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

her to bring in for the event. Then I let her know who I was. The little girl locked in a boarding school that she met but once. And I told her I had an early Christmas gift from my father. That’s when I pulled out my gun and she tried to run. But she didn’t get very far. It was over in a flash.” She closes her eyes a moment too long as if she was reliving it. “And that’s when I went in and found Suze and Elodie. I told them I needed some help with the trees we were auctioning off, and that we needed to find Gloria to help with the logistics of it.”

“And that’s when you asked Suze to check outside. You had seen her gun a few weeks back, and you made sure to use a replica. Suze was the prefect suspect for a crime she didn’t commit.”

“She worked well enough—until she didn’t.”

Kringle swims between us. “Lure her back inside, Lottie. Your teeth are chattering. That can’t be good for the baby.”

“Come on, Candy.” I take her by the hand. “We have to go inside. We’ll talk to the sheriff’s department together. I promise you’ll get the help you need.”

Ethan offers a tempered nod my way as if thanking me for the endeavor.

“I’m sorry, Lottie.” Her hand dips into her purse, and within seconds I’m staring down the barrel of a gun that looks suspiciously like the one Suze owns.

My breathing grows erratic. “What? No silencer on tonight? That is what you used, isn’t it?”

“I see you’re proficient in your weaponry as well.” She takes a breath. “I’m sorry, Lottie, but you’re going to have to come with me.” She gives me a hard yank toward her and I swipe for the gun, but she holds it up over her head, and then we’re struggling for it.

“Lottie!” Kringle darts around us in a hot pink blur. “Oh, you’ve gotten yourself into a pickle this time—and one you can’t eat yourself out of.” He leaps onto Candy’s head and does his best to claw her eyes out, then he dips his tail into her mouth before he squeals directly in her ear, but it’s to no avail.

Then, from seemingly nowhere, Ethan lets out a growl as he pries his arm between us.

“NO!” he thunders as he pushes Candy away from me with all his might, causing her to stumble backward, and just as she turns to run, she trips over a mound of snow and lands facedown in the frosty white stuff.

Kringle scampers down to her hand where she’s still clutching at the gun and he does his best to bite off her finger.

Candy lets out a howl as she pulls her hand away and I quickly scoop up the gun she’s just abandoned.

“Freeze!” I call out, just the way I’ve seen Noah do dozens of times before.

Ethan’s ghostly frame begins to shimmer like the deepest part of the ocean as he sheds a mournful smile my way.

“Tell her I’ll always be with her.” His voice strums from him, sorrowful. “Tell her that this too shall pass, and that she will be whole again.”

And just like that, the ghost of Ethan Lionel Markus dissipates into thin air.

I quickly relay to her the words of her father and Candy lets out a mournful groan.

“What about me?” Kringle begins to rise into the sky. “Oh dear, this is it, Lottie. I’m going to bite the big one. I’m going to meet my maker. I’ll be dead as a doornail—and oh, wait. I’m all of those things and more.” He floats higher, easy and light like a helium balloon. “And what am I saying? I’ve already met my maker. And He throws one heck of a party this time of year. Have a merry Christmas, Lottie Lemon! Enjoy Sugar Cookie!” A sprinkling of red and green stars swallows him whole just as a tall, dark, and unstoppably handsome homicide detective and his partner Ivy Fairbanks stride by.

Noah does a double take my way. “Lottie?” His voice rises with a note of panic as he draws his weapon. “What the hell is going on?”

Ivy runs over and I quickly give her the weapon in my hand.

“It’s Candy Brighton. She did it. She killed Gloria.” I rattle off as many details as I can while Ivy lands some cuffs on Candy and helps her out of the snow.

Noah swoops over and wipes the snow from my shoulders before pulling me in.

“Lottie Lemon, you are going to be the end of me.” He brushes a kiss to my forehead. “Let’s get you inside.”

“I’ll go. You do whatever you need to do as far as this case goes. We’ll talk.” I make my way into the Evergreen Manor and head for the ballroom.

There’s one more thing I need to do tonight.

The last thing I did broke Ethan’s heart.

This one will break mine.

“Here Comes Santa Claus” blares over the speakers, and it seems as if all of Vermont is grooving on the dance floor. The lights are a notch dimmer than they were earlier, and the entire room is alive with an energy that only the deep end of the night can bring.

I spot Evie and her friends gyrating their limbs right along with my mother and sisters as I thread my way through the tangle of bodies. The frenetic movements of those around me make me dizzy as I bump into a woman with a sparkling red dress, and that dress seems like a dime a dozen tonight.

“Serena,” I say as I pull her close by the arm. Her dark hair is swept up and her lips expand at the sight of me like a malevolent fire. “There’s a transmundane conference coming up in a few weeks. Will you be there?”

“There is?” Her lips part. “Where?”

And for a second, we both gasp—Serena because I’ve caught her transmundane-handed and me because I was right.

“I want to know everything,” I snip.

She gives