Ice Cream Murder (18 page)

“If that doesn’t work, we’ll go inside and pretend like we got lost,” Helen said. “We can split up and cover more ground that way.”

“If we get discovered, we’ll just do the usual—act all flustered like we lost our way and ask a lot of questions—then no one will suspect what we are up to,” Ida added.

Nans smiled as she looked out the window at the passing farmland. Being an old lady certainly did have its advantages, especially when it came to investigating. It never ceased to amaze her that she could get people to tell her the most incriminating facts by putting on her ‘little old lady’ act.
 

The passing scenery lulled her into a trance … and then she jerked awake as she saw a streak of white heading toward the car from the left.

“Look out!”
 

Ruth stomped on the brakes, swerving to the right. “What the heck was that?”

Nans rolled down her window, sticking her head out and looking back down the road. “Stop the car, I think that’s Sprinkles!”

“Lexy’s dog? What would she be doing running loose out here?” Ruth stopped, then backed up slowly.

It
was
Sprinkles … and she was with a small orange dog.

Nans jumped out. “Sprinkles?”

Sprinkles limped over to Nans, who bent down, allowing the dog to cover her with kisses.

“Looks like she’s injured.” Helen leapt out of the back of the car and squatted next to the dogs. She lifted Sprinkles front paw, then pressed here and there, causing a tiny yelp from the little white dog. “I don’t see any blood, but something happened to her leg.”

Nans’ blood turned cold as she looked around her.
 

Where was Lexy?

“Something’s wrong,” Nans said. “Lexy would never let Sprinkles run around off her leash like this.”

The dogs ran two feet toward the house, then back to Nans and Helen, barking anxiously.

“I think they’re trying to tell us something,” Helen glanced in the direction the dogs had headed. “They want to lead us toward the barn.”

Nans followed Helen’s gaze. She could see the barn in the distance. Then she squinted, her heart kicking. “Is that smoke?”

The dogs took off toward the barn and Nans didn’t have to think twice. Sprinkles
was
trying to tell her something—Lexy was in the barn and she needed help.

“Get in the car, Helen,” Nans yelled as she headed for the car. “I think Lexy is in trouble!”

Helen was barely in when Ruth gunned it and the car raced toward the barn. Nans pulled her cell phone out and called Jack.
 

“Jack, I’m at the old farmhouse on Meadow Road,” Nans grabbed onto the armrest as Ruth ran over a hole in the dirt driveway bouncing the car almost into the air. “Sprinkles is running around loose here. Do you know where Lexy is?”

“As far as I know, she’s supposed to be at agility … with Sprinkles.” Jack’s voice was guarded.

“I’m afraid something’s wrong. I think I see smoke coming out of the barn next to the old farmhouse,” Nans hoped Jack couldn’t hear the fear in her voice.

“I’ll put in a call. Don’t do anything until I get there.”

“But Lexy might need us.”

“Mona, I’m serious. This could be dangerous. I need you to stand down. Stay in the car and wait for me,” Jack ordered, then disconnected before Nans could argue further.

Nans turned in her seat as Ruth pulled up to the barn. The three other ladies looked at her, expectantly.

“What did Jack say?” Ruth cut the engine.

“He said he was coming and he’d call the fire department. We’re supposed to wait in the car until he gets here,” Nans said fumbling for the seatbelt.

Ida’s forehead crumpled into a series of wrinkles. “Are you kidding? Lexy could be in there in trouble … we’re not really going to sit in the car, are we?”
 

The four ladies stared at each other. The only sound in the car was the metallic click of seat belts being unlatched.

“Heck, no!” they yelled at once, shoving their doors open and bursting out of the car.

***

Smoke streamed out of the open barn door. Orange flames licked the right side of the barn … still far enough away from the door to allow them to get inside. Nans covered her mouth with part of her poncho and gestured to Ruth, Ida and Helen to do the same.

The two dogs ran inside the barn, barking and leaping. Nans and the ladies followed.

Inside, it was almost impossible to see. Nans’ eyes watered, her lungs burned, but thoughts of Lexy needing her help drove her forward.

“I don’t see her!” Ida shouted.

“Over there!” Helen pointed to the right. Sprinkles and the other dog were clawing and whining at a large wooden door that had been bolted shut with an iron bolt. It was in the back of the barn and Nans remembered seeing a small silo sticking up toward the back.
 

Could Lexy be locked inside the silo?

Nans rushed to the door. Grabbing metal lock, she heaved with all her might, sliding it and unlocking the door. They pushed the door open and they rushed into the smoke-filled room.

Inside, Nans could make out the hazy form of bales of hay stacked up to the window. She could hear the crackling of the building as it heated up. The dogs’ barking added to the level of sound. Then she heard Lexy’s voice.

“Sprinkles!”

“Lexy?” Nans darted her eyes around the room.

Lexy’s trim figure appeared out of the haze. “Nans!”

Nans pulled her close for a hug.

“What are you guys doing here?” Norman had appeared on Nans’ right and she hugged him, too.
 

“Enough with the hugging. The fire is closing in and we better get out of here!” Ida yelled, pointing to the door where orange flames flicked at the right side.

Nans realized Ida was right. They better skedaddle. She pushed Lexy toward the door and was turning in that direction herself when she realized a third person had been in the silo with Lexy and Norman.
 

As the figure came closer, Nans heart kicked.
 

It was the killer … Olivia!

And she was coming after Lexy!

“Look out!” Nans yelled.
 

She pushed Lexy to the side and launched herself at Olivia.

***

Lexy stumbled from Nans’ shove, almost falling to the floor. She turned in time to see Nans tackle Olivia with her shoulder. The two women fell to the floor.
 

“What the heck?”

She turned to Ruth, Ida and Helen who were standing in the doorway of the silo, staring at Nans and Olivia as they wrestled with each other.
 

“She’s got the killer!” Ruth yelled.

That’s when Lexy realized Nans didn’t know Olivia had also been a victim, trapped in there with them.
 

“Nans, no! Olivia isn’t the killer!” Lexy rushed back toward the two women, trying to pull Nans off Olivia. The smoke was getting thicker on the floor making it difficult to tell who was who. Lexy reached into the pile, grabbed an arm and pulled.
 

“She isn’t?” Ruth, Ida and Helen asked wide eyed.

“No—it was Cora the whole time!” Norman said and they all rushed back to help Lexy pull the two women apart.

“Mona—stop!” Ida grabbed Nans by the belt of her poncho and hauled her up to a standing position.

“I caught her!” Nans pointed at Olivia proudly.

“She’s not the killer. Cora is!” Lexy yelled. Farfel ran happy circles around Olivia who pushed herself up from the floor.
 

Nans gave Olivia a dubious look. “But the evidence …”

“There’s no time for that now,” Lexy yelled. “We’ll explain later!”

They all turned toward the door and Lexy’s stomach dropped like a lead sinker. The flames had worked their way all around the door frame.

“We better make a run for it,” Nans yelled.

They rushed toward the door.

Crunch!

Lexy stopped short just as the doorway collapsed into a fiery mass of boards.
 

“Oh. Poo.” Helen said.

The exit was almost entirely blocked. There was just a three foot opening, but it was full of flames.
 

They were trapped.

***

‘The ponchos—they’re flame retardant!” Nans yelled.

The ladies whipped off their ponchos and started beating the flames back.

Ruth and Helen laid theirs over the tops of the beams that had fallen and the flames snuffed out enough so that they could step over them and out into the barn. Lexy pushed the older women out first, then she, Norman and Olivia followed.

The seven of them burst out of the barn like bees rushing out of a flaming hive.
 

Lexy turned to look at the burning barn just in time to see Sprinkles sprint out of the doorway. Her eyes filled with tears as she fell to her knees, hugging the small dog.

The rest of them stood bent over with their hands on their knees, sucking in the clean air as the sound of sirens drew closer.

“Wait … where’s Farfel?” Olivia’s voice rose in panic as she whirled around looking for the small dog. “Farfel!”

A faint yip sounded from inside the barn.
 

“She’s still inside!” Olivia turned, taking a step toward the barn but Norman’s hand fell on her shoulder before she could continue.

“No, it’s too dangerous,” he said.

She struggled to get away from his grasp. “I have to get my baby!”

“I’ll go.” Norman pushed Olivia to the side and ran toward the barn.

“Norman—wait!” Lexy yelled after him.
 

But it was too late. Her heart crowded her throat as she watched him disappear into the barn, just as the police and fire trucked pulled onto the lawn beside them.

Jack leapt out of his car rushing to Lexy. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. But Norman ran back there!” Lexy pointed to the barn now almost fully engulfed in flames.

“Someone is in there?” One of the firemen looked up from his task of unrolling the hose.

Lexy nodded.

His mouth twisted into a grim line. “I don’t know if there’s much of a chance, but we’ll send someone in.”

Beside her, Olivia wrung her hands and whimpered. Nans, Ruth, Ida and Helen fended off the ministrations of the EMT’s, craning their necks, looking toward the barn for any sight of Norman.

“Look! Over there!” Ruth pointed to the furthest edge of the barn. The landscape dipped downhill, exposing the cellar. A figure covered in soot wriggled out from the window.

Lexy’s heart swelled when she recognized the figure. “It’s Norman and he’s got Farfel!”

Olivia broke into a sprint, running toward them and grabbing Farfel from Norman, then showering the dog with kisses. Nans, Ruth, Ida and Helen surrounded Norman, patting him on the back. Lexy could see a blush creeping onto his soot-streaked cheeks.

“What happened?” Jack asked.

With Norman running back into the fire, Lexy had forgotten all about Cora. She whirled around to answer Jack. “Cora’s getting away! You have to hurry!” she said with breathless urgency.

“Whoa,” Jack put his hands on Lexy’s shoulders. “Slow down. Take a deep breath and tell me what you are talking about.”

Lexy took a deep breath and told him how Cora was the granddaughter of the farmer who owned the land before Regis’ company bought it and how she’d locked them in the silo and set it on fire.
 

“She’s the one who killed Winston and Regis out of revenge for the way they practically stole the land from her grandfather,” she finished.
 

“Do you know her last name?”

Lexy nodded. “Silversteen.”

“Don’t move.” Jack brushed his lips across her forehead, then ran back to the police car.

The yard was a hive of activity. Two ambulances were parked and EMT’s were looking over Nans and the other ladies. Firefighters rushed around, aiming hoses gushing loudly with water at the barn fire.

Lexy walked over to Nans, Ruth, Ida, Helen, Norman and Olivia who were in a cluster ten feet away. Surely Jack didn’t mean she couldn’t walk ten feet?

“Are you okay?” she asked Norman, who was being tended to by an EMT.

“Yep,” he grinned. That little dog showed me a trapdoor in the main barn and we got out through the basement. He reached out to pet Farfel’s singed fur.

Sprinkles barked and Lexy bent down to pet her, then turned to Nans. “How did you guys know we were in there?”

Nans smiled down at Sprinkles. “Actually, it was Sprinkles that told us.”

“Huh?”

“We were driving down the road and saw her running around loose,” Nans said. “We knew you’d never let her loose so we called Jack, then came to investigate.”

“Well, thanks. And thanks to you, too, Sprinkles.” Lexy kissed the top of the dog’s head then stood and hugged Nans.
 

“You saved our lives.” Lexy turned to face Ruth, Ida and Helen. “All of you.”

“Gosh, it was nothing, Lexy,” Ruth stammered.

“But, what
were
you doing driving down this road?” Lexy’s brows dipped as she studied the ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ looks on the ladies faces.
 

What had they been up to?

She never got her answer because just then Jack joined them, his phone up to his ear. “They’re putting out an A.P.B. for Cora. Are you sure no one else was inside?”

Lexy nodded. “It was just us three in the silo and then Nans and the ladies came to our rescue. Everyone is out.”

“Call Mike and tell him not to come,” Jack barked into the phone. “Thankfully we won’t need a medical examiner here today.”

“You can say that again,” Nans said.

“Yes. Thank goodness everyone survived,” Ruth echoed.

“Oh, that, too. But that’s not exactly what I meant.” Nans shot them a sheepish look. “I was glad he wasn’t coming because I haven’t had a chance to bake him that apple pie yet.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

“Look at this—a page one article with my byline and everything!” Norman held up the front page of the Brook Ridge Tribune, his face alive with excitement.

It was the day after the fire and they’d gathered in the front room of Lexy’s bakery—Norman, Lexy, Jack, Anna, Nans and the three ladies. Even Olivia, Larry and Evelyn had joined them. Lexy had put out a tray of pastries and the aromatic smell of rich coffee filled the room.