Cassie nodded and turned back to the kitchen. Lexy made her way to the front door, unlocked it and turned the sign on the door to 'Open'.
Grabbing some paper towels and a spray bottle filled with organic cleaner, she opened the big case in the middle of the store and started removing some of the items inside. She brought out trays of cannoli’s, éclair’s, half-moon’s and some of her signature pieces—cupcake tops, and placed them on top of the case.
Wriggling to get a good position for cleaning, Lexy had her front half in the case, her back end sticking up in the air when the tinkle of the bells over the door alerted her to the presence of a customer.
“Just a sec,” she said, extracting herself from the case like a contortionist climbing out of a trunk.
“How can I help yo…?” Her words were cut off, her mouth forming a surprised O when recognition dawned on her. Standing on the other side of the case was Jack Perillo, her neighbor. Somehow, he looked different. It took her a minute to realize the difference was the official looking badge he was holding in front of her face.
“Oh...Hi.” She said, her mind whirling. Did he come just to visit her? And what was flashing the badge all about?
“Hi, Lexy.” Lexy saw a look of discomfort pass his face. He quickly added, “I’m a detective with the BRPD, and unfortunately, I need to ask you some questions.”
“Questions?” Lexy felt her face eyebrows knit together in confusion. “I don’t understand. What’s this about? Did something happen to my grandmother?”
“No, Mona is fine. It’s about your boyfriend Kevin.”
“Kevin? He’s my ex-boyfriend. I haven’t seen him in almost two years.”
“Well, I’m sorry to tell you he was found dead. Murdered.”
The impact of the news hit Lexy like a ton of bricks. Murdered? Kevin? Even though they had broken up two years ago, and he had treated her badly, she still felt a pang of sympathy for him.
“Murdered? But what does that have to do with me?”
“Well, that’s the thing,” Jack said, his face a mask of stone. “He was found face down in a box of your cupcake tops. They were poisoned”.
Lexy felt a jolt of shock, her head swam, her ankles starting to wobbled. She grabbed the side of the display case to steady herself, wishing that just for once she had the good sense to wear shoes with a lower heel.
3
Jack put his hand on Lexy’s arm to steady her. He couldn’t help but think how pretty she looked. Vulnerable. Last night he had thought she was cute in her pajamas, but today with makeup on, he realized she was a knock out.
“Maybe we should go sit over at the tables.” He pointed his chin towards the cafe tables set up by the window. Without waiting for an answer, he put an arm around Lexy guiding her towards them. No wonder she’s wobbly. Look at those crazy shoes she has on.
Jack remembered the distinct imprint of stiletto heels outside Kevin’s front door. Coincidence? Lots of women wore stilettos. Lots of women probably visited Kevin, but still, Jack made a note in his head that Lexy was wearing them herself.
Jack seated Lexy at a table, pulling out the chair on the opposite side, he carefully settled his 5 foot 11 frame in the delicate wrought iron seat.
“I’m sorry, but I have to ask you a few questions.”
“Ok.” Lexy seemed to be recovering from the initial shock. Jack thought he saw a hint of suspicion cross her face. He also noticed her right lower eyelid was twitching - just nerves or a sign of guilt?
Jack pulled a well-worn notebook from his jacket pocket. Flipping open the black leather cover, he turned to an empty page. Producing a pencil from his other pocket, he sat poised to write.
“Where were you last night?”
Lexy paused a moment, then said, “I was in your garden picking up dog poop.”
Jack felt a smile cross his face. “Yes, true…but before that?”
“Well, I worked until seven PM here at the bakery. Then went home, ate supper, watched some TV, got ready for bed and took the dog out.” She leaned towards him in her chair. Jack saw her pretty, green eyes narrow. “Wait a minute. You don’t think I did it, do you?”
Jack could see she was starting to get angry, so he used his best soothing voice. “We have to ask these questions to rule you out...of course I don’t think you did it.” He didn’t, did he?
Lexy settled back in her chair pacified by Jack’s words. He continued the line of questioning.
“Did anyone see you here, or at home last night?”
Lexy bit her lower lip. “My assistant Cassie saw me here until five o’clock and then she left. After that I was alone until I saw you at about nine-thirty in the backyard.”
Jack nodded jotting the timeframes down in his book. “When did you last see Kevin?”
“Well, it will be two years in October. We had a nasty breakup. I haven’t seen him since.”
“A nasty breakup?” Jack felt his forehead wrinkle in concern. For a moment, he wondered if she still held a grudge...one deep enough to make her turn to murder. “Tell me about the breakup. Was it violent?”
Lexy squirmed in her chair. The look on her face made it evident she didn’t like talking about her breakup.
“We did argue a lot toward the end. He cheated on me. Lied to me. We didn’t part friends, but it wasn’t physically violent or anything.” Lexy was glancing down at the floor, her cheeks a slight shade of red as she recalled the breakup.
Jack might normally have continued to probe for more information, but he was already developing a soft spot for Lexy so he cut the interview short...but not before he had to deliver one more piece of bad news.
Across the table, Jack gently closed his notebook. Lexy got the feeling she wasn’t going to like what he had to say next.
“I’m sorry. I have a warrant here granting us access to your kitchen. We’ll have to test all your baked goods and ingredients.” He pulled a document out of his jacket and put it on the table. “You’ll have to close the bakery so we can get the job done.”
Lexy felt the air rush out of her lungs. Close the bakery? The bakery was her bread and butter. She would be losing money every day it was closed. With things as tight as they were she could ill afford it.
“What...for how long?” She sputtered, the sting of tears pricking her eyes. She was being treated like a criminal when she hadn’t even done anything wrong!
Jack reached across the table resting his hand over hers. “I’ll push to get it done as quickly as possible. I promise.”
He released her hand, standing up from the table. Through the window, Lexy saw a big blue van pull into the alley leading to the back of the bakery. “There’s the lab van now. You can stay to watch or you can leave, but I’ll have to ask you not to touch anything or get in the way if you stay.”
Lexy stared up at him. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She felt her anger growing like a quick-rising bread dough.
“Uhhh...what’s going on?” Cassie appeared in the entrance to the front room. Lexy turned to her, her anger softening a few notches at the look of concern on her friends’ face.
“Cassie, this is Detective Jack Perillo.” Lexy waved her hand towards Jack. “It seems someone poisoned Kevin with a box of our cupcake tops and now we have to close down the bakery so they can investigate.”
Cassie crossed the bakery to Lexy and Jack, her boots making hollow sounds on the tile floor.
“Who would do that?” Her head swiveled from Lexy to Jack. “Surely you don’t think we had anything to do with it?” She stared at Jack, her face a mask of angry disgust.
Jack took a step back. “No ma’am,” he said. “But we have to do our due diligence. We’ll have you back in business in no time.”
Cassie looked at him sideways. From the disdain on her face, it was clear she didn’t believe him. Lexy felt alarm as she saw Cassie’s face getting redder.
“Cassie, it’s OK.” She stood giving her friend a hug in an attempt to diffuse any angry
confrontation between Cassie and the detective. “I think maybe it would be best if we left them to do their work here. I’ll come back later to make sure everything is in order.”
Lexy glanced over at Jack. “What time will you be done?”
“It’s hard to say. Maybe I should give you a call when we are finishing up?” Jack took out his phone, ready to plug Lexy’s number in.
Lexy rattled off her cell phone number reluctantly. Earlier in the day, she might have been happy to give Jack Perillo her phone number, but right now she was feeling quite a bit of anger towards the detective, even if he was pretty good looking.
Jack took a card from his top pocket holding it out towards Lexy. “Here’s my number. I’d appreciate a call if you think of anything relevant to the case.”
Lexy grabbed onto the card by the edge to avoid brushing her fingers against his. She slid it into her back pocket. “I guess you should let your people in now,” she said curtly, nodding toward the back of the bakery, “I’ll show you to the door.”
She turned around heading towards the back with Cassie and Jack in tow.
In the back, Lexy and Cassie waited for the herd of police personnel to stream by before taking off their aprons and hanging them up on the pegs.
Lexy poked her head into the kitchen area. “The ovens are on, I guess you will have to turn them off since I can’t touch anything,” she said to no one in particular. Turning on her heel, she rushed out the door. With her ponytail swishing from the momentum, she brushed past Jack without even a glance.
Lexy felt Jack’s eyes boring into her back as she walked away. Did he think she did it?
Even though he had assured her that he didn’t think she was the murderer, Lexy got the distinct feeling she might be at the top of the detectives’ suspect list.
4
In the parking lot, Cassie stopped short whirling around to face Lexy. “I can’t believe they can just do this!” she sputtered, her face screwed up in anger. “They’ll probably misplace everything...my turnovers will be ruined!”
Lexy patted Cassie on the back, forcing herself to be calm. She knew Cassie had a short fuse and once she got going, anything could happen. The last thing she needed now was to be bailing Cassie out of jail for obstructing a police investigation.
“It’s OK, Cass,” she soothed. “They’re just doing their jobs. When they don’t find anything suspicious we can reopen and go on as usual.”
“But, who would do this?” Cassie voiced the question Lexy had been thinking.
“I have no idea. Kevin was kind of a jerk, but I don’t think he was bad enough for someone to want to kill him.” Lexy tapped her fingernail on her bottom teeth, her forehead wrinkled in thought. “And, why do it with our cupcake tops?”
The cupcake tops were Lexy’s signature pastry. Since she was a kid, Lexy had always eaten only the frosted tops of cupcakes because that was the tastiest part. The bottoms seemed dry in comparison, so she just nibbled off the tops tossing the bottoms out or using them in other dessert dishes.
Lexy thought others might feel the same way about cupcakes, so she started selling just the tops, loaded with frosting and packaged in special cupcake holders and boxes. They were a huge hit and a big part of what had made her so successful. She felt a pang of panic in her chest...hopefully this whole incident wouldn’t hurt sales.
Cassie shuffled her feet, a look of indecision on her face. “I’m not sure what to do now.”
“Me either,” Lexy shrugged. “I guess we’ll just let them do their job. I’ll call you when they are done. We can meet back here to lock up and straighten everything out if you want.”
“Yes, I want to help you any way I can.” The genuine concern in her friends’ eyes warmed Lexy’s heart.
“Don’t worry, Cassie, everything will work out. It has to. I don’t know who did this or why, but I do know one thing,” glancing back at the bakery, Lexy’s mouth formed a hard line, “I’m not going to sit back and leave it up to the BRPD to figure this out. We need to get back up and running right away or it could be very bad for business.”
Lexy sat in her yellow VW bug in the parking lot contemplating her next move. She was deep in thought when her cell phone broke the silence.
Digging it out of her purse, she flipped it open. “Hello?”
“Lexy, Dear!” Her mother’s exuberant greeting burst from the phone, her voice about twenty decibels louder than necessary. Lexy held the phone out six inches from her ear.
“Hi Mom, how are you?” Lexy’s parents had left earlier in the year on a tour of the United States in an RV. They were visiting all kinds of tourist attractions and relatives while having the time of their lives. Her parents were still happily in love after 34 years of marriage. Lexy let out a small sigh, wondering if she would ever be lucky enough to have the same kind of relationship.
“Oh, we’re doing wonderful dear! Your father made the most delicious potato dish over the campfire last night. We’re just starting out this morning to Cawker City, Kansas to see the world’s largest ball of twine.”
“The world’s largest ball of twine?” Lexy felt her eyebrows lifting up in question. She didn’t even know there was such a thing, never mind that people would travel to see it. But, if there was some oddball attraction to be seen, it would be just like her mother to want to go there.
“Oh yes, it’s 1.6 million feet of twine and weighs almost 18,000 pounds!”
“Wow, that sounds...ummm...big.” Lexy said the most polite thing she could think of given her mother’s obvious excitement about the large collection of string.
“I just called to see how you are doing, dear.” Her mother called to check on her a couple of times a week, to update her on their travels and make sure Lexy was OK. Lexy usually looked forward to the calls, but today she had other things on her mind.
“Oh, I’m fine Mom, glad you and Dad are doing well and having fun. I’m a little busy right at the moment though; can I call you later?” Lexy had no intention of telling her mother about Kevin’s murder. She didn’t want to spoil their fun or make them worry.
“Of course, but I did want to ask you to check in on Nans if you can. We worry about her being all alone over at the retirement community.”
A light bulb went off in Lexy’s head. Of course, Nans would be able to help! Lexy had gone to Nans with all her problems since she was a small child. Somehow, her grandmother could always make things better, no matter what the problem.
“Sure, Mom. I’ll go visit her today.”
“Great! Well, I’ll let you go. Dad and I both love you!”
“Me too, Mom.” Lexy snapped the phone shut. Putting her car in gear, she backed out of her parking spot, heading toward the exit in the front of the building.
She winced as she saw several policemen standing in front of the bakery, one of them being Jack. He looked over at her as she drove by, raising a hand in a friendly wave. Lexy plastered a smile on her face and waved back. She felt like giving him the finger, but she figured it might be smarter to stay on his good side. Having a friend in the police department might prove to be very helpful if she wanted things to go her way.
5
The lobby at the Brook Ridge Retirement Community center was comfortably furnished with overstuffed sofas and several tables and chairs. On most days, Nans could be found here socializing with other residents. Lexy was accustomed to just popping in to visit without feeling the need to call first.
Lexy surveyed the lobby for her grandmother. Her eyes scanned past two men playing chess at a table near the window, to a trio of elderly women parked on the sofa watching a talk show on TV, finally coming to rest on Nans and three older ladies sitting at a round table, their hands moving excitedly as they talked.
Nans looked up, spotting her in the doorway, a huge smile appearing on her face. “Lexy!” Despite her current problems, Lexy couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her perky five-foot one-inch grandmother leaping up from the table and rushing
over to greet her.
“Hi Nans!” The older woman enveloped Lexy in a big hug causing a comforting warmth to soothe Lexy’s troubled heart.
“I didn’t know you were coming today, dear,” Nans said. “I would have made some tea…”
Lexy interrupted, “Oh, no worries Nans. I was in the neighborhood and, well, I have a little problem I’d like to talk to you about.”
Nans eyes grew large. “Oh, well then come over here, dear.” She took Lexy’s hand, leading her to a secluded area of the lobby, which had two large wingback chairs set at an angle facing each other. Nans plopped down in one, motioning for Lexy to sit in the other.
Nans leaned forward in her chair. “Now tell me, what is the problem? Why are you winking?”
“It’s just a nervous eye twitch Nans...it’s been happening for a while now, just when I get nervous or tired.”
“Oh well, try putting some cucumber slices on them, that should help,” Nans said. “Was that the problem you wanted to talk to me about?”
“No, Nans. This is something much more serious...”
Lexy told Nans about Kevin - how he had been poisoned, allegedly, with her cupcake tops and how her bakery had been shut down until the police could investigate.
Nans patted her knee. “Now, now dear. Don’t you worry. This sounds like a perfect case for the Ladies Detective Club. I’m sure we can have it solved for you in no time!”
“The Ladies Detective Club?” Lexy felt her forehead wrinkle. “What’s that?”
“Oh, it’s a little club the ladies and I have put together.” Nans nodded over at the ladies around the table where she had been sitting when Lexy arrived. “We’ve become quite good at solving murders and mysteries.”
Lexy Baker Cozy Mystery Series Boxed Set Vol 1 (Books 1 - 4) (Lexy Baker Cozy Mysteries Boxed Sets) Page 2