Snowflake Bay Cozy Mysteries Boxset 1

by C Farren

  They sat and drank their tea and talked about trivial things for a while, like what happened on the soaps yesterday, and global warming, and how their local council members were morons. It always felt a little odd to chat with her mother like they were best friends, but it also felt good. She liked the relationship they had, and she wouldn’t change it for the world. She just wished her mother had been honest with her since the beginning.

  “What about you?” her mother asked. “Is there anything in the romance department for you, or have you given up on ever getting a man?”

  Wren had to be honest with herself. “I’m going to die a spinster. I think I’m okay with that. Well, I’m about ninety percent okay with that. I only went out with Cedric the other night because I didn’t want to upset you. I regretted it the moment the appetizers were served.”

  “I don’t believe that,” her mother snapped. “I will not allow my daughter to die alone! Besides, I want grandchildren. Who else could I harvest organs from if one of mine were to fail?”

  Wren stood. They were back to the grandchildren thing again. How predictable.

  “I know you can’t have children by natural means,” said her mother kindly. “I’ve accepted that. I know you have too. But there are lots of other ways. I want you to be happy, love.”

  “Mom...”

  “Do you want children, Wren?”

  Wren pondered the question seriously before bidding her mother goodbye. As she opened the front door Anthony called to her from the top of the stairs. She looked up to find his clothing straight and his hair combed. The transformation was uncanny. He looked like a banker.

  “Try not to be too hard on her,” said Anthony. “She’s been through a lot.”

  “I know that,” said Wren. “While I accept your...relationship, it doesn’t mean that I like it.”

  “We’re just having a bit of fun.” He had no remorse, which cut Wren a little. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “How do you think my dad feels?”

  Anthony watched her sharply. “I don’t care about your father. I care about your mother. Her happiness is all that matters to me.”

  For a moment Wren didn’t know what to say. She soon recovered, though, and asked, “Do you love her?”

  He crossed his arms. “That’s none of your business.”

  Wren couldn’t take any more of this situation. She gave Anthony her most polite smile and rushed out of the front door. She didn’t envy her mother for her complicated life, but a part of her did ask: why does my mother get to be involved in a love triangle and I don’t?

  She pulled out her cell and called her father’s number. She didn’t know where he was. He could be sleeping on a park bench for all she knew.

  No. Dad’s not that foolish.

  “Hello?” her father answered.

  “Where are you?” she asked desperately. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, though the park bench was a little uncomfortable.”

  Wren gasped, almost dropping the phone. “Why didn’t you come to me for help? I have a spare room. I have three spare rooms!”

  “The park bench is doing me fine,” her father insisted. “The hobo that peed on me in the middle of the night was wearisome, but it did warm me up.”

  She hated it when her father made light of serious situations. He’d always done that, for as long as she could remember. Sometimes he was just a big kid at heart.

  “Dad, you will move in with me,” she ordered.

  “You sound like your mother,” said her father. “A bossy harpy.”

  He hung up on her. She dialed his number again, and again, and again, but he blocked her.

  “Damn both my parents,” she whispered.

  She knew she’d have to go and find her father in the park or she’d never be able to live with herself.

  Chapter 7

  Juniper smiled up at Fiona smugly from her desk. “And how’s it going down there?”

  “Fine,” Fiona lied, looking away from Juniper. “I’m doing well.”

  “Are you sure?” Juniper inquired coldly.

  Fiona despised the angel in charge of her department. Juniper was a cold, unfeeling woman, faded from thousands of years of disappointments, enforcing the angelic laws with rigid strictness. Fiona hoped she didn’t turn into her one day. That would be awful.

  “I wouldn’t lie to you,” said Fiona sweetly. She could be very charming when she wanted to. “She’s a bit of a challenge, sure, but I do love a challenge!”

  “This one certainly is a challenge,” Juniper muttered. Her silver eyes bore into Fiona with intensity. “I trust you haven’t revealed to her your true identity? You know that isn’t allowed.”

  Fiona was deeply offended by the insinuation and prepared to scream the place down with obscenities. She calmed herself quickly. It would be unbecoming to berate the boss in such a way, even if the woman deserved it.

  “My lips are sealed,” said Fiona.

  Juniper grinned. “I like you, Fiona. I don’t often single out any particular angel ,but you are an exception. I see potential in you. You could become one of the great guardian angels one day through hard work.”

  Fiona was speechless. She hadn’t expected this. It was widely known that Juniper rarely took an interest in the angels under her, but when she did, that angel was meant for something great.

  What’s so special about me?

  “Are you quite all right?” Juniper asked.

  “I’m just surprised,” Fiona admitted. Her hands were shaking a little. She had a lot to live up to now and it was terrifying. “I didn’t know.”

  “Now you do,” said Juniper. “So that means I expect more from you. Finish this assignment quickly and efficiently.”

  “I’ll do you proud!”

  Juniper sighed heavily. “I haven’t been proud in a long time. I’ve forgotten what it feels like.”

  THE CELESTIAL CITY of Golden was home to over half a million angels. It was Heaven’s next-door neighbor, with its own set of pearly gates. Every century or so the city planners would change the city’s exterior to reflect their personal tastes. At the moment it was a cross between New York City and Venice, with high rise skyscrapers surrounded by canals and bridges.

  Fiona was sitting on one of the bridges, watching the dolphins play in the canal below. She liked to watch the dolphins when she was depressed, which wasn’t too often. She liked to think she was an optimistic, happy person all the time. What was it with this Wren woman that annoyed her and infuriated her so much?

  Nobody has ever refused my services before.

  Wren was her third charge. The previous two had gone smoothly. They’d wanted to change their lives and had accepted her help with grace. All she wanted to do was help put Wren’s life in order. What was so wrong with that?

  And I have to make Juniper proud of me.

  Juniper may be thoroughly disliked, but if she saw something special in you then you worked like a horse to not disappoint her.

  “What’s up with you?” a voice asked.

  Fiona’s heart skipped a beat. That velvety voice could always send shivers down her spine.

  “Hi Brock,” said Fiona.

  Brock had been in her class at angel training school. They’d been good friends since the first day they’d met, and she valued their friendship. She was also desperately and hopelessly in love with him. It could never go any further, though. Fiona didn’t make friends easily, and she’d never act upon her feelings for fear of losing her friend.

  “My latest charge is a bit obstinate,” Fiona admitted, staring balefully into the clear canal waters. She tried not to look at Brock, with his wavy blonde hair, square jaw and strong shoulders. He was literally a sculpture of perfectness. “I’ve tried my best, but she just doesn’t want my help. It’s like she wants to be miserable and alone. I even tried to make her jealous, by claiming I was helping someone else called Damien, who wanted my help, but that didn’t work either.”

/>   Brock sat on the edge of the bridge with her. “I know what you mean. The world is cynical now.”

  “I’m a failure, Brock.” She cried and felt him inch closer and put his strong arm around her. She could smell his musk and his wings tickle her neck.

  “Have you given up?” he asked.

  Fiona was outraged. “Of course not! I’ve never given up on anything in my entire life! Not giving up is the reason I died. If the prospect of German bombs falling on my head didn’t make me give up, then an obstinate woman is not going to.”

  Fiona’s memories of her death were still a little fuzzy, even seventy years after the event. She remembered jumping out of the back of the ambulance and going for the injured woman, who lay bleeding on that London street. She remembered the noise the Luftwaffe made as it glided overhead. She even remembered rushing past half a teddy bear in the ruins of a house. After that it was a blur. The only reason she knew a German bomb had blown her up was because her mentor angel had told her.

  “Then stop crying and get back out there,” Brock ordered.

  She wiped the tears away. “You always know what to say to me.”

  “That’s what friends are for,” he said.

  She smiled warmly, though every time he called her “friend” her heart broke just a little bit more.

  Chapter 8

  The village of Snowflake Bay had the Atlantic on one side and trees on every other. They were literally in the middle of nature. Whenever someone in the village said they were “heading to the park” what they actually meant was the large fenced off area towards the west of the village. It was kept in perfect, prim condition by the SB Gardening Fanatics Society and often won awards. It was beautiful to spend time in, whatever the weather.

  It’s not beautiful if you have to sleep there.

  Wren couldn’t find her father anywhere. He wasn’t sat at the bench by the frog pond, and he wasn’t by the tables near the lemonade kiosk. She asked the kiosk’s owner, Floyd, if he’d seen her father, but he just shrugged.

  What was he thinking sleeping out in the rough like that in such cold weather? The old man could give himself hypothermia. Sometimes she despaired of her parents. The both of them were on a self-destructive streak that would eventually take the whole family down with them.

  She eventually found her father by the bandstand, but he wasn’t alone. There was a tall, muscular man standing there with him. They were talking heatedly, her father looking quite intimidated.

  What’s going on?

  The man reached forward. Wren panicked and ran forward, almost slipping in the wet grass.

  “Do not touch him!” Wren screamed.

  The man turned to Wren. His eyes were black and cold and his nose had been broken in the past. He looked like a bouncer.

  “Get out of here,” her father told her.

  “Leave my father alone,” Wren commanded, pulling out her cell. “Or I swear I’ll call the police.”

  The man laughed and let her father go. He walked menacingly up to her and snatched the cell from her hands. She looked up at him, feeling like she was in the shade of a giant.

  “Who are you?” he demanded, his eyes searching her.

  Wren crossed her arms defiantly. “Who are you?”

  The man grunted, smiled and said, “I’m Benedict Treadaway - someone Wick owes money to. But don’t sweat it. It’s all sorted now.” His tone was half flirty, half threatening. “Or it will be, at any rate.”

  Wren couldn’t help but frown. “Benedict Treadaway? That sounds like a posh actor in London’s West End.”

  “You have a nice smile.”

  The man looked down at the screensaver of her cat on the cell before handing it back to her. He looked once more at her father before walking away.

  Oh my God...my heart is beating like mad...

  “You should never have interfered!” her father shouted. He’d never been so angry or terrified before. It actually made her sad. “Do you know what kind of man that is? He’s the kind of man what wouldn’t think twice about putting a woman in hospital with serious injuries!”

  She watched Benedict walking away. He stroked someone’s dog as he passed them. He was now about as threatening as a budgie.

  What a strange contradiction that man is.

  “And what about you?” Wren demanded. “What are you doing involved with a man like that?”

  “I borrowed money off him,” Wick explained, looking down at his feet with shame. “I owe him a lot of money.”

  “All so you could lose spectacularly at cards.”

  He had a right to be ashamed. He’d involved himself and their family with some dodgy people and she wasn’t sure she could ever forgive him for it. Benedict Treadaway may have flirted with her and stroked a passing dog, but there was no doubt in her mind the man was dangerous.

  “I should just leave you out here and walk away,” Wren stated. It was threatening to rain again. She really wanted to be indoors.

  “You should do that,” he said. “I don’t want you involved.”

  She lifted his chin up to look at her. “But I’d never forgive myself if I let you freeze to death out here. You’re coming to live with me and I’m not taking no for an answer.”

  Hope briefly flickered in his eyes, and Wren wanted to cry. He looked so wretched it broke her heart.

  “I don’t deserve any of you,” Wick admitted.

  She pulled him into a hug, figuring he deserved at least that. Besides, her father and the goon threatening him had both said the matter was sorted. Wren only hoped it was. She wasn’t sure her heart could take another confrontation like that.

  WREN SWITCHED ON THE TV as her father splashed about in the bath upstairs. She’d ordered him to wash as soon as they’d arrived home. He was starting to smell a bit. She’d bought a giant bathtub while refurbishing the house. He’d have a whale of a time in it.

  Gracie meowed and leaped onto her knee. She stroked her Russian Blue, feeling comfort from the soft fur of her companion. Soon Gracie’s deep purr lulled Wren into blissful contentment.

  “So, what are you and the other cats up to?” Wren asked playfully.

  Gracie stared up at her with beautiful green eyes that spoke volumes. It said I love you so much but this is my business.

  Wren smiled and tickled the cat’s chin.

  “Just don’t get into trouble,” Wren warned her. “I want at least one member of my family to be playing it safe.”

  “How did it go with your father?” Fiona demanded.

  Wren ignored the angel, concentrating on stroking her cat. Fiona sat on the couch beside her, shuffling her backside to try and get comfortable. Gracie meowed at the intruder and allowed Fiona to stroke her head.

  “You know Catherine the Great had Russian Blues?” said Fiona, tickling the cat under the chin. Gracie was loving every minute of it. “They’re the royalty of the cat world.”

  “I know that,” said Wren.

  “I’m not going to go away you know. I hate to use the word stalk, but I’m going to stalk you until you let me help you.”

  “I don’t have the strength to fight you.”

  If the angel was so hell-bent on sorting her life out, then she could do as she pleased. She pitied the person trying to arrange the mess that was the life of Wren King.

  Fiona giggled with glee. “Excellent. We’re going to have so much fun!”

  “So, what is it you’re going to do exactly?” Wren demanded, looking the angel in the eye. The woman’s wings were conspicuously absent, and she was now wearing a tight pink top and a pair of jeans. She looked like a soccer mom out for a stroll.

  “What do you mean?” Fiona asked.

  “Are you going to just snap your fingers and magically make my life perfect?” Wren had meant to be sarcastic, but she suddenly perked up at the idea. “Wait, can you just snap your fingers and make my life perfect?”

  “I’m not a wizard,” said Fiona grumpily.

  “But you made
that cookie appear from nowhere yesterday, and you seem to be able to just appear and disappear whenever you want.”

  “I had that cookie in my pocket all the time. You just didn’t see me take it out. As for the appearing and disappearing thing...that’s the extent of my supernatural talents I’m afraid, and even then, doing that takes a lot out of me. I’m not exactly a higher-level angel you know. I can’t just fly around the world.” She was quite miffed about that. It was obviously a sore subject.

  “Can a higher angel snap their fingers and...”

  “If all the higher angels and celestial beings snapped their fingers to make everyone’s lives perfect then life would be pretty boring.”

  “It would be pretty darn wonderful, though.”

  “And it would be wrong. People have free will.”

  “Then what’s the point of you?”

  Fiona turned her face away, biting her lip. The woman looked like she was trying to control an outburst of anger. The diminutive angel had a temper that could crack a mountain in half.

  “I’m here to guide you,” said Fiona through gritted teeth. “I’m not here to do everything for you.”

  Wren winced, realizing she’d hurt the angel’s feelings. If she was going to be stuck with the woman for the foreseeable future, she didn’t want any tension between them.

  “I’m sorry,” said Wren. “It’s just I don’t really understand any of this.”

  Fiona turned to her and smiled warmly. “It’s okay. I know it’s a lot to take in. I’ve just changed your whole universe.”

  “And my universe was pretty screwed up to begin with.”

  There was a sharp knock at the door. Fiona continued to stroke Gracie, ignoring it. Wren sighed, pushed the cat off her knee, and answered the door. It was Jordan.

  “Jordan, what are you...”

  He thrust a pair of keys into her hands. “Dad wanted me to open up today, but I just can’t be in the same room as him. Can you do it?”