Page 21 of Wedding Cake Carnage

Mayor Nash grins as he silently affirms this naughty theory.

Mom clicks her tongue his way. “I’m sorry, Harry. I have to stay. You’ll have to go on to the council meeting without me.”

“Council meeting?” I’m pretty sure my mother has done more than her fair share of civic duty as of late. And hanging out with Mayor Nash is really pushing the envelope.

“Yes”—she frowns his way—“Harry was going to introduce me to the board and I was going to try to get my horticulture club approved to work on the grounds around the fountain in Town Square. I thought we could spruce it up in time for fall.”

Mayor Nash leans in her way. “You know who’sfalling? Me.” He gives a cheesy wink before dotting a kiss to her lip. “Ladies.” He tips his head our way before his eyes settle on mine. “Lottie, if you don’t mind, I’d love to come in sometime and just spend a little time with you. Maybe we can go to dinner one night?”

“Maybe,” I say as he waves and takes off. And by maybe, I meant no.

Mom makes her way to the hot bed of insanity as Lainey pulls a silver lace number out of a bag and it shines and shimmers just like something you’d see at Red Satin. For whatever reason, that makes me miss Everett all the more.

Lord knows Everett and I logged some serious time at the Red Satin Gentlemen’s Club while tracking down our fair share of killers. And now Jana March’s killer gets to roam free as does that maniac who’s holding Everett hostage. It’s clear my crime-solving mojo has been stunted without my favorite judge by my side spurring me along.

Carlotta yanks me over to the party right along with her. “I can’t believe your mother is still interested in that glorified gigolo.”

“You and me both. I don’t like it. In fact, I charge you with the task of finding her a new man. Drum one up, call one back from the dead—except the last one. He was sort of a dud himself.” No joke. Mom’s old boyfriend was just this side of psychotic.

Lainey opens gift after naughty gift, and to my surprise she opens a hot pink number that’s from me.

Keelie gives my shoulders a squeeze. “I took care of you, Lot. I figured you have enough on your plate, what with looking for the killer—trying to track down Everett and tend to all the details of Lainey’s wedding.”

Lainey pauses to look my way. “Don’t forget the final payments are all due this week. I left the checks in an envelope in your folder.” She narrows her eyes with a scrupulous stare. “And I bet you haven’t even cracked your planner yet.”

Good Lord! I can’t even remember where I put that bloated book. Gah! I cannot ruin Lainey’s wedding on top of botching up almost everything else.

Lainey goes on to open the rest of her raunchy gifts, and just as she gets to the very last one, Forest strolls in brandishing two dozen long-stem roses for his true love and the entire room breaks out into a choir of coos.

Bodies stand all at once as Meg and I help clean up the colored tissue tornado.

Meg hisses my way, “Did you see that list we need to tackle?”

“I…uh…”

“Ha!” Meg honks a laugh. “It looks like Lainey had the wrong sister pegged. So who’s on your suspect list, Lot? Let’s nail that killer so you can get your head back in the game.”

“Only if the game is finding Everett.”

Noah walks in and spots Lainey holding up a naughty nightie and he winces at the sight.

“Ladies.” Noah lands before Meg and me. “I’ve got news, Lottie.”

“Great. Is the bakery officially security central? I feel safer already.”

“Yes,” he muses. “But that’s not the big news. I just got an alert from the bank. Someone tried making a very large wire transfer from Everett’s bank account to the Bank of Hollyhock.”

“What? Oh my God. We’ve got them. Who was it? Where can we find Everett?”

Noah blows out a slow breath. “I wish it was that easy. I had his bank accounts frozen, so the transaction was rejected. There’s no way to know who would have been on the receiving end of it.”

“Hollyhock.” I look to Meg and shake my head.

“What is it, Lot?” She gives my shoulder a rattle as if shaking the answer right out of me.

“I don’t know. It just seems to be a reoccurring theme. I mean, the odds are good this person who has him lives in Hollyhock if they bank there. Is there any way to get a list of their clients?”

Noah shakes his head. “That information is confidential.”