Read Online RAVEN'S HOLLOW by Jenna Ryan - Free Book Online

steps to the front. You saw how it went from there. FYI, your sexy lieutenant’s very strong.”
    “Know it.” Sadie crouched for a better angle. “Move left.”
    “I’m freezing. Where did the stupid heat go?”
    “South. Stop fidgeting.”
    Her cousin snarled out a breath. “Any chance we’ll be done by noon? Brady and I are supposed to do a dental on a Doberman—assuming the road to the Cove gets cleared and he makes it to the clinic with the anesthetic we have almost none of. While we’re on the topic, have you thought about...?”
    “Adding a veterinary procedure of the month column to the Chronicle? You’ve asked me that twenty times already.”
    “Animals are cute, Sadie.”
    “Animals are adorable. Procedures aren’t. Will you please stand still?”
    “I’m cold. I’m also trying to normal things up around here. People are talking, and not just about Rooney Blume’s birthday.”
    A chill that had nothing to do with the dipping temperature skated along Sadie’s spine. “I don’t want to talk about Laura.”
    “Neither do I. I was referring to the Hezekiah Blume, Nola Bellam story.”
    “Legend.” Sadie snapped three quick shots. “Based on historical fact.”
    “Fictionalized fact.”
    “Only certain aspects. A record of the marriage between Hezekiah Blume and Nola Bellam exists. We also know, via the family Bible, that the union pissed off Hezekiah’s brother, Ezekiel, to the point that Ezekiel got drunk and raped Nola while Hezekiah was out of town.”
    “What a sweetheart,” Orley muttered.
    “Yeah, really sweet. To cover his butt, little brother branded Nola a witch—not a difficult thing to do given the strange nature of her family and the grim state of the Hollow in those days—whereupon, he and several fearful residents of Raven’s Cove proceeded to hunt her down in the woods. He thought he killed her, but, oops, he missed.” Sadie adjusted her camera lens. “When he returned to the Cove, Hezekiah, also believing Nola was dead, went on a rampage and murdered not only Ezekiel but every one of the townspeople who’d been involved in the hunt.”
    “After which—enter fiction.” Orley wiggled her fingers. “Hezekiah recanted the evil spirit he’d taken into himself, and was ultimately transformed into a raven. The whole witch thing might have faded into folklore if Nola hadn’t popped up again or, as the locals saw it, returned from the dead.”
    “That was just her outsmarting Ezekiel and his nasty compatriots.”
    “Ezekiel loved Nola, Sadie. He was willing to take her daughter as his own. And don’t forget he met her before she and Hezekiah ever laid eyes on each other.”
    “Meaning what? First come, first served? Nola was in love with Hezekiah and vice versa. The order of meeting is irrelevant.”
    “Little bro was head over heels. From his perspective, big bro screwed him around. Guy went a little crazy is all.”
    “Right, because witch-hunts are only a little crazy.” Sadie’s gaze touched on a pair of rusted-out tractors and a wooden plow from the early twentieth century. “Doesn’t look like Ben’s going to show, does it?”
    “Nope, ergo he must have had one whopping big emergency, because he was strutting around the Hollow yesterday, pleased as punch, telling anyone who’d listen that his corn maze would be getting a full page spread in next Sunday’s edition.” Blowing on her balled hands, Orley moved away from the entrance. “You know, Sadie, with all this talk about Hezekiah, Ezekiel and Nola, it occurs to me that you and Eli and Ty have a kind of parallel story happening here. Except you don’t have a daughter, and Nola did.”
    “And Ezekiel was insane, and Ty isn’t. Not to mention that Eli wouldn’t turn to the dark side and wind up damned no matter what the inducement. Otherwise, though, absolutely, parallel story.”
    “It was an idle observation, cous. Tell me we’re ditching this spook farm, and I’ll zip it.”
    “We’ll