“Wow,” I muse. “A high school reunion? It looks as if we have plans coming up.”
“No way.” Noah doesn’t mind doubling down on the fact he’s not going. “Believe me, it’s enough to see Everett every single day—with you no less. That’s all the high school reunion I need.”
“It’ll be fun,” I hear myself say it, but not even I believe it. I’ve met enough of his high school classmates to know it will be a bumpy ride through a socialite nightmare that I’m not even sure I want anything to do with.
“I’d much rather spend that night with you, doing exactly this.” He touches his forehead to mine—no small feat—until the music comes to an end and something far more upbeat starts to play.
We finish up our dance and make our way back toward the refreshment table where Everett stands noshing on one of my raspberry tarts.
Wiley steps up and begins asking Everett questions about his upcoming trial just as a supernatural lavender glow fills the entry to the conservatory.
I quickly excuse myself and follow that glow past the sea of raucous partygoers, all the way to an alcove just past the registration counter. The supernatural glow grows increasingly brighter until an all too familiar, an all too wonderful, woman materializes before me.
“Nell!” I wrap my arms around her, and she feels every bit solid. Even though Nell is my grandmother, I didn’t know it while she was alive, and that’s part of the reason I’ve never really called her Grandma. I pull back and take a look at the wrinkled cutie with eyes that match that heavenly hue pulsating around her. “You’re not here to give me any bad news, are you?”
“Oh dear, no.” She chortles. “I’ve already tried to steer you away from trouble and that didn’t get either of us very far, did it?”
It’s true. The last time Nell stopped by she warned me to steer clear of the case that was coming up. I didn’t heed her warning, and that Hearst curse has been raining down over me hard ever since.
“What brings you around?” I ask, patting my belly and she lays a hand on it as well. The baby jumps and kicks and Nell belts out a ghostly echo of a laugh.
“Dear Lottie, the baby is almost here. Just a few more weeks and you’ll be a mother.”
“Yes, and I can hardly believe it. And oh, you’ve missed so much in my world. Noah and Everett are both suspended without pay all because we moved Florenza Canelli’s body, which in and of itself is pretty horrible, but she practically made us do it. And my mother sold the B&B to those airhead socialites, and oh, Suze Fox might be a beguiler! Do you know anything about that?”
“I’m afraid not. But I do know that I’ll be around a lot more in the weeks to come. There is no way I’m going to miss that baby. And you can expect other surprises as well.”
I suck in a quick breath. “As in my dad?” Joseph Lemon was the saint that found me squirming on the floor of the Honey Hollow Fire Department after Carlotta took off without me.
She gives a coy wink. “Among yet other surprises.” She straightens, and if I’m not mistaken, she just cringed.
“What other surprises?” Any glee at the thought of my father visiting soon dissipates because, let’s face it, I smell trouble.
“Well”—she cranes her neck past me—“I’m not allowed to mingle in the natural order of things, nor can I risk having my travel visa revoked permanently. Let’s just say there’s something afoot, and I’m sure you’ll be made aware of it at the proper time.”
“Something is afoot? As in murder?”
She glances to the ceiling as if weighing her words.
“Oh, Lottie, simply stay alert and have Carlotta, Noah, and Everett assist you with whatever needs to be done. I’ll be back soon enough, and I’m sure it will all work out.” She says those last few words without a single morsel of conviction. “Just know things are not as they seem. Be wary of being alone. You may just have enemies lurking where you least suspect them. Tread lightly the next few weeks. I’ll be back.”
“Nell Sawyer, don’t you dare leave without spilling the beans. What do you mean stay alert, things are not as they seem, enemies will be lurking where I least suspect them, and tread lightly?”
But that glow dissipates as effectively as a birthday candle that was just blown out and I’m left in darkness as Nell disappears.
A chill rides up my spine as her words play on a loop in my mind.
Stay alert. I shudder as I step out of that alcove and back into the zoo where Cormack and Cressida are letting the party animals run wild.
Things are not as they seem. What in the world could Nell have meant by that?
Enemies lurking—tread lightly.
Something is afoot. Nell said so herself. I thread my way through the crowd, glancing into that oversized gilded mirror in the entry. It makes it feel as if there’s a cast of thousands in this room, and there very well might be. I catch my reflection in duplicate and quickly do a double take, but the duplicate of my face is suddenly no more.
My feet inch forward as I inspect the mirror for a ripple or some grounded explanation for why my face just took up residence of this twisted glass, twice. But the mirror is flawless.
I turn back around and quickly scan the crowd. I spot Greer and Winslow slow dancing in the foyer as they float right up toward the ceiling, and just like that, they’re gone—just like my sanity apparently.
I’m about to head for the conservatory when a tall, dark, and handsome judge intercepts me.
“Lemon.” His lids hood low as
