Page 52 of Macaron Massacre
He stops moving. His face screws up with the ripe look of anger, and the next thing I know his hand is over my mouth as he violently drags me deep into the woods.
“I’m going to kill you, Lottie. I’m going to make it quick so I don’t have to hear your squeaky little voice anymore. I’ll make it look like an accident, push you down the ravine on the other side of these boulders. People will think you broke your neck in the fall. I knew you were trouble. I should have done away with you first.”
A thousand thoughts sail through my mind at once. I think of Everett and Noah, of my family. I can’t die. I’m too young. I’m going to be a mother one day. Nell said so herself. That has to happen. It just has to.
“Nell!” I give a muffled cry through his hold over my mouth. And, sure enough, a blaze of light streaks its way through the forest. A fallen log lifts off the ground and flies through the air, coming right at us at top speed as my eyes watch with fright.
Scott turns to see what’s got my attention and ducks us to the left, narrowly missing Nell’s horrifying effort at bat. He trips and loosens his hold on me just enough for me to do my best to stagger away.
“It was you! Rich won that money from you, didn’t he?” I trip over a branch on the ground and am quick to right myself.
“Lottie!” Nell cries. “Get out of the woods! It’s dangerous. If I do much more to stop him, I’ll be yanked right back to paradise.”
I gasp at the thought. That’s exactly what happened to the ghost of Max Finmore last month when he levitated the killer right off the ground—and Max and I didn’t even get to say goodbye.
Scott races forward and grabs hold of my wrist as I try to get away. “Yes, Rich won the money, but only because I let him win.”
“What?”
“We had it all worked out.” He spins me in close, and his arm clasps over my waist like a seatbelt that’s too tight. “Those brutes from the Canellis thought they had us in the palm of their hands, but we were playing them for months. We set it up so that he signaled me when he had a good hand and I put it all in, and so did the rest of the table. I was supposed to have doubled my money that night. And in a couple of weeks, I was going to return the favor. If he was smart, he would have been rolling in it.”
“Clever. But Rich was greedy.” I jerk free, and my backpack wallops me over the back.
Nell glides next to me and carefully unzips it. “That’s right, Lottie. You came prepared, didn’t you?” Her voice sounds strangely faint. I glance her way, and my heart stops as her brilliant light begins to fade.
“Oh, Nell. Don’t you dare help me another minute. I forbid it.”
Scott pulls me in hard by the shoulders. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the fact Rich owed you money,” I pant as I shoot a nervous glance to Nell. “You wanted him dead.” I knee him in the gut, and he doubles over hard as I jump back out of his reach.
In one quick move, the backpack glides off my left shoulder, causing the gun to spill to the ground between us.
“Oh my God,” I cry out as both Scott and I slap our hands to it at the very same time. “Nell, find Noah! Make some noise, disrupt him, but get him herenow!”
Scott looks around, dazed, as Nell flies out of the woods as quick as lightning.
“Noah? As in Detective Noah Fox?” Scott chuckles. “Honey, I don’t know what’s wrong with your brain, but I’m starting to think I’m about to do you and him a favor.” He snatches the gun from my fingers with an aggressive fervor and has me staring down the barrel in a moment’s notice. “Yes, Lottie, I killed Rich Dallas. Are you satisfied?”
I pant in the direction toward the lake, horrified at how far away we’ve drifted. It will be a miracle if anyone finds us, let alone Noah.
Everett said he would try his best to meet me at the lake, but, if not, he assured me he’d meet me at my mother’s for another round of congratulatory drinks this evening.
And, ironically, the gun they bought to protect me is about to do me in. This is a disaster of magnificent proportions.
“At least tell me why.” I struggle to rise a few inches off the ground as I slowly crawl backwards. “Why kill him at Mayor Nash’s—” I stop partway through my sentence and sit hard on my bottom over a thicket of pine needles. “Oh my God, you wanted to frame Mayor Nash.”
“That’s right.” He chuckles softly to himself. “They were both seeing your mother. I couldn’t have dreamed up a better scenario if I tried. A perfectly deadly love triangle. And my buddies at the paper ran with it.”
“Figures.” I give a wry look toward the lake. “You wanted Canelli’s men to carry out the hit, didn’t you? But they said no, so you had to do that dirty work yourself.”
“That’s right, honey. I had to man-up. That’s why I dropped by your shop. I made sure everyone saw me coming and going from the front, loading all those boxes into my car. What they didn’t see was me waiting in the back. I told Rich I’d meet him in the alley as soon as Mayor Nash started blowing hot air.”
“What? Why would Rich agree to speak with you after he ripped you off?”
“Because I had something else he wanted.” A crooked grin flashes quickly. “He’s been after my uncle for years, and I told him I’d give him all the information he wanted in exchange for any funds he was willing to give me. Of course, I didn’t have the information he was looking for, and neither of us believed for a minute he was going to give me any money.”
“Who’s your uncle?” I ask, stymied by this latest development.