A Frightening Fangs-giving

figure out how to make them into a jacket. It turns out, there are far too many moving parts to that pattern. I stayed up all night trying to solve the riddle of the wonky jacket sphinx. And I learned long ago there are only two things worth losing any sleep over. Number one, a man in your bed.”
I jut my head forward. “What’s number two?”
Georgie nods. “A man in your bed.”
Mom laughs. “You’re wrong on both counts.” She holds the quilt up with her hands. “And I don’t know about turning this into a jacket. That’s going to be tough.” Mom pinches the corners of the quilt and holds it out to inspect it. “But given time, I think it would be a very good idea. You’re really onto something with all this whip stitching and fringed fabric. These take half the time to construct as your run-of-the-mill pieced quilt. I can see the appeal.”
Juni whizzes past us with an oversized box that has a picture of a sewing machine on its side and she lands it onto Georgie’s table.
“Mama!” she cries out as she staggers over to where her mother proudly displays a quilt over her back. “That’s it! Who cares about a quilted jacket? Women all over Maine will be tripping over themselves to get ahold of a Georgie Conner’s wonky cape!”
“A wonky cape!” Georgie howls, and the two of them break out into an odd little jig.
Mom sighs. “They’ll be tripping over themselves, all right. If I were you, Bizzy, I wouldn’t sell those deathtraps at the inn. Think of the liability.” She taps her temple before heading back to the piles of holiday-themed fabric folded neatly at her station.
A pair of warm hands encircles me from behind as Jasper drops a kiss to my cheek.
“Good morning.” He nods to Huxley and Macy. He’s already said good morning to me in a far more delicious way, and a naughty smile twitches on my lips just thinking about it.
Hey, beautiful. He dots a kiss to my cheek. You haven’t forgotten who I am, have you? Because if you’re murky, I can take you back to the cottage and refresh your memory.
A laugh bucks through me as I give him a wink. “Who are you again?”
“Bizzy.” Macy clasps her hands together as she looks my way. “Thank God you’re sleeping with the lead homicide detective. Jasper, I demand you set everyone in this twisted town straight. And while you’re at it, make that brat, Willow Taylor, come over to my shop and wash the lipstick off my window.”
Jasper’s chest widens. “I’m sorry, Macy. I’m afraid I can’t do that. In fact, I think I need to see your hands.”
I may have filled Jasper in on Macy’s acrylic nails last night, and suddenly I’m regretting the decision.
“What for?” Macy holds her hands out, and sure enough, one of the acrylic fingernails on her right hand is missing. “Are you looking for traces of red lipstick? Because if you think I’ve desecrated my own shop, you’re insane. Bizzy, I command you to end this matrimonial farce. Clearly Jasper is a plant sent to destroy our family.”
Jasper gives a somber nod. “Macy, we found an acrylic nail that matches yours at the scene of the crime—embedded in Ember Sweet’s sweater. Care to explain?”
Hux mutters a few salty words under his breath. “She’s not saying anything.” He rolls his head back. “I’m officially acting as my sister’s attorney.”
And I’m officially—unofficially going to do whatever I can to make sure my sister doesn’t fry for this.

Chapter 5
“No,” Jasper says without wavering as the morning light slices through the curtain.
We’ve been rolling around in bed for the better half of an hour, mostly to get the day off to the right start, but I may regrettably have brought up the possibility of seeing Willow Taylor today.
“Yes,” I tell him as he pulls me close and he lands another mouthwatering kiss over my lips. “No, fair. I specifically remember you saying you’d never deny me anything,” I tease while drawing a line down his chest with my finger.
A dull laugh pumps through him. “Is it too late for me to rephrase that? Because I thought it was a given I wouldn’t want you hanging around with killers.”
“Unless you know something that I don’t, Willow Taylor is still just a suspect. Besides, Macy already said she was going to talk to her today. And we both know once Macy puts her mind to something, she’s unstoppable.”
He groans and I take him in, with the dark stubble on his cheeks, his hair slightly mussed, his eyes as pale as lightning.
Jasper lets out a heavy sigh. “I think we both know she’s not the only unstoppable Baker sister.” He frowns my way. “Okay. I concede. But just this once—and only because you’re headed to her shop. I’m going to allow both Macy and Main Street to give me the false sense of security I need to get through the day. Do me a favor and text me when it’s over.”
“Will do.” I shrug up at him. “We still have an hour before either of us has to walk out the door.”
He lifts a brow. “I’ve got a few ideas on how to kill the time.”
I land my finger over his lips. “Show, don’t tell.”
And Jasper gives me a demonstration for the ages.
Suds and Illuminations is closed until further notice. I should have figured. But Macy was in such a rage, she spent all day tracking down Willow Taylor, until she finally succeeded. It turns out, Willow Taylor likes to spend her time at a bar called the Happy Hour located in the underbelly of a rather seedy town to the west of us called Edison.
Once Georgie and Juni got wind of the fact Macy and I were headed to schmooze with a suspect at a place called the Happy Hour, they quickly materialized in the backseat of my sister’s car.
Jasper is working late, and