t what she thought.
    “You were right,” Randolf said, his voice weary. “We found something.”
    Victoria closed her eyes and put a hand over her mouth.
    Randolf continued. “There were no remains to be discovered. The hot springs are far too acidic, and the body has probably dissolved completely by now. However, we recovered the earrings, the bracelet, and a belt buckle.”
    “This is terrible news,” Victoria said. “A lot of people were clinging on to the hope that she was alright. They are going to be heartbroken.”
    “It’s terrible for more than one reason,” Randolf said. “I can’t tell if this was suicide or murder, without a body around to help me get evidence.”
    Victoria nodded. “How did she get there, though?” Victoria asked. “There might be tire tracks? Or… I don’t know. Something.”
    “We’ve searched, but the springs are very accessible. They’re about half a mile away from the main road by foot. The main road, as you know, has way too many cars traveling on it for us to be able to gather evidence. Our trail is cold for now.”
    Victoria understood, but she couldn’t help stem the feeling of anger that was rising inside her. There had to be something she could do. The thought of how Margie had died sent shivers down her spine. She’d been a young, happy girl, with a life ahead of her. No, Victoria didn’t believe that it could be suicide, even if it might make others a little more peaceful to think so. No one, least of all a girl like Margie, who had plans for college and friends and a boyfriend, would want to die in such a horrific manner.
    “The answer has to stem from the night of the festival,” Victoria said. “One of her friends must know something.”
    “Believe me, we’ll be asking them questions,” Randolf said. “We don’t even know the time of death anymore, do we? It’s anywhere between midnight, when she was last sighted at the party, to 8 am, when her mother found her room empty.”
    “At night, or in the dawn, someone took her to the