Leighann Dobbs - Lexy Baker 10 - Mummified Meringues

by Leighann Dobbs

  “During the final walkthrough for the house, I went in the basement and it was as full as it is now.” Jack said. “The McDonalds seemed very embarrassed that they hadn’t been able to get the stuff out in time. They were overwhelmed and moving to a senior assisted living place with no room for any of it. Charlie had a bad hip and couldn’t even go in the basement. They had no kids and no one to help them haul it out. I took pity on them and said they could leave it and I’d deal with it.”

  Lexy’s heart flooded with warmth at Jack’s compassionate gesture. “Aww, that was sweet.”

  She pecked Jack on the cheek and smiled, noticing his neck turn an embarrassing shade of pink. It wasn’t often that the tough detective let people see his softer side, but Lexy knew it was there.

  Her happy feeling didn’t last long, though, because seconds later, a caravan of Brook Ridge Falls Police cars pulled up. Detective Watson Davies catapulted out of the lead car and stormed in their direction. She stood staring down at them, her hands on the hips of her tight, black jeans. Lexy noticed she was wearing a black t-shirt with BFPD stamped in large white letters. The shirt was tucked into her jeans, which sported a gleaming gold badge clipped at her hip.

  Lexy’s stomach took a dive. She’d hoped that Jack’s best friend and partner, John Darling, would be investigating. It figures they’d get Davies. Lexy had worked with Davies a few times in the past. Well, ‘worked with’ wasn’t exactly right, more like worked against. Though to be fair, Davies had always shown she was interested in making sure justice was served. She and Lexy had had a somewhat adversarial relationship even though Davies had redeemed herself with a few random acts of kindness, and the diminutive detective did seem to have a tight bond with Nans.

  Davies tilted her head at Lexy. “I got a call about a mummy … this is a joke, right?”

  Lexy shook her head.

  “I should have known such a call would have something to do with you, Mrs. Baker-Perillo.”

  “It really doesn’t have anything to do with Lexy.” Jack put his arm around Lexy’s shoulders and pulled her next to him. “She just happened to be here helping me. The body is in my basement.”

  Davies raised a perfectly plucked brow at Jack and he shrugged.

  “Come on in and I’ll show you.” Jack stood up, pulling Lexy with him.

  Davies motioned to the crime scene techs, who had been taking various pieces of equipment out of the cars behind her, and they all trudged into the house.

  Davies looked up at Jack. “Seriously, Perillo, if this is a joke …”

  Jack raised his palm. “No joke, I swear.”

  They filed through the living room into the kitchen. Jack pointed to the basement door and gestured for Davies and her entourage to go down first.

  “Jeez, Perillo, what are you, some kind of hoarder?” Davies stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking out over the fully packed basement.

  “No. Actually, all of this is from the people who lived here before me. We were trying to sort it out so we can sell the house.”

  Davies’ eyes fell on the plate of meringue cookies and she glanced over at Lexy. “Are these yours?”

  Lexy nodded. “Help yourself.”

  Davies picked up a small cookie and shoved it in her mouth, screwing up her face as she chewed.

  “Needs sugar,” Davies mumbled around the mouthful of cookie, then swallowed, brushed off her fingers and looked around the basement. “Now, where, exactly, is this mummy?”

  “Over here.” Jack led them to the back wall and pointed at the hole.

  Davies held out her hand, palm up, without saying a word and one of the crime unit techs slapped a flashlight into it. She squatted down, level with the hole, and aimed the light inside.

  “It’s on the right,” Jack said.

  Davies adjusted her aim. “Holy cow, I guess there really is a mummy in here. Never seen one of these before.”

  She pulled her head out and looked at Jack. “So, how do you figure it got in here?”

  Jack shrugged. “I have no idea, but if you look at the wall, you can see someone took great care to make this false wall look like it was the end of the basement. It matches the intersecting walls perfectly.”

  Davies picked her way over to the corner, inspecting the walls with her flashlight. They were covered in a cement coating but Lexy knew from the outside of the house that the basement was actually made from cinderblocks. Inside, the coating gave it a more finished look–that of cement or stucco.

  Davies ran her hand along the wall. “Right. I see it’s cinderblock but plastered over. Do you think that was on purpose to make this little room?”

  “I have no idea,” Jack said.

  “How long have you lived here?”

  Jack scrunched his face and looked at the ceiling. “I think it’s going on five years now.”

  “Bodies can mummify in less than a year under the right conditions,” Davies mused.

  A crime scene tech interrupted their conversation. “You don’t expect us to climb in there, do you?” he asked, pointing to the small hole.

  Jack shook his head. “No, I guess we’ll have to widen the opening. But be careful not to disturb the area in back. Get some plastic bags and I’ll help you widen it. We’ll put the cement we remove in the bags so we can do forensic testing on the pieces later, and then let’s—”

  “Hold on there!” Davies held her hands up, palms out, and scowled at Jack.

  “What?” Jack’s brows creased as he looked from Davies to the hole to the crime scene techs.

  “I’m the one in charge here, so I’ll give the orders,” Davies said.

  Jack’s brows shot up. “Well, you’re only in charge because it’s my day off. Tomorrow, I’ll take over and—”

  “Sorry, Jack. I don’t think you’ll be taking over. In fact, I’m going to have to ask you to leave the crime scene area.”

  “What? Why?”

  “You can’t investigate a crime in your own basement. Conflict of interest. And besides, right now, you’re the number one suspect.”

  Chapter Three

  Jack and Lexy retreated to her house where they peered out the kitchen window and through the backyards, anxiously trying to see what was going on at Jack’s. They couldn’t see what was happening inside, but they did manage to see the police bringing bags of what they assumed were pieces of concrete and other evidence out through the bulkhead door that faced Lexy’s house.

  Suddenly, as they watched, Sprinkles catapulted out of the basement with an angry Davies running up the bulkhead steps behind her.

  Sprinkles bounded through the gap in the fence. Davies stopped just short of it when she spied Lexy and Jack looking out the window.

  “Keep your dog out of here!” Davies yelled, her harsh words coming through the screen loud and clear.

  “Sorry!” Lexy grimaced as she opened the screen door to the kitchen to let Sprinkles in.

  “Bad dog,” Lexy admonished Sprinkles half-heartedly. She had to admit she didn’t feel all that bad that the dog had gotten Davies all riled up. But her joy in angering Davies was short-lived when she noticed something was wrong with Sprinkles. The dog held her head down and emitted a muted bark through clenched teeth.

  “What’s the matter, Sprinks?” Lexy bent down to get a closer look.

  “What is it?” Jack asked.

  “I don’t know. She’s acting kind of funny.” Lexy looked up at Jack with worried eyes. “I hope she didn’t catch some kind of mummy disease down there.”

  Sprinkles whined and wagged her tail, then spit something out on the floor.

  “What’s this?” Lexy picked up the small, dirty white piece of paper.

  “Looks like a receipt,” Jack said.

  Lexy frowned at the light purple print. It was barely legible, but she could make out the name at the top. “It’s from The Elms Pub.”

  “The bar down the street?” Jack asked, referring to the neighborhood bar a couple of streets over. It was
named after the section of town they lived in which had been dubbed “The Elms” because of the large elm trees that lined the streets. The bar had been there for decades. Lexy always thought of it as the unofficial marker where the suburban neighborhood met the more commercial section of town.

  “Yes, and judging by the prices, it looks pretty old.” Lexy looked up at him. “Do you think we should give it to Davies?”

  Jack shrugged. “Why? I’m sure Davies wouldn’t let Sprinkles near that room, so it has nothing to do with the mummy. Sprinkles could have snagged that from any part of the basement.”

  “True. That place was pretty full.”

  “Woof!” Sprinkles wagged her tail and looked at Lexy. Forgetting about the receipt, Lexy went back to inspecting the dog, a feeling of relief spreading over her when she realized Sprinkles seemed fine.

  “I don’t even know how Sprinkles got in there, but I’m going to make sure she stays locked in here with us. I don’t want her getting into anything more serious than an old receipt over there.” Lexy gave the dog one final pat and stood holding the receipt up to Jack. “If you don’t think this is a clue or anything important, I guess I’ll just toss it out.”

  Jack nodded and turned his attention back out the window. “I just hope Davies knows what to do with the real clues if she finds them.”

  Lexy’s heart twisted at the concerned look in Jack’s eye.

  “I’m sorry you can’t investigate,” she said, rubbing his back to soothe him.

  Jack sighed. “Yeah, I hate that. I mean, Davies is okay, but I certainly don’t want to turn something as important as this over to her.”

  “You don’t think she really thinks you did it, do you?”

  “Nah. It’s logical that I would be the prime suspect now. The homeowner is exactly who I would suspect. I just hope she doesn’t screw up or take too long to investigate because it could hold up the sale of the house.”

  “Oh.” Lexy nervously nibbled one of the cookies she’d rescued when Davies had kicked them out of the house. She was counting on the house sale to go through soon. She needed the money to pay back her parents who were traveling the country in an RV after selling their home. Though her parents hadn’t asked her to speed up the payments, she knew the RV needed repairs and she didn’t want her parents to break down on the road—especially since she knew they couldn’t afford to fix it because she owed them money.

  “So, what are you going to do?” she asked.

  “Oh, I can still investigate. I just might need a little help.” Jack smiled at her and slid his arm around her shoulder. “Lucky thing I have my own amateur sleuth and her grandmother who I’m sure will be willing to check things out for me.”

  Lexy’s lips curled in a smile. Usually, Jack got mad when she tried to investigate murders, but the last couple of times he’d seemed a lot more laid back about it. And now he was giving her permission to go digging around in the investigation.

  She bubbled with excitement, then felt a tug of uncertainty. She was getting almost as bad as Nans when it came to wanting to explore crimes, and this was a big responsibility considering Jack was the primary suspect. Jack was putting his trust in her.

  What if she screwed up?

  “So, what do you say? Are you with me?” Jack’s question pulled her out of her thoughts.

  “Of course!” Lexy shook off her feelings of self-doubt. She could do this, especially with the help of her grandmother. Nans and her three friends, Ruth, Ida and Helen, were experienced amateur sleuths with a good track record. They’d solved several crimes and had worked with the police on a few cases. They were highly respected and even had a name for themselves, The Ladies’ Detective Club. People had even started to seek their counsel as private investigators. If anyone could figure out who put the mummy in Jack’s basement, it was Nans and the ladies.

  “I’ll call Nans and get her working on this right away. I know she’ll want in on this.” Lexy grabbed her phone off the kitchen table and dialed.

  “Lexy, dear, how are you?”

  “Great! I have some exciting news.”

  There was a moment of silence and then Nans ventured, “You’re pregnant?”

  Lexy scrunched her face up. “No, something even better. There’s been a murder and we need to help Jack investigate it.”

  “Oh, really?” Nans voice was infused with interest. “The ladies didn’t mention any new murders.” Nans, Ruth Ida and Helen always seemed to know when there was a new crime of interest in town.

  “That’s because it just happened … well, sort of.” Lexy told her how they had discovered the mummy when cleaning out Jack’s basement. “Isn’t that great?”

  Silence crackled in Lexy’s ear. She held the phone out and looked at the display. Still connected. “Nans?”

  “Sorry, dear,” Nans said. “You were breaking up. Did you say something about your mother? I know she’s been having trouble with the RV.”

  Lexy’s stomach twisted—another reason for her to find the killer and close the case so the house could be sold. “No. I said we found a mummified body sealed up in Jack’s basement.”

  “Sorry … crackle crackle … nection … bad. We’ll have to talk tomorrow. I’m running out for the night and will be busy until tomorrow afternoon … crackle … crackle.”

  And then the line went dead.

  “What was that all about? Is she going to help?” Jack asked.

  “Yeah, I guess so. I think we just had a bad connection so I’m not sure she heard what I was saying.”

  “Oh. Well, I’m sure she’ll want to help. I can’t picture her not wanting to investigate a juicy crime that happened right in her backyard.”

  “Right. Of course, she will. I’ll fill her in tomorrow when we have a better connection.” Lexy stared at the phone in her hand. Nans must not have been able to hear what she was saying, otherwise she was sure the older woman would have ditched all her plans and come straight over. But Nans had put her off until tomorrow afternoon.

  The connection must have been bad—Lexy had even heard the crackling … except the crackling seemed oddly familiar. It sounded just like the ‘crackling’ that sometimes happened when Lexy wanted to cut the phone conversations with her mother short. The ones she manufactured by crinkling candy bar wrappers next to the phone and dropping words on purpose.

  Lexy never realized how much that sounded like real static because the static on the phone call with Nans must have been real. Otherwise, that would mean that Nans was using the same trick Lexy used … and why would Nans want to crinkle candy bar wrappers to fake a bad connection?

  ***

  “I don’t know why Nans isn’t answering.” Lexy frowned at her phone, then slipped it into the pocket of her vintage, rose pattern apron.

  “Maybe she’s just busy,” her bakery assistant, Cassie, said without looking up from her task of frosting a three-tier wedding cake they’d been commissioned to bake for a local wedding. Lexy sighed, watching Cassie’s pink-tipped, blonde, spiked hair bob up and down with her efforts. The two girls had been best friends since high school and Nans was like a second grandmother to Cassie. She was probably right—Nans did have quite an active social life.

  Looking around the kitchen of The Cup and Cake from her spot in the doorway, Lexy felt a swell of pride. The stainless steel appliances gleamed, the floors and counters were scrubbed clean and the air was spiced with the sweet smell of baking. It was her dream come true, thanks to her parents. They had loaned her a large sum of money to open the bakery when they’d sold their home and bought an RV to fulfill their dream of traveling the country.

  Lexy’s swell of pride deflated into a gnawing of uneasiness as she remembered what Nans had said on the phone the night before. Her parents had been having trouble with the RV. They hadn’t mentioned anything to her, but of course they wouldn’t, because they wouldn’t want her to worry. This made it even more important for her to get cracking on this case, so they could put Jack’s house up
for sale. Her parents had given her the ability to live out her dream and she didn’t want their dream to suffer because they needed RV repairs. She had to pay them back right away, which meant she’d have to start investigating today, whether Nans wanted to help or not.

  But first, she needed to try a variation of her meringue recipe. She glanced out at the front of the shop. The cafe tables set up next to the large window were all empty, giving her a clear view to the waterfall across the street. The morning coffee crowd was gone and the lunch-timers hadn’t straggled in yet. She and Cassie usually used this time to bake, each girl taking turns to wait on any customers who wandered in.

  Lexy caught a whiff of fresh-brewed coffee from the self-serve coffee stations as she turned her attention back to the kitchen. A pile of ingredients waited for her on the six-foot long butcher-block island that ran down the middle of the room.

  The bells over the front door would alert them if a customer came in, so she made her way to the table and grabbed four eggs from the basket where she’d placed them hours ago so they could acclimate to room temperature.

  “It’s strange that Nans isn’t jumping all over this. She must have heard about it through the grapevine by now, even if she didn’t understand my call last night,” Lexy said as she cracked the eggs, expertly separating the whites from the yolks. “Did John mention anything to you about it?”

  Lexy often relied on Cassie to give her the scoop on various cases she was interested in because Jack was incredibly tight-lipped about police business. Luckily, Jack’s partner, John Darling, wasn’t as tight-lipped and, since he was married to Cassie, Lexy easily found out about the goings on down at the Brook Ridge Falls Police Department.

  Cassie rolled her eyes. “He said Davies is acting like she found Jimmy Hoffa.”

  “Jeez, I hope she doesn’t screw things up. She told Jack he was a suspect!”

  “I know.” Cassie stuck a tiny silver ball into the center of a flower on the cake. “John said that was just standard procedure. He’s sure Jack will be cleared once they sift through the clues.”