Page 29 of Covert Chaos

King Tut walked out and stood beside us, his tail flicking.

"It's been only a few minutes," Lucy said. "They couldn’t have gotten far."

Beau hurried out to the deck. "Emmeline kidnapped her?"

"Emmeline's going to kill her and make it look like she was guilty." My body was trembling with the need to run after them, but I had no idea which way to go. They could be anywhere!

King Tut suddenly turned his head, looking toward the woods where we'd hidden the boat.

I didn't hesitate. I just started running, swinging the hairdryer by the cord as I ran. "Hattie!"

Sixteen

Iwasn't a runner. But I ran like I was an Olympic gold medalist.

I bolted into the woods, vaulting over bushes and rocks, ducking under branches, nearly died twice when the hairdryer hit a branch and ricocheted back at my face, and then I burst out of the woods just as Hattie was backing Beau's boat away from shore.

Behind her stood Emmeline.

Hattie waved at us. "I'm just running Emmeline to my place to show her some recipes. We'll be right back!"

Lucy and Beau caught up to me. "She's fine?" Lucy put her hands on her hips. "Bert messed with us."

Bert. We'd left him alone. "Hattie would be yelling at us for leaving him unattended," I said. "But she didn't. She's not okay." I plunged into the lake, lurching through the water. "Hattie! Wait! I want to come!"

She shook her head. "No, no. Stay here. We need some girl time. Emmeline is traumatized."

Dear God. Hattie would never allow any female to claim the title of traumatized. She'd be smacking that word right out of Emmeline's mouth, telling her to get over victim status and own her power. Fresh urgency coursed through me. "Hattie," I shouted. "Stop this boat right now, or I'm telling Devlin that you killed Beckwith, because I know you did!"

Next to me, King Tut was swimming delightedly, thrilled that I was in the water with him.

"You beast! I didn't kill him!" Hattie stood up, shouting at me.

"You did! You're a liar! You used our friendship to get us to help you, but you did it! He stole your recipes, and you were mad. You didn't even tell us you'd had an affair with him!" I shoved my way through the water.

"It's not an affair if you're not married, you uptight little wench!" Hattie shouted back, but I heard the clunk of her shifting the engine into neutral. Emmeline hadn't noticed because we were yelling like maniacs.

The boat was still drifting backward, but it was slower now.

I could make it.

"I have spent the last fifteen years trying to leave behind being a criminal, and you dragged me into that!" I reached the edge of the boat. "Just for that, I'm cutting you out of my drug business. You're such a rat!"

"You can't kick me out! You need me! How are you going to figure out where to hide all that money? You're a financial antique!"

"I don't need you!"

Emmeline finally spoke up. "Wait, you're still running the drug operation?"

I stared at her, like I'd forgotten she was there. "What? No? Don't be silly. Hattie!" I grabbed the edge of the boat. Dear heavens. I was so sucky at pulling myself onto the boat from the water.

But Hattie's life depended on it. "You're such a rat!" I grabbed the edge and hauled myself up as hard as I could.

I made it halfway, and landed with a thud on the rail on my stomach.Crap.

Before I could adjust, I felt claws dig into the back of my legs as King Tut ran up my back and vaulted into the boat. He landed in front of Emmeline and growled.

She took a step back and then I heard Lucy behind me. "On three," she muttered. "One, two, three." She grabbed my legs and tossed me into the boat. I landed on my face, and then shot to my feet.

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