It’s a text from Noah. How about dinner at Mangias?
I text back. Sure! Is it all right if Everett joins us? I have something I really want to share with the two of you in person.
He texts right back. Sounds good. I’ve got a surprise for you, and I think you’re really going to appreciate it.
I groan as I look to Carlotta. “Now look what you’ve done. Noah is probably spending his hard-earned money on baby items we’ll never get to use.”
Collette Jenner groans herself. “What I wouldn’t give to have a man dote on me like that. You don’t suppose Noah would be up for a ghostly girlfriend, do you?”
“Nope,” I don’t hesitate with the answer. “He’s got a stalker named Cormack Featherby who I still can’t make disappear. In fact, it’s a miracle she didn’t materialize last night at the civic center. I think she’s on a cruise in the Mediterranean.”
“Cormack?” Collette wrinkles her nose. “I heard Everett talking to someone named Cormack on the phone just this afternoon before I arrived.”
I blink back. “Why would Everett be talking to Cormack? Could Cormack be a part of the big secret he is keeping from me?” Hey? What if Cormack and Everett are secretly married? No, that can’t be. Everett married me. You can’t marry two different people. That would be illegal, and if Everett is anything, he’s all about obeying the laws.
Isn’t he?
Carlotta gasps. “Mr. Sexy is keeping a secret from my Lot Lot?”
My phone pings again and it’s Noah letting me know what time to meet him at the restaurant.
Carlotta nods down at the screen. “I’ll see you at seven for dinner, Lot. And don’t you worry. We’ll winnow this secret from your sexy hubby yet. There hasn’t been a single man who I can’t cull a confession from. They don’t call me the Mistress of Torment for nothing.”
“Something tells me I’ll be the one tormented tonight at dinner.”
Collette shrugs over at me. “Just say the word and I’ll spy on that sexy husband of yours. I bet he whispers all sorts of secrets in the shower.”
“Don’t you dare. I’ll find a way to send you right back to paradise where you came from and you can shower with all the ghosts you want.”
“Fine,” she snarls at me.
“Good. Because I do have a job for you. Go find a man by the name of Kent Noble. Just before Dane died, he said Kent was helping him out of a pickle. I bet Kent whispers his deep, dark secrets in the shower, too.”
“Ooh.” She shimmies her shoulders. “Kent Noble.” She fluffs her hair as she examines her nonexistent reflection in the mirror on the wall. “I’ll tell you if I hear anything. But if I see anything”—a dark laugh trembles from her—“I’ll keep that little tidbit to myself.” She grimaces. “Let’s hope it’s not so little. I broke a few astral planes and time continuums for this peep show.”
And just like that, she disappears in a spray of red stars.
If only making Carlotta disappear were so simple.
Chapter 6
Mangias is an Italian restaurant located right across the street from my bakery. Once I closed up shop, I refreshed my makeup and dabbed a little almond extract behind each ear before making by way over.
Inside it’s dimly lit, with dark wood paneling and tables. Sinatra is playing through the speakers, and the scent of fresh baked garlic bread awakens my senses. A lively crowd sits around every available table and intermittent bouts of laughter electrify the atmosphere.
I spot Noah at a round table in the back and give a wild wave as I make my way over.
No sooner do I reach the table than he pulls out a small bouquet of pink and baby blue daisies.
“Lottie Lemon,” he growls it out with a seductive smile as he gives me a little twirl. “You are a beautiful sight for sore eyes.” He dots my cheek with a kiss before he sniffs my neck. “You smell amazing. How are you feeling?”
“Attacked,” a deep voice strums from behind as Everett pulls me into his arms. His cologne is thick and instantly makes me heady, and his hair is damp as if he just got out of the shower. Let’s hope Collette Jenner wasn’t around to witness it. “Lemon.” His lips twitch in the right direction, and his eyes gleam my way with a marked brand of hormonal hunger as if he’s never seen a woman before. “Don’t let this guy take advantage of the fact you’re carrying my child.” A genuine smile crests his lips, and I gasp because it’s the facial expression equivalent of a rare comet passing through the earth’s orbital plane.
Noah scoffs at the thought. “So are you going to tell her?”
I pull back a notch to get a better look at Everett.
“Tell me what?” I ask as the three of us take our seats. I take in a quick breath as I look to Everett. “Is this about the big secret you’re keeping from me?”
Noah leans back. “Big secret?” He squints over at Everett. “I’d hardly call it a big secret.” He taps his fingers along the table and I can see his investigative wheels turning. “Wait a minute. I’m guessing one doesn’t have anything to do with the other. What else are you keeping from her?”
Everett lifts a brow my way. “Brandy Fielding paid me a visit down at the courthouse. She doused me with a cup of flour as I was leaving.”
“What?” I bounce in my seat. “That explains why your hair is wet. You went home, changed, and showered.”
“I did.”
“What happened to Brandy?” I ask. “Did you have her arrested?”
“No.” He winces.
“Tell her.” Noah laughs to himself as if he relished the answer.
Everett gives a long blink. “I told her I’d have coffee with her tomorrow.”
“Why on earth?” The words rattle from me.
Everett ticks his head to the side. “Because I really do think she’s harmless and she just wants to vent. Her boyfriend’s life is already in the crapper. I’d hate to see her throwing hers away, too. I let her know I’d have security with me.” He points to Noah. “And that I would only meet with her if she promised to knock off the harassment, because she is one second away from spending time behind bars herself.”
“Everett.” I shake my head at him. “This makes no sense. She’s dangerous.”
“She’s desperate,” he counters. “And yes, that can equal danger. But at this point, she knows where I live, work, and most likely who you are. I’ve got you and Evie to think about.” He picks up my hand. “And our baby.” There’s a tenderness in his voice that crushes my soul. “Sometimes the best way to shut down a person acting that way is to give her a few minutes. She has no record. She’s a nurse down at Leeds General Hospital. And she pays her taxes. I told her I’d give her fifteen minutes if she agreed to stop with the harassment. She promised that’s all the time she would need.”
“Wow, Judge Baxter. Word is going to get out that you have a beating heart.” I give his hand a squeeze. “But I already knew that.”
Noah nods over to him. “And if this woman so much as looks at you crooked, I expect you to have her arrested. Nice only goes so far. I don’t like the thought of her running around scheming new ways to get you to overturn a judgment you put to bed a long time ago.”
“I agree.” I pull Everett’s arm close. “And if this ended a while ago, why the sudden outburst?”
Everett sighs. “I think the fact Peter Green is serving a life sentence has finally settled in. And her patience is about to run out.”
A commotion from our left draws our attention and we turn to find Carlotta ushering over a rather wild-eyed Ridge Porter.
“Look who the cat dragged in.” Carlotta dusts off Ridge’s coat as if she just picked him off the ground, and knowing her, it could be true. She hikes up on her tiptoes and leans toward his ear. “Just wait until you see the feline moves I’m capable of behind closed doors—or out in the open. Gentleman’s choice.”
“Sit,” I hiss over at her and the two of them comply without hesitation.
We exchange niceties, all things cons
idering—like Carlotta, just as the waitress comes by and we quickly put in an order for a couple of large pizzas.
“So”—Ridge leans back to get a better look at me—“tell me how this works.” He motions to the two men seated by my side. “Last night you said you were Noah’s girlfriend and Everett’s wife.”
“I am.” I grimace over at both Noah and Everett. “I mean, I was. I’m just Everett’s wife now.”
“Just?” Carlotta pounds her hand to the table as she gags on her laughter.
My fingers rise to my lips. “I’m so sorry, Everett. I didn’t mean that.” I shake my head over at Ridge. “This is all new and rather bumpy territory for us.”
Noah sighs. “And now we’re about to have a baby. Things are about to get bumpier.”
I open my mouth in an effort to tell them the truth, but I don’t think this is the time or place. I’ll make sure to tell them once we get home.
“A baby.” Ridge looks dazed at the thought. “It looks as if Noah Fox has been keeping busy.”
Carlotta wraps an arm around Noah. “That’s our Foxy—doing the deed and spreading his seed.” She leans toward Ridge. “So when can we come by and watch you tape one of your shows?”
I groan at Carlotta’s distasteful euphemism.
The pizza arrives and we each pull a slice our way.
Ridge takes a breath. “I don’t usually film with an audience, but I am scouting a location to shoot the season finale. I’m thinking somewhere with a spooky flair. It’ll be a recap of our other cases, and now with the tragedy upon us, my team and I thought it would nice to highlight Dane’s case as well. What do you think, Detective?”
Noah swallows down a bite. “I think it’s a great idea. Most open homicide cases would kill to have that kind of exposure—pardon the pun.”
“Did you say spooky flair?” Carlotta slaps her hands together as she ogles Ridge. “You should come up and tape your next episode at the Honey Hollow B&B. It’s haunted, you know. And Lottie’s real mama owns the place. I’m sure we can get you an all-access pass to the place.”
I’m amused to no end that Carlotta just referenced my mother as my real mama. She’s not wrong.
“Haunted?” Ridge looks suddenly intrigued. “Is that the place where they’re charging an arm and a leg to get a tour of the place?”
“That would be it.” I close my eyes a moment. It’s true. My mother charges eighty bucks a pop to give tourists an upstairs/downstairs haunting, and the ghosts that linger around that place do not disappoint. And then, after my mother is done scaring the socks off of the tourists, she puts them on a bus and sends them to my bakery for what she’s dubbed as The Last Thing They Ate Tour. Suffice it to say, business is brisk because of it.
“I’m in.” He points my way.
“I’ll tell my mother.”
Everett nods to Noah. “Any news on the case?”
“Nothing.” Noah looks disgusted with the fact. “And get this. The security cameras at the civic center all went down just twenty minutes into the event. Security noted it but decided to have their team work the room with extra precautions.”
“Not enough precautions,” I say. “Noah, you don’t think the security cameras going down was a coincidence, do you?”
He shakes his head. “Nope. Not when the night ended in murder.”
“Geez.” Ridge lands his pizza to his plate as if he couldn’t take another bite. “Why in the world would someone think they could get away with something like that—at an event like that, no less? And to plot it out? I don’t know. But I’ll be honest, Dane could be divisive. Every time he turned around, he had a new enemy.”
“I didn’t know the guy,” I tell him. “But I’d have to agree with you. I saw”—I stop shy of mentioning the fact I saw him having a disagreement with Dane—“a couple of women who looked pretty angry with him last night.”
“Jade.” He pulls his lips back. “I guess Dane accused her of cheating, and she wasn’t too happy about it. The poor guy was desperate to find out who it was. In fact, while the ceremony was going on, he actually accused me of being the other man.”
I glance to Noah. That must have been the exchange I saw between the two men. No wonder it looked pretty heated.
“There was a blonde, too,” I say to Ridge. “I think I saw her slap him.”
A sharp bite of laughter comes from him. “I’m sorry. But in this fog of grief I’ve had, that’s a bit of a bright spot. That’s just like Dane Gannon, getting it handed to him, even on the last night of his poor life.” He sobers up quickly and sniffs back tears. “I think the blonde was probably Samantha Brewer.”
“Yes!” I say, snapping my finger his way. “He called her Sammy.”
“Yup,” Ridge agrees. “Sammy is a secretary by day and dancer by night. That’s where Dane met her, at some nightclub in Leeds. Red Lace or something of that nature.”
“Red Satin,” I mutter and Everett lifts a brow my way.
“We’re familiar,” Everett says, pulling another slice of pizza onto his plate. “Lemon’s sister works there.”
Ridge holds up his hands. “I have nothing against a woman making an honest living any way she can.”
I don’t bother correcting him about Meg’s position down at the gentlemen’s club.
“Speaking of Lottie.” Carlotta winks my way. “I bet she could solve every single unsolved mystery you’ve got, and then some.”
“Really?” Ridge looks momentarily confused by Carlotta’s crime-busting outburst.
“That’s right. She can.” Noah is quick to sing my praises, right alongside Carlotta. “Lottie has been the chief reason every homicide case I’ve investigated so far has been solved in a timely manner.”
“That’s quite an accolade.” Ridge takes a deep breath. “Be careful investigating this case. Whoever killed Dane didn’t care that anyone was around to see it. That sounds like the most dangerous type of person.”
“I agree,” Noah says it sternly my way. “And that’s one of the reasons I’ll arrest you, Lot, if you try digging into this.”
“Arrest?” I blink back in disbelief while Carlotta cackles up a storm.
“Sounds as if Foxy wants to get kinky.” She winks my way as if she wholeheartedly agrees, and I know she does.
Everett pats my hand with his. “I’m sorry, Lemon, but I’ll make sure he does it. I’d rather have you in a jail cell than putting yourself and our child in harm’s way.”
My mouth falls open. “You brute!”
A plume of sugary perfume engulfs us as a platinum socialite with an odd orange skin discoloration happens to leap into our presence.
“Did Lala just call you a brute?” Cormack Featherby’s celadon green eyes bulge with glee as she looks to Everett. She never bothers to say my name right, so the impromptu nickname doesn’t grate on me. “I take it you did the big reveal.”
And darn it. I was really hoping she’d stay in the Mediterranean—at the bottom of it to be exact.
“Wait a minute,” I say, pushing my chair back to get a better look at my handsome hubby. “Cormack knows your big secret?”
His mouth opens then closes with dismay as he glowers up at her. “Excuse me. I’ll be right back.” Everett navigates Cormack to the front of the establishment, and suddenly I’m wishing Collette Jenner were here so she could spy on them.
How dare Everett have a secret that Cormack is privy to.
Noah chooses to ignore the strange outburst and points to Ridge instead.
“Tell me your thoughts on Dane Gannon’s murder. So far, all I’ve got are two irate women.”
“Isn’t that enough?” Ridge rumbles out a dark laugh.
“You got me there,” Noah mutters mostly to himself. “Dane mentioned that Kent was helping him out of a pickle. Do you have any idea what the pickle might have been?”
Ridge glances out at nothing in particular. “Nope. Can’t think of a thing.” His eyes enlarge for a moment. “Actually, I do have some i
dea. Dane owned Caper Productions. He was rumored to have acquired a string of mystery movies from a local studio, but he wasn’t convinced of the quality and wanted to back out at the last minute.”
I shrug over at Noah. “I guess that’s your pickle. It doesn’t sound as if there was much to hide.”
Carlotta shoots Ridge with her fingers. “Speaking of hiding the pickle, have I got an offer for you.”
Everett comes back just in time to spare us all from Carlotta’s perverted pickled intentions.
“Where’s Cormack?” I ask with a curt tone in my voice. Typically, I’d be thrilled she was gone, but something about this disappearing act isn’t sitting well with me.
Everett takes his seat. “She went home. She won’t be bothering us anymore—or more to the point, you.” He picks up my hand and kisses the back of it.
Everett doesn’t want Cormack bothering me? Or is it that he doesn’t want her telling me his secret? I’m betting it’s an equal mixture of both.
We wrap up the night and poor Ridge all but takes out a restraining order on Carlotta.
We head home and Everett doesn’t tell me his secret. He says the timing isn’t right as he warms my belly with his hand. Evie is spending the night at a friend’s, and I know exactly what that gleam in his eye means.
I don’t tell him my secret either.
It’s late. Noah went home and the timing isn’t right.
It’s something I’ll do tomorrow. No sense in anybody losing sleep over something that never was, that didn’t happen.
And in an odd way, I’m mourning what never was and didn’t happen, so I force myself to think of something that did happen—a murder.
How dare Noah and Everett threaten to toss me in a jail cell if I investigate this case. I get it, though. They don’t want any innocent parties, real or imagined, to get hurt while I’m knee-deep in my investigative shenanigans.
But if I were to investigate this case, I wouldn’t know where to begin. Sammy Brewer, Jade Archibald, Kent Noble—there are so many viable suspects, and they are all ripe for the picking.
Murder in the Mix Boxed Set 8 Page 39