Page 11 of Toxic Apple Turnovers
“No, Lottie, they never are. But they are always dangerous.”
And that’s exactly what I’m afraid of.
* * *
I spentthe night at Everett’s. Pancake, Waffles, and I all managed to sleep on Everett’s unbelievably comfy mattress and, I’ll admit, it was a bonus to wake up in his strong arms.
Everett woke up with my alarm and made me a breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon while I showered and dressed for the bakery. A part of me can get used to the idea of waking up in Everett’s arms and having that wonderful breakfast rolled out for me each and every day.
It’s Sunday, a very crisp Sunday in September, and already the fall leaves are doing cartwheels down Main Street. No matter how stressful life gets, no matter how many homicides I’m quasi-connected to, the Cutie Pie Bakery and Cakery always feels like home. The walls are painted a butter yellow, and the furniture is a mishmash painted in every shade of pastel. There’s a walkway connecting us to the Honey Pot Diner next door, and in that adorable restaurant there happens to be an oversized resin oak tree planted in the middle whose branches extend over the ceiling every which way and bleed right into the café portion of the bakery. Each branch is lovingly wrapped in twinkle lights, and it adds a magical appeal to both establishments.
Keelie and Lily came in early to help me bake up a storm and open up. They both said they felt bad I had to be here alone after last night’s dual nightmare. Thank goodness I had enough fresh dough in the walk-in to make up several batches of croissants, chocolate filled and regular. Keelie insisted we make up some cinnamon apple muffins, and Lily put in a request for a pumpkin spice roll.
Now that fall has essentially hit Honey Hollow hard with its icy breezes, it’s put us all in the mood for pumpkin spiced everything.
“So what did they take?” Lily’s eyes are wide with a morbid curiosity. Lily is a stunning brunette who has spent most of her twenty-seven years hating my guts. She is or was Naomi Turner’s best friend, but they’ve recently had a falling-out over Noah’s foxy brother, Alex—an ex-Marine turned investment banker.
“My gun.” It’s true.
After an hour or so, Noah helped me walk through the shambles that was left of my house. It was ransacked in haste, but they still managed to make a decent mess in the process, and they took some costume jewelry, a small wad of twenties I had on the dresser, and theGlock 26 Gen4that both Everett and Noah teamed up to buy me a few months back. I’ve only fired it a handful of times, but as much as I hate to admit it, I felt safer knowing it was in the house with me. I had made it a habit of putting it in my purse and taking it with me everywhere but the bakery—and since last night’s event was work-related, I didn’t have it with me.
“You have a gun?” Keelie looks green around the gills.
“Had,” I say, looking to the two of them. “It’s gone now.” Come to think of it, I feel terrible I didn’t give the gun a name. It was adorably small yet powerful. I should have called it something cute yet spunky like Sophie or Zoey.
Lily shudders. “Remind me never to rub you the wrong way, Lottie Lemon.”
A crowd of tourists hustles through the door, and Lily hops over to the register.
“I’d better get next door,” Keelie says, tying on an apron of her own.
Keelie is the manager of the Honey Pot Diner. Both of these places, along with a fistful of major real estate, once belonged to Nell Sawyer. And when she died, she left the lion’s share of her holdings to me. Of course, the will was contested—ironically by my new uncleWill. And it’s been locked up in red tape ever since.
“Hey”—I pull her in and look into those big blue eyes of hers—“congratulations again. You owe me some details. I’m not letting you out of this so easily.”
Lily scampers back after the rush dies down. “Ooh, me too! Give us all the dirty deets. When did he propose? Let’s see the rock on your finger.”
Keelie is quick to cradle her left hand. “No rock. We haven’t set a date and we’re not having a fancy engagement party.” She glances to my bare finger. I put Everett’s mother’s ring in the ground safe as soon as I got here. Boy, am I ever glad I have a habit of wearing it wherever I go just to keep it from getting stolen. “We’ll be shopping for that later,” she sings it low and flirty. Keelie’s entire face is lit up like a Christmas tree. I can’t remember the last time I saw my best friend this happy. “He proposed the other night at Honey Lake. He took me out on his canoe and he asked to spend the rest of his life with me right there in deep water as the sun was setting. It was magical.” She sighs, bringing her hands to her chest.
“Oh, Keelie, that does sound magical.” And now I feel bad for ever sleeping with Bear in high school. But then, he was my official boyfriend—the one I gave my heart to, and then he turned right around and stomped on it. It turns out, Bear was cheating with anything that moved. But he’s since reformed his ways. I hope.
Lily huffs, “I hope when Alex proposes to me, it will be a real flashy event in front of everyone in Honey Hollow—especially Naomi.” She makes a face at Keelie. “No offense.”
“No offense taken. She’s plotting the same thing.” She looks back my way. “And when were you going to tell me that you and Everett made it official?”
“Excuse me?” a light female voice chirps from behind, and I turn around and gasp.
Standing before us is Amanda Wellington herself with her red hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun, dark sunglasses on, and a plain pink sweater and jeans.
A croaking sound emits from Lily’s throat. “I think I’m going to faint now,” she says it weakly.
“Please don’t,” the girl is quick to implore. “I’m Hazel, Amanda’s sister.” She looks to me. “We met last night.” She takes off her sunglasses, revealing cherry-stained eyes. “You’re Lottie, right?”
“Y-yes.” I can barely get it out. I’m so stunned to see poor Hazel here. “Can I help you? Amanda was a sweet girl. I’ll do anything to help at all.”
“Good. I hear you’re the best private detective all of Vermont has to offer.” She opens her purse and shoves a handful of bills my way. “Here’s all the money I have—six thousand dollars. Find my sister’s killer, Lottie. And do it yesterday.”
Chapter 5