Ice Cream Murder (14 page)

“That doesn’t help us at all,” Helen crunched into her cookie.

“Nope, we’ll have to find out what Olivia does each morning if we want to rule her out by establishing an alibi.” Nans held the door open and they spilled out into the sunshine.

“Let’s find out if the other team had better success.” Nans rummaged in her oversized purse, then pulled out her cell phone, stabbed at the screen and put it up to her ear.

“Hello, Ida?”

“Hi, Mona … how did you guys make out?” Ida’s voice crackled in Nans ear.

“It was a bust for us. What about you?”

“We got some interesting information.” The excitement in Ida’s voice carried over the line, making Nans tingle with anticipation. “We’re on our way back to your place now to compare notes.”

“We’ll meet you there.” Nans broke into a sprint, gesturing for Ruth and Helen to hurry it up as she yelled into the phone. “Last ones there have to clean up after coffee!”

***

“If what Judy told you is true, we can rule out Evelyn.” Nans marched over to the whiteboard and drew a line through Evelyn’s name.
 

“We may want to double check with the Organic Growers Convention and make sure she was really there.” Helen dipped her Snickerdoodle in her cup of coffee. Lexy noticed she didn’t bother to clean up the few drops that sloshed over onto the table.

Nans nodded. “Good idea, it pays to be thorough.”

“I’ll call them,” Ruth said and Nans made a note on the whiteboard.

“Evelyn still could have done it,” Helen said. “She could have put something in leftovers that she knew Winston would eat later on. That would be perfect, actually, because if he ate it while she was away, that would give her an alibi.”

“No, I don’t think she would have done that,” Ruth crunched into a cookie, ignoring the crumbs that fell on the table in front of her. “It’s too risky—what if someone came over to visit and ate the food?”

Nans nodded, then chugged down her coffee. She brought the cup to the kitchen counter, opened the cabinet and pulled out a clean one which she filled with more coffee.

Lexy’s mouth pursed into a thin line. “You can use the same cup, you know, Nans.”

“Oh, I know, but, since you guys have to clean up …”

Lexy sighed. They’d pulled up in front of the Retirement Center at the same time as Nans, Ruth and Helen, but the old ladies had proven to be faster at getting out of the car and sprinting through the halls.

“So, now we need to figure out where Larry and Olivia were that morning,” Norman said.

“Larry was acting awfully funny at the Farmer’s Market,” Lexy said.
 

“Yeah, almost as if he didn’t want us asking questions,” Ida added.

“And Judy did say he was supposed to be there, but didn’t show up,” Norman pointed out.

“Which means he deviated from his routine,” Nans said. “Too bad he lives in that cabin in the woods. We can’t ask a doorman or servant where he was.”

“Where’s his cabin?” Norman asked.

“Out on Mountain Road,” Ruth tapped on her iPad that she’d placed on the table in front of her. “I looked it up earlier. Nice place, but simple.

She slid the iPad across the table to Norman.
 

“Remote with no neighbors, so we can’t ask them, either,” Helen said.

“Maybe we should focus on Winston’s place,” Ruth offered. “See if one of them paid him a visit.”

Helens phone chirped. She pulled it out of her purse, looked at it and then rolled her eyes. “It’s Stan. He’s been texting me and posting on my Facebook timeline. I knew we shouldn’t have gone over there the other day.”

“Now, Helen,” Nans soothed. “That was for the good of the case. We all have to make sacrifices.”

“What’s so bad about Stan? He’s not bad looking, he’s rich and he sure does seem to be smitten with you,” Lexy said.

Helen made a face. “Jeez, Lexy. At my age the last thing I need is a man hanging around and spoiling all my fun. I’ll just text him back that I’m not available.”

“Wait a second!” Nans yelled.
 

Helen poised her finger over the phone, her left brow lifted at Nans.

“Maybe we should invite him over. He was friends with Winston … he might know something about his death,” Nans said.

“Honestly, Mona, I really don’t want to encourage him.”

“Please?” Nans gave Helen her most endearing look. “It might be our only chance.”

“You can lure him over with some of Lexy’s Snickerdoodles. One more place setting won’t be too much, especially since we don’t have to clean it up.” Ruth smirked at Ida.

Helen let out an exaggerated sigh. “Okay. Fine.”
 

She typed into her phone. A few seconds later her phone dinged. Her shoulders slumped as she read the text. “He’ll be right over.

Stan must not have been very far away, because no sooner had Nans, Ruth and Helen moved the whiteboard back to Nans spare room to hide it, when a knock sounded at the door. Nans ushered him in and made a fuss over giving him coffee and pastries.
 

Lexy noticed the sly smile on Nans’ lips as she made sure extra crumbs fell on the table when she transferred a scone to Stan’s plate. Nans got an extra chair from the living room and everyone sat down.

“Helen, I was hoping you’d like to go to lunch today.” Stan gazed at Helen as if no one else was in the room.

“Oh, I don’t know …” Helen started out, then jumped as if someone had kicked her under the table.
Probably Nans
, Lexy thought.
 

“That would be lovely,” she said, fixing Nans with a nasty glare.

“Say, Stan, did you hear about Winston Banks?” Nans didn’t waste any time getting to the point.

Stan looked down at his scone. “Yes, I was sorry to hear about him. Isn’t it funny that we’d just been talking about him a couple of days before? I guess the stress of his extracurricular activities got to him.”

“Yeah, funny,” Ruth said. “Life is full of little coincidences.”

“It sure is,” Stan replied. “In fact, I had just seen him that morning at the club.”

Lexy’s ears perked up. “Oh, really? Did he seem sick?”

“No, not at all. That’s why I was surprised when I heard the news.” Stan sipped his coffee. “I mean, it couldn’t have been more than an hour or two later that he died.”

“But that was in the morning,” Nans said. “I didn’t realize people went to the club so early.”

“Oh, normally no one goes that early. But on Wednesdays they have the best eggs benedict. That’s why I was there and why Winston was there, too.”

Nans raised a brow at him. “So, you ate breakfast together?”

Stan shook his head. “Not together. We were at different tables, and now I regret that I didn’t go over and talk to him, but he was having what looked like a heated conversation and I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“A heated conversation?” Nans leaned across the table, her eyes focused on Stan’s face. “Who with?”

“With his brother. Larry Banks.”

Chapter Seventeen

Lexy managed to make her get-away after Stan dropped the bomb about Winston eating breakfast with Larry. She had work to do at the bakery, not the least of which was resupplying the pastry case since Nans had been using it for her own personal inventory of bribe material.

As she worked, baking and waiting on customers, she considered the news about Larry breakfasting with Winston.

Did Larry kill Winston? He certainly had enough reasons, but she still couldn’t picture him as a killer. Lexy wondered what they’d been fighting about. Had it been important enough for Larry to poison Winston’s breakfast?

Lexy was just putting some freshly baked lemon squares in the pastry case when Nans, Ruth, Ida and Helen marched through the door, dressed to the nines.

“What’s the occasion?” Lexy eyed the colorful polyester pantsuits the ladies wore.

“We’re going to the club for dinner,” Nans said.

“Winston’s club?” Lexy asked.

“Yep, Stan arranged for us to get in and even called his chef friend especially for us,” Ruth slid her eyes toward Helen. “Of course, Helen had to take one for the home team.”

Lexy raised a brow at Helen.
 

“I agreed to go on a date with Stan next Saturday.”

“Sorry, Helen,” Lexy said.

“Not as sorry as you’re gonna be,” Ida wagged her finger at Lexy. “You and Norman skedaddled out of there and left me to do all the cleanup.”

Lexy grimaced, “I know. Sorry. I’ll make it up to you, I promise. I just made lemon squares—do you want one?”

Ida shook her head. “You can’t bribe me with pastries. Besides, I don’t want to spoil my dinner.”

“We have reservations at seven, so we swung by to see if you want to go with us,” Ruth said.

Lexy glanced down at her flour-covered jeans and tee-shirt, then looked at the clock. It was almost six o’clock. Jack was working late and she had planned a quick supper of cereal. A gourmet meal sounded much better and she’d have just enough time to go home and change.

“Sounds good. Just let me lock up and we can go to my place and then head over.”

The club was as posh as Lexy had expected it to be, with mahogany paneled walls, white linen tablecloths, crystal glasses and gold rimmed cream colored china. Lexy turned over her fork and, sure enough, it was stamped sterling silver on the back. The light from the ornate crystal chandelier overhead glinted off the tines as she put it back on the table.
 

The black acoustic tile ceiling and sumptuous burgundy colored rug did a great job of absorbing the sound. Lexy could only hear the muted tones of hushed conversations and the faint tinkling of silverware on china plates.

After they’d gotten their drinks and ordered both the appetizer and their meals, Nans proposed a toast.

“To catching killers.” Her green eyes sparkled as they all clinked wine glasses. Lexy noticed a man at the next table give them a funny look. Maybe Nans shouldn’t have said ‘killers’ quite so loudly.

The waitress came with a plate loaded with snail shells. Escargot. Ida daintily took one with a thin, long-tined fork and passed the plate to Lexy. Lexy declined, passing the plate over to Ruth.

“You don’t want one?” Ruth asked.

“No.”

“They’re good.” Nans took the plate from Ruth. “These are loaded with butter and garlic.”

“I’ll save the room for my prime rib.”
 

“Excuse me.” The man who had looked over when Nans made the toast leaned toward them in his chair. “Aren’t you gals
The Ladies Detective Club
?”

Nans puffed up with pride. “Why, yes we are. How did you know?”

“You solved a case for my cousin about a year ago. Did a right fine job, too.” He pushed his chair closer and lowered his voice. “The police couldn’t figure it out, but you ladies nailed it.”

“Why, thank you.” Nans patted her lip with the white cloth napkin.

Ida, Ruth and Helen beamed at the man as they chewed on their snails.

“Are you on a case now?” he asked.

“Why, as a matter of fact we are,” Nans said in a hushed voice. “We’re looking into the murders of Regis and Winston Banks.”

“Murders?” His hazel eyes widened. “But I thought Regis died from a food allergy and Winston died of a heart attack.”

“That’s what the killer wants you to think,” Ida said.

“Oh, how fascinating,” the man said. “I saw Winston just that morning right here at the club.”

Nans twisted in her chair to face him. “You did?”

The man nodded. “He was here with his brother. An odd fellow, that Larry Banks. He hardly ever comes here because he only likes to eat organic food, but the eggs here are local from pastured chickens, so he’s joined Winston a few times for breakfast on Wednesday’s. He brings his own organic juices, though … sometimes tries to push them off on the rest of us.”

Nans’ radar perked up. “And did he bring his own juice on Wednesday?”

“Yep. A big bottle of something thick and green. He asked the waiter for a champagne glass and poured it right in for Winston.”

Nans narrows her eyes at the man. “Did you notice if Winston drank it?”

The man tilted his head, rubbing his chin. “I’m not sure … no, wait. He did drink it.”

“Are you sure?” Ida asked.

The man scooted his chair even closer, lowering his voice even further. “I don’t know if you noticed that Winston had some sort of phobia about having his hands dirty … he used those wet naps all the time.”

“We did notice that,” Nans said.

The man grimaced. “Well, I know it’s kind of childish, but a few of us had a running bet as to how many wet naps he would use. He used five that day and I won the bet. That’s how I know he drank the drink because when I looked at the table for the final count, I remember the champagne glass at his seating was empty—only a film of green sludge remained on the sides.”

***

Lexy pulled into her driveway behind Jack’s truck and hopped out of the car. She was excited to see him. Of course, she was excited any time she got to see Jack, but tonight she also couldn’t wait to tell him about the latest development in the Banks’ case.

Lexy opened the door, expecting the usual, overzealous greeting from Sprinkles. Her heart sank when the dog didn’t come.
 

What the heck?

“We’re in here,” Jack yelled from the kitchen.

Lexy crossed the living room to the kitchen where Jack was waiting with a glass of red wine. Sprinkles was busy gobbling up the last of a piece of steak from her dog bowl.

“So that’s why Sprinkles didn’t greet me,” Lexy said, accepting the wine and a quick kiss.

Sprinkles swallowed the last bite, looked up in surprise at Lexy, and then launched herself at Lexy’s knees, almost causing her to spill the wine. Lexy put the glass down and bent to pet the dog.

“Yes, I’m glad to see you,” she said to Sprinkles, then looked back up at Jack, “and you, too.”

“Same here,” Jack grinned at her over his wine glass and Lexy’s heart did a somersault. That boyish grin always got to her. “How was your fancy dinner?”

Lexy stood up. “Very enlightening.”

“Oh, really?” Jack’s left brow ticked up a fraction of an inch.