Scones, Skulls & Scams (2 page)

“Oh sure,” the man replied. “In the main system anyway. It’s tall enough to stand in.”

“Really?” Nans’ sharp green eyes sparkled with interest and she moved toward the ladder the man was standing on. “Let's get down in there and look around.”

The man held out his hand. “Sorry. We called the police and they said not to touch a thing. You can’t go down there.”

Lexy wasn’t surprised to see Nans’ look of disappointment mirrored in Ruth, Ida and Helen’s eyes. The four ladies had an odd hobby—they were amateur sleuths. They’d helped solve several crimes and even worked closely with the police on a few cases. They’d been instrumental in helping Lexy clear herself when she was accused of poisoning her ex-boyfriend. They even had a name for themselves—
The Ladies Detective Club
.

Lexy knew they wouldn’t be able to help themselves from investigating the mysterious skull. And they’d want her to help. The thought caused a trill of excitement to run through her. To tell the truth, she was a bit curious herself and looking for some excitement after her lazy honeymoon with Jack.

A tapping sound pulled Lexy from her thoughts and she turned around to see Victor Nessbaum, the elderly owner of the antique store next to Lexy’s bakery, his cane tapping on the sidewalk as he shuffled toward her.

“What’s going on?” Victor asked looking from Lexy to Nans to the sewer worker.

“They found a skull in the sewer pipes,” Lexy said.

“Skull?” Victor’s bushy white eyebrows rose up a fraction of an inch and Lexy motioned toward the sewer worker who held the skull up, then turned it to face them for the first time, revealing the macabre looking thing had two golden teeth right in the front.

Lexy heard Victor gasp and she put a protective arm around him. Victor was in his mid-eighties—not that much older than Nans, but he seemed much frailer. She hoped seeing such a sight wasn’t too much of a shock for him.

“Come on, Mr. Nessbaum. Let’s get back to our stores.” Lexy gently turned the older man around and started back up the sidewalk.

“This darn sewer project is ruining business.” Victor gestured to the dug up patches of sidewalk with his cane.

“Tell me about it,” Lexy said.

“I’d like to go down to the town hall and give them a piece of my mind. In fact, I’m going to be looking into this very carefully.” Victor glanced back over his shoulder at the skull. “The last thing we need is some
investigation
holding up the works and dragging this construction out even longer.”

Lexy pressed her lips together. She hadn’t thought about that. Would the police shut down the sewer project and leave the sidewalk in shambles?
 

“Has the new bakery had an impact on your business?” Victor nudged his chin toward
The Brew and Bake.

“It’s hard to tell with the sewer construction going on.” Lexy’s stomach clenched as she looked back down the street. “Business has dropped off, but most people would find it hard to navigate the sidewalk, so I don’t really know if the lull is because people prefer to shop at the new bakery, or if it’s simply because they can’t
get
to my bakery.”

“Well, I hope things pick up for you.” Victor frowned at
The Brew and Bake,
his eyes taking on a faraway glassy look. “I can’t imagine people preferring her pastries to yours. I don’t think she’ll be around long. The girl must have no business sense what-so-ever. I mean, who in their right mind would open a bakery directly across the street from one that is already established and successful?”

Chapter Three

Nans and the others came back a few minutes later, their faces flush with excitement. They half-heartedly continued their taste test, but the conversation kept turning to various plans for investigating the mystery of the skull.

Once they’d compared all the baked goods, (Lexy’s won hands down,) and Helen had enough for her article, they wrapped up the few leftover pieces of pastry in napkins, shoved them into their over-sized purses and headed on their way.

“Do be sure and find out what Jack knows about the investigation tonight,” Nans demanded as she disappeared out the door.

Lexy sat in her empty bakery glaring out the window at
The Brew and Bake.
She could see the perky blonde, who she assumed to be the owner, bustling around inside. Should she go over and introduce herself?
 

Lexy was debating the pros and cons of introducing herself when police lights at the sewer construction caught her attention.
 

They sure took their sweet time
, she thought as she watched the door of the black sedan open.
 

Would it be Jack? No. It was Watson Davies, the perky new detective in Jack’s squad. Lexy wasn’t sure what to make of Davies. She acted like a ditz most of the time, but Lexy had a sneaking suspicion that was an act to catch people off-guard.
 

Lexy and Davies had gotten off on the wrong foot when Lexy had been caught in the midst of a double murder investigation involving her wedding gown. Everything had worked out in the end, but Lexy wasn’t friendly enough with Davies to rush down there and ask a lot of questions. She’d wait for tonight when she was at home with Jack.

At home with Jack.

The thought gave her goose bumps. They’d decided to keep her house, which had originally been Nans’, and put Jack’s on the market. Even though they’d already spent a lot of time at each other’s houses—conveniently located behind one another—the fact they were now going to live together forever made it all seem more thrilling. She couldn’t wait to get home every night to be with Jack and, of course, her white Shih-Tzu mix, Sprinkles.

Tearing herself away from the window, she walked over to the bakery case. A sugary treat would sure help alleviate the boredom. She’d given Cassie the day off and being at the bakery alone with few customers to wait on left her with only two things to do to fill her time—bake and eat.

Glancing at her reflection in the chrome display-case door, she pushed at a lock of brown hair that had escaped the ponytail that swung just below her shoulders. Her face was still tanned from lazy days in the sun and it made her green eyes look even lighter than usual. She slid the door open and picked out a chocolate whoopee pie. Leaning on the top of the case she bit into the chocolaty confection, savoring the contrasting flavors of dark chocolate and the sweet creamy middle.
 

As she chewed, she contemplated what to do next. The police had the street almost blocked off now and she doubted any customers would be coming by. Maybe today was a good day to close early, go home and make a nice home-cooked meal for Jack. She could even bring his favorite pie—coconut cream.

Shoving the rest of the whoopee pie into her mouth, she opened the refrigerated display case that held the pies, pulled out a coconut cream, set it in a pie box on top of the case and then rearranged the pie display to fill in the empty space.
 

Grabbing a clean cloth, she swiped at the few crumbs left on the cafe tables on her way to the front door where she hesitated for a few seconds, her hand hovering over the lock.
 

Lexy never closed the shop early, but felt certain keeping it open today was a waste of time. Even though she hated to miss out on even one customer, the time would be better spent at home unwinding and unpacking after her trip. Her mind made up, she grabbed the sign on the door and quickly turned it over to the “Closed” side.

Turning away from the door, her eyes drifted across the street and her heart stuttered when she found herself looking right into the beady blue eyes of the blonde at
The Brew and Bake.
She stood frozen for a split second.
 

Should she wave?
 

No, the other woman did not look friendly at all.
 

Lexy ripped her gaze away and then spun around, turning off the lights and grabbing the pie on her way out the back door. She’d meet the owner of
The Brew and Bake
some other time—Lexy was sure of it.

***

“So, tell me about the skull they found in the sewer pipes today.” Lexy slid the piece of pie across the kitchen table to Jack and leaned back in her chair as he stabbed his fork into it.

Jack closed his eyes, swirling the pie around in his mouth and making
nummy
noises.
 

“There’s not much to tell.” He took another forkful of pie and held it up to his mouth. “The skull belongs to a male. It’s been down there for a long time.”

“How long?”

“We’re not exactly sure but the medical examiner said probably decades.” Jack broke off a piece of piecrust and held it out for Sprinkles, who twirled around in excitement before inhaling it.

“Wow. That’s a long time.” Lexy gathered the dinner dishes from the table to load into the dishwasher.
 

“We have some people going down tomorrow to see if they can come up with any more bones or figure out what happened, but it’s a long-shot we’ll be able to find out too much and the case isn’t a priority.”

Lexy spun around to face him. “What do you mean? You’re not going to hold up the sewer project are you?”
 

Jack raised a brow at her. “Well, I don’t know. Technically, we shouldn’t disturb anything but, like I said, most of the evidence is probably gone by now. The site is so old. I know there is a lot of pressure to get that project done and the street patched back up before the bicentennial though, so I doubt our investigation would hold up the project too much.”

“So, if you don’t find anything tomorrow, you just drop it?” Lexy asked incredulously. Surely, they would investigate until they found out how the skull got there, wouldn’t they?

“Oh, no.” Jack brought his empty pie plate over to the dishwasher. “There are other entrances to the old sewer system and we can still have the sewer commission open up the manholes later on so we can get in that way.”

“Oh, good. I’m losing business with that street all dug up like that. Not to mention the new bakery.”

“Surely, you aren’t worried about the competition.” Jack stepped closer, his arm snaking around her back to untie her apron.

No, not really. Was she?
 

“No, but …”
 

Jack pulled her close. She leaned into him inhaling his clean, spicy scent.
 

“You know you make the best pastries around. I’m sure that other bakery’s stuff isn’t nearly as good.” He tugged on her ponytail, freeing her hair which cascaded down around her shoulders.

“That’s what Nans and the gang said.” Lexy pressed her lips together. “But I better make sure these scones I have entered in the bake-off are absolutely perfect. I may need to do some test runs. They
have
to be good enough to beat her entry.”

“Your great-grandma’s recipe?” Jack tugged on her hand, pulling her toward the door leading to the living room.

“Yeah. It always wins top prize.” Lexy followed him absently, her mind on the torn up sidewalks, the competing bakery across the street and making sure she baked
the
winning scones.

“I’m sure you’ll win with those. They’re delicious.” Jack continued pulling her toward the stairs. “And so are you …”

“Huh?” She looked up at him then flushed when she recognized the primal look in his eye. “Oh.”

Jack smiled and Lexy realized they were at the bottom of the stairs … which wasn’t such a bad thing.

“Well, even if the police don’t have time to investigate the mysterious skull, I know four ladies who do,” Lexy said.

Jack turned looking at her pointedly. “Four … or five?”
 

Lexy grimaced. In the past, Jack hadn’t always approved of her helping Nans and
The Ladies Detective Club
with their investigations. Lately, though, he’d loosened up a bit. She hoped he wouldn’t get mad at her if she helped out on this one. “Well, it does seem kind of intriguing … I mean a decades-old skeleton in a sewer system—who wouldn’t want to investigate that?”

Jack laughed. “You and Nans might as well go ahead. Like I said, it’s not a priority for us. We have a backlog of
recent
murders to investigate.”

Lexy stopped short. “Murders? You mean the man who belonged to the skull was murdered?”

“We don’t know for sure, but judging by the hole in the middle of his head I’d have to say murder is a definite possibility.”

Chapter Four

“I think she’s up to something.” Cassie glanced out the window toward
The Brew and Bake,
the magenta tips of her spiky short blonde hair seemed to glow in the sun streaming through the window.

“Really? Why do you say that?” Lexy looked up from the old cookbook she held in her hands. The yellowed pages were dotted with stains and the binding bulged with various recipes handwritten on paper and index cards or ripped from magazines. One of her most prized possessions, the collection had been in her family since her great-grandmother, with each new generation adding to it.
 

“I can’t say for sure, but don’t you think it’s weird someone would open a bakery right across from another bakery?”

“I suppose so, but maybe she’s just not very smart.”

Cassie pressed her lips together. “There’s something else.”

“What?”

“I’m pretty sure I saw her sneaking around out back near our dumpster the other day.”

“The dumpster? What would she want out there?”

Cassie shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe to find out something about the ingredients we use or something?”

Or find notes for some of my recipes
, Lexy thought, looking back down at the cookbook.
 

“All the more reason for me to make sure I win the baking contest in the bicentennial,” Lexy said. “Then the whole town will know our bakery is the best.”

“When is Helen’s article coming out in the paper?” Cassie asked.

“Good question. That should help business along. I’ll have to call Nans and find out.”

“No need to call, you can just ask her yourself.” Cassie jerked her chin toward the door that had just swung open to reveal Nans, Ruth, Ida and Helen.