Page 71 of Poison Apple Crisp

I shake my head. “You didn’t have to do that. There could have been another way.”

“There wasn’t.” Her voice is tight. “Just like there isn’t now.”

“Lottie!” Ginger howls at the moon for no good reason.

Rachelle lunges for me and wraps her hand over my mouth. I try to push away, but she gives a violent yank and begins to drag me toward the woods that sit behind the parking lot. My hands claw at her arms, but it’s to no avail. She’s got a death grip on me.

Ginger howls ten times louder, while Thirteen uses my shoulder as a springboard and lands square over the woman’s face, causing her grip on me to loosen.

Ginger barks her way over and gives my ankle a hard bite.

“Ginger!” I howl as my mouth escapes Rachelle’s clutches. “That’smyleg!”

“Sorry!” The tiny pooch yips before clamping her mouth down over Rachelle’s bare leg instead.

Rachelle belts out a howl, and in the distance I hear a man’s voice calling my name.

“In the parking lot!” I riot back as I try to break free of Rachelle’s hold on me.

Ginger shakes her body with a marked aggression as she hops up Rachelle’s body like a ladder and bites down over her nose so hard I hear a distinct crunch.

Rachelle’s arms recoil to her face, and I manage to stagger away just as Noah and Everett run this way full force.

“Freeze!” Noah thunders with his gun drawn, and Everett scoops me away in his arms.

“Lottie!” Ginger yips as the ghostly pooch rises to the sky, and Thirteen floats up as far as he can go. “I’m leaving now. I suppose I should have told you earlier. I remember now who the litter belonged to! They were—”

And just like that, her voice and her furry body get lost in a blaze of shining orange stars before blipping right out of existence.

So much for getting some supernatural help in the paternity department.

“Lemon.” Everett lands a feverish kiss to my lips. “Are you okay? Is the baby all right?”

“Yes,” I pant as I land my feet back on the ground. “Noah, she’s guilty!” I shout. “She confessed to killing Brenda, and she’s Desmond Meadows’ girlfriend. She wrote the ransom note. She planted those books in Cokie’s office, and she stole the book from my house.”

Noah quickly has her subdued and cuffed just as the parking lot fills with deputies.

A deep purple haze fills the woods just beyond us, and for a moment I think I’m about to see Thirteen, but I don’t. I see that large beast, dark as night, ears sharp as razors that point straight to the sky.

“Lemon?” Everett bows down until we’re eye to eye. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m positive.” I wrap my arms around him tightly and lose myself in the safety of Everett Baxter’s embrace for a moment. “Thank you for finding me. I don’t know what would have happened if you didn’t.”

“Don’t think about that.” He lands a heavy kiss to my lips before pulling away abruptly. “I’m sorry. But there’s one more thing we need to do.”

“What’s that?”

“Find Evie.”

I glance past him at that purple glow in the woods.

“Don’t worry. I know exactly how to do just that.”

I call Thirteen over, and he leads the charge past the parking lot and into a clearing that sits just behind a row of evergreens. A group of teenagers, mostly boys, stands in a thick circle and in the middle is a row of girls, each wearing what looks to be skimpy French maid’s costumes.

Evie’s voice emits from the middle of it, barking out commands.

“Shake it to the left. Shake it to the right. Shake it, shake it, shake it, allallnight!”