Pecan Pie Predicament (Murder in the Mix #27) - Addison Moore Page 0,69
“I’ve got a suspect to mind.”
Barry and I speed on over to the front desk where I quickly look up Reese Underwood’s name on the register and see she’s in room twenty-two. I swipe the spare key, and quicker than a poltergeist, Barry and I are standing in the stillness of her room.
I flick on the light and note the bed is neatly made with a cozy looking orange and brown quilt pulled tight. There’s an opened suitcase on the chair near the window and a small duffle bag sits opened on the dresser. I head over to the suitcase and peer inside, nothing but pants, a few sweaters, and undergarments. I head to the duffle bag and begin poking around. A few bottles of lotion, scarves, and mittens.
Barry heads to the bathroom. “Come here, Lottie. I think I found something.”
I speed over and find a large quilted bag split open over the counter. On one side a few cosmetics sit on top of it. On the other side there’s a mesh compartment that’s zipped shut, but I can distinctly see a couple of locks of pink hair swirling around in there. I unzip it, and sure enough, those hair extensions Reese wears are present and accounted for, so I pull them out. They’re each about ten inches long, less than a centimeter wide, and they feel very much like human hair.
“If they weren’t so pretty, I might be grossed out,” I say.
Barry makes a face. “Do you think they fell out of her hair?”
“Maybe,” I say, inspecting them and note they’re all bundled together with a rubber band and there’s a price tag on top. “Huh. Maybe she bought a few to spare? Anyway, this is exactly what I saw in the Swift Cycle gym next to Hannah’s body.”
A tiny rectangular business card catches my eye from inside the mesh, and I fish it out.
“Ah-ha!” I say. “Look at this! It’s a business card from Red Satin. She was there. That’s where she met the Mad Hatter. My God, if I didn’t know better, it’s as if she wanted me to find this.”
Barry reaches over and picks something up off the sink. “Well, well,” he says, handing a small brown bottle my way.
“Oh wow. It’s a prescription for fentanyl. Barry, this is a smoking gun if ever there was one. It’s half-empty, and I bet the missing pills were ground up and put right into that pie Reese fed to Hannah.” I quickly pull my phone out and take a picture of the scene. It’s not until I’m about to put the bottle of medication back do I notice the name on the front of it. “Charles Nelson.” I inch back. “Why does that sound familiar?”
A noise erupts in the hall, and I quickly head to the door and flick off the lights.
Barry steps right through the wooden door and into the corridor before poking his head back into the room and the illumination from his ghostly flesh lights up the entire area.
“The coast is clear. You’d better take off while you can.”
And I do. I head back down to the party just in time to sing happy birthday to my handsome husband. The crowd is boisterous and seemingly having a good time, and Everett looks a whole lot less mortified than he was when we first stepped in.
Everett gives a slight bow as the song comes to a conclusion and holds up his drink.
“Thank you all for coming. When I saw your glowing faces earlier, I thought my wife and I were seeing the dead, but it turns out, you’re a lively bunch after all.”
A roar of laughter ensues.
“Nice save,” I whisper his way as the party roars to life once again.
The photographer comes up, and in the middle of their shooting spree, Keelie shoves Noah next to me.
“Come on, Lottie. Let’s get a picture of you knocked up with your men by your side.” She motions to Noah and Everett. “Give her a kiss on each cheek.”
And much to the delight of the crowd, they do just that.
Cressida may have tried to ruin the party, but in the end it looks as if everyone is having a good time. Hopefully, they’ll still let Everett into the courthouse come Monday.
We eat the toilet cake, which isn’t half bad, and I dance with my husband to that overtly cheery polka music.
And when we’re through, I’m going to tell Noah all about the killer in our midst.