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

money through that bakery of yours. And they’ve got the ability to get the feds involved, too. I’m sure the judicial system frowns upon such behavior, so does the Vermont bar association.”

Everett inches back as he looks my way. “Could she do that?”

“I wouldn’t test her on it,” I say. “Besides”—I hiss as I turn to the spoiled specter before me—“that’s my bakery you’re threatening to mess with.”

“I won’t mess with anyone if you do me this one solid,” she insists.

I scoff over at her. “How do we know you’re not going to have us jumping through hoops until you’re zapped back to the big pizza parlor in the sky?”

“It’s my final request.” She blows over her long red lacquered nails before rubbing them over her dress. “All I care about at this point are two things: getting the funeral of my dreams and catching the rat’s hind end that landed me in my soon-to-be beautiful casket to begin with.”

Everett shakes his head. “We can’t do this, Lemon. We need to call her bluff.”

Carlotta leans in. “What says you, Foxy?”

Noah grimaces. “I’m sorry, Flo. He’s right. But I’m still going to need you to give me the details about that deadly showdown. You have the opportunity to save a lot of people’s lives.” He looks to both Everett and me. “Mine might be one of them. I’m on the task force to bring these guys down.”

“Then it sounds as if you’ll have to steal my body.” Flo winks over at me. “Think of your baby, Lottie. Wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where the little tyke didn’t have to be wrapped up in a Kevlar blanket?”

Carlotta gasps. “And if Foxy is the father, that baby might wind up with one dead daddy.”

Everett offers her a stern look. “The kid has a spare. I’m sorry, Flo. We’re not playing hardball.”

“Fine.” The snippy specter lifts her chin. “Just don’t expect to head to the courthouse tomorrow. My boys work fast.” She starts to take off, and a genuine panic bubbles up in me.

“Wait!” I call out, and she zips over.

Everett steps in close and lands his nose to mine, those blue eyes of his sirening out to mine like a warning.

“Lemon, think about this.”

“Lottie.” Noah sighs and gives a slight nod. “I think this needs to happen.”

I look from Noah to Everett, the yes and no, and my heart doesn’t know what direction to move in.

Noah closes his eyes a moment, and I can see the defeat in his face. This sting must be gravely important. There’s no other way Noah would ever agree to something like this.

I glance to Everett as he glares at his old stepbrother. Everett looks downright dangerous, and my heart gives a few loose wallops as I take him in. Everett on a good day is arrestingly handsome, as is Noah, but when Everett is infuriated, it takes his razor sharp good looks and magnifies them to scorching levels.

Everett takes a breath before reverting his gaze my way.

“This is in your hands, Lemon.” The muscles in his jaw redefine themselves. “I highly advise against it, but you’re going to have to make the call.”

I know it goes against everything Everett believes to do something like this.

“Give me a minute,” I say, nodding for Flo to follow me over a few feet, and Carlotta comes along with us.

Carlotta makes a face my way. “You know what needs to be done, Lot. There’s only one right decision.” She leans in. “Besides, I haven’t been a part of a good morgue-napping in a decade at least.” And she looks pretty frustrated about it, too. “I’ll head back to the table and say goodnight to Cadillac. Don’t let me down, Lot Lot.”

She takes off, and a thought hits me.

“Shoot. I forgot to talk to Lorena.”

“About?” a female chirps from behind, and I spot Lorena and her glowing pale gray eyes.

“Lorena.” I jump a little as both Noah and Everett step to the side, most likely to confer about how best to restrain both me and the renegade ghost among us. “I was just going to ask if there was any word on who did this to Flo?”

The bribing banshee rubs her hands together. “Lorena is the best witch in the bunch. You’ve never had a friend like this, Lottie. She’d do anything for me. My killer had better watch their back. Once Lo gets ahold of them, they’ll wish they were on the inside of a prison.”

“You really are on the case, aren’t you, little mama?” Lorena honks out a laugh.

“You bet,” I say. “And I won’t rest until the killer is behind bars.”

But at this point, it has far more to do with getting Flo off my back than it does a speck of justice.

She shrugs. “Good luck to you. I guess you’ll want to talk to Nicky Knuckles. My brother says he’s making the rounds up in Scooter Springs. That’s where all the young guns are migrating. He’s making it rain at some club called Delfino’s.”

Flo scoffs. “You mean he’s not hiding out?”

I quickly echo her statement, and Lorena shakes her head.

“He says he didn’t do it.” She says those last few words in air quotes. “And he’s not afraid of retribution either—because he knows it’s not coming. The big boys have got bigger fish to fry.” She leans in. “Between you, me, and the wind, the families in Leeds are getting together to hold a Moretti family massacre. It’s going to be epic. And Flo, if you’re listening”—she points to the sky before pointing to the ground and winking with a laugh—“they’re calling this Operation Farewell from Flo.” She shrugs my way. “She would’ve liked the honor.” Lorena gives a quick glance over her shoulder. “I’d better get back there. We need to shore up the details of my bestie’s big day. I’m gonna make sure to toss a picture of the two of us at my twenty-first birthday party into her casket. It was