Dear Sweetheart

Chapter 697

chapter 697 Unnatural Deaths

Curtis smoothed out the blankets beside Rayna and said, “It's still early. Get some rest. I've arranged for someone to accompany her, so don't worry.”

“Okay.” Rayna nodded before burrowing herself under the sheets.

Curtis left the bed and walked to the open window. He glanced at the street outside and saw a few brightly lit houses in the distance. The sounds of anguished wails drifted from the same direction.

He closed the window and returned to the side of the bed. “I'm heading outside to see what's going on.”

“Okay. Be careful,” replied Rayna.

Curtis grabbed a jacket off the coat rack before leaving the bedroom.

Yasmin, who had been in Cassidy's room, heard footsteps descending the stairs. She jumped off the bed and opened the door. When she saw that Curtis had gone downstairs, she made a beeline for Rayna's room and twisted the doorknob.

Rayna heard someone opening her bedroom door and asked, “Who's there?”

“It's me... Yasmin.” She stood in the doorway with a pillow to her chest and asked timidly, “Can I come in?”

“Of course.” Rayna sat up in her bed and gestured to an empty spot beside her.

Yasmin walked into the room and climbed onto the bed. When she was close enough, Rayna patted the girl and asked, “Can't fall asleep?”

“Mm-hmm. I'm scared,” mumbled the girl. She instinctively leaned into Rayna for comfort.

Then, Yasmin said through sobs, “Ms. Cassidy lured out the hellfire birds in the day, and now someone is dead. They will surely kill Ms. Cassidy over this!”

Rayna was perplexed by the girl's words. “Yasmin, at the end of the day, hellfire birds are just birds. Why are birds revered like legendary beings?”

Yasmin raised her head at Rayna's question and asked, “Don't you believe in the myth, Ms. Belle?”

“Well, I don't fully believe it. We're in a scientific era. I know there are still things that science cannot explain, but I tend to believe in science more. Is there some story behind the hellfire birds?”

The girl began recounting her memories of hellfire birds. “I don't know the whole story, but the people in the village have always said that death is imminent when a hellfire bird appears. This saying has been around for many years. I didn't quite believe it myself until an incident three years ago. Ms. Cassidy and I hiked up the mountains and accidentally disturbed a hellfire bird resting in the forest. The next day, someone in the village died.”

“Perhaps that's nothing more than coincidence.” Rayna was not convinced by her explanation.

Yasmin shook her head in disagreement. “It's not a coincidence. The person who died had claw marks

from a hellfire bird on his body, and it was right across his chest.”

She took Rayna's hand and placed it over her heart. “Hellfire birds kill humans by attacking their hearts.”

“Their hearts?” The more Rayna heard, the more convinced she was that the truth was far from the villagers' myths. Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

Rayna shared her suspicions with Yasmin. “If a bird attacked a human, why wouldn't the victim defend himself? Or shout for help? How could a bird be so powerful?”

“A hellfire bird only attacks deep in the night when its target is sound asleep,” Yasmin explained. “Some people also said that there are monsters helping the hellfire birds during their attack, which is why the victims would never wake up.”

“What if the person was just drugged?”

Yasmin hugged the pillow tighter and said, “I wouldn't know about that.”

“Doesn't anyone in the village report these mysterious deaths to the police?”

“We've tried, but even the police claim that it was a hellfire bird's doing!” Yasmin sighed in resignation.

Rayna's confusion only grew. “Are the police even qualified to determine the cause of death? What about the medical examiner?”

“What's a medical examiner? Is that like a coroner?” asked Yasmin.

Rayna nodded. “Yes. That's what it means.”

“They've gotten a coroner involved in the past, but even he could not figure out the true cause of death. That's why the villagers are even more certain that it was a hellfire bird's doing.” Yasmin tugged on Rayna's hand insistently.

“I see.” Rayna fell into deep thought. Something still felt off.

She believed someone was using the myth to carry out the murders.

A thought suddenly crossed Rayna's mind. She asked Yasmin, “Oh, right. Do you know who the person who passed away was?”

“I think it was one of the parents-in-law of the chef who came today.” As she spoke, she curled deeper into Rayna's arms.

Rayna sensed her fear and lifted the sheets to let the girl dart inside. Then, she grabbed her phone from the bedside table and handed it to Yasmin. “Help me call my husband.”

Yasmin took the phone and keyed in the string of numbers that Rayna rattled out. The line immediately connected.

Meanwhile, Curtis had just arrived at the well-lit doorway to the yard. He saw Robin standing behind Cassidy. He was about to approach them when his phone began vibrating with an incoming call.

Curtis immediately picked up the phone when he saw that Rayna was calling. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing. Yasmin is in my room now. She just told me some things. I thought they were quite odd.”

“What did she say?” Curtis walked under the shelter of a big tree near the doorway instead of entering the yard.

Rayna explained, “Yasmin said people would mysteriously die whenever hellfire birds appeared. The birds apparently kill their victims by targeting their hearts, and the victims always have the claw marks of a hellfire bird across their chests. That's how the village and the medical examiner came to believe that hellfire birds were responsible for all the unexplained deaths.”

A frown appeared on Curtis' face. “Do you suspect foul play?”

“Yes. Hellfire bird is just the name of a type of bird, yet the local police and medical examiner believe their involvement so readily. Don't you find it strange?” Rayna voiced her doubts to her husband.

She added, “While residents of less-developed areas could buy into such myths, we're talking about death here. If the police don't bother checking for foul play or other factors and instantly point fingers at hellfire birds, are they even doing their jobs right?”

After some thought, Curtis replied gravely, “I'll check it out. Don't be so hung up on the incident, by the way. Even if something's off about the situation, it has nothing to do with us.”

“But Cassidy...” Rayna continued anxiously, “The hellfire birds that appeared this morning were lured out by Cassidy's whistling.”

He retorted, “Cassidy has spent her whole life here. If she wasn't confident, do you think she would try

something so risky?”

She found his explanation logical enough. “You have a point. Why don't you come back with Mr. Yeast and the others, then? Be careful.”

“I will.” Curtis hung up afterward and strode into the yard.

When Robin noticed Curtis coming in, he rushed forward to stop the latter. “Mr. Faymon, don't look in that direction. The victim died in a rather eerie manner.”

“Eerie?” Curtis was intrigued by his assistant's description.

“His eyes are wide open, almost as though he was literally frightened to death.” Robin had ascertained at first glance that the elderly victim had died of unnatural causes.

“Isn't it because of hellfire birds?” Undeterred, Curtis peeped over Robin's shoulder. All he saw was a human shape covered under a white sheet.

“What era are we in? Monsters and ghosts aren't real. Pfft. It's clearly a human's doing.” Robin added disdainfully, “I can't believe everyone in the village fell for that hellfire bird myth. Honestly, it's really weird.”