Raspberry Tart Terror (Murder in the Mix Book 30)

by Unknown

  “Lot Lot.” Carlotta smacks me on the arm. “You’ll have to excuse her, Juliet. My daughter can’t help but get salty in front of mixed company. She was raised by wolves.”

  “I was raised by Lemons,” I’m quick to correct.

  Carlotta nods. “Too bad there’s no lemon law on getting a return for your childhood. That’s a part of the reason why I came back on the scene to try to right all the wrongs in this poor girl’s life.”

  I shake my head at Juliet. “She came back because she needed to be present to get her full inheritance. That, and I suspect she wanted to live rent-free with me.” Never mind the fact she lived at Nell’s old place for five hot minutes before it burst into a moldy flood zone.

  Carlotta clucks like a chicken. “I suppose you’re going to accuse me of tweaking the test results in that black mold study we had done on the house to work in my favor.”

  I gasp at the thought, and Carlotta quickly darts out the door.

  “Why that little…” I choke on the expletive begging to come forth. “Never mind. What’s done is done. Or I should say what’s manipulated has been manipulated.”

  Teddy wraps her furry arms around my neck and sits on my belly. “That’s Carlotta for you. She told the girls at bingo that manipulation is the best way to move ahead in the world.”

  I have no doubt.

  Juliet gives a short-lived laugh. “I think Carlotta is a hoot.”

  “She’s something.”

  Cressida claps her hands over her head. “Come on now, you’re not really a bunch of nitwits, are you? Now shoo! The party just started and we need to transform this room into the snuggle lounge.”

  Keelie raises her hand. “Is that what the stuffed animals are for?”

  Cressida lowers her lids as she growls at my bestie, “Those are for snuggles and ambiance during daylight hours. At the Rendezvous after dark, we like to take things in a spicier direction. So scoot, all of you.” She gives Lainey’s bag a nudge with her foot. “Come on now. Vámonos!”

  The crowd of knitwits quickly mobilizes as they scoop up their belongings, and Juliet shrugs.

  “I’d better gather my things, too,” she says. “I had no idea that this place turned into a club every evening.”

  “Neither did I, but I’m guessing by the way these women are dolled up they had more than a clue.”

  Juliet nods just as Mom runs over.

  “Lottie, isn’t this fabulous?” Mom trills. “And that Evie, what a diva she’s become!”

  Juliet’s mouth falls open. “I’m sorry, did you say diva?”

  Mom gives a frenetic nod. “She’s always been a bit of a queen, but this just took her right up to another level.” She laughs.

  “Well, I’m sorry to hear it.” She looks my way mournfully. “Excuse me, I’d better clean up my mess,” she says as she takes off to gather her things.

  “I didn’t mean it like that.” Mom waves me off. “I just knew Evie would make it big one day. I had no idea how soon she’d hit the big time. Anyway, can you believe this, Lottie? A real party every night at seven o’clock. Cormack and Cressida have really taken the B&B to the next level.” Her lips swim as she says it, and I can tell she’s not buying a word that just flew from her mouth.

  “Mother,” I whisper. “You have got to be kidding me. This is a travesty. This place is a hollow shell of the sweet little inn you were running. We need to find a way to put an end to this nightmare.”

  Mom leans in. “I happen to agree with you, but Cressida and Cormack spent the afternoon letting go of anyone from my staff that complained about the changes. Lottie, if I don’t go along with their shenanigans, I could find myself homeless. Then Wiley and I will have to live with you, or one of your sisters. I’m flat broke. I can’t even rent a home in Honey Hollow. I gave all my money to that publishing company.” She plucks at the hot pink frock she’s wearing. “I’d better get out on the floor. I need to tend to the partygoers.”

  She takes off, and my entire body goes rigid. “Lainey,” I hiss as my sister heads this way. “Mom is this close to getting booted from the B&B, and she’s threatened to live with either you, me, or Meg. We need to get this B&B back in her name no matter what it takes, or you’re going to have both her and Wiley living under your roof.”

  Lainey’s mouth falls open. “My roof? You’re the one building the mega mansion. They might be under my roof temporarily, but face it, Lottie, they’ll be shacking up with you forever. Once Meg gets a whiff of this, she’ll move into Red Satin. She’d rather live with a bunch of strippers than our mother and Wiley any day of the week.”

  “Come to think of it, so would I.”

  “I’ll catch you out on the dance floor,” she says. “The fire department is participating in the all-male dance-off tonight. Woohoo!” She shimmies her shoulders. “I can’t wait to see my hot hubby in action. Speaking of which, I hope to see the hot judge doing his thing, too. It’s going to be a real show!” she shouts as she takes off for that raucous party going full swing right outside the door.

  “Everett isn’t stripping!” I shout back just as Cressida struts by with a laugh buried in her throat.

  “Think again, Leanne. That man will do whatever I ask him to,” she says as she exits the room.

  “Except leave me,” I shout after her.

  What am I saying? Everett wouldn’t so much as pick up a pencil for Cressida after she robbed him of Evie’s childhood.

  “Wait!” Sugar Hartley runs past me with her pale tresses glowing pink under the bizarre lighting taking over the B&B. “Isn’t that the hot judge? Don’t start without me!” she trills as she dives into the crowd outside the border of this room.

  Great. The entire female population of Vermont is interested in seeing my husband bare it all.

  And really? Could I blame them?

  The room quickly drains, and don’t think I didn’t notice that Keelie hustled herself out of here without so much as a hello once that whoop of a siren went off in the next room. And I’m guessing that sound had more to do with an imminent strip tease than it did an imminent arrest.

  Just my luck. It had better not be the hot judge doing the teasing, or else the hot judge is going to be in some serious hot water.

  Teddy floats in front of me as miniature pink stars trail in her wake. “Say, Lottie, I think maybe Carlotta forgot to ask Juliet about that last conversation she was having with Verity the night of the murder.”

  I nod her way. “Watch a pro take over,” I say as I make my way to Juliet as she works to collapse the folding chairs.

  “Oh, you can just leave those,” I tell her. “All the more room to snuggle with.”

  We share a warm laugh on the absurdity of it all.

  Juliet leans in. “And did you get a load of all those stuffed bears?”

  I nod. “It’s darn right creepy if you ask me.”

  “I knew I liked you,” she teases just as her phone goes off and she glances to the screen. “Oh no. A customer accidentally trashed my store and the poor teenager I hired to help out is threatening to quit.”

  “That’s terrible!” I jump a little at the thought as Teddy and I exchange a quick glance.

  “Oh, come now, Lottie.” Teddy scoffs. “Carlotta was right. You really do like to play the blame game.”

  I avert my eyes at that one.

  “Juliet, I’m afraid that was me,” I confess with a sigh.

  Her eyes flash my way. “You?”

  “I stopped by to pick up a few skeins, you know, to give my mother in hopes she’ll turn them into something wonderful for the baby? And well, I may have knocked over a thing or twelve.” My hand pats my blooming belly and the baby gives a sweet lazy kick. “My sincerest apologies.”

  “Do not worry about it at all!” She laughs as if it were suddenly funny.

  “Whew!” Teddy pretends to faint as she floats off alongside me. “For a second there, I thought we were dead in the water. Carlotta called it. You really can be sloppy,
Lottie.”

  My mouth opens at the accusation—a false one at that.

  I lean toward the suspect at hand. “Juliet, the night Verity was killed, she was set to debut a new song.”

  Her eyes widen at the thought. “Oh goodness. Does this have something to do with those messages your daughter is getting? Sugar was just telling me all about it.”

  “She was?” My brows furrow as I try to digest this.

  “Yup. Sugar said Verity has been sending Evie private messages from the beyond.” She shivers when she says it. “I’m sorry, but that actually sends a chill up my spine.”

  “How would Sugar know that?”

  She shrugs. “Maybe your daughter mentioned it?”

  “I’m sure she did.” Not. Everett, Noah, and I sat Evie down and told her that under no circumstances should she tell anyone else. Although she may have alluded to the fact the other night at the book signing.

  Teddy moans, “How I wish my Sugar would simply stay out of this. For all the times I’ve heard her say she could just kill Verity Prescott, she should probably leave town in the event the sheriff’s department decides to arrest her.”

  A breath gets caught in my throat. It sure sounds as if Teddy thinks Sugar is capable of murder.

  Juliet nods as if she heard. “I know what you’re thinking, Lottie. Sugar was very good friends with Verity. But please don’t think poorly of her. She actually has a kind heart, even if it does get her in a boatload of trouble most of the time. Honestly, this is the exact kind of thing she would do—giving Evie Verity’s followers hoping that something good would come of the mess that Verity left behind, only to have Evie’s life upended and turned into a nightmare.”

  “Boy, is it ever turning into a nightmare,” I say, looking out at the hall. Not sure I’m buying the fact Sugar would do something like that to Evie, though.

  “The funny thing is, that’s the very situation Verity and I were arguing over the night she was killed. I thought it was low of Verity to force Sugar to move her grand opening date after Sugar had already spent so much money on it. Just because Verity was rolling in it, doesn’t mean the rest of us are.”

  Teddy tips her head back and slaps her furry round belly. “So that’s what the big argument was about between the two of them. I guess that’s one mystery solved.”

  Agree.

  “That was nice of you,” I tell her. “Maybe I should talk to Sugar again about that whole grand opening debacle? I mean, her second attempt was more or less a hit, but maybe I can collaborate with her somehow on doing something additional. You know, something like buy three cookies and get a discount at the all-romance bookshop?”

  “I would wait,” she says with a marked urgency in her voice. “Full disclosure, I was thoroughly interrogated by Featherby Sleuths Investigative Services.” She rolls her eyes as if she understood what a farce that was. “Anyway, she thinks Sugar is the killer.” She shrugs.

  “You don’t look all that convinced.”

  “I mean, sure, she and Verity had a twisted history, but to poison the woman? Sugar might be pulling Evie’s leg where technology is concerned, but I don’t think she has it in her to pull off a horrible homicide.”

  “I wholeheartedly agree.” Teddy floats over and hugs Juliet by the neck. “Now wait until you hear what she has to say about Bambi.” Teddy tips a furry ear my way. “Now that’s something that will make your skin crawl.”

  “What about Bambi?” I ask out loud without meaning to. Darn it. Some days it feels as if this little sugar cookie floating around in my belly has stolen all my brain cells.

  Juliet laughs. “You’ve got great intuition, Lottie.” She gives a quick glance over her shoulder. “I shouldn’t say this too loud because for all I know Bambi might be milling around in that sea of bodies, but the woman was really enraged with Verity.”

  “Does this have something to do with why Verity announced she wanted to get a restraining order against her?”

  Juliet nods. “Bambi and Verity’s friendship started out as hot as a kitchen fire. One moment they were virtual strangers, and the next they were inseparable. Bambi was just hitting her stride as a gossip columnist for some rag in Leeds before she moved the show online and started her podcast to go along with the rest of her social media stuff. That’s when she really hit the big time.”

  “Why do you think she and Verity hit it off so well?”

  “Oh, Verity didn’t have any real friends in her new party world. I bet it was a relief to find someone as wild as she was. I mean, Verity and I were co-workers. Even if she did invite me clubbing, I wouldn’t have gone. And by the time Verity hit it big, she and Bambi were on the skids. Bambi fit the mold until she didn’t.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Juliet swallows hard. “Once Bambi made a name for herself, Verity saw that she could use her as a means to destroy other people, namely her enemies. That’s when things were still good between the two of them. Verity turned Bambi loose on the people in the social media world that stood in her way.”

  “Who did Verity have her take down?” I ask, stepping in close.

  “There were these twins who had a popular YouTube channel right up until Bambi unleashed the fact they were buying subscribers. She unveiled that they were nothing but a bunch of fakes. And then there was some teenager from Kansas who was starting to poke fun at Verity’s style. And well, he lost his entire following when Bambi exposed that he turned his puppy over to a shelter after milking it for all it was worth on social media. As it turned out, he didn’t give that puppy to the shelter because he was through using it to boost his fame. Come to find out, his sister was deathly allergic. But by the time he spoke out, it was too late. Bambi eviscerated him. She ruined the kid’s life. And there were many more of those stories to go around.”

  “It sounds as if Bambi came in handy to Verity. What happened? Did she turn out to be a stalker or something?”

  Juliet laughs at the thought. “I don’t think so. I’m not exactly sure what transpired.” Her features sharpen as her lips press tightly. There is such a simple beauty to Juliet, and this tiny freeze-frame in time with her eyes wide set only seems to annunciate it. “Whatever the disagreement was, it made Verity desperate enough to want to seek the authorities to keep Bambi away from her. But I’m sure the sheriff’s department has already checked things out.”

  Teddy looks my way. “Have they?”

  “I’m not so sure,” I whisper.

  Juliet collects her things and heads for the door. “I’ll see you later, Lottie. If your mother needs any help with those skeins you bought for her, just tell her to swing by and I’ll help her get a few projects started.”

  “You bet,” I shout after her as she melts into the crowd.

  “Bambi Bailey?” I shake my head at Teddy. “Of course. It’s as if the killer has been right under our nose this entire time.”

  The crowd starts chanting Hot Judge, Hot Judge, and I suck in a quick breath as I dart right out of the room.

  The crowd has parted, leaving a space right down the middle of the reception area where I see Everett striding my way and I meet him in the middle.

  “Oh, thank goodness,” I pant. “For a second there, I thought for sure you were going to drop the stitches.”

  The crowd continues to chant the words Hot Judge over and over, as Everett lands a steamy kiss to my cheek.

  “Noah bet me ten bucks I didn’t have the cookies to do it,” Everett says as he backs up a notch.

  And before I know what’s happening, his jacket hits the floor. Everett’s hips are gyrating to the music as he unbuttons his shirt slowly and the crowd goes wild with deafening screams. Shockingly, the most deafening scream of them all happens to be coming from Evie, but she’s not screaming with delight—more like sheer terror.

  Everett dances up and down my body as his shirt flies open, and he flashes those abs my way, inciting a near riot among the peanut gallery on the sidelines. Flashes of light go off as
if the paparazzi were here for the blessed event, and judging by all of those cell phones pointed in his direction, they are indeed.

  The song comes to an end, and Everett turns and points to Noah.

  “You owe me money,” he rumbles, and the crowd starts throwing wads of cold, hard cash our way.

  “Don’t worry, Sexy!” Carlotta jumps into motion, snapping up the bills like a pigeon diving for crumbs. “I’ll do the dirty work for you—for a small fee, of course. Sixty-five percent commission. Heck, make it an even eighty.”

  Noah steps into the center of the room and flashes something in his hand out at the crowd.

  “Ashford County Sheriff’s Department,” he bellows, and the crowd quiets to a hush. The backbeat of a whole new song begins to belt out from the speakers.

  A hard groan comes from me. “Everett, I thought they took away his badge,” I whisper.

  “They did. He’s holding his driver’s license.”

  Noah points my way. “You’re coming with me.”

  Carlotta lets a couple of whoops rip. “Go on, Lot. You can’t leave Foxy high and dry.” She plucks me from Everett’s arms and lands me right back in the middle of ground zero once again. “Hashtag hot cop!” she shouts, and soon the entire room is chanting hot cop, hot cop!

  Noah does his thing in time to the music, swiveling his hips, unbuttoning his shirt, pulling off his belt at an alarmingly slow pace, much to the crowd’s approval. He’s practically a seasoned professional with those wicked moves, and it begs the questions how and for whom has he done this before. Come to think of it, I seem to recall a few steamy nights with the hot cop that started off something like this.

  His shirt falls off, and he’s dirty dancing up and around my body as the amped-up crowd howls as if their hair were on fire.

  Before the song is through, he’s sniffed my hair, nuzzled my neck, and I’m not quite sure, but I think he stole second base.

  But before long, the fire department steps in to regale the crowd with their own steamy moves, and Noah and I head over where Everett is standing. I’m about to suggest we hitch a ride home when Greer Giles descends from the ceiling in all her ghostly glory. Her dark hair shimmers like a sea of onyx stars and floats as if she were under water. So I do the only thing I can think to do—I take up both Noah and Everett’s hands so they can listen along.