Crepe-y Cousins

CREPE-Y COUSINS CROOKED BAY COZY MYSTERIES, BOOK 5 PATTI BENNING SUMMER PRESCOTT BOOKS PUBLISHING Copyright 2023 Summer Prescott Books All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication nor any of the information herein may be quoted from, nor reproduced, in any form, including but not limited to: printing, scanning, photocopying, or any other printed, digital, or audio formats, without prior express written consent of the copyright holder. **This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons, living or dead, places of business, or situations past or present, is completely unintentional. SIGN UP FOR THE SPBP NEWSLETTER Do you love Cozy Mysteries, Freebies, Contests and always being in the know? You'll love the Summer Prescott Books Newsletter! Click below for the best and most up to date info. Join the fun! Sign Up CONTENTS Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Epilogue Also by Patti Benning Author’s Note Contact Summer Prescott Books Publishing CHAPTER ONE “I don’t know, Clare, this doesn’t seem right. We’re in the middle of nowhere.” Theresa Tremblay was driving, her hands on the steering wheel and her eyes on the tree-lined road ahead of her. When her cousin replied, her voice came over the Bluetooth system built into the car. “I’m telling you, Theresa, it’s fine. I’ve been here before. Just relax, would you?” Clare was in the car ahead of her, leading the way. Theresa stuck her tongue out at her cousin’s license plate, even though she knew Clare couldn’t see it. It was childish and immature, but then, so was the secrecy around Clare’s mysterious boyfriend. “You’ve been dating this guy for months, and I still don’t even know his name. I haven’t even seen a picture of him. Sorry if I think it’s a little weird to be meeting him out in the middle of nowhere like this.” “Trust me, you’re going to have fun when we arrive. So just relax, all right? We’re almost there.” Theresa sighed but did her best to let some of the tension ease off her shoulders. She had been looking forward to meeting Clare’s boyfriend for a long time now but had assumed they would be meeting at a restaurant, or maybe her cousin’s house. But Clare seemed to be having fun with all the cloak and dagger stuff and refused to tell her where exactly they were going. She had simply told Theresa to follow her and had then led the way out of Crooked Bay. They had gone north, along Michigan’s eastern coast. Lake Huron came into and out of view on her right. Theresa liked to think she was relatively familiar with the area, but they had already passed through two small towns, and she had no idea what might lie ahead. A few minutes later, Clare’s brake lights came on, and she hit her blinker, slowing to turn into a driveway on the right. Theresa followed suit, pulling into the driveway behind her cousin. It curved, vanishing into the trees. The driveway was paved, and in much better shape than Michigan’s notoriously bad public roads. She followed her cousin up the twists and turns of the smooth drive until the lake came into view again. She felt her breath catch when she realized there was a huge house hidden amongst the trees. Was this where Clare’s mysterious suitor lived? If so, he had to be quite well off. Private, wooded land right along Lake Huron would be ridiculously expensive. There was a single car parked in front of the multicar garage. Clare parked next to it on the slab in front of the garage, so Theresa followed suit and got out of her vehicle, looking up at the house. It was two stories, with wood siding and a large deck all the way around it. Set up on a hill, there was a set of stone stairs one would have to climb to reach the house. She started toward them, assuming that was where they were going, but as Clare got out of her car, she said, “This way.” Theresa turned and saw her cousin heading toward the water instead of up toward the house. Raising an eyebrow, she followed her off the pavement and onto a path graveled with white rocks. It led to the water and, she soon saw, to a boathouse and a private dock. “Okay, I’m not going to lie, this is impressive,” she said. “Are we going to eat on a boat?” —There were three boats currently docked there—two small motorboats, the type Theresa had used for fishing a few times in the past, and a larger boat she didn’t have a name for. It had a covered cabin and a comfortable-looking deck with a sunshade, tables, and benches. “Yep,” Clare said. “I think he wanted us to take this one. It doesn’t matter much, there’s gas in both of them, but one of them’s got funky steering.” She paused to check her phone. “He’s not here yet, he had to stop and pick his brother up first. I guess there was some sort of problem with his car. He wants us to go ahead.” “I don’t understand,” Theresa said as she watched her cousin toss her purse onto one of the smaller boats, then climb in, rather than board the larger boat. “You will,” Clare replied with a secretive smile. Theresa didn’t trust this guy she’d never even met, but she did trust her cousin, so she climbed into the boat with Clare and didn’t complain too much as her cousin started the engine like a pro and guided them out onto the choppy water. Before long, she realized the white spec she’d seen on the waves was an even bigger boat. She might even call it a small yacht. In the next second, she realized that was directly where they were heading. “Clare, where are we going?” Her