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

A snippet from the night of the murder comes back to me, and I glance over at Flo.

“I saw Flo that night, too,” I say slowly to turn my attention back to Nicky. “She looked afraid of someone. Was she afraid of you?”

I know for a fact Lorena said he couldn’t hurt her anymore.

“She was afraid of you, wasn’t she?”

A dull laugh comes from him. “Angel Face wasn’t afraid of nothin’. That’s why she was my number one. That girl had my ticker right where she wanted it.” He pounds his fist to his chest. “That’s why I couldn’t let go of her no matter what. And I sure as hell wasn’t about to let her walk away from me.”

I glance over to Flo as a tear rolls down her cheek.

“He loved me. He really, really loved me.”

Yeah, but it doesn’t mean he didn’t shoot her. I heard that last comment about not letting her walk away from him.

“She broke up with you that night, didn’t she?” I whisper to him, and he gives a slight nod.

“So what?” He shrugs. “It’s water under the bridge. If she was here now, she’d take it all back.” He sniffs back his emotions. “And I would take it all back, too. We’d both be happy right now. Excuse me, ladies.” He stalks off, leaving Carlotta and me staring over at Flo.

“You heard what he said.” She wipes back the tears. “Next up is Rocky Romero.”

Rocky Romero might be next up, but I’m not scrubbing Nicky Knuckles off my suspect list just yet. In fact, he’s looking mighty guilty.

“We need to talk,” I tell her, and just like that, she invokes her ghostly right to do a disappearing act.

“She knows something,” I say to Carlotta. “She did something to Rocky, and we need to find out what.”

Carlotta gasps as she pulls me to my feet. “If I were you, Lot, I wouldn’t tell the boys at the table about the fact Nicky Knuckles knows about Sexy’s nice ride.”

Both Noah and Everett come this way with Cormack doing her best to glue herself to Noah’s side.

“Did you get what you needed?” Everett’s lids are hooded, and he’s pretty much seething. I take it the good judge doesn’t look so kindly on those that choose to step out of the perimeters that he sets up, and I would be lying if my hormones weren’t going off like a Fourth of July spectacular because of it.

“Yup,” I chirp as my voice hikes an octave.

We head back for Honey Hollow, and all the way home I can’t help but think that Noah, Everett, Carlotta, and I have one deadly secret. And now Carlotta and I have a secret that might just prove to be even deadlier than that.

Nicky believes the Lazzaris stole the body from the morgue. They know the make, model, and color of Everett’s car.

So I do the only thing I can do once we get home.

While Everett is finishing up a few things on his laptop, I run down to the garage and stick the blade of my best kitchen knife into his tire. It’s safe to say we’ll be driving my minivan from here on out.

Then I head back into the bedroom and show Judge Baxter just how obedient I can be.

And he is very, very satisfied.

So am I.

Chapter 11

The next morning, Everett let me know I could sleep in, that court was postponed, and for a fleeting moment, I thought it had something to do with that flat I gave him.

But as it turns out, Fiona has a motion, or a deposition, or a perm she had to get to. Heck, I can’t keep the legal jargon straight anymore. Everett said it worked out because not only did he have time to fix his flat, but Bear was coming over to inspect the lots next door—something to do with the new house and boundary issues.

Last month, Everett moved heaven and the Honey Hollow Building Department to get permission to erect one large home across two lots. It was one of the Christmas gifts he gave me. And believe me, Everett is very generous in just about every capacity.

Speaking of boundary issues, it’s the day of my mother’s writers’ workshop, so I stopped by the bakery to pick up an entire veritable breakfast bar to take over before hightailing it to the B&B. I set up shop right in the conservatory, a brunch buffet overflowing with pancakes, croissants, bagels, donuts, and stacks and stacks of my infamous waffles. The warm vanilla scent emanating from my sweet treat mingles with the coffee brewing, and the room fills with the heavenly scent.

Not long ago, my mother’s bed and breakfast used to hobble along just hoping to get the tourist runoff from the Evergreen Manor, the only other place to stay in town. But as luck and my supernatural quirk would have it, an entire slew of ghosts moved in a while back, and now my mother’s happily haunted B&B is booked solid for months in advance. It turns out, there are a lot of people who can appreciate a good scare now and again.

The B&B is a large stately mansion comprised of white stone with large Roman pillars out front, wrought iron balconies, and a wraparound porch. It’s spooktacular inside and out and has the whole haunted mansion nine yards going for it. A couple of years ago, my mother had Bear build her this glass conservatory as an addition off the back, and it’s been a hot spot ever since. You can see the evergreens covered with snow right outside the back of the room, and at night she has them backlit to look like a snowy fairy garden.

Currently, the conservatory is filled with small bistro tables, and each one has at least three women hovering over their laptops while seated at them. The entire room is