Waffles at the Wake (Murder in the Mix #29) - Addison Moore Page 0,49

man?” He squints her way, disbelieving.

“Darn tootin’, buster.” Carlotta pulls out her phone and quickly pulls up a picture of Harry looking mighty mayoral as he’s waving to a crowd. And oddly enough, in that moment, I think I can see that we share the same smile. “He’s not much to look at, but women love that whole men in power thing.”

He nods. “Half the chicks that look my way only see my crown.”

It takes a lot of willpower not to roll my eyes at that one. Of course, the same can be said for Everett, but my stars up in heaven, that man has the face and body to back it. Everett is a deity in his own right. And right about now, he’s probably scouting for a new queen, considering I can’t seem to stop openly defying him. If I’m not careful, I might just end up getting booted out of his courtroom and his life.

A thought comes to me.

“Hey”—I gasp as I scoot to the edge of my seat—“I just heard on the news this morning that they stole that girl’s body right out of the morgue.”

Flo honks out a laugh. “And who says I’m not a genius. If I didn’t have you steal my body, you wouldn’t get nearly as far with this rat as you are.”

Nicky blows out a steady breath, his jaw redefining itself as he looks straight ahead.

“Yup.” He swills the whiskey in his hand. “And believe me, I know who did it, too.”

Carlotta and I exchange a wild glance.

“You do?” Carlotta tips her ear his way. “Well, don’t keep us in suspense. Where is she?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t know where they took her. But I have it on good authority the Lazzaris are responsible. The Canellis wouldn’t disrespect their own that way.”

Flo belts out a horrifically loud laugh that makes my eardrums wish they could melt already.

“He thinks the Lazzaris did this?” she honks. “As if. He’s just looking for an excuse to start a turf war.”

I glare at the ghost among us because the entire reason we kidnapped her corpse was to avoid a turf war to begin with.

“Don’t worry, ladies.” Flo makes a face. “He ain’t got no proof.”

“I got proof.” He nods.

“He’s got proof, Lot.” Carlotta looks genuinely frightened, and I’m betting she just had visions of herself sharing an eight-by-ten cell with a woman named Butch.

“What kind of proof?” I squint over at this two-bit hustler.

“Like I said, Angel Face was my girl. Don’t think I wasn’t anticipating any funny business. I had my men across the street keeping an eye out on the morgue all night.”

Both Carlotta and I suck in as much oxygen as our lungs will allow as we try to stave off the panic.

Wait a minute…

“And they saw the Lazzaris carting her off?” I’m willing to call his bluff.

He shrugs. “They saw a small crowd heading in after hours. Didn’t think too much of it. Thought maybe it was the cleaning crew. A small crowd left hauling away what they thought was a bag of laundry and took off in a sedan.”

A dull aching sound comes from Carlotta. “Did they get the plates?” She’s fearing for Sexy, I can see it in her eyes. And I’m right there with her. Everett is going to have a heart attack if he ever finds this out. I assured him this was a safe endeavor, and now he’s going to get a bullet pumped into him intended for the Lazzaris. Instead of avoiding a turf war, I’ve landed us right in the middle of one, and ironically, we’ll be sounding the kickoff bell.

“No plates,” he growls.

Oh, thank God.

Carlotta and I nod with a sigh of relief.

“But we got the make, model, and color.” Nicky knocks back the rest of his whiskey while Carlotta, Flo, and I all let out a groan at the very same time.

Flo shakes her head with frustration. “Just ask him why he killed me. I’ve had enough of his face for one night.”

“Why’d you do it? Why’d you gun Angel Face down at midnight?” Carlotta snips at him, and I close my eyes because that is not how you get a suspect to confess. But it just might be how you get a mobster to put a bullet in your back at a club called Delfino’s.

A laugh rumbles from the man. “Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t hurt a hair on that girl’s head. Yeah, she infuriated me. She infuriated everyone