Wedding Cake Carnage, page 16
part #11 of Murder in the Mix Series
Lainey and Forest exchange I dos, and before I know it, they’re running down the aisle once again as the crowd breaks out into wild cheers. And it’s done. Lainey and Forest have just crossed over into their happily ever after.
Noah and Everett come my way.
“You did great, Lottie.” Noah takes my hand and lands a kiss to the back.
Everett nods. “Lemon, you look dangerously gorgeous in that dress. I get the first dance.”
“Done.” I spot Jackie stepping into the back of the Evergreen ballroom. “Would you two excuse me? There’s one more thing I need to supervise, and Lord knows nothing can go wrong today.”
“Sure thing.” Noah points toward the woods. “Ivy’s here. I thought we might need extra eyes on the grounds.”
“Good thinking. And she’s more than welcome at the reception.”
I take off and bump into a body as soon as I get through the door.
“Lottie”—Hook catches me before I sail into a wall—“whoa. Careful there.” He lets go and backtracks before I can head into the next room. “Hey, I did a little research, and Underwood Investments is indeed a huge enterprise. The strange thing is, I couldn’t find any satellites. Do me a favor, and keep your money far away from that outfit. I’m going to investigate further sometime next week.”
“Yeah, sure. No worries. My money isn’t going anywhere.” I stride into the ballroom and the sight of all the beautiful tables takes my breath away. I’ve been in here all afternoon, but it’s not until now that the lights have been dimmed and the magic of the twinkle lights has taken over. It’s beyond beautiful and tears come to my eyes once again. In the corner, the cake I worked on gleams under the duress of this low lighting—three lavender tiers, each tinged with thick gold icing dripping down the sides, exactly the way Lainey wanted. It looks amazing if I do say so myself.
“Hey, Lottie!” Jackie waves from the front near the head table with a luxurious spread of flowers cascading over it. “What do you think?” She thumps her hand over one of the Grecian columns set to either side of the table.
“I think it’s sheer perfection. I know Jana would be proud of it. Lainey will love it, too.”
Pierce comes up beaming with a smile. “It took a little grunt work, but we got it done.” He slips his arm around Jackie’s waist, and I can’t help but think it looks a touch invasive, intimate.
“Yes, you did. Thank you so much. Hey, I was talking to Steven a bit ago, and I’ve thought about what he said. I’m ready to invest my money.” My heart thumps wildly. This is hardly the venue to keep pecking away at suspects, but I can’t help it. It’s what I was born to do.
His brows arch. “That’s fantastic. Swing by the office anytime, and Steven will set you right up. Don’t worry, Lottie. Your money will be in safe hands. You’re making the right decision.” He pats Jackie on the bottom. “I left some tools out by the kitchen. I’ll be right back.” He takes off, and I watch as she blows him a kiss.
My God, they’re not even hiding it anymore.
My heart sinks as the DJ starts playing a little mood music.
“Lainey and Forest have gone to the falls with the photographer,” I say. “It’s only five minutes away, and they’re going to take a few couple’s shots and come right back. I don’t have my purse with me, but I’d love to pay you for your time.” My throat grows scratchy from the lie.
“Please—just bring another box of those delicious donuts to the office the next time you swing by, and we’ll call it even.”
“Consider it done. I guess, in the meantime, I’ll go online and check out your website.”
She averts her eyes as she leans in. “We don’t have a website per se. That’s actually another Underwood Investments. We get mistaken for them all the time. Truthfully, I think that’s why our clients are so quick to use us. But Pierce knows what he’s doing. I have all my spare change locked up with them. It’s a good place. Welcome to the family, Lottie.”
“Thank you,” I say stiffly as I watch her finish polishing the columns.
I head out and spot Hook once again. “Hook!” I prance my way over as fast as my kitten heels will allow. “Jackie just fessed up.” I spill quickly what she mentioned about the website.
“I knew it.” He slaps his thigh. “That’s called a cheater brand. Pierce is riding on the coattails of someone else’s hard work. I knew as soon as you said binary investments this was a crooked setup. Stay the heck away. You hear me? I’m going to talk to Noah about investigating them for fraud. If I’m right, they’re not investing much into commodities as they are into their own bank accounts. No wonder the guy is rolling around town in every luxury car known to man. He’s nothing but a swindler.”
I take off for the back, determined to find Noah or Everett to share the news.
“Lottie!” Meg comes crashing my way. “Lainey just texted and said to make sure line item fifty-seven is taken care of by the time they get back. What was line item fifty-seven?”
“Line item fifty-seven? Crap.” I pick up the skirt of my dress. “I’ve got the wedding bible in my car. I’ll be right back.” I make a beeline for my beat-up hatchback and get all the way there when I realize my purse is somewhere in the changing room upstairs. Oh heck, it’s a good thing my mother slapped a hide-a-key on this jalopy many Christmases ago, as she did for my sisters as well. Once my dad passed away, my mother became both mother and father to us, and this is just another example of her taking care of us.
I pause a moment to soak in the fact my dear sweet father was indeed here to walk Lainey down the aisle. It was heartbreakingly amazing, and equally agonizing because I was the only person on this side of the great divide who was able to witness the event—well, outside of Carlotta, if she noticed at all.
I pluck the key out from the wheel well and have that wedding bible in my hands in no time. I crack it right open to the center and trace my finger down the list, but it ends at fifty-six.
What?
Wait a minute. I tip my head back.
I think this just might be Lainey’s way of getting back at us for the naughty nightie party—which Forest should be penning me a thank you for—or for that raucous night out at the Lady’s Lounge, or perhaps even for a change of venue.
“Well played, Lainey Donovan. Well played.”
A few pages slip out the side of the enormous tomb. I catch them in the air and gasp at the sight.
In my hands I hold the missing pages to Jana’s journal. Every last one of them.
My heart thumps like a jackrabbit as I plop the wedding bible back onto the driver’s seat and I read as fast as my eyes will allow.
Oh my God.
Nobody broke in and ripped these pages out of her diary. Jana tore them out herself—in the event something horrible was about to happen to her. And she put them in the very place she knew someone would look.
And now I know her secret.
I know exactly why Jana March was killed.
Chapter 20
It was right there under my nose, literally—the answer I was so desperately seeking. I suppose it’s that way with many things, all of those aches that clutter my heart. But when you don’t know where to look or that the answer lies less than an arm’s length away, you struggle for a solution—and sometimes, in the end, that helps paint a clearer picture.
A quick visual scan of the parking lot doesn’t avail a single soul I’m looking for.
I send a quick group text to Noah and Everett and ask them to meet me at the gazebo.
There are still so many questions, so many unanswered reasons why Jana had to die. Was what I read reason enough? If the answer is self-preservation of the killer, then yes, it was more than reason enough.
I’m about to lock up my car when I spot Jackie and Pierce closing up the trunk of a cargo van. I jog over in hopes to clarify a few things before they leave.
“Hey!” Jackie waves. “We’re taking off. And I meant what I said. Bring those donuts and we’ll take care of everything else. In fact, I’ll knock fifty percent off Steven’s fee. Don’t tell him I said so.” She winks at Pierce before patting her hips down. “Shoot. I left my keys in the ballroom. I’ll be right back.”
She bolts off and I take a few careful steps in close to him. My heart thumps wildly and my adrenaline picks up.
He tips his head to the side as our eyes lock. Yes, Pierce is a very handsome man, muscular, exorbitantly wealthy. I can see why women would give him whatever he wanted, why some would give him their dignity.
“What’s going on, Lottie?” His expression deadens as if he knew what I had found, what I know.
“Noah and Everett are on their way over,” I say for no reason other than the fact I felt I needed to. I pull out my phone and click over to the group chat.
“What are you looking at?” He comes over close, his arms menacingly crossed, and I quickly clutch the phone to my chest.
“Nothing. I was just checking my messages.” I start to walk backward. “So, will I see you at the office next week? Jackie is right. I’m bringing donuts.” A weak laugh emits from me.
His eyes remain trained on mine as he continues to walk my way, my feet never slowing as I try to slowly head back to the manor.
“I’d better go. They’re going to come looking for me,” I say.
“I’m sure they will.” His brows pull into a line, and it looks intimidating. I’m sure it’s meant to be. “So it’s true? You’re the best?”
“The best what?” I shake my head as my dress catches my eye. “Maid of honor! You’re right. I’d better get back.” I try to circle around him, but he blocks my path.
“Best at hunting down a killer.” A laugh rattles in his chest, low and threatening like a thunderstorm looming on the horizon.
“You killed her? You killed Jana?” I shake my head as I continue to make my way backward. “Because of what? The fact she overheard a conversation?”
He closes his eyes for a brief moment. “So you do know.”
I suck in a quick breath. “It’s true. You’re running some silly scam and Jana found out about it. She heard you and Steven having an argument about sales. And for that you killed her?” She also said she was through with him, and that as soon as my sister’s wedding was over she would dump him—but not before she went to the police. Sweet Jana didn’t want anything making waves for Lainey’s wedding—not even her own broken heart.
“Silly scam?” He barks out a laugh. “That silly scam is a felony offense. If anyone had gotten wind of it, I’d be sitting in a penitentiary instead of on a yacht come next week.”
We hit the edge of the woods, and I glance back to the Evergreen Manor, a speck compared to what it was.
I’m not going into the woods. I’ve played this game one too many times before. My body instantly drenches in sweat. I can feel the gun hot against my thigh, begging me to pick it up. But Pierce is strong. He can overpower me in the same way I’ve been overpowered in the past. That gun was used against me once before and I was lucky that it didn’t kill me, but I’m not feeling so lucky anymore.
A spear of light blinds me from the west, and I spot Beasty bounding over, Lea on his back spurring him on by kicking her heels into his sides. It’s always nice to see the supernatural cavalry arrive, even if it signals the end of their stay—Beasty’s at least. I have no idea how to keep my promise to him.
“So you’re leaving the country?” A laugh gets buried in my throat. “That should have been my tip-off. The killer always leaves the country.” In the movies at least.
“And you would have been wrong,” a female voice projects from my right, and I find Jackie strutting over with an enormous tote bag slung over her shoulder. “I lured Jana to the back of the convention center.” She shrugs. “What can I say? He’s my boss. He tells me what to do and I do it.”
I can’t help but scoff. “Some best friend.”
“I was her best friend,” she grits it through her teeth. “I stopped Pierce from putting a hit on her. And, believe me, they weren’t going to be as humane as I was able to be.”
“You could have gone to the sheriff’s department.” I shake my head in disbelief.
“And what? Had a hit out on me, too? No thanks. I lured Jana to the back, yes, but when push came to shove, I didn’t think I could pull the trigger.” She looks to Pierce. “That’s why he had Steven meet up with us just as we left the building. I guess you could say I needed a cheerleader. I pulled the gun out. I had only used it once before. I didn’t think I could do it. But I had to. Jana wasn’t safe. She wanted to go to the police. She couldn’t keep us safe.” She shudders as she slides the tote bag off her shoulder. “Anyway, things are starting to look up for me. I’ve got a new best friend.” She looks to Pierce. “And he’s pretty good in bed, too.”
So that’s the benefit she got for killing Jana—Pierce. Something tells me Jackie was just looking for an excuse, and Pierce presented the perfect setup. Jackie believed she had to do it to save her own life. I’m sure she further justified it by thinking Jana would have done the same. But Jana wouldn’t have. Not in a million years.
“Knew it.” A choking sound emits from me. “I hope you know you’re still sharing him. Monica Peeler,” I say, looking at Pierce. “She’s your side girl, right? That’s what your sister told me.”
His eyes harden dark as stones. “I knew you were snooping around. You stupid little—”
Something solid and hard whacks me on the side of the head, and I land face-first in a bed of pine needles.
I look up groggily to find Jackie hoisting that tote bag back over her shoulder.
“Let’s get out of here.” She tugs at his hand, but Pierce is immovable.
“We’re not leaving her here to snitch.”
“So what?” Jackie’s voice rides high in a panic. “We can have the plane ready in ten minutes. We were leaving anyway.”
They were leaving? Together? I bet they were about to stiff Steven with the felonious bag.
I go to move and my head feels like a bowling ball. The gun grazes against my thigh and I carefully reach down and slide it out of its holster. The memory of the blowback comes to mind, and I gird myself even though I’m nowhere near firing it.
“We’re not killing her.” Jackie yanks at his arm.
“We’re sure as hell not leaving her. I can’t risk it.”
“Exactly!” she roars in his face.
Beasty slinks up. “Avenge my sweet Jana now or so help me heaven, I will do it myself.” He belts out a ferocious roar, and it spurs me to jump to my feet.
“Lottie”—Lea calls out—“aim low for the man. He deserves a solid hit.” Her eyes burn like fire, and it adds a frightening appeal to her already, well, frightening appeal.
I lift the gun toward Pierce, and my hands shake hard.
Jackie turns my way, and her mouth opens—to warn Pierce—to scream—I don’t know which because I fire.
Pierce bucks and staggers backward, holding his stomach as Lea shouts out a wild cheer.
Beasty roars as he races his way and stomps over Pierce’s chest. “Wasn’t fatal. Try again.”
“What?” I look to Jackie as she places her hands in the air. She’s walking backward, and I can see the need to run in her eyes.
“Lottie!” Noah shouts and I hear what sounds like the stampeding of wild horses headed in this direction.
Noah and Everett and Ivy, too. I can see them in my peripheral vision.
“Let me go,” Jackie pleads. “Lottie, let’s turn Pierce and Steven in together. Nobody has to know our secret. I was trapped. I had no choice. You have no proof I killed Jana. I’ll say it’s their word against mine. Please, forget everything you heard. Do it for Jana. I’m begging you.”
“I will. I will do it for Jana,” I say just as Ivy barks at Jackie to put her hands up and fall to her knees. “She killed her.” I nod to Jackie. “And trust me, I did that for Jana because I was a real friend to her.”
Noah lands hard over Pierce and cuffs him, ignoring the fact he’s already moaning on the ground.
“Jackie killed Jana. Steven and Pierce were in on it,” I pant as Everett collapses his arms around me. He takes the gun from my shaky hands and lands a kiss on the top of my head.
“It’s over.” Everett warms me with his body as Beasty makes his way toward us.
“Good work,” he thunders it out like a threat. It’s clear he’s still as worked up as I am.
Lea’s eyes sparkle a strange shade of crimson, and it’s unnerving. “I want another murder in Honey Hollow. I want another killer to catch, and I want it now!”
Greer and Winslow appear from nowhere, and Greer takes up the little girl’s hand.
“Is that any way to talk, young lady?” Greer is quick to scold her. “We do not wish homicides on the good people of Honey Hollow. I’m afraid you’ll have to go to your room and think about that for a while.”
“Do I have to?” Lea whines to Winslow.
“I think it’s best,” he says with a wink. “I’ll join you and we’ll play knock the books off the shelf.”
“That is my very favorite game.”
They wave my way as the three of them dissipate to nothing.
I meet up with Everett’s sky-blue eyes. “And now that’s what you call a family.”
Beasty roars as he begins to dissipate as well.
“No, no.” I traipse over, my hand still holding tight to Everett. “I’m not ready for you to go, Beasty.” I run my hand over his fur, and it feels like a fine silk rug from the Orient. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t keep my promise to you.”
“I’ve changed my mind. I’m going willingly. I need to comfort my sweet Jana. I’ll be back someday. Perhaps sooner than later.” His head rolls in a soft circle. “Your powers are growing. I’m thankful for all you’ve allowed. Be well.” A magnificent spray of light infiltrates the very spot he was standing in, and everyone in the vicinity winces.
