Murder, Money & Marzipan (2 page)

“I can’t say I’m sorry she’s dead,” Lexy admitted. “But I don’t like the way some of the evidence points at me.”

“Well, at least now we might have a better chance of winning the contest,” Cassie pointed out.

Lexy glanced over at the next booth. Aurea was huddled in the corner whispering with Grace Harvey, one of the alternate judges. Lexy felt her stomach drop as she realized someone would have to replace Saunders. If that someone was Grace Harvey, things might be even worse for her.

There wasn’t much she could do about it at the moment, so she turned her attention to more pressing matters.
 

“The filming is canceled for today, but I think we should still work on the cakes so they will be perfect for judging tomorrow.”
 

Cassie nodded her agreement, then went straight to the fridge at the back of the makeshift kitchen and pulled out several cake tiers. The next part of the contest would judge them on their cake-decorating skills as well as on the complexity and taste of the cakes.
 

Lexy had planned to “wow” the judges with a traditional white three-tier cake decorated to the nines with a quilted-texture fondant covered in white frosting roses and silver leaves and balls. The cake itself was vanilla and she was adding in raspberry liqueur filling to give it some extra punch.

The grooms cake was a funky contemporary design with geometric tiers offset and covered in bright, colors and decorations. The frosting was all smooth fondant cut out into interesting shapes. Chocolate fudge cake with toffee caramel filling would please the palates while the decoration of the cake would please the judges eyes. Or at least that’s what Lexy hoped.

The mornings events, however, had somewhat dampened her enthusiasm for cake decorating.
Would she even be around to present the cakes or would she be sitting in jail…or worse: disqualified from the competition?

Lexy looked around the stadium. Each row was sectioned off with fabric in the back so she couldn’t see the entire room. From her kitchen she could see the other kitchens in the same row as well as the ones across from her. Glancing around, she noticed most of the bakers were focusing on getting their cakes made, but some were looking over at her suspiciously.
Did they all think she had done it?

Lexy went over to the fridge and pulled out a bowl of golden caramel that had been setting up in preparation for its role in the grooms cake. She grabbed some toffee from her supply rack and started crushing it with a rolling pin, adding it in small amounts to the caramel.

“We need to do something to help catch the killer soon so I can put my energies into the contest and not have to worry about when Detective Stone is going to appear with a pair of handcuffs in my size.”
 

Cassie nodded. “We’re both up to our eyeballs here with work, but maybe tonight we can set aside some time to talk to some of the other bakers and see if we can find anything out.”

Lexy popped a piece of toffee into her mouth, rolling it around on her tongue. She moved it from side to side savoring the buttery taste while she brushed the rest of the toffee into the bowl and covered it with plastic wrap.

“Yeah, it’s too bad we are so limited on time…”
 
Lexy’s head jerked up. “Wait a minute,
we
don’t have a lot of time, but I know someone who does and she’s the perfect person to help us find the killer.”

Cassie arched her brows. “You don’t mean…”

“Yes, I do.” Lexy whipped off her apron and threw it on the shelf. “You stay here and mind the fort, I think I know just where to find her.”

###

Lexy stood in the wide entrance to the casino. The clamor of bells and blinking lights caused a momentary disorientation. She scanned the rows of slot machines looking for her grandmother's familiar bluish-gray head.
 

She spotted her on the other side of the casino. Mona Baker, or Nans, as Lexy had called her since childhood, sat at her favorite “Wheel of Fortune” slot machine happily pressing buttons. Lexi smiled at the flushed look of excitement on the woman's face.
 

When Lexi had made the reservations for her Las Vegas trip to compete in
Bakery Battles
, she had invited Nans along, knowing how much the older woman loved playing the slots. She figured since she had rented two rooms for her and Cassie anyway, it would be an inexpensive way for Nans to have a vacation. Little did she know she would have to avail herself of the older woman's detective skills to help solve a murder.

Lexy aimed for Nans, navigating the sea of gamblers. She passed a little bar inside the casino. Someone inside the bar caught her eye. She slowed down for a better look.
 

Was that…?
 

It was!
 
Amanda Scott-Saunders’s husband sat at the corner of the bar. Normally, the man was meticulously groomed; Lexy felt a pang of sympathy as she noticed his rumpled shirt, tired eyes and stubbled chin. Sympathy soon turned to suspicion, however, when she saw that one hand held a tall drink and the other was draped around the back of a chair that held a striking blonde. Her eyes narrowed as she watched them talking and laughing.
 

Hours after his wife was found murdered?
 
She mentally added Peter Saunders to her suspect list, then continued to navigate her way over to the bank of blinking slot machines where Nans was seated.

“Are you winning?” Lexy asked as she approached the older woman.

Nans swiveled her head in Lexy’s direction only long enough to indicate she heard her, then returned to watching the reels spin.

“Not so much, about even,” Nans said holding her hand out flat and tilting it back and forth.

“Did you hear?” Lexy asked.

“Hear what?” This time Nans didn’t even turn her head.

“There was a murder this morning in Bakery Battles Stadium.”

That
got her attention. Nans turned to face Lexy, the slot machine all but forgotten. “Really?”

Lexy told her about how she had discovered the body, the police inquisition and the discovery of her apron as the murder weapon.

“That nasty woman.” Nans looked like she’d eaten a sour lemon. “There’s probably a lot of people who would have wanted to kill
 
her.”

“Only every baker in the competition. I also noticed her husband is in the bar over there,” Lexy tilted her head in the direction of the bar, “living it up with some blonde.”

Nans’ eyes widened. She craned her neck to get a view of the bar.

“And I noticed Aurea Pearce is very friendly with Grace Harvey. If Grace replaces Amanda it could throw the competition in Aurea’s favor.”
 

“Do you think she would stoop to murder just to win the competition? I know there is a lot of money at stake, but murder?”

Lexy worried her bottom lip with her teeth.
Did she think Aurea would stoop to murder?
 

“
It does seem a bit extreme, but no harm in checking her out, right?” Lexy shrugged. “Nans, I was hoping you and the ladies would help look into some of the suspects. Right now all the evidence points to me and I’m so busy with the competition…”

“Of course, dear.”
 
She slid off her seat, grabbing her gigantic purse. “I’ll go back to the room and call Ida.
 

Lexy felt relief wash over her. Earlier in the year she had discovered that her grandmother and her four friends had an odd hobby - they solved murders. In fact, they had been instrumental in finding the killer of Lexy’s ex-boyfriend and in helping to clear her name from the suspect list. Their investigative skills had also come in handy when Lexy had stumbled across the dead body of a client several months earlier. Lexy felt a lot better knowing they were going to be helping to find Amanda’s real killer and get the police off her back.

“Thanks, Nans. I knew I could count on you.” Lexy noticed the older woman squinting at something just over her shoulder.

“Who is that?” Nans asked.

Lexy turned. She spotted the object of Nans’ question about 20 feet away, making a beeline toward her. Detective Nik Stone.

###

Lexy’s stomach rolled over as she watched the tall red-head barreling toward her, a trail of detectives in her wake.

“Your assistant told us we could find you here.”
 

Lexy raised an eyebrow, afraid to speak. She noticed Nik looking at Nans.
She wouldn’t arrest a girl in front of her grandmother, would she?

“This is my grandmother, Mona Baker - Nans, this is Detective Nik Stone.”

Lexy was surprised to see the stoic detective’s face soften as she reached her hand out to Nans.
 

“Call me Nikki, Ms Baker.”

Nik turned back to Lexy. “I need to ask you some questions. We’ve found out a few things that make you a person of interest in this case.”

Lexy raised her eyebrows. “What?” she squeaked out.

“We reviewed the videos from yesterday. It seems Judge Saunders gave you quite a smack on your marzipan.”

Lexy shrugged. “I already told you that this morning.”

Nik flipped open her notebook thumbing through a few pages. “Yes, but what you didn’t tell us is that afterward, you said the competition would be ‘
better if Saunders wasn’t around’
.” Nik wiggled her fingers in the air to punctuate the last five words.

Lexy swallowed. “That’s just the sort of thing you say without really meaning anything. I was steaming about the bad judgment. I wouldn’t actually kill her over it!”
 

“Your competitor Aurea Pearce seems to think you might.”

Lexy felt her cheeks grow red with anger.
It would be just like Aurea to say that
. She took a deep breath. “Detective, Aurea Pearce is my biggest competition. She’ll say pretty much anything to cast suspicion on me.”

Nik nodded. “There is one more thing. We’ve done a little checking, and it seems this isn’t the first time you’ve been suspected of murder.”

“I already told you about my client…”

“Not that murder, your ex-boyfriend.”

“But I was cleared. I was even the one who caught the real killer - with Nans’ help.” Lexy turned to her grandmother who nodded in agreement.

Nik raised an eyebrow at Nans. “Be that as it may, I have a call in to Detective Perillo back in Brooke Ridge Falls regarding you, so if you are hiding anything, you better come clean now. Jack and I are old friends.”

Old friends?
 
Lexy didn’t like the predatory gleam in Nik Stone’s eye when she said Jack’s name. Nor did she like the fact that Jack hadn’t mentioned he knew a gorgeous female detective out here. Then again, he probably wasn’t expecting her to get involved in a murder case.
 

“I’m sure you’ll find I’m not hiding anything.” Lexy bristled.
 

“Well, then, I trust you won’t leave the hotel. We may have more questions for you once we review the surveillance tapes and electronic room key records.” She nodded at Nans. “A pleasure to meet you ma’am.”

Nik turned in a billow of copper hair and strode off on her long legs, the detectives trailing behind her.

Lexy let out a breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding. Jack was going to be mad when he found out she had gotten herself involved in another murder. He wasn’t too happy when she’d investigated the last one and had made her promise she wouldn’t get involved in any more.

“Well, I can see why you are in such a hurry to find the killer.” Nans interrupted her thoughts.

“Exactly. Judge Saunders was nasty to everyone in the competition. That means we have a lot of suspects to weed through. I need to get busy finding out which one of them was
not
in their room at 4 am.”

“I’ll go back to the room and get the girls working on checking out Judge Saunders and Aurea Pearce. We can compare notes when you get up there.”

“Thanks.”
 
Lexy bent over, giving Nans a quick hug before the women headed off in different directions.

Lexy exited the casino making a mental “to-do” list. She had to put some finishing touches on the wedding cakes for tomorrow’s judging, then she wanted to talk to as many of the other contestants as she could to see if they had noticed anything that could help her find the murderer.

Most importantly, she needed to figure out how to keep Jack from finding out she was investigating another murder. She had a gut feeling that keeping their relationship intact depended on preventing Detectives Perillo and Stone from talking to each other. Not only to keep Jack from finding out about her involvement in the case but also to keep the two of them from rekindling any old
friendship
they may have had.

Chapter Four

“It must have been scary finding her body.” Corinne stared at Lexy wide-eyed.

“It gets your adrenalin going, that’s for sure.” Lexy looked around the other baker’s booth which had wedding cake decorations neatly laid out. “Did you hear if they are going to be starting up the filming again tomorrow?”

Corinne nodded. “The show must go on.”

Lexy studied the other woman. A perky girl in her mid-twenties, she was a good baker and a nice person. Lexy knew how much Corinne wanted to win
Bakery Battles
- her husband had left her with three kids and a mountain of debt. She desperately needed the money.

For a fleeting second, Lexy wondered if the death of Judge Saunders would help Corinne’s chances. If Corinne thought it would, could she have murdered her?

Lexy shook off her suspicions. Was she getting so paranoid that she saw potential killers everywhere?

“Did you notice anything suspicious about Sanders or see anything that morning?”

Corinne shook her head. “I didn’t get down here until six, and I heard she was killed much earlier. I was in my room all night with Kara.”

Most of the contestants had roommates - other bakers they had teamed up with to share expenses. This made things a little easier for Lexy and her investigation since each baker had someone who could vouch for their whereabouts. Of course, that assumed they were all telling the truth.