My eyes do a quick sweep of the good judge. Everett has on a long wool coat, one of his signature suits, and a tie that shines like silver in the moonlight.
“You look great tonight.” There’s a hint of sadness in my voice as I say it. I can’t help it. I’ve been dripping with melancholy ever since Mrs. Britney Fox walked into my bakery.
“Thank you.” He gives a slight bow. “And you look stunning.”
Everett is dressed to the nines per usual, and I’ve donned a hip-hugging cobalt blue velvet dress, the exact color of his eyes, an accouterment quite out of the box for me.
My cheeks heat with the compliment he just flung my way.
“Thank you.” I pile another box onto his already precariously tall tower.
He takes a step away then backtracks. “Oh, and Lemon? There’s a surprise for you inside.” He comes shy of giving a wink as he steps toward the open mouth of the kitchen that belongs to Heritage Hall.
“A surprise?” My voice rises as I animate back to life. “He’s not in there, is he?” I couldn’t help but ask. This last week a mean curveball was thrown right into my gut, and I’m not ready for another one. I’m certainly not ready to come face-to-face with Noah Corbin I’m-Still-Married Fox.
Everett closes his eyes a moment. “Trust me, I wouldn’t do that to you. I think you’ll like this one.” He winces. “And if you don’t, rest assured I had very little to do with it.”
“Now you’re scaring me.” I’m only half-teasing as he speeds toward the building.
“No fear tonight,” he shouts out. “We’re going to have a good time.”
A small laugh lives and dies in my chest as I gather a stack of boxes to transport myself. I made the mistake of forgetting my work boots—and yes, I’ve paired them with a fancy dress a time or two—so it looks as if I’ll be doing all of my catering in heels this evening.
“Who’s having a good time with Essex tonight? Would that be you, little Laurie Lemon?” a female calls out from behind me, and I turn to find a familiar brunette looking jarringly beautiful in a fitted white dress and chandelier earrings that sparkle like stars.
I’m about to correct her and let her know I’m not having that kind of fun with the good judge, but she moves into the light and I see her face for who she is and a scream gets locked in my throat.
This isn’t your run-of-the-mill party guest looking to lend me a hand or razz me about the good time I may or might not be having with Everett. It’s Greer Giles herself wearing the exact dress she was murdered in.
And, judging by her ghostly presence, there will most certainly be another murder tonight.
Chapter 2
“Of all the ghosts in the universe,” I say it mostly to myself, but, holy God up in heaven, I think I just said it to the late Greer Giles as well.
A cackling laugh bubbles from her, that exact same one she had when she still owned a set of vocal cords to expel it.
“Holy Moses,” I squeal as I pull her in close as if I were making an effort to hide her presence. She’s every bit herself, same long, luscious dark hair, same glowing gray eyes, same naughty up-to-no-good mischievous smile. “What are you doing here?”
“You know what I’m doing here, Laurie.” She plucks her arm free from my grasp. “And it’s up to you to figure out who’s going to die.” She snips that last bit mean and nasty right in my face.
“It’s not Laurie. It’s Lottie, and it’s nice to see eternity hasn’t changed you all that much.” I gasp as a thought hits me. “What’s it like? What happened once you bit the big one? Tell me everything! Leave no celestial detail unturned.”
She smirks as she grabs a box of baked treats that still needs to be hauled into the buzzing building behind us, and I snatch it right back out of her hand.
Even though she has a see-through quality about her, she’s still solid and tangible. And not only can I hear her, but judging by the box she just tried to make off with, she can move things, too. It was almost amusing when it was Dutch, the deceased Golden Retriever, and that black bear who once belonged to Eve Hollister moving things around, but now that Greer has been gifted this unholy power, I’m terrified to think of the supernatural possibilities.
“I can’t tell you.” She scowls at the heavens, and for a moment I’m fearing for her soul. “But I can say that after I was shot by that nasty woman who said those wicked things to me while shoving a cupcake down my throat to keep me from calling for help, I did see myself as I floated out of my body.”
“I had wondered why she shoved a cupcake down your throat. Of course—you were still conscious. She wanted to silence you.”
“Boy, did she ever. And thank you, by the way. I hear you’re the reason that lunatic is finally behind bars.”
My heart aches a little because the poor woman she’s referencing happened to have had a hard life.
“Anyway”—she tries to open the box of goodies in my hand, and I bat her ghostly fingers away—“the next thing I knew I was flying through the sky, and the rest is a mystery to you until it’s your turn to bite the big one.”
“But you’re here.” I shake my head in disbelief. “That means something very sinister is about to happen. You have a mission, Greer. You’re to lead me to whoever it is that’s about to meet their maker. Don’t you see? Together we can stop this tragedy from ever taking place. We can take the Grim Reaper by the sickle, and turn in the perp before they ever commit a crime!”
Her expression sours. “That’s not how justice works, and you know it.” She glances back at the hall alive with music, laughter, and a steady flow of bodies filing in on this chilly March evening. “Would you look at that? Of all the luck. A real live party. It’s almost as if I get to pick up right where I left off. Let me guess? My Essex is waiting inside.” She looks to me and glowers. “He’s never that far from you, now is he?” Her lids drop down a notch as an evil grin glides easily over her features. “I’m betting he’s feeling frisky tonight. What do you think, Lottie? Shall I see if he’s up for playing a naughty game of hide-and-seek with a girl from the wrong side of the celestial tracks?”
“Oh no, you don’t.” She starts to take off, and I pull her back by the wrist. “You leave Everett out of this. You and I both know that man is always frisky.” A horrible thought flits through my mind. “Oh my word! It’s not Everett you’re here to usher to the other side, are you?” I can hardly catch my next breath just thinking about it.
She makes a face and takes back her arm. “That’s for me to know and for you to find out.” Greer skips off, and it’s then I notice the dark crimson circle still evident over her back and shudder. Now there’s a grisly detail I wish she didn’t drag along with her.
“Don’t touch anything!” I shout after her. “And don’t touch any body either!”
“Lottie?” A voice startles me from my left, and I turn to find my mother and that far too tan—far too bleached toothed, far too controlling boyfriend of hers, Rich Dallas. He has a shock of white hair. His skin is dyed orange, and his teeth move in one large block of chalk.
“Oh, you scared me.” My hand slaps over my chest, and I close my eyes a moment. Miranda Lemon, my sweet mother, was generous enough to adopt me as an infant. It was her husband, my father, Joseph Lemon, who found me abandoned on the floor of the fire department. Carlotta Sawyer, my biological mother, just sprung back into my life last January, and I’m still not over the trauma and drama.
Mom squints into the night. “Who were you shouting at?”
“Just a friend.” I blink a short-lived smile to the two of them. “What are you doing here?” My heart ratchets up to unsafe levels again. Hey? Maybe Rich Dallas here was one of Greer’s naughty customers, and it’s his controlling turn to bite the big one? Greer worked for an escort agency known as the Elite Entourage before she was brutally gunned down. Maybe good old Rich Dallas here had his fair share of demented dalliances with her? I feel terrible for entertaining it and even worse for not feeling so bad a
bout his impending doom.
Mom waves me off. “You will never believe this, Lottie, but Judge Shumaker and I used to date way back when. This predates your father, of course. It was a silly high school thing that quickly went south. Of course, Sterling went away to some fancy college and met his Jillian, and I met my Joseph, so it all turned out the way it was supposed to.”
Rich grunts, “Did you see the way that man was looking at you in there?” The whites of his eyes glow with rage, and I can feel the negative energy radiating off him like a primal heat wave. After my mother told me about the twenty-minute check-ins that he required of her, I knew this guy was nothing but smothering trouble. And to think I couldn’t wait for my mother to break up with her last perverted boyfriend. Brad Rutherford was into some really horrific kink, and I wanted my sweet perhaps not-so-innocent mother to have nothing to do with him. But let’s face it. Rich here seems a lot more dangerous than a pair of whips and chains. He looks every bit controlling to the core.
“Well, my mother is gorgeous.” I shrug as I load their arms with three boxes apiece. “I don’t think you can fault anyone for admiring the view—especially when you’re the lucky man that gets to have her on your arm all night long.”
My mother chortles like a schoolgirl as she looks to her new beau. “And she does mean all night long.”
“Gross. Still here!” I say, snatching up the last of the boxes and closing the van.
I lead the way into the kitchen and quickly work alongside Lily Swanson, the one employee of mine that I managed to convince to join me this evening in getting all the cookies to the dessert station on time.
Lily is a brunette stunner who just so happens to wear a permanent scowl. She’s best friends with Naomi Turner, who happens to be my best friend Keelie’s twin. Naomi has a long-standing hatred for me, and thus Lily and I have never seen eye to eye either, but she gladly accepted the position at the bakery after a dry spell in her employment history.
Lily is also the one that introduced me to Greer. They were sorority sisters back in college. The Coffee Cake Break was Greer’s baby. It will be interesting to see what her thoughts are now that it’s closed. Not that I plan on spending copious amounts of time with the ghost in question, but as fate and my transmundane slash supersensual supernatural status would have it, I’m willing to bet that will be the case.
The party swirls around us, thick with hundreds of guests as elegant instrumental music seeps through the speakers. After what feels like a small eternity, Lily and I finish up with the dessert table and take a step back to admire it.
“Banana cake.” She shakes her head. “At least you made it look good.”
“If you sprinkle enough powdered sugar over something, you can make just about anything look good.” I baked them in cupcake tins, and they look like the most delicious muffins you ever did see. “Say, this is quite the dignified crowd, don’t you think?” I nod into the sea of formal gowns. “Sadly, it reminds me of the Hearts of Hope Charity Ball. That was the very last place I saw Greer Giles alive.”
Lily rolls her eyes. “That girl loved a good party. Believe you me, if she could find a way to show up tonight, she would. This is the exact kind of blowout she liked.”
I want to say believe you me, she did show up, but I offer up a nervous smile instead.
A thought comes to me. “Hey? If Greer were here, who do you think she would gravitate to?” I figure I might as well be a little preemptive in my investigation. After all, Greer showed up with both bells and bullets on.
Lily blinks back as if I struck her. “That’s an odd question, Lottie. But since you’ve been buried under banana cake batter all afternoon, I’ll excuse you.” She makes a face at the crowd. “I don’t know. If I had to guess, there’s only one person she’d cling to.”
“Who? Who?” I practically crawl on top of her to get my answer.
“Relax, would you? It’s obviously Essex.” She rolls her eyes again like a thirteen-year-old. Lily and Everett have had an on-and-off-again fling.
Since Everett is committed to steering clear of relationships in general, he only ever has on-and-off-again flings.
Those words we shared last month, ironically at Greer Giles’ funeral, come back to haunt me. Everett let me know he had feelings for me—after Noah all but wrangled them from him. And I assured Everett that if things ever went south for Noah and me that I would make a beeline for his mattress. Of course, it was in good fun and I was teasing—for the most part. But now that the moment is here, my heart is too wounded to even think about committing mattress shenanigans with someone else.
“There he is now.” She points over to the devilishly handsome judge and, sure enough, glued to his side, openly fondling his side, is none other than the ghost of Greer Giles.
“Thanks for the heads-up. Feel free to hang around tonight. I have a feeling things are about to get interesting.” I head in Everett’s direction and note the blooming crowd around him.
“Lemon”—he ushers me into his circle with a sweep of his hand—“I’d like you to meet a couple of colleagues of mine.” He nods to an older couple along with a slightly younger looking man beside them. “This here is Judge Sterling Shumaker and his lovely wife, Jillian, and next to her is yet another one of my comrades in judicial arms, Judge Garrett Kremer.” He bows my way. “This is Carlotta Lemon. She’s generously provided the baked goods for the evening.”
The three of them gasp in unison, and I’m pretty tempted to gasp as well. I realize that Everett is not so keen on calling me Lottie, but Carlotta, really? I’ll relegate that formal treasure to my biological mother, thank you very much. She officially goes by the moniker that was gifted to her by her own mother, Carlotta. It turns out, I’m third gen with the nifty name. But Miranda Lemon, the mother who raised me, aptly chose to nickname me Lottie, and I rather like it.
“It’s so wonderful to meet you.” I offer a sweet smile their way.
Greer hangs on Everett’s arm as if it were monkey bars, and he shakes his hand out a moment as if it were falling asleep.
“There, there, big boy.” Greer slaps his cheek with a wet one. “I’ll find far more creative things for you to do with those hands later.”
“Oh no, you won’t,” I mutter under my breath, and all three of Everett’s friends look to me with expectation to quantify the sentence with something that remotely makes sense.
“Judge Shumaker.” The large man with a twinkle in his eyes offers me a quick shake of the hand. He’s tall with a halo of hair on top of his head. His features are handsome, despite his advanced years, and he holds a devilish glow about him. “Can you believe this party? Old Judge Baxter really knows how to roll out the red carpet. He even got Mooney from Mooney’s Roadhouse to work the bar!”
Everett nods. “Mooney’s Roadhouse happens to be our favorite watering hole in Ashford.”
Judge Kremer caws out a laugh. “I think we’ve spent more time there than we have at the courthouse!”
The three men nod as if it were factual, and I have no doubt it is. Everett looks toward the crowded bar and gives a sinewy man with shoulder-length hair a quick wave. I’m guessing that’s Mooney by the way he’s working with a bottle in each hand, pouring out the drinks as fast as he can. He offers a friendly nod our way before getting back to the tequila task at hand.
Judge Shumaker leans in my way, and speaking of tequila, his breath is eighty proof at least. “And, of course, Everett has had nothing but kind things to say about you, Carlotta.”
“Has he now?” I look to the ornery judge, a bit taken aback by any kind vocalizations he might have had about me, and bite down on a smile.
Everett looks my way. “I let Judge Shumaker know you made his requested banana cake for the evening. He swears on his mother’s grave, it’s his favorite.”
“That’s right”—Jillian, Judge Shumaker’s wife offers—“you know what they say. The way to a man’s heart is straight through his stomach. We don’t have children
, so I like to tease that Sterling is my only child.” She stabs her finger into her husband’s belly, and he nearly doubles over.
“Geez.” Judge Shumaker comes up laughing. “I’d better watch it around this one. I think she’s gunning for me!”
We share a warm laugh while the other man, Judge Kremer, offers me an all too friendly nod. He’s boyishly handsome, wide blue eyes like Everett’s, but his face looks red around the nose and cheeks as if he’s enjoyed one too many of those jewel-toned drinks he’s nursing in his hand.
“It’s very nice to meet you, Carlotta. I’m sure your desserts are just as sweet as you are. In fact, I’m off to indulge right now.” He presses in close with no regard whatsoever for my personal space. His breath reeks of tequila, and those large eyes of his are suddenly glossed over with lust. “If that banana cake is as good as it looks, you’ll have to save me a dance.”
A choking sound emits from my throat. “I guess I’ll do just that.” But it’s the last thing I feel like. It looks as if I’ll have to make myself scarce sooner than later.
He takes off for the dessert table, and I’m secretly hoping he never comes back. Hey? Maybe Greer is here to give him a ride to the other side, and I won’t have to worry about dancing with the sleazeball after all? And sadly, I only feel a tiny smidge guilty for thinking it.
Greer grazes her blood red claws over my shoulder. “It looks like someone is getting lucky!” Her voice trills before she dips a kiss to Everett’s cheek, and he swats his face as if he were chasing a fly.
I smirk in her direction as if to say take that.
“Excuse us,” Jillian says, her eyes set to someone in the crowd as she and her other half float away.
“What was that about?” I ask as Everett and I crane our necks that way.
“See that redhead?”
I stand on my tiptoes and spot the judge and Jillian openly arguing in front of a tall redhead with her hair so short it’s buzzed around her ears.
“That’s Maureen Taylor,” he whispers. “She’s a secretary down at the courthouse. Rumors have been flying.”
Murder in the Mix Box Set Page 2
