I angle myself toward her. “How concerned should I be by this country fried display?”
She flicks her wrist my way before holding up a fruity drink.
“Don’t come at me just because I know how to stand out in a club.”
Emmie ticks her head to the side. “She’s got you there, Bizzy. In fact, I think every gentleman in this place has their neck craned in this direction.”
“Yup.” Macy frowns at the thought as she inspects the crowd. “And if I’m lucky, maybe they’ll take me somewhere nice where they can use their AARP discount.” She makes a face. “It looks as if both the director and the hot actor already have their hands full.”
I look past her and confirm that both Peter and Bates Barlow are already ensconced by an entire brigade of women.
Emmie butts her shoulder to my sister’s. “Don’t worry, Macy. Bizzy’s old friend McKenna is getting hitched at the inn and she just requested the ballroom for a magic show beforehand. Who knows, Macy? She might even have a clown or two at the event for you.”
Macy sticks her finger down her throat. “I hate clowns. Besides, I’ve already dated like sixty of them.”
A laugh bucks from me. “I wouldn’t be so quick to knock a man with big feet, Macy. Who knows? Maybe a man with a rubber nose and a rainbow wig will be Mr. Right?”
“Oh, honey”—she shudders—“those creatures wouldn’t even qualify as Mr. Right Now.” She trots off for the bar without missing a beat.
A tall, dark, and arrestingly handsome man walks into the club and takes my breath away with his presence. Half the women in the place just gasped because they want him, and half the men just groaned because the ladies they want suddenly aren’t interested in them.
Jasper’s diamond clear eyes scour the room like lasers until he comes upon me.
“Speaking of Mr. Right,” I say. “I’ll be back, ladies.”
I swoop over to my handsome fiancé’s side and smack his lips with mine before we exchange hellos.
“Hey, hot stuff.” I give his ribs a squeeze. Jasper was up all night doing paperwork on the case and closing it out. “It’s nice to have you back now that everything is behind us.”
“It’s nice to be back.” He glowers as he stares out into the crowd. “But not everything is behind us.” Jasper leads us to the center of the dance floor, and just when I think we’re about to bust a move to this doo wa ditty, he taps a man on the shoulder, and once he turns around I’m surprised to see it’s my brother.
“Hux?” I glance just past him to affirm my worst nightmare. Camila is the one trying to do her best to swivel her body up against his.
Then like a bat out of a belfry, in swoops Mayor Mackenzie Woods in all her dark and haunted glory as she wraps her arms around my brother’s waist.
“I’m here now.” She bleeds a dark smile my way. “Ready to dance the night away with my man.”
Good Lord, I don’t know what would be worse. Hux with Camila or Hux with Mack.
Soon enough, Hux and his hussy are lost in one another’s eyes as Jasper navigates both Camila and me to the side.
“I know what you did,” he says it to her curtly, and just this side of angry.
I grunt at the thought. “What in the world did you do now?” It comes out harsh as if I were scolding her, and I’m pretty sure I will be doing just that in less than a minute once the proverbial gauze is removed from my eyes.
“What are you both rambling about?” Camila tugs down the little black dress she’s squeezed herself into as she does her best to look past us. “Make it quick. Jordy is coming out tonight. He told me to save a dance for him.”
Jasper folds his arms across his chest. “This would work better if you would confess.”
Before she has a chance to weasel out of it, Leo Granger steps up beside her, looking lean and mean with his dark hair slicked back. The fact he’s scanning the crowd tells me he’s looking for my bestie.
“Evening.” He nods my way. “Did Jasper share the good news with you yet?”
“What good news?” I look to Jasper with open-mouth surprise.
“Camila”—Jasper narrows those high beams of his in her direction—“fine, have it your way. Camila was spotted on the security camera of the inn planting those cleavers. It was grainy and difficult to read, but I took it to the lab where they magnified and digitized it.”
“No way.” She shakes her head. “It wasn’t me. You said yourself the image was grainy.”
Jasper sighs. “Yes, the digital image from the inn was grainy. But the security footage from the local mall was not. Specifically, just outside of the Kitchen Corner. You were seen leaving a week ago with a sizable bag. I spoke to the manager and they affirmed that someone on that date bought thirteen cleavers. That would have been you, Camila. If you don’t confess, I’ll be forced to have you turn in your credit card statements.”
Camila huffs, “Fine. I did it. Is it really a crime? All I did was a little decorating. I’m the one that produced the yearbook. I was essentially responsible for the biggest break in this case.”
“Maybe so,” I say. “But probably not. Jasper and I have a pretty good track record of catching a killer without you. Camila, you terrified the guests.”
Leo nods. “Bizzy’s right. This very much falls under terrorism.”
I suck in a quick breath of delight. “That means you’ll be fired from the sheriff’s department.” I do a little hop. “And arrested!” I nudge Jasper in the ribs. “Go ahead and cuff her. Better yet, you do it, Leo. I’m suddenly in a dancing mood.” I thread my arm through Jasper’s. “I bet we can jitterbug with the best of them.”
“No one is arresting me.” Camila tips her
