Read Online The Witch of Stonecliff by Dawn Brown - Free Book Online Page A

made his way to his car. Eleri watched from the doorway until his taillights disappeared into the dark, then she stepped inside and closed the door.
    She was going to see him tomorrow, have dinner just like a date. Her unease battled her anticipation.
    She’d never dated before. Living in the village with the reputation her stepmother had created for her didn’t exactly have the local boys lining up to take her out. When she’d gone away to university, she’d kept to herself, terrified the stories from home would follow her. When her father grew ill and his money dried up, she’d been forced to come home with a year and a half left for her degree.
    She’d met Griffin almost as soon as she’d come back.
Met
was the wrong word. She’d known him for years. They’d grown up together even though they’d never exchanged more than a few words. He’d looked at her with the same terrified awe as everyone else. She couldn’t put her finger on what and why things between them changed, but that year they’d been caught in a whirlwind.
    Still, they hadn’t
dated
. Between his father and her reputation, they’d had to keep their budding romance a secret. Though, clandestine meetings had their merits, too.
    But in a village as small as Cragera Bay, nothing remained secret for long.
    Stephen Paskin would forever taint her memories of Griff. She wished she could think of one without the other. But how could she? Stephen Paskin had forced them to make a decision.
    Griffin had wanted to leave, he’d been planning to for months, and he’d wanted Eleri to go with him. But she’d been afraid. And so she’d stayed and Griffin had gone.
    She shoved away the dark thoughts and locked the front door, suddenly exhausted. It had been a long, strange day. All she wanted was to climb into bed and give her brain a break.
    She started for the stairs, but the shrill ring of a telephone stopped her midstride. Frowning, she glanced at her watch. Nearly ten o’clock. Who would be calling now?
    Her insides shrivelled as she hurried into the study and snatched the receiver from the cradle.
    “Hello?”
    “Eleri, it’s me. Am I calling too late?”
    At the sound of Brynn’s voice, the tension gripping Eleri drained. She sagged into the chair behind the desk. “Not at all.”
    “Good. I can never remember the time difference. I kept thinking seven hours and Reece swore it was only five.” A muttered voice sounded in the background, too low for Eleri to make out the words. “I know that. I thought they were the same,” Brynn spoke to the voice, before addressing Eleri again. “That was Reece. He says it’s the flight that’s seven hours, not the time difference. I’m babbling. How’s everything there?”
    “Fine so far,” Eleri told her, doing her best to infuse her voice with false cheerfulness. Was Brynn calling to break the news she wouldn’t be back, that she and Reece had decided to stay?
    “No word from Harding yet? Have they identified any of the remains so far?”
    “If they have, the information hasn’t been made public.” Eleri hated even thinking of the man. A strange, irrational fear lived inside her that merely mentioning the detective would summon him like an evil spirit.
    “I guess no news is good news.” But Eleri could hear the uncertainty in Brynn’s voice. “Anyway, I called for a reason.”
    Here it comes
. A sudden lump swelled in her throat, cutting off her ability to speak, so Eleri waited wordlessly for Brynn to tell her she wasn’t coming back.
    “I know I said we’d be back in less than a week, but I may have been a touch ambitious with my timeline.”
    “A touch?” This time Eleri heard Reece’s wry voice clearly. He must have been sitting next to Brynn. A tiny flicker of envy flashed inside her. Not that she begrudged her sister her happiness, but Eleri couldn’t help but think about how nice it would be to have someone in her corner, someone to lean on, to believe in her.
    Her mind