Killer Cupcakes (MURDER IN THE MIX Book 14) Read online

  Chapter 4

  Arrested.

  Okay, so my mother wasn’t arrested, but she might as well have been what with all the crying and screaming and histrionics—and that was just me.

  Meg and Lainey drove down to Ashford to be with my mother. And Everett drove me down as well. But after a few hours, my mother demanded that Everett take me home so that I could get some sleep before opening the bakery this morning.

  But believe you me, not a wink of shut-eye was experienced last night. Instead, I ruminated over the scant facts in this case, tossing and turning until my alarm mercifully went off.

  Everett offered to stay the night. He said he had a surefire way of getting me to sleep—and now that I’ve been wandering around the bakery like a zombie all morning, it’s clear I should have taken him up on the lusty offer.

  And really? Who am I to shut down Everett?

  I’m not really married to Noah, am I? I mean, I am in the eyes of the law—and boy, I meant every word I said to him that day. But I’m pretty sure whatever could have happened between Everett and me last night would have been far more medicinal than it ever would of the philandering nature.

  I wonder how many cheats have armed themselves with the exact same defense?

  “That’s a lot of cupcakes, Lottie,” Lily says as I head over to fill up the refrigerated shelves in front.

  “Friendly ghost cupcakes,” I muse as I carefully place the delicate goodies in one by one. The cupcakes themselves are devil’s food. I took the tops and dipped them into a chocolate glaze to give it a nice glossy sheen, then piped a three-inch white ghost made entirely of frosting up top, complete with miniature chocolate chip eyes.

  Lily swipes one for herself. “So, how did things turn out with your mother?”

  “I don’t know. I mean, I stayed as late as I could, but I ended up coming home before they let her go. Lainey texted at about one in the morning saying they had just got back. So I’m guessing everyone had a pretty rotten night’s sleep.”

  “Well, I didn’t have a wink of sleep either.” Her voice is low and throaty, and I stand upright and close the refrigerated shelf in the event Lily is about to spill some juicy tidbits on exactly why she didn’t catch a wink. “Alex came over to tuck me in and made sure all of my dreams came true last night.”

  “What?” a female voice screeches from behind and we turn to find both Keelie and her sister, Naomi, with their mouths open wide. Keelie and Naomi are twins, both my age, but Keelie has decided to keep her blonde curly locks natural as opposed to Naomi’s harshly dyed black tresses. Naomi’s hair is long and glossy, and the raven’s wing black hue looks magical on her, enhancing her already shocking beauty.

  I’m guessing the screeching came from Naomi since both she and Lily have been warring over Alex. Lily has already slept with Alex as far back as last month, but no one has dared to breathe this information in Naomi’s direction, so I’m guessing this is the first she’s hearing about it.

  Naomi digs her fingers into Lily’s shoulder and yanks her to the side.

  “Take it back!” she shouts so loud that what little customers I have in the bakery scuttle on out.

  “Oh no, you don’t!” I bark as I pull Lily to the side, and Keelie does her best to subdue her sister. “Not in my bakery, ladies. If you want to duke it out over that shirt full of muscles, you can take it to the alley.”

  Naomi huffs my way, “Wouldn’t you just love to stick me out there with a killer running loose. Not on your life, Lottie Lemon.”

  Naomi and I might have a touch of bad blood between us, but it’s entirely on her side. Way back in high school, she wanted to date my boyfriend, Otis Bear Fisher, while we were still locked in a relationship and has never forgiven me for the fact she couldn’t get him to cheat. The irony being that he cheated on me with just about everyone else. However, Bear has since cleaned up his cheating ways and is currently engaged to Keelie.

  Naomi leans in toward Lily as far as Keelie will allow. “And you are dead to me. Don’t bother coming to the Monsters Ball.” She looks my way. “It’s a formal event, costumes required, taking place Halloween night at the Evergreen Manor. Lottie, the Evergreen would like for you to cater the sweet treats. I’ll leave the details up to you.” She sneers at her once upon a best friend. “All the who’s who of Honey Hollow will be there. And since you’ve been banished, I guess Alex will be my date that evening—just like he will tonight.”

  Lily’s mouth falls open. “Where are you going tonight?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know.” She winks over at her before taking off.

  “That was brutal.” I shudder in their heated wake.

  Lily flits a hostile stare to both Keelie and me. “If either of you finds out where they’re headed tonight, I want the heads-up. There’s no way I’m letting her run off with my man. I’m raising my spear and heading into battle.”

  Keelie shrugs. “They’re headed to Mangias tonight with Bear and me.”

  I smile at the thought of Keelie and Bear Fisher making it work. As of last month, they officially became engaged.

  “Any word on the wedding details yet?” I scuttle forward. “Have you got a date? A season?”

  Keelie sighs dreamily as she looks out the window. “I don’t know. Every season feels like the right season to marry Bear. I guess it depends on how fancy I want the event to be. Naomi already said I could have it at the Evergreen.”

  “And I’m baking all the treats, including the cake,” I offer.

  Keelie’s cheeks pinch pink. “Thank you, Lot. That means everything to me. I’ll try to figure it all out and get back to you. Speaking of weddings, how’s it feel to be the new Mrs. Fox?”

  Lily makes a face. “I heard Essex is livid. Personally, I think you had it backward. If you were to marry anyone accidentally, it should have been him.”

  “Believe me, that would have been easier. Everett and I have maintained our hot and heavy status, but I just can’t get my head around being with him physically now that Noah and I are hitched.”

  Lily gives a husky laugh. “It’s not your head you need to wrap around him. It’s your other body parts.” She takes off for the register as a cluster of customers wanders in.

  Keelie leans my way. “This sounds like the perfect time to give Noah a trial run just the way Everett demanded. Isn’t he the one who said you should look for closure with Noah? Now that you’re Mrs. Fox, I say feel out the lay of the land. See if the glass slipper fits.”

  “You mean really dive into the deep end of matrimony?”

  “Yup. What better way to know if the two of you are destined to spend your lives together.”

  “Huh.” I think about it for a minute. “Maybe I will.”

  A little past noon, once the lunch rush dies down—and believe it or not, the bakery does have one, I decide to hightail it to my mother’s bed and breakfast armed with enough delicious ghostly cupcakes to entice the dead back to life.

  I can just imagine how upset she must be. Not only is she grieving the man she spent quite a bit of intimate time with these last few months, but she’s a suspect in an active homicide investigation.

  The B&B was my mother’s big purchase with the life insurance money once my father passed. Of course, she had enough stashed away to put my sisters and me through college, but the rest went to polishing up this place.

  The autumn air is crisp as I come upon the enormous structure. The B&B is an oversized white mansion with innumerous bedrooms and bathrooms. And as far as places to stay in Honey Hollow go, both it and the Evergreen Manor are the only shows in town.

  Much like Disney’s famed Haunted Mansion, this one too is full of disembodied spirits. It used to be that my mother was getting the overflow from the Evergreen, but as of late it’s the other way around. You might say that my mother is the hostess with the ghostess when it comes to giving her customers what they want. And apparently, what they want is to have the socks scared right off of them.

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bsp; I head on in with my big box of cupcakes and take in the dark mahogany wood lining the walls and the thick emerald carpet that offers this place a cozy appeal. The B&B might be cozy in theory, but it’s mammoth inside, with a formal grand room, a main dining room that serves dinner nightly, and recently my mother had a colossal conservatory attached that has played host to many events. During the day it serves as a café, and that’s exactly where I’m headed to land these spooky sweet treats. The entire room is constructed of glass and steel, and it makes you feel as if you’re having a picnic in the middle of the woods.

  I head straight for the conservatory and spot Carlotta seated with the ghost of Greer Giles, a girl about my age who was shot to death last winter, and ensconced between them is that unlucky cat, Thirteen. His fur is thick and glossy and tiny sparks emit from around his ears as he twitches his head. And both Greer and Carlotta look to be rapt at attention to whatever it is he’s regaling them with.

  I set the cupcakes down on the refreshment counter and quickly take a seat at their table.

  “Hello all,” I say as I lean over and give Thirteen a quick pat over the head. “You belonged to Pastor Gaines, didn’t you?”

  The tiny beast jerks his head my way. “Pastor who?”

  “That’s right,” I say, looking to Carlotta and Greer. “His name wasn’t Stephen Gaines at all. It was Stephen Heartwood.”

  They both suck in a quick breath.

  Greer leans in. Her dark hair is long and glossy and looks as if she just had a fresh blowout. “Carlotta says your mother is a suspect.” Greer is beautiful, with high-cut cheekbones, dark hook-like eyebrows that lend her a villain appeal, and plump pink lips that always look ready to pucker.

  I make a face. “Not only is she a suspect, but she’s the prime suspect. Noah doesn’t have anything else to go on at the moment.” I bite down on my lip. “That’s not entirely true. Cormack was the last to speak to him.”

  Carlotta waves it off. “We both know that dimwit would have shot herself in the foot if she were holding a loaded gun in her hand.”

  “I don’t know,” I muse. “She did pass a gun safety course with me a few months back.”

  Greer bats her unearthly long lashes at me. “Word on the street is that it was your gun that did him in.”

  Now it’s me sucking in a quick breath. “Have they made it official?” My heart wallops against my chest. “I can’t believe my mother or anyone else would take my gun and do that. But then, Cormack was in my kitchen. She could have found a way to open the safe, plucked the gun out, shot im-pastor Gaines, and planted Ethel in my mother’s purse.” A thought comes to me as I remember that conversation Lily and I had about fixing the ground safe. The lock wasn’t working. My mother didn’t have to break in—and neither did Cormack.

  “Who’s Ethel?” Greer looks genuinely concerned.

  “Her gun.” Carlotta takes a breath.

  Thirteen twitches his whiskers and he looks so very adorable. Something about his sweetness reminds me of my own two cats, Pancake and Waffles. They’re fluffy cream-colored Himalayans with rust-tipped tails, but they share that same aloof adorableness that all felines seem to possess.

  The tiny cat lifts his pink nose my way. “You really have it in for this Cormack person, don’t you?”

  “Ha!” Carlotta honks. “I’ll say. Lottie has been ticked for months that the blonde bimbo attached herself to her ex-boyfriend’s side.” She narrows her wicked peepers at me. “But then, he’s not your ex-anything anymore, is he, Mrs. Fox?”

  Greer gasps, “You finally made a decision between the two? You dumped Essex?”

  No, I didn’t dump Essex. And no, Greer and Everett never did get around to doing the deed. She bit the big one before she could pin him to a mattress, but she takes liberties with his name regardless, so Essex it is.

  “I haven’t dumped anyone,” I’m quick to correct, and Carlotta rolls her eyes.

  “That’s the beauty of being Lottie.”

  Greer lifts a glass as if she was toasting. “Hear, hear.”

  “More like see, see,” I say, taking the glass from her in the event a seemingly innocent guest should see the paranormal phenomenon and pass out. A glass that is seemingly floating all by its lonesome is sure to draw its fair share of supernatural attention.

  “Oh my God!” a woman shrieks from behind and we turn to find Cormack white as a proverbial ghost. “That glass!” She hightails it over and sits right onto Greer’s lap. “It just floated in midair!” Her eyes bulge as she looks to me. “It’s true then what Britney says.”

  I can’t help but roll my eyes at the mention of Noah’s ex-wife. “Lay it on me.”

  “You’re a witch!”

  Greer bubbles with laughter, and it sends Cormack bouncing up and down as if she were about to morph into a human jackhammer. Just the sight of the spectacle has Thirteen tossing back his furry head with laughter. Honestly, there is no sweeter sight.

  A sharp yelp comes from Cormack as she hops right out of her seat.

  “Don’t you hurt me!” She lifts her arms in the air as if surrendering. “You think you can intimidate me into staying away from Noah, but I’ll tell you right now. That is never going to happen. You might have dark powers at your fingertips. You might have the ability to turn me into a frog, but one thing you lack. You will never pry me away from my one true love, Noah Corbin Fox.” She takes off, and a sigh of exasperation expels from me.

  Just as I’m about to tear my gaze from the exit, a young girl—a six-year-old girl to be exact—heads this way with her long brown hair covering her face. She’s wearing an old dingy pinafore and a pair of scuffed Mary Jane slippers. She’s wielding a bloody knife in her hand and growling like a monster ready for its next kill.

  Poor Thirteen hops to all fours at the sight of her and his back arches dramatically as his hair stands on end.

  “Azalea Marie!” Greer scolds.

  “Marie? Is that her middle name?” I marvel. Little Lea—I don’t dare call her Azalea because she doesn’t care for it—was adopted by Greer and her two-hundred-year-old boyfriend, Winslow Decker. Winslow died right here in Honey Hollow in his prime and has yet to leave the area. Same is true for little Lea. It turns out, her family was hacked to pieces on the land the B&B was built on and she’s stayed on to procure her vengeance.

  Greer combs back the little ghoul’s hair with her fingers until the tiny tot’s adorable upturned nose peeks through. Lea is a beautiful little girl despite her gruesome scare tactics.

  “I want the cat,” Lea spits it out as she snatches Thirteen off the table and skips off with him.

  “So?” Greer sparkles back to life as she taps her garnet red nails over the table. “Have you and Detective Fox consummated the union? Or is the big night still on the horny horizon?”

  “Stop.” I quickly look to Carlotta. “And don’t you get started either. Noah and I are taking things slow—think glacial. In fact, last night, after the haunted festivities, we were going to go on our first official date as a married couple. But, as you can see, fate threw a body in the way.”

  Carlotta grunts, “Death and marital destruction seems to be a theme with you and the dicey detective. What happens when you spend some time with the judge?”

  Greer belts out a deep-throated chuckle. “She sees stars, Carlotta. And don’t try to deny it, Lottie. They’re right there in your eyes.”

  “Yes, well, Noah had me seeing stars, too, right up until his wife showed up in town. But Britney is old news.” I hold out my bare finger. “And Noah and I are new again.”

  “Take him for a spin, Lot.” Carlotta kicks me from under the table.

  “I’m not taking him for a spin.” Keelie’s battle cry comes to mind from earlier this morning and I’m sensing a theme.

  Greer purrs like a kitten. “I’d take him for a spin. That man is one delicious hunk of beefcake. I don’t see what’s stopping you. It’s perfectly legal with both the earthen and the heavenly laws.”<
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  I’m about to toss out a sassy comeback when I spot an all too familiar face in the rear of the B&B, laughing it up with friends while carving holes in the tops of pumpkins and filling them with gorgeous sunflowers.

  “Is that my mother out there?” I balk at the sight of her strange behavior.

  “Yuppers.” Carlotta is quick to snap me back to reality.

  “Excuse me.” I head out through the back door. And sure as the stars are in the sky, my mother stands nestled with a cluster of her best friends—Chrissy Nash, the Mayor’s ex-wife, and Becca Turner, Keelie’s mother, and some women I’ve never seen before.

  “Lottie!” My mother waves a pair of pruning shears my way. “Come join the fun! The horticulture club is making centerpieces for all the autumn festivities happening in Honey Hollow this month.” She taps her finger to the pumpkin in front of her. “This one is going to the bank, and that one is going to the mayor’s office.” She gives me a sly wink because Mayor Nash is the reason I’m witnessing this lunacy being that he’s my bio daddy. “And, of course, the B&B and the Evergreen will get the bulk of them. But don’t you worry. I’ll send a choice few to the bakery as well.”

  “Mother”—I quickly pull her to the side where I can rage at her in private—“you’re the prime suspect in a murder investigation. Don’t you think you should spend at least one day mourning the deceased? I mean, Pastor Gaines was your boyfriend.”

  She makes a face as she steals a moment to crane her neck back at her horticulture cohorts.

  “The truth is, I don’t miss him, Lottie.” Her features harden as she looks me in the eye. “And I don’t know who killed him, but a part of me wonders if he didn’t deserve it.”

  She stalks off and resumes her position at the table with her friends.

  My mouth falls open as I look to my sweet mother and wonder how on earth her heart grew so cold.

  Chapter 5

  There is nothing more majestic than an October evening right here in Honey Hollow. The sky is just as scarlet as the leaves, and the wind holds an icy bite to it as if reprimanding you for being outside in the first place. Pumpkins have dotted every porch and storefront, and there are scarecrows cropping up on every front lawn, including the town square at the end of Main Street.