Ice Cream Murder (12 page)

“What was he doing at Regis birthday party if he opposed the development?” Ida asked. “I would think they would be opponents of sorts.”

“True, but Olivia and he are tight, so she probably invited him,” Lexy said.

Nans scribbled a note about Olivia and Steve on the board. “It doesn’t hurt to cover all the angles. Will you be able to check into that further, Lexy?”

“Yes, in fact, there’s an agility event tonight that will give me the perfect excuse to snoop around.” Lexy looked at her watch. “But I better get going if I want to get there on time.”

“Great, so it’s settled,” Nans said. “We’ll stake out Evelyn and Lexy will dig into Olivia and Steve’s secret. We’ll meet back here tomorrow at oh-nine-hundred sharp.”

“Perfect.” Lexy pushed herself away from the table.

“I’ll walk out with you,” Anna offered.

The two girls were almost out in the hall when Nans called after them.
 

“Oh, and Lexy … don’t forget to bring plenty of pastries when we meet tomorrow morning.”

Chapter Fourteen

Lexy headed home after she left Nans, her hopes of catching up on some work at the bakery fading when she realized it was already six o’clock. She barely had time to collect Sprinkles and rush off to the
Fur Fun K9 Center
for the agility event.

They pulled into the car-jammed parking lot at six-thirty, about an hour before sunset. The grounds were alive with activity. Lexy got out of the car hesitantly. The crowded event would provide her the perfect opportunity to snoop around—she just hoped she wouldn’t get caught.

Sprinkles didn’t feel nearly as hesitant as Lexy. She bounded out of the car, straining at the leash to explore the smells and sights of the event.

Lexy reined Sprinkles in and made her way into the crowd. The warm blanket of early summer evening air was perfumed with lilacs from the twelve foot tall old hedges at the edge of the parking lot. Lexy wondered if the lilacs were on the
K9 Center
property, or if they’d be ripped up with the retail development.

The main agility event was inside with different dog classes competing in groups. The resting groups usually retired to wait it out in their cars and many of the cars in the parking lot had their hatches open, owners sitting on the edge of the lift gate eating sandwiches, their dogs inside crates or sitting happily beside them. On the tailgates were the tools of dog competition—water bowls, brushes, combs and dog toys. It was the canine version of a tail-gate party.

Lexy passed a few of her agility classmates and nodded a quick greeting. She didn’t have time to stop to talk—she had work to do.

She skirted past the edge of the parking lot to the side of the building. Various vendors were set up down the length of the building all the way to the back. They were selling anything from dog bowl sets to ice cream to dog food. The smell of fried sausage, peppers and onions made Lexy’s mouth water. She’d forgotten to eat supper.
 

As she strolled past the booths, she wondered if she should set up a bakery stand at the next event. By the way people were lined up at the sausage cart and ice-cream stand, there were plenty of hungry people.

But then she came to the end of the row and her mind turned to more important matters. If her calculations were correct, the locked rooms in the corridor in back of the
K9 Center
would be against the wall at the back of the building here. If she was lucky, they might even have doors that led outside. And if she was even luckier, she might be able to listen in at one of those doors and find out what was really going on back there.

Glancing back over her shoulder to make sure she wasn’t being watched, Lexy slipped around the corner of the building out of sight of the crowds.

Sprinkles was just as happy to sniff the ground in the back of the building as she was in the front and she happily walked along beside Lexy as they skirted along the edge. In the back, the building was ‘U’ shaped, the ground mostly dirt with patches of dry grass. Two large dumpsters sat in the middle of the ‘U’. The approaching sunset cast the back of the building in shadows. Lexy hoped that would make her less visible if anyone came outside.

There were four doors in the back of the building. Lexy stood staring at them, trying to decide which one to sidle up to. Sprinkles made the decision for her, pulling her toward the door to the far right.

As they got closer, Lexy could hear Sprinkles making loud sniffing noises, her nose twitching madly. Lexy could smell something, too—it smelled like baking, but not sweet pastry—more like crackers or—dog food.

Did the K9 center make its own dog food?

She didn’t think so. She was sure someone would have mentioned it to her by now. But if they didn’t, then what were they baking behind that door?

Lexy got closer, pressing her ear to the edge. She could hear voices and other sounds. Someone was in there, but the noise was muffled by the door and she couldn’t make out what they were saying.

“Darn it, Sprinkles. I can’t hear a thing. What do you think is going on in there?”

Sprinkles looked up at her, raising one of her white brows, then lifted her nose in the air and pointed it at the dumpster, pulling Lexy over and sniffing the whole way.

The dumpster had less pleasant smells. Sour milk. Rotting garbage. Lexy’s stomach churned. She was about to tug Sprinkles away when she heard the door open behind her. Her heart kicked and she scurried to the other side of the dumpster, squatting down and praying she hadn’t been spotted.

“Make sure you set the special packages aside,” a man’s voice said. “We don’t want them going in with the regular dog food.”

Lexy heard the scuff of feet on the dry dirt coming closer to the dumpster. She held her breath, her heart racing as she wiped sweaty palms on her jeans. She eyed Sprinkles anxiously. The last thing she needed was for the dog to bark or make any noise that would cause them to be discovered. Sprinkles sat quietly beside her, but Lexy’s mind raced for a plausible explanation just in case.

“Of course. The special stuff is going directly to Michael, right?” Another man, deeper voice.

Lexy cringed at the hollow clang of something heavy being heaved into the dumpster.

“Yep, he’s coming later on with the money and—” the first man’s words sounding farther away and then cut off as the door closed.

Lexy took a deep breath and let it out slowly. This wasn’t the first time she had been forced to hide behind a dumpster. You’d think she might be getting used to it by now, but it was still nerve wracking. Still, it
was
much better than having to get
in
the dumpster to search for a murder weapon—something she’d also had to do before.

After a few minutes of silence, Lexy figured it was safe to come out. She stood on her tip toes, peeking into the dumpster to see what they’d thrown in. Nothing but cardboard, old food and what looked like chopped up leaf stems on the top. They must have thrown in the cardboard and stems.
 

What would they be doing with leaf stems?

Lexy stared at the closed door the men had come through, replaying the conversation in her mind.
 

Special dog food?

Michael coming with the money?

Lexy knew Steve and Olivia were trying to hide something, and in the previous conversation she’d overheard, they’d mentioned food. Could they be mixed up in some shenanigans that had to do with dog food?
 

Lexy backed toward the edge of the building, pulling Sprinkles along with her.

What could possibly be going on with the dog food that would be worth killing over?

Lexy rounded the corner of the building and headed back out into the commotion of the crowd. She’d missed supper, so she gave in and bought a sausage, pepper and onion sub, then brought it to her car where she sat on the hood to eat it.
 

She savored the juicy sandwich, swiping at the grease on her lips with the tiny inadequate napkin the vendor had provided. Sprinkles danced around the front of the car, her eyes brimming with hope that a morsel of food would fall from the sub.

Lexy tossed her a piece of sausage, careful not to include any onions. She knew they weren’t good for dogs.
 

Her mind went back to what she’d heard by the dumpster. The man had said something about special packages that he didn’t want mixed in with the regular dog food. That implied the packages
looked
like dog food, but had something ‘special’ in them.
 

Something that someone named Michael would pay money for.

Were Olivia and Steve mixed up in smuggling drugs disguised as packages of dog food?

Chapter Fifteen

The next morning, Lexy got to the bakery early and finished most of the day’s baking by the time Cassie came in. She left Cassie in charge and brought scones to Nans, arriving at nine a.m. sharp as instructed.
 

Lexy hummed with excitement over her discovery by the dumpster the night before as she knocked on Nans’ door.

Nans whipped the door open, her bright eyes dancing. Lexy knew that look—apparently, Nans had a discovery of her own.
 

“Come in, dear. We have something very interesting to show you.”

Inside, Ruth, Helen and Norman were hunched over a series of photographs that were laid out on top of the dining room table.
 

“Hi, Lexy,” the three of them muttered without even looking up at her.

Ida came over and relieved her of the pastry box, then got to work setting the scones on a platter. Over in the kitchen, the percolator bubbled. Lexy followed the smell of fresh brewed coffee, grabbed a mug from Nans’ cabinet and stood in front of the machine.

Nans dragged Lexy from the kitchen before she could fill her mug. “Look what we discovered on our stakeout!”

Nans gestured toward the pictures. Lexy squinted at them, leaning closer to the table. The pictures were blurry, like they were taken with the shaky hand of an eighty year-old. Which, Lexy figured, they had been.
 

In the first two pictures, she could make out a couple in a romantic embrace. In the third, they step away from each other. The fourth was a close-up of their heads.

Lexy sucked in a breath. “Is that Larry and Evelyn?”

“You bet your sweet bippie,” Ida said around a mouthful of scone.

Lexy stared at the ladies with wide eyes. “You mean they were having an affair?”

“Looks like it.” Helen headed toward the coffee urn, taking Lexy’s mug on the way over.

“Isn’t that wonderful?” Ruth asked. “That gives them three reasons to kill Winston!”

“Three?” Lexy’s brows dipped at Ruth.

“Yep.” Nans walked to the whiteboard, then pointed at a list under the heading ‘Motive’. “To get the money, to stop the development, and to be together.”

“And don’t forget.” Helen came back to the table from the kitchen, handing Lexy a mug full of steaming black coffee. “Cora said she thought Regis was going to cut Winston out of the will, so that would create an immediate need for them to get rid of Regis before he cut Winston out. Otherwise, they wouldn’t benefit from the money Winston inherited.”

Lexy looked back at the pictures. “These don’t prove they were having an affair … just that they were embracing.”

“True, but it shows they are
very
fond of each other,” Nans said.

“More than a brother-in-law and sister-in-law should be.” Ida wiggled her eyebrows.

“Well, I can’t say I’d blame Evelyn. Olivia said she suffered the brunt of Winston’s temper and I thought I saw a bruise on her arm when we saw her at the Farmer’s Market. Winston might have been hitting her,” Lexy said.

“Yet another motive for her to kill him,” Helen added.

Lexy’s shoulders slumped. “Well, that trumps my discovery.”
 

“What did you discover?” Nans asked.

Lexy told them about the conversation she’d heard by the dumpster and the stems she’d seen inside it.

“Stems?” Ruth scrunched her face up. “The only drug I know in which stems are used is marijuana and I doubt they’d be smuggling that … it’s too readily available.”

“It is?” Lexy narrowed her eyes at Ruth, wondering exactly how she knew
that
.

“Of course. Why, you can even get it here at the retirement center.”

“For medicinal use only,” Nans said sharply.

“Anyway, I’m not sure what the stems would be for,” Ruth continued. “Maybe they’re doing something with vegetables or herbs.”

Lexy remembered Olivia had that book on herbs the last time she saw her. “Hmmm … maybe. But there
is
something suspicious going on, for sure. I mean, why would this mysterious Michael person be coming to hand over money?”

“That is a good question. But my money is on Larry and Evelyn.” Ida tapped the picture of the kissing couple with her index finger.

“If Olivia and Steve are smuggling drugs in dog food, why would they have to kill Regis and Winston?” Helen asked.

Lexy pressed her lips together. “I’m not sure. They might feel that developing that land right next to the
Fur Fun K9 Center
would turn a lot of eyes on the operation and they’d be discovered.”

“Or maybe Winston or Regis discovered their operation already,” Ruth added.

“I’m not so sure about Olivia. Evelyn and Larry both had plenty of access to poison Winston
and
Regis,” Norman, who had been watching the old ladies like a groupie at a rock concert, piped up.

“I can’t believe it could be them, though … they seem so nice!” Lexy said.

Lexy’s phone chirped. She dug it out and looked at the display. Hope bloomed in her chest when she saw who it was.
 

“It’s Susan from the fudge shop. Maybe she saw Larry or Evelyn there the morning the birthday party photos were stolen,” Lexy said. “That will give us another piece of evidence.”

“Hi, Susan.”
 

“Hi, Lexy. How are you? You still trying to get that penuche recipe out of me?”

Lexy laughed. She loved Susan’s penuche fudge and had been trying to coerce the recipe out of her for years, but the other woman wouldn’t give it up. Said it was an old family secret. “Yes, but that’s not why I called.”