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

“I wouldn’t miss it. So no other drama with Gloria that you can remember?”

He snaps his fingers mid-air. “There was one more thing.” He cringes.

“Here it comes!” Kringle does a little backflip in the air, leaving a trail of red and green stars in his wake. “This is going to be a doozy.”

Chris scratches the back of his neck. “There’s a woman by the name of Suze.”

Both Kringle and I straighten at the mention of the—well, let’s call a spade a spade—battle-axe.

Kringle shakes his head. “I hate to break it to your boyfriend, Lottie, but his mother is a cold-hearted killer. On a bright note, I know exactly what he can get her for Christmas—a pair of shiny silver bracelets.”

I nod. And an orange jumpsuit to go along with them.

“What about her?” I lean in with a twinge of fear in my voice.

“Just before the unveiling of that painting, Suze and Gloria went at it. I heard Gloria say, ‘I know what you’ve done and you’ll rue the day you chose to challenge me. You’ve crossed a serious line.’” His brows hike. “And then Suze said, ‘I don’t care to be spoken to that way. I believe you just crossed a serious line.’ And then she said something very cryptic. ‘And we both know what happened to the last person that crossed a line with me. I did away with him, and I’ll do away with you.’”

My eyes close as I relive that entire conversation. I know it well. I heard it myself.

“Thank you for that,” I tell him. “That certainly paints a picture.”

His cheek flinches. “A picture of guilt.”

He pats Hook on the back before saying goodnight to both him and Meg. I wait until he’s out of earshot to step in.

“I hope I didn’t scare him off,” I say.

“Nope.” Hook shakes his head. “No need to worry.” Hook leans in. “I typically don’t betray my friends trust like this, but just to save you from digging, Chris let me know that someone in that volunteer organization he’s a part of has accused him of stealing. He denied it, of course. Chris is a good guy. And I believe him.”

I nod because deep down I think I believe him, too—or at least I want to.

Kringle screams with glee as he hugs the handle of the axe Meg just tossed toward the wall.

“Thanks for sharing that with me.” I head over to where Noah and Carlotta are tossing hatchets of their own.

“How’d it go?” Noah’s serious eyes penetrate mine, and I quickly relay to him everything I’ve learned.

“Hear that, Foxy?” Carlotta pats him on the back. “This is one killer you’re going to have to let run wild. You’ve got a mama to protect. Don’t worry. Lot and I will never tell. But we’ll do our darndest to run her out of Honey Hollow.”

“I’m not running her out of town,” I say as I pick up an axe. “I’m too afraid to mess with her,” I confess as I hurl the axe with all my might and put a nice dent into the wall about two feet away from the bullseye.

“She’s got bad vision.” Carlotta is quick to come to my defense. “This could work for you, Detective. Slip me fifty bucks and I could distract the judge for a couple of hours while you slip into her bedroom.”

I choose to ignore Carlotta’s banter and fire off axe after axe until I finally land one right over that red circle.

“Bullseye!” I shout just as Noah, Carlotta, Meg, Hook, and I move into the next room and nosh on chicken wings and fried cheese at a table about as far away as we can get from Evie—per her rather threatening instructions.

Soon, Meg and Hook head over to the dance floor and bust a move to “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”

Noah takes my hand and his dimples dig in deep. “Come on, Lot. Let’s show ’em what we got.” He hitches his head toward the dance floor.

“Sounds good,” I say, holding my belly as he helps me out of my chair.

No sooner do I turn around than I spot a handsome devil with bright blue eyes as a sea of sighing women part for him.

“It’s Everett.” My chest bucks with relief as he speeds over and pulls me into a warm embrace. Two things happen at once. The scent of sugary perfume hits me hard as it clings to his suit and I note a peach smudge of what looks to be foundation against the white collar of his dress shirt. I pull back and look into his searing eyes. “Everett, were you at work this whole time?”

Here it is—the moment of truth. And I have a feeling I’m not going to like his truth very much.

His chest broadens, his jaw redefines itself, and I can tell he’s wondering which way to go with this.

“It’s a black and white question,” I say just below a whisper. With the music blaring so loud overhead, I’m not even sure he heard me the first time.

A pained look fills his blessed by God features.

“I had a meeting, Lemon,” he says it soft yet firm. And just like that, I can feel the ground give way underneath my feet. My body grows stiff with shock and my heart feels as if it’s stopped altogether.

“Noah asked me to dance,” I say numbly.

The next thing I know, I’m moving my limbs as Noah and I do our best to strut our stuff on the dance floor, but my eyes never leave Everett’s as he stares at the two of us from afar. He doesn’t look pleased. He looks mildly injured but mostly angry.

And he can bet his gavel I feel exactly the same, yet ten times more magnified.

Suze might be a killer, and my husband might be a cheater. If someone would have told me that’s what December would bring, I never would have believed them.

Well,