Free Nun the Wiser (A Deadly Habit Cozy Mystery Book 2) by Morgana Best Page B

hay and tried to pull the baling twine off the first bale I saw. My hands were too numb to manage, so I gave up, but luckily I spied some bales which had fallen open. I made a little hut out of hay bales, threw some loose hay inside, and crawled in.
    My hands hurt and I was shivering uncontrollably, but I presently warmed up. The hay scratched me and made me itchy, and I sneezed a few times, but at least the hay was providing life-saving warmth. I shifted my body around and dug myself further into the scratchy hay. It wasn’t the most comfortable bed I had ever been in, but the warmth it provided was sufficient.
    I peeked through the hay to see the pale moon shining down through the roof. I thought about Adam and where he was at that very moment. Did he get my text message from earlier? Did he know I was in trouble? I shivered — this time from fear rather than the cold.
    I closed my eyes tightly and tried to fall asleep, but that proved to be rather difficult, hunched up as I was. I rolled over on my opposite side. Would anyone ever find me here? I wriggled my toes, and was thankful that I could still feel them. I had horrible thoughts of them falling off from frostbite.
    I tried to comfort myself with common sense. I wasn’t going to die from cold, now that I had my hay bed. It was too cold for snakes, so I was safe from that threat too. It was unlikely to be snowing in the morning — we rarely had snow two days in a row in this district — so I would be able to walk to a farm house. I had given Adam the address, so no doubt he would come looking for me sooner or later.
    I listened quietly as I held my eyes shut, but the only sounds echoing through the night were that of sleet and wind. Not a single car could be heard in the distance. As I lay there for nearly an hour trying to fall asleep, the agony of freezing and the hunger pains in my stomach finally began to plague me, but I drifted off to sleep.
     
     

Chapter 12 .
    A strange light infiltrated my clenched eyes, forcing the darkness from my sight and the sleep from my mind. A chilling sound reverberated through the small barn. What on earth was that? Was it an animal? I hoped it wasn’t rats. I fought the panic to rush like a madwoman from my safe hay bed.
    The noise sounded off again in the distance, but it seemed a bit closer this time. Was that a person calling for someone? I shifted in my bed of hay, pushing off the extra piles that I had pulled over myself to keep warm.
    “Hello?” the voice rang out. It was much clearer this time.
    I jumped up, and then winced at the aches and pains. I staggered out into the cold to peer around the barn door. I made sure to stay out of sight — what if this was one of the nuns coming back to finish me off?
    “Hey! Are you out here?” the voice yelled.
    I was still unable to see anything from the viewpoint of the barn door, and without knowing who was out there, I considered that running to them would be a bad decision. Thoughts ran through my mind like an old film playing through a projector, as I remembered my conversation with the man in my shop. I knew the nuns now considered me a threat — I knew that leaving me to die in the cold was a good way to get rid of liability, while making it look like an accident.
    I shivered at the thought of one of them being outside the barn, tricking me once more so they could finally seek their vengeance. As the fear threatened to overwhelm me, I also remembered something far more hopeful —Adam. I had texted him about the meeting and had made sure to give him the address, so was he the one outside? Without any other logical choices in front of me, I decided to take the risk.
    What choice do I really have? I thought. I struggled with the notion, but the thought of getting out of the cold was something I wasn’t able to pass up easily. I stumbled out and fell harshly to the ground as my cramped knees gave way, causing me to fall forward onto my hands and knees. When I looked up,