The Watchful Werewolf: Twistchapel Cozy Mystery Book 5 Read online

  “Yes, several of us like to hit up as many of these events as we can,” he nodded. “It’s nice to see a bunch of neighboring towns, and try a lot of good cooking!”

  “That’s a good idea,” I nodded, taking a bite of the chili. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything special. “Thanks for the-”

  “Someone help!” cried a woman.

  “Medic!” shouted a man at the same time.

  Without pausing to think, I left Lucas and ran towards the sound of the shouts. People all around stopped what they were doing, turning to look in the direction of the panicked voices. As I hopped past a group of stunned onlookers, I ran face first into John Lorden and fell to the ground.

  “Watch it!” grunted John, continuing by me, away from the commotion.

  “That guy is a tool,” hissed Bart, glaring up as the man walked away.

  “Yeah,” I said, getting back to my feet and hurrying off to the cries.

  “Everyone stay back, medical help will be here in just a moment!” came Drake’s voice.

  I pushed past the crowd up to Drake, who was crouched over a man lying flat on his back.

  “What’s going on, Drake?” I asked.

  “Zoey, you should probably hang back,” he said, not looking at me.

  “Who is… oh my gosh!” I exclaimed, seeing the man’s face for the first time.

  It was Marvin Novak.

  Chapter 4

  “What happened to him?” I asked, trying to soak in all the details I could of the scene. In his outstretched hand were a few stacks of used chili cups, but other than that nothing seemed noteworthy.

  “We’re going to try to figure that out,” said Drake as a few EMTs and police officers joined him. “I’m going to have to stay and work on this. It’s probably best if you leave, to be honest.”

  “Is he… alive?” I whispered.

  Drake shook his head. “I checked the pulse when I first arrived. I’m sorry, Zoey.”

  I nodded solemnly. I didn’t know Marvin very well, but it was still horrible that he died. Was it an allergic reaction to something in the chili? Was it on accident, or something more sinister?

  “I’ll head back to work. Let me know if you find anything out?”

  “Of course,” he nodded. “The police are going to question everyone here to see if there are any inconsistencies or things that pop out to us. I’ll probably have to ask you some questions later, but I’m confident you had nothing to do with this.”

  “I understand,” I nodded. I didn’t mind answering questions. Poor Marvin. His wife was probably here with him, and would be told the devastating news soon.

  Bart and I left the scene, heading back for my car.

  “You don’t want to try and figure this out?” asked Bart.

  “There probably isn’t anything to figure out,” I said. “There’s a million reasons he could’ve died right then. It’s unfortunate, but it doesn’t mean it was murder.”

  “There’s only one way to make sure of that.”

  “Not this time,” I said, checking both ways before crossing the street. “There are medical professionals working on him. They’ll eventually figure out what caused it. If there is something fishy going on, I’m sure Drake will mention it to me later. We can investigate it then.”

  “If you say so,” sighed Bart. “Shame Marvin died. His chili was delicious.”

  As we walked past the alley to my car, a metal trashcan clanged on the ground as it fell over.

  “You heard that, right?” I whispered.

  “Obviously…” said Bart, trying to see down the alley. “We should just keep going. It’s creeping me out.”

  It was creeping me out, too, but I had a feeling whatever was down there was trying to get my attention. Taking a deep breath, I summoned a ball of light to my hands and walked down the dark alley. Bart hesitated, but followed after me.

  The alley was lined with dumpsters, giant pieces of old furniture, and other clutter. Even though it was light out, the buildings on each side of the alley cast surprisingly dark shadows.

  “Hello?” I called out. “Is someone there?”

  We waited a beat, but there wasn’t anymore sound.

  “Welp, guess it was nothing,” said Bart quickly. “Let’s get back to the-”

  I turned around to see what caused him to stop talking, and saw a giant wolf blocking the way we came. I shone the light in the direction of the wolf, which seemed oddly familiar.

  “Do I know you?” I asked.

  The wolf began to shift, standing up on two legs and wearing a long, black coat. The man looked down at the light in my hand and gestured at it.

  “Could you put that out?” he asked. “It’s best if no one knows I’m here. That’ll bring attention if someone walks by.”

  “Could you try sending me a text or something like a normal person next time?” I asked, putting out the light. “I didn’t even know you were in town, Derek.”

  Derek, which was probably not his real name, was the first werewolf I ever met. I helped out a mutual friend who had been wrongly accused of a murder, and Derek provided some important information with the case. He worked with a group of werewolves and helped provide training for new ones, which meant he was always moving from town to town.

  “I only carry burner phones,” he said. “And I’m not going to memorize your number. It’s safer this way.”

  “If you say so,” I shrugged. “What brings you to this creepy alley?”

  “My organization has sent me out to find a murderer,” said Derek simply.

  “And you think Zoey is one?” asked Bart.

  “Of course not,” he said. “Unfortunately, I don’t know who it is. We found a body.”

  “Oh,” I said, thinking back to my earlier visit with Warren. “I’m already working on this case with Warren Locke. Your group must have contacted him to help solve it.”

  “You’re working with Warren?” barked Derek with laughter. “That guy is the worst. Sure, he accomplishes the job, but then he practically robs you blind with his charges. Besides, it’s better to keep things as in house as possible. We haven’t contracted out work to anyone, let alone Warren Locke, in years.”

  “I mean, he’s not my favorite person to work with,” I agreed. “Surely this is the same case, though. The body that was found in Ravendale?”

  “Ravendale?” said Derek, raising an eyebrow. “There was a body found there?”

  “Yes… wait, where was your body found?”

  “Springhill,” he grunted.

  “Interesting,” I said. “Was the victim killed with a bash to the back of the head?”

  Derek shook his head. “It was a fellow werewolf, we can’t be killed by that. No, he was found with a silver sword stuck in his back. It seemed like the poor guy never saw it coming.”

  “How did people find him?”

  “The first people on the scene said they heard a woman scream, but by the time they got there, she was nowhere to be seen.”

  “Must’ve been an angel,” I nodded.

  “Possibly. It’s also possible the killer is a woman, and then screamed to cover up that she was the one that did it. Angels don’t always have to appear when someone paranormal kills or is killed.”

  “Still, why come to Twistchapel?” asked Bart. “Did the werewolf have ties here?”

  “No,” said Derek. “The man that was killed, Ned McFinn, was part of a chili cook-off in Springhill. Since there was one happening so soon after in Twistchapel, we thought it would be best to send someone out to watch the event. I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that another person died.”

  “Was Marvin a werewolf?” I asked.

  “Not to my knowledge. It’s possible he was bitten by one without anyone knowing, but it was a full moon a few nights ago. There would’ve been reports of something strange going on here.”

  “Do you have any particular suspects?” I asked. I wasn’t sure if I thought the killer of the werewolf was also
here. Just having the chili cook-off being the only connection seemed like quite a stretch, especially with the murder methods. I didn’t see a weapon or any sort of stab marks on Marvin. If he was murdered, it was in a more subtle way.

  “Here,” said Derek, pulling out a crumpled up piece of paper and handing it over to me. “This is a list of the people who were at the Springhill cook-off a few days ago.”

  I scanned through the list, seeing if any names jumped out at me.

  “Lucas Stoddard… John Lorden… Mary Rigoli… I talked to all three of them here today,” I said.

  “Not surprising,” nodded Derek. “A lot of people do these chili cook-offs in neighboring towns. It makes it more difficult to narrow down the suspects. Any thoughts on the three you recognized?”

  “Lucas was a little weird, but he was also with me when Marvin died. Mary admitted to having several deadly plants with her, even showing me them. John was the most aggressive… and actually, I bumped into him while he was walking away from Marvin’s body…”

  “Hmm,” thought Derek. “Would John be so obvious about killing somebody, though?”

  “I don’t know,” I shrugged. “To be honest, I had just brief conversation with them. I wouldn’t feel comfortable accusing any particular person without investigating it further.”

  “You should do that,” nodded Derek.

  “The police are talking to everyone right now, though,” I said, shaking my head. “There’s no need for me to get involved.”

  “They aren’t you, Zoey,” said Derek. “If there is something connected with the paranormal, the regular humans may overlook something, or not piece it together. I normally wouldn’t ask for an outsider’s help, but you’ve proven yourself an ally of my people.”

  I thought about it for a minute. I wasn’t as sure as he was, but maybe it wouldn’t hurt to stick around. Hopefully this was related to the case that Warren was working on, and then I could get him out of my hair faster than I thought. I didn’t want the warlock to drop another dead body on my couch because I had missed important clues here.

  “Do you have any contacts you can check with in Ravendale?” I asked. “It’s probably nothing, but I have this feeling that the body found there could somehow be related.”

  “Ravendale? Sure, I have some contacts. I wouldn’t get my hopes up if I were you, though.”

  “Why’s that?” asked Bart.

  “Ravendale didn’t report any deaths associated with their cook-off,” shrugged Derek. “If my hunch is correct, then there probably isn’t a relation.”

  He could be right, but maybe they’d unearth something Warren and I didn’t know yet. “Okay. Still check with them, if you wouldn’t mind. Maybe something could still come of it. It’s not impossible that a murderer would get bored in between the cook-offs and find another target.”

  “Not a problem,” nodded Derek. “I’ll get on that right away, and try to catch back up with you in the next couple of hours. If we can’t figure this out before all the suspects leave, then the killer will probably strike again. People are counting on you.”

  I nodded, but wasn’t very confident. There wasn’t any guarantee that someone killed Marvin. He was such a well liked guy. Why would someone choose to kill him?

  “They could also end up getting away with it if they never kill again,” added Bart, as if he could read my inner thoughts. “Would you really be able to live with that, Zoey?”

  “Okay, okay, enough with the guilt tripping,” I grumbled. “We’ll stay here and see what we can do. Please hurry back with any information you learn from Ravendale. Maybe your contacts figured something out that Warren and his contractors haven’t yet.”

  Derek nodded, shifting back into a wolf. He dashed by us, much faster than I expected him to, and disappeared at the end of the alley.

  “Think we’ll be able to figure it out?” asked Bart.

  “Only one way to find out,” I said, walking back down the alley the way we came. I was going to talk more with the three names I recognized on the list, but that wasn’t going to be all. His wife might have information, or the other firefighters. Anyone could’ve done it, but I had only a short list of motives. “Come on. We’ve got quite a few people to talk to before Derek gets back.”

  Chapter 5

  Bart and I made our way back into the crowd. To my surprise, most people continued on with the cook-off. I assumed the event would’ve been canceled, or a large percent of people leave, but apparently I was wrong. After seeing Marvin lying on the ground, I had lost my appetite.

  I made a beeline for Marvin’s chili station. Luckily, most of the firefighters were still there. No longer joking around with smiles on their faces, the three men sitting behind the scoopers sat quietly and looked at the ground. The shift for scooping must have ended, and the previous group hanging back now took the lead of helping hungry customers to Marvin’s last batch of chili.

  “Hey guys,” I said as I walked up to them. “I’m so sorry about your loss. I didn’t know Marvin incredibly well, but he was always very friendly to me.”

  “Thanks,” nodded the man on the left.

  “I can’t believe he’s gone,” muttered the firefighter that talked with Marvin earlier. I remembered his name was Jerry.

  “I don’t mean to come across as rude by asking questions so soon after, but it looks like there’s the possibility this wasn’t an accident,” I said.

  “What do you mean?” asked the third man. “You think someone’s responsible for this? You think someone killed Marvin?”

  “I don’t know,” I shrugged. “Was there anyone that would want to cause Marvin harm? Anyone that disagreed with him at work?”

  “No,” said the first man, shaking his head. “Marvin was always cooking for us and helping out around the station. The guy always went above and beyond for us, and was very agreeable. Never heard someone mention him in a bad light.”

  “It’s true,” said the other. “He even would take leftovers to the police station, and occasionally other businesses. I can’t imagine someone in Twistchapel wanting him dead.”

  It sounded like Marvin went above and beyond for everyone. Even back at school everyone talked highly about him, from the teachers down to the students. Why would someone want to kill him if he was always helping? This would be so much easier if he had some enemies.

  “What about some of your rescues?” I asked. “I know we don’t have too many fires in town, but surely you guys have lost a few civilians. Are there any family members that were angry with the fire department, or even Marvin himself, over not being able to save people in time?”

  “We haven’t lost anyone to a fire since before Marvin was hired 8 years ago,” said Jerry.

  “That’s a high success rate,” noted an impressed Bart.

  “Seriously?” I asked. Thinking about it, I couldn’t recall the last time I heard a news story about someone dying in a fire in town. The last one must’ve been Jenny Fairfax, and that one wasn’t an accident. “That’s incredible!”

  “It wasn’t a coincidence, either,” added Jerry.

  “What do you mean?”

  “He means Marvin is a big reason why no one has died!” barked the third man. He stood up and stormed away into the crowd.

  “I-I’m sorry,” I said to the remaining two. Maybe I was asking too many questions too close to the death of their friend.

  “Don’t worry about it,” said the first man, shaking his head. “Terrance has always been a bit emotional. Like we’ve been saying, Marvin was a great guy. It’s really hard to lose him. Anyway, we all believe Marvin was why the number of deaths in fires dropped to zero. He was the fastest of us, and would put himself in dangerous situations if it meant saving a person’s life.”

  “I didn’t know that,” I said.

  “Marvin was really humble,” said Jerry. “He never wanted the credit or thanks as an individual, but always wanted the fire department as a whole to get the credit. Some of the stuf
f I saw him do was incredible, though. Like, out of this world kind of incredible.”

  “Out of this world?” I asked, glancing down at Bart.

  “Yeah,” nodded Jerry enthusiastically. “One time, it was just the two of us on-”

  “Not this again,” said the first man, putting a hand on Jerry’s shoulder. “Don’t tarnish Marvin’s legacy with your crazy stories.”

  Jerry looked down at the ground, going quiet again.

  “I’d like to hear it,” I said. Was there more to Marvin than I thought?

  “It’s just that story of a man that saw things in the smoke and flames. Nothing to tell,” replied the man.

  I looked at Jerry again, who wouldn’t meet my eye. There seemed to be something more here, but it didn’t seem like I’d be getting it out of him right this minute.

  “Is Marvin’s wife here?” I asked.

  The man nodded. “One of our guys went and picked her up. Last I heard, she was by where Marvin was found. She’s a strong woman, but be careful if you’ve got any questions to ask her.

  “I will,” I said. “Thanks for your help, guys. Tell Terrance I’m sorry if I angered him.”

  “Best of luck with your investigation,” said the man. “I don’t foresee it panning out for you, though. Just don’t see why someone would want the man dead.”

  “I hope you’re right,” I said, leaving to go find Marvin’s wife.

  “That discussion was a little odd,” said Bart as we made our way back through the crowd. The place seemed to be getting busier as time went on. I wondered if it was because the news stations had probably picked up on Marvin’s death by now, which then caused people to come down and see the scene for themselves.

  “I’m interested to hear what Jerry was trying to say,” I agreed. “I’ll have to try and talk to him later.”

  “Not just that, but the way Terrance stormed off.”

  “They did say he was emotional,” I said, stopping as a pair of kids nearly ran into me.

  “Maybe that was it. Or maybe he didn’t like you snooping around?” asked Bart.