Pecan Pie Predicament (Murder in the Mix #27) - Addison Moore Page 0,56

too.”

“Hear that?” Barry gives an obnoxious laugh that sounds like a seal barking. “He’s going to off Noah for you for free. Talk about a steal. You’re a pretty good negotiator, Lottie. Too bad it’ll cost Noah his life.”

I frown over at the wall of muscles next to me. Interrogating a suspect is hard enough without a running commentary from the other side.

I lean toward the Mad Hatter. “So, um, what means are you looking to utilize?”

“I like bullets. Knives are messy. But if you’re looking to chop off a particular part of his anatomy, I can arrange to do that, too. I’m flexible that way.”

Good Lord up in heaven, if this baby isn’t Noah’s, he might have just lost his shot at parenthood altogether after the Mad Hatter gets through with him—that is, if he survives.

“No, no, that’s okay. I don’t need anything so violent. I was thinking more along the lines of—poisoning. You know, with something like fentanyl?”

Barry groans. “I’m pretty sure this isn’t what you should be doing.” He glances back to the bar. “You know, Carlotta is sitting right there. Maybe I should have her let Noah in on what’s happening. I think he has grounds for an arrest—yours, Lottie.”

I shoot the chatty specter a look that says try it and you just might die twice.

“Poisoning?” The Mad Hatter leans back. “I haven’t done one of those in a good long while. And to be truthful, the result wasn’t what I was after.”

“Did they die a long and torturous death?”

“Nope. They recovered. Ruined my reputation in the process, too.” The waitress sinks a shot glass in front of him and he quickly knocks it back.

“Recovered? Hannah didn’t recover.” My lips invert, because for the life of me, I did not mean to let that tidbit fly out.

“Hannah?” He tips his ear my way. “Are you talking about the woman from Honey Hollow?”

“Did you know her?”

He glances to the stage where the women are busy doing their topless thing.

“You could say we were acquaintances. But that wasn’t my work.” His shoulders sag a moment.

Barry folds his arms across this chest. “So he didn’t do it? Or he doesn’t want you to think he did it?”

I shake my head. Something tells me this guy’s ego wouldn’t mind the bragging rights if he did.

“I knew Hannah, too.” I offer a wobbly smile. “She was my neighbor. And it’s all so sad. She was so young and beautiful.”

“You mean booty—ful.” He gives a little wink, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say those were tears glistening in his eyes. “She really had it going on. I thought maybe we could have had a thing, you know?”

I narrow my eyes over his. “How long had you known her? And where did you meet?”

“Just a day. We met out back in an alley.” A loose grin takes over as he looks past my shoulder as if reliving the memory.

“Just a day?” Barry scoffs. “He’s talking about the day he roughed her up, Lottie. Don’t buy this guy’s bull.”

The Mad Hatter nods as if he were agreeing with Barry.

“I guess you could say it was a blind date,” the Mad Hatter adds. “Someone thought we needed to meet.” He winks my way and my mouth falls open.

“Did someone put a hit out on Hannah?”

His lips cinch. “It wasn’t a hit.” He shrugs. “All right, it was a literal hit, as in they wanted me to do some damage to her kneecaps to get her out of the game for a while. No Grim Reaper action. It was the first time I was contracted to do something like that to a woman. And I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure I could go through with it. I came with a crowbar, but I ditched it once I saw her. I couldn’t hurt a hair on that goddess’ head. So I did the right thing.”

“You shook her silly in the alley?” I blink over at him, completely unfazed that I just blurted out the truth.

“No,” he says it with an incredulous look on his face. “When it comes to women, I’m a lover, not a fighter. I’ve taken hits geared toward women off my list of services. I strictly specialize in jackasses like your soon-to-be dead ex over there.” He flicks a finger Noah’s way and my muscles freeze up. “I was warning Hannah that day. A beautiful woman like that should have the heads-up that someone was looking to put a limp in her