“Wait!” I call out, and she zips over.
Everett steps in close and lands his nose to mine, those blue eyes of his sirening out to mine like a warning.
“Lemon, think about this.”
“Lottie.” Noah sighs and gives a slight nod. “I think this needs to happen.”
I look from Noah to Everett, the yes and no, and my heart doesn’t know what direction to move in.
Noah closes his eyes a moment, and I can see the defeat in his face. This sting must be gravely important. There’s no other way Noah would ever agree to something like this.
I glance to Everett as he glares at his old stepbrother. Everett looks downright dangerous, and my heart gives a few loose wallops as I take him in. Everett on a good day is arrestingly handsome, as is Noah, but when Everett is infuriated, it takes his razor sharp good looks and magnifies them to scorching levels.
Everett takes a breath before reverting his gaze my way.
“This is in your hands, Lemon.” The muscles in his jaw redefine themselves. “I highly advise against it, but you’re going to have to make the call.”
I know it goes against everything Everett believes to do something like this.
“Give me a minute,” I say, nodding for Flo to follow me over a few feet, and Carlotta comes along with us.
Carlotta makes a face my way. “You know what needs to be done, Lot. There’s only one right decision.” She leans in. “Besides, I haven’t been a part of a good morgue-napping in a decade at least.” And she looks pretty frustrated about it, too. “I’ll head back to the table and say goodnight to Cadillac. Don’t let me down, Lot Lot.”
She takes off, and a thought hits me.
“Shoot. I forgot to talk to Lorena.”
“About?” a female chirps from behind, and I spot Lorena and her glowing pale gray eyes.
“Lorena.” I jump a little as both Noah and Everett step to the side, most likely to confer about how best to restrain both me and the renegade ghost among us. “I was just going to ask if there was any word on who did this to Flo?”
The bribing banshee rubs her hands together. “Lorena is the best witch in the bunch. You’ve never had a friend like this, Lottie. She’d do anything for me. My killer had better watch their back. Once Lo gets ahold of them, they’ll wish they were on the inside of a prison.”
“You really are on the case, aren’t you, little mama?” Lorena honks out a laugh.
“You bet,” I say. “And I won’t rest until the killer is behind bars.”
But at this point, it has far more to do with getting Flo off my back than it does a speck of justice.
She shrugs. “Good luck to you. I guess you’ll want to talk to Nicky Knuckles. My brother says he’s making the rounds up in Scooter Springs. That’s where all the young guns are migrating. He’s making it rain at some club called Delfino’s.”
Flo scoffs. “You mean he’s not hiding out?”
I quickly echo her statement, and Lorena shakes her head.
“He says he didn’t do it.” She says those last few words in air quotes. “And he’s not afraid of retribution either—because he knows it’s not coming. The big boys have got bigger fish to fry.” She leans in. “Between you, me, and the wind, the families in Leeds are getting together to hold a Moretti family massacre. It’s going to be epic. And Flo, if you’re listening”—she points to the sky before pointing to the ground and winking with a laugh—“they’re calling this Operation Farewell from Flo.” She shrugs my way. “She would’ve liked the honor.” Lorena gives a quick glance over her shoulder. “I’d better get back there. We need to shore up the details of my bestie’s big day. I’m gonna make sure to toss a picture of the two of us at my twenty-first birthday party into her casket. It was her favorite night.” She takes off back to the table, which has been returned to its upright position, while Cat sits cradling the Pope’s head as if it was a baby.
Flo squints her eyes at her bestie. “I think she got it mixed up. My twenty-first birthday party was my favorite night.”
“She’s grieving,” I tell her. “If my bestie bit the big one, I wouldn’t even remember my current age, let alone what happened when I was twenty-one.”
“You’re right. Lorena loves me like a sister. With me gone, it’s as if a bomb has gone off in her life. It’s as if someone swiped her beating heart.” She wraps her ghostly arm around my shoulders. “Now let’s go see about swiping my unbeating heart from the morgue. What do you say, Lottie? Are you going to save the entire state of Vermont from a turf war the likes of which hasn’t been heard of since the famed bloodbaths of Sicily? Think of your baby. Is that the kind of world you want for him or her? One filled with turf wars that can take down its potential daddy? And don’t think I’ve forgotten about Sexy.” A sinister grin crawls up her face. “I’ll have him unseated, disbarred, and most likely divorced. You don’t want that, do you, Lottie?”
My heart breaks as I look across the way to the two men I love. Noah can save all of Vermont with the information Flo can provide. And there’s no way in heck I’m letting Everett fry.
Carlotta comes back and hooks her arm through mine. “Well, Lot? What’s it gonna be? Are we dancing with the dead tonight? Or do I need to wake up Harry to do that?”
“Come on,” I say as I navigate us over to where Noah and Everett stand and Flo beats us there, that malevolent look on her face only growing sharper by the second.
“Well?” her voice goes off like a gong as she waits in anticipation herself.
Noah and Everett look my way with stern expressions.
“Everett, I know how you feel,” I wince as I say it. “And Noah, are you sure this could save lives? If you say it will, then we’ll do it. I leave this in your hands, and I trust you. Are we doing this? Are we breaking into the morgue to steal Flo’s body?”
He offers a mournful smile that says it all.
“Then I guess we’re doing it,” I hear myself say as I look back at Flo. “Just don’t touch Everett’s career—or the bakery.” I glare right at the pesky poltergeist. “And give Noah every last bit of information he needs.” I look to Everett and Noah. “For that alone, it’s worth it. If we can save one life, we’ve done the right thing.”
Noah nods, but Everett simply purses his lips, his eyes hardening over mine like stone.
Something tells me we’re in for a very long night indeed.
Chapter 8
“Lottie, please go home,” Noah says as he presses those evergreen eyes of his to mine. “There’s no way I’m letting you get tangled up in any of this.”
“No,” I hiss without meaning to as Noah, Everett, Carlotta, and I stand in the parking lot of Gia’s House with our feet firmly embedded in the snow. It’s pitch-dark save for the streetlamp as shadows haunt us from every angle. “I’m going to that morgue, and there’s not a thing either of you can do to stop me.”
Everett closes his eyes and shakes his head. “Both of you need to go home. Carlotta, I’ll give you a thousand dollars to babysit them.”