Page 30 of Covert Chaos

I put my hands on my hips. "Hattie, Bert told us everything. How you killed Charles and Beckwith. You lied to me!"

Emmeline moved her hand behind her back, and my heart jumped. Did she have a gun? Of course she had a gun. There was no other way she could have gotten Hattie into the boat.

Lucy vaulted over the railing. "I'm not going to lie, Hattie, I feel super rejected as well. You know I love excitement and bodies. I would have stood beside you, too."

"Hey! That's my boat! You don't get to take it!" Beau sloshed up beside me, grabbed the dock line, and pulled on the boat. "You are all monsters! Stealing my precious baby."

I looked at Hattie, and she nodded.Emmeline had a gun.

Oh, boy.

Attacking someone with a gun felt like such a bad idea.

But I'd done it before. What was one more time?

Hattie stood up. "I didn't kill them."

"Still lies?" Lucy moved in front of me to hide my right arm as I wound up the cord on the hairdryer and began to swing it. I was really good with the hairdryer, but one miss and we'd all be dead.

Not Beau.

Beau would save himself and at least be able to tell Devlin what happened.

Emmeline moved her arm, bringing it back to the front. Gun! "All right," she said. "All of you?—"

"Now!" Lucy dove out of the way, and I swung that hairdryer like a woman who was insane, desperate, and had full faith in her corded implement skills.

The hairdryer smashed into Emmeline's hand with a loud crack. She yelped, and the gun flew out of her hand and into the water. Hattie and Lucy immediately tackled her, shoving her to the bottom of the boat. King Tut let out a yowl of glee and launched himself onto her foot. He wrapped himself around it and started hammering with his back legs, apparently trying to disembowel her foot.

Emmeline screamed, but she was no match for a former baton twirler and a pissed off senior citizen.

It took only a moment before she was tied up in Beau's life jackets.

The minute she was secure, Hattie stumbled to her feet, panting. "She was going to kill me, ladies. I thought that was it. My fantastic life had reached a glorious, dramatic ending."

I let out a breath. "It's not your time, Hattie. Too much adventure left."

"I know, but boy…" She took a breath. "That was closer than I've been for a long time." She grinned. "So glad you guys figured it out so quickly!"

"Hattie!" Lucy threw her arms around Hattie and hugged her.

I did the same, wrapping the independent sassy senior up in a massive hug.

When she hugged us back, my heart got a little emotional.

I wasn't ready for Hattie to die over recipes and revenge. I wasn't ready for any of us to, actually.

After a long minute, Hattie pulled back. "See, Mia? If you'd retired, I'd be dead. You can't retire from adventure."

Lucy grinned. "It's true, Mia. And retiring won't change your past. No one hates you for what you're doing now. It's what you did before, and you can't change that."

I sighed. "I know."

Lucy tucked her arm through mine. "You're a hero, Mia. To us, at least. Eventually people will figure that out."

"And if they don't?" Hattie shrugged. "Life is too damn short to limit yourself to try to get other people to like you. Those aren't your people. Screw 'em."

I sighed, feeling the truth of what they were saying. "And my business?"

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