“That’s his ex., Trixie. I guess she didn’t waste any time trying to get her hooks back into him.”
Lexy watched her from her spot in line. She seemed generally concerned about Xavier, almost motherly. Could she have killed Chastine? She didn't look like a hard-boiled killer, but, then Lexy didn’t really know what one was supposed to look like.
Lexy shuffled up to the casket behind Nans, Ruth,Ida and Helen. The four of them stood together, looking down at Chastine.
"She was really beautiful." Ruth said. The rest of them murmured their agreement. Lexy remembered the few times she had met her in person. She had been a true beauty. No wonder she was able to charm Xavier into marrying her.
Nans turned to the receiving line. She went straight to Xavier giving her old friend a hug and telling him how sorry she was. Trixie flitted around in the background keeping a respectful distance but staying at the ready whenever Xavier seemed to need a pat on the back or a fresh tissue.
Lexy followed behind Nans, giving her condolences to Xavier, then Bronson. She was surprised to find Bronson was rather civil - nice even. But he was behaving rather nervously, his eyes darting around the room as if he was looking for someone.
Blake was at the end of the line. He spent a little more time than necessary hugging Lexy in an attempt to grope certain parts of her. The man was shameless! She offered her condolences and he shrugged it off opting to ask her out on a date instead. Lexy extracted herself from his clutches by promising to catch up with him later, then escaped from the receiving line as fast as she could.
She regrouped with Nans and the girls in a small room off to the side.
"I say we split up and canvas the room to see if we can find anything out," Nans whispered.
The others nodded, then everyone took off in a different direction. Lexy headed straight for the side room where they usually kept the refreshments.
The room was long and narrow. It was set up much the same as it had been for Kevin's wake with a long table against the wall loaded with trays of cookies and pastry. She wondered what bakery they came from. Grabbing a lemon cookie, she gingerly took a bite. They weren't nearly as good as hers - maybe she should bring the funeral director some samples.
Lexy drifted over to the corner of the room, the lemon cookie balanced in one hand on top of a napkin. Voices drifted towards her, allowing her to pick up snippets of conversations.
"….loved her so much."
"She was a real …"
"I could have killed her myself…"
Lexy's ears perked up when she heard that last bit. She honed in on the conversation like a guided missile. Three people she didn't recognize were huddled together in the corner just outside the snack room. Lexy slipped out of the room, and edged along the wall, sidestepping a little closer. There was a tall potted plant between her and the three people and she used it for cover, standing behind it, but with her ear cocked towards the threesome.
"Y'all knew I had to come just to make sure that beetch was dead." It was a woman with a heavy southern accent.
"That's raat, after what she did to Bob, we owed it to him to fly up." Another southern accent - this one a man.
"I couldda spet on her, but t’wouldn't be gentlemanly."
The voices got softer. Lexy couldn't hear what they were saying so she leaned closer. She was practically in the tree but leaned in even closer still. A jolt of horror shot through her when she realized she had gone too far - the giant plant was tipping over!
She dropped her cookie on the floor. Her hands grabbed at the plant, trying to keep it from falling but managing only to pull off a handful of leaves. She felt her stomach sinking as she watched the plant descending towards the group. Luckily one of the men had quick reactions. He jumped up blocking the plant from falling and setting it upright again.
"Well, little lady, I guess maybe you should be looking where you're going." The man said with a friendly wink.
Lexy felt her cheeks grow hot. "I'm so sorry," she stammered.
The man let out a chuckle and stuck his hand out towards her. "I'm Dinty Carter, and this here is my wife Mandy and my brother Harold." He pointed to the other two people who were with him.
Lexy put her hand out. His handshake was firm and warm. "Lexy Baker." She introduced herself. "You don't sound like you're from around here, were you friends of Chastine’s from back home?"
Mandy let out a snicker, "Haadly, that woman dint have any friends."
Lexy raised her eyebrows. "You didn't like her but you came all the way here from…" She let her voice trail off, she didn't actually know where they were from.
"Texas." Dinty filled in. "Chastine was engaged to our good friend Bob, and … well… she did a numbah on him. Poor man's not been the same since she left him - almost catatonic. Won't talk to anyone, even his own daughter. We felt like we owed it ta him ta come up and see for ourselves - maybe he can git some closure and start ta heal."
“Cripes what did she do to him?” Lexy asked.
Dinty spread his hands and shrugged his wide shoulders. “Lied, cheated and broke his heart.”
Lexy felt sympathy for the man. She looked over into the other room where Chastine lay. Clearly these people must have hated her to make the trip all the way up here - but did they hate her enough to kill her?
***
Lexy spent the next half-hour rambling around the funeral parlor listening covertly to peoples conversations. She talked with a few people she knew from town, but no one had any light to shed on the murder. She was starting to feel conspicuous when Nans found her and announced it was time to go.
They were making their way down the large front steps when Lexy heard a familiar voice behind her.
“There's my favorite girl!” She whirled around to see Jack, her heart swelling. She beamed a wide smile at him, but, instead of rushing over to Lexy, Jack made a beeline straight for Nans. She felt her smile dim just a bit. Encircling the older woman in a hug, Jack winked pointedly at Lexy.
“Mona, how have you been?” Jack asked.
“Wonderful! How about you?” Mona stood on her tip toes, giving Jack a peck on the cheek.
Lexy felt her cheeks grow warm, embarrassed at her momentary misplaced jealousy. Jack lived in the house behind Lexy - the house Nans had lived in for decades. During the last few years, Nans and Jack had become rather close with Jack doing a lot of odd jobs around the house to help her out. Lexy knew Jack admired the spunky old lady and he got a kick out of the Ladies Detective Club. He often tried to help them out by feeding them clues and giving them tips. Nans thought of Jack almost like a grandson, it was no surprise she was his “favorite girl”.
Jack let go of Nans. Moving over next to Lexy, he put his arm around her. “What are you ladies doing here?” He asked, his eyes narrowing at Lexy.
“Nans and the girls wanted to pay their respects to Xavier - they’ve been friends since childhood. I just gave her a ride.” Lexy looked at him sideways from under her lashes, her face a mask of innocence.
Jack gave her a look indicating his skepticism.
“Well, I hope you guys don't get too involved in this case,” He said to Nans and the other ladies. “The killer could be very dangerous. I don't want anything to happen to my favorite girls.” He glanced over at Lexy, his face as hard as stone.
“I better be getting inside...Lexy, I'll see you tomorrow?”
Lexy nodded enthusiastically feeling a warm tingle start in her lower stomach at the thought of seeing Jack for dinner.
Jack nodded, then turned and walked up the steps to the front doors.
“Such a nice young man,” Ruth said.
“And handsome too,” Ida added as she watched him walk away.
The ladies started walking back towards Lexy's car. “So, did anyone find out anything good?” Lexy asked.
“I happened to run into Mavis Fencer - she said Chastine had a lover.” Ruth’s eyes were wide, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Inte
resting…" Lexy chewed her bottom lip. “Maybe the lover was upset she was getting married and killed her - or maybe Xavier found out and killed her in a fit of passion!”
“I heard a few younger people talking about Bronson’s temper, apparently he can be violent when he gets mad. Maybe Chastine made him mad that morning and he did her in?” Helen said, then turning to Lexy, “Did you find anything out?”
“As a matter of fact, I did.” She told them about the Texans, omitting the part about her knocking over the tree.
“Do you think they could have done it?” Helen asked.
“They said they were only here for the wake - to get closure for their friend.”
“I think we should find out how long they have been here. If what they say is true, then they can’t have been here more than a day. Maybe you can check the local hotels to see when they checked in.” She said to Ruth then, looking at the group, she added, “if they were here before she died then their story is a bit fishy.”
“They could have come here from Texas to kill her...anyone could have - to avenge this Bob person.” Lexy thought for a moment. “Actually they said Bob had a daughter - she might have hated Chastine enough to want to kill her after what she did to her father.”
“We need to check into this daughter, find out who she is and, more importantly, where she was when Chastine was murdered.” Nans said, “also, we need to find out who Chastine’s secret lover was.”
Lexy ushered the ladies into the car and got behind the wheel. She felt a sinking sensation in her stomach. They were no closer to solving the murder than they had been that morning. Quite the opposite, in fact, they had come to the wake hoping to narrow things down and had ended up with even more suspects than when they started!
Chapter Thirteen
Lexy sat at the counter in the back of the bakery sorting through the mountain of mail which had accumulated over the past few days. When she got to an envelope with red edges, she felt her heart freeze. It was from the appliance vendor. She ripped it open letting the envelope drift to the floor.
It was due in seven days!
Lexy looked around the kitchen, she couldn't risk having that payment held up by the Toliver murder any longer. She needed to get down to business and catch Chastine’s killer. The only problem was, she still had no idea who might have done it.
She reached into a drawer, pulling out a pen and paper. Mentally running through the list of suspects, she tried to figure out who would be most likely. The people from Texas were a long shot, although, if Bob's daughter could be found, and she was here at the time of the murder, she would be a likely candidate.
She wrote Bob's daughter down on the paper with an asterisk next to it. Then below it wrote Dinty Carter with a dash next to his name.
Lexy had her doubts about Xavier discovering Chastine had a lover and killing her over it - he seemed genuinely upset about her death. She wrote his name down on the paper and lightly crossed it out.
Chastine’s lover was another suspect. Lexy wondered if she actually did have one or if it was just a rumor. It seemed foolish for the woman to jeopardize her upcoming marriage by cheating on Xavier, but Lexy added “Chastine’s lover” to the list just in case.
Trixie could have done it. She certainly was taking advantage of Chastine’s death to rekindle her relationship with Xavier. The incentive of marrying into all that money could easily justify murder in some peoples eyes. Lexy wrote Trixie’s name down on the list under Xavier's and put an asterisk next to it.
Finally, her thoughts turned to Bronson and Blake. Either one of them could have done it. They had means, motive and opportunity so she added their names at the bottom.
She studied the list. Seven suspects. They all had a motive. She figured she could narrow down the list by crossing off the ones who had an alibi for the time of the murder.
Of course, she had no idea who two of the suspects even were, which could make it a little difficult. Maybe she should focus on the ones she did know. The question was which one to focus on first.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the trilling of her phone. It was Nans.
"Hi, Nans," Lexy chirped into the phone.
"Morning!" The older woman bubbled."We have some information about some of the suspects. I wanted to let you know right away.”
Lexy felt her heart grow lighter - she was already making progress!
"Ruth checked with the local hotels. Your friend Dinty Carter and his posse from Texas, arrived only yesterday. She also found out they flew in on a private jet - apparently Dinty has some money. But since the jet only flew in yesterday they couldn't have murdered Chastine."
"Great!" Lexy gingerly crossed Dinty Carter's name off the list.
"And there's more," Nans continued, "Trixie couldn't have murdered her either because she was seen at an after party by hundreds of people. Her picture was even in the paper."
"An after party?"
"Yes Trixie is an actress in the theater downtown - she plays a small role in their rendition of A Midsummer Nights Dream, which just opened this weekend. It's common for them to have a party after the play, which tends to go on until all hours of the night. Ida knows the director and some of the other people in the play - she checked with them - Trixie was there, enjoying herself fully, at two-thirty in the morning."
Lexy felt overjoyed - two down and only five to go! She crossed Trixie's name off the list.
"Thanks a bunch Nan's, this really narrows down my suspect list. Now I've only got to whittle it down to just one person - the killer."
"We did find out one other thing which might help you with that. Helen sent a description of the brooch you said Chastine usually wears - the one you think was ripped from her blouse - out to the local pawn shops and we got a bite. AtoZ Pawn over on Chestnut Street said a man brought a brooch in which sounded similar to what you described. It didn't have a big stone in it though, in fact all the stones had been removed. The man wanted to sell it for the melt value of the gold.
"Did he describe what the man looked like?” Lexy felt her heartbeat speed up.
"Helen tried to pump him for information but all he could remember was that the man was tall, dark and seemed like he was in a bad mood. He also said the man was in a hurry which made him a little suspicious, so he didn't take brooch."
Tall, dark and in a bad mood? That sounded a lot like Bronson. Suddenly Lexy knew exactly who to start focusing on first.
***
Lexy raced out to the front of the store. "Cassie!"
Cassie, who was halfway in the display case straightening out a tower of eclairs turned, looking at Lexy over her shoulder with raised eyebrows.
"Want to go for a ride?" She asked, keys dangling from her fingers.
Cassie straightened up "What? Why?"
"Come on, it's the slow part of the day. Haley can watch the bakery for the rest of the afternoon and then lock up - we have a murderer to catch."
Lexy saw Cassie’s brows scrunch together, her sideways glare begged for an explanation.
"I've narrowed down the suspect list to a few people. I was hoping we could do some covert surveillance on them to see what turns up."
Cassie shrugged. "That doesn't seem like something we should be getting ourselves into, does it?"
Lexy felt confused. Since when did Cassie not want to do something dangerous and, possibly stupid that might get them into trouble with the police?
She walked over to Cassie putting the back of her hand on her friends forehead in an exaggerated manner. “Are you feeling okay? It'll be an adventure - you're always up for an adventure."
Cassie laughed. "Yeah, I guess so, I don't know what came over me. Let me just finish up this case and I'll grab my jacket."
"Great, we have to swing by my house to pickup Sprinkles first. I'll explain more in the car."
***
Twenty minutes later the girls were loaded into the car with Sprinkles balancing contentedly on the console in between them.
Lexi absently patted the dog’s silky fur while she told Cassie what she had learned from Nans.
"But, what do you think you will find out from following Bronson?"
"I'm just hoping we'll get lucky. Maybe today will be the day he tries to dispose of the murder weapon. It still hasn't been found, you know." She glanced sideways at her friend. "I got the bill for the kitchen equipment today - it's due in seven days. I'm kind of in a hurry to help get this case closed up."
Lexi felt Cassie put her hand reassuringly on her arm. "Don't worry Lexy, even if you don't get the payment we’ll work something out. You will eventually get paid for this job."
"I know, but I don't want to be delinquent on that bill - it could cause a whole lot of problems for us."
The girls fell silent as they got closer to the Toliver mansion. Lexy let off the gas, driving past the house slowly. The Toliver mansion sat next to a nature preserve with walking trials. Lexy pulled her car into the small parking lot for the preserve. She grabbed a pair of binoculars from the backseat.
"It’s such a beautiful Indian summer day, I was thinking we could go for a walk in the woods - you know, under the guise of walking the dog, and doing some bird watching with these binoculars. No one needs to know the birds we are watching are the ones in the Toliver house."
Lexy snapped on Sprinkles dog leash. Jumping out of the car, she left the door open for the little dog to follow. Cassie was already out. Removing her jacket, she tossed it in the back seat.
“It’s so warm out, almost like summer!” She stretched turning her face up to the sun.
Sprinkles tugged at the leash, eager to explore. The girls followed her lead, heading down the path.
They walked in silence, enjoying the sounds of the birds, the earthy smell of the woods and the sounds of dry leaves crunching under their feet. They stopped to let Sprinkles explore and sniff along the way. Every so often, they got out the binoculars and trained them on the Toliver house.
Dying For Danish (A Lexy Baker Bakery Mystery) Page 6
