In a matter of moments my screams cut through the silence, sending a dizzying blur of people running this way, and before I realize it, a thick crowd blossoms around me from out of nowhere.

Mora Anne stalks my way, white as snow. “You did this! You killed my sister!”

“No.” I shake my head, my voice hardly audible as she dives back into the crowd and screams my sister, my sister over and over again.

It feels like moments drift by all too quickly, and at the same time it feels like an eternity, but before I know it, Keelie is standing before me, blinking into my face, her lips moving, but I can’t quite get a grip on what she’s saying. It’s all moving way too fast.

The familiar frame of a man speeds in this direction. “Everybody back! This is a crime scene. All of you out of the area now,” he bellows, and it’s only then I snap out of my daze long enough to realize it’s Noah Fox, the one I had mistaken for a loan officer not less than a couple of hours ago.

Keelie offers me a quick embrace. “I’d better help Holland wrangle these people into the barn. Better yet, get them off the property.” Police sirens cut through the chaos, and she points back at the road. “Daddy’s already here. Everything is going to be okay.”

She takes off, and I breathe a sigh of relief as the crowd dissipates right along with her. Keelie’s father is the chief of the Ashford County Sheriff’s Department. He and Keelie’s mother divorced years ago, and a few weeks back there was a short-lived rumor he was dating Mayor Nash’s ex-wife.

“Hey”—Noah Fox speeds my way and gently lays a hand on my shoulder—“you look a little pale. Why don’t we get you over to the barn with everyone else? I’ll be here until the police arrive.”

“No, I’m not okay. And I’m not leaving. Merilee was my”—I pause a moment—“well, I guess I can’t call her a friend. It wouldn’t be right to lie about the dead. But she was my landlord right up until she handed me an eviction notice this morning. Besides, I’m the one that found the body. Body.” I shudder at the thought of anyone I know being relegated to such grisly terms. I blink up at him a moment. “And what are you doing here? Last I saw, you were gloating at your desk.”

He whips out his wallet and flashes a license of some sort at me. “I’m a private detective.” He casts a suspicious glance around the vicinity. “I’ll be investigating the homicide along with the sheriff’s department.”

“What? How do you know that? And how did you get here before the police? A private detective?” It comes out with disbelief. “I’m assuming that means you need to be hired. You’re like some seedy ambulance chaser, only with dead bodies. Oh my God”—I duck out from his grasp—“you’re not the killer, are you? Not that I’d expect for you to admit it.”

He frowns and looks decidedly handsome in the endeavor, causing my heart to thump just once. Talk about guilt. My heart should not be thumping with lust while poor Merilee’s heart can’t even give a weak beat.

“I heard it over the scanner.” He looks over his shoulder as a small army of patrol cars race up onto the property. “Look, I’m going to take this one on pro bono. I need to prove myself before I can build a clientele. Besides, I’ve worked for seven years as a homicide detective in Cincinnati.”

“Cincinnati?” It comes out faint, mostly because I was just parroting it back to myself.

Captain Jack Turner stalks over with his hand on his weapon, inspecting poor Merilee just as Mora Anne comes racing back to the scene.

“She did it!” Mora Anne is quick to point a finger in my direction. “She killed my sister. We took her to court and gave her an eviction notice this morning and now my sister is dead!” she screams those last few words out hysterically. And suddenly I feel like screaming out my innocence in the exact same manner.

“I didn’t do it, I swear!” I cry over to him, and Jack makes a motion with his hand for me to calm down. That even-tempered look on his face lets me know he fully believes me. And I know that he does. When my own father died, Joseph, the man who found me in the firehouse—it was Jack who stepped in and treated me like one of his own.

“What are you doing here, Lottie?” Jack asks, looking every bit exasperated as beads of sweat quickly build on his upper lip and under his eyes. I’ve seen him sweat buckets for less. It’s simply the way his body reacts to life. Lord knows it’s not nearly hot enough to break a sweat today—never mind that it won’t be until next summer. Honey Hollow loves its winters so much sometimes it feels as if it never wants to let go.

“I—I came by to see if they liked the pies I made for them.” I glance down at poor Merilee with her face still buried in one. “Holland Grand hired me to bake all the pies for the Apple Festival in a couple weeks, and I wanted to see if they were a hit. I couldn’t find Holland, but I found her.” My hand clamps over my mouth as I look back to where Mora Anne kneels at her sister’s side, the blood around Merilee’s torso quickly drying to a dark shade of brown.

“I see.” Jack’s chest expands wide as the sky. “And how about you, son? What business do you have around these parts?”

Noah shoots those lawn green eyes my way, and I swear on my father’s grave I’d like nothing better to do than stare into them the entire livelong day. How in the heck I got myself wrapped up with a dead Simonson sister is beyond me.

“I’m with her.” Noah nods my way. That dark hair of his catches the light, and it looks glossy and soft enough to touch, but I resist the urge. At this point I should probably resist the urge to breathe. Lord knows what trouble I might find myself in next.

“With her?” Jack looks amused. He’s quite the intimidating sight in his tan uniform, his badge blinding us like a distress signal every few seconds. He’s a husky man, tall as a tree and round as a barrel. Has a soft look in his eyes that could make even the most hardened criminal feel a slight inkling of affection.

“Yes, with her.” Noah nods to me, and that slight comma-like dimple goes off. I’ve always been a sucker for a good dimple, but something tells me if I’m not careful, my love for those epidermal impressions might land me in the morgue next to Merilee.

“And how do you two know one another?” Jack narrows his gaze at Noah first, then me.

“We’re dating.” Noah lands an arm around my shoulder. “It’s something new. Very new.” He looks to me pleadingly and nods. “We were just talking about some kitchen appliances I was going to see if I could help her out with.” He gives a long blink and sorry nod as if it were true on some level.

A gasp gets caught in my throat. For the second time in a short span, I can’t help but feel guilty about being excited about something while standing feet from the deceased. “Yes,” I say firmly while glaring at Noah. “It’s very new. It’s so new I hardly know about it myself. He’s with me,” I concede.

“Fine.” Jack looks back to the scene as deputies and firefighters alike swarm over the vicinity. “Since you found the body, they’ll want a statement from you. Don’t go anywhere.” He glowers at Noah for a moment. “That goes for the both of you.” He takes off, and I pull Noah off to the side.

“Are you insane? On second thought, don’t answer that. I already know the answer. You know they probably have this entire place under surveillance. If you’re the killer, they’re going to find out soon enough and arrest you.” My God, how I hope they have this entire place under a scrutinizing technological eye. I give a quick glance to the bare eaves and it looks doubtful. “What are you, anyway?” I look back to this fake loan officer turned PI. “Some serial killer from the big city? Cincinnati ran out of places to hide, so you chose Honey Hollow as your next foxhole? Nice fake last name, by the way. I bet the first one’s a fake, too.” I poke him in the chest with my finger and can’t help but note he’s hard as a rock.

“No.” He gives a halfhearted laugh. “I promise you I’m no such thing. I’m telling the truth about my time on the force.” He winces over at the officers working in earnest just as a white van marked coroner rolls onto the scene.

“Oh my God. It’s all so real.” I shake my head just as Keelie materializes between us.

“Everything okay?” She shakes her head at me as if it’s not, and it isn’t. “What’s this my dad is spewing about a boyfriend of yours?” She looks to Noah, and her affect smooths out. “Hot honey on a cool autumn day.” She extends her hand. “Keelie Nell Turner, I work at the Honey Pot and am off by eight on Fridays.” She gasps a moment, retracting her hand before he can shake it. “You’re not the boyfriend, are you?”

“He is,” I say, fully annoyed, craning my neck over her shoulder as one of the sheriff’s deputies rolls out the bright yellow caution tape just the way they do on TV. I can’t believe poor Mora Anne has to witness all this.

“I am indeed the boyfriend.” He gives a quick grin. “Noah Fox.” He shakes her hand, and Keelie swoons as if she’s just met a celebrity.

Keelie gasps again. “Holy stars up in heaven, Lottie! How in the heck did you pull this scrumptious rabbit out of your hat?” She looks genuinely stunned, so I swat her on the arm to break the spell.

Noah steals a moment to gloat. “It’s new.”

“It’s not new.” I swat him, too. “Would you stop saying that? We are not new. And we never will be. There is no we for goodness’ sake!”

Keelie gasps again. I swear, if she does it one more time, she’s going to pass out. “Are you Mr. Sexy?” Her eyes grow wide. “Lottie mentioned you this afternoon.”

Noah gives another smug grin, his chest expanding wide right along with his ego.

“He is not Mr. Sexy.” I give a slight push to his arm. “I thought he was a loan officer. It turns out, he’s nothing but a fake detective.” I hop on my toes as I hiss the words at him.

“I’m licensed in the state of Vermont.” He looks over to the crowd. “Which reminds me, I have a crime scene to tend to. Ladies.” He offers a slight wink my way, and I can’t help but groan with frustration.

“This entire day is a mind warp. How can any of this be happening?”

“I know, right?” Keelie stares off into the orchard, dazed as if trying to take it all in herself. “First Mr. Sexy. Now Mr. Fox. You’re on one heck of a roll.” She runs her hands up and down my back.

“What in the heck are you doing?” I buck her off like a reflex as three officers turn their heads this way for a moment.

“I’m trying to get your luck to rub off on me.”

Noah comes back. His presence suddenly feels larger than life, and I can’t help but note how that baby blue dress shirt sets off his eyes and a tiny part of me hates myself for it.

“Any news?” I say as if the events of the day could somehow shift into something positive.

His lips purse as he takes in a deep breath. “There is. They’ve got a lead on who a suspect might be.”

“Great! Who is it?”

His chest expands a moment, and I try not to notice how wide and steely it looks from this vantage point. “It’s you, Lottie. You’re the number one suspect.” His gaze stays trained on mine a moment too long before he heads back to the crime scene.

“Oh, Lottie”—Keelie wraps her arms around me tight—“it’s going to be all right. Just you wait and see.”

“Not for Merilee it won’t.” A flicker of something orange catches my eye at the base of the orchard, and I watch as the outline of a cat slowly fills in. It’s that orange tabby that hovered around Merilee this morning making another appearance, and my eyes widen.

My God, this has been the worst thing that has ever happened to anyone before as far as those peculiar phantasms are concerned. And to think I had hoped to see her fall down those courthouse stairs.

No, this is far worse than a skinned knee.

Someone killed Merilee Simonson, and I’m the number one suspect.