Ice Cream Murder (17 page)

“That’s right. Your nosiness ruined my plan to make the deaths look accidental.” Cora let out an evil laugh, “I even had a backup plan once it came out that someone switched Regis ice cream. That’s why I told you Regis had planned to cut Winston out of his will when you came snooping around. To cast suspicion on Winston. Then once he was dead, it would seem like he’d killed Regis and then died from the stress.”

Panic lapped at Lexy’s stomach as Cora backed toward the door, the gun still trained on them. Lexy’s eyes darted around the room, looking for anything she could use as a weapon, but all she saw were old pallets and bales of hay.

Cora zoned the gun in on Olivia. “So now that I’ve killed Regis, Winston and Larry, you’re the last one left.”

Olivia gasped. “You killed Larry, too?”

Cora nodded, a self-satisfied smirk on her face.

“Actually, Larry isn’t dead,” Lexy cut in.

Olivia gasped and looked at Lexy hopefully.

Cora’s face crumpled. She swerved the gun toward Lexy. “What do you mean? I stuffed up his flu good and tight.”

“I guess you didn’t count on someone going over to visit him and getting him out of there before he died. Oh, and the police know someone blocked up the flu.” Lexy shrugged. “It’s just a matter of time before they trace it to you.”

Cora narrowed her eyes at Lexy. “I don’t believe you.”

“It’s true. Why don’t you go check before you shoot us? You wouldn’t want too many deaths on your hands. That would make for a very long jail sentence.”

“Oh, I’m not going to shoot you.”

Lexy’s brows raised hopefully. Was Cora going to leave them unharmed? Maybe she was only planning on leaving them in here tied up so she could make her getaway?

“Nope, I’m going to burn the barn down with you in it,” Cora continued. “My original plan was to just burn Olivia, but since you two came around snooping, I have to burn all of you. Anyway, what’s a few more bodies?”

“No, wait. You don’t want to do this!” Lexy pleaded.

“I figured you’d say that.” Cora backed out the door and stood in the hall, the gun still on them. “Now if you will excuse me, I must get going. I have to push your cars into the pond so no one will think to look for you here before I start the fire. With no cars in the driveway no one is going to care about an old dilapidated dried-out barn burning down. The fire marshal even said it was a fire trap.”
 

“You can’t just burn us alive,” Lexy’s voice quivered.

“Oh, but I think I can.”
 

And with that, she slammed the door shut, locking Lexy, Olivia and Norman in the dark.

Chapter Twenty-One

After a few seconds, Lexy realized that it wasn’t totally dark in the silo. A sliver of light cut across the room from a slit of a window about fifteen feet up the side. Lexy blinked back tears as her eyes adjusted to the lack of light.
 

“Wow, can you believe that?” Norman’s excited voice boomed from the corner, causing Lexy to jump. With her eyes now adjusted to the dim lighting, she saw that he was sitting up.

“Are you okay?” Lexy asked.

“Oh, yeah.” He worked his wrists back and forth. “I was awake the whole time, but pretended to be asleep so Cora wouldn’t see me chewing on the ropes.”
 

He grunted and struggled, then pulled his arms apart, the rope snapping in two. He shrugged his hands free then got to work on his ankles. “I’ll get you guys out as soon as I’m free.”

“Great. There has to be a way out of here.” Lexy wriggled in her chair, craning her neck to study every inch of the room. The only door was the one Cora had just closed and bolted shut.

“I’m sure you already have a good plan,” Norman said.

“Plan? Umm … not really.” Lexy continued to look around.

“What?” Norman looked up at her. “I thought you and your grandmother had plans to get out of anything.”

“Maybe she does, but I don’t. Cora took my bag with my cell phone and everything.”

“She took ours, too,” Olivia cut in. “Car keys, cell phone, even my emery board.”

“So this Cora person was the killer the whole time?” Norman asked, still working on the ropes.

“Yes, she was Regis’ personal assistant. I guess she must have been planning this for a while.” Lexy turned to Olivia. “How long did she work for your father?”

“Two years.”
 

“Two long years of plotting and planning her revenge,” Norman said. “That’s going to make a great story—”

The sound of a car engine cut him off. Lexy’s gut clenched. “That must be her getting rid of one of our cars.”

“My fiat is around back,” Olivia said. “Cora kidnapped Farfel and told me if I wanted to see her alive to get out here and park around back.”

The little orange dog whimpered and snuggled into Olivia’s lap.
 

“That’s why I saw you driving like a bat out of hell down Meadow Road.” Norman undid the last knot on his ankles. “You were weaving all over the place. I knew something was up.”

“So you followed her here,” Lexy said. “I got your message and tried to call you, but your phone was off. We thought Olivia was the killer.”

“Me?” Olivia sounded hurt.

Another engine started up and Lexy cringed. “Yeah, sorry, but once we realized all the members of your family were being targeted and you were the last one left, we looked at the evidence and it seemed to point to you.”

Norman had worked Lexy’s wrists free. She rubbed at them, trying to get the circulation back. Sprinkles licked her hand and Lexy petted her head. “Good girl. I’m glad Cora didn’t shoot you.”

“I can get my legs free. You work on Olivia,” Lexy shooed Norman over to Olivia and bent down to work at the knot on her right ankle.

“Wait, what evidence?” Olivia scrunched up her face.

“Well, I had seen you with the herbs book, so we figured you knew about the toxic properties of aconite. Plus, you were seen at the photographer’s the morning of the break in and … well … I know there’s something secretive going on with you and Steve at the
K9 Center
.”
 

Even though it was now clear Cora was the killer, Lexy was still convinced something was going on at the
K9 Center
. She just didn’t know
what
and she didn’t want to admit she’d been snooping around behind the building.

Another engine started up.
 

“That’s the last of our cars,” Norman said. “We’d better hurry. She’ll be starting this place on fire next.”

“There’s nothing going on at the
K9 Center
.” Olivia’s hands had been freed and she scooped Farfel up in her arms while Norman worked on the ropes around her legs. “If you must know, Steve and I are working on a special dog food formula. One with special herbs to enhance the dogs’ performance in agility.”

Lexy undid the last knot around her ankle and looked up at Olivia. “A special dog food formula? That’s what all the secrecy was about?”

“Yes. The dog food market is very competitive and if someone discovered our recipe, they might beat us to market and all our hard work would be for nothing.”

“So you were researching the herbs and baking the food at the
K9 Center
?”

“That’s right,” Olivia said. “Steve and I are partners. In fact, we’ve just perfected the recipe and had some sample bags made, which we were handing off to our potential investor tonight.”

Lexy remembered the conversation she’d heard when she was hiding behind the dumpster. “Is your investor named Michael?”

“Yes, how did you know?”

“Oh, just something I heard.” Lexy felt silly. She’d imagined a big drug smuggling operation when the whole time all the secrecy had been about dog food. “Anyway, enough chatter. We need to get out of here.”
 

Lexy jumped up from her chair, went to the door and tried pushing, then pulling. The door didn’t move even an inch. “It won’t budge!”

Sprinkles barked, then clawed at the door. Farfel joined her. The dogs didn’t make any more progress than Lexy.

“It’s bolted from the outside.” Norman tilted his head and closed his eyes. “If I remember correctly, there is a big cast iron bolt that slides down to latch the door shut. It won’t slide open unless that bolt is released.”

“We’ll have to find another way out.” Lexy searched the room with frantic eyes. Sprinkles whined at her feet, picking up on Lexy’s distress.

“I think the only way out is that window.” Olivia pointed to the thin window on the side of the silo.

“That thing’s only about six inches wide. None of us would fit through it,” Norman said.

“Maybe we could hang out the window and make a ruckus,” Olivia offered.

“Who would see or hear us? We’re in the middle of nowhere.” Lexy’s stomach sank and she collapsed onto a bale of hay. “We’re trapped in here with one door that we can’t budge, a window we can’t fit out of and only some
very
flammable hay and pallets to work with.”

“Well, like I said before, this is going to make one hell of a story.” Norman sounded enthusiastic and Lexy wished she could feel the same way.

“Yeah, I just hope we get out of here to tell it,” Olivia replied.
 

“We may have to wait and try to brave it through the fire.” Lexy chewed her bottom lip. “Cora’s screwed up the details before. Maybe she won’t set it right and it will burn just enough to make an opening for us to get out without killing us.”

Norman shot Lexy a dubious look. “That seems dangerous.”

“Do you have a better idea?” Lexy unhooked Sprinkles from her leash. She didn’t want it getting hung up on a wayward nail or piece of wood if they had to make a quick escape. Sprinkles and Farfel immediately started chasing each other and rolling around. Lexy watched them play, wishing she could be so carefree. As they jumped from hay bale to hay bale, Lexy realized they were using some of the agility techniques in their play. They were both pretty good.
 

Olivia followed Lexy’s gaze, her face lined with worry. “The least she could have done is to have let our dogs go. There’s no need to harm them along with us.”

Both dogs suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. A few seconds later the acrid smell of smoke burned Lexy’s nostrils.
 

“Do you guys smell smoke?”

Olivia nodded solemnly.
 

Sprinkles sat in front of Lexy and let out a whimper, her trusting brown eyes looking up at her master.
 

Lexy’s stomach twisted. She couldn’t let anything bad happen to Sprinkles. Her eyes searched the room again, stopping at the small window. Too small for a human, but …

“The dogs can fit out that window. We have to get them out.”

Olivia jerked her head in the direction of the window. “It’s kind of high, but I think they’d be okay. I bet we could set up the hay bales and pallets to make ramps and use the agility commands to get them to jump.”

“It’s worth a try.” Lexy dragged a hay bale into position and Olivia grabbed a pallet.
 

Was the smell of smoke getting stronger?
 

Lexy ignored it and pulled another bale of hay over. Norman pitched in and they worked together, building a makeshift ramp and stairway. By the time they were done, the room was hazy with smoke.

“We don’t have much time,” Lexy said as they put the last piece in place. Norman stood at the uppermost bale of hay. He set a pallet on its side on top of the bale for the dogs could use as a ramp to the window. He stretched onto his tiptoes to look out the window.

“I can see out. But you’re right, there’s no one out there to hear or see us.” His voice was tinged with disappointment.

On the floor, the dogs were circling with excitement. They knew something was up. Lexy scooped up Sprinkles in a big hug and kissed the top of her head.
 

“You’re a good girl. I hope I’ll see you in a few.” She heard Olivia murmuring something similar to Farfel and then they both put the dogs down and nodded at each other.

“Sprinkles … ramp,” Lexy commanded.

Sprinkles circled around the makeshift ramp, looking at Lexy uncertainly. Olivia gave the same command and got the same look from her dog.

“Go!” The two women said at the same time and pointed to the top of the ramp.
 

The dogs raced to the top.
 

“Jump!” Lexy and Olivia commanded.
 

Farfel sailed out the window.

Sprinkles hesitated, looking back at Lexy through the smoke that was now pouring into the room.

“Go on. Jump!” Grief stabbed Lexy’s heart as Sprinkles gave her one last look and then disappeared out the window.
 

Chapter Twenty-Two

“I don’t want Lexy’s feelings to be hurt, but I think our surveillance skills are a little better than hers,” Nans said from the front seat of Ruth’s Oldsmobile as she, Ruth, Ida and Helen headed out of town toward the
Fur Fun K9 Center
.

“Well, we certainly need to find out something about Olivia so we can tie these murders to her.” Ruth concentrated on driving, her hands at ten o’clock and two o’clock, her neck stretched to see above the steering wheel. “Lexy’s investigation out by the dumpster left a lot of questions and our street informants didn’t have anything.”

“We have more leeway than she does,” Helen agreed. “An old lady can walk right into someplace she not supposed to be and no one gets suspicious.”
 

“Right, and if they question us, we just act flustered and they just think we’re senile.” Ida’s comment elicited a fit of giggles from the other ladies.
 

“We sure do have a lot of advantages. But do we really need these giant ponchos?” Helen gestured to the oversized black canvas poncho that covered her nearly head to toe.

“Oh, yes,” Nans said. “We’ll be practically invisible outside in the dark with these things on. And if we go inside, we can take them off, or leave them on. No one will think a thing about old ladies in ponchos.”

“True. No one notices us anyway,” Ruth added.

“When we get there, Ruth, park at the very end so we can slip out of the car and around to that dumpster area Lexy told us about.” Nans pressed her lips together. “I’m sure the answer to what Olivia and Steve are up to is out there.”