***
The meatloaf was excellent. Afterwards, Lexy endured a battery of measurements her mother said were necessary in order for her to repair the dress which she promised would be done in two days. It was almost two hours later by the time Lexy was able to make her escape.
She raced upstairs and changed into a silky bronze colored top—Jack’s favorite. She paired it with white slacks and clear rhinestone studded sandals then took a few minutes to swipe on some makeup and fluff her shoulder length brown hair. Racing through the kitchen, she stopped long enough to grab a bottle of wine and slipped out the back door.
In the backyard, she stopped short. The yard had been decorated with dozens of planters filled with colorful flowers. When did this happen? She narrowed her eyes at her parent’s RV. Apparently, her mother had been hard at work.
She shrugged and crossed the backyard, careful to avoid slipping on patches of fallen leaves. She squeezed through the crack in the fence that marked the boundary between her yard and Jack’s, and made her way to his back door.
Her heartbeat skittered with excitement as she raised her fist to knock. With all the wedding planning, parents’ arrival, and murders, it had been a while since she and Jack had had any alone time and she was looking forward to relaxing with him. Hopefully he would have some news on the case.
Her lips curled in a smile as the door cracked open. Then she heard a woman’s laughter drift out from inside and her smile reversed into a frown.
Jack had a woman in there?
Jack appeared at the door and Lexy stared at him confused.
“Lexy, come on in. I thought you didn’t feel good.” Jack scrunched his brow at her.
He pushed the door wider and she cautiously looked to see who the bimbo laughing in his kitchen was. Her eyes grew wide when she saw who it was … her mother.
“Lexy, I thought you were going to bed early?” Vera leaned back in her chair to talk to Lexy who was still standing partially behind the door.
Lexy’s eyes flitted from her mother to Jack. “You asked my parents here?”
Jack nodded. “Sure, I saw them in the backyard and invited them over for a drink.” He frowned when he saw the look on her face and lowered his voice. “Is something wrong?”
“Didn’t you get my text?” she whispered.
“No, sorry I had my phone off. Was it important?”
“Nah, never mind.” Lexy sighed and then pushed the door open, walked to Jack’s cabinet, took out a large wine glass and filled it. Joining her parents at the kitchen table, she let out a sigh—so much for a wild night alone with Jack.
Chapter Thirteen
Lexy, Nans and Ida stood on the steps of the museum looking at the giant concrete building that took up almost a whole city block.
“It sure is big,” Ida said.
“Where do we start?” Lexy asked.
“I have a pretty good idea,” Nans replied. “Follow me.”
She started up the steps. Lexy and Ida fell in beside her. Nans looked at Lexy “Did you get any new clues out of Jack last night?”
“Only that Wiggins was shot with a .22 caliber. The same type of gun that killed Veronica and Philippe.”
Nans nodded and reached out to open the glass door that led into the front lobby of the museum. “Ruth discovered that Wiggins made a lot of expensive purchases recently,” she whispered as the three of them filed inside.
Ida pursed her lips together. “Well that makes sense with a wedding coming up, they
are
very expensive.”
Lexy nodded thinking about all the recent charges on her credit cards—florist, caterer, wedding dress …
and
Stuart was getting married in Paris. She could only imagine what
that
would cost.
They stood in the cavernous lobby. The marble floor was so shiny Lexy could almost see her reflection. Carved archways set in marble walls opened to hallways that exited from the lobby. A golden sarcophagus sat on the left behind a roped display. To the right, a smiling woman sat behind a large mahogany desk. In front of them, signs on top of a large doorway directed them to various exhibits.
Nans took off toward the dinosaurs. Lexy and Ida followed her down the hall, their footsteps echoing hollowly. She took a right into the dinosaur exhibit that opened up into a giant room. Lexy looked up—the ceiling must have been six stories high. Different types of dinosaurs—Lexy assumed they were life-size since they were so large—loomed around the room. Some just bones, others made to look exactly like they would have when they roamed the earth.
In one corner, a teacher pointed out various aspects of a triceratops to her class of young children. Nans stopped at the Tyrannosaurus Rex display.
“The T-Rex is my favorite,” Ida said tilting her head back to look up at the dinosaur.
“I always liked the Velociraptors,” Nans replied as she moved to the next exhibit. They made their way slowly around the room. Lexy feigned interest while Nans pointed out different aspects of each exhibit. Lexy was almost ready to fall asleep when their path took them to the security guard who stood next to one of the displays.
“Hello.” Nans smiled at the guard.
“Ma’am.” The guard nodded.
“It must be wonderful to work in such an interesting place.” Nans waved her hand to indicate all the displays. Lexy eyed her cautiously, wondering what she was up to.
“It’s a great job,” the guard replied patiently.
“Did you know the guard that was killed recently—Stuart Wiggins?” Nans asked. “My granddaughter here was good friends with his fiancée … such a shame.”
Lexy’s stomach twisted.
Good friends?
“It was a shame. I didn’t know him well but Eddie Sharp and him were best buds. Eddie usually works the displays in the west wing.” The guard pointed to a door on the left in between a skeleton of a bird-like dinosaur and a diorama of a Paleolithic forest floor, complete with dinosaur family and giant ferns.
“Thanks.” Nans nodded at the guard. “I’m sure Lexy will want to give her condolences, right Lexy?”
“Umm … yeah, right. Of course,” Lexy stammered. She wasn’t nearly as comfortable lying as Nans.
Nans took off toward the door and Lexy practically had to sprint to keep up with her. They marched into the next room and Lexy felt her breath catch in her throat—it was like going into a different world. Glass cases loaded with sparkly jewelry and gems lined all four sides of the room. In the center, tall glass displays filled with crowns were lined up in a row. Each display had its own lighting, which seemed to be calibrated to coax the maximum amount of sparkle out of each and every facet of each and every gemstone.
Ida summed up Lexy’s thoughts in one word. “Wow.”
Nans wasn’t distracted by the glitter—she had a job to do. She marched right over to the guard standing in the corner.
“Are you Eddie?” Nans asked
The guard’s eyes flickered from Nans, to Lexy, to Ida, uncertainly. “Yes.”
“We heard we could find you here. We wanted to tell you how sorry we are about Stuart and Veronica.” Nans gestured to Lexy. “Lexy here went to school with Veronica and she’s quite broken up about the whole thing.”
Lexy nodded and tried to act “broken up.”
“Really?” Eddie frowned at Lexy. “I don’t think we’ve ever met.”
“Oh, sorry.” Lexy stuck her hand out. “Lexy Baker. Veronica and I recently reconnected so I didn’t know a lot of her friends yet.” Lexy soothed her conscious by telling herself it wasn’t really a lie. She and Veronica
had
recently reconnected … just not in the friendly way she was implying.
Eddie shook her hand, his eyes darting around the room nervously. Lexy wondered if it was against the rules to shake hands with the customers.
“It’s just such a mystery,” Nans said. “Do you have any idea what they were into that would have made someone want to kill them?”
Eddie’s eyes went wide, he shuffled his feet. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Nans leaned in closer to him and whispered. “Well, they
were
murdered. Must have been a reason.”
Lexy watched Eddie’s face harden as he narrowed his eyes at Nans. “Veronica
was
acting kind of odd—I figured that was due to the upcoming wedding. But her friend Ramona was acting really strange, too.”
Nan’s perked up. “Oh? In what way?”
“I don’t know. Jittery. Like something was going on.”
“Any idea what they were up to?”
Eddie shrugged, then glanced around the room again. “Sorry lady I shouldn’t be talking so much.”
He stepped backwards away from Nans, bumped into one of the displays and whirled around, relaxing when he saw what he had bumped into.
Nans’ eyebrows rose up. Lexy knew what she was thinking—Eddie sure was nervous.
“Well, thanks for your time and we’re sorry for your loss,” Nans said and then turned and walked toward the exit.
***
On the way out of the museum, Nans’ cell phone erupted into a chorus of bird tweets. She stopped and opened her giant old-lady purse handing Lexy a flashlight, small packet of tissues, container of Tums, a tube of lipstick and a mirror before she found the phone.
While Nans fiddled with her phone, Lexy returned the items to the purse.
“It’s your parents … they want to meet me for lunch.” Nans sounded disappointed. “I’d really like to continue on this investigation, but I hate to put them off since they’ll only be here a short time.”
“We could meet for a quick lunch, maybe?” Lexy suggested.
“Is that okay with you, Ida?”
“Sure, why not? I love a free lunch,” Ida said.
Nans slid her eyes over to Ida as she punched the buttons on her phone. “I didn’t say anything about
free
.”
Ida shrugged and laughed. “It never hurts to ask.”
“Hi Roy,” Nans chirped into the phone. “It would be lovely to meet you for lunch. I’m actually out with Lexy now … she took Ida and me to the senior center. Maybe the three of us could meet at
The Streetcar Diner
… say in forty-five minutes?”
Lexy lifted a brow at Nans. She had to admit she was becoming mildly concerned with the ease her grandmother could spit out lies.
“Okay. Great. See you then.” Nans snapped the phone shut.
“Senior Center?” Lexy asked.
Nans laughed. “Well I couldn’t very well tell them what we’re up to. Believe me, the less Roy and Vera know about my sleuthing, the better for all of us. And I’m sure you don’t want them knowing that
you’re
a suspect in a triple murder.”
“True,” Lexy said. “I guess a little white lie never hurt anyone.”
They hopped into Lexy’s VW Beetle and headed back to Brooke Ridge Falls. Almost forty minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot at
The Streetcar Diner
. The old fashioned diner sat smack in the middle of the downtown area and was decorated to look like a streetcar on the outside and an old fashioned diner on the inside. Lexy parked in the side lot. Her parents RV was already there taking up a good portion of the small lot. Lexy wondered how her father had maneuvered it in there without hitting something.
Bells tinkled as Lexy pulled open the door and stood back to let Nans and Ida enter ahead of her. She searched the gleaming interior of the diner for her parents, her eyes flitting over the glass pedestal cake displays standing on the steel edged Formica counter. A row of round stools sat in front of the counter, their red Naugahyde tops twirling on gleaming steel bases. Behind the counter, Lexy could see through to the kitchen, which was abuzz with activity.
“Yoo-hoo! Over here!” Lexy heard her mother’s voice over the din of conversation and clanking plates. Turning toward the voice, she saw her mother waving frantically from a booth next to the window. Even without the frantic waving, it would have been hard not to notice Vera with the brilliant red shirt plastered with appliqué leaves in orange and yellow she was wearing. Lexy glanced at her father in a plain white shirt, feeling relief for him that her mother hadn’t forced him to wear a shirt that matched hers.
They slid into the booth, Lexy next to her father and Nans and Ida beside her mother. Greetings were exchanged and then everyone buried their faces in the glossy plastic covered menus.
“What are you getting?” Lexy asked her father.
“The chicken club.” He closed his menu and returned it to the metal holder at the edge of the table.
“I’m trying to watch what I eat, so I’m just getting pie and a coffee,” Vera announced.
“Pie sounds good to me,” Ida said sliding her menu into the holder.
“The heck with you light eaters. I’m getting a cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate milkshake.” Nans slapped her menu shut.
“I think a grilled cheese will hit the spot for me.” Lexy always craved a good grilled cheese once the weather started to turn and, even though it was still early fall with warm days, the nights were getting colder.
“So, how was the senior center?” Vera asked.
Lexy looked at Nans who didn’t skip a beat. “Oh, it was lovely. They were giving out flu shots so Ida and I wanted to take advantage of that. Plus we got to see Merna Fisk’s crochet toilet paper covers.”
Lexy bit the side of her cheek and looked out the window to keep from laughing. The diner was across the street from
Chez Philippe
and it looked like someone was inside.
Shouldn’t the shop be closed for the investigation?
She squinted and leaned closer to the window. A movement inside caught her eye. Someone
was
in there!
The waitress came and she tore herself away from the window to order. She kicked Nans under the table and jerked her head at the window to get Nans attention.
Nans jumped. “Is something wrong dear?”
Everyone at the table stared at Lexy. She didn’t want to say anything in front of her parents. If her mother got wind of the investigation, there’s no telling what she would do.
Lexy’s mouth said “No.” But she stared at Nans, her eyes saying yes. Apparently, Nans didn’t get it though, because she merely gave Lexy a funny look then continued on with the conversation the rest of them were having.