Murder, Money & Marzipan (9 page)

“We can’t, but I think we need to give it due attention.”

Lexy sucked in an ice cube from her drink and crunched it. “That’s an idea…if only we could figure out more about what the notations in the book actually mean.”

Nans nodded. “By the way, I saw Aurea Pearce win big at the poker tables today.”

Lexy’s eyes went wide. “
That
explains why she was late getting her pies started.”
Hopefully she’ll keep gambling and make it easier for me to win the competition
.

Nans noisily slurped her tea, then wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Well, if that’s all, I must get back to the slots. I’m on a winning streak, you know.”

Lexy smiled. “Well, I wouldn’t want to keep you from that.”
 

As she watched Nans disappear into the casino, her thoughts turned to the murder. Something nagged at the back of her mind about the little black book.
Just what did those dates and numbers really mean?
 

Maybe now that the police would be looking into Corinne’s involvement, she should just let it go. If Corinne was the murderer, and the one who had threatened her, the police would take care of it. Her time would be better spent focusing on winning the last challenge in the competition, not running around trying to find a killer.

Except for one thing.
 

Lexy had a hard time believing that the perky mother of three would commit murder. It didn’t add up. Murdering Saunders did nothing to guarantee Corinne would win the contest and get the money. Unless there was more to it than Lexy realized.
 

Lexy drained her glass, then pushed away from the table. Tomorrow was the last challenge and contest finale for
Bakery Battles
. She needed to get a good night’s rest. She’d need all her wits about her in order to create extraordinary cupcakes that would win the challenge and catch the killer all before the end of the contest.
 

Chapter Twelve

“Well if it isn’t my old friend Jack Perillo. How are you doing?” Nik smiled into the phone.

“Good. Long time no see, huh?”

“Yep. Too long.” Nik thought fondly back to the days when she and Jack had worked together. They solved a lot of cases and had become close friends but time and geography had wedged theirs way in the middle, as they so often do, and the two detecties hadn’t talked in years.

“I hear you have a murder going on at the
Bakery Battles
contest there. Is that why you called?”

“Yes, one of our persons of interest is from your town. I think you probably know her because she’s been involved in murder cases there before.”

Nik heard a sharp intake of breath from the other side of the phone.

“Let me guess…is it Lexy Baker?”

“Uh-huh. How did you know?”

“Lexy seems to have a way of being around when murders happen.”

“Do you think she could be involved?”

Nik heard Jack laugh on the other end. “Lexy?
 
No, she wouldn’t hurt a fly. Do you have evidence?”

“Nothing concrete, but she was the one to find the body, and the victim was strangled with her apron. Plus, the victim was a judge for the contest Baker is in and, apparently, didn’t judge her favorably.”

“That’s all circumstantial. I can assure you Lexy didn’t do it. You don’t have any better leads?”

“We have a few, but we’re checking all our angles. How can you be so positive she didn’t do it?”

“Because I know Lexy personally.”

“So you vouch for her then?” Nik felt her eyes narrowing, wondering
how
well Jack knew Lexy.

“Yeah, she’s not your murderer.”

“OK, thanks,” Nik said, then added, “it was good to talk to you again.”

“Same here Nikki. Good luck with your case.”
 

She snapped the phone shut.

Jake looked at her expectantly. “He doesn’t think she could be the killer?”

“Nope. Says he knows her personally.”

Nik saw Jakes eyes narrow. “Well perhaps his judgment is clouded depending on how personally he knows her. Ms. Baker can be quite persuasive. I can see how she could fool a man into thinking she was innocent.”

Nik raised her eyebrows. “Really? Is that what she has done to
you
?”

Jake laughed. “Not me, I’m immune. But she did give us another lead to check out.”

“Who?”

“Another baker, Corinne Conners. According to Lexy, there was glitter near the area where she found her sabotaged cake and Corinne Conners’s cakes were loaded with glitter.”

“Interesting.” Nik tapped her lips with the end of her pencil. “Baker could just be telling you that to throw you off track…or to try to implicate the other girl and ruin her chances of winning. Aren’t they in the top three to win the grand prize in
Bakery Battles
?”

“Yes, they are. It could be a ruse, but there’s only one way to find out.”

“Agreed. See if you can have someone round her up and bring her in.”

“We’ve ruled out Peter Saunders as the killer - the tapes show Amanda leaving the room alone that morning, and the electronics verify the door to the room wasn’t opened again until after the body was found. He’s been screaming holy hell about us finding the killer, so I’d like to speed things up.”
 

Nik leaned back in her adjustable police-issue chair, the old springs squeaking mechanically. “There’s one clue we haven’t let out to the public. I’m wondering if we can use that to trap the killer.”

“The paper?” Jake asked, eyebrows raised.

“Yes. Judging by the way the piece of paper was clutched in Saunders’s hand, the killer must have ripped most of it from her after he killed her. The lab reports just came in and the paper is a very expensive and rare stock. We’re trying to trace the source of the paper to see if we can find out who the buyer is, but the lab has a huge backload of cases to work on, so that’s not going to happen any time soon.”

“Something incriminating must have been on that paper. So, you’re thinking if the killer thinks we know what it was, he or she will do something drastic.”

Nik nodded. “Now all we have to do is dangle the bait. Since you seem to have such a good rapport with Lexy Baker, and she seems to be in the middle of things, you’re the logical person to feed it to her.”

###

Lexy worked the bowl of lemon filling, whipping it by hand so as to create the perfect texture. Beside her she could see Cassie mixing together the ingredients for the cupcake batter. Both girls worked silently, at breakneck speed.
 

Lexy was surprised at how refreshed she felt. She had slept well, despite the stress of the murder investigation and the pressure to win the final bakers challenge.

“The lemon cream filling is ready. I’ll put it in the fridge until the cupcakes are cooled.”

“OK. What’s next on the list?” Cassie asked while pouring batter into the individual cupcake pans that had been lined with specialty paper Lexy had splurged on to give her cupcakes an elegant presentation.

Lexy looked down at the handwritten list they had devised the night before. It was a running checklist of the order in which they needed to make the ingredients for the cupcakes, which would be judged in that days challenge. It was crucial that everything go perfectly, since this was the last challenge in
Bakery Battles
.
 

The overall winner of the contest would be determined by adding up the scores from all the challenges. If they could score high on this one, Lexy stood an excellent chance of winning the entire contest and taking home the $100,000 grand prize.

“Next we need to make the batter for the chocolate-espresso cupcakes, then put together the frostings for both.”

“I’ll do the batter.”
 
Cassie grabbed the necessary ingredients from the pantry. “I see Aurea isn’t in her kitchen yet.”

Lexy glanced over at the next booth. “Good. The less work she puts into her cupcakes the better for us. Nans told me she saw her winning a big jackpot, so maybe she doesn’t care so much about the contest anymore.”

Cassie frowned. “I still feel like we need something more to make our cupcakes stand out…even if Aurea does a half-assed job, we still have Corinne to contend with.”
 

“Don’t worry. I have a surprise decoration that’s sure to win us high points in the aesthetics department.” Lexy felt a satisfied smile curl her lips.
 

Cassie looked at her with interest. “Spill it. What?”

Lexy put her finger up to her lips “Shhh…I don’t want anyone to find out or they might steal my idea.” She beckoned Cassie over to the refrigerator.

Looking over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching, she opened the large stainless steel door, then bent down to retrieve something from the bottom shelf. Using the door and her body to shield what was in her hand from the rest of the stadium, she pulled out a long, delicate sugar sculpture.

Lexy felt pride well in her chest as she looked at the fragile piece of edible art. It was 4 inches long and consisted of thin pulls of sugar that were swirled and twisted.
 

“Wow. When did you make that?” Cassie stared at the sculpture wide-eyed.

“Last night. I’ve been experimenting with sugar sculpture for a few months and I figure this would be a great time to put my skills to the test. I think if we top the cupcakes with these, that’s sure to gain us a few points.”

Cassie nodded. “You’ll get extra for creativity and skill level.”

“That’s what I’m hoping.” Lexy bent down, carefully putting the sculpture back in its place next to the others. “I want to keep them hidden in here. We’ll put them on at the very last minute, so no one else will know what we are up to.”

“That’s gonna be awesome.” Cassie held up her closed fist for a knuckle tap.

Walking back to the table, Lexy picked up the list. “OK, I’ll do the-”

Her cell phone made buzzing noises in her pocket, interrupting her.

Lexy dug it out and looked at the screen.
Damn, it’s Jack
. She realized she had forgotten to call him yesterday.

“It’s Jack…I’ll have to take it.” Feelings of guilt washed over her as she mustered up her most cheerful voice.

“Jack!
 
How are you?”

“Hi Lexy…good. Well, I’ve been better actually.”
 
Lexy’s heart sank as she recognized a serious tone in his voice.

“What’s the matter?”

“I just got off the phone with Nikki Stone. Do you want to tell me what’s really going on out there?”

###

Lexy’s stomach dropped.
What had Stone told him?

“It’s just what I told you before, Jack.”
 
She tried to make her voice light, but it came out in a nervous croak.

“Stone seems to think you are somehow involved in the murder. Are you and Nans doing your usual amateur investigating?”

“No…I mean, not really.”
 
Her half-baked answer was met with silence on the other end.

“Well we did look into a few things, but only because the police keep asking me questions,” she offered.

“Lexy, we’ve talked about this before. You need to stop meddling and stay out of the way of the police.”
 

Lexy’s back stiffened at his words.
Meddling?
 
She hated it when he referred to her investigative work as meddling. She and Nans had actually
 
been helpful in many of
his
investigations, providing clues that the police hadn’t yet discovered. She was about to remind him of that when his exasperated voice continued on.

“It’s just that I’m not out there to bail you out if you get into trouble. Remember, Nikki Stone and her team don’t know you like I do and there’s a murderer on the loose there. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Lexy felt a her heart flip-flop at the tender way he said the last sentence.

“I know, it’s just that the police don’t seem to be able to get people to talk to them and…well…I do kind of want to clear myself as a suspect.”

Jack sighed on the other end. “Do you need me to come out there?”

Lexy thought about it. It would be nice to have him by her side, but the contest would be over tonight, and tomorrow she’d be flying home. There was no time for him to come out now.

“No, I’ll be back tomorrow night anyway - hopefully this will all be over by then.”
 
Trying to turn the subject away from herself, she asked, “How is Sprinkles?”

“She’s great…keeps trying to go over into your yard though.”
 
Jack’s house was behind Lexy’s; their backyards abutted each other. Sprinkles was staying at his house while she was gone but apparently wanted to go back to her own yard.

“Aww…that’s cute. I hope she doesn’t think I’m at home and ignoring her.”

“Oh, don’t worry, she’s getting plenty spoiled at my place. Might not even want to go back to your place when you get back.”
 
Jack’s voice belied his fondness for the little dog.

“And you…how are you?” Lexy asked.

“Well, I’m not getting spoiled and I’m pretty sure I
am
going to want to go to your place when you get home,” Jack said teasingly.

Lexy laughed into the phone. “How is work going?”
 

“Good. I just wrapped up a case that Ida helped me on.”

Lexy remembered Ida saying she was working with Jack. “She must have loved that, what was the case about?”
 

Lexy wasn’t that interested in the case,\; she had too much going on, but she was glad the topic had moved away from
her
and the Bakery Battles murder.

“You know the textile plant on the corner of Main Sstreet?”

“Yes.” Lexy picture the old brick mill building in the center of town that was now used to manufacture all kinds of cloth and textiles.

“One of the accountants was found dead
 
- pushed down the old freight elevator shaft. The killer tried to make it look like an accident.”

Lexy felt a chill run up her spine, picturing a body at the bottom of the creepy old elevator shaft. “Uh-huh.”