“Let’s see what’s in here.” She sorted through the pile, throwing each piece down on the table after she looked at it. “Bills, bills, bills, catalog, letter …”
“Why are there always so many bills and never any checks?” Vera joked.
“I know.” Lexy laughed. “Well none of this needs immediate attention.” She frowned at the letter. She didn’t recognize the handwriting or the name on the return address. Probably someone sending her wedding wishes.
“You look exhausted,” Vera said. “I have some beef stew cooking in the crock pot, why don’t you come over and eat with us?”
“That would be great, Mom.”
“Oh good.” Vera clapped her hands. “We only have a few more days together until you go on your honeymoon and we take off again in the big rig, and we want to see as much of you as we can.”
“Me too.” Lexy got up and hugged her mother as they started out the door. She was careful to close it and lock it before turning to follow her mother to the RV. She was just starting across the lawn with Sprinkles running circles around her ankles when something at the end of the street caught her eye.
Her stomach lurched—was that the tail end of a black car disappearing around the corner?
Lexy hesitated then realized she was just being paranoid. How many black cars were there in Brooke Ridge Falls? It was probably just one of the neighbors driving home. She followed Vera into the RV, stopping at the door to cast one last nervous glance over her shoulder, to make sure the street was empty before she went inside.
20
Lexy plumped her pillow and rolled over to face the windows. The sun streaming in through the leaves on the big oak tree out front created a kaleidoscope of light on her floor and bedspread.
It was going to be another beautiful day. Lexy smiled as she reached under the covers to pet Sprinkles. Today was the day before her wedding and, now that the messy triple murder was soon to be resolved, she could relax and focus on starting her new life as Mrs. Jack Perillo. Which meant she better get going—she had to run some last minute errands or there might not be a wedding tomorrow.
She jumped into the shower, and then changed into a pair of comfy jeans and a plain black tee-shirt. Tying her hair in a ponytail, she grabbed her white hoodie, put Sprinkles into her harness and then headed out the door with the little dog at her side.
Lexy drove downtown, glancing every few minutes in the rear-view mirror. She was still a little spooked by the black car she thought she kept seeing, but no one followed her. Maybe Davies had already arrested the killer.
“Are you ready for a spa treatment?” Lexy asked Sprinkles as she pulled up in front of the Pretty Paws dog grooming. Sprinkles looked out the window then eyed Lexy dubiously. Clearly, the dog was not fooled by the word ‘spa’.
Lexy got out of the car and came around to the passenger side to collect Sprinkles. She opened the door and tugged on the leash. Sprinkles hopped out grudgingly.
“You’re gonna like this Sprinks. I promise,” Lexy said as she pulled the dog into the groomers.
Lexy handed Sprinkles over to the girl behind the desk and walked out to the sidewalk, enjoying the sun warming her shoulders. It was already seventy degrees—she wouldn’t need her hoodie today. She unzipped the sweatshirt and threw it into her car, then opted to walk the three blocks to the caterer where she finalized the appetizer selection and gave the menu her final approval.
She took her time on the way back, looking in the shop windows. She spotted a Gucci bag she would have loved, but couldn’t quite afford. She stopped in front of the chocolatier, her mouth watering at the fancy chocolates in the window and the smell of rich chocolate that filled the air.
She was debating on whether she should buy a hunk of almond bark when she saw the reflection of a black car in the window. Her heart froze and she whirled around just in time to see it disappearing around the corner.
Was it the same car she’d seen before?
She hadn’t gotten a good enough look to be sure but she hurried back to the safety of her car anyway. Sitting inside, she adjusted the rear view mirror to look at the traffic. After a few minutes with no black car in sight, she relaxed.
Probably just my overactive imagination.
She glanced at her watch. With two more hours until she could pick up Sprinkles, now was the perfect time to check in at the bakery. She pulled out of her parking spot and pointed her car toward The Cup and Cake.
“So Davies doesn’t think you’re the killer anymore?” Cassie asked after Lexy had filled her in on the information the ladies had dug up.
“Well, she hasn’t exactly said as much, but since she hasn’t arrested me, I feel pretty confident that she’s ruled me out.” Lexy poured herself a french vanilla coffee from the self-serve station in the café section of The Cup and Cake, then sat down at the table across from Cassie. The girls had spent the last two hours baking a batch of pies and were now taking a well-deserved break.
“But the killer still thinks you know something … or have something, right?” Cassie narrowed her eyes at Lexy over the steaming mug of herbal tea she held up to her lips.
Lexy looked across the street at the falls. The soothing motion of the cascading water contrasted with the feeling of uneasiness that was creeping into her chest. “I’m not sure. I have no idea what they were looking for in there.”
Cassie’s phone chirped and she dug for it in her pocket. “It’s a text from John. Let me text him back and see if he knows anything about the case.”
Lexy sipped her coffee while Cassie used her thumbs to message John. A few seconds later, her phone chirped again.
“No one has been arrested,” Cassie said.
“Do they have any suspects?” Lexy asked.
Cassie thumb typed into her phone again, then set it on the table and took a bite of the cannoli she’d swiped from the case.
The phone chirped again and Cassie picked it up. “He says he doesn’t know if there are any suspects but he said he heard Davies say something about putting a tail on you.”
Lexy’s brow creased. Was it Davies in the black car she kept seeing?
“That’s crazy, why would they want to follow me?” Lexy asked.
Cassie shrugged. “Maybe she thinks you are going to lead her to a clue … or incriminate yourself somehow.”
“Incriminate myself? But I didn’t do anything!”
“Well you know that and I know that, but Davies … I’m not so sure what she knows.”
Lexy chewed on her bottom lip and tapped her finger on the glass tabletop. What if Davies still thought she was involved and arrested her before the wedding … or told her she couldn’t leave town on her honeymoon? Perhaps she’d been too hasty in assuming Nans’ information would give Davies what she needed to arrest the real killer.
She stared out the window at the falls. The sun was just at the right angle so that it reflected like jewels off the rushing water. With a start, Lexy realized it was late afternoon. She pushed herself away from the table.
“I better get going. I have to pick up Sprinkles at the groomers and then go home and get ready for the rehearsal dinner.”
“Rehearsal dinner? Oh, is that tonight?” Cassie scrunched her brow and tilted her head at Lexy.
Lexy had a moment of panic … then realized her friend was teasing. “Very funny. You and John will be there, right? I mean you are the maid of honor and best man.”
“Of course,” Cassie said. “Eight o’clock on the dot.”
“Okay. See you then,” Lexy said and then downed her coffee before rushing out the door to her car.
21
The reception area at Pretty Paws was packed full. Lexy tapped her foot impatiently while she waited for her turn. In front of her, a woman tried to keep the leashes of her two Yorkies from getting tangled as they zigzagged in between her legs. In front of the Yorkies, a man jerked the leash of his Golden Retriever to distract it from growling at the Great Dane that was in front
of him.
Lexy had been taking Sprinkles to Pretty Paws for years now and she’d never seen it so crowded. Shannon, the harried woman at the reception desk, seemed like she could barely keep up.
“Are you giving away free grooming? I’ve never seen it so crowded here,” Lexy said when it was finally her turn.
Shannon sighed, brushing wisps of hair that had escaped from her ponytail out of her face. “I know, it’s been crazy. Guess I won’t complain though because business is good.” She frowned at Lexy. “What brings you back here?”
“I’m here to pick up Sprinkles. I dropped her off earlier, remember?”
“Yes, of course, but your sister picked her up about fifteen minutes ago.”
Lexy’s forehead pleated. “Sister? I don’t have a sister. You must have me confused with someone else.”
“Let me double check.” Shannon rifled through some papers on the desk, pulling one out and handing it to Lexy.
“Yep, right here. Your sister Lavinia picked her up,” she said as she motioned for the person behind Lexy to hand over their dogs.
Lexy frowned at the paper, her stomach sinking. Lavinia? Who the heck was Lavinia?
“No, really. I don’t have a sister. This must be a mix-up.” Totally understandable given the chaos that was going on right now, Lexy thought.
Shannon gave her an exasperated look as she tried to separate a Wheaton Terrier and Springer Spaniel that were having a spat.
“Honestly, Lexy. I distinctly remember handing Sprinkles to her. Medium height, fluffy dark hair. You can go back and check the kennels if you want.” Shannon jerked her head toward the back of the store then turned her attention to the next customer.
Medium height? Fluffy dark hair?
An uneasy feeling crept into Lexy’s stomach just as her cell phone went off. She yanked it out of her pocket. A number she didn’t recognize flashed on the screen, but something told her to answer the call. She turned away from the reception desk and flipped the phone open.
“Hello?”
“Listen up, Baker. If you want to see your precious pooch alive, then do exactly as I say.”
Lexy’s heart twisted. She could hear Sprinkles barking in the background. “Who is this?”
The menacing laugh that came out of the phone chilled Lexy’s blood. “Don’t you recognize my voice? It’s your old enemy … and yes, that is Sprinkles you hear barking. Now, if you don’t want her to get hurt, bring your wedding dress to six four three East Pearl at six-thirty p.m. Enter by the door on the side … and come alone.”
“My dress? Why would you want that?” Lexy’s question was answered with the hollow click of the call being disconnected. But she’d recognized the voice and she knew who was on the other end. Ramona.
Panic gripped her as she shoved the phone back into her purse.
Sprinkles was in trouble!
She ran out to her car and called the first person she could think of to help—Nans.
Tears blurred Lexy’s eyes as she looked through her cell phone contacts for Nans. Pressing the number, she could feel her heartbeat pounding with each ring. Please answer.
“Hi, Lexy I was jus—”
Lexy cut her off. “Ramona’s kidnapped Sprinkles!”
Nans gasped. “What?”
“She pretended to be my sister and picked her up at the groomers,” Lexy said.
“Why would she do that?”
“She wants me to bring my wedding dress to some building on the pier tonight. She says she’ll hurt Sprinkles if I don’t. What should I do?”
“Ahh. It all makes perfect sense now,” Nans said. “Especially with what Millie just told me about the stones Philippe told her to sew into the gown.”
“Huh? What stones? This doesn’t make any sense to me,” Lexy said feeling even more confused than before.
“Well I don’t have time to explain it now,” Nans said. “How quickly do you think Vera can sew up a wedding dress?”
Lexy felt her brows knit together. “I don’t know. Why?”
“Because I have an idea on how we can catch our killer. But we’ll have to hurry. We need to get Vera to work on the dress pronto and pay a visit to Detective Davies … and we don’t have much time.”
22
Lexy’s heart hammered in her chest as she stood in front of 643 East Pearl Street clutching the wedding dress decoy her mother had made. East Pearl was in the seedy section of town, the streetlights had been smashed years ago and she could barely make out the numbers in the dim light.
Resisting the urge to run, she reached out for the knob and turned. The door opened into a dark warehouse.
“Hello?”
“Woof!”
“Sprinkles!” Lexy’s heart surged and she ran toward the sound.
“So, you made it.” The voice came from the shadows behind her and Lexy spun around. Two figures with guns stood in the corner.
“Bring the dress over,” Ramona said.
“I want to see Sprinkles first,” Lexy demanded.
A light flicked on at the far end and Lexy could see Sprinkles snuggled in a dog bed inside a large crate. Sprinkles thumped her tail against the side of the crate.
“She’s fine,” Ramona said. “Now give us what we want.”
Lexy walked slowly over to the corner, her eyes slowly adjusting to the dim light. She sucked in a breath as the other person stepped out from behind Ramona.
“Eddie?”
“That’s right; me and Eddie and Stu were all in on it together. Bet you and your nosey grandma didn’t figure that one out,” Ramona said. “Now hand over the dress.”
She held the hand without the gun out and Lexy shoved the dress at her.
“What’s so interesting about the dress?” Lexy asked, hoping that Ramona didn’t inspect it too carefully—Vera hadn’t had much time to make it and it was a barely passable copy of Lexy’s gown.
“You didn’t figure that out?” Ramona squinted at the top of the dress, and then held it up toward Lexy. “It’s these stones. They aren’t regular rhinestones—they’re diamonds.”
“Diamonds?”
“That’s right,” Eddie cut in. “We planned the heist at the Telbourne, and paid Philippe to sew the stones into Veronica’s dress.”
“Except we didn’t know they were making an identical dress for you.” Ramona glared at Lexy.
“And somehow the dresses got switched,” Eddie said.
Lexy’s brows creased. “So that’s why my dress didn’t fit as good on that last fitting.”
“Right-o!” Ramona said.
“And you were all in on this together?” Lexy asked.
“Umm … yeah, I think we already covered that,” Ramona said.
“But why sew them into a dress?” Lexy asked.
“It was the easiest way to smuggle them out of the country,” Eddie said. “With Stu and Veronica getting married in Paris, it was perfect … Until Stu started trying to get more than his share.”
“And that’s why you killed him,” Lexy said.
Eddie nodded. “And we had to take care of Philippe too. He knew too much. I just wish I didn’t have to kill Veronica. She didn’t know anything about it.”
“Well, you dirty rotten scoundrels,” Lexy said.
“What?” Ramona and Eddie both scrunched their faces at her.
“I said … you dirty rotten scoundrels.” Lexy repeated louder this time as she glanced behind her.
Where was Davies? Hadn’t she said the right code words?
“Okay, now that we have the dress, what do we do with her?” Eddie jerked his head in Lexy’s direction.
Ramona’s laugh turned Lexy’s insides to mush.
“The joke’s on you Eddie,” Ramona said as she pointed her gun at him.
“What the heck?” Eddie pointed his gun at Ramona.
“I took the liberty of relieving your gun of its bullets,” Ramona said.
Lexy saw Eddie’s face turn hard and he squeezed the trigger
. Lexy flinched but the gun only made a dull clicking sound. Ramona really had removed the bullets.
“I figured that with Stu out of the way, I might as well keep the profits for myself,” Ramona said.
“How are you going to do that?” Eddie asked.
“That’s easy.” Ramona gestured with her gun for Eddie to stand next to Lexy. “It turns out you couldn’t live without Lexy … couldn’t stand to see her marry another man.”
“What?” Lexy asked. “No one is going to believe that—we didn’t even know each other until two days ago.”
“Oh, they’ll believe it.” Ramona snickered. “Especially once they get the letter Eddie sent to you saying that if he can’t have you no one can, and begging you to meet him here.”
Lexy remembered the strange letter she’d found in the previous night’s mail and her stomach churned. Had Ramona really gone that far?
“Oh, and if they don’t believe that, wait until they find your panties at Eddie’s house and his necklace at yours.”
Eddie looked down at his chest. “So that’s where my necklace went—you took it!”
Ramona nodded.
“Wait. How’d you get my panties?”
“It was me that broke into your house,” Ramona said proudly.
“You broke into my house to steal my panties?” Lexy stared at Ramona incredulously.
“Actually I broke in to get the dress, the panty stealing was just extra,” Ramona said. “And, of course, I took the opportunity to plant the necklace.”
“Now, all I have to do is make it look like Eddie killed you, then turned the gun on himself.” Ramona shrugged. “Stuff like that happens all the time. And since I left the video tapes showing Eddie and Stu stealing that scepter at the Telbourne, the police will be so happy to catch their thieves and the killer they won’t even look any further … and I’ll be on my way to Rio with the diamonds.”
“You won’t get away with this you dirty rotten scoundrel!” Lexy yelled the code words that Davies had given her.
Lexy Baker Cozy Mystery Series Boxed Set Vol 2 (Books 5 - 7) (Lexy Baker Cozy Mysteries Boxed Sets) Page 33
