Haunted Hamlet (Zoe Donovan Mystery) Read Online Free Page B

which was good, because the last thing I wanted was for anyone to find out what a fool I’d made of myself.
    I , super sleuth Zoe Donovan, had not only passed out when I saw the bundle I believed to be a body move, but Ellie had called Sheriff Salinger in a panic when I didn’t answer her repeated attempts to make sure I was okay. Salinger then sent all four members of the Aston Falls Sheriff’s Department to the house to rescue me. By the time they showed up and determined that I hadn’t fallen victim to a poltergeist on a rampage, Zak, Ellie, and Levi had shown up as well, so we decided to go out for a bite to eat as planned.
    “Maybe it was a ghostly pile of rags,” Levi teased.
    “Bite me.”
    “Leave Zoe alone .” Ellie kicked Levi. “The mind can play tricks on us during times of stress.”
    “I’ve never been so humiliated ,” I complained.
    Zak just looked at me.
    “Okay, I’ve never been so humiliated recently .”
    “Define recently .” Levi was still laughing.
    “Okay, I’ve never been more humiliated this month.”
    Let’s face it, I’m known to be something of a loose cannon when it comes to getting myself into embarrassing situations. It’s not that I’m careless exactly. It’s more that I tend to power my way through life with my enthusiasm leading the way and my common sense trailing along at a distant pace. I couldn’t help but feel bad that I’d lost track of the mama cat and failed to find the kittens. It was going to get cold tonight, and I hated to think of them all alone in that creepy old house.
    Zak squeezed my hand. “She’ ll be fine until tomorrow,” he offered as he apparently read my mind.
    “I know. I just feel like I let her down. She seemed to be leading me to the kittens and then she just disappeared. It was dark in the basement. I guess she must have stashed her babies toward the back of the room , out of the way. I don’t even know if she had food and water.”
    “Do you want to go back now?” Zak asked.
    Actually, I did.
    “Are you crazy ? It’s pitch-black out,” Ellie said. “The cat will be fine.”
    “We have flashlights,” I said in what I hoped was a persuasive voice. “And there are four of us, and you know what they say about safety in numbers.”
    “Th at sounds like the opening line of every horror movie I’ve ever seen,” Ellie pointed out.
    “I’ll just pop in, get the cat and kittens, and pop out. You can wait in the truck if you want,” I offered.
    “Alone? No th anks. Besides, if the cat and her kittens were in the basement, don’t you think Salinger and his men would have seen them when they showed up to rescue you? Don’t you think you would have seen them when you came to? Chances are the kittens, if they’re even in the house, are in a different room entirely.”
    “Good point,” I had to admit. “Salinger hurried me out of the house, but I did have a chance to look around the room a bit and it was completely empty except for the rags. I wonder where she could have gone.”
    “After you blacked out , she probably left the basement the same way she entered,” Levi theorized.
    “Let’s face it : that house is huge. You’ll never find the cat in the dark. You should do as Zak suggested and go back tomorrow,” Ellie directed.
    “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’m sure the kittens will be fine one more night.”
    The problem was that even as I said the words, I didn’t really believe them. I know that it was crazy to worry about the cat and her offspring. Ellie was probably correct and they were fine. As Zak drove us toward his lakefront home, I began to worry that the cat might have gotten out again when Salinger and his men were responding to my false alarm. I hated to think what would happen to the babies if they were separated from their mom overnight.
    “You want to go back tonight , don’t you?” Zak asked as we pulled off the main highway onto the road that led down to the lake and our home.
    “I really