“Oh, well she fell pretty far behind in the last challenge, so she wasn’t much competition anyway.”
“Right, Corinne is your big competition now, I hear. We’re pulling her in for questioning momentarily.”
Lexy felt her heart clench. Jake was looking at her as if he thought she had mentioned the other baker on purpose, to increase her odds of winning.
“What about Peter Saunders?” Lexy still harbored hope that Corinne was innocent and that someone else had murdered the judge.
“He’s been cleared. Records show he was in his room when his wife was murdered,” Jake said. He turned his attention back to the cupcakes Cassie was working on. Tiliting his head, he walked closer bending down for a better look.
“These cupcake papers - they’re very nice. I haven’t seen these before.”
Lexy felt her heart swell with pride. “Those are specialty papers I ordered for the contest. I wanted to make my cupcakes stand out.”
“It’s funny you mention specialty paper. Amanda Scott-Saunders had a piece of specialty paper clutched in her hand when she was murdered. It looked as if the murderer had ripped it out after she was killed.”
Lexy gasped, her eyes growing wide. She remembered Nans saying how Corinne had mentioned something about a paper. Maybe Corinne really was the murderer, but if she was, where did Westmore fit in? Could they have been in on it together? Or maybe he wasn’t even involved at all.
“Is something wrong?” Jake was looking at her intently.
“N-no,” she stammered. Should she tell him about the conversation Nans had overheard?
Jake turned his attention back to her cupcakes. “Can I have one of these cupcake papers?”
Lexy’s mouth fell open. “Surely you don’t think…”
Jake smiled, touching her arm lightly. “Of course not…well, it is one more clue that points in your direction,” he teased.
Lexy felt her cheeks grow red as a flush of anger swept her body. She jerked her arm away. Stomping over to her supply rack, she grabbed a paper cupcake holder and thrust it out toward him.
“Here, take it.”
“Lexy, don’t be mad. I can compare a sample and rule you out.” The puppy-dog look on Jakes face as he reached for the cupcake paper did nothing to soften her anger.
“I understand,” she said sharply. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have to finish baking these cupcakes…that is, if I’m not under arrest.”
“Of course not. Thanks.” He held up the paper, then turned and walked away.
She glared at his retreating back for a few seconds before returning to her work.
“Sheesh, I don’t know what to make of him,” Cassie said.
“Me neither. He acts friendly, but I get the impression he is watching me-waiting for me to trip up.”
“That was interesting, what he said about the paper.”
“It sure was. I kept thinking about how Nans heard Corinne say she had the paper. Nans seemed to think that paper was very important.”
“Maybe Corinne murdered Saunders to get the paper--whatever it is.” Cassie offered.
Lexy nodded. She was thinking the same exact thing. But if that were true, where did that leave Westmore?
Lexy shifted into high gear. “We better speed up the cooking. I want to be done in plenty of time to get to Westmore’s office. I have a feeling the answers to some of our questions are in his locked filing cabinet.”
###
Nik hurried down the plain tiled hallway of the police station towards Interrogation Room 3. Jake fell in beside her, rushing to keep up.
“Did you let a hint drop to Lexy about the paper?” Nik asked.
Jake nodded. “I could tell by her reaction that it hit a nerve. She tried to pretend like it didn’t, but she knows something. Funny thing is, she was using some specialty cupcake papers for her contest entry.”
Nik stopped, turning to Jake. “Do you think it’s the same paper?”
“Her papers were colored and the one in the victims hand was off-white. I took a sample and handed it off to the lab for a comparison.”
“Good. Keep Styles and McManus on her. I want to know where she goes and what she does.” Nik continued on toward the interrogation room. Peeking through the window in the doorway she could see Corinne Conners sitting at the table, her white-knuckled hands clasped tightly in front of her.
Nik opened the door, sweeping into the room with Jake in tow.
“Ms. Conners.” She nodded at Corinne.
Corinne looked up, her wide eyes darting between Nik and Jake.
“I don’t understand why I’m here.”
Nik heard Corinne’s voice tremble and wondered if it was because she really was uncertain as to why she was there or whether she was afraid they had discovered she was the murderer.
“We have some questions regarding an incident in Bakery Battles Stadium that we think may be related to the murder of Amanda Scott-Saunders.” Nik’s eyes narrowed as she watched Corinne’s reaction.
“What’s that got to do with me? I wasn’t involved in any incident,” Corinne said blinking rapidly.
Nik opened a manila folder, producing an enlarged copy of the picture of the sabotaged cake Lexy had sent to Jake. She slid it across the table to Corinne. “Recognize this?”
Corinne’s brow furrowed. “No.”
“Someone did this to Lexy Baker’s wedding cake for the wedding challenge competition. Someone clearly wanted to either cause her to lose the contest or back off from looking into the murder.”
Corinne gasped. “You think I did that?”
“You won the challenge, didn’t you?”
“I won that contest fair and square! I would never ruin someone else’s cake to win a challenge.” Corinne’s eyes were blazing, her chin high in the air.
Nik leaned across the table. “Well, then maybe you can explain why we found glitter around the sabotaged cake - the same glitter that was on the cake you won the contest with.”
Corinne’s face crumbled. Covering her face with her hands, she burst into tears.
“I..only…wanted…to look…at it.” She wrenched out the words between sobs.
“So you were there.” Nik sat back in her chair.
“Yes, but I only wanted to look at her cake to see what I was up against. I didn’t do that to it.” Corinne jabbed her finger at the picture of the cake.
Nik cocked an eyebrow at Jake. Could she be telling the truth?
“So the cake looked fine when you saw it?”
Corinne sniffed, wiping her eyes. “Yes. I only wanted to sneak a peeak at the competition. I know it was wrong, but I swear I didn’t ruin Lexy’s cake!”
“What time were you in the kitchen?”
Corinne bit the inside of her cheek. “I’m not sure…I think it was around seven.”
“Did you see anyone else?”
“Yes!” Corinne brightened. “As I was leaving, I saw Evan Westmore coming down the aisle. When he saw me, he kind of hesitated, but then I gave him a little wave and turned off onto a side aisle.”
Nik exchanged a look with Jake.
Corinne’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t think Westmore would have done it, do you?”
“Well, he didn’t have a cake in the competition, so if he did, I can only think of one reason why he would have,” Jake said.
Nik looked at Jake nodding her head towards the door.
“Excuse us for a minute, Ms. Conners.”
Corinne nodded, watching the two detectives exit the room.
Nik leaned her shoulder against the door and looked back in at Corinne. “Do you think she’s telling the truth?”
Jake rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know. We did see Westmore going in there that night on the video, so she is telling the truth about that part.”
A noise at the end of the hall caught their attention. Nik and Jake turned to see the short, stocky Detective Morse standing with a sheet of paper in his hand.
“Detective Sto
ne. I have the lab report back on the paper. And the report on the paper you sent in too Detective Ryan.”
Nik raised her eyebrows. “Was the cupcake paper a match?”
“No. Similar stock but not a match.”
“So that rules out the paper being one of Lexy Bakers cupcake liners, but it doesn’t necessarily rule Baker out as the murderer,” Jake said.
“Were you able to find out where the paper was purchased?” Nik asked.
“Yep, and also who purchased it.”
Nik and Jake exchanged an excited look. “Who?” they said in unison.
“It was purchased online from a custom paper supply in New York about a week ago-by Evan Westmore,” Morse said.
“Westmore,” Nik said biting her cheek. “Wait a minute…I think I might have an idea of what’s going on now.”
She started down the hall, then, turning back, she barked, “Morse - you let Corinne Conners go. Ryan, follow me. We have a few things to check out about Evan Westmore and the Bakery Battles competition.”
Chapter Fourteen
Lexy fidgeted with the spatula, keeping one eye on the clock. It was almost time for the taping to begin, which meant she would have only a few minutes to get into Westmore’s office.
“You’re sure you’ll be able to finish this stuff up?” she asked Cassie for what seemed like the twentieth time.
“Sure, there’s not much left. If you don’t get back by the time I see the judges come around, I’ll put the sugar sculptures on top and make an excuse for you.”
“OK, I think it’s time for me to go.” Lexy felt her stomach roll as she stood up.
“Good luck,” Cassie whispered.
Lexy squinted, looking down the long aisle toward the back of the stadium where she could see the crew setting up the cameras for the initial taping. Satisfying herself that Westmore was among them, she turned, hurrying in the direction of his office.
Slipping inside, she crossed to the filing cabinet. It had been locked when she had come here at night. She crossed her fingers, hoping Westmore kept it unlocked during the daytime hours. Her heart pounded in her ears as she took the little black book from her back pocket.
Holding her breath, she tried the top drawer. It slid open and she let her breath out in a big whoosh.
Now if she only knew what she was looking for.
Lexy rifled through the folders trying to find anything that looked like an accounting ledger. She wanted to compare what was on the actual ledgers to the few entries from the black book that Ida had deciphered for her.
The first drawer didn’t have what she was looking for. She moved to the second. Inside, an accounting ledger caught her eye. She pulled it out. Running her fingers down the side, she looked for a matching date. Bingo! Comparing the numbers next to the date in the ledger with the numbers in the black book, she could see they were different. Surely that must mean-
Her thoughts were interrupted by a noise in the hall. She shoved the ledger back in the drawer, rammed the drawer shut, and spun around just in time to see the doorknob turning.
Lexy felt her legs go weak as she watched the door open. Evan Westmore stepped into the room. She watched his mouth drop open and his eyes go wide when he noticed her standing there.
They stared at each other in stunned silence for a long second.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded.
Lexy felt dizzy, her mind spinning to come up with an excuse for her presence in his office.
“Someone said I could find the challenge enrollment forms in here.” She blurted out the first thing she could think of.
Westmore’s eyes narrowed. “Who said that?”
He took a step toward her. She shuffled sideways around the desk, holding the black book behind her.
“O-one of the other bakers,” she stuttered.
Westmore looked at the filing cabinet she had been leaning her back against.
“Did you find them?” He moved toward her again and she backed farther behind the desk.
“N-no.”
“What do you have behind your back?”
Lexy felt a jolt of electricity pierce her heart. She slipped the black book into her back pocket. “Nothing.” She spread her hands at her sides.
Westmore’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve been checking up on me, haven’t you?”
“No,” Lexy lied. Looking down at the desk, her eyes caught the notepaper she had noticed on her previous trip to his office. Suddenly she remembered Jake telling her about the expensive paper that was clutched in Saunders’s hand…specialty paper just like the notepaper she was looking at.
Lexy felt everything click in place like the pieces of a puzzle. The book with coded numbers and dates, the expensive items in Westmore’s office, the expensive clothing Saunders had been buying, the specialty paper. Westmore and Saunders weren’t lovers - they were pulling some sort of embezzlement scam on the Bakery Battles contest.
Lexy felt a jolt of panic - Westmore was the murder. She knew she had to get away, but her legs felt like lead.
She edged around the desk toward the door, praying the look on her face didn’t give away the fact that she had figured out what Westmore had done.
Westmore moved between her and the door. The twisted grimace on his face and evil gleam in his eyes made her stomach plummet - Westmore already knew she had figured it out.
###
Nik reached across her desk to grab the manila folder filled with information they had gathered on Westmore. She pursed her lips, leafing through the papers.
“See if you can get a list of Westmore’s purchases and bank account transactions,” she said without looking up.
“And hurry,” she called after Jake as he ran off to do her bidding.
Nik stared out the window, her mind racing. Westmore had a shady past. He was in the stadium when Saunders was murdered, but so were a lot of other people. Corinne claimed to have seen him the night the cake was sabotaged. Most importantly, Amanda Scott-Saunders had been clutching a piece of paper Westmore had purchased at the time of her death.
She tapped her fingernails impatiently on the desk. Where was Ryan with that bank account report? If her theory proved true, then it was a safe bet Westmore was the killer, and she didn’t want to waste any time bringing him in.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jake rushing across the squad room, a long piece of paper in his hand. She stood to greet him.
“Check this out. He’s made some pretty big deposits over the past few weeks.” Jake shoved the paper in front of her.
Nik scanned the bank account summary. “He certainly has - much more than his salary would account for. This proves my theory. Westmore was embezzling money from the Bakery Battles competition.”
“But why kill Saunders?” Jake asked.
Nik bit he inside of her cheek. “Well, we don’t have any proof that he did kill her. But my gut instinct says he did. Maybe she was in on it with him and he wanted to get her out of the way so he could have all the money, or maybe she caught him at it.”
“What about Conners and Baker?”
“Hard to tell how many people were involved…speaking of Baker, have Styles and McManus checked in yet?”
As if on cue, the small two-way radio attached to Jake’s belt squawked. “Ryan, you there?” A distorted voice sounded from the radio.
Jake plucked it from his belt, pressing the button on the side. “Yep.”
“The subject is on the move. Went to Westmore’s office about five minutes ago. Several minutes later Westmore met her there.”
Nik felt her heart freeze. She looked at Jake.
“A rendezvous? Maybe Ms. Baker was in on it with Westmore - they could have been fixing the contest for her to win. Maybe they framed Corinne Conners to get her disqualified and chased Pearce off,” Jake said.
“It could be that, or Ms. Baker could be doing some amateur sleuthing, which could prove to be fatal. Either way, we better get to Westmore’s office p
ronto. Have Styles and McManus meet us there.”
Nik grabbed two bullet-proof vests from the hooks on the wall and tossed one to Jake. Shrugging her arms through the vest, she watched Jake wrestle with his while issuing the order to the other detectives through the two-way radio. Then she grabbed her gun and ran to the car. Jake jumped in beside her and they sped off, sirens blaring, toward Bakery Battles Stadium.
###
Lexy felt dizzy. She grabbed the edge of the desk for stability. She had to stall Westmore - keep him talking until she could figure out how to get past him to the door.
“I had a feeling you were on to me. Too bad you didn’t heed my warning,” Westmore sneered, taking a step toward her.
“Warning?”
“The cake. I tried to warn you off, but you couldn’t stop meddling, could you?”
Meddling? There was that word again. Lexy straightened her back, her cheeks growing pink with anger.
“You ruined my cake?”
Westmore laughed. “Too bad it didn’t get you kicked out of the competition…but you won’t be in it much longer anyway.”
Lexy kept her eyes on Westmore, feeling along the desk for something sharp. Where was a good old-fashioned letter opener when you needed one?
“But why?” Lexy could feel the twitch in her eye start up and squeezed her eyes shut to try to stop it. When she opened them, Westmore was almost beside her.
“You were getting too close to the truth. It could ruin me and I can’t let that happen.”
“Truth?” Maybe if she played dumb he’d let her go.
“Don’t play dumb. I know you took my black book. The one with my second set of numbers. In fact, I bet that’s what you are hiding behind your back.” He lunged forward. Grabbing her arm roughly, he shoved his hand into her back pocket and pulled out the book.
“I knew it!” He seemed almost gleeful.
“So you were embezzling money?” Lexy tried to twist her arm free, but Westmore was surprisingly strong for a wimpy-looking guy.
“That’s right.”
Murder, Money & Marzipan (A Lexy Baker Bakery Cozy Mystery) Page 8