Scones, Skulls & Scams (15 page)
Read Scones, Skulls & Scams Online
Authors: Leighann Dobbs
Tags: #Fiction, #Mystery & Detective, #Cozy, #Women Sleuths, #General, #Mystery: Cozy - Bakery - Amateur Sleuths
Lexy held the gun out to Davies, who produced a plastic bag from her pocket, holding it open for Lexy to put the gun inside.
“We heard something going on out here and came to Lexy’s rescue,” Nans said. “I distracted Victor while Helen went around from the back and tripped him up.”
Helen and Nans giggled at Nans’ literal explanation.
“Thanks for coming to my rescue,” Lexy said to the two older women, then frowned at Nans. “Since when did you start carrying a gun?”
“I didn’t” Nans looked at her purse. “That whole gun in the purse thing was just a bluff.”
Chapter Twenty One
“See, I
knew
you’d win first prize.” Jack pecked a kiss on Lexy’s nose as she fingered the silky blue ribbon she held in her hand, her chest swelling with pride.
They walked, hand in hand, through the crowd at the Brook Ridge Falls bicentennial celebration. The smell of cotton candy and popcorn spiced the crisp fall air. Lexy pinned the ribbon to her lapel, then pulled her jean jacket tight to ward off the chill.
“Luckily, that bad review from Edgar Royce in the
Sentinel
didn’t put any of the judges off,” Lexy said.
“That pompous ass? No one pays attention to his reviews anyway.” Jack scoffed. “It probably helped you win.”
“Do you see Nans and the girls?” Lexy squinted into the crowd. “She said they’d meet us here.”
“Yoo-hoo! Lexy!”
Lexy turned to see Nans, Ruth, Helen, Ida and Ida’s fiancé, Norm, waving to them at the edge of the crowd. The four women looked like quadruplets with their matching tan trench coats, giant patent leather purses and sensible shoes. She tugged Jack toward them.
“There you guys are. We were looking for you,” Lexy said.
“Oh, we’ve been here for a while,” Ruth answered.
“We’ve already picked up some of Myra Biddeford’s prize-winning jam,” Helen said pulling a strawberry jam-filled glass jar with a red and white checkered ribbon around it from her purse.
“And seen Miles O’Brien’s fancy hens and roosters,” Ida said, then leaned toward Lexy and whispered in her ear. “I think Helen’s kind of sweet on Miles.”
“And now we’re ready to head to the beer tent,” Helen added.
“Perfect. John and Cassie are supposed to meet us there,” Jack said.
“I’ve got the map right here.” Nans held out a pamphlet that showed a map of the bicentennial fairgrounds. “Now if I could just figure out how to get there.”
“Where is it?” Lexy looked over Nans’ shoulder at the map.
“The beer tent is here.” Nans pointed to a spot on the map. “I just don’t know where
we
are.”
“I think we’re here.” Lexy leaned over and pointed, the ends of the blue ribbon fluttering on the map.
“Oh, where are my manners!” Nans exclaimed. “You won first prize with the scones?”
Lexy nodded, blushing slightly.
“Congratulations,” everyone chorused as Nans squeezed Lexy into a hug.
“Thanks,” Lexy said. “I’m just glad I was around to actually bake them. That was a close call in the sewer.”
“Well, thankfully that Caraleigh person won’t be bothering you or taking business from your bakery anymore,” Nans answered.
“So, what exactly
did
happen last night?” Ruth’s brow creased as she looked at Jack. “I mean how did Caraleigh and Victor find us in the sewer?”
“From the statements we got, it seems Caraleigh and her brother didn’t know you had gone down to the sewer. She said she saw you leave through the front door,” Jack said.
“That’s right,” Ruth replied. “We went to Victor’s, but then we went back to Lexy’s after we got the key to open the door.”
“I saw her watching us,” Lexy said. “She must have seen us leave and didn’t realize we came back.”
“Apparently, Victor was watching too,” Jack continued. “Because he saw Caraleigh and Harvey break into
The Cup and Cake
through the back. He already guessed they were after the money, so he simply followed them in. His plan was to capture all of you together, but Harvey surprised him in the basement and Victor had to knock him out.”
“So, Victor is going to jail?” Nans asked.
“Yep. Not only for what he did in the sewer, but also for his part in the 1948 robbery. He’s just lucky he didn’t kill Harvey or he’d be getting a much stiffer sentence.”
“Justice has been served,” Ida said. “But I’m a little peeved there was no reward for finding the stolen money.”
“Sorry about that.” Jack spread his hands. “That’s up to the bank, not us.”
“One thing still bothers me,” Ruth said.
“What’s that?”
“The ring Lexy found in
The Cup and Cake
after the first break in … how did Victor steal that from Caraleigh?”
Jack laughed. “Victor was a pickpocket back in the day, so he had a whole bag full of tricks. Apparently, he had some way of slipping the ring off a person’s finger without them noticing. He said he did it when he bought a muffin from her shop and they were exchanging the money.”
“That confirms what he told us in the tunnel,” Helen said.
“And Caraleigh and Harvey … are
they
going to jail?” Lexy asked.
Jack’s face hardened. “Unfortunately, we don’t have much to charge them with. Victor interrupted their plan to take the money and leave you guys in the sewer, so all we have is some minor charges. They’ll probably get off with parole because, the truth is, they never actually did anything wrong other than break into the bakery.”
“So, Victor did them a big favor,” Nans said.
Lexy made a face. “That hardly seems fair. Their whole bakery was a scam and they did a lot of bad things, not to mention they were going to steal all the money and leave us for dead!”
“I know.” Nans rubbed Lexy’s back soothingly. “Let’s just be glad they’ll be leaving town and we’ve seen the last of them.”
“Oh, I don’t know if you’ve seen the last of them,” a voice behind Nans said. Lexy turned to see Watson Davies decked out in a knee-length black leather jacket over faded denim jeans and black mid-calf boots. She had something bulky inside her jacket, but Lexy didn’t have time to speculate, she was more concerned about why she said they hadn’t seen the last of the Brewster’s.
“Why not?” Lexy wrinkled her face at Davies.
“I just came from the station and Caraleigh is pressing charges against the five of you for kidnapping and assault,” Davies said.
Nans, Ruth, Ida, Helen, and Lexy exchanged open-mouthed looks.
“Are you serious?” Lexy asked.
Davies half shrugged. “Yep.”
“Well, I never,” Helen said.
“That sure does take the cake,” Nans added. “No pun intended.”
“Surely, they won’t win?’ Lexy asked. “Will they?”
Jack shook his head. “Of course not. They’re just mad because their plans got ruined and they’re trying to get revenge.”
Ruth snorted. “Yeah. By now they figured they’d be sitting on top of a fortune like a couple of fat cats.”
“Speaking of cats,” Lexy said. “I wonder what’s going to happen to Victor’s cat. I saw him out by the dumpster this morning when I went in to bake the scones, but he wasn’t there when I left.”
“Oh, I think he’ll be fine,” Davies said as she opened her jacket to reveal she had been holding the orange tiger cat the whole time.
“Davies, you really do have a heart!” Nans said.
Davies shrugged. “He was there by the dumpster crying when I went over to remove the crime scene tape and I figured I could use him at my place to chase down the mice.”
“Well, it’s good to see someone is getting something out of this whole mess,” Jack said, then turned to Nans and the ladies. “I hate to say I told you so, but I think you all can agree if you’d listened to me when I said you shouldn’t go in the sewers you’d have been better off.”
“Well, I don’t know about that,” Ida said indignantly. “I don’t think the real killer of Midas Mulcahey and the woman that was killed with him would have been uncovered, or the money from the bank robbery found.”
“Yeah,” Nans said, then withered a bit under Jack’s piercing look. “But you were right about it being dangerous.”
Nans looked back down at the map and then pointed to the left. “I think the beer tent is that way.”
“So you’re going to listen to me from now on, right Mona?” Jack asked.
“What?” Nans turned to look at Jack. “Oh, we’ll listen. We promise to never go in the sewers again. Don’t we, girls?”
“Of course,” Ruth said.
“Sure thing,” Ida added.
“You bet,” Helen agreed.
Jack rolled his eyes, then draped his arm over Lexy’s shoulders and turned in the direction Nans had pointed to earlier. “Come on then, ladies. Let’s get to the beer tent. The least you can all do is to buy me a beer.”
The end.
***
Want to read about more of Lexy’s and Nans’ adventures? Get the rest of the Lexy Baker series for your Kindle:
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A Note From The Author
Thanks so much for reading my cozy mystery “
Scones, Skulls & Scams
”. I hope you liked reading it as much as I loved writing it. If you did, and feel inclined to leave a review over at Amazon, I really would appreciate it.
This is book eight of the Lexy Baker series, you can find the rest of the books on my website, or over at Amazon if you want to read more of Lexy’s and Nans’s adventures.
Also, if you like cozy mysteries, you might like my book “
Dead Wrong
” which is book one in the Blackmoore Sisters series. Set in the seaside town of Noquitt Maine, the Blackmoore sisters will take you on a journey of secrets, romance and maybe even a little magic. I have an excerpt from it at the end of this book.
This book has been through many edits with several people and even some software programs, but since nothing is infallible (even the software programs) you might catch a spelling error or mistake and, if you do, I sure would appreciate it if you let me know - you can contact me at
Oh, and I love to connect with my readers so please do visit me on facebook at
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About The Author
Leighann Dobbs discovered her passion for writing after a twenty year career as a software engineer. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband Bruce, their trusty Chihuahua mix Mojo and beautiful rescue cat, Kitty. When she’s not reading, gardening or selling antiques, she likes to write romance and cozy mystery novels and novelettes which are perfect for the busy person on the go.
Find out about her latest books and how to get discounts on them by signing up at:
Connect with Leighann on Facebook and Twitter
http://twitter.com/leighanndobbs
***
More Books By Leighann Dobbs
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