“You got that right.” She scowls while tugging at my tresses. It’s not an easy time because Blair made me empty out my bank account in order to keep that real estate office of hers up and running. She just had to keep up pretenses. I wonder what the Maidens would think of her if they knew she hasn’t had a single sale in nearly a year—that she was having a hard time coming up with the rent for her home and her office. And now look who’s out of all that money? Me. But I’m not a monster. If Blair would have paid me back, none of this would have happened. But—one of the last things she told me was that I would get my money back over her dead body. Ironically, little did she know that dead body of hers would show up sooner than later. And I still don’t have my money. Oh well, I guess you can’t have everything.
Blair borrowed money from Raven? And refused to pay her back?
Winner, winner, motive dinner!
Raven works feverishly over Camila and me, and before we know it, we’re both sporting bouffant hairstyles that have been teased and sprayed into a frozen flashback of the eighties. Scratch that. This is definitely circa 1960 something.
When all is said and done, we ante up and collect Georgie and Juni as we head outside.
I scowl over at Camila and point to the cotton candy heap on my head. “Why do I get the feeling Raven doesn’t like you?”
“She loves me,” Camila is quick to correct. “It’s just her Southern influence at play, that’s all. Everything is better when it’s bigger. It says so right there on the sign.”
I turn around, and sure enough, there it is in faded gold, hard to read cursive font. Go figure. I was walking into this spun sugar disaster and didn’t even know it.
Georgie bucks with a laugh as she and Juni sport identical dos.
“Well, we love it.” Georgie pulls Annabeth close to her ear. “What’s that? Annabeth loves it, too!” She cackles once again before smacking her daughter on the arm. “We’d better get gussied up for tonight. The early bird dinner down at Lenny’s is a hot spot I’ve been dying to hit.” She hands Annabeth to me, and poor Sprinkles cowers as she struggles to scooch away from the haunted doll.
Raven didn’t let Sprinkles get out of there free as a bird. She plopped a tiny pink bow into her hair for good measure and teased up the tresses just above her eyes. It’s clear Sprinkles got the better end of the deal.
“I’ll ride home with Juni,” Georgie shouts as they take off down the street. “Make sure you buckle Annabeth up. She’s very fragile!”
“Just like my sanity,” I mutter.
Camila frowns my way. “So what’s next, Detective Wilder?”
“Aw, you said my name and you didn’t have one mean thought,” I tease.
“I’m saving them all for later.”
“At least you’re honest,” I say. “Next up? I think we should talk to Sabrina a little bit more.”
“Okay, that should be easy enough. Hey, what about Raven? Did you read her mind? Did you learn anything new?” Her eyes strain as she leans in, as if she was trying to look into my brain for info as well.
“I don’t know. Did you read her mind?”
She grunts as she looks skyward. “Stop with the stupid games, Bizzy. If I could read minds, I wouldn’t need you. Now tell me what she said.”
“Okay, if I were to read minds, I may have heard that Dr. Feel Good’s real name is Billy. And the louse is married. His wife is in England right now. And if that’s true, that rules her out as a suspect. She did hint that Sabrina knew him, too. Oh, and Raven may have mentioned something about Blair being good at stealing. It almost sounded like an inside joke, though.” I shrug. “Of course, those are just things I’m guessing she would be thinking about. Nothing official.”
Camila is back to rolling her eyes. “Okay, it sounds good. Billy…” She glances around as if she might find him lying on the floor. “I’ll mention his name to Sabrina as if I knew him, and I bet she’ll say something—or think it.”
“Good. I think we’re actually making strides.”
“We had better be. My neck is on the line.” She starts to take off. “Call me. I want this buttoned up soon.”
“So do I.” The less time I need to spend with Camila the better. Although, if I had to admit it, she’s not all that bad to hang out with.
I shoot Annabeth a look. “You ready to head back to Cider Cove, kiddo?”
I waste no time as I strap her in the back seat as Georgie suggested, and for a second it feels as if I’m taking care of my own child, the child Jasper and I will have one day. My heart swells with joy just thinking about it.
A mother. I shake my head.
I could be a mother. I don’t see why not. Jasper and I are in the perfect place in our lives. We could afford it. I could probably bring the baby to work with me. And my mother could pinch-hit. I’m sure she’d love to babysit. I know Jasper would be a great father. And look, I’m taking great care of Annabeth. I’d make a great mother.
I press my weight into it as I secure the buckle over her lap, and the sound of thunder crackling overhead fills the car right before her head falls off.
“GAH!” I scream while poor Sprinkles barks up a riot.
On second thought, maybe I’d better put a little more thought into this whole motherhood thing.
I drive back to Cider Cove with my headless toddler in the back and garner more than a few looks because of it. But I don’t care. There’s no shame in my haunted doll game.
The only thing I care about right
