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

by Leighann Dobbs

  Ruth and Helen shook their heads.

  “Maybe once we have time to think about it, something will stand out,” Nans made her way over to the coffee machine and poured coffee for everyone.

  Lexy took hers gratefully, the mug warming her hands. She breathed in the welcoming, bittersweet aroma of the coffee and took a sip.

  “Ahhh…,” she said, poking at her eye.

  “Okay, now to take care of that eye twitch.” Ruth pulled a chair up beside her, took her hand and started to murmur soothing words. Lexy felt relaxed and almost laughed thinking that her eyelids really were getting heavy.

  The next thing she knew, she was putting down her cup of coffee amidst laughter from the three women on the other side of the table.

  Lexy felt her cheeks grow warm. “What are you laughing at?”

  “Oh nothing dear. You shouldn’t be bothered by that eye twitch ever again,” Ruth said, patting her knee.

  “Thanks.” Lexy rubbed at her eye. It had stopped twitching, which was good, but what was up with all the laughing?

  Nans turned to look at the pictures on the computer screen. “Now that the police believe us, maybe we’ll be able to solve this faster.”

  “Lexy, I assume you’ll be seeing Jack tonight?” Ruth raised an eyebrow at her.

  “I’m not sure, maybe.”

  “You should make it a point to. Find out what he knows about the investigation so far. That will really help us. And, of course, you can share the clues we have found with him too,” Nans said.

  Lexy bit the inside of her cheek. She’d have to tread very carefully with Jack, but she felt a renewed determination to get him to give in and let her investigate these murders.

  “Maybe I’ll make his favorite dessert at the bakery today and surprise him with it tonight.”

  “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach … maybe it’s also the way to get him to give up clues and information,” Ruth said, causing them all to laugh.

  Lexy felt a renewed vigor and energy, which made her a little suspicious when she remembered how Alma at Sunny Acres had a renewed sense of energy after Helen had hypnotized her. She wondered what else Helen might have done during her hypnosis session.

  She glanced over at the other woman with narrowed eyes. Helen looked back with an innocent smile. Lexy did a mental head-shake. Of course Helen hadn’t hypnotized in any “extras”, that was ridiculous. The energy was probably from the eggs, after all she hadn’t been eating well lately so it was no wonder a good meal would make her feel invigorated.

  She glanced at her watch and felt a zing of adrenalin. “I better get going, Cassie is expecting me at the bakery.”

  “Okay, dear. Can you come here tomorrow before you go to the bakery and fill us in on what you heard from Jack? I’ll fix you a nice breakfast.” Nans knew the bribe of a hot meal was just the thing to get Lexy out of bed early.

  “You’ve got yourself a deal.” Lexy said, then drained the last of her coffee.

  Cluck!

  “Did you hear that?” Lexy asked.

  “Hear what?” Nans replied.

  “I didn’t hear anything,” Ruth offered.

  “Me either,” Helen said.

  “I thought I heard a duck or some bird.” Lexy narrowed her eyes at the three women. Three sets of innocent eyes stared back at her.

  “Must have been outside,” Nans said.

  Lexy shrugged and put her coffee mug in the sink. Grabbing her jacket from the coat rack beside the door, she bid the women good-bye. As she shut the door, she could have sworn she heard the three ladies laughing on the other side.

  15

  Lexy slipped the form-fitting black cashmere sweater over her head and turned sideways to inspect herself in the mirror. It looked perfect with her faded jeans. She had to admit, she looked pretty good—casual but sexy, and the best part was the outfit was comfortable.

  Now all she had to do was sweeten Jack up with dinner, dessert, and wine, and he’d be primed to spill all his secrets about the case.

  She raced down the stairs, two at a time and into the kitchen. The salmon was marinating in a lime and honey concoction, and potatoes were baking in the oven. Sprinkles sat in front of her bowl, expectantly.

  “You want to eat now?”

  Sprinkles answered by doing a little dance, her toenails clicking on the tile floor. Lexy fed the dog, then set about cutting up some broccoli for the steamer. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten since Nans had cooked her the omelet that morning. She felt a little weak and dizzy, but had opted to save all her calories for the meal she was preparing to share with Jack.

  She dumped the broccoli into the steamer, pulled the potatoes from the oven and set the salmon under the broiler just in time to hear Jack’s tap at the window of her kitchen door.

  “Well, hello gorgeous.” Lexy felt her cheeks grow warm as Jack’s gaze raked her body when she opened the door for him. He put the wine he’d brought down on the counter and pulled her to him.

  Lexy melted into him as his lips claimed hers. She felt dizzy from his kiss … or maybe it was from the lack of food. Either way, the kiss was a good sign that Jack wasn’t mad at her for being at the crime scene.

  The buzzer on the stove interrupted them, and she pulled away to check the salmon. Lexy noticed that Jack’s hands were a little unsteady as he poured two glasses of wine.

  “This smells delicious,” he said leaning over the salmon and inhaling deeply. She saw his eyes cut to the glass topped pie stand on the counter. “Is that a coconut cream pie?”

  Lexy beamed. “Yes, I made it for you today at the bakery.” Coconut cream was his favorite—if anything could get him to open up about the investigation, it was a coconut cream pie.

  Lexy deftly cut the salmon, buttered the potatoes, and divided the broccoli between two plates, then set them on the table. Jack pulled out Lexy’s chair and they sat opposite each other to eat.

  Lexy felt light-headed as she sipped her wine. She wondered if she should have eaten before starting in on the wine, but the alcohol gave her the extra courage she needed to start the conversation about the investigation.

  “So, did you find out anything about the murder at the retirement center?” she ventured.

  “What?” Jack looked up at her with a blank stare, making it clear his thoughts were off somewhere else.

  “I was asking about the murder at the retirement center … did you find any clues?”

  “Oh.” Jack wrinkled his brow. “Not really. We’re looking into the usual suspects--family and people at the retirement center, but we don’t have anything concrete.”

  “Do you think there’s anything in common with the other people who died?”

  “We haven’t looked into the other people because we don’t know for sure that they were murdered.”

  Lexy stabbed a spear of broccoli with her fork and raised an eyebrow at him. “But if they were …”

  “If they were, the only thing they have in common that I know of is that they were in the nursing care section.”

  Lexy sighed and nibbled off a teensy piece of the broccoli. “Maybe the reason they were in nursing care is what they have in common.”

  Jack pushed his salmon around. “You might not be too far off. I have a gut feeling that the deaths have something to do with the drug ring investigation I’m in the middle of.”

  Lexy’s eyes went wide. “You think the drugs might be coming from the retirement center?”

  Jack shrugged. “Maybe.” He went back to pushing his food around on his plate. Lexy realized that he hadn’t eaten much. Her stomach felt hollow, and not just from the lack of food … something seemed off with Jack.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  Jack’s fork clattered onto the plate and he fumbled with picking it up again. Was that sweat on his brow? Lexy’s heart seized with dread—something was wrong.

  “Lexy, I have something to say.”

  A wave of di
zziness swept over her at the serious look on his face. Was he breaking up with her? Because she kept getting involved in these investigations? Her mind went back to the kiss they had shared when he first came in. Surely he wouldn’t kiss her like that if he was going to dump her?

  The room started to swim before her eyes with the combination of nervousness and lack of food. Jack must have dropped something on the floor because she saw him get down on his knees to retrieve it. Lexy looked down at the floor to see what it was and the next thing she knew the floor was rushing up to meet her in the face.

  Then everything went black.

  Lexy opened her eyes to see Sprinkles looking down at her from an impossible angle. How could the dog be above her? The only way that could happen was if she were lying down, which judging by the hard floor pressed against her back, she probably was.

  “Lexy, are you okay?” She heard Jack’s voice.

  She took a mental inventory of her body. “Yes, I think so. What happened?” She asked, bringing her arms up to fend off the barrage of kisses that Sprinkles bathed her face with.

  “I think you passed out. Did you eat anything today?”

  “I had an omelet this morning.”

  “Jesus, Lexy, that’s not enough.” Jack pulled her up from the floor, brushed off her backside, then put his hands on her upper arms, bending his tall frame to stare into her eyes. “You have to start eating more. You’re not fat. In fact, I think you’re just perfect.”

  Lexy’s heart jerked in her chest as he bent down and brushed his lips against her forehead, then gently maneuvered her into her chair.

  “Now eat.” He pointed to her plate, then went over and started the coffee machine on the counter.

  Lexy dug into the salmon and potato. She had to admit, she was starving. Jack replaced her wine glass with a coffee mug and sat down on his side of the table watching her eat in silence. She couldn’t help the little “nummy” sounds that came out of her mouth.

  She finished up and pushed her plate away feeling encouraged that Jack had also devoured most of his meal. The food was doing it’s job, she felt a lot stronger and not so dizzy. She took a sip of coffee and closed her eyes.

  “Did you just cluck?”

  “What?” Lexy furrowed her brow. Did he say cluck?

  “I thought I heard you make a strange noise.” Jack shrugged, then grabbed both of their plates and dumped them in the sink.

  Lexy stood up to liberate the pie from its glass display. Her heart skipped a beat, remembering how Jack had been acting before she passed out. What was he up to?

  “It seemed like you were going to say something important before I passed out.” She handed him a plate loaded with a thick, tall slice of pie.

  Jack smiled and put the pie on the counter, pulling her into his arms instead.

  “I was, but it can wait until you’re feeling one hundred percent better.” He traced the tip of his finger down the side of her neck causing her body to shiver with anticipated pleasure. “Right now, I think we have some other important business to tend to.”

  16

  “Would you guys like to test out another one of my new recipes?” Lexy opened the cardboard bakery box, and produced a tray of aromatic white chocolate biscotti which she placed in the center of Nans’s dining room table.

  “More biscotti?” Ruth asked as she, Helen and Nans picked a biscuit from the plate. Lexy had already helped herself and bit into the confection, the white chocolate dip coated her tongue with a creamy sweetness, which was the perfect compliment to the dark blend coffee that was sending up spirals of steam on the table in front of her.

  She took a sip.

  Nans, Helen and Ruth laughed. Lexy louvered her eyes at them. “What’s so funny?”

  “Nothing,” Helen said, her eyes wide. “Did the hypnosis work for your eye tic?”

  Lexy realized that her eye hadn’t bothered her the previous night when she’d been nervous about Jack’s behavior. “Well, it hasn’t bothered me, but I think I need more time to know for sure.”

  “Oh, I’m sure it worked.” Helen said, amidst more laughter from the other women.

  Ruth finished off her biscotti, adjusted her dentures and brushed the crumbs off her shirt. “That was delicious—I’d say you have a winner on your hands.”

  Lexy felt a swell of pride when the other women nodded their agreement.

  “Now, let’s get down to business.” Nans put her elbows on the table and leaned across toward Lexy. “What did Jack have to say about the case?”

  “Not much, I’m afraid. He’s still not convinced the first two were murdered.” Lexy’s stomach dropped at the disappointed looks on the women’s faces. “But he did say he had a suspicion the murder might be tied to the drug ring case he is working on.”

  “Really?” Helen asked. “How so?”

  “Apparently the drug ring sells quite a bit of oxycontin. They don’t know where it is coming from. You need a prescription for it, so it has to be tied to some place medical. He was starting to think it might be coming from the retirement center because the hospitals and doctors’ offices have such strict rules.”

  “I don’t see how they would actually get the drugs to sell them, I mean I’m sure they are carefully watched here too. But that is something we should look into,” Ruth said.

  “I researched the janitor, Sam Turner. He has some financial problems. That would be motivation for stealing drugs and selling them on the black market. Janitors don’t make very much money, you know,” Helen said.

  “That’s very interesting,” Nans nibbled on the end of her second biscotti. “I happened to talk to the person who was staying in the room with Bertram Glumm when he was murdered. I asked him who was in there and he didn’t remember seeing Nurse Rothschild, but he did say he remembered Sam being there.”

  Helen and Ruth gasped.

  “Wait a minute,” Helen said.” Who was Bertram’s roomie?”

  “Willard Stevens,” Nans winced.

  “Oh, he’s practically senile!” Ruth said.

  “That explains why he didn’t notice a murder happening right in the next bed.” Lexy rolled her eyes.

  “Well, he is hard of hearing and maybe a little forgetful, but he did say he remembered that night. He said the curtain was drawn around the bed all night which he thought was odd. At least it’s something to think about.”

  “Looks like all fingers point to the janitor, Sam,” Ruth said. “And that’s good because I found out that nurse Rothschild couldn’t have committed the last murder. She wasn’t working at the time.”

  Lexy’s eyebrows rose a few notches. “Interesting. So that rules her out? She could still be in on it with Sam … or maybe she snuck back in to do the murder.”

  “True. But I think we can put her on the back burner and turn up the heat on Sam,” Nans said. “But I still don’t understand how the murders would tie in to stealing drugs. I’m not convinced they are related.”

  A couple of taps sounded on the door and they all turned toward it in time to see Ida bustle in, leading with her left hand, on which sat a new sparkling diamond ring.

  “Guess what, girls!”

  They all stood and leaned over her hand.

  “It’s gorgeous!”

  “Gigantic.”

  “He proposed in the nursing care ward?”

  Ida giggled like a schoolgirl. “Yes, I guess he was planning on doing it and didn’t want to wait just because he was laid up.”

  Lexy felt her heart squeeze. Was everyone except her getting engaged? She immediately regretted her jealous thoughts. She was happy for Cassie and Ida, heck, she didn’t even know if she wanted to get married. She and Jack didn’t always see eye to eye, so maybe it would be a mistake. Still, it would be nice to be asked.

  They all got in line to hug and congratulate Ida. Lexy pulled Ida’s hand up to her face to admire the ring. It was very similar to Cassie’s.

  Crap!

  She’d forgotten that Cassie’
s dress rehearsal was tonight. She glanced at her watch, her stomach clenching. She had forty-five minutes to get home, change and then over to the restaurant where Cassie planned to get married. She pushed away from the group.

  “I gotta run, I’m late for Cassie’s wedding rehearsal!” She said, grabbing her coat and bolting out the door.

  17

  Lexy rushed into the entrance of the Brook Ridge Falls restaurant. Her hair sat piled on top of her head in an unruly mess, her dress needed adjustment and she sported sneakers on her feet instead of the Manolo Blahnik rhinestone-studded stilettos she planned to wear for the wedding. But at least she’d made it on time … almost.

  The restaurant, an old mill, boasted a gigantic picture window with a spectacular up-close view of the waterfall. Cassie, John, and Jack stood in a huddle in front of it.

  Jack turned as she approached, his face blanched and he shoved something into his pocket. Her eyes narrowed as she saw him say something to the others and they whirled around to look at her. Why was everyone acting so strange?

  Her disturbing thoughts fled and her eyes widened as she got the full view of Cassie in her deep red gown, hair highlighted to match. She had accentuated the outfit with black rhinestone jewelry and a black veil which hung from the back of her head. Stunning.

  “You look amazing!” she said, making Cassie blush.

  “You look pretty good yourself,” Jack said, his eyes traveling down her body and back up to her eyes. Lexy’s heart flip-flopped in her chest as a smile lit his handsome face.

  “Oh, well, I kind of got ready in a hurry.” She shrugged, reaching up to straighten her messy hair.

  “Yeah, you usually have much better shoe choices,” Cassie said, causing Lexy’s cheeks to grow warm as everyone looked down at her sneakers.

  Thankfully, the minister interrupted their inspection of her footwear. “Are we ready to start?”

  Cassie looked around the room. “I think everyone is here, so I guess so. We’re having a lattice archway made with red roses that we’ll stand under.” She walked over to the center of the window. “I’d like to put it here. We’ll stand facing the waterfall and you can stand here facing us.”