Mummified Meringues (20 page)

I guess I might as well fill these out
, Lexy thought. She still had to take care of business, even if Nans was about to be arrested for murder.
 

While filing out the forms, her thoughts turned to Violet. Lexy wondered what else the woman had done to secure a first place prize. And why had she been meeting with Nans? Did it have something to do with Earl Schute? Lexy remembered that Violet lived in the neighborhood back then and Sam had said she’d asked about Earl at the pub. Maybe it would be a good idea to pay a visit to Violet. At the very least, Lexy could scare up more information on the contest and how Violet intended to win it.

Glancing at her watch, she saw she had just enough time before she had to get to Davies’ meeting, so she started her car and pointed it toward Chapel Hill.

***

Lexy didn’t know what she was expecting Violet’s house to look like. She had pictured something dark and gloomy—a dilapidated mansion with turrets and spikes that loomed above her, broken shutters flapping in the breeze. But the house at thirty-three Chapel Hill Drive was exactly the opposite. A neatly trimmed, brick Cape Cod with a white picket fence and lush, colorful gardens. Lexy might not have believed it was Violet’s house if it weren’t for the red Mustang in the driveway.

She made her way slowly up the brick path to the side porch, her heartbeat picking up speed as she got closer to the door. The backyard was filled with several types of purple flowers. The welcoming porch was decorated with rustic birdhouses and colorful, Chippy-paint tables. Two rockers sat empty, but Lexy could tell they were often used. The house exuded charm in stark contrast to its owner.
 

Lexy squared her shoulders, stepped up to the door and knocked.

There was movement behind the starched, white eyelet curtains in the window and Violet’s face peered out, then the door whipped open. Violet stood in the doorway, scowling at her.

“What are
you
doing here?”
 

Lexy’s gaze drifted over Violet’s head into the gleaming blue and white kitchen. Mixing bowls, measuring cups and various baking ingredients sat out on the counter, but otherwise, the kitchen was neat as a pin. The pungent smell of lemon tickled Lexy’s nose.

“Hi, Violet” Lexy tried to smile at the formidable woman. “I thought maybe we could be friends. You know, talk about the dessert contest and maybe you could tell me how you know my grandmother.”

Lexy saw something flash in Violets eye for a second. “What makes you think I know your grandmother?”

“Well, you lived in that neighborhood, right? The one Earl Schute was killed in.” Lexy tried to shake the woman up, but Violet didn’t flinch. She was staunch as a redwood tree.
 

“Yep. So? You think just because I lived near your grandma that we’re gonna be friends?”

“Well, I was kind of hoping that—”

Slam!

Lexy stood, staring open-mouthed at the door that Violet had just slammed in her face.
 

“Hey, you can’t just slam the door on me,” Lexy yelled, bending over to peer through the crack in the curtains. Inside, Violet made an unlady-like gesture and jerked the curtains closed.

Lexy raised her tightly balled fist to knock again and then realized it wasn’t worth the trouble. She could hear the phone ringing inside as she turned away.
 

I’ll show her. I’ll win that damn contest if it’s the last thing I do!

As Lexy stormed toward the steps, a breeze from the west wisped across her heated cheeks bringing a delicious floral scent with it.

Lexy stopped. Something niggled at her memory. Where did she know that scent from?

Her heart skipped a beat. The scent was lavender—the same scent that had been in that secret room with Earl.

She jerked her head toward the garden to get a better look at the plants. The medium-sized ones she recognized as wolfsbane, the smaller ones on the edge were pansies, but those tall ones, she wasn’t familiar with. They must be lavender.
 

Violet grew her own lavender—that had to be one heck of a coincidence.

She couldn’t wait to tell Davies, but as she started down the steps, her gaze fell on one of the tables next to the rocker. She hadn’t noticed before, but at this angle, she could see the drawer was open … and something was inside. She tiptoed over and slowly slid the drawer out to get a better look.

Her heart jerked in her chest and she sucked in a ragged breath when she saw what it was.
 

A lavender sachet.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Lexy ran for her car and dove for the cellphone. She tried Davies first. No answer. Then she tried Nans. No answer. Then she tried Ida, Ruth, Helen and Jack—none of them answered.

Where was everyone?

She drove away from Violet’s, bursting at the seams to tell
someone
about the lavender sachets. Violet had lived in the neighborhood when Earl was murdered. Violet had been asking about Earl in the pub.
 

Could Violet be the killer?

But, if she was, then why did Nans have the red flip-flop and why did the two of them have a secret meeting?

The thought that Nans and Violet could have been in on it together flitted through Lexy’s mind, but she didn’t want to believe it. She wondered if she should refrain from telling Davies about the sachets. No, if Nans was involved it was innocently. Maybe Violet had something on Nans and was forcing her to keep the secret.
 

Bam!

Lexy had been so deep in thought that she hadn’t seen the pothole in the road. She cringed at the
clunk-clunk-clunk
sound that followed.
 

It sounded like she had a flat tire.

Lexy stopped and got out and, sure enough, it was flat.

“Damn it! Why now?” Lexy kicked the tire and then reached in the window for her cell phone to call roadside assistance. She leaned against the car to wait in frustration while she wore out her cellphone, trying to get a hold of anyone to tell them about the sachets.

To add insult to injury, just as they were putting the spare tire on, Violet’s red Mustang roared by. Lexy thought she saw Violet sneering at her out the window, but she couldn’t be sure.

Finally, the tire was changed and Lexy sped off to the meeting with the spare on—she didn’t have time to stop at the gas station. She was late for the meeting!

Lexy ran into the station and burst into the room Davies had secretly procured for the meeting.

A sea of faces looked up at her from the table. Lexy was shocked to see one of those faces belonged to Violet Switzer.

Lexy narrowed her eyes at Davies and pointed at Violet. “What’s she doing here?”

“Violet lived on the street and had contact with Earl, so I asked her to come,” Davies answered. “But everyone here claims they don’t know a thing about Earl and they keep insisting it was some stranger. I was just about to impress upon them how serious this is and how the evidence is quickly stacking up against Nans.”

Lexy’s stomach twisted at the sight of Nans’ pale face. She just
knew
that Nans did not kill Earl Schute.
 

“It wasn’t Nans. It was Violet—she has lavender sachets!” Lexy blurted out.

Violet’s eyes grew wide.
 

Nans stood up. “Now, see here, that doesn’t mean a thing.”

Why was Nans sticking up for Violet?
Lexy wondered. Judging by the perplexed look in Violet’s eyes as she looked up at Nans, she was wondering the same thing.

Lexy addressed Nans. “No, but at least it’s a clue that points to someone besides you. I know you didn’t kill anyone.”

“Well, I don’t think any of us here is a cold-blooded killer,” Nans said evasively.

Davies tried to rein the meeting in. “Hold it. Let’s just stick to the program. I need you all to tell me what happened that summer or I’m afraid the Feds are going to lock Mona up.”

“And Violet,” Lexy added hopefully.

Paddy Sullivan slammed his hand on the table and pushed himself up. “Now, wait just a minute. I’m not letting Mona or Violet go to jail for something I did. This pretense has gone on long enough and it’s time to put a stop to it. I’m the one that did it.
I
killed Earl Schute.”

Lexy’s mouth fell open and she noticed Nans’ jaw tighten.
 

Violets eyes softened as she regarded Paddy. “Now, Paddy, you don’t have to—”

“Are you confessing?” Davies cut in. “Do you realize this means you’ll go to jail? You had better be sure you really did this and aren’t just covering for someone.”

Paddy glanced down at Mary. She nodded up at him, her eyes shiny with tears.

 
“No. I did it,” he said. “You see, he came along the street drunk as usual and started trying to make time with Mary, and I’m afraid I let my temper get away from me and whacked him with a baseball bat in the head.”

Mary put her hand over Paddy’s and looked up at him adoringly. “My hero.”

“Wait a minute!” Floyd Nichols shouted. “You didn’t kill him, I did and I’m not about to let you take the blame for it!”

Everyone’s heads whipped around to stare at Nichols on the other end of the table.
 

“Now, Floyd, you don’t need to try to cover for me,” Paddy said.

Nichols gave Paddy a confused look. “I’m not covering for you. I really did kill him. He came stumbling over to my yard and nearly took down my fence. I was fed up, so I punched him right in the face and he fell down like a baby. It didn’t take much, really. I was surprised because he kind of fell right into it. I think he was drunk.”

“You killed him with a punch?” Davies asked incredulously.

Floyd shrugged. “I guess so. He went down and then I checked him and he wasn’t breathing.”

Ron Witt shot up from his seat, looking confused. “No. No. No. It wasn’t either of you. I killed Earl! I clubbed him and he drowned in the culvert!”

“Wait a minute!” Davies stood up. “You can’t all have killed him. Are you guys covering for each other?”

Paddy, Floyd and Ron looked at each other in confusion.

“No. I swear,” Paddy said.

“Nope, I did it. He fell like a log right in the backyard next to the McDonalds,” Floyd added.

“He was face down in the water,” Ron said. “I’m sure I killed him.”

Davies slid her eyes over to Nans and Nans shrugged.
 

“I didn’t see any of it,” Nans admitted.

Davies narrowed her eyes. “But you
did
see Earl that night?”

“Not alive.”
 

“Okay, okay. Let’s back up a minute, here.” Jack, who had been listening quietly, piped up from the end of the table. “It seems you all admit to seeing Earl that night. Now, let’s go over the events and see if we can figure out what really happened.”

“Good idea,” Davies said. “Paddy, you go first.”

Paddy pressed his lips together. “Well, some details are fuzzy, but near as I can recall, Mary and I were out in the backyard looking at the stars when we saw Earl walking through the yards towards us.”

“What time was that?” Jack asked.

Paddy looked at Mary and they both shrugged. “I don’t know—long after supper time. Like I said, it was dark.”

“I remember it was after Wheel of Fortune, so maybe ten o’clock?” Mary offered. “And Earl must have been at the bar because he was acting all cocky and belligerent.”

“Anyway,” Paddy continued. “He came swaggering up and started hitting on Mary, right in front of me! I tried to get him to leave but he wouldn’t and when he tried to get physical with Mary … well, I just got mad and picked up the nearest thing and clobbered him.”

“And that was a baseball bat?” Davies asked.

“Yep.”

“You wouldn’t happen to still have it, would you?”

Paddy’s expression turned sheepish. “No, I got rid of it darn quick.”

“Okay,” Jack continued. “So you hit him with a bat and then you dragged him to the McDonalds’ basement?”

Paddy glanced at Nans, who nodded.

“No … well, not right away.” Paddy tilted his head toward Nans. “I panicked and called Mona. She always knows what to do.”

Everyone turned to Nans, who simply shrugged.
 

Jacks left brow ticked up. “And what did
you
do, Mona?”

“Well, the way I see it, Paddy did everyone a favor and I just wanted to help him out. No one liked Earl and Paddy got rid of him for us. I knew Paddy was no murderer that needed to be prosecuted. So, I came up with a plan. I told him to get a trowel and some tools and meet me in the back yard. Then, I called Ron Witt, Floyd Nichols and the McDonalds.”
 

“So your neighbor killed someone and you called the other neighbors to help you cover it up?” Davies asked Nans.

Nans nodded. “Things were different back then. Neighbors stuck together. Plus, we all had big problems with Earl and we were a tight bunch back then. I knew they would help.”