Chapter Eleven
“Well, how do you like them apples,” Ida turned to Nans. “Mona, tell us all about this Earl guy. Who would want to kill him?”
“Obviously, the McDonalds did it,” Ruth cut in.
Nans shook her head. “Not necessarily.”
“Really?” Ruth screwed up her face at Nans. “The body was in their basement, so they must have done it or been a party to it.”
“Not if they weren’t home at the time.” Nans picked her giant purse up from the floor and put it in her lap. Snapping open the clasp, she plunged her hand into the cavernous opening.
“You expect us to believe someone broke into their house and hid the body, then redid their basement while they were out to dinner?”
“Of course not,” Nans retorted as she rummaged inside the purse. “No one could do that in one night. But now that we know the exact date, I seem to recall that was the summer the McDonalds went to Europe. They were gone for a whole month.”
“Wouldn’t they have noticed that someone redid their basement when they got home?” Helen asked.
“That’s the thing. They were having the basement redone that summer. That was one of the reasons they planned the trip—it was perfect timing to get away from the construction.” Nans shrugged. “Someone could have used that as a convenient way to hide the body.”
“This still doesn’t add up,” Jack cut in. “Even if the McDonalds were in Europe, one of the neighbors would have noticed something.”
‘That’s right,” Ida said. “Surely, it would smell. Did you notice anything funny over there, Mona? Any odd activity or a funny smell?”
“No, but I wouldn’t have, because that summer was when the Fergusons’ toddler flushed Lego’s down the toilet and their septic system backed up all over the back yard.” Nans wrinkled her nose. “Boy, did that create a stench. The whole neighborhood walked around holding their noses for weeks.”
“Would that cover the smell of a dead body?” Lexy asked Jack.
Jack nodded. “And even if it didn’t, who would be able to differentiate?”
“So, I guess this puts Tommy O’Keefe in the clear,” Ruth said.
“But implicates Bobby Nesbaum,” Helen added.
“Or the stranger,” Nans cut in.
“Stranger?” Ida, Ruth, Helen and Jack looked at Nans.
Nans nodded. “Yeah, you remember we talked about that at the McDonalds’, Lexy?”
Lexy did remember them mentioning it. “But how would a stranger know the McDonalds were away and how would they gain access to the basement?”
“Not to mention, how would they make the secret room and close it up without Bobby Nesbaum noticing,” Jack added.
“Well, it seems all fingers point to Nesbaum.” Ruth pulled her purse off the back of her chair and rummaged inside, pulling out an iPad, which she placed on the table in front of her.
“Either it was him or he was in cahoots with someone,” Helen offered.
“Someone who knew the McDonalds were gone,” Lexy said.
“And who would know that?” Ruth asked.
Ida snapped her fingers. “The other neighbors!”
“That’s right. And a lot of them still live in the neighborhood. I’ll talk to some of them tonight when I get home. Do you want to come with me, Nans?” Lexy turned to Nans, who stood there with her cell phone in her hand.
“What?” Nans glanced up from the cell phone display. “Sorry, I have some stuff going on tonight and right now I have to warn the McDonalds that Davies is coming!”
Ida stared after Nans who had walked to the other side of the bakery to make her phone call, then turned back to the group at the table. “Never mind her—we need to divvy up the assignments.”
“Right,” Helen said and they all leaned forward.
“What do you suggest, Jack?” Ida asked.
Jack shrugged. “Well, I guess I’d check out this Nesbaum character, first of all.”
“If he’s even still alive. I believe Mona said he had passed on,” Helen mumbled around the last bite of her brownie.
“Nope. He’s alive.” Ruth slid the iPad into the center of the table and pointed to a blurb of text on the display. “Says right here he still lives in town.”
“Well, it’s good to know Mona isn’t right about everything.” Ida glanced uneasily across the room at Nans. “Still, I wonder if she’s feeling okay. She seems a might distracted.”
Ruth snickered. “It’s probably that new boyfriend of hers.”
“Or the fact that Davies might see her as a suspect now,” Jack said.
Lexy chewed her bottom lip. “That’s silly. Nans wouldn’t have had anything to do with that. Why, back then, my grandpa was still alive and he was a cop!”
“Well, Davies might not see it that way. You know how she is.” Ruth rolled her eyes. “Anyway, Helen and I will check out this Bobbie Nesbaum online and see if he got a big influx of money or if there’re any news articles about him.”
“Jack, maybe you can feel Davies out. Maybe she’ll be more forthcoming with information on the case now that you aren’t a suspect,” Ida said.
Jack laughed. “I doubt that, but I’ll try.”
“And I’ll ask around the neighborhood to see what some of the old neighbors know about Earl Schute,” Lexy offered.
Sounds like a plan.” Ida brushed the crumbs from her fingers onto her plate and then looked up at Lexy. “But you’d best be careful because one of those neighbors could be a cold-blooded killer!”
***
“Earl Schute was the kind of guy who brought trouble with him wherever he went,” Ed Johnston said as he munched on one of Lexy’s meringue cookies, his eyes narrowed at the house next to Lexy’s—the house Earl Schute once lived in.
Lexy had figured the elderly Mr. Johnston would be a wealth of information. He’d lived in the neighborhood forever and surveyed the goings-on from his porch daily. Lexy had run across the street to his house as soon as she’d gotten home from the bakery, and now they sat on twin rocking chairs enjoying a light summer evening breeze as Lexy picked his memory.
“What do you mean?” Lexy asked.
“He wasn’t a pleasant person … was always stirring up trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“Well, for example, he didn’t keep that house very nice. Had trash all over the lawn and he put up a fence halfway into the neighbor’s yard. I know your grandpa had a few words with him and Floyd Nichols on the other side almost came to blows with him one night out in the street.” Ed chuckled at the memory.
“Really?” Lexy’s nerves tingled. Could Floyd Nichols be the killer? But how would he have gotten the body into the McDonalds’ basement and closed it up in that little room? Maybe he killed Earl and then hired Nesbaum to help him?
“Anyway, I tried to steer clear of him,” Ed said.
“So, you didn’t notice when he disappeared?”
“Disappeared? No. Well, I did notice the neighborhood was more pleasant, and then one day I realized it was because he wasn’t here picking fights. But I couldn’t pinpoint an exact day when he wasn’t here anymore.”
“You heard about the body at the McDonalds?”
“Yeah, creepy.” Ed picked another cookie out of the white bakery box Lexy had given him. “These are good.”
“Really?” Lexy’s hope rose. “You don’t think they need more sugar?”
Ed swallowed the cookie and pressed his lips together. “Maybe. Hard to say. Anyway, the body at the McDonalds’ … how’d it get in there?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out.” Lexy looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “That’s why I was asking about Earl.”
Ed’s eyes widened. “You mean it was Earl in there?”
“Yep.”
“Lois and Charlie killed Earl?”
“No, no. I mean, I don’t think so. The police say he died in the summer of ‘fifty-five and Nans said the McDonalds were away that su
mmer.”
Earl squinted up at the evening sky. “They did go away one summer … I can’t remember the exact year, but I remember they traveled to Europe because they came back and Lois stunk up the whole neighborhood with some spicy cooking. Indian, I think.”
Stunk up the neighborhood? That reminded Lexy of the septic system. “Nans said something about one of the neighbors’ septic systems backing up that summer, too.”
“I don’t recall that. Could be. If it was over on your side of the street, I might not have smelled it. Who was it?
“The Fergusons.”
“Oh, yeah, they were on the same street as the McDonalds, but down a few houses.” Ed shrugged. “I’m glad I didn’t have to smell that—it can be right awful. Lois’s cooking was bad enough.”
“Nans also said something about some stranger that was in the neighborhood that summer.”
Ed thought for a bit, then said, “I don’t remember no stranger. ‘Course I don’t spend all my time on the porch watching the neighborhood like some people think.”
“Of course not,” Lexy soothed. “But you did see Floyd Nichols fighting with Earl?”
“Yeah, sure as day, right out in the street—fists up and everything.”
“Do you know what they were fighting about?”
Ed shrugged. “Could have been lots of things. I think I heard Floyd yelling about the fence, though.”
“And did you see Earl around after that?”
“What? Hmmm … well, I don’t know. It was shortly after that, I think, I noticed the neighborhood was a lot quieter, and then I realized I hadn’t seen Earl in a while.”
“Didn’t anyone notice that Earl just went missing?”
“No. Who would care? I think people were relieved, what with the insurance scam and all.”
Lexy’s eyes widened. “Insurance scam?”
“Yeah, would you believe Earl was passing himself off as a life insurance agent? Took money from half the neighborhood.” Ed clucked and shook his head. “Of course, I didn’t fall for it, but some others lost several thousand, and that was a lot of money in those days.”
“Was Floyd one of them?”
I think so, and I think the McDonalds were, too. Hey, come to think of it, that’s right around the time Earl disappeared …” Ed turned to Lexy, realization dawning on his face, “… you don’t think one of them killed him over it, do you?”
Chapter Twelve
Lexy left Ed with the box of cookies on his porch, her head spinning with information. Could Floyd Nichols have killed Earl over the property disagreement? Or did Earl’s death have something to do with the insurance scam? And what, if anything, did Nans know about those things?
Ed had said Lexy’s grandfather had had words with Earl, too, but Nans had acted like she barely remembered Earl … either Nans knew more than she was letting on, or her memory was going. Lexy’s heart pinched at the thought—was Nans lack of enthusiasm about the case due to a memory problem and not a boyfriend?
Lexy had tried to get some answers by rushing over to Floyd’s as soon as she’d left Ed, but no one answered the door. There was no car in the garage, either. She’d have to come back later.
At home, she found Jack in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on a salad. Sprinkles sat at his feet, watching his every move.
“What did you find out?” He pecked her cheek, then reached around her to grab a plate of thick, juicy steaks from the fridge.
Lexy eyed the steak, her mouth watering as she told Jack about her conversation with Ed Johnston.
“An insurance scam?” Jack salted and peppered the steaks, then nodded toward the kitchen door. “Get that for me, will you?”
Lexy opened the door and followed him out onto the patio, watching as the steaks sizzled on the hot grill. The smell of grilling meat made her stomach growl and she realized she’d forgotten to eat lunch.
“Yeah, Ed said Earl was running some kind of life insurance scam and ripped off a bunch of the neighbors.”
Jack’s brows shot up. “That sounds like serious stuff. Nans didn’t mention that. Do you think she knows?”
“She must know. I mean, she’s usually up on everything that’s going on, plus Ed said that Grampy had words with Earl more than once.” Lexy chewed her bottom lip. “I don’t know if they had words about the insurance scam, but it seems like Nans must know more than she’s letting on. Do you think she knew about the insurance scam and didn’t say anything?”
“Probably not. I mean, people don’t usually talk about finances like that. Especially back then.” Jack walked past her to the door. “Help me get the plates and salad.”
Lexy relaxed. Jack was right. Nans probably really didn’t remember Earl—it was over fifty years ago that he was around. She was probably blowing things out of proportion and worrying about nothing.
She followed Jack back into the kitchen and he loaded her up with plates, napkins, salad bowls and the salad, then reached into the fridge and pulled out a bottle of wine and grabbed two glasses from the counter.
“I got the important stuff.” Jack gestured to the wine bottle as he opened the door for her.
“So, what do you plan to do next?” Jack asked after they were settled at the patio table with their food.
“I guess I need to talk to Floyd next. I went over there after Ed’s but he wasn’t home.” Lexy cut off a slice of steak, the inside perfectly pink and the outside just charred—exactly the way she liked it. She paused, her steak-laden fork in front of her mouth. “Did you find anything out from Davies?”
Jack shook his head. “No, she’s clammed up. All she would tell me was that the McDonalds verified they were on Vacation that summer and then they mentioned the stranger Nans was talking about—a tall guy with long hair.”
“I asked Ed about him, but he didn’t remember any stranger.” Lexy speared a tomato and nibbled the edge.
“It’s a very odd case. It seems no one reported this guy missing.” Jack topped off Lexy’s glass of wine and then his own. “I mean, didn’t the guy have any family?”
“Judging by what Ed said about him, I doubt it. He sounded like a jerk, so maybe he was estranged from his family.”
“Woof.” Sprinkles looked up at Lexy … or rather, at the piece of steak on the end of Lexy’s fork. The dog’s pleading, brown eyes won her over and she took the piece and held it out to the dog who inhaled it.
“I do think it’s kind of funny that Sprinkles messed with Davies’ crime scene. Serves her right for being so mean,” Lexy said, remembering the receipt from The Elms Pub. “I should probably ask Sam down at the pub if he knew Earl. I didn’t know the identity of the mummy when I talked to him before.”
“It’s worth a try,” Jack agreed. “Hopefully, Ruth and Helen can dig up some information on him and maybe Nans will remember something.”
“Yeah, I need to talk to her, too. I tried to call but she’s not answering.”
“Probably out with that new boyfriend,” Jack teased. “Have you met him?”
“No, I tried to get information on him but Nans said she didn’t want to talk about it yet.”
“Well, now that I’m not the main suspect anymore, maybe you don’t have to spend so much time on the mummy case. You do have that dessert contest to prepare for, don’t you?”
Lexy’s heart sank. She did have to get going with her recipe—the contest was in a few days. And she had Violet Switzer to deal with. But with all the running around she needed to do, when was she going to find time for that?
Solving the mummy case was important, too. She needed the money from the sale of Jack’s house to pay her parents back. Her chest squeezed as she thought about them. She wanted to call and ask if they needed money for the RV, but she knew they wouldn’t tell her if they did. The only way to make sure they would actually take money from her was to repay the loan.
Lexy steeled herself with another glass of wine. She’d better get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow was going
to be a busy day.
Chapter Thirteen
The next day, Lexy woke to see a cloudless, blue summer sky peeking out from between the gap in her bedroom curtains. She stretched lazily and pushed the curtains apart for a full view.
She looked out the window. Her heart jumped! A red car was parked right in front of her house—Violet Switzer’s Mustang!
She pressed her face to the window in time to see a little, white-haired lady sprinting across her front lawn.
Lexy took the stairs two at a time, the squealing tires of the Mustang echoing in her ears as she reached the bottom step.
She ripped the front door open.
The car was gone. A white bakery box sat on the top step.
Lexy stepped out onto the stoop, looking up and down the street for a sign of Violet, but she was long gone. Her gaze dropped to the bakery box.
What could possibly be in there?
Lexy felt a niggle of trepidation as she bent down, picking the box up gingerly and bringing it inside.
“What’s going on?” Jack asked from the middle of the staircase he’d been descending.
“I had a visit from my competitor.”
“That Violet person?”
“Yep.” Lexy held the box up. “She left this.”
Jack eyed the box suspiciously. “Should we open it? She’s not the type that blows up her competition, is she?”
“I hope not.” Lexy knew Jack was joking, but her heart skittered as she slowly pried open the lid with the tip of her fingernail.
Inside were smashed up meringue cookies—her cookies. And a note.
“These will never beat my pies. You might as well quit now and save yourself the humiliation.” Lexy read the note to Jack.
Jack made a face. “Are you going to let her intimidate you like that?”
“Heck, no.” Lexy tossed the box on the table. “This is a battle … Violet may have fired the first shot, but I intend to win the war!”
Leighann Dobbs - Lexy Baker 10 - Mummified Meringues Page 8
