No Scone Unturned
Page 15
Jack rushed to her side, fussing over her wound, calling an ambulance against her wishes, then admonishing her for putting herself in danger.
“But we caught the killer.” Ida pointed to Olive and Rupert.
“I see, but why is Olive tied up?” Jack asked.
“Olive was the killer,” Florence cut in.
Jack whirled around, his eyes darting among Nans, Ruth, Ida, and Helen and the four ladies of the fan club. He zoomed in on the fan club ladies, his brows drawn together. “And exactly who are you?”
The woman stuck her hand out. “I’m Florence Dayton, president of the Olive Pendleton fan club.”
“Former Olive Pendleton fan club,” Sally reminded her.
“Yes, right. We don’t want to have a fan club for a murderer,” Florence said.
“So Rupert wasn’t the killer?” Jack asked.
“No, and here’s your proof.” Ida held out the USB card from the drone, keeping the drone itself securely under her arm. Lexy figured she didn’t want to let it get into police custody, as they would likely keep it in the evidence room for years, and she needed to get it back to her grandson. “On this card is the video that will prove who the killer is.”
“And the body is right in the freezer,” Nans said.
Jack nodded to one of the other police officers, who opened the freezer then turned back to Jack. “Yep, she’s not kidding about that.”
The ambulances pulled up just as Rupert was coming to. Jack made sure Lexy got loaded in the first ambulance before putting Olive and Rupert into their own separate ambulances. Then he climbed into the back of the ambulance with her.
“You don’t have to come with me,” Lexy said. “I’m fine. You have a job to do here.”
Nans, Ruth, Ida, and Helen as well as the fan club hovered around the back of the ambulance, too.
“I’ll go with her,” Nans said.
“Give me your keys, Lexy, and I’ll take the car and meet you guys at the hospital,” Ruth said.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Lexy looked nervously from Ruth to Jack.
“I’ll meet them at the hospital,” Jack said. Then, realizing the ladies probably didn’t have a ride, he added, “I’ll drive you all there.”
“Well, that’s settled, then.” Ruth started toward Lexy’s car but stopped when Caspian Kingsley appeared in a royal-blue bathrobe with gold fleur-de-lis on it.
“My word. What is going on over here? I only called because the dogs were making a ruckus. This seems like quite a to-do.”
“That’s right, Mr. Kingsley. In case you don’t know, there was a murder here. And our town’s most famous author is being charged with it,” Florence said.
Caspian looked her up and down. Then his gaze flitted from Florence to the other fan club ladies and then over to the sleuths. A flicker of recognition crossed his eyes when he looked at Nans, Ruth, Ida, and Helen.
“My Lord, there’s eight of them?” He looked at Jack then leaned in toward him as if providing him a confidence. “I don’t know what happened here, but I wouldn’t put any stock in what these ladies say. From what I’ve seen, they’re all crazy.”
27
Lexy sat at one of the café tables in the front of her bakery the next day and watched the sun glinting off the waterfall across the street. Pedestrians strolled casually down the road, clutching shopping bags. Birds skittered around on the sidewalk, looking for crumbs. No one would guess a murder had occurred nearby and someone had been arrested for it just the night before.
She picked up the cinnamon scone in front of her, wincing at the pain in her right arm where the bullet had grazed her. She’d have to learn to use her left arm for a while. Cassie came out from the kitchen to load a fresh batch of blonde brownies into the pastry case.
“I can do that,” Lexy said.
“No way. You are to rest. You’re lucky I’m even letting you in here today. Jack would have my hide if he knew I let you do any work.” Cassie’s gaze drifted out the window. “And besides, you’ve got company.”
Lexy turned to see Ruth’s enormous antique blue Oldsmobile careening down the road. The driver pulled to the side of the street, misjudging how far to go, and its whitewall tires jumped up onto the curb. Then she overcorrected into the opposite lane, which thankfully was void of traffic. Finally she managed to park without running anyone over, and the four ladies piled out and made a beeline for the bakery.
Nans was the first through the door. “Lexy! You’re looking chipper!”
The ladies had stayed with her for four hours in the emergency room. It had turned out the bullet hadn’t done any damage, simply grazing the skin. She’d barely needed a couple of stitches. But Jack and the ladies had stayed by her side the whole time.
Ruth, Ida, and Helen followed Nans over to Lexy’s side and inspected her arm. Once they were satisfied that she was okay, they did an about-face and marched to the bakery case, where they each picked out a pastry before filling up coffee mugs at the self-serve station.
“Now don’t fill up too much on these, Ida,” Nans said. “You know we’re having the fan club ladies over for tea later this afternoon.”
“You are?” Lexy asked. “You mean the ladies that helped us catch Olive?”
Nans nodded as she squirted some lemon into her tea. “Yes. They seemed very nice and it was the least we could do seeing as they got us out of quite a pickle.”
“I just hope they don’t think they can team up with us.” Ida made a face.
“That’s not going to happen,” Nans said. “There’s only room for four of us in the detective club… well and Lexy, of course.”
“Of course,” the ladies said in unison.
“Though we may be able to use them as informants somehow,” Nans said.
“They seemed quite eager to work with us, and Sally does have extensive computer skills,” Ruth added.
“And they are going to help with those adorable little Peekapoos,” Helen said.
“They are?” Lexy asked. “What about Rupert?”
“Oh, he’s keeping them. He said he wouldn’t part with them. But he’s going to need some help, and they agreed to help him.” Ida leaned forward. “I think they might be sweet on him.”
“So what’s going to happen to Rupert, anyway?” Helen asked. “He’s not being charged with anything, is he?”
“No. From what Jack said, he had no idea about the murder. It was all Olive’s doing. They were able to prove with the video from the drone that it was her hand that wielded the bat. And they also got some DNA from the bat itself. Should be an easy case.”
“Imagine killing your own sister,” Ruth said.
Helen shook her head. “But Jason got his drone back in good condition, right, Ida?”
Ida nodded. “He did. I pretended I had just dropped it under Mona’s sofa. He doesn’t need to know we flew halfway across town and got it involved in a murder. If he did, he might not let me play with his toys anymore.”
Lexy laughed. “Jack also said that Rupert is probably going to stay in the house. Olive is going to need to come up with a lot of money for bail.”
“What about her assistant?”
“Turns out she really was at that conference all along,” Lexy said.
“But will Olive still inherit Susan’s money?” Ruth asked. “That doesn’t seem right since she killed her.”
Nans shook her head. “She won’t be able to inherit. But Rupert will.”
“No he won’t,” Lexy said. “I mean, technically he will, but he said he planned to get in touch with Susan’s son, Brent. She had confided in Rupert that she wanted to reconcile with Brent. Rupert had no idea Olive was intercepting the letters between them, and since he put that mail in the box for Olive, he feels a little responsible.”
“So it sounds like Rupert really was a nice guy,” Helen said.
“It seems so. At least he’s doing the right thing. And he’s going to make sure Brent gets all of Susan’s mone
y.”
“Well, it seems like we tied up another case that the police couldn’t solve.” Nans held up her coffee cup. “I think that calls for a toast.”
Lexy, Ruth, Ida, and Helen all raised their cups.
“To a job well done,” Nans said.
They clinked the lips of their cups, and each took a sip.
Ida raised her cup again for another toast. “And here’s hoping there’s many more.”
The End.
*******
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Want to read the rest of Lexy and Nans’ adverntures:
Lexy Baker Cozy Mystery Series Boxed Set Vol 1 (Books 1-4)
Or buy the books separately:
Killer Cupcakes
Dying For Danish
Murder, Money and Marzipan
3 Bodies and a Biscotti
Brownies, Bodies & Bad Guys
Bake, Battle & Roll
Wedded Blintz
Scones, Skulls & Scams
Ice Cream Murder
Mummified Meringues
Brutal Brulee (Novella)
Chocolate Scone Recipe
Helen wanted chocolate scones, now you can have them too:
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup packed sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine cut up into chunks
2 eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup semi-sweet baking chocolate chopped up into chunks
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375F
In a large bowl mix flower, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda ant salt. Cut butter in with a pastry blender until the mixture forms course crumbs.
Beat eggs and sour cream until blended. Combine with dry mixture and mix until a soft dough forms. Stir in the chopped chocolate.
Knead dough on a floured surface until smooth (about 1 minute).
Press dough into a circle on a greased baking sheet. Score the top to make 12 wedge shaped pieces.
Bake until golden brown (about 30 minutes) Cool on a wire rack.
Glaze:
3/4 cup powdered sugar (sifted)
1/4 cup cocoa powder (sifted)
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and stir to drizzling consistency. Add milk 1/4 teaspoon at a time if it's too thick. Drizzle over scones and dust the top with more powdered sugar. Enjoy!
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Lexy Baker Cozy Mystery Series Boxed Set Vol 1 (Books 1-4)
Or buy the books separately:
Killer Cupcakes
Dying For Danish
Murder, Money and Marzipan
3 Bodies and a Biscotti
Brownies, Bodies & Bad Guys
Bake, Battle & Roll
Wedded Blintz
Scones, Skulls & Scams
Ice Cream Murder
Mummified Meringues
Brutal Brulee (Novella)
Contemporary Romance
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Reluctant Romance
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Sweetrock Sweet and Spicy Cowboy Romance
Some Like It Hot
Too Close For Comfort
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Regency Romance
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Kissing The Enemy
The Unexpected Series:
An Unexpected Proposal
Dobbs Fancytales:
Dobbs Fancytales Boxed Set Collection
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Goldwater Creek Mail Order Brides:
Faith
American Mail Order Brides Series:
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ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
WRITING AS LEE ANNE JONES:
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The Rockford Security Series:
Deadly Betrayal (Book 1)
Fatal Games (Book 2)
Treacherous Seduction (Book 3)
Calculating Desires (Book 4)
About the Author
USA Today Bestselling author Leighann Dobbs has had a passion for reading since she was old enough to hold a book, but she didn’t put pen to paper until much later in life. After a twenty-year career as a software engineer with a few side trips into selling antiques and making jewelry, she realized you can’t make a living reading books, so she tried her hand at writing them and discovered she had a passion for that, too! She lives in New Hampshire with her husband, Bruce, their trusty Chihuahua mix, Mojo, and beautiful rescue cat, Kitty.
Her book "Dead Wrong" won the "Best Mystery Romance" award at the 2014 Indie Romance Convention.
Her book "Ghostly Paws" was the 2015 Chanticleer Mystery & Mayhem First Place category winner in the Animal Mystery category.
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