2 Dead & Buried (20 page)

If it was innocent, which it probably was, she’d just make a fool out of herself by confronting him. It was probably a good idea to let some time pass before she talked to him. Lexy was afraid her impulsive nature might cause her to blurt something out she might regret later.

“Hopefully, he’ll be at the station. I should call Cassie back at the bakery though, and tell her I’ve gone out for a while. She’ll probably be wondering where I disappeared to.” Lexy picked up her cell phone just as she pulled into the parking lot at the police station.

Nans jumped out of the car before she even had it in park. “I’ll see you in there.”

Lexy watched in amusement as the sprightly older woman sprinted into the station, her giant purse dangling from her arm. She felt sorry for any officer that might try to prevent her grandmother from seeing Ruth.
 

She made a quick call to Cassie, letting her know where she was and that she’d fill her in later. Then she made her way into the lobby behind Nans.

Nans was talking to Jack’s partner, police detective John Darling, who nodded at Lexy as she joined them.

“Ruth isn’t arrested!” Nans smiled at Lexy.

Lexy raised an eyebrow at John.
 

“We just had her in for questioning,” John explained.
 

“Why?”
 

John rubbed his chin with his hand. “We found her fingerprints and some of her personal effects in Nunzio Bartolli’s condo.”

Nans gasped. “What? How would those get in there?”

John winked, pushing himself away from the wall he was leaning against. “You’ll have to ask Ruth that.”

Lexy stared after him as he walked over to the reception desk, his long curly hair hung in a ponytail down his back which swung to the side as he leaned his tall frame over the counter to look at something on the computer. “Actually, she’s free to go now. I’ll bring her out here if you guys want.”

“Please do,” Nans said, then turned to Lexy. “Isn’t that wonderful? I was so worried.”

Lexy nodded as she watched John disappear through the door that led to the offices inside the station. John and her assistant Cassie had been married this past spring and she’d gotten to know him fairly well. She wondered if she should ask him if he knew anything about the blonde she had seen Jack with but didn’t want to seem like she was prying into Jack’s business.
 

Lexy shook her head. She needed to stop thinking about the blonde. She trusted Jack. They were getting married, for crying out loud, and she didn’t want to be one of those wives who kept her husband on a short leash. The best thing for her to do was to forget all about it.

The door opened and Ruth came out. Nans rushed over giving her a hug. Lexy felt her shoulders relax, relieved that Ruth wasn’t in trouble.

“Oh, thanks for coming,” Ruth said to Nans and Lexy.

“No problem,” Lexy said. “Shall we go? I can drive you guys back to the retirement center, if you want.”

“That would be wonderful,” Nans said as the three of them made their way to the door. Lexy held it open for the two older women, then followed them out into the summer sunshine.
 

Ruth breathed in a deep breath of fresh air. “It’s good to be outside. For a while there I was a little worried I might be spending my golden years in a cell.”

“Why would you think that? Surely you had nothing to do with Nunzio’s murder?” Nans raised her eyebrows at Ruth as they walked to Lexy’s car.

“Of course I didn’t! But they did have some evidence that pointed to me,” Ruth said, as she folded herself into Lexy’s back seat.

“That’s what John said.” Lexy slipped into the driver’s seat angling the rear view mirror so she could look at Ruth. “What was that all about?”

Lexy saw Ruth’s cheeks turn slightly red.

Nans turned in her seat so she could look at Ruth, too. “John said they found your fingerprints and personal effects in Nunzio’s condo. How is that possible?”

Ruth turned an even darker shade of red and looked down at her lap, pretending to adjust her seatbelt. “I was in his condo.”

“What?” Nans and Lexy said at the same time.

Ruth looked up. Her eyes met Lexy’s in the mirror then slid over to look at Nans. “I was seeing Nunzio. Actually, I went there quite regularly. So, naturally, my fingerprints were all over his condo. I was there last night and I must have left a pair of earrings there that the police were somehow able to trace to me.”

Nans gasped. “You were there last night?
 
The night he was murdered?”

Ruth nodded. “Yes, I was. But don’t worry. I assure you Nunzio was
very
much alive when I left.”

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