Chapter 2

Two

B ut I wasn't getting involved. I had to retire. Mandatory retirement for the sake of future Mia's financial and business well-being.

When I reached them, Hattie unlocked the back of the truck and raised the flap on the canopy. She shined a flashlight into the back. "Look."

Lucy immediately leaned closer, King Tut hopped up, shot over the tailgate, and went right in. I reluctantly peered inside.

It took me a moment to figure out what I was seeing, but the blue jeans, faded yellow T-shirt, sneakers, and limp hand were clues I couldn't ignore. "There's a man smashed up against the front of the truck bed. Napping, maybe?" I hoped he was napping. But the angle of his head was very wrong.

"Is he bleeding? He looks like he's bleeding," Lucy said.

"It's not blood," Hattie said. "It's raspberry pie."

I wanted to cheer for the fact he was covered in raspberry pie and not blood, but the fact he wasn't moving at all was concerning. "Is he drunk?"

"Oh, come on, Mia. Seriously? You two can't recognize a dead guy when you see one? Where's your corpse radar? Honestly. We don't have time for this."

Oh…man.

Lucy clapped her hands. "This is great. Who is he?"

I stepped back. "It's not great. Why is he in your truck? Why did you bring him here? Why didn't you call Devlin?" Devlin Hunt was a local cop. Not the police chief, because Chief Stone was an underqualified dandelion who was Lucy's cousin and the son of the mayor. Devlin was ex-black ops, former gang member, and besties with the FBI agent who had managed my undercover work against my ex. Devlin was fully incorruptible, even by us.

Definitely a smart choice to call Devlin about a body.

"I didn't call Devlin because he's going to have to arrest me for it," Hattie said.

Unless the evidence pointed toward one of my friends.

Lucy's eyes widened. "Did you kill him?"

Hattie didn't take offense at all, which said so much about Hattie. "Nope. I could, though, as we all know. Devlin will know that too." She closed the flap and leaned against it, folding her arms over her chest. "The man in my truck is Beckwith Barnes. We met for drinks at the Ugly Man Tavern tonight, and now he's dead in my truck."

Um…joy.

Lucy frowned. "Well, that doesn't mean you killed him. Devlin is smarter than that."

I watched Hattie, my hopes of retirement fading by the minute. "What else is there?"

"Beckwith wanted to buy some of my pie recipes for the Diamond Pie Company, which he runs with his brother, a big, rude, unpleasant man named Charles. When I said no, he got mad. Then, I realized the pie he'd brought me to try tasted like my recipe. When I mentioned that sweetly, he started shouting at me for accusing him of theft, then grabbed the pie and stormed out."

A public argument. Money and reputation involved. "That's still not enough," I said. But the fact she was driving around with his body might be. "How did he wind up in your truck?"

"I don't know!" She threw up her hands. "I didn't leave for a couple hours, but when I was on my way here, I felt this bad vibe from the back of my truck, and I looked back, and bam! There he was!"

Lucy grimaced. "Oh…Hattie."

"Right? And let's recap: who was eating raspberry pie? I was. He took my pie with him. I haven't sampled it to make sure it's the same pie, though." She wrinkled her nose. "I'm a food connoisseur and eating the pie that's all over a dead man's shirt is way below my standards."

"As it should be," Lucy said. "I'm with you there."

"Are you sure he's dead?" I asked, still hoping for an easy out.

"As a doornail. I've been around enough to know."

"How did he die?"

"I don't know. I turned around to look at him at a stoplight, but all I could see was the raspberry pie." She grinned. "It's up to us, ladies." Hattie clapped her hands. "Isn't this fun? High stakes, a body, wayward pie, and the Ugly Man Tavern on a Saturday night? It's pretty much perfect, right?"

"Absolutely." Lucy looked thrilled. "What do we do first? Go back to the Ugly Man and start snooping around?"

"I'm thinking that's best." Hattie tossed the keys at me. "You drive. I'm taking your antique beauty of a truck, Turbojet."

I caught the keys. "Me? I don't want to drive Beckwith."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, I can't drive him. I'm the suspect. If I'm driving him, then I'll be on death row by morning. You're innocent. You have to be the one caught with him in the back."

"Seriously, Hattie? This is why I'm retiring! I can't drive a body around!"

"I'll drive!" Lucy snatched the keys out of my hand, ran around to the front, and climbed in.

Hattie looked at me. "You can't leave Lucy alone with a body, Mia. You know that. She's new to this kind of trouble." She held out her hand. "I need the keys to Turbojet, Mia."

There was a tense edge to Hattie's voice that caught my attention. Her jaw was set, and there was worry in her eyes. Yes, Hattie and Lucy loved the excitement of tracking down murderers, and honestly, I did, too. But this wasn't just about fun. Hattie could be in real trouble if we didn't sort this out, and fast.

Shoot. I was going to have to retire tomorrow, not today, wasn't I?

"Fine." I handed her the keys. "But we have to keep this quiet. I can't afford any more damage to my reputation. And this is the last time. This is it."

She held an invisible key to her lips and turned it. "No one will ever know."

Except they would know.

Because there was a dead man in Hattie's truck, and we couldn't hide that fact for long.