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“Last chance,” Phineas lets out a thunderous shout and Nadine relents long enough for me to come up for air.
“Sparky to the rescue!” a distinctly female voice cries out, a distinct voice that happens to belong to Nettie Butterworth.
In a moment, Nettie and Sparky are in the water and the entire lot of us is thrashing about.
“Ransom!” I can hear Bess wail from a few feet away, a few feet away from the hot tub, that is.
Nettie—or Sparky—who knows who—grabs ahold of Nadine’s crimson tresses and crashes her forehead into the top of the deck.
“You witch!” Nadine cries out before turning around and doing the same to Nettie, but this time an awful thunk reverberates through the tiny alcove we’re in.
“Trixie?” a deep voice booms from my right and I recognize it.
“Ransom!” I shout just as Nadine goes for my throat one more time.
“Freeze,” he shouts, his weapon gleaming in the dark like the deadly threat it is.
Nadine glares into my eyes as her fingers loosen, and soon her hands are floating up around her head. Her eyes close as she sighs.
“It’s over, isn’t it?” she whispers.
“It’s over,” I say.
Phineas floats toward the sky like a faint blue whisp. “It looks as if it’s over for me as well. It was nice knowing you, Trixie Troublefield. Don’t let life get you down. Remember, it just gets better in paradise. I’m off to find Julia. I’ll tell her you said hello.”
“I’d like that,” I whisper as I give him a wave.
Within moments, Ransom fishes Nadine out of the water and Quinn Riddle is on the scene, landing the woman in handcuffs.
“Nettie?” Bess shrieks with a level of terror I’ve never heard in her voice before and both Ransom and I turn to see our friend.
Nettie Butterworth floats facedown in the hot tub as that wooden boy lies over her back with his legs crossed at the knees, his hands tucked under his head as if he were enjoying the ride.
Ransom hoists Nettie out of the water, lands her on her back, and starts in on mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Ransom was right. One day my meddling was going to put Bess and Nettie in danger.
And by the looks of it, my meddling just might have cost Nettie Butterworth everything.
CHAPTER 25
“Nettie!” Bess shouts as she pushes Ransom off of her rather nonresponsive bestie and slaps the woman clear across the face. “Wake up!”
“Bess,” I call out as I pluck her away before she performs a complete beatdown on the poor woman. “What are you doing?”
“Exactly what she instructed me to do if she ever croaked on my watch—slapping her back to reality.”
I’m about to protest when Nettie coughs and sputters.
“There she is.” Ransom helps Nettie to a sitting position, her hair plastered to her skull. “Are you all right?”
“I was,” she grouses as she points a crooked finger at Bess. “Didn’t I tell you that if a handsome fellow was offering up the breath of life via his sexy lips you were to steer clear?”
“I remember.” Bess sighs. “But I couldn’t help it. You’re my best friend in the whole wide world—we were the terrible twosome, remember? Now we’ve got Trixie—we’re the trio of terror. And we can’t be a trio without you.”
“In that case, I forgive you,” Nettie says as Ransom helps her to her feet. “All right, Bess. Do you remember the last instruction I gave in the event I needed to be brought back from the dead?”
“You bet I do,” she says, wrapping one of Nettie’s arms around her shoulders. “Let’s head to the Blue Water Café and stuff your face with lava cake.”
