Lexy Baker Cozy Mystery Series Boxed Set Vol 1 (Books 1 - 4) (Lexy Baker Cozy Mysteries Boxed Sets)

by Leighann Dobbs

  He looked down at the folder in his hands—inside was everything he needed to nail Candice for the murder. Hopefully, once he confronted her with it, she’d try to get a lighter sentence by telling him exactly what happened and they’d be able to use her testimony to prosecute Bronson.

  Jack opened the door to the room Candice was in. Stepping inside, he slapped the folder down on the table.

  “The DNA results from your shoes are in here,” He tapped his index finger on the folder, “guess what it says.”

  He saw Candice’s face go white.

  “Oh, and another interesting thing. We tracked down the serial number on the diamond—you know…the one you ripped out of the brooch. It originally was purchased by a Bob McCafferty to be custom-made into that brooch. We discovered Mr. McCafferty is Chastine’s former fiancée.” Jack saw a flicker of recognition in her eyes so he moved in for the kill.

  “I know you didn’t do it alone, so my offer is still open. Tell me who was in on it with you and I’ll see you get a reduced sentence. My money is on Bronson.” He saw Candice stiffen at Bronson’s name.

  “Why? Do you have some evidence on Bronson?”

  “We may have him tied to the murder weapon.” Jack knew his lie had hit its mark when he saw a look of confusion cross her face.

  She shook her head. “No, you can’t.”

  “No? He pawned the brooch and he was seen coming up the stairs shortly after the murder occurred. Where were you, still downstairs with the body?”

  “Who saw him?”

  “Blake.”

  Jack saw Candice’s face crumble and she sagged in her chair. A tear slipped down each cheek. Jack handed her a tissue.

  “Are you ready to talk yet? We have enough evidence to take this to court and you will go to jail unless you can clear yourself.”

  Candice nodded, sniffling into a tissue. “Bronson didn’t have anything to do with the murder...it was Blake.”

  Jack felt a jolt of shock. Blake? His eyes narrowed. He motioned at the two-way mirror for John to come in with the appropriate papers to take a statement.

  “So, the three of you were in on it together?” He saw Candice’s eyes grow wide.

  “No!”

  Jack lifted his brows. “There’s certainly enough evidence to suggest it. Why don’t you tell us your side of the story?”

  John had settled into a chair at the end of the table, a tape recorder next to the paperwork in front of him. Jack heard the metallic click and hiss of the tape recorder starting up.

  Candice swiped at her eyes with the tissue. “I was at the house visiting Bronson that night.”

  “At two in the morning?” Jack’s brows knit together.

  He saw Candice’s cheeks turn pink. “Yes...we were lovers.”

  “Go on.”

  “We didn’t want anyone to know...we didn’t want any trouble because I was Chastine’s assistant. We hadn’t been dating very long. That was actually the first time I had been in his room at the mansion...”

  Jack nodded.

  “Anyway, I couldn’t stay all night, so I snuck down the back stairs to leave through the kitchen.”

  “What time was this?”

  “It was at two-fifteen. I remember because it takes me fifteen minutes to get home from there and I remember thinking I could be in bed by two-thirty.”

  “Only you didn’t get home at two-thirty did you?”

  She shook her head. “No. Blake must have heard me coming down the stairs. When I came out in the kitchen, the first thing I saw was Chastine’s body...and all that blood.” Jack saw her shiver.

  “And you just walked over it and went home? You didn’t scream or call for help?”

  “Like I said, Blake must have heard me. He grabbed me from behind when I walked out into the room. He covered my mouth before I even had a chance to scream.”

  “You expect us to believe that? Why wouldn’t you turn him in? And why would you protect him all this time, when you knew we had evidence against you?”

  Jack saw Candice’s eyes start to get moist again, he reached for more tissues but she waved him away. “It wasn’t like that. Blake threatened me. He kept the knife and said he would use it to frame me for the murder if I said anything.”

  “Sorry Candice, it just doesn’t add up. It would just be his word against yours in that case. I don’t see why you would keep quiet. Unless he had something else on you...like that you were an accessory in the murder.”

  Candice looked down at her hands. “He did have something else on me…but it wasn’t that I helped him kill her.”

  Jack spread his hands. “Care to clue us in?”

  Candice looked up. “Bob McCafferty—the man who bought the diamond? He’s my father.”

  The room was silent. Now it was all starting to make sense.

  “Your father was engaged to Chastine back in Texas and she broke his heart so you came here to kill her.”

  Candice shook her head. “No! Not to kill her, but to get even with her. To break up her relationship with Xavier. My father is a bitter, beaten man now because of what she did to him and I wanted to make her suffer, to make sure she didn’t get to live happily ever after with anyone else’s millions. But I would never kill her. I’m no murderer.” She looked pleadingly at Jack. “You have to believe me.”

  Jack narrowed his eyes. “If she was engaged to your father, why didn’t she recognize you?”

  “We’d actually never met. I was overseas when she met my dad. By the time I got back to the states, she’d already dumped him.”

  “So where does Blake come in?”

  “Somehow he had found out who I really was. Why he wouldn’t have said anything before, I have no idea. He’s sneaky like that - always trying to dig up dirt on people so he can hold it against them at the right time.” Jack saw a look of disgust cross her face. “Anyway, he said I had the perfect motive for killing Chastine, so if I told on him he’d simply plant the weapon in my condo and point the finger at me.”

  “So you kept his dirty secret.”

  She looked down at her hands and nodded. “I didn’t want to go to jail for murder and I also didn’t want Bronson to find out I was lying to him about who I was.”

  “And the blood on your shoes?”

  Candice face turned beet red. “After I got over the shock of what I had discovered, I have to admit I wasn’t too upset she was dead. I took a closer look—just to make sure. That’s when I noticed she was wearing the brooch Dad had given her. She always wore it—every day. It was like a big slap in the face to see it on her. So, I leaned over and ripped it off her blouse. I guess I must have stepped in some blood when I did.”

  Jack exchanged a look with John. Was she telling the truth or making up an elaborate lie to get away with murder?

  “And then what?” Jack prodded.

  “Nothing,” she said, “I ran out the back door and got away from there as fast as I could.”

  She looked up at Jack, pleadingly. “Bronson didn’t have anything to do with the murder—you have to let him go.”

  Jack motioned with his head for John to meet him out in the hall. He stood, looking down at Candice. “Thanks for your statement. We’ll have to do some checking and talk to the DA about your involvement. For now, you can stay in here. I don’t think we need to put you in a cell...just yet.”

  He saw her face relax, more tears threatening to make an appearance. “Thank you,” she said.

  Jack opened the door for John, stepping out into the hall behind him.

  “What do you think?” John asked.

  “For all we know, she made up the whole story with Bronson to frame Blake. We need to bring him in and see if he changes his story or if we can catch him in a lie.”

  “What about Bronson?”

  “We don’t have much to hold him on...let’s try to keep him as long as we can. He could be mixed up in this and I’d hate to see him get away. We’ll hold him until his lawyer starts screaming. In the me
antime, let’s get the paperwork started to bring in Blake.”

  18

  “Isn’t it a wonderful day, Sprinkles?” Lexy stretched her arms up toward the sun. Grabbing the end of Sprinkles’ leash, she headed down the path.

  The sun’s rays filtered through the tree trunks causing slices of light to permeate the woods. Like the day before, the friendly chirping of birds and the crunching of footsteps on dry leaves was all that could be heard.

  “Now where is your other leash?” Lexy asked out loud, keeping a close eye on the area to the left of the path. “Oh, there it is!”

  She let go of Sprinkles’ leash. Bending down, she worked the knots with her fingers, trying carefully not to break a nail. Glancing up she noticed the path was only about 50 feet away from the Toliver property where they were building the new cabana. She felt an icy shiver walk up her spine thinking of the murder that had happened there not even a week ago. She felt grateful Bronson was in custody so she wouldn’t have to worry about running into him.

  Finally working the leash free, she looked around for Sprinkles. Realizing with a start that the dog had wandered off she scanned the woods, then saw her over by the property line making her way toward the Toliver’s yard.

  Lexy started off toward her. She was about to call out to the little dog when a sudden movement in the Toliver’s yard caught her eye. It was Blake. What is he doing over there? He was over by the area where the fresh cement had just been poured. He was balancing on the edge of a form, looking down in.

  Sprinkles saw Blake too and gave an excited yip, taking off at a trot toward him. The fence dividing that part of the yard from the nature preserve had been taken down for the construction, allowing the dog to bound onto the Toliver’s property. The little dog was such a socialite, she’d run over to any stranger to get attention. I hope Blake likes dogs.

  Instead of happily greeting the dog like most people did, Blake jerked his head up at the noise. His eyes scanned the woods and met Lexy’s eyes. Her stomach churned when she saw the look of malice in his eyes. That was not the flirty, fun Blake she knew.

  Then a sharp beam of sunlight glinting off something in his hand caught her eye. Lexy felt her heart turn to ice when she realized what it was—her seven inch serrated knife. The knife that had killed Chastine.

  “What are you doing?” Lexy heard the words come out of her mouth before she could think better of saying them.

  “You!” He pointed at her with the knife. “Nosy bitch...are you spying on me?”

  “No...” Lexy shook her head. Should she try to play nice? It was too late to pretend she didn’t see the knife. Lexy’s head swam, adrenalin coursed through her body. Her first instinct was to turn and run, but Sprinkles was over near Blake. She needed to grab the dog and get the hell out of there.

  “Sprinkles, come!” Her voice came out an octave higher than usual, giving away the panic she felt in her chest.

  A second later, she realized she shouldn’t have called to the dog. Blake turned, looked at Sprinkles, then jumped to the patio and scooped the dog up, holding the knife at her throat.

  “You wouldn’t want me to hurt your dog, would you?”

  Lexy shook her head. Icy fingers squeezed her heart.

  “Then come over here.”

  Lexy felt frozen in place, her instincts were screaming at her to run, but she couldn’t let him hurt Sprinkles. She forced her legs to move.

  He kept talking as she got closer. “You know, Lexy, I really liked you. It’s too bad you had to keep sticking your nose into this. Coming over and poking around. Combing through the dumpster.”

  Lexy’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

  “Yes, that was me watching you from the house. I knew you were looking for this,” he raised the knife up, “but I had hidden it well.”

  Lexy had picked her way over to him. She was standing about five feet away.

  “Closer!” He pressed the knife into Sprinkles. The dog gave a yelp, which made Lexy’s stomach clench.

  “Please don’t hurt her!” Lexy moved closer to him.

  “I won’t hurt her if you do what I say.” He grabbed her arm roughly, shoving her through the door of the cabana.

  He kicked the door shut then spun her around. “I’m going to regret having to do this,” he said, tracing the tip of the knife from the top of her throat all the way down her chest, stopping just where her bra started. “Everything would have been okay if you had just minded your own business. We might have even had some fun together.” He released her arm and she stumbled backwards.

  “You killed Chastine?”

  Blake snorted. “Yep. When they brought Candice and Bronson in today, I had the perfect plan to frame them, but now you’ve put a kink in the plan. Regrettably, I will have to straighten out that kink.” He lifted the knife again.

  “But why?” Lexy hoped if she kept him talking, it would buy her some time to think of a way to get free.

  Blake walked over to the corner. Bending down, he came up with a length of thick rope in one hand while still holding Sprinkles in the other.

  He turned and walked toward Lexy. “You wanna know why? I guess I can tell you since you won’t be around to tell anyone else.” He hefted the rope in one hand, then put Sprinkles down, still holding the end of her leash. The little dog tugged at the end to try to get to Lexy. Lexy winced as Blake roughly jerked her back.

  “Chastine and I were lovers...before she took up with Dad. Once she found out how much money he had, she went after him like a greyhound after a rabbit. The only problem was she still wanted me on the side. Normally, I don’t care how many other guys a woman has...but when the other guy is your own father, well, that’s too disgusting even for me.” He made a face.

  Lexy nodded to encourage him to continue, Sprinkles strained at the leash, the frayed section getting even thinner.

  “I wanted to break it off. She wouldn’t let me—threatened to take away all the money once she was married to dad. That night she had requested a rendezvous,” he said the word with a look of distaste on his face. “I left the front door open for her and we met in the kitchen. We argued. Things got out of hand. Before I knew it, I was standing over her body holding a bloody knife.”

  Blake shrugged. “And now I guess I’m going to have to use that knife again,” he said, taking a step toward Lexy.

  Sprinkles strained even harder. The leash snapped. The dog broke free, running to Lexy’s side.

  “Run Sprinkles!” She commanded. Blake lunged at her, grabbing her by the hair, jerking her head backwards.

  Sprinkles didn’t run. She leapt for Blake’s ankles, sinking her teeth in and growling loudly.

  Blake tried to throw the dog off. Kicking out his foot, he lost his balance. His grip on Lexy’s hair loosened. She spun around, raising her knee hard. She felt it connect with soft flesh, heard a grunt and saw Blake collapse in a ball on the floor.

  Lexy grabbed the barking dog and ran for the door.

  “Come back bitch!” She heard Blake’s heavy footsteps behind her.

  Picking up speed, she wrenched the door open, catapulting herself forward, trying to put as much distance between her and Blake as possible.

  Her stiletto heel caught on a hole in the flooring, her heart stopped as she was jerked off balance. She felt herself falling. She clutched Sprinkles even closer bracing for the hard impact of the ground.

  Instead, she felt strong arms circle her waist, pulling her upright. She tensed, ready to fight Blake off with everything she had, then looked up...right into the eyes of Jack Perillo.

  A blur of activity was going on behind her. People were shouting and running. She turned in time to see John Darling leap onto Blake and bring him crashing to the ground. The knife skittered across the driveway. Someone bent to retrieve it.

  “That’s the knife that murdered Chastine!” Lexy pointed at it.

  “Bag that knife for evidence,” Jack yelled, then putting his finger under Lexy’s chin he turned her he
ad back to face him.

  “Lexy, what the hell are you doing here?”

  Lexy winced at the anger in his voice. She took a step back from Jack, cuddling Sprinkles closer, stroking the dog’s fur.

  “I didn’t actually come here,” she said. “I was walking Sprinkles on the walking trails over there when I saw Blake with the knife. I think he was trying to get rid of it by burying it in the new cement.” She pointed toward the cement forms in front of the cabana.

  “Anyway, Blake knew I saw him. He forced me into the cabana. He confessed—he’s the one who murdered Chastine!” She said, feeling a little sheepish since she was the one who had insisted it was Candice.

  “He confessed? Well that saves us a lot of time. Candice said she had stumbled onto the murder scene and he was blackmailing her to keep quiet.”

  “Blackmailing her?”

  “Yes, it turns out Candice was the daughter of Chastine’s former fiancée, and I guess she had quite a grudge against her. Blake found that out and threatened to reveal her secret and frame her for the murder. That’s why he still had the knife.”

  “And Bronson?”

  “According to Candice he had no idea about any of this.”

  “How did you know we were back here?” Lexy asked.

  “We pulled up in front with a warrant to bring Blake in. When we heard Sprinkles barking back here, we figured something was going on.” Jack reached down to ruffle the fur behind Sprinkles’ ears.

  “I guess you might have saved me twice today, girl.” Lexy kissed the top of the dog’s head, then placed her gently on the ground. “Sprinkles bit Blake’s leg when he grabbed me—it was because of her I was able to get away. Thank God you came when you did, or he might have caught up to me.” Lexy felt a shiver run up her spine.

  Jack looked down at the little dog. “Sprinkles is going to get a big treat tonight,” he said, and then he looked back at Lexy, his eyes turning serious. “I’m just glad Blake didn’t hurt you...this is why I didn’t want you investigating any of this. I couldn’t bear it if something happened to you.”