“Winslow Decker?” I gasp, completely eschewing momentarily the task at hand. “You mean all that malarkey about the haunted woods is true? I’ve heard all my life that the ghost of Winslow Decker comes out at night! And not even I believed it.”
She gives a sorrowful nod. “Nobody believes it. And trust me when I say it’s really taken a hit on his ego. But he’s committed to staying in Honey Hollow forever or at least until the good Lord comes back and restores his living body.”
“Wow, I’m stunned to hear he has an extended day pass. Any idea how he pulled it off?”
“He said something about having a purpose.”
I glance back to the empty doorway leading to the kitchen. “Follow me and I just might have a purpose for the two of you yet. If things go well for the both of us tonight, I’ll have a new assignment lined right up for you.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. Now let’s go get the bad guys.” I take her by the hand and pull her along like a kite—and interestingly enough, I’m being literal. Greer is floating above the crowd as I navigate the bodies congesting the Honey Pot right up until I bump into an all too familiar face.
“Meg!” I grab ahold of her and come close to shaking her. “Find Noah or Ivy and meet me out back.” I run straight through the kitchen and into the ice-cold alley and meet up with Mooney McBride just as he jumps into his beat-up old Ford truck.
* * *
“Greer! Do something!” I spot the oversized rolling trash bin and do my best to block Mooney’s path just as he starts up the engine. The air is blowing wildly, and I’m assuming frigid, but I’m numb with shock so I don’t feel a thing.
“I’ve got this!” Greer presses through me as she gives the trash bin a bionic shove and, sure enough, it blocks his path, but Mooney simply backs up his truck as if it were no big deal.
“No, no, no!” I say. “He’ll be in Canada in an hour.”
“Not if I can help it.” Greer speeds off, flies right through his engine, and the truck stalls in its tracks.
Mooney jumps out and races through the split between the Honey Pot and the building next door.
“Mooney!” I shout as I traverse the trash and weeds, emerging to the front of the establishment. “You must really be guilty of something or you wouldn’t be running from me!” I shout as I stumble out onto the sidewalk. I spot Mooney headed toward two women, Jillian and Maureen. “Greer, make sure they don’t go anywhere,” I say as I hustle my way over.
“You’re not leaving.” I shake my head at the three of them. “The two of you paid Mooney to kill Judge Shumaker, didn’t you?” I pant as I look to the wild-eyed women.
Jillian Shumaker tips her head back and lets out an infuriating laugh. “I can’t believe some ridiculous baker pieced this together. Mooney, take her.”
Before I can move he’s on me, his arms doing their best to pull me into Jillian Shumaker’s glossy maroon Audi.
“No!” I try to buck and kick myself loose, but it’s no use. “Greer!” I scream out her name and Mooney’s sinewy body gives way and I climb back out of the car.
“Stop!” Maureen shouts, and I look up to find her just a few feet away holding a gun in my direction.
“You did it,” I pant. “You teamed up with Jillian. You were both scorn women.”
Mooney takes the keys from Jillian and motions for the car. “Get in, all of you.”
I glance to the Honey Pot with its bustling life, and yet there’s not a single body streaming in or out. Just my lousy luck. Meg comes to mind, and I’m filled with a sense of relief and hope. I just need to stall.
“Greer, sit on the engine,” I whisper.
“I’ll try, but I’m feeling weak. It’s as if I feel the power draining from me. I don’t want to go back, Lottie. Don’t let them take me!” she wails into the night, and I squeeze my eyes shut tight a moment.
“Get in the car!” Mooney riots, and I blink back to life.
“You killed him,” I hiss his way. “These two might have paid you, but you would have done it for free. Isn’t that right? Birdie McBride is your sister, and you hated Judge Shumaker for how he used her.” Once I spotted Birdie in the Honey Pot, that whole conversation about her hyphenated name came back to me like a freight train screaming through my mind.
Mooney’s features contort to something just this side of rage. “Damn right, I would have done it for free. He knocked my baby sister up. Promised her everything and ruined her life.”
“And you planted that weapon on Everett. Why?” I glance back to the Honey Pot and still no sign of Noah or Ivy.
Mooney growls out a laugh. “I meant to put it in Judge Kremer’s car, but I couldn’t pick the damn thing. I had to go with option number two. Now let’s go, sweetie. I’ll make this as painless for you as possible.”
“And you.” I look to Maureen, and her red hair glows like a flame under the moonlight. “You couldn’t stand the fact that Sterling was cheating on you of all people. And it wasn’t with just one person but two—Cindy Mitchell and Birdie McBride.”
Jillian steps in close to Maureen, a smug look on her face as she looks to her partner in murderous crime. “They were both younger, prettier than you. Sterling never knew when enough was enough.”
“Move it!” Mooney shouts as he jumps behind the wheel.
“And there was a fourth woman in his life,” I add, swallowing hard in hopes someone with a high-powdered weapon gets me out of this mess and fast.
Maureen takes a step in, squinting at me while the gun in her hand goes slack. “There was?”
A shadow moves in the street, a dog, a person, I can’t tell, but I’ve got high hopes for the latter.
“That’s right.” I look to Greer who’s halfway immersed in the front of the Audi, but the engine is purring like a kitten despite her supernatural efforts. “It was Greer Giles,” I say her name loud and clear, and Greer offers me a thumbs-up.
“Way to throw me under the bus, Lemon!” She chortles up a storm, and her ghostly voice echoes into the night.
“Greer Giles?” Maureen shakes her head as if it weren’t computing. “Wasn’t that the sorority slut that died last month?”
Greer materializes by my side. “Who are you calling a slut?”
“That was her,” I’m quick to affirm before mouthing a quick sorry Greer’s way. “She was Sterling’s favorite of them all.” At least among the dead. “He loved her, he did.”
Maureen gags as she cocks her head to the side. “That old bag dragged me to that brat’s funeral last month. He said he was a friend of the family. I’ve never seen anyone so torn up that way. He really was a rat b—”
Maureen falls to the ground, and soon enough Jillian is knocked down like a bowling pin, too. The gun skirts across the asphalt as if it were gliding on ice.
Meg’s face pops up in the melee. “Get the gun, Lottie!”
And I do as I’m told just as the Audi begins to peel away from the curb. I turn and do my best to shoot out the tires, but I miss badly and end up blowing out a window to the knitting shop across the street. Mrs. Collins is not going to be happy about that.
Greer lets out a riotous howl, and soon not only is she doing her best to embed herself into the fender of the Audi, but another form swoops this way, the shape of a man, and the car cuts out in a spectacular jolt as if it hit a brick wall.
“Lottie!” Noah calls out, and I turn to find Everett and Ivy running alongside him.
Noah tackles Mooney to the ground and hogties him with handcuffs before he can escape.
“They did it! They killed Sterling. Jillian and Maureen put a hit out on him because of all his cheating. But Mooney really did it for his sister, Birdie. They all hated him,” I pant as Everett wraps his arms around me.
“It’s all right, Lemon. It’s all over.” He presses a heated kiss over the top of my head, and it feels like heaven, like home.
I’m safe.
I pull back and look up at Everett. “It’s
all over, isn’t it?”
“It’s over, Lemon.” A crooked smile glides up his cheek. “You knocked it out of the park again.”
Chapter 18
The Evergreen Manor glitters with twinkle lights as I step on up the porch with Meg.
It’s been a week since Mooney, Jillian Shumaker, and Maureen Taylor were apprehended. They’ve been booked and are currently being held as a flight risk as they await trial. It’s a relief to know Everett is no longer a suspect. Mooney confessed that Jillian made sure Judge Shumaker left his wallet at home and that she disposed of it the first chance she got. Jillian confessed that she eventually planned on offing Maureen as well. She was going to make sure Mooney was well taken care of, by poisoning him herself. She did say she wouldn’t touch his sister. She said she may not respect their dirty lives, but that the baby deserved a shot. Sterling always wanted children. He always wanted things she couldn’t give him. Just hearing it was so very sad. It’s a tragedy Jillian chose this as her reality.
It’s the night of my birthday, and my mother has invited us over to dinner. I had asked Everett to join us, but he said he was swamped with work after being away for so long but promised he would stop by later once he was through. Noah asked if he could take me to lunch this afternoon, but I didn’t feel it would be right. Maybe some other day, but I’ve always felt particularly vulnerable on my birthday, and I’m not sure I could trust myself with him today of all days.
Carlotta texted me a GIF of a birthday cake with sparklers for candles, which I thought was a nice gesture since I wasn’t really expecting even that. This is the first birthday of mine that she’s been in my life to witness—with the exception of my original birth day—and to be honest, I’m surprised she even remembered the date.
Meg slings an arm around my shoulder. “Well, Lottie, how does it feel to be a year older?”
“A lot like yesterday, but I feel as if I’ve grown this last year of my life. I’m not the person I was a year ago, and I’m glad about it.”
Meg pulls me in just before we step into the B&B. “You had a tough year, a messy breakup, and you know what? You’re as strong as steel because of it. I’m proud of you, Lottie. If the same things happen to me, and I find out the jerk I’m sleeping around with has a wife attached to his tax returns, after I bash his skull into the ground, I plan on pulling it off with as much class and aplomb as you did.”
I examine my feisty sister a moment and can’t help but chuckle. “I vote you forgo the assault charges and move on to the next ex on your list.” I wince. “I shouldn’t have said that. I really do believe in love.” Not that I’ve had an ounce of luck with it. First, Bear, the one who broke my high school heart, then Curt, whom I’ve unaffectionately dubbed the New York Disaster, who broke my college heart by way of sleeping with my roommate—and to think I accepted a ring from that moron. That entire nightmare does its best to play out in my mind, but I drown Curt and all of Manhattan beneath the surface. And, of course, there’s Noah. I don’t dare go there on my birthday of all days.
“I get it.” She gives my hand a quick pat. “And you should believe in love. You’ve got two guys who are crazy about you. I’d even venture to say they were both in love.”
My mouth falls open at the strange revelation, but Meg doesn’t wait for a response. She opens the door to the B&B, and the lights flicker inside as a large crowd shouts SURPRISE in unison.
“Oh my goodness,” I pant out a laugh as I take in the sea of familiar faces—my mother, her psychotic plus one, Lainey and Forest, Keelie, her twin Naomi, their mother Becca, Lily and the staff from the bakery, Margo and Mannford, the chefs from the Honey Pot, Carlotta and Rhonda Gilbert, Hook and my ex-boyfriend Bear. I even spot Greer and a handsome ghostly young man about my age, whom I’m guessing is the infamous Winslow Decker. He has an arm wrapped around her as they give a friendly wave from the back. And, of course, both Everett and Noah are here. “I did not see this coming. But thank you for this. It’s really too much.”
My mother hops over and navigates us to the dining room. “Just you wait and see the feast Margo and Mannford planned for you!”
Keelie comes up and plucks me right out of my mother’s arms and into her own. “And I hope you like the cake. I worked with Margo, and we came up with a delicious chocolate chiffon with chocolate pudding filling.”
“My favorite, and I came this close to making one this morning.”
Lily shoots a satisfied smile my way. “And I wouldn’t let you.”
“I knew you were up to no good.”
Lainey plucks me away a moment, a laugh caught in her throat. “I love you, Lottie Kenzie Lemon. I’m so glad you’re my sister.”
Meg scoffs as she wraps an arm around me. “What am I? Chopped ex-boyfriend liver?”
I can’t help but bite my lip in the event Noah overheard. It was just as funny as it was gruesome.
Lainey gives a long blink. “You’re both my favorite sister.”
“I’ve got news,” Meg bleats it out as if she were about to tell us a horror story. “I’ve decided to extend my stay. I’ll be helping Rhonda out at the flower shop. And as my awesome luck would have it, Birdie is letting me take over the pole dancing lessons at Red Satin because she’s being forced to take her maternity leave a little early.”
“What?” Lainey and I cry out as one.
I fling my arms around my little sister. “I’m so glad to hear you’re staying!”
Meg comes up for air. “I figure I want to stick around for the festivities leading up to the wedding. Who knows? I might head back to Vegas in the fall.” She eyes Hook from across the room. “Or I might have a reason to stick around.”
Carlotta comes up with Rhonda Gilbert, and they both wish me a warm happy birthday.
“Thank you,” I say, looking right at my birth mother, and for whatever reason it was as if I needed to hear that from her.
Lainey points to Rhonda as if just remembering something. “Lottie, the library is hosting an author signing next month, and we’re having a reception in the lobby afterwards. Any chance I can get you to bake some delicious treats for the event?”
Before I can answer, Rhonda does a little tap-dance. She’s donned a sweater with a birthday banner sewn to the front, and her wild and shaggy hair is strewn with a curly pink ribbon you might find on a present.
“Pepper Patrick is my all-time favorite mystery author, and after years of begging through copiously long emails, handwritten letters, and bombarding her every social media account, she’s finally agreed to add Honey Hollow as a stop on her latest book tour. Her favorite dessert is New York cheesecake, so we need to make sure we have plenty of that on hand.”
“Pepper Patrick.” I can’t help but giggle as I say it. “That’s almost a tongue twister. It would be my pleasure to cater the event. I will for sure include plenty of New York cheesecake. And I love a good mystery. I’ll look up her books and see if I can’t squeeze a few in before she hits the town.”
Carlotta ticks her head to the side, and I excuse myself as I follow her to the corner as the party bustles around us. Music starts up over the speakers, and Margo and Mannford unveil a buffet style dinner that has the masses congregating in their direction.
“What’s going on?” Carlotta glares at Greer and Winslow, and soon enough they swoop in to join us. “You are not licensed to give them run over any facility. What in the name of all things good and evil do you think you’re doing?” she hisses my way as if they weren’t even in our presence.
“It’s fine,” I say, taking a moment to smile over at the seemingly happy spooky couple. “I am in no way, shape, or form attached to Greer Giles. And my mother’s B&B was in need of a good haunting.” I nod to the two of them once again. “Good job, by the way. I hear after your initial spiritual jaunt through this place, tickets for the haunted Honey Hollow B&B tour are now hard to come by and doubled in price. The online reviews are looking pretty good, too. I owe you both one.”
&nbs
p; Winslow smiles, and his chest expands as if he were a linebacker as he takes in his poltergeist of a plus one. “I can’t thank you enough, Lottie. It’s been a lonely two hundred years, and to tell the truth, I never was good at haunting those woods. I never meant to keep anyone out of there. I was simply hoping to find a friend. And now I’m not alone anymore.”
Greer giggles into him like a schoolgirl. “Neither am I. If you see the chandelier a rockin’—don’t look up!” She laughs as she glances to Carlotta and me before she and Winslow glide right through us, through the wall and onto their next haunting conquest in the B&B.
Carlotta leans in, clearly not as amused as I am. “You better get Morgana on the redline because I have a feeling this is going to blow up in your face. If one little dog brought all that hell into your life, who knows what two haunted humans can do?”
“It will be fine. Believe me when I say I want nothing more to do with those two.”
A face pops up next to Carlotta, and I take a breath at the sight.
“Speaking of people you want nothing more to do with.” Carlotta chortles at the sight of her, and I offer a tight smile to Britney Fox.
“Happy birthday, Lottie.” Britney glides her only visible eye up and down my body. “For reasons unknown to me, my husband is completely enamored with you. He’s finally convinced me to move forward with the divorce.”
“Does that mean you’ll be leaving Honey Hollow?” A girl can hope.
“No.” She smacks her lips and, dare I say, there’s a note of smug tone in her voice. “In fact, I’m opening up a Swift Cycle in Hollyhock and Leeds, so I’ll be staying at the B&B indefinitely.” She leans in as if she were about to threaten me. “I’m not afraid of no ghost. Besides, I have Toby to think about. Noah isn’t willing to part with him any longer, so we’ll have to share custody.”
“Lovely.” I can’t help but layer it with sarcasm, and she shudders.
Murder in the Mix Box Set Page 15
