Murder in the Mix (Books 1-3) Read online

  Standing next to the cider booth is a tall, lanky, hair-flipping two-timer that I’d know anywhere and yet loathe to see just about everywhere I spot him. It’s Tanner Redwood handing some bleached blonde a cup full of apple cider goodness. His free hand is pressed into her lower back, and they’re laughing it up as if they didn’t have a plus one in the world—or more to the point, at how bamboozled he has my sister. As much as I want to boot scoot in that direction, and dump that scalding cider over his head, I don’t feel like racking up assault charges for accidentally blistering the blonde next to him. Him I might consider doing a tiny stint in the slammer for. A misdemeanor in exchange for getting him out of Lainey’s life for good seems like a reasonable exchange. But I think better of it and do the next best thing—take a few clandestine pictures.

  A pair of hands gives my ribs a quick tickle from behind, and I scream as I bounce my way to safety.

  I turn around to find my mother laughing her head off.

  “You about gave me a heart attack. Don’t ever do that again.”

  She’s quick to wave me off. She’s donned her favorite denims and is swaddled in a flannel printed down jacket. My mother is forever the fashionista and would never miss an opportunity to dress for pumpkin picking success. I’ve donned my favorite knee-length boots, denim, and flannel as well, and I can’t help but think I got the memo from my mother, but a quick look around the vicinity proves everyone in Honey Hollow got the memo. A flannel and jeans are your typical uniform around these parts anyway.

  “Well, I didn’t know how else to break your spell. You looked like you were intensely doing something on your phone. Texting the good detective, perhaps? Or if the rumor mill is correct, was it the good judge?” That smile of hers is quickly replaced with a pinched frown, her fists digging into her hips with disapproval. “Lottie Lemon, how could you keep the fact you have two budding romances away from me? And I had to hear it from the grapevine no less!”

  A horrific groan comes from me as we make our way toward the pumpkin patch. “I’m not even sure if I have one romance, Mother. Besides, who is busy spreading rumors about my love life? Please tell them I think they can use something constructive to do during waking hours. The bakery is hiring, by the way, so feel free to spread that rumor. It happens to be true.”

  “You know I will, honey,” she says, grabbing one of the free wagons they offer to help haul your load.

  When my sisters and I were little, we used to make our mother push us around in circles until we were dizzy and fell right off those red wagons. I’ve often wondered if that’s where Meg got her love for tossing herself about so violently. She’s at the top of her game, though. I’ve heard people place more bets on her matches than any other female wrestling pairing, so there’s that.

  Mom holds up a pleasantly plump, light peach Fairytale pumpkin for me to inspect.

  “I love it,” I say, taking it from her and setting it into the wagon. “Get at least three of those. There’s something magical about them, and women especially just love them. You want to make sure your visitors feel good about every aspect of the B&B. In Business 101, I learned that depending on how you made your customers feel was ninety percent the deciding factor on whether or not they came back. Although, in my case, I’m sure the tasty treats have something to do with it. I hope.”

  She chortles at the thought. “I know so. That’s all anyone’s talking about is that grand opening of yours.” She winces as she says it before picking up a few small pumpkins tiny enough to fit in the palm of your hands.

  “Get at least thirty of those,” I say, taking in a lungful of the earthy soil beneath us. “And you don’t have to hide it. I know exactly why my grand opening was the talk of the town. Poor Bear hasn’t even responded to my messages. He’s really broken up about losing his cousin like that. And who wouldn’t be?”

  Mom shudders as the evening grows dark and sinister around us. “I just ran into Dee Fisher at the florist. She said poor Hunter didn’t have anyone but them. I didn’t realize his parents had passed away a few years back.”

  “Wow.” I’m stunned to hear it. “I didn’t realize that myself. I bet that’s why he had no one to turn to for the loan,” I say that last bit under my breath, mostly to myself.

  “Loan?” Mom startles. “Come to think of it, he did speak to Wallace extensively about his finances.”

  “Hunter did?” I take a few steps toward my mother in haste. “What did he say? Was he looking for a loan? Why did he need the money?” Who knew it would be my mother of all people who had the potential to crack this case wide open?

  Mom scoffs while leading us over to the gourds. “Wallace and I don’t make it a practice to mix business and pleasure.” She hikes her shoulder my way suggestively. “We much more prefer the pleasure.”

  “Mother! I’d cover my ears if my hands weren’t filled with acorn squash at the moment.”

  “What? You should be happy for me that I’ve found someone so handsome and eager to please me. Just like I’m happy that you found two someones looking to occupy your time. You don’t know how thrilled I am to know you won’t really grow to be some old cat lady. You need a man in your life to spice things up.” She rocks her chest my way, and I’m quick to avert my gaze. “Someone to heat the sheets with on those cold winter nights. Speaking of winter, I need to have a new heating system put in at the B&B.”

  A thought comes to me, and I can’t catch my next breath I’m so excited. “We should double date!”

  “What?” She blinks at the curveball I’ve just thrown at her. “A double date?” Her eyes expand to the size of baseballs. “Why, that’s a fabulous idea! We could bring Lainey and Tanner in on the fun. I couldn’t think of any better way for the Lemon women to kick off their brand new love lives than together.”

  “No, not Lainey.” I glance to the area where I spotted Tanner with his optional plus one, but they’re no longer haunting the vicinity. “I think she and Tanner are on the rocks. But don’t tell her I told you so,” I’m quick to warn. My mother would spoil the surprise before I ever got home as far as Tanner’s inadvertent exit strategy to leave my sister goes. “Just the two of you and Noah and me.”

  I couldn’t think of a better way to do a little inadvertent strategizing myself. I’ve been chomping at the bit for a date with Noah, and I don’t see why I shouldn’t ask him on one myself. I did ask him to that football game in Ashford last month, and that totally counts even if we were secretly spying on Coach Hagan. But nonetheless, this will be another easy excuse to get together with him. Once he sees the potential value in gleaning all we can on Wallace, he’ll happily go along—and hopefully be happy to spend time with me at the same time.

  “In fact, I’ll text him right now and see when he’s free.”

  I step a few feet away while my mother busies herself filling that wagon to the brim. Just as my thumb is about to float over my screen, I spot an all too familiar scene at the cider booth, only this time it’s not Tanner laughing it up with that bleached blonde of his—it’s Noah and a leggy redhead who looks all too eager to snuggle up next to him. Her hand is on his arm, and her shoulder edges toward his chest as if she wanted far more of him than she’s touching at the moment.

  I’ve suddenly lost the urge to discuss Hunter’s murder with Noah Fox.

  Instead, I’m entertaining two new potential homicides.

  Chapter 24

  A cold autumn night like this one usually requires a cup of cider or two to warm my bones, but the sight of Noah Fox two-timing me with some leggy redhead has my blood boiling enough to thaw the poles and cause apocalyptic devastation.

  Mom chatters on behind me, and soon she’s dragging that wagon we filled with pumpkins and gourds of every shape and size toward the cashier. I’m just about to join her when Noah looks my way and does a double take. He sidesteps away from the cackling hussy so fast you would think she were an official carrier of an airborne STD.

  “Lottie!” he shouts wit
h a wave, and I pretend not to see him as I scuttle my way to my mother. It’s murky out. The purple sky has darkened to a rich shade of navy, and the stars spray out overhead in their brilliant multitude.

  Mom is busy chatting away with Ken McMurry, and I land shoulder to shoulder with her just as Ken offers to load our haul into the back of my mother’s car.

  “Lottie.” Noah jogs up, out of breath. His cheeks look piqued as if he had exerted himself, but we both know it’s because he’s morbidly embarrassed because he was caught. “What are you doing here?” He sheds an easy grin, and it only makes me angrier.

  How dare he be unaffected by the fact I saw him pawing over some redhead, even if she was the one doing the pawing. It matters not. He allowed it.

  “I’m here with my mother. We were picking out pumpkins for the B&B. What are you doing here?” I tip my head his way, good and ready to listen in on whatever he has to say. I’m curious if this two-timer is also a liar. Most are.

  “Thanks to Captain Turner, Detective Fairbanks invited me to help out with the investigation. You know, nothing official, but she thought it would be beneficial to exchange information.”

  My heart sinks because that’s exactly what I was hoping to do with him. “And? Did you get anything useful?” My bruised ego has quickly taken a back seat to my need to have my curiosity quenched. “Do you know why Hunter needed a loan?”

  “Hunter needed a loan?” He leans in, and the heady scent of his cologne makes me feel dizzy. Just thinking about those kisses we’ve exchanged so freely has my head spinning and not in a good way. I feel like such a fool. I had no idea I was in some kind of an open relationship—some cheap fling that involved a lot of heavy kissing. Not that I minded the heavy kissing. That was sort of my favorite part.

  “I don’t know.” I decide to play coy. “Did he?” I lift a brow his way. I am so not above playing these head games right along with him.

  Mom bounces over breathless from the trek to her car. “Oh my goodness, we meet again, Detective Fox. Has Lottie mentioned the double date yet? Saturday night works for us. I just checked with Wallace.” Her shoulders do that annoying shimmy thing again. Note to self: Buy this woman a lead coat for Christmas—and a muzzle. “Anyway, I have to run.” She wrinkles her nose my way. “I just realized I’ll need to ask one of my strong boarders to help carry all of these pumpkins out of my car. The last thing I need is my interior ruined. I’ve seen the way those things liquefy seemingly overnight.” She presses a quick peck to my cheek. “Let me know what you decide. The two of you can pick the time and the place!” She wiggles her fingers at us as she’s swallowed up by the night.

  “Are we going on a double date?” Noah is back to sporting that crooked grin once again. There’s an innate cockiness about him that’s just too smug for me to handle at the moment, and I’m half-tempted to jump into my mother’s trunk myself.

  “I am. I don’t know about you.” I pluck my scarf out of my purse and wrap it around my neck. “So, were you enjoying clinking your cider with Detective Fairbanks?” I don’t see why we should ignore the redheaded elephant at the pumpkin patch.

  The scent of a floral perfume envelops us, and I turn to find Detective Ivy Fairbanks, stone-faced and staring me down.

  “Carlotta Lemon.” There’s a smugness in her voice when she says my formal name. Funny, smugness seems to be catching these days. “I might be by your bakery sometime soon. I have a few questions we need to go over.” She looks to Noah, equally as bored, and now I’m shocked he got her to laugh at all. “I’ll see you in the morning, Fox. We’ll start back here first thing.” She takes off, and neither of us says anything. I might be a little smug myself at the thought that Noah didn’t even bother saying goodnight to her, but then someone as confident, and let’s not forget intimidating, as Ivy isn’t insecure enough to let the absence of a goodbye mean a single thing. I wonder if Noah has been smooching with her, too, and as much as I don’t want to go there, I can feel the word vomit ratcheting up my throat.

  “Have the two of you kissed yet? You looked mighty friendly.” Stupid, stupid me. I hate that I let my insecurities get the better of me. But I’m not surprised. It’s practically my MO. No wonder all of my exes cheat on me. They can’t get away from me fast enough to break things off properly.

  Noah rumbles with a dark laugh as he swoops me into his arms and gently lands his lips to mine for a good ten seconds. Those soft, delicious lips sealed to mine feel like heaven. It feels like bliss with Noah, his mouth warming mine, his body solid against my own. Everything about him is pushing me over the edge. It takes all of my self-control not to dive my fingers into his thick hair.

  He pulls back just enough for his ivy green eyes to glow my way, and I can’t help but smile despite all of my lunacy.

  “I save all of my kisses for you, Lottie Lemon.”

  My insides disintegrate, and every last cell in my body is swooning hard for the handsome fox with his arms wrapped securely around me right now.

  His dark brows do a quick waggle. “Did I score an invite to that double date?”

  “Maybe.” I shrug. “I guess it depends if you’re up for exchanging a little info on the case.” It comes out hopeful. “I just have to clear Bear’s name and get to the bottom of whoever killed Hunter. It feels like it’s killing me as much as it’s killed him.”

  Noah stiffens as he glances in the direction of the parking lot. “I can’t, Lottie. I’m sorry. I promised Detective Fairbanks that I wouldn’t share any details from the case. That was the deciding factor in allowing me to work with her. She doesn’t want anything or anyone tainting the case. I get it. And”—he winces—“I know we already talked about this, but I want you safe. And if you’re investigating this case, then I won’t be able to stop worrying about you. There is a very real killer out there with a gun, and he or she is not afraid to use it.”

  I can’t help but frown as I gently remove his arms from my person. “I get it.” I shrug as I head over to the cider booth. I certainly don’t need a man to make all of my cider dreams come true. Before I can toss a dollar into the basket, Noah beats me to it.

  “It’s on me.” He sheds a pained smile. “Just like dinner will be Saturday night.”

  “Fine, but just know that I’m thoroughly annoyed that you’re so unwilling to share details about something that’s so important to me. How would you like it if a good friend of yours was gunned down right in the back of your own bakery on the night of its grand opening no less? You wouldn’t.” I don’t hesitate answering for him. “You would resent the fact that I chose to keep Everett as my confidant instead of trusting your abilities to keep things quiet.”

  “Everett?” He balks with a laugh. “I don’t think my former stepbrother would be too interested investigating a homicide.” He pulls me in again gently with his arms. “You’re not involving Everett, are you?” He’s right back to wincing as if the idea pained him. I happen to know firsthand that Everett is an easy way to push his buttons. In that sense, it wasn’t fair of me to go there.

  “Not yet.” I shudder just thinking about the fact he threatened to interrogate me over a dead squirrel no less!

  “How about it? You, me, your mother, and her date, Saturday night?”

  A tiny giggle works its way up my throat. “Fine. Just know that I’m the reason you’ll be seated across from Wallace Chad that night. My mother mentioned that he and Hunter spoke about finances.”

  “You mentioned he was looking for a loan.” He sighs, and a white plume blooms from his lips. “So, you know he was having trouble with money?”

  “I’ll tell you what I know if you tell me why you need to meet Detective Fairbanks here tomorrow morning. You do realize that a person can get lost for weeks in that haunted corn maze if they’re not properly caffeinated before noon.”

  He barks out a laugh, and his teeth glisten like a string of glowing moons. “Yes, I do realize that. I guess there’s no harm in telling you he was looking for employm
ent here. Just helping out at night. Ken was busy, but we’ll speak with him more in the morning about it.”

  “Oh. No, I didn’t know that.” I glance over to Ken and Molly who are helping organize a hayride. Not the terrifying one that they sell tickets for, but the run-of-the-mill kind you can take your toddler on and not fear nightmares for the next six years. “I guess he really was having trouble with money. I’ll talk to Bear and try to find out how much he was paying him. I can’t believe it wasn’t enough.”

  “No, no, no.” He tips his head back and moans mournfully before holding my gaze once again. “If you talk to Bear, and we talk to Bear about the same topic, it might spook him. Let me handle the investigation, and you worry about how many brownies to bake for the next day. Sound fair?”

  I open my mouth to protest, then quickly close it. Working with the Ashford Homicide Division could be a big break for Noah. I’d feel terrible ruining it for him.

  “Fair,” I say it short and sweet, all the while crossing my fingers behind his back. No use in worrying him over something so silly. Bear is used to me asking all sorts of prying questions. And honestly, I might be the only person he feels comfortable opening up to. “So, Saturday night—Italian or Mexican? Or, of course, there’s always the Honey Pot.”

  “I’m not above trying something new. Italian sounds a bit more neutral as far as the heat level goes.”

  “Sounds perfect.” I lose myself in those evergreen eyes. “I’ve missed you.”