“Smiling Sam?” Nans looked down at the two girls, her eyebrows raised.
“He was the janitor here, but he left.”
“Why did Nana San think her friend shouldn’t have died?”
“She said Renee—that was her friend—was too healthy and strong. She broke her hip though and had to go to the hospital.”
Lexy exchanged a look with the other ladies.
“Beeetthhhannyy,” A voice echoed from down the hall. “Kaatthhryyyn.”
“That’s Nana San, we better go.” The two girls turned and ran down the hall in the direction the voice had come from.
Ruth turned back to the women she had been talking to. “Did other people, who seemed otherwise healthy, die like that?”
“Well, now that you mention it, I did think it was a little strange when Harold Simms died,” a woman with a mass of blueish-gray hair said.
“And Anita Fischer just a few days later,” added a different woman, this one with a matching magenta polyester top and pants.
“WHAT?" shouted the man on the couch.
Everyone turned to look at him, then went back to their conversation. They were standing close together almost as if in a huddle. Their voices hushed. Sprinkles sat at Lexy’s feet all but forgotten.
“Did the others die last year too?” Nans asked.
Blue hair pursed her lips in a thin line. “I think so … no, that was this past summer … no, I can’t remember. All the days seem the same in here.”
“Wait. It was right after Christmas. Not this past Christmas, the one before,” Magenta suit said.
Nans sparkled with excitement. “Well, we should probably take Sprinkles into the other rooms.”
Lexy figured Nans was trying to hurry things along so she could get back to her computer. She turned towards the door, nudging Sprinkles along.
“Oh, well thanks for bringing Sprinkles,” Alma said, bending down to rub the dog’s ears.
“You’re welcome,” Lexy said, then stepped out into the hall, heading in the direction the two girls had run off in. Maybe Nana San would have some useful information.
She was eager to get the rest of the visit over with as quickly as she could so they could double check the information they had just gleaned. If what they just learned was true, they may have just discovered the killer.
It was one of those rare early spring days when the temperature felt unseasonably warm for the time of year. Maybe it had just been so cold lately that fifty degrees seemed like a heat wave, but Lexy hoped spring had arrived early.
When they left Sunny Acres, the ladies had a hankering for ice cream, so Lexy took them to her favorite place, King Kone. They ordered black and white frappes for themselves and a small vanilla soft serve in a dish for Sprinkles.
Sitting around the weathered picnic table, they slurped their drinks. Lexy could feel the sun warming her back, which was a sharp contrast to the drink freezing her mouth. The creamy taste of vanilla with just a hint of chocolate hit the spot.
Sprinkles sat on the ground, her nose pressed to the cup, trying to lick up every last drop.
“Well, that certainly was an enlightening visit,” Nans said.
“Yes, we’ll have to double-check everything though,” Ruth added.
“Naturally. But if it proves true, that’s a good argument that Rothschild is the murderer.”
Lexy scrunched her brows together. “But why would she do it?”
“I don’t know, maybe she just likes to kill people. She seems mean enough.”
“Well, you guys always taught me to look for the motive, but I guess liking to kill is motive enough.” Lexy wrapped her lips around the straw and tried to pull some of the frozen frappe up through it.
“Perhapssth,” Ruth said popping her dentures back in.
“There might be another motive. Or it could all be coincidence. Either way, I think we need to look a little deeper into Nurse Rothschild’s past,” Nans said.
Lexy nodded. “First we should verify Rothschild was even at Sunny Acres when those deaths occurred. Then we should try to determine if the deaths really were suspicious.”
“That’s going to be tough. Those people didn’t seem to have very good memories.” Ida pried the plastic lid from the top of her frappe and poured some of it into Sprinkles’s cup.
Lexy watched the dog lap at it energetically, the cup inching forward with each lap. “I wish we had a way of getting them to be more sure of the dates, otherwise we may waste a lot of time.”
“I know exactly how to do that,” Helen said. “I can just hypnotize them.”
Lexy chewed the inside of her cheek, remembering how Helen had helped her recall the details of a murder scene once by hypnotizing her.
“Would that work for this?”
“Of course, they’ll be able to clearly remember the dates and circumstances.”
“We’d have to be careful, I don’t think Sunny Acres would be too keen on us hypnotizing their residents.”
“Of course, I’ll do it very subtly. Maybe we can arrange another visit with Sprinkles and you all can keep a lookout while I do the dirty work.”
Lexy’s brows furrowed together. Would hypnotizing these elderly people have any adverse side effects?
Helen looked at Lexy, and as if reading her thoughts, said, “Don’t worry, dear, it’s all perfectly safe … they may even find they have a renewed sense of vigor after I’m done with them.”
Lexy’s eyes narrowed. “OK, well if you’re sure…”
The ladies nodded, then slurped the rest of their frappes.
“Let’s not forget the earring Lexy found either,” Nans stood and collected the cups from everyone. “We need to try to find out who that belongs to. If it’s Rothschild’s, it could add to our case.”
“We should also try to figure out if there is anything else going on. Like if she has any unusual financial transactions, or if something strange is happening at these facilities when the deaths happen,” Ruth said.
“Did you get a chance to feel Jack out about the case?” Ida said wiggling the first two fingers of each hand in the air to resemble quotes when she said the “feel Jack out” part.
The other women snickered and Lexy rolled her eyes. “He doesn’t think anything funny is going on. He said maybe if more people die, he’d look into it.”
“So, he probably doesn’t want you investigating it,” Nans said.
Lexy’s heart clenched and she looked down, picking at an errant thread on the bottom of her tee-shirt. “No.”
“Well, that’s okay dear, men can be a little strange at times. But I always say, What they don’t know, can’t hurt them,” Nans said, turning with a wink and heading towards the car.
8
Lexy was still thinking of Nans’s words when she met Jack for dinner. Except it was more like,what he didn’t know couldn’t hurt her. Not that she would lie to him, but who said she had to give him every little detail about her day?
Lexy looked enviously across the table at Jack’s prime rib. Glancing back down at her skimpy salad, she speared a piece of lettuce with her fork and brought it to her mouth.
“Is that all you’re having?” She looked up to see Jack looking at her quizzically as he buttered a piece of bread.
“Yes. This is very healthy,” she said not wanting to admit that her shrinking wardrobe was the reason.
“Uh huh…,” Jack said, his eyes sparkling with humor, then added. “It wouldn’t be because you’re getting a little muffin top, would it?”
Lexy felt a jolt of panic. Had she gained that much weight? She looked down at her hips, feeling her face grow warm.
Jack laughed at her response. “I’m just kidding Lexy, you look fine.”
Lexy shifted the topic to something other than her weight. “So, I saw Cassie’s gigantic ring. I had no idea they were going to get engaged, did you?"
Jack’s arm knocked over his water glass and he jumped up to blot it from the white tablecloth.
Lexy wondered if the topic of marriage made him nervous. Or maybe it was just talking about it with her. Maybe Jack didn’t want to discuss marriage with someone who had a big muffin top.
Jack cleared his throat. “Umm … yes, John was all nervous about asking her. He wasn’t sure she’d say yes. He asked me to be the best man."
Lexy’s heart gave a little thump picturing her and Jack at the altar together—even if it would be on either side of the bride and groom.
“Cassie asked me to be the maid of honor. Actually, we have a dress fitting to go to tomorrow. Seems like it is all happening so fast. I guess they plan to get married as soon as possible.”
Jack nodded, pausing to chew a bite of his steak and wash it down with some wine. Lexy munched a cucumber and eyed the bread bowl.
“I just hope we can wrap this case up by then so he can focus on his honeymoon.”
“Oh, what’s the case you’re working on?”
“It’s a local drug ring.”
Lexy’s eyebrows shot up. “Here, in Brook Ridge Falls?”
“I know, you wouldn’t think that sort of thing would happen here, but it happens everywhere. These are mostly small time, though. Dealing pot, hash and some prescription drugs that they probably steal from their parents medicine cabinets.”
Lexy nodded, feeling a bit relieved that Jack wasn’t going against some big drug lord with a gang of armed henchmen.
“So what did you do today?” Jack asked.
Lexy felt her shoulders grow tense. She figured if she told Jack the real reason for her visit to Sunny Acres, he’d be mad. The problem was, she wasn’t a very good liar. He knew that every time she got nervous, her eye started to twitch. And she got plenty nervous when she lied to Jack.
“I took Sprinkles on a pet visit to Sunny Acres Retirement Home.”
“You did? I didn’t know you were interested in doing that sort of thing,” Jack said, studying her carefully.
Lexy shifted uncomfortably in her chair.
“I always take her to Brook Ridge Falls Retirement Center and I figured I should spread the love around.” Lexy shrugged.
Jack pushed his plate away and leaned back in his chair, narrowing his eyes at her. “Did you do this by yourself, or did someone go with you?”
Lexy felt her heart beat faster. She busied herself with looking down into her salad bowl. “Nans and the ladies came with me. You know, they hardly ever get out.”
“Uh-huh.”
Lexy nodded, still focused on chasing the last pieces of salad with her fork.
“Lexy, look at me.”
Lexy’s head started to swim. She felt the pit of her stomach drop and it wasn’t because of the lack of food. Worst of all, her damn eye started twitching. She looked up at Jack, squinting her eyes in the hopes it would stop the twitch.
“This has something to do with those deaths, doesn’t it?”
Her stomach clenched. “Sort of,” she said in a small voice.
Jack sighed and rubbed his face with his palms. “I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t investigate that.”
Lexy bit her bottom lip, her eyelid jumping with every heart beat. She didn’t recall actually agreeing to that. In fact, it seemed more like Jack told her she wouldn’t investigate it, which made her kind of mad, because she didn’t need him telling her what to do.
She sat up straighter in her chair, poking her index finger into her eye to stop it from twitching.
“I don’t see what the problem is since you don’t seem to think the deaths were suspicious in the first place.”
“They probably aren’t. But even so, the things you do when you investigate can be a little dangerous.”
Lexy didn’t bother to answer him. Instead, she pushed what was left of her salad away. Feeling a chill from the air conditioner, or possibly from Jack, she pulled her periwinkle colored wrap tight around her shoulders.
Her heart squeezed when Jack reached across the table and grabbed her hands. His warm brown eyes drilled into hers and she felt a little uncomfortable at the emotion she saw in them.
“It’s just that I love you so much, I don’t want anything bad to happen to you, and you do tend to put yourself into danger when you are investigating something.”
Normally his words would have melted her heart, but not tonight. She was too mad at the fact that he just assumed she would do as he said. Suddenly, Lexy felt glad she wasn’t wearing his engagement ring.
She jerked her hands out from under his and stood up. “I think I can take care of myself,” she said. “In fact, I think I’ll just take myself home right now.”
“Lexy wait—’’
But she didn’t wait to hear what he had to say. She turned on her heel and stormed out of the restaurant, ignoring the hurt look on his face. She was determined to do whatever she wanted, no matter what Jack Perillo said.
It wasn’t until hours later when she was settled on her couch, with Sprinkles, eating a box of biscotti and chocolate ice cream that she realized Jack had said he loved her.
9
Lexy felt dizzy looking at all the wedding gowns. Silk, lace, pearls, rhinestones. How could anyone pick just one? Leafing through the rack, she tried to picture each one on Cassie.
“Do you have any idea what style you want?” She asked over her shoulder at Cassie, unable to peel her eyes away from the dresses.
“Actually, I have a few set aside I want to try on, but I’m waiting for the others to get here.” Cassie turned from the rack with a beaded mermaid style dress in her hand. “This one would be perfect on you.”
Lexy spun around and gasped, holding her hand out for the dress. It was a slightly off white color which created a dramatic contrast to the thousands of hand-beaded pearls and crystals.
She held it up in front of her and turned to the mirror. The strapless top tapered into a tiny waist which continued tight against the hips then flared out down around the knees. It was gorgeous. Lexy looked down nervously at her hips and tried to pull the dress flat across them. Too tight.
“I don’t think I’ll be needing a wedding dress anytime soon." Probably a good thing too, since she clearly needed time to lose a few pounds.
The bell over the door jangled and Cassie swiveled towards the sound. “Here they are.”
Lexy turned to see two women heading in their direction.
“Lexy, these are my cousins, Justine and Sam.”
Lexy shook hands with the women, her gaze lingering on the short blonde Cassie had introduced as Sam.
“You look familiar, do I know you?” Sam echoed her thoughts.
“I’m not sure. You look a little familiar too. Maybe I’ve seen you at my bakery, The Cup and Cake?”
Sam pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. “I don’t think so.”
A sales clerk joined the group. “Are you girls ready?”
“Yes. I put a dress on hold out back to try on,” Cassie said.
“Of course, come this way.”
Cassie followed the clerk leaving Lexy, Sam and Justine to engage in small talk.
“What do you think her dress choices look like?” Justine asked.
Lexy raised her eyebrows. “It’s hard to say. I’ve never even seen her in a dress before. I’m surprised she’s wearing one for the wedding.”
Sam and Justine giggled.
“I don’t think she’d go for strapless. And nothing too girly.” Sam looked through the dresses on the rack, then pulled one out. “Something plain like this maybe.”
Justine made a face at the plain white silk sheath. “Boring.”
“Maybe something simple, in an ivory color,” Lexy said.
“That you can wear a black leather jacket over.”
They all laughed at Sam’s joke. Cassie’s taste in clothing was more biker than chic. She usually wore jeans, tee-shirts and black leather. Lexy couldn’t even imagine her in a white wedding dress but the thought brought a smile to her lips.
“What do you guys thin
k?” Cassie had snuck up behind them and the three girls spun around.
Lexy felt her eyes grow wide and her mouth open in a big O. Her gasp of surprise echoed those of Sam’s and Justine’s.
Instead of the traditional white wedding dress they were all expecting, Cassie stood in front of them in a gorgeous deep red silk dress that flowed down to the floor, puffing out at the bottom and tapering to a long train in the back. The whole thing was accented with black-beaded decoration.
“You look stunning!”
Lexy saw Cassie’s cheeks turn red. “Really?”
“Yes,” All three girls said at once.
“I love it. It’s so … you.”
Cassie looked at herself in the mirror, turning to check out each side. She touched the pink spiked hair on the top of her head. “I’ll have to dye this red to match, but I think this is the one.”
Lexy felt a rush of warmth for her friend. Judging by the smile on her face, Cassie was truly happy. She’d found the right man and the right dress. Dismissing the nagging, petty jealousy that tried to creep into her thoughts, she gave Cassie a hug.
“I’m so happy for you.”
“Thanks,” Cassie said, then turned to the others. “I’ve picked out a bridesmaid dress I want you guys to look at. If you don’t like it, we can look for something else, but I think it will be perfect.”
As if by magic, the clerk appeared holding a slinky black sheath. The sleeveless dress had a plunging V-neck and clung tight all the way down. Lexy eyed it dubiously, while sizing up the other two girls who were rail thin. She felt her stomach clench, wondering how her “muffin top” would look in the dress and cursed Jack for mentioning it, even if he was only joking.
“What size would you like?” Lexy started realizing the clerk was looking at her.
“Size six.” Lexy could have sworn the clerk looked down at her hips and raised her eyebrow in a question, but she turned so quickly Lexy couldn’t be sure.
While the clerk disappeared to find the dresses in the proper size, Lexy turned her attention back to Sam.
Lexy Baker Cozy Mystery Series Boxed Set Vol 1 (Books 1 - 4) (Lexy Baker Cozy Mysteries Boxed Sets) Page 28