Brownies, Bodies and Bad Guys (6 page)

The truth was that Jack hadn’t given her any indication that he
did
have feelings for Simone. In fact, he’d gone out of his way to show her that he
didn’t
. And he did make a point of letting Simone know he was engaged to her when he introduced them last night.

She dumped the rest of the ingredients into the butter and sugar mixture working them together with a spatula.

And Jack
did
keep texting her today, which, at least meant he was thinking about her. She was probably reading too much into the whole thing. Lexy resolved to keep an open mind tonight when she went over to his place to grill out.

Lexy looked down at the rich, dark brown mixture in the bowl, and grabbed her secret ingredient … a bottle of Kahlua. She measured about a quarter cup into the bowl and mixed it in, then took a tasting spoon and scooped up a spoonful.

The brownie mix melted in her mouth, the chocolate was velvety smooth and the espresso and Kahlua gave it a deep, rich taste. Perfect! She put down the spoon and scraped the batter into a pan.

“Yoo-hoo, Lexy! We brought back your trays.” Nans appeared in the kitchen doorway, holding her empty serving trays along with a few napkins and plates they apparently hadn’t used at the memorial.

“Thanks. You can throw them on the counter,” Lexy said over her shoulder as she shoved the brownie pan into the oven.

“Do you have time to take a break, dear? We have a lot to talk about from everything we learned at the memorial, and you have to tell us more about that blonde girl … Simone, was it?”

Lexy rolled her eyes. She could see what Nans was up to. Nans knew she couldn’t resist trying to figure things out. Lexy figured the older woman’s plan was to keep Lexy in the loop about the investigation thinking that eventually her curiosity would take over and she’d be in the thick of it with them.

But Lexy had other, more important things on her mind right now—like a wedding to plan and an ex-girlfriend to fend off. The problem was that she could never refuse Nans, so she pushed off the counter she was leaning on and followed her out to the front.

###

Lexy poured an extra strong coffee for herself and plopped down in one of the cafe chairs, wishing she’d gone home for a nap instead of coming to the bakery.

“Everyone loved your pastries at the memorial,” Ruth said.

“Thanks. How did it go after I left?”

Ruth’s eyebrows pressed together adding another layer of creases to her already wrinkled brow. “I was surprised none of his family got up to talk about him. Reverend Peters gave a lovely eulogy though.”

“I’m not surprised given what most of them had to say about him,” Nans said.

Helen nodded. “Yeah, he wasn’t well liked in his own family, but do you think any of them disliked him enough to kill him?”

“I don’t know. But some of them seemed concerned about the will. I think a few of them were down and out, and needed money,” Ida said.

“We should make a note to look into their finances.” Nans turned to Ruth. “Do you have a list of the relatives?”

Ruth nodded.

“Okay, let’s find out which ones needed money. The missing will could be a factor too.” Nans tapped her bottom lip with her index finger. “I wonder if someone was afraid they were being written out of the will and is looking for it so they can destroy it. Then they would have to revert to his old will … the one the lawyer has.”

Everyone turned to look at Ruth.

“It could be … he never discussed it with me,” Ruth said.

“And we need to find out what type of gun he was killed with, and then see if any of the relatives own that type of gun.” Nans looked at Helen with her brows raised.

“That should be easy,” Helen said. “I can find out online if any of them had guns registered. Of course, they could still have a gun they didn’t register, but there’s no way for us to find out about that.”

“The way I see it, we have two possible motives. One is that he was killed so the killer could take the will … or whatever it is they are looking for. The other is that someone got mad and killed him in a fit of anger.” Nans ticked the items off on her fingers.

“And a third possible motive,” said Ida, “is that his involvement in organized crime is what got him killed.”

“You mean, like a mob hit?” Ruth asked.

Ida nodded.

“I doubt he was still involved in anything like that …” Ruth let her voice trail off.

“We should still keep it open as an option,” Helen said.

“The person who killed him might not necessarily be the one searching for whatever it is they are searching for.” Ida took a sip of tea, her keen blue eyes sparkled at them over the rim of the cup.

“Right,” Nans said. “He might have been killed for one reason and now his relatives are taking the opportunity to try to find the new will … or maybe they are looking for something else entirely.”

“How much money did he have anyway? It would have to be a lot to be worth killing over, I would think,” Helen said.

“That’s the thing,” Ruth said. “I don’t think he had a lot, I mean he never
spent
a lot. I guess I don’t know how much he had socked away. For all I know he had a million bucks hidden in various nooks and crannies and that’s why everyone is searching his stuff.”

“We’ll have to look into that,” Nans said. “Maybe we can hack into his bank accounts.”

Lexy could feel her eyelids getting heavy. She looked out the window, as the ladies droned on about the different possible scenarios surrounding Nunzio’s death. The waterfall looked cool and refreshing. People were strolling by on the sidewalk enjoying the summer day, most of them wearing shorts and tee-shirts in summer colors.

Except for the two guys on the opposite side of the street, who seemed to be looking right in the window at them. Lexy narrowed her eyes toward the men. Something was familiar about them … their dark suits out of place on the hot summer day. Had she seen them at the memorial?

“Lexy!” Nans tapped the table in front of her, startling her.

“Yes?”

“Tell us about Simone. What’s she got to do with Jack?”

“He introduced her to me as an old friend, but Cassie said she’s an ex-girlfriend.”

The ladies eyes all went wide.

“Jack dated someone from the Mob?” Helen asked.

“Well, not really. Simone isn’t from the Mob. He probably didn’t know the grandfather was—if he even was. Anyway, that was all a long time ago.”

Nans narrowed her eyes. “You should try to get more information out of him. I bet he knows something that could be pertinent to our investigation.”

“I doubt he would tell me. You know how closed mouthed he can be. Anyway, I don’t really want to get involved. Even though I can see that you are trying to drag me in.” Lexy smiled at Nans fondly.

“Sorry, dear. It’s just that we so love having you in on things with us.”

The other women nodded and Lexy felt her stomach clench, then she remembered this was probably part of Nans’s plan—make her feel guilty so she’d join in the investigation.

“Let’s not forget about the key,” Helen said.

“Yes … the key.” Nans pressed her lips together. “It’s rather small so it must go to some sort of locker or a small box or safe. Maybe even a safety deposit box. We should make a list of all the places in the vicinity that have those types of boxes.”

Ruth pulled out the locket and popped it open. “It has a number so that might make it easy for us to find the locker … if it is a locker.”

“Shouldn’t we tell the police about it and let them sort it out?” Lexy asked.

Nans gave Lexy “the look”. “Do you really think the police will take us seriously? A key found in a locket? They’ll probably take it and do nothing and we’ll never be able to solve the crime. Nope, best to keep it to ourselves … don’t you think girls?”

Ruth, Ida and Helen all nodded.

The bell over the door rang and everyone swiveled their head toward the sound. Lexy felt her stomach flip-flop when she saw Brax walk in. He’d replaced his suit with a black tee-shirt and jeans. The tee-shirt was a little tight, accentuating his perfectly developed physique. Lexy heard Ruth and Helen suck in their breaths.

Brax glanced over at the table and smiled. “Just the person I wanted to see.”

Lexy raised her eyebrow, hoping no one could see her cheeks burning and her pulse jumping.

“Oh, are you in the market for another cinnamon bun?”

Brax laughed. His laugh had a deep masculine timbre that sent tingles up Lexy’s spine and from the looks on their faces, it had the same effect on Nans and her friends.

“Actually, I hear you ladies know a little bit about the Nunzio Bartolli case,” he said looking at Nans, Ida, Ruth and Helen in turn. Lexy notice each woman flushed when his eyes fell on them.

Nans recovered first. “Yes, we do. Ruth here was a good friend of Nunzio’s.” She pointed to Ruth on the other side of the table. “And who might you be?”

Brax smiled. “How rude of me not to introduce myself. Brax Daniels. F.B.I.”

He flashed his badge, then held his hand out and shook hands with each of them as they introduced themselves.

“So, if you’re here that means Nunzio’s murder must have had something to do with organized crime.” Nans narrowed her eyes at Brax.

Brax spread his hands “I can neither confirm nor deny that.”

The ladies laughed.

“Seriously, it might not have anything to do with it. That’s why I’m here, to figure out whether it does or not. I heard you ladies had some keen investigative skills and I thought you might have some information that would be useful to me.”

Ida, Ruth and Helen looked at Nans who stared at Brax, sizing him up. Lexy knew she was trying to decide if he could be trusted and how much to tell him.

“We haven’t heard anything about any organized crime connection,” Nans said at last. “We had a memorial with the family today and I can tell you there is no love lost between Nunzio and most of them.”

Brax raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really? So you think someone in his family might have done this?”

Nans shrugged. “Maybe. We’re looking into that angle.”

Brax nodded. Pressing his lips together he pulled his wallet from his back pocket.

“Tell you what. If you find anything you think I should know about, give me a call.” He handed a business card to each of the women who looked star struck as if he was a rock star handing out autographs.

Nans regained her composure first. “And you’ll let us know if you find anything out as well?”

Brax favored her with his sexy, gleaming smile. “Of course.”

Lexy stomach somersaulted as he turned his gaze on her and nodded toward the doorway. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Lexy got up, wondering why her legs were shaking like a newborn colt. Probably the combination of lack of sleep and caffeine, she reasoned.

Brax pulled her out of earshot, his warm hand on her wrist sending tingles up her arm. He leaned down talking softly. His lips were close to her ear which made her pulse skitter.

“Your grandmother has quite a reputation as an amateur investigator, but this case could be very dangerous. You’d be smart to get her to back off. I heard she’s also very stubborn, so if you can’t do that, at least keep a close eye on her. I wouldn’t want those sweet old ladies to get hurt.”

He stood back just an inch and looked down at Lexy. His green eyes drilled into hers and Lexy thought she saw something more than concern for her grandmother in them.

He tucked a business card into the top pocket of her apron, his fingers brushing lightly against her skin as he did. Lexy’s heart jerked in her chest as his gaze went from her eyes, to her lips and then back to her eyes.

“Please call me if anything comes up. Even something that doesn’t seem important. Feel free to call me … for anything at all.”

He traced his finger lightly down Lexy’s arm, then turned and disappeared out the door.

Lexy felt her breath rush out in a whoosh.
Had she been holding it?

She glanced at the clock and her heart skipped a beat. She only had one hour to close up the shop, rush home, shower, change and then run over to Jack’s for supper. Guess that nap wasn’t going to happen after all.

Chapter Ten

Jack peered over at Lexy’s house while he brushed olive oil on the grill, his heart sinking as he wondered if she was going to show up. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and checked the display … she hadn’t replied to any of his texts.

Of course he couldn’t blame her for being mad after finding Simone in his kitchen the night before. Jack sighed. He wished he could tell her the truth, but he had to keep it a secret for a while longer.

Jack’s heart lurched when he saw her kitchen door open. His pulse quickened noticing she was wearing one of his favorite shirts—a bronze colored V-neck that plunged daringly in the front and highlighted the bronze undertones in her brown hair. The shirt hung loosely over her slim hips. Her mid-thigh white shorts showed off her tanned legs making Jack forget about the two porter house steaks he had been looking forward to grilling all day.

A smile lit his face as he watched her navigate the space from her yard to his, teetering on the grass in impossibly high strappy white sandals, Sprinkles at her heels.

“Hi, there.” She greeted him with a smile which Jack hoped meant everything was okay between them.

“Hi.” He grabbed her wrist, gently pulling her close. He traced her bottom lip with his thumb, trying to read the look in her eyes, then brushed his lips against hers.

She didn’t react.

She didn’t pull away, but she didn’t fall into the kiss either. Jack didn’t know what to make of it, so he released her and turned his attention to the grill.

“Sorry, I didn’t reply to your texts today. I catered a memorial for Nunzio Bartolli and time just got away from me.” Lexy picked a beer out of the cooler beside the grill and popped it open with a bottle opener. “Can I help with something?”

“Nope. I have everything under control.” Jack motioned to the patio table he had already set for dinner. “Have a seat and relax. I’ll put the steaks on and I have a garden salad and potato salad in the fridge.”