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That’s it—she’s officially gone, and I take in a sharp breath because of it. Half the crowd breaks out in screams and sobs.

“Everyone step back,” Jasper shouts, and his voice has that tone that makes people listen now and think later. “This is a potential crime scene.”

The crowd gasps, and now everyone’s pulling out their phones to record this, because apparently watching a woman die in real time isn’t enough—we need to document it for social media too.

But thankfully Leo is already moving, directing festival staff to create a perimeter.

Jasper crouches down next to me, his eyes scanning Clawdia’s body and then moving to my face. “Ella is with my mother. Are you okay?”

I try to find my voice, but before I can respond, Macy comes barreling through the crowd like a blonde tornado in a red dress that’s holding on for dear life.

She stops dead when she sees the body, and her mouth drops open.

“No! Not again.” She turns to me with her eyes wide. “Tell me that’s not Countess Clawdia Noir lying dead on the grass.”

“I can’t tell you that.” I wince because I know what’s coming next.

“You!” She jabs a finger at my chest. “You did this!” Jab, jab, jab. “You’re a killer, Bizzy! And you just can’t keep your killing ways to yourself, can you?” Macy throws her hands to the sky. “This is a tragedy. Do you know how many tips I learned from that woman? How to walk into a room and make every other woman hate you? How to deliver an insult so delicious your intended mark would beg for more? How to make men fall at my feet with nothing but eye contact and a good push-up bra?” She’s spiraling now, and her voice is getting higher. “She was my mentor. My guru. Now she’s gone, and I’ll never get to thank her for teaching me everything I know about being irresponsible!”

“I think you meant irresistible,” I say with a little shrug.

“I said what I said,” she shouts back.

If Macy is anything, she’s honest.

Jordy, Macy’s boyfriend, one of tonight’s security team members, and my aforementioned lead handyman here at the inn, tries to pull her back gently. “Mace, you need to step back.”

“Step back? Step back?” Macy whirls on him. “Jordy, my sister just sent a legend packing to the big Halloween party in the sky, and you want me to step back like this is some kind of ordinary October?”

Georgie nods. “With Bizzy at the helm, it sort of is an ordinary October.”

Mom nods, too. “And a slow one at that.” Just one body, she muses that last bit to herself. Hopefully we’ll keep it that way.

Amen to that.

Macy belts out a wild cry. “This is the worst night of my life.” She glances back at the poor woman. She was supposed to do a workshop on advanced flirting techniques tomorrow, she muses internally. I had so many questions.

I almost feel bad for her. Almost.

She’s actually dead. The thought slams into me from somewhere in the crowd, androgynous and impossible to trace unless I’m standing directly in front of whoever’s thinking it. This is better than I expected. Don’t think about it. Just act natural.

My mouth falls open as I quickly scan the crowd. It’s a zoo of costumes, along with the smoky air, the kettle corn, and corn dogs competing for our senses. Every inch of the property is flooded with twinkle lights, glowing jack-o’-lanterns, and perhaps a killer.

Mackenzie arrives before I can react, and I know I’m about to have a very different problem.

She’s pushing through the crowd in full damage control mode, her blazer still perfect, her ponytail swinging like a weapon. “What is going on? Someone tell me⁠—”

She sees the body and freezes solid before turning to look at me with hellfire in her eyes.

“Not another one.”

“Mackenzie, I didn’t⁠—”

She holds up one finger, and I swear I can see the vein in her forehead starting to pulse. “You just can’t control yourself, can you, Bizzy?”

Mom steps forward. “Now wait just a minute⁠—”

“I should have you arrested!” Mackenzie is on a roll now, and there’s no stopping her. “Better yet, I should have you ejected from Spider Cove entirely. You should be outlawed.”