Cursed (Howl, #6) by Jody Morse, Jayme Morse Read Free Book Online

the driver’s seat.
    “Just because you haven’t seen them before doesn’t mean they’re not there,” Samara pointed out, probably a little bit more defensively than she probably should have. 
    “I suppose that’s probably true,” Luke agreed, running a hand over his light brown hair. He glanced into the rearview mirror. “Are we getting any closer to Ed Rickard’s house, Colby?”
    Colby glanced down at the GPS on his cell phone. “Yeah, it looks like his house is about two miles down this street.” He rubbed his palms together anxiously. “I have to admit, I was nervous about coming here at first, but . . . I do hope Ed is home. Do you know what an honor this is for us?”
    Samara raised an eyebrow at him. “Meeting a werewolf coroner? He probably does . . . what, one autopsy every decade or something? It’s not like most werewolves die, and when they do, they don’t normally die of unknown causes that often.”
    “More like werewolves never die of unknown causes,” Colby agreed. “In fact, I’m pretty sure Joe McKinley is the only known werewolf in history who is known to have ever needed to have an autopsy done. And that’s why it’s such an honor to meet this coroner. He’s like a legend. Not many people have gotten the opportunity to meet him.”
    “I wonder why that is,” Samara said.
    “It’s simple, really. Why do you think he lives all the way out here in the mountains? After he did Joe McKinley’s autopsy, he became a bit of a recluse.” Colby’s brow furrowed, as he considered what this could mean for the very first time. “Now that I know that your grandfather might still be alive, it’s beginning to make even more sense. Maybe Ed didn’t want anyone to find him and figure out this whole thing was nothing more than a great big hoax.”
    Samara nodded. “It does make sense, but . . . he must not have tried to stay that well hidden if we found him so easily. How were you able to find out where he lived, anyway?”
    “Word of mouth,” Colby replied with a shrug. “You find out things like this when your father—err, in the biological sense, at least—was the Alpha of his pack for so many years. Even though it’s usually considered taboo to befriend your enemies, packs do talk to each other sometimes. It’s uncommon to build alliances with packs in the same area because you’re fighting over territory, but it’s not uncommon to make friends with packs from other states.” He paused for a few moments before adding, “Things are beginning to make a little more sense to me now, though. Jason had friends in the Catskills, and I know that Ed lives here because Darren always had open communication with packs up here, too. I didn’t think about it at the time, when Jason was still alive, but I guess it’s another one of the father-son bonds they shared with each other. Darren probably brought Jason up here and introduced him arou nd . . . probably as his son.”
    Samara didn’t say anything in response. She knew that there was nothing she could say to make Colby feel better over something like this. It was one of the things that would probably be hard to deal with until the end of time. Nothing anyone could ever say would make it better.
    “Well, I, for one, feel a lot like Nancy Drew right now,” Emma chimed in. “It’s like we’re playing detectives, hunting this guy down and all. It’s really sort of fun.”
    Colby rolled his eyes at her. “You’re the farthest thing from Nancy Drew, Emma. She was really inconspicuous.”
    “I’m inconspicuous, too!” Emma insisted. She glanced down at her brightly-colored outfit before adding, “Well, except for the fact that I wear pink a lot. Pink isn’t very inconspicuous. And neithe r is lime green.” She shrugged.
    “Actually, come to think of it, I think you are better at hiding things than you seem. We’re both pretty good at it.” Colby winked at Emma. 
    Samara gaped at them, wondering what they were acting so