Snickerdoodle Secrets (MURDER IN THE MIX Book 20) Read online

  Snickerdoodle Secrets

  MURDER IN THE MIX 20

  Addison Moore

  Contents

  Connect with Addison Moore

  Book Description

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Recipe

  Preview: Strawberry Shortcake Sins

  Preview: Kittyzen’s Arrest

  Chapter 1

  Books by Addison Moore

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2019 by Addison Moore

  Edited by Paige Maroney Smith

  Cover by Lou Harper, Cover Affairs

  This novel is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to peoples either living or deceased is purely coincidental. Names, places, and characters are figments of the author’s imagination. The author holds all rights to this work. It is illegal to reproduce this novel without written expressed consent from the author herself.

  All Rights Reserved.

  This eBook is for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this eBook with another person, please purchase any additional copies for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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  Copyright © 2019 by Addison Moore

  Created with Vellum

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  Book Description

  My name is Lottie Lemon, and I see dead people. Okay, so I rarely see dead people. Mostly I see furry creatures of the dearly departed variety, aka dead pets, who have come back from the other side to warn me of their previous owner’s impending doom.

  * * *

  Everett has some serious upheaval coming his way that he never expected, and Lottie is determined to help him get through it. But with another dead body coming between them, things are bound to get in the way.

  * * *

  Lottie Lemon has a brand new bakery to tend to, a budding romance with perhaps one too many suitors, and she has the supernatural ability to see dead pets—which are always harbingers for ominous things to come. Throw in the occasional ghost of the human variety, a string of murders, and her insatiable thirst for justice, and you’ll have more chaos than you know what to do with.

  Living in the small town of Honey Hollow can be murder.

  Chapter One

  Eleven years earlier…

  I don’t know what I was thinking coming up here. And with these clowns? I’d read a book to pass the time, but liquor is quicker—and leads to more exciting places. Not that I haven’t had my share. But what the heck, what’s another bottle? And once I’m done, I’ll give Project-Make-Her-Mine another go.

  With a bottle in hand, I stagger down to the lake. A rustling sound garners my attention from behind and I turn abruptly.

  “Hey”—a laugh gurgles from me—“it looks like you changed your mind. I guess it’s a party for two after all.” Something silver flashes above me before landing over my head, quick and hard. “What are you doing?” A horrid moan comes from me as another blow comes down over me one more time. And the world goes black for good.

  * * *

  Present Day

  My name is Lottie Lemon, and I see dead people. Okay, so rarely do I see dead people. Mostly I see furry creatures of the dearly departed variety, aka dead pets, who have come back from the other side to warn me of their previous owner’s impending doom. But right now, I’m not seeing a dead anything. I’m seeing two very much alive, very much handsome men, Everett and Noah, furiously trying to solve a mystery as they huddle over their laptops.

  It’s a lazy Saturday and it’s raining sickles outside of the Cutie Pie Bakery and Cakery. All of Honey Hollow—heck, all of Vermont—seems to be getting drenched with the deluge, despite the fact it’s officially spring.

  Everett—Judge Essex Everett Baxter—is technically my husband. And I do use the matrimonial term loosely. We tied the knot last Christmas just so he could meet the requirements of the inheritance his father left him.

  Everett is a dark-haired, blue-eyed god that has the power to stop every living, breathing woman in their tracks. He’s supernaturally gorgeous and built like a linebacker. He seldom smiles and never calls me by my first name. He prefers to call me Lemon and, I’ll admit, it makes me swoon a little each time he does.

  He was sort of a womanizer before we met. In fact, the only people who are allowed to call him by his proper first name, Essex, are those he’s done the mattress mambo with. He utilizes it as more of a naughty door prize than a formal moniker. And even though I more than qualify, I still prefer to call him Everett along with the rest of the masses. Everett is a young judge, somewhere in his thirties, and just last week one of his many ex-girlfriends—although a particularly psychotic one—disclosed that he has a child roaming this earth somewhere.

  Cressida Bentley, the ex-girlfriend in question, a waifish blonde socialite, blurted the paternal information just as she was being hauled away and arrested for sending me death threats.

  Of course, she issued one last threat as Noah was taking her away, but it wasn’t issued toward me. It was aimed right at the good judge’s heart. Not only did she let him know that he was a father, she also let him know in no uncertain terms that she would not disclose where she was housing this mystery child if she spent a single night in jail.

  Well, Everett wasn’t having it. Cressida spent two nights in jail before her wealthy father was able to wrangle her from the long arm of the law.

  Word on the street is she has an entire legal team trying to get her out of the nightmare she landed herself in.

  It turns out, Cressida wasn’t just stalking me. She was very much stalking Everett for the last few months. She couldn’t get enough of him, and honestly, I can’t really blame her for that. Everett does have a rather addictive quality about him.

  And sitting next to Everett, right here at the counter of my bakery, is homicide detective Noah Corbin Fox, my boyfriend. Noah is a hot commodity himself with dark hair that turns red at the tips in the sun, dimples for days, and verdant green eyes that steal the sanity of every woman lucky enough to see them. He, too, has a psychotic ex-girlfriend he can’t seem to shake, Cormack Featherby.

  Cormack, much like Cressida, is a waifish blonde herself. She’s been after Noah ever since she laid eyes on him back in high school. And it just so happened at that moment in time Noah and Everett were stepbrothers.

  Everett was actually dating Cormack
first and Noah stole her from under him. And there has been no love lost between these two ever since. They’re no longer stepbrothers due to the fact Noah’s wily father stole a chunk from Everett’s mother and hightailed it out of town. But years have gone by and Noah and Everett have made an earnest attempt to be amicable to one another—like they are now, as they both do their best to try to find this mystery child Cressida and Everett seem to share.

  Despite the rainy weather outside, the bakery is bustling and lively. My best friend, Keelie Nell Turner, and my right-hand girl, Lily Swanson, are helping at the registers to move the congestion along, and as soon as the last soul leaves with their order, the three of us take a breath.

  Keelie shoves a fresh, out of the oven snickerdoodle cookie into her mouth and moans. Keelie is an adorable blonde with the biggest blue eyes you ever did see, and more often than not, those big baby blues have been known to have a naughty gleam in them.

  “These are the best, Lottie.” Keelie toasts me with yet another snickerdoodle. “I’ll need these at my wedding, for sure.”

  Lily rolls her eyes. “You’ve said that about everything lately.” Lily Swanson hasn’t always liked me, but now that I’m writing her checks, she likes me just fine. Lily is a brunette stunner with long wavy hair and precision-cut features. She used to date Noah’s brother, Alex, but quickly grew tired of his two-timing ways and set sail for Seven pastures. Seven is a bald, beefy security guard Everett and Noah hired to protect me through that whole stalker fiasco.

  “It’s that baby in your belly.” Lily points to Keelie’s cute baby bump with an accusing finger. “It’s demanding you eat everything in sight. You’re lucky you like food.”

  Keelie moans through another mouthful. “I’m lucky I’ve got a best friend who knows her way around baked goods.”

  I shrug over at her. “It doesn’t hurt that you work next door at the Honey Pot where they serve the best cuisine this side of Vermont.”

  It’s true. Our grandma Nell owned both the Honey Pot Diner and the bakery. And she happened to leave me both in her will.

  The Honey Pot was Nell’s baby, though. In fact, there’s a walkway through the bakery that leads right to it. In the middle of the Honey Pot, there’s a large resin oak tree whose branches extend over the ceiling and into the bakery itself. Each branch is wrapped in twinkle lights and it gives both places an enchanted appeal, especially on a dark and rainy day like today.

  The bell chimes on the door and in walk a trio of familiar faces. My mother, Noah’s mother, Suze, and Carlotta, my other mother.

  A little over a quarter of a century ago, Carlotta left me swaddled in a blanket naked and alone on the floor of the Honey Hollow Fire Department, and let’s be honest, that little bit of baby abandonment was quite possibly the best decision she’s ever made. I was quickly adopted by the kind fireman who found me, Joseph Lemon—God rest my sweet father’s soul—right along with his lovely wife, Miranda Lemon, who I just so happen to be face to face with at the moment.

  “How’s it going, ladies?” I offer the trio a cheery smile.

  Carlotta manufactures a quick grin. “It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is still snoring at the B&B. That boyfriend of your mother’s likes to sleep past noon.” Carlotta is essentially my twin in every way, with the exception of the gray hair and crow’s feet. But our look-alike features are where our similarities end.

  I can’t help but avert my gaze. The boyfriend in question is Noah’s smarmy father who had the nerve to come back to Honey Hollow a few months ago after faking his own death. And truthfully, I don’t care to know any updates on the man unless the update signifies that my mother is newly single again.

  My mother is a classy, but rowdy, natural beauty with her creamy blonde locks that brush over her shoulders and a devilish gleam in her eye that only seems to add to her sassy appeal. She has a face that never ages and a voraciousness for men that doesn’t seem to quit. And I wish it would do just that since she is seeing Noah’s twisted father, the same man who’s notorious for bilking widows out of their fortunes. And believe you me, I do not like the widow math.

  Mom trills out a cheery hello herself. “Suze and I are here to pick up those snickerdoodle cookies I ordered for our horticulture club.” She snatches a snickerdoodle cookie off the tray next to Keelie and takes a moaning bite. “Oh, Lottie. We’ll need these for the Bonnet Festival at the end of the month, for sure. It simply isn’t Easter without one of your sweet treats.”

  “I’d love to bake for the Bonnet Festival.” I give a little bunny-inspired hop to prove my enthusiasm. Easter is one of my all-time favorite holidays, and that’s exactly why I have baskets filled with pink and green plastic grass dotting the counter and cutouts of bunnies and decorated eggs adhered to the windows and walls.

  I lean toward my mother. “Did you say the horticulture club? That must mean the two of you are off to get your hands dirty.”

  Suze grunts at the thought. Suze is a tall woman who seldom smiles, with squinted eyes that seem to be scrutinizing every situation and a soul so sour not even the devil himself dares to touch it with his pointy tail. Okay, so that’s a bit harsh but true nonetheless. She wears her silvery pale yellow hair short in the back with long bangs swooped to the side up front. And I’ve never seen the woman happy. Never.

  Lily raises a finger. “We have the platters all ready to go, Miranda. Let me put them in a waterproof container for you,” she says before disappearing to the back.

  Noah jumps up and offers his mother a quick embrace. “What are you ladies up to today?”

  Suze lets out a heavy breath. “Miranda has wrangled me into some silly gardening club. Who gardens in weather like this?”

  A crackle of thunder shakes the bakery as if it were agreeing with her.

  Carlotta smacks Suze on the shoulder. “Liven up, Toots. Nobody is getting their gardening manicure done today. It’s all about planning out a battle strategy. April showers bring May flowers.”

  Suze scowls. “I hate April.”

  And that about sums up Suze in a nutshell.

  Lily hauls out three large plastic tubs and lands them at the other end of the counter for my mother.

  Noah nods over to it. “I’ll help you get that to your car, Miranda.”

  He takes off with my mother while Suze puts in an order for a cup of coffee, black, and a rocky road brownie before heading off to a seat near the window to do what she does best, sulk.

  Carlotta hitches her head toward Everett, and I head that way with her.

  “Any luck?” I ask, sliding a couple of fresh snickerdoodle cookies his way.

  Everett shakes his head. “Nothing. I’m beginning to wonder if Cressida made the whole thing up. I don’t get it. Why wait until she was facing criminal charges to bring up the fact we share a child?”

  Carlotta slaps him on the back.

  I really should address her need to accost people.

  “Don’t you get it?” Carlotta belts it out. “A woman like Cressida was just using that kid as a pawn to her advantage. In other words, a get-out-of-jail free card.”

  Everett twitches his brows as if the thought amused him. “Don’t worry, Carlotta. I didn’t fall for it.”

  “That’s because you’re a fair but tough judge,” I say. “Have you tried speaking to her in person?” My stomach twists in a knot at the thought of giving Cressida another chance to manipulate him.

  His lids hood as if he were seething. “She won’t see me.”

  “What?” I squawk.

  This just got serious.

  His cobalt eyes meet up with mine. “She wants all charges dropped before she says a word. And only then, she says, can I have my child.”

  “Oh, Everett.” My soul crushes with agony. Leave it to Cressida to make this mess feel as if it’s all my fault. “Go ahead and drop the charges.” It takes more willpower than I thought possible to utter those words. “The most important thing is for you to have access to your child.” br />
  “No.” He doesn’t hesitate with the answer. “I’ll find my child, Lemon. And I won’t let Cressida get away with tormenting you.”

  I land my hand over his and bear into those gorgeous deep blue eyes. “We’ll find our child. I meant what I said, Everett. I’m in this with you, through and through.”

  He closes his eyes a moment and lets out a breath he seems to have been holding forever.

  “Thank you for that.” He kisses the back of my hand and Carlotta moans like an injured cow.

  “Get a room, you two, would you?” She gives a hearty wink my way. “There ain’t nothing a little headboard knocking can’t cure.”

  Before I can swat her or fill her pie hole with snickerdoodles, the bell chimes at the entry and in files a mob of beautiful young women all about my age, mid-to-late twenties, and just as I’m about to offer them a cheery hello, I spot two women in their midst who manage to wipe the smile right off my face, Cormack Featherby and Serena Digby.

  I suck in a quick breath.

  “The nerve,” I say it lower than a whisper.

  Last February, Cormack and Cressida, the psychotic exes of Everett and Noah, hired their equally psychotic friend Serena Digby, a dark-haired beauty they went to college with, to put a hex on me.