3 Bodies and a Biscotti (6 page)

She scoffed down the brownie, then cut the rest of the pan into bite size pieces and arraigned them in a bakery box that had her logo, phone number, and address. No reason why she couldn’t do a little advertising while she was passing out brownies and helping to hypnotize the residents at Sunny Acres.

###

“Are you guys back already?” The nurse’s aide looked questioningly at Nans before bending down to pet Sprinkles.

“We promised some of the people we met the other day that we’d come back and bring some treats from my granddaughter’s bakery.” Nans pointed to the box Lexy was holding. “She owns
The Cup and Cake
, you know.”
 

Lexy opened the box and the smell of chocolate wafted out, pulling the aide closer.

“These look delicious, may I?”

“Of course.” Lexy handed her a napkin from the pile she had stashed in her jacket pocket.

“We’re going to visit a few of our new friends in their rooms today, is it okay if we head down?” Nans jerked her head towards the corridor.

“Sure,” the aide said. Then as they turned, she added, “Thanks for the brownie!”

Nans had been smart enough to get Alma’s room number when they were there the other day, and she headed straight for it. This section of Sunny Acres was setup more like a nursing home and the rooms were single bedrooms, most of which stood with their doors open.

They reached Alma’s room, and Helen tapped on the door to catch her attention.

“Oh hi. I didn’t expect to see you people back here so soon.”

“We wanted to bring you some brownies that Lexy baked today.” Lexy offered the box and a napkin to Alma who choose a brownie.

Sprinkles jumped up on the chair next to Alma, and she broke off a corner of the brownie to feed to the dog. Helen sat in the chair next to Alma.

“How are you feeling today?” Helen asked.

“Okay. A little tired, but then I do most days. I don’t have much ambition anymore so I mostly sit here and watch T.V.”
 

Lexy noticed Helen take Alma’s hand, holding it by the wrist. Nan’s and Ruth stood back by the door eating brownies, Ruth leaned against the door jam and watched down the hall in a subtle attempt to “stand guard.” Lexy stood nearby with the box of brownies in her hand. They had planned earlier that if anyone looked like they were going to come into the room, the three of them would cluster around the door and distract them by offering them a brownie.

Lexy watched in fascination as Helen talked softly to Alma, getting her to relax. The woman’s eyelids fluttered and then closed.

“Alma, do you remember those suspicious deaths you were telling us about?”

“Yes.”

“Can you tell me the dates.”

Alma was silent for a moment, then rattled off a few dates, which Ida wrote down on a piece of paper.

“Good. Alma, I’m going to tap your knee and when I do, you’ll wake up with a renewed sense of vigor and a positive attitude. You won’t remember anything about this conversation, but you’ll have boundless energy and a zest for life like you did in your youth.”
 

Alma nodded. Ruth tapped her knee. Alma’s eyes drifted open. She took a bite of the brownie.

“These are delicious. Thanks so much for bringing them.” She finished off the brownie, crumpled up the napkin and threw it into the trashcan. “Well, it was nice visiting you ladies, but I feel a little restless. I think I’m going to go for a long walk.” She bounced up from her chair like a teenager and headed for the door.

Lexy stared after her, then turned to Helen. “Wow, her attitude really changed, was it that part you added at the end?”

Helen nodded. “Just a little gift to make her days brighter. Now, shall we move on to the next person?”

Forty minutes later, they were out in the parking lot trying to squeeze themselves and Sprinkles into Lexy’s VW beetle. Lexy marveled at how Helen, Ruth, and Ida could contort themselves into the tiny back seat. Ruth said their daily yoga practice helped.

Lexy started up the car and a strange smell assaulted her nostrils, causing her nose to wrinkle. “What’s that smell?”

Nans blushed. “Sorry, dear … I have gas.”

“Oh, you too?” Ruth asked.

“I thought it was me,” Ida chimed in. “I think Alma had it too. I heard a few duck quacks when she sprinted out of her room in front of me.”

Nans glanced sideways at Lexy, who was busy fumbling with the buttons to roll down the windows. “Lexy, what was in those brownies, anyway?”

Lexy looked back at her sheepishly. “Black beans.”

All four women said, “Ohh,” at the same time, then Ida added, “If you’d told us, we could have dosed up on Beano.”
 

Nans, Ruth, and Helen laughed.
 

Nans half-turned in her seat so she could talk to all four of them. “Even though we have to put up with some gas, I’d say the trip was a big success. Before we came, I researched the dates Nurse Rothschild worked at Sunny Acres and she did work there on the dates Alma and the others mentioned. Now we just need to find some concrete evidence so the police can arrest her before she kills someone else.”

“This looks like a high quality pearl. The setting is 18K.” Nans squinted into the magnifying glass, causing her eye to look gigantic from the other side.

“I bet that’s the type of earring one would wear all the time,” Ruth said.

“Which means, someone must have seen her wearing it … or, better yet, there might be pictures of her wearing it,” Ida added.

Ruth grabbed her iPad and started searching. “I’ll look at the photos from our website and Sunny Acres’ website to start. Maybe we should look into other places she’s worked too?”

“That’s a good idea. We could visit them like we did Sunny Acres, and find out if there’s been any deaths that seem unusual,” Lexy said.

“Wait a minute.” Ruth whipped off her glasses and took the magnifying glass from Nans. She bent over the iPad holding the magnifier at varying distances. “Isn’t that the janitor from
our
nursing facility in this picture?”

Everyone clustered around the iPad. Lexy bent down to get a better look.

“Yes, I recognize him from when we were down there the other day,” Lexy said. “And he’s standing right next to Nurse Rothschild.”

“That means, they know each other,” Nans said, then added, “Does anyone else think it’s odd that they worked at Sunny Acres together and now work here together?”

“Maybe they do the killings together?” Ruth narrowed her eyes at the picture.

“Or maybe Nurse Rothschild has some hold on him and gets him to do the killing for her,” Helen said.

“
Or
maybe he’s the killer and Rothschild has nothing to do with it!” Ida added.

 
“Maybe we should be looking into him too,” Lexy said just as her cell phone notified her of a text. She rummaged in her purse and pulled it out. It was a simple two word message from Jack.
 

Dinner tonight?
 

Lexy wondered if that was his version of an apology. Should she accept? Lexy wasn’t sure if she wanted to, so she stuffed the phone back into her purse, and decided to answer the text later.
 

“First, we should find out if either of them were even there the nights of the murders. Maybe it will rule one of them out,” Nans said.

“Right. How do we do that?” Lexy asked.

“One of us could blunder down there and pretend we were lost or looking for something then try to sneak a peek at the schedule. But, the schedule probably only lists the hours for the coming week so it wouldn’t tell us how was on duty when the murders happened,” Ruth said. “I wonder if they have it in a database, maybe I can hack into it.”

“Cassie’s cousin works down there as a nurse’s aid. Maybe I could ask her. I don’t know if she’d remember the exact dates though.”

“You mean you have an
inside
person down there, and you didn’t tell us?”
 

Lexy felt her heart jump as all four women stared at her.
 
She raised her hands, palms out. “Hey, I just met her this morning.”

Nans looked at her watch. “Oh dear, where has the time gone? Lexy, you better get down there and see if your friend is on duty. Ruth and Helen, you keep searching for pictures. Ida, find out about this janitor character.”

Nans grabbed Lexy’s coat and shoved it in Lexy’s hands then pushed her towards the door, turning the knob to open it for her.

“Jeez, what’s the hur—”
 

Lexy’s protest was cut off mid-sentence as the door opened to reveal Jack Perillo standing on the other side.

###

Lexy’s heart jerked in her chest when she saw Jack.

“What are you doing here?” They both said at the same time.

Jack looked down at her. “You go first.”

“I was just visiting Nans,” Lexy said innocently.

“Me too.”

Lexy narrowed her eyes. Jack and Nans were good friends, even before she met him. The house Lexy lived in now had been Nans so Jack and Nans were neighbors for many years. Nans and the Ladies Detective Club also helped Jack out on cases occasionally, but she didn’t realize Jack usually just popped over to visit Nans in the middle of the day.

“Did you get my text?” Lexy’s heart melted at the puppy dog look on Jack’s face.

“I just got it,” she said, not wanting him to think she had ignored him.

“Oh, well what about it?”

Lexy chewed her bottom lip. Maybe she had overreacted a little bit the other night. Jack was standing close to her, he looked good and she was starting to get all tingly. Having dinner with him seemed like a great idea. Not only that, but she really just wanted Jack to get out of the way so she could go talk to Sam.

“OK.”

“How about steaks on the grill?” Lexy’s mouth started to water. Jack cooked a mean steak.

“Sounds good. So, are you here about a new case or something?”

Jack shifted his feet and cast a glance at Nans. Lexy turned and looked between the two of them.
What was going on?
 

“You could say that.” She noticed the gleam in Jack’s eye, which made her even more suspicious.

“Oh, well I want to hear about it.”

“Sorry sweetie, this one is just for Nans.” Jack stepped to the side unblocking the door. “Were you going somewhere?”

Lexy felt her stomach clench. She didn’t want to tell Jack where she was going. He’d probably tell her not to get involved which would start the fight all over again. Lexy was tired of fighting.

“I was just leaving. I have a bakery to run, you know,” Lexy said, feeling her eye start to twitch.

“OK, see you tonight?” Jack seemed just as anxious for her to leave as she was.

Lexy backed down the hall. “Yep, see you then.” She turned and made a big show of walking towards the door to the parking lot.

As soon as she got out of sight, she backtracked toward the hallway that led to the nursing care section.

Lexy was sauntering between the rooms, trying to look like she belonged when she spied Sam inside what looked like a storage room. She tapped on the partially open door. Sam whirled around knocking over some pill bottles in the process.

“Sorry, I saw you in here and thought I’d say hi,” Lexy smiled sheepishly.

“Hi, How are you?” Sam said. Lexy noticed her face was flushed and her hands fluttered nervously at her sides.
Did she startle her that much
?

“I’m great. Boy, Cassie’s dress sure was a stunner, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. Did you get yours to fit?”

Lexy felt her cheeks grown warm. “Yes, it looked great … I think those sizes run small,” she added quietly.

“I was wondering something … about the night Mavis died.” Lexy felt her heart beat pick up speed, her palms got a little clammy as she glanced down the aisle to make sure no one would over hear them.

Sam straightened her spine and her eyes narrowed. “What?”

“I was wondering if you noticed whether Nurse Rothschild was working that night?”

Sam relaxed a bit and leaned back against the counter, chewing on her bottom lip. “Yes, she was. I remember because I was also working. We had a midnight to eleven shift, and that morning we discovered she had passed. Why?”

Lexy stared at Sam, and then decided to take a chance. “You don’t think she could have something to do with Mavis’s death, do you?”

Sam’s eyes went wide. “What do you mean?”

“Mavis was very healthy, so was Bertram Glumm, yet they both died here in the past couple of weeks,” Lexy whispered.

Sam’s eyes darted around the room and her hands got fidgety again. “I never thought about that. It’s possible, but I wouldn’t know anything about it.”

“Ah, well it was just a silly thought.” Lexy backed out of the doorway. “I’ll let you get back to work.”

Sam glanced behind her. “Right. Nice to see you again.”

“Same here.”