“Yeah, exactly.” Endora’s laugh was brittle. “You were a means to an end. I had to have somewhere to stash the loot.”
Mario glanced at the painting he couldn’t remember owning.
“You’re the brains behind the heist!” Ida said.
Nans gave Lexy a look, indicating she’d come to that conclusion about five minutes ago when she tried to shut Helen up.
“Yeah, planned it for months. I’ve kept up with my acrobatic training.” Endora gestured to her slim body. “One needs to be able to leap, to do backbends and cartwheels to sidestep the laser security beams. And don’t even ask about the mini-trampoline. That’s what got me inside.”
“Mini-trampoline?” Ida asked. “You mean like a rebounder? You know those things are good for the lymph nodes. Great exercise. So, you got into the Broadmoore house somehow and then rebounded into an open area of the security and acrobated your way to the loot?”
Endora nodded, clearly pleased with herself. “Took a lot of choreography to plan that.”
“You did all this alone?” William asked.
“Nah, I enlisted the aid of Georgie, Bella, and Julio.” Endora tilted her head as if thinking. “Oh, and some guy that Julio knew. Vinny. He was our fall guy.”
“Who are Georgie, Bella, and Julio?” Helen asked.
“More members of the family. Of course, we were going to have to wait a while to get all the money from the sale of the items. We were selling things off a little at a time so as not to raise suspicion. I had the perfect place to store the rest of them—right here in plain sight.” Endora gestured toward the vases with the flowers and the painting Mario didn’t remember.
“You mean you’ve been using me to store stolen goods?” Mario asked.
Endora smiled. “Yeah, sorry, sweetie. But you’d find out sooner or later that you’re not my type. I prefer someone much younger.”
“Well, that’s a bit of a relief,” Mario said. “You’re not really my type, either. Hard to keep up with, plus you’re not really warm and fuzzy. And that explains why there were some vases and antique items here I did not remember. I thought I was going senile.”
Ruth patted his arm. “Memory lapses happen to the best of us, Mario.”
Mario smiled at Ruth, then his expression turned to a frown as his gaze drifted to Endora. “And you killed Rosa and Ruby.”
“I had to. They were onto me. Rosa had discovered some of the items here and was asking a lot of questions. After Rosa died, Ruby got it in her head that Henry was innocent and started asking a lot of questions that made me uncomfortable.” Endora shrugged. “I did what I had to do.”
Mario shook his head. “But you said that you heard Henry and Rosa fighting and he threatened to kill her? You lied about that?”
Endora shrugged. “He was the perfect person to frame. I happen to know he has other scandalous secrets.”
Lexy remembered Muriel mentioning something about a scandal and how Henry clammed up when they asked him about it. But if the scandal wasn’t related to the heist or the murder, then what was his big secret? She didn’t have time to dwell on that, though, because Endora looked like she was getting a bit anxious with the gun.
“You let an innocent man go to jail.” Mario looked at Endora with disgust. “You’re despicable.”
“Well, a girl has to look out for number one,” Endora said.
“And you killed two members of our family!” William added.
“Your family, not mine. Oh, sure, Ruby and Rosa were members of the extended Circo Acrobata family, but they were going to turn me in. What family member does that?” Endora asked. “And if Ruby had just minded her own business, she’d still be alive. When I got wind she was going to prove Henry was innocent, I had no choice but to kill her.”
“How could you kill those innocent girls?” Mario asked.
“Actually, it was easy. I guess keeping in shape paid off because it wasn’t hard to overcome them even though they were younger. Of course, it did help knowing exactly where to puncture the neck.” Endora pointed to a spot on her own neck. “They bleed out pretty quick if you get them in the right spot. Sadly, it looks like I’m going to have to kill all of you now, too.”
“Ha! How are you going to do that with one gun? There are seven of us,” Ida pointed out.
“No worries. I have a plan that will put most of you out of commission before you even know what hit you.” Endora slid the hand not holding the gun into the drawer. In lightning-fast moves, she whipped out several knives in quick succession.
Thwack!
Thwack!
Thwack!
Her aim was perfect, targeting Nans and the ladies right in the heart. Luckily, Nans and the ladies had lightning-fast moves themselves. Each of them whipped their patent leather purses up in front of their chests like a shiny shield.
The knives thudded into the purses, sticking straight out. Lexy held her breath, but the knives didn’t penetrate.
The ladies looked down at their purses, surprise registering on their wrinkled faces.
“Wow, I knew these patent leather purses from Macy’s were high quality, but this takes the cake!” Ruth said.
“Speaking of cake,” Ida turned to Endora and said, “you brought corn muffins to Rosa, didn’t you?”
Endora, who had been reaching into the drawer, probably for more knives, paused. “Yeah, so?”
“That’s a big clue to the identity of the killer. The police know all about it. And there’s a clue that points to you right in the dining room,” Ida said
Endora faltered. “What do you mean?”
“The box from Sugar Daddies. Proves you frequent that shop, and I’m sure if the police go to that bakery and show them your picture, they will recognize you as having purchased corn muffins with sugar crystals on top.” Ida looked her up and down. “You are, after all, rather memorable.”
“That’s right,” Nans agreed. “So you better make sure to get rid of that evidence when you are getting rid of us.”
The comment must have done the trick of distracting Endora because she seemed to forget all about the drawer. She kept the gun on them, though, so no one could make a move on her just yet, but Lexy knew that Nans had a plan.
“What box?” Endora asked.
“It’s right there on the floor next to the server.” Ida tilted her head toward the dining room.
Endora looked like she was considering the fact that Ida could have been leading her on, but her curiosity about the box got the better of her. She stepped toward the dining room. When she was farther than arm’s length from the knife drawer, Mario yelled out, “I’ve got her!”
With a speed and agility that belied his age, he leaped into the air and landed on Endora. The two of them thudded to the floor.
Crack! The gun went off, and Mario lay still on top of Endora.
Ruth rushed to his side. “Mario! Mario! Speak to me!”
Chapter 22
“Get off of me!” Endora yelled as she wriggled and squirmed to get out from underneath Mario.
Finally, Mario moved, and Ruth breathed a sigh of relief. He tried to grab on to Endora, but his gnarled, weak arthritic hands had a hard time keeping hold of her while she kicked and beat at him.
“Out of the way!” William yelled. He spun and plucked the knife out of Nans’s purse then aimed it at Mario.
“No!” Ruth yelled.
William threw the knife then quickly plucked the knives out of the other purses and threw them toward Mario and Endora.
At first, Lexy thought he was throwing them at Mario. Was he in cahoots with Endora? But as she peered around Nans’s shoulder, she saw that wasn’t the case at all. William had aimed expertly, and the knives had pierced only the material of Endora’s jumpsuit, thus pinning her arms and legs down as if she were in a straitjacket.
William rushed over to help Mario up. “Are you okay, Uncle?”
“Yes, yes. Thank you, William.” Mario patted William on the shoulder
then turned to Nans and the ladies. “Ladies, I think I owe you an apology. I had no idea Endora was such a snake.”
“Sorry that you had to find out this way.” Ruth put a comforting hand on Mario’s arm.
“And Helen, I apologize for moving the signs and following you.” Mario looked down at Endora and shook his head. “That was all her idea. She said you were trying to get the murder charge against Henry dropped, and I couldn’t have that. She had me convinced that Henry killed my granddaughter. I’ve done him a terrible disservice, and now I must make it right. If you will excuse me, I must get to the prison right away.”
Helen glanced at her watch. “But the voting is in one hour. Don’t you want to be there to persuade those who haven’t made up their minds yet?”
Mario opened the front door. “This is more important. I told the police I thought Henry was guilty, and the least I can do is make sure Henry doesn’t spend one more minute in jail!” Mario opened the front door then turned to William. “Will you call the police and make sure Endora gets into their custody?”
“Of course, Uncle.” Mario whipped out his phone and dialed 911.
“We’ll stick around too, just in case,” Ruth said.
Mario nodded and went out the door.
Ruth turned to Helen. “See, Mario isn’t such a bad guy.”
“Other than his choice in women.” Helen glanced back at Endora, who was cursing and struggling on the floor. “But you and Mario might make a nice couple, now that he’s single. I guess I really was wrong about him.”
“You being wrong isn’t what’s important,” Ruth said as the wail of sirens grew louder.
“What is?” Helen asked.
“That I was right.”
“What’s really important is that no one got hurt and we caught the killer,” Nans said.
“No one got hurt? Then why is Ida’s purse bleeding?” Lexy pointed to the purse, where a blob of red had oozed out and was dripping down the front.
Ida looked down. “Oh, darn!” She snapped the purse open and pulled out a red-stained napkin. “That knife went right into the middle of the jelly donut I had in my purse!”
Chapter 23
One week later…
The Brook Ridge Falls Retirement Center buzzed with excitement as Lexy rearranged the platters of pastries and cookies that were set up on the long tables lining one side of the room. It was Helen’s first free-coffee Saturday since she’d been elected president of the community center, and she wanted everything to be perfect.
Lexy had offered to provide pastries at no cost as long as she could put a little card behind the trays with her bakery name and logo. Even if she wasn’t making money on the baked goods, it would pay off. This kind of advertising was worth its weight in gold.
She’d loaded the tables with a good assortment of cookies, brownies, scones, and cupcakes. No corn muffins, though… they’d had enough of those.
“I think the black purse is more classic.” Nans held her new purse up to show the ladies. They’d all gotten new purses after Endora had ruined their old ones with the knives.
“Maybe, but it’s not suitable for all seasons.” Ruth held her purse up. “I like beige because it goes with everything and can be used year-round. Black is too dark for summer.”
“I think navy is smart and a little different. Not as formal as black but doesn’t get as dirty as beige.” Ida snapped her purse open and shoved a napkin-wrapped cookie inside. When she noticed everyone looking at her, she said, “What? I might need a little snack for later.”
“No matter what color, they make good shields,” Helen joked.
“Yeah, we know how to pull out all the stops,” Ida said. “And I think we can safely say we cracked the case of Rosa Maguire’s murder.”
“And Helen still managed to get elected president of the community center even though she spent a lot of time investigating the case,” Nans said.
“Well, I do feel like I was the best person for the job, but it turns out Mario isn’t so bad after all.” Helen’s gaze drifted past Lexy’s shoulder. “Oh, here he comes. If you ladies will excuse me, I have an announcement to make.”
Helen met Mario just inside the door, and the two of them shook hands and walked together to the front of the room.
“I wonder what she’s up to,” Nans said.
Ida shook her head. “Knowing Helen, it could be anything.”
Ruth’s forehead creased in concern. “Is she making an announcement with Mario? I hope they aren’t getting married or anything.”
“Attention! Attention!” Helen’s loud voice hushed the crowd, and everyone turned toward her expectantly. “As many of you know, the unfortunate incident that resulted in the community center president vacancy also resulted in a vacancy for the office of treasurer.”
The crowd mumbled and whispered. A few of them glanced back at Lexy, who busied herself with the pastries. Not that any of that had been her fault, but since both of those openings had stemmed from the community center president having been found dead in one of her pies, she was a little sensitive about it.
“As you know,” Helen continued, “the position of treasurer is appointed by the president and I, as your newly elected president of the community center, appoint Mario Blondini as community center treasurer!”
The crowd applauded, and Mario shook Helen’s hand, looking quite pleased with himself.
“Oh, well, that was nice of Helen.” Ruth looked relived that the announcement wasn’t of more of a personal nature.
“Looks like our opponents have become allies.” Jack picked a brownie off the tray and gave Lexy a peck on the cheek.
“Hi, Jack.” Nans tilted her cheek so he could give her a peck too. “Great to see you. Not working the weekend shift?”
“Nope. Got the day off, and I wanted to spend it with my wife.”
“That’s nice,” Ida said. “I guess there’s nothing for you to do now that we solved the Rosa Maguire case.”
Jack frowned. “Well, I don’t know if there’s nothing for me to do, but we did appreciate your help on that one.”
“Actually, we solved three cases—Rosa’s, Ruby’s, and the Broadmoore heist,” Helen said as she and Mario joined the circle. Lexy noticed that Ruth managed to maneuver so she was next to Mario.
“I want to thank you ladies again for finding my granddaughter’s real killer.” Mario shook his head. “I can’t believe she had me convinced it was Henry.”
“I knew it wasn’t Henry all along.” They all shuffled around to make room for Muriel and Henry Maguire. Muriel turned to Nans. “And I thank you ladies very much for proving it.”
“And thank you, Mario, for coming straight to the prison as soon as you knew the truth,” Henry said to Mario. “It means a lot.”
Mario had rushed to the prison after they’d captured Endora, but of course, they didn’t let Henry out on his say-so. Once Jack had relayed that they had a full confession in front of several witnesses, the paperwork was started, and Henry was released pretty quickly.
“We’re happy that we could be a part of Henry’s release. We certainly don’t want to see an innocent man go to jail.” Nans frowned at Henry. “There’s just one thing that we never figured out.”
“What’s that?” Henry asked.
“Why did you lie about someone dying at the hospital that night, and where were you? There’s is a gap in the timeline, so you must have gone somewhere, but you never said where,” Nans said.
“Maybe it had to do with the scandal.” Ida glanced at Muriel. “We never found out what that was either.”
Henry’s cheeks turned red, and he glanced around the circle. He looked like he was considering running off. Jack took notice, scrutinizing him carefully. Everyone leaned in as Henry opened his mouth to speak.
“It’s true, I did lie about that night. I panicked because I couldn’t let anyone find out where I really was. Lots of lives are at stake.” Henry looked at them imploringly.
&nb
sp; Ida scowled. “What in the world are you talking about? Spit it out.”
Henry took a deep breath. “You see, I’m in an underground humanitarian effort. A few of the other doctors and I supply insulin to the homeless. That’s the so-called scandal.”
“You steal insulin from the hospital?” Ruth asked.
Henry shook his head. “Not steal. We buy it with our own money. But since buying it from the hospital that way is a special case, there was a glitch one time and it appeared as if some insulin was missing. We have a legal clinic designation, so buying it is all within regulation, but something got messed up.”
“So what does that have to do with you lying about what happened that night?” Ida was still skeptical.
Henry leaned in and lowered his voice. “We take the insulin to the homeless people because they won’t come in for treatment. A few of them are diabetic, and it’s hard enough to get them to treat themselves. We do have an official clinic, and we’re not supposed to be going out on the streets. All the doctors involved would lose their licenses. That’s why I lied. I was protecting them. I’m only telling you now because you all worked hard to clear my name, and I trust you won’t tell anyone.” Henry looked at Jack.
“Sounds like you’re doing a good deed. I’m going to forget all about it once I leave here,” Jack said.
“Me too,” Nans added.
The others echoed the same sentiment, and Henry relaxed.
“That explains the loitering charge, too,” Nans said, and everyone nodded.
“So, everything has turned out as good as can be.” Mario’s voice was cheery, but his face turned sad. “Except we can’t bring Rosa or Ruby back.”
“Unfortunately not,” Ruth said.
“But we can look forward to new beginnings.” Mario put one arm around Henry and the other around Ruth. “And to new friendships, trust, and the truth.”
“Hear, hear!” Everyone raised their coffees in a mock toast.
Jack turned to Lexy. “Speaking of trust and the truth, do you have something to tell me?”
Lexy had procrastinated telling Jack about her visit to the prison. She wondered how he had even found out. Luckily, he didn’t look mad.
Ain't Seen Muffin Yet (Lexy Baker Cozy Mystery Series Book 15) Page 11
