Leighann Dobbs - Lexy Baker 10 - Mummified Meringues

by Leighann Dobbs

  “Oh. Well, if there are cookies, then please come in.” He pushed the door wide and they all filed into an oak-floored foyer.

  “I’m Ida and this is Ruth, Helen, Lexy and Mona.” Ida held her hand out.

  “Tom O’Keefe.” Tom favored each of them with a firm handshake, then turned down the hall. “Come on in to the kitchen.”

  Lexy peeked into the rooms as they followed him down the hall. The furnishings were expensive, but tasteful. Not opulent. The rooms were clean. The large kitchen at the back of the house boasted a panoramic view from the top of the hill along with stainless steel appliances, granite counters and an impressive fieldstone fireplace. Tom set the box down on the oversized kitchen island and bent down to rummage in the cabinet.

  “How long have you ladies lived here?” His muffled voice came from inside the cabinet. “I don’t believe I’ve met any of you.”

  “Ruth’s been here for about ten years now. I’ve been here for seven and Helen and Mona have only lived here for a few years,” Ida said. “Lexy is Mona’s granddaughter. She doesn’t live here, of course.”

  Tom surfaced from the cabinet and put a round platter on the island.

  “I see she’s got a few years before she’s of age,” he said, winking at Lexy as he took the cookies from the box and put them on the platter.

  “Those are made from a new recipe Lexy is fixing to enter in the Brook Ridge Dessert contest,” Ruth said.

  “You don’t say. Well, I feel honored to be trying them.” Tom gestured toward the long, pine table and the ladies sat while Tom pulled some smaller plates out of one of the upper cabinets.

  “Would you like some tea?” he asked.

  “That would be lovely, wouldn’t it girls?” Ida raised her brows at Lexy and the ladies, and they all murmured their agreement while Tom filled a kettle with water and got busy passing out dainty tea cups and saucers.

  “So, we heard you were a builder here in town,” Ida ventured, once they were all settled with steaming cups of tea and cookies on their plates.

  Tom paused the cookie halfway to his lips. “Yes, I built many of the houses here in town. But that was years ago. I’m retired now.”

  “That must have been quite lucrative,” Ruth chimed in, looking pointedly around the well-equipped kitchen.

  Tom narrowed amused eyes at Ruth. “Why, yes it was.”

  Ida fixed him with a hawk-like stare. “Not all builders make out this good. Most of the ones I know are flat broke.”

  “Well, I invested my money wisely.” Tom aimed a dazzling smile at Ida. “I’m not sure why the interest. Are you ladies trying to fix me up with someone?”

  “That could be a possibility,” Ida said. “Really, we’re just interested in our neighbors, right girls?”

  The others nodded and Lexy noticed Nans had been paying more attention to the crumbs on her plate than the conversation. What was up with her? Lexy wondered if Nans really did have a boyfriend. She was certainly acting distracted enough.

  Lexy’s eyes strayed past Nans to the pine mantle on the fieldstone fireplace, where a row of trophies was displayed.

  “Those are my dart contest trophies,” Tom said proudly. “I haven’t played in years, but I used to be quite good.”

  “It looks like you won a lot,” Lexy agreed.

  “Oh, yes. I was the dart champion ten years in a row down at The Elms Pub.” Tom gestured toward the trophies. “I would have been champion ten more years, too, if it wasn’t for her.”

  Helen’s brows shot up. “Her?”

  Tom’s mouth twisted in a grimace. “I know I shouldn’t hold a grudge. It’s silly, really, and that was so long ago, but that woman took competition to a whole new level.”

  Ida sucked in a loud breath. “I think I know exactly who you are talking about.”

  Tom turned to look at Ida and they both said it at the same time.

  “Violet Switzer.”

  “You know her?” Tom asked.

  Ida nodded. “I used to be the pea-shooting champ until she came to town.”

  Tom laughed. “Well, I guess I feel a little better that I’m not the only one she targeted.”

  “Oh, she was nasty,” Ida said. “Did she stalk you and try to intimidate you?”

  “Yes.” Tom’s face flushed. “I’m embarrassed to admit it, but her tactics worked.”

  Lexy felt seeds of doubt sprout in her stomach. This Violet person sounded downright nasty and now Lexy was going up against her. She glanced at the plates on the table. No one had even finished one cookie! Maybe entering the dessert contest wasn’t such a good idea, after all.

  “So, if you hung out at The Elms Pub, you probably built a lot of houses over in the Elms section of town,” Ruth said, pulling Lexy from her thoughts.

  “Oh, yeah, I built most of those homes,” Tom said proudly.

  “Then you must have built Mona’s.” Ida nodded her head toward Nans, who looked up from swishing her tea bag around in her cup.

  “Yes, of course.” Tom studied Nans. “I thought you looked familiar.”

  “Oh, I’m surprised you would remember after all these years,” Nans said.

  “I never forget a pretty face.”

  Nans blushed. Lexy, Ruth, Ida and Helen stared at her. It wasn’t like her just to blush and not say anything.

  Ida broke the silence. “You built the house behind her, too. You must have seen it on the news.”

  Tom looked at her curiously. “No, I don’t watch the news. It’s too depressing. What happened?”

  “A secret room was discovered in their basement with a mummy in it.”

  Tom’s brows slanted into a bushy ‘V’. “Mummy? Like those things wrapped in gauze and buried with treasure?”

  Ida nodded. “Yeah, except this one wasn’t wrapped or buried with treasure.”

  “Someone had been murdered and placed inside the secret room,” Ruth explained. “The body mummified due to the dry conditions and lack of air in the sealed room.”

  Tom looked shocked, and Lexy had to wonder if the look was about a mummy being in the basement or about the fact that the mummy had been discovered and now an investigation could lead police to the killer. “I never heard of that.”

  “Yep. It happens.” Ida took a sip of tea, then said matter-of-factly. “So, since you built the house, you must have built that secret room.”

  Tom’s head jerked back as if he’d been slapped. “What? I didn’t put any secret room in any of my houses.”

  “But you must have. How else would it get there?”

  “I assume the homeowner would have put it there. I have no idea what people do after I sell them.” He rubbed his chin. “Just how did they discover this room, anyway?”

  “My dog dug away the cement,” Lexy said.

  “Your dog? What was your dog doing there?”

  “It’s actually my husband’s house now. We were cleaning out the basement to put it up for sale when my dog started barking and going crazy. I guess she must have sensed what was in there.”

  Tom narrowed his eyes. “So you demolished the wall because your dog barked?”

  “Oh, no. She was digging at the cement and she dug out a hole. We looked in and discovered the mummy.”

  “Dug it out?” Tom shook his head. “That doesn’t make any sense. I made the foundations out of cinderblock back then. Your dog couldn’t dig a hole in that.”

  “No, of course not. This basement had a false wall that was wood-framed construction and she dug through some sort of cement-like coating that was on top of that.”

  Tommy’s brows shot up. “Oh, right. Now I remember. A lot of people did that back then when they wanted to finish off the basement. They didn’t like the look of the cinderblocks so they skimmed over it with a plaster-like compound that looked more appealing and helped waterproof and strengthen the walls.”

  Ida turned to Lexy. “So the wall matched the others because they all had the coating?”

  “Yes.”
r />   “Well, that explains it. They probably just framed off the small section and plastered over it to make this secret room … but who would do that?” Ida asked.

  “I don’t know, but I do know one thing.” Ruth pointed her half-eaten cookie at them. “Whoever did it must have known they were going to put the body in there. Why else would they make a narrow room like that?”

  “And that means it was premeditated murder,” Helen added.

  “The only people that would have had access at that point would have been the homeowners,” Ida pointed out.

  “I remember the McDonalds telling me they were going to have the basement refinished.” Lexy still couldn’t believe that nice, old couple would have been involved. “Maybe it was the guy who was going to refinish it.”

  “I seem to recall there was a guy who specialized in doing those restorations.” Tom pressed his lips together and looked up while he searched his memory. “Was it Donny? No … Bobby. Yes! His name was Bobby Nesbaum.”

  Ida glanced sharply at Nans. “Mona, do you remember anything about these basement renovations? You must have known about them. Did you have yours redone?”

  “No. I didn’t have mine done.” Nans scrunched up her face. “I do seem to recall Lois and Charlie McDonald talking about it, but I don’t know much. I think that person died, though, so it’s probably no use trying to track him down.”

  Ida stared at Nans, then gave Lexy a funny look. It sure wasn’t like Nans not to try to track down every clue and she’d seemed preoccupied the whole time. Worry started to nag at Lexy again. What if something was wrong with Nans? She shook off the worry. Nans was probably just having an off day or, like Ruth had suggested, she might have a new boyfriend that was occupying all her thoughts.

  Tom started collecting the teacups, saving Lexy from having to think unwanted thoughts about her grandmother having a boyfriend, and they all stood to say their goodbyes.

  As Tom walked them to the door, Lexy glanced at the expensive decor. Ida had made a good point earlier—she knew lots of builders and very few of them ended up with this kind of money. She made a mental note to check into Tom O’Keefe’s background and finances.

  Sure, he seemed sincere enough, but she’d learned that killers could seem that way when they were trying to cover their tracks. One thing was for sure. Somebody had made that room in the basement and only a couple of people would have had access. One of them was Tom and the other was the man Tom had eagerly (maybe too eagerly?) given them the name of—Bobby Nesbaum.

  Chapter Seven

  “So, how did your visit with the builder go? Do you think he’s the killer?” Jack lifted up a corner of the shade in the kitchen window with his index finger and peered warily at the crime scene tape fluttering across the way in his backyard.

  “I couldn’t tell,” Lexy answered. “He seemed surprised when we told him about finding the mummy and he did claim that he didn’t finish the basements like that. He said he left them as cinder-block.”

  Jack let the shade drop and went back to washing the dishes. “Of course he would say that if he was trying to cover it up.”

  “I know. He didn’t act suspicious at all. He’s obviously not going to break down and confess, so how do we find out for sure?” Lexy picked up the plate Jack had placed in the strainer, wiped it dry, and put it away.

  “We need to figure out the motive.”

  “And how do we do that?”

  “Well, there’re two main reasons people kill each other—money and passion. So we could look through his bank accounts and find out if he got a lot of money in. That might tell us if he was paid to hide the body. Of course, he could have killed him because he was being blackmailed, in which case we’d see a lot of money going out. I hope Davies is checking on these.”

  “I can have Ruth and Helen look, too. They seem to have access to things the rest of us don’t have.”

  Jack chuckled. “Yeah, I’ve noticed. Usually, it annoys me when they hack into financial sites, but seeing as I can’t use police resources myself, I guess I won’t complain this time.”

  “So that takes care of the money. What about the passion?” Lexy stuffed the dishtowel inside the wine glass Jack had just washed out and rubbed it dry.

  “For that, we need to find out if he had any enemies. If he was seen fighting with anyone or had a falling out.” Jack shut off the water and looked at her. “Didn’t Nans already suggest all this?”

  Lexy sighed as she stood on her tiptoes to put the wine glass away. “Nans isn’t herself and I’m a bit worried.”

  “How so?”

  “She’s acting disinterested in the case. She hardly even talked when we were at O’Keefe’s and she’s barely contributing any ideas. Ruth seems to think she has a boyfriend.”

  The corners of Jack’s lips quirked up. “Boyfriend?”

  “Yeah, some guy they met at the square dance. They said he was quite taken with her and then the next day, she borrowed Ruth’s car and they think she went to see him!”

  “Nans drove?”

  “Yes, isn’t that odd?” Lexy bent down to pet Sprinkles who had been watching them intently, just in case one of them dropped a morsel of food.

  “And she’s been acting preoccupied?”

  Lexy looked up at Jack and nodded, a spasm of worry rippling through her heart.

  Jack chuckled, pulled her to a standing position and folded her into his arms.

  “You’re silly. It’s probably just the flush of first love.” He looked into her eyes and said softly, ““Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten how it is.”

  Lexy flushed. “No, I haven’t.”

  “Right, so then give Nans a break. If she found someone, we should be glad for her. She deserves to be just as happy as we are, don’t you think?”

  “Yes.” Lexy felt relieved. Jack was right, she was reading too much into this whole thing because she was so used to having Nans’ full attention. If Nans had found herself a boyfriend, then Lexy would just have to learn to share her grandmother’s time with him. She just hoped Nans would still want to investigate murders after the newness of her relationship wore off.

  “And since you have me to guide you, I think we can handle this case without Nans, right?” Jack said.

  “Right. So Ruth and Helen can handle looking into the finances, but how do we figure out if he had an enemy?”“

  Jack went back to the sink and turned on the water to wash the last of the dishes. “He’s about Nans’ age—did any of them know him?”

  “No. Nans only knew him from buying the house and the other ladies weren’t around here back then.”

  “Usually, we like to talk to someone who knew the suspect back then, a friend or relative—”

  “Wait a minute! I think I know just where to ask,” Lexy said, remembering the trophies from the pub. “And he did fight with someone, but she’s very much alive.”

  “Who is that?” Jack rinsed off the last bowl and handed it to her.

  “Violet Switzer.”

  “Who?”

  Lexy told him about Violet, how she took competing to the extreme and had beaten Tom and Ida and was now Lexy’s competition for the desserts contest. “I don’t mind admitting that I’m a little intimidated by her already and I haven’t even met her yet.”

  Jack laughed. “Well, she sounds intimidating, but I don’t think Tom’s grudge against her can be a clue since he didn’t kill her.”

  “No, not her, but Sprinkles found that stub from The Elms Pub in your basement. What if that stub was from the mummy? Tom hung around there, too.”

  Jack pressed his lips together. “I don’t think it was. Davies would never let a dog run off with a clue from the crime scene. I’m sure Sprinkles got that from somewhere else in the basement. But if Tom hung around there, then it is worth asking around to see if anyone who is still there knew him back then.”

  Lexy draped the dishtowel over the oven handle. “And I should go back to talk to the McDonalds aga
in. They said they were thinking about redoing the basement but never actually had it done, so maybe they can verify the basement had that cement coating on the inside when they bought it.”

  “Now you’re thinking!” Jack let the water out of the sink. “If they can verify that, it would prove O’Keefe was lying and had something to cover up.”

  Lexy felt a tingle of enthusiasm. Now she was getting somewhere. “Have you been able to get any information out of Davies?”

  Jack shook his head. He lifted the corner of the shade with his index finger and looked back out the window. “No, she’s clammed up tight. John’s been feeding me whatever he can find out but she’s not telling him much, either. All I know is that she’s considering me as a suspect, but she can’t do anything officially until she gets some more solid information. That’s why it’s so important we find out who did this right away.”

  Lexy’s heart pinched at the worry on Jack’s face. It wasn’t doing him any good to stare out at the crime scene—she’d better do something to take his mind off it. She grabbed his arm and urged him away from the window.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll sort this out,” she said as she pulled him into the living room.

  Jack plopped into a chair and pulled her into his lap. “You’re right. I’m not all that worried.”

  He lowered his lips to Lexy’s and her stomach did a little flip, but then a flash of light outside caught her eye. She turned her head toward the window, causing Jack’s lips to brush her cheek.

  Was someone out there watching them?”

  She scrambled out of Jack’s lap and ran to the window. Across the street sat a bright, red Mustang convertible with a white-haired old lady behind the wheel. And she wasn’t just parked there—she was looking in Lexy’s window with binoculars!

  Lexy ripped the door open and ran out, but she was too late. The car screeched around the corner.

  She closed the door and turned to Jack who was still sitting on the chair, his left brow raised at her.

  “What was that all about?” he asked.

  “Someone was outside looking in here with binoculars. I think they were stalking me!” Lexy fumed.