Murder in the Mix Boxed Set 28-30: Cozy Mystery Addison Moore (the reading strategies book .txt) 📖

scoot to the edge of my seat—“I just heard on the news this morning that they stole that girl’s body right out of the morgue.”

Flo honks out a laugh. “And who says I’m not a genius. If I didn’t have you steal my body, you wouldn’t get nearly as far with this rat as you are.”

Nicky blows out a steady breath, his jaw redefining itself as he looks straight ahead.

“Yup.” He swills the whiskey in his hand. “And believe me, I know who did it, too.”

Carlotta and I exchange a wild glance.

“You do?” Carlotta tips her ear his way. “Well, don’t keep us in suspense. Where is she?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t know where they took her. But I have it on good authority the Lazzaris are responsible. The Canellis wouldn’t disrespect their own that way.”

Flo belts out a horrifically loud laugh that makes my eardrums wish they could melt already.

“He thinks the Lazzaris did this?” she honks. “As if. He’s just looking for an excuse to start a turf war.”

I glare at the ghost among us because the entire reason we kidnapped her corpse was to avoid a turf war to begin with.

“Don’t worry, ladies.” Flo makes a face. “He ain’t got no proof.”

“I got proof.” He nods.

“He’s got proof, Lot.” Carlotta looks genuinely frightened, and I’m betting she just had visions of herself sharing an eight-by-ten cell with a woman named Butch.

“What kind of proof?” I squint over at this two-bit hustler.

“Like I said, Angel Face was my girl. Don’t think I wasn’t anticipating any funny business. I had my men across the street keeping an eye out on the morgue all night.”

Both Carlotta and I suck in as much oxygen as our lungs will allow as we try to stave off the panic.

Wait a minute…

“And they saw the Lazzaris carting her off?” I’m willing to call his bluff.

He shrugs. “They saw a small crowd heading in after hours. Didn’t think too much of it. Thought maybe it was the cleaning crew. A small crowd left hauling away what they thought was a bag of laundry and took off in a sedan.”

A dull aching sound comes from Carlotta. “Did they get the plates?” She’s fearing for Sexy, I can see it in her eyes. And I’m right there with her. Everett is going to have a heart attack if he ever finds this out. I assured him this was a safe endeavor, and now he’s going to get a bullet pumped into him intended for the Lazzaris. Instead of avoiding a turf war, I’ve landed us right in the middle of one, and ironically, we’ll be sounding the kickoff bell.

“No plates,” he growls.

Oh, thank God.

Carlotta and I nod with a sigh of relief.

“But we got the make, model, and color.” Nicky knocks back the rest of his whiskey while Carlotta, Flo, and I all let out a groan at the very same time.

Flo shakes her head with frustration. “Just ask him why he killed me. I’ve had enough of his face for one night.”

“Why’d you do it? Why’d you gun Angel Face down at midnight?” Carlotta snips at him, and I close my eyes because that is not how you get a suspect to confess. But it just might be how you get a mobster to put a bullet in your back at a club called Delfino’s.

A laugh rumbles from the man. “Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t hurt a hair on that girl’s head. Yeah, she infuriated me. She infuriated everyone all the time. It’s what Flo did.”

Come to think of it, I did see her arguing with just about everyone that night. And I make a mental note to cross-examine my own witness later—the victim herself.

“I didn’t pull the trigger, and neither did my men,” he continues. “The Morettis knew Angel Face belonged to me.”

I don’t bother hiding the eye roll there, but Flo coos as if he just produced a puppy from his pants.

“Then who did it?” Carlotta persists in her investigative efforts, and I’ll admit, I prefer her to Cormack when it comes to sidekicks.

“Rocky Romero.” His expression hardens to stone.

“Rocky?” Flo says, disbelieving. “Rocky still works for my family. Killing me would be a death sentence, not just for himself, but for every living relative he’s got on this earth.”

Nicky shakes his head. “And don’t think he didn’t cover his tracks by making it look as if it was me. Rocky knows killing Angel Face would be a death sentence, not just for himself, but for every living relative he’s got on earth.”

“Wow,” I muse. “The two of you really are in sync.”

Flo nods. “I could finish his sentences. And I often did with a slap to his face.” She shrugs. “The guy’s mind is always in the gutter.”

“Rocky Romero?” I shake my head. “That was her ex, right? What motive could he possibly have?”

Carlotta juts her head forward. “I bet he was controlling. If he couldn’t have her, then no one could.”

“Nah,” Nicky is quick to contest it. “I heard a rumor yesterday that he knocked her up and didn’t want me raising his kid.”

Flo gasps. “I never cheated on you! Tell him, Lottie! Tell him right now.”

Carlotta shrugs. “I talked to Flo that night, and she said she never cheated on you. I bet she’d come back from the grave and give you a rattle if you were to believe something like that.”

“That’s the thing.” He shrugs. “I don’t believe it. Why would Rocky put a bullet in a woman who was carrying his kid? That’s not Rocky. I think he did it because of what Flo did to him.”

I turn her way. “What did Flo do to him?” I pose the question directly to her, and she clamps her lips tightly.

Ah ha! She did do something to Rocky Romero.

Nicky sucks down the last few droplets of whiskey his glass will allow.

“That’s not my story to tell. All I know is right now I’ve got a beef with the Lazzaris